Mr. Kalmadi - Did we deserve this game?

When the story broke on one of the news channels, I was of the opinion that it could be a small time scam where at best a few lakhs have been squandered off by some selfish babus. Well it turns out Mr. Kalmadi and party have had other things on mind. In a blatant deed, they have looted the country and its public of thousands of crores. Common Wealth Games are now “Come-on Wealth Games” for some.

The disgrace that this has caused the country is paramount and the dare devil Mr. Kalmadi was brazen enough to raise his voice at the press saying he would sue them for defamation, and was also open to any enquiry.

I am certain that Mr. Kalmadi would be able to prove that he was not the perpetrator of all this misappropriation of funds, but even if one assumes his innocence what the heck was he doing while his folks were screwing the country of all this money.

On the charge of accountability, Dear Mr. Kalmadi you must take the blame and therefore at least step down!

Guru, who me...No way :)

If I remember right, we met on the cricket field. I was the striker, a nippy bowler with a suspect action was bowling his heart (& hand) out. I took a wild swing and the bat slipped from my hands, not for the first time though. The guy who got my bat back amidst howls and laughter and witty remarks from both the playing teams was my friend - Shankar.

We studied together, we dreamt together, we played together, we watched the same movies and we were fans of the same old movie stars – Dharam & Mithun. I, had at a certain point in time during my school days in late 80’s opened my home for anyone who wished to study in the evenings, irrespective of school, class, batch. That was my first brush with managing people, I had practically a bunch of 20-25 people coming to my place which my any means of exaggeration was just a 8’ X 7’ room in a chawl. Most of us who got together then bonded well, we went on to form lifelong friendships, if not all, some have definitely stood the test of time & relationships.

Life had different plans for us though. We sort of split after we went our separate ways into engineering and then further into our professional lives. Our first few years in the professional environment were tough given our modest backgrounds and the huge backlog we carried in terms of general knowledge. Most of us were able to overcome those initial tough times. Many of us lost touch with each other and were not able to speak with each other frequently.

One exception was my friend Shankar, who makes it a point to call and wish during Guru Poornima, this weekend was no different. His words, “Guru! Main bol raha hun” are as fresh in my mind as the first time, I allegedly gave a “pravachan” in the holy hills of Bhima Shankar. I am told it was an all night affair, complete with examples and admonishment!

I have no recollections, but the routine continues, I am a Guru without actually being one, I have no idea when I have shared anything significant with anyone that I became close with. I only did my job and never tried to teach.

Hopefully this expectation of many years of me being a Guru will someday lead me to do something worthwhile, befitting a real Guru! J Till that time let me enjoy life!

The speed challenge 2010

It all started with a lunch discussion like any other trivial but interesting bit. I have been walking in the park near my home for some years now, though I cannot claim to be an absolute regular, but I can manage about 5 (6 on a good day, with some incentive) rounds of the park in about 30 minutes. The calculations apart, there is a storm brewing on this topic for a while and the initiation of this reaction has been a good old friend who has recently caught the bug of walking, jogging and has since the last month or so become a regular. My friends claim that he could clock nearly 7-8 kilometers in an hour has been the bone of contention.

2 Lunch discussions not with-standing, the team took up to individual research and there came the analysis and paralysis of it all, after Our friend set a date to demonstrate it could be done J

 

-----Original Appointment-----
From: <>
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 12:56 PM
To: <>, <>, <>
Subject: Speed Measure
When: Saturday, June 19, 2010 7:00 AM-8:30 AM (GMT+05:30) Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi.
Where: <>'s choice

 

Regards

<> 

 

The Analysis begins J

 

From: <>
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 1:24 PM
To: <>, <>, <>

Subject: RE: Speed Measure

 

Good sprit <> I appreciate.

 

I just thought put my calculation here

 

Walking 8KM / hr means

133 mts / Min

Average stride for a Male is Height * 0.413

Assuming <> Height 5 ft 10 inches  = 70*0.413= 28.91 inches = 2.41ft

Average stride of <> is = 2.5ft = 0.76mts

To cover 133 mts in 1 min <> need to make = 133/.76 = 175 strides which almost means 3 stride per second

Which seems very high (this is a stride generally achived by the running especially elite runners make 200 strides per minute)

Also there are some links mention that averge fit person can walk a mile in 15 min

= 4 miles in an hour

= 4*1.6 Please note this data based on some western world where people are generally tall and fit

 

Hence one has to walk at 25% more than  this level.

