The balcony

I would describe entrepreneurs as people who dream and then have the courage, conviction, passion and dedication to fulfill their dreams. Some of them make good money in the while, some don't. Whether they end up making a good business of their enterprise or not, entrepreneurs LIVE their dream and enjoy every moment of nurturing their creation. In the past one year, I have come across at-least two entrepreneurship ventures that impressed me for the quality of what they deliver or have delivered. In the post below, I am talking of one such venture.

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After a lazy half an hour stroll on a Sunday evening, we enter our favorite fast food joint for a cup of tea. A young couple run the joint. The wife, is frying samosas on a choolah (a stove) set up neatly outside the fast food joint. She gives us a beautiful homely smile and quickly averts her gaze back to her cooking. She reminds me of those ladies who run their small eatery in the mist covered hillstations of India.

"I will take you to a new place.. Come.. " My husband had told me with a mysterious excited look on his face about two months back. That was the first time we had landed up in the new fast food joint "The balcony"*. My first impression of the joint was that it looked very homely. The owner had replied to our request for tea, with "Which tea do you want - Normal tea, Adrak wali chai, lemon tea, or Masala tea?" I was stumped for a while. Rarely, do you get so many varieties of tea in a small fast food joint.

"The Balcony" has a small lounge on which there were two tables with four chairs each. The joint overlooks a small road and one can have a good view of people travelling to and fro. The place is clean. The food is healthy and tasty. A variety of sweets like the boondi ladoo, kaju katri, besan ladoo lure us from behind the glass counter.

That day, we go in to order for "chats". I come out to talk to the lady.

This time I have a good look at her face. She is probably in her early thirties, dusky, has sharp features and a homely welcoming smile that can light up any person's day. She is tall, wears a pair of worn out blue jeans and has her shoulder length hair neatly tied up in to a pony. All in all, she somehow did not look like an "experienced" restaurateur to me.

I get talking to her. They had started “The Balcony” about a year back and May 6^th was their first anniversary. “Celebrate tho karna hai. Patha nahin kya karenge. Aap aana zaroor,” ("We will definitely celebrate our anniversary. Though we don't know what celebration we are going to have. Please do come,") she says with a beatific smile. Husband had been working in a garments factory for the past 11 years. He wanted to do something on his own. So we started this joint.

“Oh me...? I was a school teacher…” she says with a smile and gets back to her cooking. “I taught maths and science from class three to class six in a small school nearby…” I am amazed. “No wonder" I think, "she looks like a primary school teacher.” I return her smile.

“We haven’t really made any money so far. We have been putting our own money into it.” I look for some trace of disappointment or struggle – I find none. With a smile, she says again, “This is a tough business to handle. We have had man power problems. I would have to cook a lot many times.”

“Only last two three months we had money left in our account after paying up the expenditures,” says a voice from the back. The husband has joined in. He had been quietly listening in on our conversation.

“We had put up a stall at IIMB for their annual fest a few months back.” He says with pride in his voice.

Wow!

“We did not make a lot of money. But we completely enjoyed the experience.” He continues with a proud smile. I smile back.

The entrepreneur in me, is concerned though. I can see problems in their approach of “just enjoying the experience, not making money,” , “I need to do the cooking myself sometimes”. I am concerned by “Its been a year since we have been set up, and only now we are making some surplus.” Considering the quality of food they are delivering, that should not have been the case.

But the entrepreneur in me is also saying, “I am sure they will have their share of struggles, but they will figure their way out at their own pace. At-least they have had the courage to try...”

“How often do you get to meet a couple who have the courage to live their dream...”

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Note : The name of the restaurant has been changed to maintain the privacy of the people mentioned.

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How to say No - Godfather

I read the Godfather recently and this week, I put up some excerpts of some conversations from the Godfather. These conversations seemed very relevant to me and something that any one of us can relate to in our day to day lives . Again who the characters are and what is the background of the situation is irrelevant -

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Below is a conversation where Tom tells Michael the upcoming Don about what is missing in him in his training to become a Don. Tom is the informally adopted son of Don Vito Corleone and serves as the family lawyer and consigliere (legal advisor) -


Tom finished his drink and before he left he gave Michael a mild reproof. ‘You are nearly as good as your father,’ he told Michael. ‘But there is one thing you still have to learn.’
‘What’s that?’ Michael said politely.
‘How to say no,’ Hagen answered.
Michael nodded gravely. ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘I’ll remember that.’
When Hagen had left, Michael said jokingly to his father, ‘So you have taught me everything else. Tell me how to say no to people in a way they like.’
The Don moved to sit behind the big desk. ‘You cannot say ‘no’ to the people you love, not often. That’s the secret. And then when you do, it has to sound like a ‘yes’. Or you have to make them say ‘no’. You have to take time and trouble. But I’m old fashioned and you’re the new modern generation, don’t listen to me.’ "

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Below is a conversation that really touched me. Michael , the Don in charge is telling Tom Hagen about how everything that one does in his professional life is ultimately personal - and that is the only reason why there is so much of passion in what he does. Made me remember an incident that had occurred to me when I was in my initial days of my career. Something that I had done very passionately had failed badly. And someone came up to me saying - Dont take things so personally . Honestly - I felt like screaming back at the person. Left me confused too and made me wonder - if you dont take things passionately and personally - are you even doing your job well ?


"Tom, don't let anybody kid you. It's all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of shit every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it's personal as hell. You know where I learned that from? The Don. My old man. The Godfather. If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his the old man would take it personal. He took my going into the Marines personal. That's what makes him great. The Great Don. He takes everything personal Like God. He knows every feather that falls from the tail of a sparrow or however the hell it goes? Right? And you know something? Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult."


