Sudoku with grand pa

Gandhi ji and his 3 monkeys

Moon at the crack of dawn, over bombay skies

Is it jaadoo, is it Munu ?

Jaadoo with Teddy

Jaadoo at a telugu wedding, today !

Jaadoo starts writing his first book. Bon voyage

A different India

I am at CP (Connaught Place) , almost the centre of the city.
The only difference from the obvious is that this is not Delhi. This is Aurangabad.
I believe that this is an India which i was an integral part of some years ago.
I had my paani puri and bhel, strolled around CP.
Remnants of a rather laidback life, as seen in the Hyderabad of a decade (s) ago, abound. A more worthwhile comparison would be with the Jamalpur of the 1990s, or the Asansol / Burdwan of the early 2000s.

Slowly, the clock begins to move on a fast forward. Someone says this is the fastest growing city in India. In a couple of hours, i am informed that this is the places cars like Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen are manufactured. Some more helpful folks inform me that Aurangabad was in the news some time ago for placing single largest order for Mercedes Benz cars in a single transaction in India — 150 Mercedes Benz cars worth INR 65 crore (USD 13 Million). Without a local Mercedes-Benz showroom and encountering indifferent Mercedes-Benz dealers in the nearest cities of Pune and Bombay, a group of successful citizens pooled their orders and negotiated a record agreement with the firm - directly.
Dinner is at a restaurant called 'Flame n Grill' in a mall called Prozone; a huge mall with the usual suspects.
My host informs me that there is nothing better than a betel leaf (Pan in India) to top up the food with. We drive over to the Tara Pan Centre, in a locality called OsmanPura. The shop specializes in Pans of different kinds, and evolved from a tyre puncture shop by the same name, Tara, in the early 1970s. The shop offers all varieties of Pans, starting from the Kohinoor Pan to the HOneymoon pan to other kinds of flavours like chocolate. Prices can vary too; from Rs 3000 (USD 60) per pan to Rs 10 (USD 0.2). The top two varieties, the Kohinoor and the Honeymoon, are believed to have aphrodasiac properties. The shop is an iconic landmark, to the extent that a local management college even has a case study on it. 'An overview of the management practices at Tara pan Center', by Wisdome institure of management studies, is the title of the case study. It is also available on the internet.

Bharat and India come to life. And in a manner that is Wow !
The tradition of the Pan. Bharat.
The commercialization of education in an MBA course. India.
India does a case study on Bharat.
I'm lovin it.
Viva, Aur-Rang-Abad (town with more colours) !

Friends. Jaadoo, Anish, Dhruv !

A new saga of friendship begins ! Anish birthday, jaadoo's best friend

Meeting jaadoo after two weeks !

Senna

Watched a movie on a flight after a long time last week. The cover of the movie guide enticed me into it. The movie was 'Senna', a documentary on the life of Aryton Senna, the Brazilian F-1 champion. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1424432/
When i lived in Brazil, i used to hear a lot of people say how they loved Senna. I could never really understand why, afterall he had been dead for almost 15 years then. Yes sure, Senna was a three time world champion, incredibly good looking, and Brazilian. Some people speculated about his being gay; most others said they cared two hoots about it; in short, Senna was worshiped, almost as God.
The movie gave a perspective , and also enhanced my understanding about the way he gave a lot of pride and joy to Brazilians. This was late 80s, early 90s. Almost everything that could be wrond with a country was wrong with Brazil. Commonly used words to describe the country were Unemployment, hyper inflation, rogue government and corruption.
And worse, they had not won the Football world cup for two decades.
Senna, through his heroics on the F-1 track, and through his proud display of partiotism, was just the hero that Brazil was looking for.

Even after being the world champion, Senna had not won the Brazilian Grand prix. The way he drove, despite a technical fault in his car, battling severe pain and cramps, through the sheer power of will, to win at Sao Paulo was one of the most emotional moments i have seen in any sport. Everyone at the track, from the supposed-to-be-neutral support staff to the team technicains, was hugging each other when Aryton crossed the finish line. It was more than a race. More than a Grand Prix. It was an event which reaffirmed Brazil's faith in itself. In its ability to overcome the limitations imposed upon itself by others.