 

All the best!

 

There in came the experts too…to show that they are after all the experts J

 

From: <>
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 1:43 PM
To: <>, <>, <>
Subject: RE: Speed Measure

 

Good analysisJ

 

And some more

 

From: <>
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 2:02 PM
To:; <>, <>, <>, <>, <>, <>
Subject: RE: Speed Measure

 

Yes. An avg persons fast walking speed is around 7 kmph

 

Best Regards,

 

And Determined as we were, both Raja and myself hit the track (er.. Park) last night and demonstrated that it could be done, though the cynics J were not present.

 

From: Naresh Choudhary
To: <>, <>, <>, <>, <>, <>
Sent: Thu May 27 20:25:41 2010
Subject: Re: Speed Measure

30 minutes 5.25 rounds of the park, 1 round equals 800m.

Regards,
Naresh Choudhary
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry, Pardon the typo's!...

And the encouragement and validation and support of course from the one who initiated it J

 

From: <>
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 8:52 PM
To: <>, <>, <>, <>, <>, <>
Subject: Re: Speed Measure

Count down begins 24 days to go

Regards
<>
-------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Eagerly waiting for the D Day, meanwhile we practice hard… Let’s do it J

2 Birthdays & me :)

There is someone in my life with 2 Birthdays.

An official one and a real one!

Imagine the amount of effort one has to put in to remember just one Birthday and now try figuring out how does one deal with two.

Last year I almost(?) forgot the real birthday and it was only after prodding and taunting on “what is today’s date” did I make a calculated guess and saved the day (rather night) for myself.

This year was no different, as usual all my aids and means used for remembering birthdays failed me on that fateful day, I forgot once again and there it was the questions on “what is today’s date?” started with a smily J and ended with a frown L.

Next year I will be watchful, the reminders have been set in 3 different places, hopefully all 3, if not at least one of them should come to my rescue.

Till then, Wish you a very happy birthday and have a great year ahead, K!!!

IPL - Greed, Ego, Arrogance and Lalit Modi

My interest in cricket has almost got to a point of no return after the match fixing scandal some years ago. It was only the odd Sachin Tendulkar innings or a great performance by one of the Indian players that would invoke some interest.

The IPL changed it to a fair extent and i feel the way the product was packaged and marketed was phenomenal. Lalit Modi was the guy who almost single handed created this product and marketed and lived it right thru. Somewhere down the line Lalit Modi became (well it seems he always was!) arrogant and egoistic. He probably was taking the IPLs succcess to his head. This ego, greed, arrogance led to Lalit Modi's downfall and the sad exit in the form of a suspension.

Dantewada - A final wakeup call

For many of us who live in cities and urban areas, the life and times in remote corners of India are the images seen in movies and documentaries. Like most others I too have been far removed from the realities and the real troubles that people living I these areas go through day in and day out.

No violence is justified or can be justified and the voices that I get to hear on TV are alarmingly both pro and anti Maoist violence. How can a democratic set up thrive and live actively if there is a sword of consistent and repeated violence (mis)directed at innocent citizens as well as armed forces (police, CRPF etc.) at will? One always felt that there was a marked difference in insurgency from within and the one we are subjected as a nation from across the borders, but the recent incidents have brought out a stark fact that both need to be dealt with strongly.

I for one am unable to make a decision as to why and what has gone wrong so horribly that we as a nation state are unable to convince, sell (or market) the idea of a thriving, large democracy to the millions of people living in these remote areas?

For many years now, close friends have called my views as socialist, communists and even Maoist, it hurt for the first time when someone tried to equate me with Maoist, I do not think any principle – socialist or communist justifies violence of the kind we have been seeing over the last few months. It’s time for both the parties to come to the table and solve the issues at hand – PEACEFULLY.