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Below are few statements made in the book at different points. I leave it to the reader to chew, digest and reflect on them -

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Many young men started down a false path to their true destiny. Time and fortune usually set them aright.

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"A friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults"


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"Great men are not born great, they grow great . . ."

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"A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns."

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Anuranan

Ok.. This one deserved a review much earlier. I had watched the movie about 6 months back - wonder why I did not think of a review then.

I dont know what is it about the movies that Rahul Bose selects, that makes me want to watch them even though I wouldnt know anything about the movie when I start watching it. As usual, it was the bengali setting, the character portrayed Rahul bose and Rituparna Sengupta ( who are husband and wife in the movie ) , that made me and my husband sit through the movie.

The movie starts by showing the deep connect between the husband and wife. Their bonding is beautiful and their wavelength just perfect. They compliment each other and are each other's strength and inspiration. Look out for the instance when Rahul Bose supports his wife as she goes through a period of being unable to conceive.

And at that point, they get introduced to another couple portrayed by Raima Sen and Rajat Gupta. The two couples couldnt be more different. Five minutes into the movie, and you realize that this couple has not yet bonded on an emotional level. The difference in bonding between the two couples is very evident to Raima who goes on to envy and admire the Rahul – Rituparna relation. Raima portrays a sensitive, open individual who bonds with Rituparna enough to tell her about what she envies about Rituparna's marriage.

Since the couple are friends, the four individuals meet on various occasions and the movie goes on to show how Raima Sen and Rahul bose connect. They develop relation that is pure and based on a strong sense of respect and perhaps idolizing on Raima Sen’s side.

In the last part of the movie, Raima Sen goes on a vacation alone to the same place where Rahul is on work. Unfortunately, Rahul Bose dies at this hillstation( I think of a heart attack ). Since Raima Sen also lives in the hotel she is subjected to suspicion by the general public about the relationship Raima and Rahul share. At a time when Raima needs her husband’s support the most, Rajat also distrusts his wife and dumps her completely.

It needs someone who is much deeper and stronger and someone who completely trusts her marriage and her husband, like Rituparna Ghosh to absolve Raima Sen of any guilt she would be harboring. Rituparna Ghosh sets Raima Sen completely free.

The movie is directed by a new director named Aniruddh Roy Chowdary and must say he has done a pretty good job. Anuranan means resonance in Bengali and I guess the director tries to show the resonance of relationships between the four individuals. This movie is originally released in Bengali and it also has a hindi dubbed version.

Watch this movie for the mature portrayal of trust, bonding and respect between non-related individuals. Watch this movie for the simplicity, with which the actors have portrayed the delicate interplay of relations. The story of this movie is very deep and it comes out simply and beautifully just because of the way it has been handled by the director and the actors.

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The Japanese Wife

Remember the time, when you are just into your teens and you fall in love with that someone special. The only thing that is important at that time is the bonding that you feel for him or her. You have a connection and you know that it is special. The love is innocent and the trust complete.

That is what you are left with when you watch the movie 'The Japanese Wife'.

I had heard about this movie, in one of the multiple film forums I am a part of - something about the title of the movie and the cast ( it has Rahul Bose in it ) and the director ( directed by Aparna Sen ) , had made me curious enough to want to watch it-even though at that time, I had no idea about the story of this movie. Over the weekend, I spotted this movie in a popular CD store, and I instantly bought it.

The movie did not disappoint me at all !

The story is about how a young bengali guy, falls in love with his Japanese pen friend. Both of them are shy by nature, and find writing to an unknown friend ( even as they struggle to write-since English is not either’s first language), as an easy means of expressing themselves. Their love blossoms through the letters they write to each other and they even get married on letters...! :)

They grow together in the long-long time that they are in touch with each other - all this while never having set their eyes on each other. For the 18 years that they bond through letters( they are married for 17 odd years out of these 18 years ), they remain faithful to each other and are each other's soul mates.

The beauty of this movie has to be the innocence of love between the two of them. Its almost divine to watch the care and devotion of Rahul Bose as a husband, and Chigusa Takaku( a Japanese actor ) as a wife as they support each other through health and sickness. The acting of Rahul Bose, Chigusa Takaku is subdued and subtle, the cinematography beautiful and the story line manages to take you back to the time you had your first crush.

The punch line below the title ‘The Japanese Wife’ on the CD of this movie says ‘637 letters, 4 phone calls, 17 years of marriage, but they have not yet met. How far will you go for love?’ Nothing could summarize this movie better !

All in all this movie is a must watch!

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The Beautiful Kashmiris !

Captivating ! Isnt it !
I recently saw my kashmiri friends dressed for a marriage in their traditional Kashmiri ornaments which prompted me to write this post.

Kashmir is inhabited by people from different communities like the Kashmiri Pandit, Ladakhi and Dogra tribes. This post is more about the dress and ornaments of the Kashmiri women - the muslim inhabitant in Kashmir as well as the Kashmiri Pandit.

This is a picture of an actress in a hindi movie. ( Couldnt find a clearer picture of a Kashmiri lady )


Here are some information on the picture -

Image: Sharmila Tagore in Shakti Samanta's Kashmir Ki Kali (1964). Religion unknown. Most likely a Muslim lady.

Tchand're Taa'che - Moon Headgear. Kashmiri Pandit woman also wear it.

Kan'waaj'e - Ear Rings - Typically worn by the muslim women.

The women are sometimes very handsome. The parda-nashins are, of course, very rarely seen. The men wear a long shirt called firan, which in the case of Hindus has long, narrow sleeves, and Muhammadans short, full ones. The Hindu woman or Punditani wears a girdle and has a white cap, whereas the Mussulman! wears a red head-dress. The black hair of young girls is braided in many thin strands, covering the back and forming a semi-circle, with a knot of hair hanging down the back, and stretching sometimes nearly to the feet.