Senna fought for the things he felt close to his heart. Very high on that list was the concern he had for the safety of F-1 drivers. The tension on his face, when he was about to start off on what turned out to be the last race of his life, almost reflected an inevitable, forebearing sense of destiny. Senna died in May 1994, and all of Brazil plunged into despair. The roads from Guarulhous International Airport were all choked with teary eyed, shell shocked Brazilians as his coffin was driven through. People cramped for any available space that would give them a last glimpse of the hero, who had provided them with joy and a sense of pride in being Brazilian.
Perhaps, it was the Senna effect which then inspired Brazil to win its first football world cup in 24 years a few months later. And perhaps it was also the Senna effect which brought together a disparate nation to start taking concrete steps to rebuild itself. To move away from being a country of the future that it was always destined to be to a country whose time had come.

Thank you Asif Kapadia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asif_Kapadia ) for bringing Senna's story alive

Pharmaceuticals and our weakness as a nation

For the last few days, I have been in Frankfurt, Germany. This is where i write this from. I am here for work, to attend a pharmaceutical conference cum exhibition ( called CPhI ) which was on this week.

This week, the one which just went by, was also the week when two of the most important festivals in India, Diwali and Bhaiya Dooj, were on.

While most of India was in the festive mood, about 50 people from my company, and thousands of Indians from other, were slugging it out at Frankfurt Messe, dragging their laptop trolleys through the labyrinth of halls, trying to showcase how they were cheaper than the other Indian or Chinese, and how they never compromised on the quality of products.

Indians constitute a substantial % of people attending this fair. Indian companies have been at the forefront of efforts in increasing affordability and access to medicine. They have brought the cost of AIDS therapy through generic Anti Retero virals from USD 50 per patient per day to less than USD 1 per patient per day. The Indian generic industry is one of the most cost effective in the world.

Yet, the guys behind the most important fair in the industry decide that it is 26th of October 2011. So what if it is Diwali Day. So what if for 30% , or more of the participants, this is the most important festival in the year. The time when everyone wishes to be with their family.

And what of the Indian response.
Some minor rumblings. A few companies pull out. Organizers say nothing doing. Dates are dates- they are cast in stone. And what happens: most of the Indians turn up. Indian companies' stalls become bigger and better. And bolder.

That is where the boldness stops.

And our weakness as a nation comes to the fore. Unable to take a stand. Not decisive.
It begins with me.
For all my rhetoric in conversations with whosoever i met, for all my sentences here in this blog, i was amongst the thousands of Indians slogging it out.
On the day most important for my family and friends.

Because we are, generally speaking, spineless. We succumb. We are unable to stand up for ourselves. This would have never happened with people from another country. Let us say, for example, had this event been on Christmas day; how many people from Europe would have participated ?

The optimist in me says this is a sign of India's coming of age in the world economic order. Of not letting minor blips like a festival come in the way of growing business. Of improving partnerships with other companies. Of growing Indian exports.

I can't stay amused with that rationale, though.

And the sadness of missing out on Diwali and Bhaiya dooj lingers on.

Karwa chauth

Hyderabad's multi cultural ethos on display, with burqua clad artists applying henna and giving the choice of Arabic and marwari designs

early morning flight, sunrise view, time to update facebook status

Mani and Vaibhav at Jaadoo's age

Face off, dinosaurs of the past and aliens of the future : jaadoo's armies !

Jaadoo da vinci's latest drawing canvas. His legs !

Door art by jaadoo da Vinci

Reaching for the sky !

Teachers day by jaadoo

A medley of greeting cards prepared by jaadoo for his teachers; present and
past.
Thank you, Madhavi ma'm, Maria ma'm, Kalyani ma'm, Ayesha ma'm, miraj ma'm,
asma ma'm, sahbia ma'm, anees ma'm, das sir.
You mean a lot.
Thank you, on india's teachers day, 5th September 2011

The spirit of hyderabad, and india. Jaadoo and his greeting card at school !

Delta and the art of making airplanes faster than a bus (25th July 2011)

25th July 2011
Today is the third time i travelled by Delta Airlines on the New York - Pittsburgh route.
The perennial optimist in me had thought that after the disasters of last two occasions, the law of averages would finally catch with the airline and prevent it from messing it up again.
Before i get on to today, let me narrate the experiences of the last couple of times-

Its a hot May day, and i have just landed in New York from the other side of the world. Rush from one terminal to another, to land up finally in Terminal 3, from where my flight is scheduled to depart at 16:30 hrs (4.30 PM). After being in a long queue to clear the security and other formalities, i am inside the terminal at 3.40; heaving a sigh of relief at having made it.