33% Womens Reservation Bill in Parliament - India

Last week saw a marked difference in the opinions expressed by a variety of politico's over the women's reservation bill that recommends a 33% reservation for women in the legislative. Let's put this in perspective.
There are the majority who seem to be favoring this bill and do not seem to have any issues with it as such. There are the laloos, mulayams and sharad yadavs who seem to be markedly opposed to the bill in its current form where according to them the "pichda mahila" (backward women) who belong to he SC/ST, OBC, Dalit, Muslim classes are not adequately represented.
One of the things that the earlier round of reservations taught us and that we need to keep in mind is the fact that reservations if deserving and necessary need to be NOT based on the caste, religion etc and more on the economic nature of the backwardness and that the reservations can NOT be open ended and need to be time bound.
States like Maharashtra do have a concept of the creamy layer that decides the eligibility based on not just the caste but within that based on the economic condition, i am not aware of the specifics but it takes into account the persons Gross annual income to place one in the creamy layer and determine the suitability.
The far more important question is do we need 33% reservation for women in the parliament? I personally feel we do not, the important thing is to ensure reforms in the political system and that alone would ensure "normal" people who do not have the muscle and the money power could make an attempt to enter the system and do their bit. Reservation to me seems to be a thing that we probably do not need as much as the reform in the system.

Tiger Woods & Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, et al

Been wondering for a while now, There is definitely no doubt that what Tiger did was unacceptable but did the media and the general public go wrong somewhere.

We tend to look at the personal and the professional aspects of the person in the same vein, Is it right?

I feel no and that's what makes the likes of Sachin Tendulkar far more superior to the rest because they have shown (there are only a handful of them, i believe) exemplary behaviour on and off the field. This makes them even more precious for us to adore and admire.

A Tiger Woods would never be a lesser golfer but the personal behaviour and the personal traits that go on to shape up the personality of a human being too play an important role.

Sachin - You are great (may be god as some say :)). Tiger, apologize and move forward, may god be with you!

My bags...

It was a definite strategy, I can relate to it now when I think about it.

As I started school at a tender age of 3.5 years, I was handed a metal bag (peti) that carried my books.

As I grew a little smarter, the metal “peti” was replaced with a cloth bag and I think I continued with the cloth bag for almost 7-8 years. With few interruptions where I had to carry a nylon bag that friends and colleagues made fun of because in a fit of anger due to my poor performance at school my bag would have been thrown off some place in a fit of anger.

The cloth bag went away only when the more trendy back packs came in the late eighties, they were fun and they were trendy, they looked cool, it was the way to go for the school and college going crowd. I continued using this till I got to my engineering college, a long train journey in the first year meant one had to rely on that back pack heavily and as the pressure eased, I moved on to the more convenient plastic bags that one could carry in hand with just a notebook or two!

At work initially it was a “NO bag” personal policy, I would just carry the pen (with an attitude of Pen is mightier than the sword J). As I graduated towards the bike my bags returned with a vigor – for the raincoat etc. Now I drive to work, the bag carries a laptop and few sundry things. One of the oldest bag that has remained with me is not 10 years old and going strong.

My name is Khan, SRK & the fanatics

What we saw over the last 1.5 weeks was a new, refreshing wave that possibly signifies a larger change that has set in.

People i believe are beginning to take on the fanatic elements, the goondaism that has in pockets been used effectively to garner votes and support questionable agendas.
SRK taking on the Thackerays in Mumbai gave people an opportunity to step out and take a stand as well as make a bold statement. The movie, "My Name is Khan" is good and hopefully the momentum would continue because its good too.

The Shiv Sena that i remember is the one that used to work for the locals, provide books and stationery to needy students at the beginning of the academic year, help the poor with basic facilities, conduct sports events and so on, its difficult for me to see it stoop to such levels for some trivial politicking and reasons of ego. Both the MNS and SS are trying to out do one another on such behaviour with a spineless Congress government at the state level.

The state of Maharashtra is losing in all this 3rd grade rubbish that gets associated with it and its peace loving and simple people.

Is it not yet a case of racism - Aussies bashing up Indians in Australia?

The Indian governments response to the ongoing crisis is surprisingly muted and it seems to be soft considering the grave nature of the crisis. Its apparently been over 400 attacks on Indians in the last one year, an attack every single day?

Is it a clear case of racism, the happenings certainly suggest so and i am sure there are always two sides to a story but this one from Australia seems to be a lot more clear and convincing.