- John Collett, A Guide for Visitors to Kashmir (1984)Here is a picture of Pandit Nehru's mother - a Kashmiri Pandit lady.

Notice her ear ornaments. The Kashmiri Pandit women wear the Dejharoo, Athroo as a symbol of their marriage - much like the mangal sutra is worn by women in some states of India.

The dejharoo is a pair of gold pendants, hanging on a silk thread or gold chain which passes through holes in the ears pieced at the top end of the lobes. You can read a very good description of the dejhoor over here.

I find the varied culture of the various states in India very fascinating. Some other day , some other post , I might put up something on the dressing of women of some other state.

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Note and Acknowlegement : A lot of information on this post, including the pictures are from this site http://www.searchkashmir.org

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Love and Fear - Godfather

I just completed reading Godfather and loved it. Like the many other books that I have put up posts on, I would like to bring up a few dialogues that I really loved in this book.

Don Corleone is a underworld don who believes in following his own rules and heart. He does not submit to the Government and helps people who are in trouble.

Luca Brasi is a trusted man in Don Corleone’s regime . He is supposed to be tough and extremely loyal to the Don. The following is a dialogue about Luca Brasi that I found interesting.

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"Luca brasi did not fear the police, he did not fear society, he did not fear God, he did not fear hell, he did not fear or love his fellow man. But he had elected, he had chosen, to fear and love Don Corleone."
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I have two sisters who are close friends to me. The age difference between the two sisters is about seven years. So by the time the elder sister had a son, the younger one was just in college. Since the elder sister used to go to work, she would leave her son at her maternal home with her mother. This meant, that the younger sister had ample time to spend with the kid and the kid had become very close to the aunt. The kid simply adored and loved his aunt.

There was this incident that had happened with the kid when the kid was around 4 years old. One day, the young boy in his mischief, broke a vase at home and would just not apologize for the same to his grandmother. The younger sister watched the dialogues between her mother and the kid for some time. When she saw that the dialogue was moving nowhere, she took the boy with her into one of the study rooms and locked the door. After 5 mins when both of them came out, the boy was seemed subdued and went and apologized to his grandparents.

I was watching all this - and was amazed by the transformation. I raised my eyebrow in surprise at my aunt ( the kid's grandmom ) - asking - how did this happen ! Is he so scared of his aunt ?

His grandmom replied with a smile - No he is not scared of her. He loves her so much and has so much respect for her that no matter what he doesnt want to look bad in her eyes.

I was dazed.

If we look in our lives, there are umpteen people we come across. However there are only a few to who we really look up to and listen to. What makes us surrender to those people so unquestioningly? Force or authority or plead definitely is not a criteria .

On the other hand, there are a few people who trust us unquestioningly and there are some who find it difficult to understand us. Can you really make someone to understand you or follow your instructions ? You can reach out to a person, chide him, or request him, or explain things to him – but he/she will accept it only as much respect and acceptance the person has for you.

As shown in the anecdotes above, a person’s submission to you will be only out of his/her own willingness and respect and love he/she has for you.

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Jai ho !

Have you ever noticed the fashion statement our ( Indian ) politicians make. If you notice each of our own politicians - men or women - have their own ways of dressing. Be in the ex Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha - who created her signature style by the bullet proof jacket that she wears or be it, the much in news, very flamboyant Shashi Tharoor - whose style is a very unique mix of flamboyance and the politically correct Khadi.

When the whole of the 'Indian men population' seem to have moved on to a simple pant and a shirt - what I find really funny is that these politicians retain the very Indian dhoti or lungi . I mean , honestly, do these politicians not wear a simple pant-shirt at all - as in, have their sartorial sense not got at least that westernized ? What are they trying to prove by wearing the lungis and the dhotis to the parliament and sometimes even when representing India to the outside world - I would understand if the women politicians wear a saree when they travel abroad - after all the saree is a much worn attire in India - and is worn by the rich / poor or old / young alike - which means to say, that it does represent the dressing of the Indian women - but can you say the same of the dhoti or a lungi . I would find it hillarious if the average working men in India start wearing a lungi to their office :)

Besides have you noticed that all the men in politics - whether they are from the younger or the older generation - "must" wear a white kurta :)

Check out the few really "cool" dresses of our very own netas

Chidambaram




Laloo prasad Yadav.



Shashi Taroor



Jayalalitha


If I did not know them as politicians, I would have seriously mistaken them for models showing off their very own 'Indian', 'regional' identity .

After all , all the dresses worn on ramp are not meant to be worn in your day to day life :)

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Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin - take your pick !

Around 2005, the world was beginning to see a new revolution. A new world was coming into existence - a world that was surreal and yet very real. The internet had now touched millions of people world wide in such a huge manner that there was now a presence of an online world. A lot of people now had an online identity, online friends, online connections and most importantly an online life. Online social networking sites sprouted like beans - Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin - personal and professional networking sites- so on and so forth. ( Click on the links to find out more and learn about the history of these sites ).

The delight of having a presence in this new world , getting connected to so many friends of yours and looking at their connections - The delight of knowing whats happening in the lives of the people around you - was very exciting! Making friends with like minded people all over the world, learning about them and their cultures, had never been so easy - what with so much of personal information being displayed unabashedly. It was fun to chat up with old acquaintances whom you generally wouldn't have chatted with so frequently. The birthday reminders and being able to wish your near and dear ones are pleasures and such blessings of these sites.