On time- Gate 23 announces the board, and i am there in a few minutes. I ask the lady at the boarding gate about my flight. We should be boarding in 20 minutes, she says.
All is good. I get an ice tea. Ordered through an i-pad, where the restaurant at Terminal 3 has i-pads installed on every seat, wherein you choose and order.
Ice tea consumed.
Soon, it is 4 Pm. Nothing happens.
Some other flight's departure is announced from Gate 23. It is to Boston.
Board changes departure of my flight now to 5.30.
The lady says boarding will not start at 5.
I stroll. Look around the place. People. This doesn't look like an airport. Is more like a bus stand. No chairs to sit. Chaotic announcements. The bazaar feel.
It is 5. No announcement.
It is 5.30. Nothing again.
5.40, board now shows departure time as 6.30. Boarding to be at 6.
It is 6.15, nothing happens. The airline announces the crew has arrived, boarding will commence in 5 minutes.
At 6.40, boarding starts.
Finally....
It is a small plane, i think a 54 seater. Passengers are all on board by 7.
Captain apologizes for the delay. Procedures efficiently done.
It seems we are now ready to pushback, when the captain announces there seems to be a problem with the Auxillary equipment, and in the 'interest of safety', we have to wait longer.
About 20 minutes later, he says we are done and should be on our way.
We push back, all heave a sigh of relief.

We join in the queue of about a dozen aircraft waiting to take off.
As we are slowly nudging our way forward in the queue, captain announces that he has received a weather update about storms in Pittsburgh and in the region. Saying this, he says we will have to return to the airport. We head back to airport. Same place. Gate 23. People manning the gate smile at us. As if to say, "idiots, back again".

As we trudge back into the terminal, i check the internet for other flights to Pittsburgh. It shows Jetblue. Flight departing in another 45 minutes from JFK.
I rush to the Delta guys and confront them. "Is the weather any different for the other airline"
The response stumps me, "Sir, we cannot comment on their standards of safety".
I don't have an answer to carry this argument further.

So what now, ask scores of passengers from our flight.

Delta says the next flight on which they can put us on to Pittsburgh will be 'day after tomorrow', as no more flights to Pittsburgh today, and 'tomorrow' all flights are full because of the upcoming long weekend.

There has to be a way out.

A group of Passengers, me included, raise our voices.

Had this been India,there might have been slogan shouting like 'Air India Hai Hai, Air India shame on you', what i had witnessed at Delhi's swanky T3 terminal a few months ago. when a group of harassed passengers, coming all the way from Toronto, had to wait 11 hours for their connecting flight in what was supposed to be a 90 minute wait connection.

But here, at JFK, i was also a little worried about protesting too much, lest my looks, which resemble, to quite an extent, people from a neighbouring country, land me in unrelated trouble.

However, i do make a polite suggestion- manage to send people to Pittsburgh, either by connecting through some other destination, or through some other mode of transport like rail or road.

Finally, it seems a solution is reached. Delta says we will get a bus to ferry the passengers to Pittsburgh. Eight hours would be the journey time, someone informs me.

Huff !
But we have a solution.

About 45 minutes later, no sign of the bus.

Then, almost an hour and half from then, we are told that the bus could not be arranged. So, instead, they have got a fleet of taxis, to move in a caravan to Pittsburgh.

It is about 1 in the night. The passengers fill up a fleet of taxis. I pity the drivers too. SOme of them appear to have been woken out of their sleep.

Each taxi has 4 or 5 passengers on it, depending on the type of vehicle.
A helpful co-passenger in the taxi i am in asks the driver to have a coffee before we start off.

We are on our way.
Finally.

When i speak to my wife on the way, she says, "oh- it might be a good way to see the american countryside".
"Babu, it is 1.30 in the night here, i inform her". But i admire her positive intentions.

The driver is a guy from Guyana, and his name is Ravi. No, he does not know any Hindi, but he is a great driver.