The Australian media has been reporting in a fair manner for the large part on the issue and the reports do tend to suggest a lot of things being wrong.

The Indian government must take it up a lot more strongly with its Australian counterparts and also bring out a lot more pressure through the common wealth as well as the UN.

Mr. Krishna and Mr. "Twitter" Tharoor, your attention please. Get safety for our students and citizens in Australia, FAST!

touching lives...

Recently attended a course on performance engagement skills from a really affable trainer. The course was good and I was able to interact with colleagues from different backgrounds, lines of business etc. One of the aspects that I was part of as a side discussion was the fact that there is a scope for each one of us to touch lives in some form or the other, however small, in whatever tasks we are involved in.

At times this means volunteering to help someone without they asking for it, at times it means sharing your feedback in an open manner truthfully with the facts laid out and helping someone to improve. All of this needs courage, more importantly it requires time too. Can each one of us spend the required amount of time, well may be not, but we can definitely make an attempt to create and carve out pockets on our busy schedule that can be dedicated to helping others, touching lives!

A youngster on my team today morning walked up to me and said they would like to teach English to the facilities staff who have expressed their desire to learn English, my eyes lit up and I felt happy and mentioned of my support to it wholeheartedly. Again touching lives!

26/11 ...Let us never forget

Its going to be a year now, they came and did what they set out to do.

I was trying to compile like any other hapless and helpless citizen what have we done to:-
a.) prevent an attack like this again on our soil
b.) bring the accused to book, through a trial in the court of law
c.) ensure preparedness if at all another such gory incident happens people are aware how to react to it

Unfortunately in a true Indian way of doing things, we have bought 2 new boats for the Indian coast guard, we have set up 2-3(may be more) institutions to find out what and how things happened last year on 26/11. We still do not know for example if the bullet proof jackets used by our officers were of quality grade to save them from the attackers bullets!

What we have done isn't enough on all 3 counts that i was looking at. no prevention, not fast track booking of criminals in hand, no preparedness of our people.

Are we expected to forget 26/11 like any other attack that we have been asked to forget after its taken place reminding us the resilience of the people (of Mumbai in this case, could be anywhere in India though).

I feel sad, i feel angry and i feel we should not forget 26/11, at least till we have done enough on the 3 counts or prevention, justice and preparedness.

Let us never forget 26/11, till each one of us is convinced enough has been done.
http://www.neverforget.in/vision.php

Tact and me.... a failed combo :(

There have been innumerable incidents now and in spite of my trying to be tactful with people close to me, i think i have really not been able to make it up in any significant way!

A very recent example of this failure is when i was supposed to pick up a friend from near a hotel close to their place. I saw someone standing by the hotel entrance but felt it looks to be someone else and stayed in the car for a while thinking my friend is definitely not as dark and also not put on as much weight as the person standing out there.

I stayed put in the car for almost 10 minutes and much later figured out, after a phone call that it was my friend :)

The worst was yet to come...I also told my friend about why i first did not notice and thought that it was someone else :) I spoke the truth again and got into some sort of trouble... for...
a. Not being able to recognise a friend from a distance of 10 metres
b. Indirectly calling the friend dark, though my friend is anything but dark
c. Suggesting in a way that my friend has put on weight

I wish i could be a little more tactful, i must actually thank people around me for accepting me as i am, else i might have had no friends by now, with all the sense of tactlessness that i have displayed for dozens of years now!

Thanks Friends. I owe you all a lot...a lot lot more

History of the Internet in a nutshell

The first "network" was set up in the late 60's, almost 16-17 years before yours truly was born!
My first brush with the net was while i went along with a friend who was applying for his MS in the US in the mid nineties and decided to email a piece of information. It cost him about INR 100/- or even more for a single page! :)

Email in itself was a big thing and to be able to send messages back and forth in real time was an amazing feeling coming out of college! Me and my roomie Rajesh would send each other messages sitting just next to each other in the computer room in our first organization after college.

It was seen as an dramatic phenomenon when i opened the "times of India" on the computer in my office and showed it to my Manager. It was jaw dropping. Today it feels great to see my ex Manager and Mentor send me messages over email.

The Internet has come a long way and its history is captured here for the keeps, interesting read,
http://www.sixrevisions.com/resources/the-history-of-the-internet-in-a-nutshell/

Sachin Tendulkar - 20 years and still not out!