Each one of us in this period of 4-5 years have ensured that we too have an identity in this unknown and new world. At the same time, on a hindsight , I now tend to think - How exciting or safe really is this new development. True its exciting to have new friends - but how much can I really trust these "unknown", "faceless" , "bodyless" souls. True it is exciting to know about people's lives - but what about those who announce their daily activities( in form of twitter or status updates ) to the world, dime a dozen. Why do people want the world to know what they are doing minute by minute ? And do they realize that conciously or unconciously, they are creating a perception about themselves or their life around them ? Is this what they intended for ? And then , there is this thing about connections - Out of the blue I find that my childhood friend ( read - a friend with whom you have shared your life ), is also there in the network list of my boss or a distant relative, or my inlaws. Though initially I would be excited to find such interesting connections - Now I find it a bit intruding on my personal space and privacy.

Hmm - should we continue being online at all then? Whether we like it or not , Social Networking has "come", and it has come to stay and there is a presence of a online life that is as real as your real life. Whether we choose to "be responsible" of the opportunities these sites provide and "take advantage" of them or whether we choose to look its negatives and get secluded is a choice we need to make.

After all, whether online or offline, it is "our" life, "our" society, and "our" world out there.

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Fountainhead - Creativity

Check out this excerpt from Fountainhead which talks about Creativity. In this paragraph the Newspaper Magnate Gail Wynand gives his opinion on what he thinks about who is greater - the creator or his creation. The "man" as referred in the paragraph below refers to the architect and the skyscraper is this architect's creation.
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"I like to see a man standing at the foot of a skyscraper," he said. "It makes him no bigger than an ant - isn't that the correct bromide for the occasion? The God-damn fools! It's man who made it - the whole incredible mass of stone and steel. It doesn't dwarf him, it makes him greater than the structure. It reveals his true dimensions to the world. What we love about these buildings, Dominique, is the creative faculty, the heroic in man."
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Have you ever gone through an emotion as mentioned in the above paragraph. Have you ever created something - anything - and felt insecure that , that creation will grow beyond you . That your identity will be lost.

Well, I remember going through this emotion once. Kruti was in its initial stages and everybody around me was very excited. During the first project we were doing in Kruti - the hobby classes - There were a few friends who came over and almost took over the event that we wanted to do. They were bursting with ideas and were extremely good at handling the children who participated in the hobby classes and the show. The children loooved them and would anxiously wait for the weekends to have the hobby classes. Things were going great - but something was beginning to unsettle me.

There were times when I would think - What the hell are these people doing ? What is happening to the hobby classes ? Isnt Kruti my idea ?

On second thoughts - Should I not be happy that Kruti is growing way beyond my dreams ?

Questions ! Questions ! And slowly and steadily the answers started falling in place.

What do you think is the biggest obstacle for any idea to blossom and make its place in the world. Whether you like it or not, the only hindrance for your idea to grow is you ! If your idea is not given to the world -for other people to take on and groom, your idea can grow only as big as "you think".

You get out of the way of your idea- your idea and hence your creation takes its own shape.

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To Kill a Mockingbird - As Scout sees it !

I read 'To kill a mocking bird - Harper Lee' about 2 years back - and I completely fell in love with the book. I was amazed at the tom boyish character of six year old , Scout , the innocent, 'uncertain but sure', 'growing into adulthood' character of her ten year old brother Jim and the poise, the courageous, mature and just character of Atticus Finch her father. I guess, I could identify a lot about the characteristics of Jim and Scout, with my brother and mine. The growing up years and the curiosities of a child - her frustration in understanding certain ways of the world and hence her difficulty in adapting to it - are something me and I am sure , any modern girl will relate to.

The best part of the book is that , it is written in first person - and shows the world as seen through the eyes of a six year old girl - Scout.

Some of these conversation though seemingly innocent and sometimes innocently funny, seem to make you think and ponder on the bigger realities of life - Check out a few conversations that I could manage to list out -
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[Jem] was certainly never cruel to animals, but I had ... never known his charity to embrace the insect world. "Why couldn't I mash him?" I asked. "Because they don't bother you," Jem answered in the darkness. He had turned out his reading light. "Reckon you're at the stage now where you don't kill flies and mosquitoes now, I reckon," I said. "Lemme know when you change your mind. Tell you one thing, though, I ain't gonna sit around and not scratch a redbug." "Aw dry up," he answered drowsily. Jem was the one who was getting more like a girl every day, not I.
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As most girls and boys grow up - dont we all go through phases in which we question about - why are girls like this - why are they supposed to be like 'girls' - why are boys different ? - why should they behave like boys ? You never get the answers to those questions though :)

Also it is very confusing for scout about why her brother was behaving differently as they were growing up. Strikes a chord doesnt it ? :)

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Somewhere, I had received the impression that Fine Folks were ... people who did the best they could with the sense they had, but Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land the finer it was.
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Funny na, when you realize how simple and uncomplicated a child's life is - and how much we as adults mess up in our understanding as we grow up.

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... I asked Dill where his father was: "You ain't said anything about him." "I haven't got one." "Is he dead?" "No." "Then if he's not dead, you've got one, haven't you?" Dill blushed and Jem told me to hush, a sure sign that Dill had been studied and found acceptable.
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Liked this conversation because of the clear difference in the perspectives with which Jim and Scout were comprehending the situation. A six year old cannot fathom how you can have a father who is not dead and not have him with you ! Highly impossible. But Jim, who is 4 years older , understands.


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Atticus Finch: Do you know what a compromise is? Scout: Bendin' the law? Atticus Finch: [slightly bemused] Uh, no. It's an agreement reached by mutual consent. Now, here's the way it works. You concede the necessity of goin' to school, we'll keep right on readin' the same every night, just as we always have. Is that a bargain?

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A six year old has her own understanding of life and situations - and love the way Atticus , her father handles her and manages to make her see sense without making her wrong.

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If you havent read this book yet - pick it up immediately - else you have missed something in life :)

If you have, what are your favorite Scout Finch conversations in the book.