Sachin Tendulkar the Master Blaster!

His most lasting contribution may not be the thousands of runs he has scored against all cricket playing countries and in practically all forms of the game all around the world. It actually would be that he made complete non cricket guys take on to the game.

Sachin also brought a nation together when he played i could see the hostel TV room other wise a fertile ground for fights (debates rather) over language, region and programs tune into the only thing of common interest for all and sundry. It could drive away all class, mass divides, everyone was one. I am even able to recollect a Victory rally that was once taken out by the students when he got India thru with one of his marvellous and aggressive innings.

Sachin, you would be remembered as not only a great cricketer, but someone who made significant contribution in keeping us smiling ans happy too, NOT many cricketers or sports stars could ever be able to achieve this part, isn't it?

Got this peice written some 21 years back by Harsha Bhogle, from a friends blog. Nostalgic, worth a read - http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/434247.html

The Great Indian Language Debate!

The recent debates over language somehow make me uncomfortable and also fearful of the time to come.

The whole language thing was a good debate when in the old days there was barely any migration across the country. Today, with immense amount of migration, one simply cannot assume and more importantly force a certain language on people.

I am a Maharashtrian by birth can speak decent Marathi, born and brought up in suburban Mumbai, grew up with Tamil brahmins as my best friends (some of them friends for life now), spoke Hindi (Bambaiya, tapori Hindi :))

I always wrote in Hindi, thought in Hindi and then moved on to Gujarat, i almost fell in love (with the place and the language too). I can speak Gujarati and can do it well too. I was in Karnataka for some 9 years and could pick up bits of Kannada and like the language, but was a little difficult for me to pick up.

What language should i know, assuming that in my profession i am well versed with English which gets used as the language of operation?

"Birthday Friend" from Kerala

We have known each other for some years now and known each other well, we have helped each other with pep talks and in other possible ways.

It would not be correct to say that we are in constant touch these days, nor do we speak or write to each other frequently.

There is one day in the year when I know for sure, I can expect a pleasant email and that is my birthday, never has it been forgotten.

Makes it special every year and this year was no different. Thanks for this and all the years in the past.

The race...where do we stop

As anyone who started life in the pits, I personally, perhaps have had a dream run over the last few years - personal as well as professional front! AND then there have been tough times, real tough ones, tougher than i feel i could have really thought and imagined them to be! :(

I have always wondered and at times given a deep thought as to where does this stop, how would this end some day?

It took me a while to realize that life does have its own way of slowing you down when you are going too fast, when you are at times thinking you are doing good for some one/some people, but actually are misunderstood or are understood right but people just would not want to believe that's how things are with you.

The slow down needs to be a feature that one must be prepared for, it would almost always last a little longer than one's patience and determination can bear! A TEST is how i have always termed it and dealt with it.

Quite successfully as well. I must admit... So also tells a good friend and an ex colleague of mine, That i inspire people like them to do more, fight issues and problems harder and make the most of what's on hand, with out losing out more than what is required!

I have always ensured that when the times are tough, there are more things that go wrong and also there are more people who stand out there and are trying to either find faults or at least appear to be doing that to us.

The trick really is to keep at it, never lose focus, be realistic with your decisions and also be truthful in accepting what is on the plate. NEVER ever loose your self respect, at all costs, its not worth it never ever!

Don't stop, Believe in yourself, Keep fighting, have good friends around who can keep the spirits (some times with a little bit of spirit for the tummy as well :)) high. The race is never really out, it sometimes gives you a break, that's all the luck one can ask for :)

Building Self Confidence

I recently decided to speak to people on our team on how to build self confidence!

I had couple of alternatives and all of these could have been fit and fine since the team is known to me and i possibly could get away with a little bit of a here and there kind of a talk.

I gave it a thought and decided to make it a picture/image driven presentation, well it took me a while to create, since i had to do some work on getting the right images and pictures to fit with the 8-10 point that i had on the slides.

I felt the picture/image driven presentation worked well, the informal feedback i got was positive and i have now begun to think that messages stay a lot longer and have a better impact when passed on with images and pictures that go well with the words.

It's build my confidence in presenting better with pictures and images :)