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Ignited minds - Getting the forces together

Here is an excerpt from Ignited Minds which talks about the various projects (involving integration of various fields) that Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam undertook while his tenure as a chairman of the TIFAC team.
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I held the position of Chairman of the Technology Information Forcasting and Assessment Council ( TIFAC ) under the Department of Science and Technology, for nearly two tenures ( about eight years ). This period saw the creation of Technology Vision 2020 based on the work of task teams consisting of 500 experts in all who had available to them inputs from 5000 scientists and technologists from different fields. Later, the Technology Vision document and the national security aspects got integrated and the India Millennium Missions ( IMM 2020 ) emerged. When I took over as Principal Scientific Advisor to the Govt. of India, in Nov 1999 , the task was to do detailing and evolve a aworking plan for IMM 2020. It is indeed a roadmap for transforming India into a developed country - the Second Vision of the Nation. Certain experimental work on education , agriculture and also development of a a number of villages in an integrated way is currently progressing.

I worked with the TIFAC teams in three areas - agriculture, advanced education and rural connectivity.

With Prof. S.K.Sinha , a renowned agricultural scientist , TIFAC took up a project to enhance agricultural productivity in central Bihar and eastern India. Six villages in one and nine in another were selected during the kharif season of 1998. The system approach consisted of soil analysis , seed choice, cultivation season, fertilizer selection and training to the farmers. This intensive collaboration of scientists and farmers resulted in substantial increase in wheat yields, which rose from 2.5 tonnes per hectare to nearly 5 tonnes per hectare. When I and Y.S. Rajan visited a few villages where this system approach is used, we found the farmers showing an interest in new issues like equipment for faster harvesting, storage facilities and marketing and banking systems. It was clear that a small team, cutting across various departments could work wonders even in a difficult region , achieving results in a cost and time effective way.

Another experiment under way is REACH ( Relevance and Excellence ain ACHieving new heights in education institutions ). The purpose of this mission is to establish 80 to 100 centers that follow common academic programmes and share the commitment to achieve excellence. In this endeavour, they work together by interchange of faculty and joint research as need be. As part of this, Centers of Relevance and Excellence ( CORE) have been established in Patiala, Dibrugarh, Mumbai, Thanjavur and Surat in the area of agro and industrial biotechnology , advanced computing and information processing, petroleum reservoir engineering, industrial safety, environmental engineering and herbal drugs. Our experience in the REACH programme is that industries are willing to participate in the specialized areas of their interest and they are also willing to invest about 40 per cent of the total expenditure in establishing CORE. In return, they will benefit in terms of skilled manpower and access to the results of research. The willingness of industry to be partners in technology development and education has helped our confidence a great deal. It was also satisfying to see Dr M.S.Vijayaraghavan, Adviser in the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, blossom into a leader in the integrated learning system. His innovation was to bring commitment of industry to the learning programme.

Another example relates to the programme for rural connectivity evolved under the leadership of Prof. P.V.Indiresan, who was formerly Director of IIT Madras. As mentioned earlier, the fact that there is net migration from villages to cities indicates that they offer more opportunities and the only way to equalize the flow is to develop the rural areas and bring life there on par with that in the cities. Once employment opportunities increase there, as do the amenities available, as per the model created by Prof. Indiresan, rural development may be expected to prevent, if not actually reverse the rural - urban migration. Presently, several technologies exist to make this possible, provided we use the connectivity approach in various areas.

For the rural development programme called PURA, we have introduced the concept of dynamic connectivity of four types called PEEK: Physics, Electronics, Economics and Knowledge connectivities.
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Nice projects na ! Will put up another post someday on the current state of these projects. This book was written in the 2002- 2003 period.

Meanwhile, I hope all the projects have achieved great success in the fields they embarked on.

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Makarasankranti - The festival of Kites !

Recently my friend Neelu (from my Baroda days) and her husband Amit had been to our place and I was telling Raghav and Amit that we should go to Baroda during the Navratri. The colourfulness , people dressing up in their traditional best and the garba dance -how a city can become alive in the night and how one gets transported to a almost different and a fantasy world is something that needs to be witnessed to be believed.

And as I was talking to him about Navratri, he says - Yes. And I also want to go to Baroda during that kite flying festival .

That touched a chord ! How could I have ever forgotten about the kite flying festival of Uttrayana or Makarasanktranti in Gujarat !

Sankranthi means transmigration of Sun from one Rāshi (zodiac in Indian astrology) to the other. Hence there are 12 such Sankrantis in all. However, the Sankranthi festival usually refers to Makara Sankaranti, or the transition of the Sun from Dhanu rashi (Sagittarius) to Makara rashi (Capricorn). This festival is also called Uttrayana which means- "Uttara( meaning North ) Ayana( Going )" - the start of the "northward journey of the sun ".

There is another significance of this day - after this day the days start becoming longer and warmer and thus the chill of winter declines.

Every year 14th and 15th Jan is a holiday in Gujarat. The build up for the festival begins a good 2-3 months earlier to the actual festival. The Kite makers start making their kites and beautiful , colourful kites start hanging on the rims of the small shops.

Along with the kites , a critical part of the Kite flying is the string to which the kite is tied. These strings are themselves made of different colours and very importantly are mixed with "glass powder". This is so that, it can be used as an effective weapon in cutting other people's kite.

About a month before the actual festival, the kite flying begins. One can start seeing the highly enthusiastic kite flyers come out and enjoying themselves with the kite flying.

Though, nothing can prepare you for the josh, excitement, colourfulness, fun and gaeity of the 14th of Jan. Kite flying begins at sunrise for most of the gujratis. And Oh ! How beautiful the sky looks on that day. Check this out -



Along with the kite flying , comes a very intense competition among the kite flyers on how long does one's kite remain in the sky or who's kite is the strongest of all. Kite flyers challenge other kite flyers to get into a tussle with them . And the fight starts. Both the kite flyers manoeuvre and guide their kites to entangle the string of the other person's kite and eventually cut it. And after a small struggle, one kite starts flying off in the air aimlessly. There is jubiliation on the winning side, coz not only the kite flyers but the whole gang of people around them are having fun.

And do you think the game ends there. Hell no ! The next interesting part is to catch the orphaned kite that is now wandering aimlessly. Judging the direction of the wind , and predicting which way the kite will go and eventually fall, would be a bunch of young children - ever ready to pounce on the "fallen" kite ( pun intended ) :). And finally the caught kites would go back in to the kitty of their family or friends who would be using it for their next kite match.

Fun - colour and life is what you get to see on this festival.
If you ever get a chance to go to Baroda or Ahmedabad ( or any city of Gujarat for that matter ), dont ever miss to see the beauty of Uttarayan.

Happy Makarsankranti ! :)

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P.S. All the photoes used in this post are from the site - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Uttarayan-Festival-Kite-Flying-Day - I profoundly acknowledge and express my gratitude to those who have put up these pictures on this facebook group . These pictures brought out profound memories of the wonderful festival and these pictures were the only reason, that I could write this post.

Read about the complete article on MakaraSankranti on wikipedia over here.

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Ignited Minds - States of a Nation

Time and again, I have brought up in this space, excerpts of some books, that I found interesting to chew upon and digest. This time, I bring to you a paragraph about 'States of a Nation' from the APJ Abdul Kalam's Ignited Minds. He says and I quote -
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“A man is said to pass through different stages in his lifetime. Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, in his book Manifest Your Destiny, makes an interesting categorization of them as athlete stage, warrior stage, statesperson stage and spirit stage. It occurred to me that nations too make a similar transition and in extending this analogy to them I have termed the last two stages big brother and self-realization stages respectively. The stages do not follow in sequence necessarily; they can be coexistent, with one aspect dominant.

In the first, athlete stage, a nation fresh from an independence struggle, or some other transition, embarks on an energetic pursuit of performance and achievement. This has happened to Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.

When a nation leaves this stage behind, it generally enters the warrior stage. Proud of its achievements, it finds ways to demonstrate its superiority over others, perhaps through conquest. Ego is the driving force. During this stage people are busy with goals and achievements in competition with others and this, as Dyer points out for the individual, generates anxiety. Convincing others of its superiority becomes the theme.

In the next, big brother stage, the ego has been tamed somewhat and with its newfound maturity awareness shifts to what is important to other nations and societies. In the big brother stage the nation is still an achiever but it is not so obsessed with proving its strength. The idea is to help others become better. The erstwhile Soviet Union by its developmental role in some countries had adopted this role. As with the individual, so too with the nation, the transition from the warrior stage to the big brother stage is a rewarding but difficult exercise.

There is one stage even higher than this big brother stage. In this, a nation recognizes its truest essence. It comes out of the wisdom that the earth is no single nation’s inheritance but of all, and its people are aware of the responsibility of the individual towards his fellow human beings. This can be called the realization stage…”
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As I was writing this post, I was reminded of a 'Team building and leadership' training that I had attended in Wipro. There we were shown that any team passes through four stages - Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.
a. Forming is when the team is just formed .
b. Storming is when each person in the team wants to show his prowess and superiority over others.
c. Norming is when some clear leaders emerge for the various areas in which the team operates. These leaders are accepted by one and all in the team.
d. Performing - Now that the leadership is clear - the team works together , supporting each other and giving a high quality performance.

Interesting isnt it :) I guess the parallels between the team stages and the human being stages as mentioned in the Manifest your Destiny is clear for all of us to see.

Well, politics is not exactly my subject. But for the purpose of the post, I did some thinking :) If you look at India, in the areas of industrial growth, art and culture, we would be still at the athlete stage - maybe bordering on warrior stage. With regards to our education system, I would say we are in the Warrior Stage. Today our education systems and engineers are being highly lauded for and in demand world wide. As regards to Spirituality, I would say we are in the big brother or even self realization stage - what with, yoga, pranayama and courses like 'art of living', spiritual leaders like Ramdev baba, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar , Rishi Prabhakar making a huge impact the society in general.

Interesting topic right ? What are your thoughts on this ?

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Happiness - Atlas Shrugged - 1

I read the 'Atlas Shrugged' last month. Did not like the book too much - but was amused at the plot . It must take a Ayn Rand to think like that :)( I would not like to divulge more in the interest of those who have not yet read the book ). I infact ended up comparing it to Fountainhead and realized that there couldn't have been two books that are as dissimilar as 'The Fountainhead' and 'Atlas Shrugged'.

What I love about Ayn Rand style of writing, though, is her take on various aspects of life. Here are her thoughts on 'Happiness' , that she reflects through John Galt's speech in Atlas Shrugged.
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Happiness is not to be achieved at the command of emotional whims. Happiness is not the satisfaction of whatever irrational wishes you might blindly attempt to indulge. Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy—a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your own destruction, not the joy of escaping from your mind, but of using your mind’s fullest power, not the joy of faking reality, but of achieving values that are real, not the joy of a drunkard, but of a producer. Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing but rational actions.

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Well Said isnt it . I looked back to see what I would call happiness ...

When you are around 3-4 years of age , Happiness is getting that new toy or getting that hug from your favorite uncle or aunt. When you are in the primary school, Happiness is getting that sum solved right, winning a game of marbles, badminton, rushing to school and reaching school just before the prayer bell rings ! Happiness in your teenage is going on those long cycle rides with your best friend - discovering new places in your territory - that hidden lake, that hidden park, sitting on the porch of your house with your friend and chatting for hours together. Happiness in adulthood is figuring out how to live - happiness is figuring out how to be happy in spite of our circumstances and relishing those moments when you have figured it out ! :)

Happiness are those moments of satisfaction that you get when you have done your job and done it well. Happiness are those moments when you have savored a precious moment with your loved ones and cherished a moment of silent togetherness .

Here's wishing that each one of you live your life fully and happily ! Have a great week ahead !

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Fountainhead - Your self expression against life - 2

Below is another conversation that I loved in the fountainhead.

Here Henry Cameron( the person whom Roark respects a lot and who even though has been acclaimed as a very modernistic thinker , was put down by the world and could not grow to fame -coz the world could not see and understand his views and opinions -( did that sound familiar ;) ) ) sees his admirer and colleague establishing himself. He is mighty proud of his patron , however he is wary. And here are his words of pride , caution and encouragement to his dear friend .
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Howard Roark, has just shown Cameron, the photographs of his office and the board outside his office door that says 'Howard Roark'.

Henry Cameron says - It doesnt say much. Only 'Howard Roark, ARchitect.'. But its like those mottoes men carved over the entrance of a castle and died for. Its a challenge in the face of something so vast and so dark, that all the pain on earth-and do you know how much suffering there is on earth?-all the pain comes from that thing you are going to face. I dont't know what it is. I don't know why it should be unleashed against you. I know only that it will be. And I know that if you carry these words through to the end, it will be a victory, Howard, not just for you, but for something that should win, that moves the world --- and never wins acknowledgement. It will vindicate so many who have fallen before you, who have suffered as you will suffer. May God bless you --- or whoever it is that is alone to see the best., the highest possible to human hearts. You're on your way into hell, Howard".
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This para moved me to no ends. Have you struggled a lot of times to express yourself and have got disheartened and dissappointed that you havent been heard. Have you at the end of it all , grown in your self realization and realization of life. I have always believed with great struggle, comes a great realization and a lot of growth in a human being.

No struggle, there is no growth.

The biggest struggle a person has is a struggle to express himself.

And the greatest victory of every human being, is being able to express and voice himself, and be heard, just the way he is and way he is not.

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Integrity of the Fountainhead

Have been reading the Fountain head of late and am loving it.

And what I like most in this book are the conversations on integrity - Integrity of a building, Integrity of the person who builds a building ( here an architect ) .

Hope you enjoy the post. ( Inspired by Raghav's series on Alchemist )

Below is one such conversation --

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Roark , a student of architecture in the Staton university has just been expelled from the university for his submission of a ridiculous design. His dean is trying to make him see sense and trying to have a conversation with him to get him back to the university. ( Roark however is clear that he has learnt whatever he had to in the university and is in no mood to get back ).
Presenting this post on Roark's idea of integrity :)

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" But I dont understand. Why do you want me to think that this is great architecture ?" Roark pointed to the picture of the Parthenon .
"That, " said the Dean , " is the Parthenon"
"So it is. "
"I havent the time to waste on silly questions "
"All right then". Roark got up , he took a long ruler from the desk, he walked to the picture. "Shall I tell you whats rotten about it ?"
" Its the Parthenon!" said the Dean.
" Yes , God Damn it, the Parthenon!"
The ruler stuck the glass over the picture.
"Look , " said Roark. "The famous flutings on the famous cloumns - what are they there for ? To hide the joints in wood - when columns were made of wood, only these arent, they are marble. The triglyphs , what are they ? Wood . Wooden beams, the way they had to be laid when people began to build wooden shacks. Your Greeks took marble and they made copies of their wooden structures out of it, because others had done it that way. Then your masters of the Renaissance came along and made copies in plaster, of copies in marble, of copies in wood. Now here we are , making copies in steel and concrete , of copies in plaster, of copies in marble, of copies in wood. why ? "
" Rules ? " said Roark . " Here are my rules : what can be done with one substance must never be done with another. No two materials are alike. No two sites on earth are alike. No two buildings have the same purpose. The purpose, the site , the material determine the shape. Nothing can eb reasonable or beautiful unless it is made by one central idea and the idea sets every detail. A building is alive like a man. Its integrity is to follow its own truth, its one single theme , and to serve its own single purpose. A man doesnt borrow pieces of his body. A building doesnt borrow hunks of its soul. Its maker gives it the soul and every wall , window and stairway to express it . "

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What do you think of this conversation . What is "integrity " for you ?

Post script --

If you are interested to know more about the Parthenon and the Roman Architecture , check out this link. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/partheno2/ss/aa061300a.htm

Will put up more conversations from the Fountainhead on and off..( not as a series) - so keep watching :) .

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Slum Dog Millionaire

I finally watched the movie and here’s what I think of the same. At the start, this movie seemed to me as an out and out commercial flick whose sole purpose is about getting publicity, making money and dramatization. Thankfully, halfway through the movie, my opinion changed.

Lets start with the name of the movie.. Slum Dog? What about slum gives one (anyone) the liberty to call them Dogs??

Why is Anil Kapoor as the host of the 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' so condescending towards Jamal (Dev Patel) right from the beginning of the show? - The only logic that is portrayed is that because Jamal is a person from the Slum? Do you guys see any reason to this? I can understand his behavior towards the end of the show - he doesn’t want anyone to win this show and he be robbed of his money. But did anyone understand those mannerisms of Anil Kapoor during the start??

And then the disgusting scene where little Jamal deep dives into the shit pool, and the scenes where the children's eyes are removed to get them ready for begging- don’t know what to think of them. I started with - what does the director want to portray by showing such disgusting realities.. How much of it portrays 'Real India’. True there might be slums like that. But how much percent of the slums are as dirty as that. Shouldn’t be more that 20 % I feel. I know this for sure, coz I have been working with a slum for the past 3 years. And the reality of the other 80% slums is much different that that portrayed (Just for the readers knowledge - the slum that is portrayed is Dharavi - which is Asia's largest and most densely slum. And also FYI - Dharavi is also very well known for the leather market that it has within it and you get extremely good leather goods at extremely reasonable prices). Slums are called slums only because their earning capacity makes them below the poverty line.

About the scenes and realities of the beggar gangs - I was left with this - If this is common knowledge - What is the Govt. doing about this. How come is this allowed? I am upset because, I have seen the beggar gangs actually sprouting and thriving in Bangalore, right in front of my eyes in the past 3 years. Have no Politicians, Govt officials noticed this. How come - nobody is doing anything about it ??

How come do we let some foreign director portray the eccentricities of India and get celebrated because he showed all the negative eccentricities ??

What have we won the Oscar awards for ?? For creativity, technicality, acting, direction? Or are people celebrating seeing the slums and beggar gangs - thinking that they are getting to see the taste of 'Real India' ??

Thankfully though, around 40 minutes into the movie, the real story that is intended to be shown begins - that of the love story of Jamal and Lathika and the plot behind it. That ultimately destiny rules your life. One does get hooked to the honest, straight character of Jamal and his 'never say die' attitude, the 'true love' that he has for Lathika and how he keeps going back to find her.

You would fall in love with the three kids who portray Jamal, Salim and Lathika in their childhood. Their innocence, their playfulness, their mischief really reach out to you. The plot of the movie - the story of Jamal - intertwined with the game show - is very creatively and tastefully done and once you get hooked on to the movie and the game show, there is no looking back.

All in all, this movie is quite an enjoyable experience.

Note - I am not saying the first 2-3 paragraphs because a foreign director has directed this movie.

What I truly feel is that people who are in a position to influence the general public (the movie directors, writers, politicians, leaders in various fields) need to show more responsibility when they are showing or doing a piece of art that is meant for a larger audience. What I am concerned about is that, people who have no idea on slums will end up thinking that slums in general are as dirty as that - Which is NOT TRUE! Or the foreign audience may end up thinking that India is about Dirty Slums, beggars and mafia - Which is again NOT TRUE!

My opinion on the Oscar Nomination -Technically and Creatively, I honestly believe that are better made Bollywood films like Taare Zameen Par, Rang De Basanti, Wednesday. Music wise I would rate the songs in Bombay, Roja to be much better than SDM.

On a positive note - If this is what it takes for a movie to win an Oscar, then I am proud to say that Bollywood movies are of a much better quality and taste.

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Hampi - The beauty of Ruins

" If dreams were made out of stone, it would be Hampi"

Finally on last sunday, hubby and I packed our bags and started enroute our long pending trip to Hampi. Expectations full in our hearts we wondered how this new place is going to be.

It was late when we started ( it was 4 pm in the evening ) , so we decided to halt at Chittradurga. Morning, wide eyed and excited we started our journey to Hampi. Hardly 50 km from Chittradurga, we got to watch the first of our surprises - Windmills here - Windmills there - Windmills everywhere . Below is a picture of the wind mills standing proudly in front of the rising sun.






Smiling to ourselves, we moved ahead . Finally we reached Hospet , where we checked in to a hotel. Freshened up , we now left to Hampi which is just 20 km from Hospet.


We entered Hampi and got a glimpse of what Hampi was all about - Gosh there was stone architecture everywhere . We went to the Hampi market place and went to the KSRTC office where we got introduced to the "interesting person" who was going to be our guide for the next 1 day.

Rates settled, our guide, Shiva Prasad informs us- I too am not from here - I am from Bangalore - I am here to write a book on Hampi and to earn while I do this, I act as a guide to the tourists here ". He gave us his card, which showed his qualification as BA, MA, BTS, MTS. Boy !


Hampi is located between 5 mountains and the river Tungabadra divides Hampi into North Hampi and South Hampi. Hampi was earlier Kishkinda , the kingdom of the monkeys ( Where Vali and Sugreeva ruled ), as described in the Ramayana. Around 1300 century, the Vijaynagar dynasty was started by the two brothers Hukka and Bukka and their guide VidyaRanya.

Shiva Prasad informed us that there were two routes that would take us around Hampi - One was motorable - which we planned to cover the first day itself and the other that had to be covered thru walk.
Hmm.. Dont want to bore you with data - But need to add this. There were many kings in the Vijaynagar dynasty . The kingdoms of all these kings , have the same architecture - all of them have a temple, named after the king, a market place, a kitchen and a hall for travellers to have food and rest. And you will see this architecture repeating itself again and again.
Hampi comes across as a open stone museum under the wide blue sky. Below is the picture of one of the untouched and beautiful temples on the backdrop of sunset.


Below picture shows a balance, that the king used to measure gold/silver against his weight

Shown below isone of the huge sprawling areas of market that are visible everywhere in Hampi. If you close your eyes, you can almost hear the hustle and bustle of the people in the busy market.



End of the first day , we saw lotus on land.. Arre, I am talking about the lotus Mahal , the queens mahal , guys !








Below are the few pieces of architecture in the temples that caught my eye. The below architecture, show business men from all over the world who came to Hampi for trade. Note the different dresses and headgears of the business men.






This one shows Hanuman killing Ravana's soldiers - one with his tail , one with his right leg and one with his left leg. :)

We had been in Hampi for only a day - but it felt we had been there for ages already. On our return journey, we said bye to our very knowledgable guide and asked him to inform us when his book got released.

As we returned , we felt the pride and gratitude in all the creations that the people all over the world have left for people like us. Smile in our minds, we started our journey back with a promise to start our tasks back home with full of enery, vigour and creativity.

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