And Delta Airlines, manages to put me in Pittsburgh at quarter to 10 (AM), my course begins at 10.
Thereafter is the familiar hustle bustle last minute rush, but make it......at the stroke of the 10th hour.

Thank you, Delta.

----------------------------------

The next time is about a month later; this time again, i am booked on Delta Airlines from JFK New York to Pittsburgh.
I was conscious to book an earlier flight this time, lest a problem similar to last time occur, then there would still be some other options.

Similar story as last time, the starting script.
Scheduled time. No announcement. About half an hour later, a delay of an hour.
We board.

All seems set.

The captain comes on to the radio.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we seem to have a problem with the air conditioning equipment.
We have tried to fix it, but it seems we will be unable to fix it anytime soon.

So we have to de-plane and await further instructions.

We are back again, at JFK terminal.

In about an hour, an announcement says, we are readying an alternate aircraft.

Hope.

Finally, we board an alternate aircraft after another hour, spend about 45 minutes inching up the queue of planes awaiting take off, and this time, we actually take off.

And i make it to Pittsburgh in about 7 hours in all. A substantial improvement over the 16 it took last time.

--------------------------------

It is only fools who do not learn from the mistake. And to commit the same mistake over and over again, smacks of lunacy.

Surely, i do not fall in that category, I told myself.

So, after the experience of the last two times, i analysed.
I figured out that since the aircraft were small airplanes, and were also not operated by Delta, there was a problem. THe kind of problems are unlikely to happen in a long haul airplace.

So, i booked the only long haul airplane flight from New York to Pittsburgh. I checked the aircraft type of all available planes. And i found one which is a Boeing 757, book in it. I am happy.

Sure enough, i am at the departure terminal, and it says, 'ON TIME'.

Boarding is completed before time.

I pat myself on taking a good decision to book myself on a big aircraft. All seems set.

Pilot comes on radio, welcomes everyone.

Then, about a minute later, comes back on radio again.

'We have a problem with our landing gear', he announces.
And adds the ubiquitous "S" word- on account of safety, we would have to disembark all passengers.

We get back to boarding area.

I use the menu on the restaurant ipad again. This time a hot chocolate.

(How to do it: look here http://www.airlinetrends.com/2010/12/03/delta-jfk-food-gate-ipad/ )

A couple of hours later, we board again. The same airplane.

And we are off in a few minutes.

And as a bonus, this plane has a wi-fi enabled. With the internet service provider called gogoinflight wireless. A few screenshots from that can be found on www.gogoair.com

And this time, my total journey time has shrunk to 5 hours.

In effect, the summary of the last three trips has been-

Journey 1: time taken 16 hours
Journey 2: Time taken 7 hours
Journey 3: Time taken 5 hours

To put in perspective, a bus would take 8 hours, end to end. So on an average, i end up doing marginally better, not mega better than the 1 dollar i could have done on http://www.megabus.com/

Back to school

"I know nothing except the fact of my own ignorance", goes the wise saying.

"He who says he knows everything knows nothing", goes another.

The right quotes to think about when you reenter an educational institution.

Eight years after i last went to one, here i am, at the Carnegie Mellon University , thanks to the Fulbright fellowship program.

Suddenly, life changes.

I am a student again !

Its an unusually liberating feeling, far removed from the grind of corporate life. The mindspace occupied by Sales, market share and contribution numbers begins to get slowly edged out by things that belong to another planet: Robots participating in the robots-only-film festival in New York, fuel cells the size of a human hair with the potential to replace batteries , technology that could help doctors use imaging techniques to monitor vaccines in cancer patients, the Nobel prize winning work of schizophernic alumnus John Nash on the game theory describing the now-called Nash equilibrium , tennis and squash games with energetic young students on campus, the tenets of Improv theater which mandate one to say "YES, and..." as the default response to any situation.....the list is actually much longer than that.

Added to it are lessons in the business of life, things that i had been taking for granted, or had just gone out of my life. Sample this- cutting vegetables, cooking basic foodstuff, washing (doing) the dishes, washing clothes , buying a detergent, ironing them by putting them under a mattress hoping an overnight tenure out there would straighten them up, travelling on a bus, riding a bicycle.

The best part is, as is usually always the case, about people. Meeting up with so many talented and dedicated individuals, who personify committment to a cause. The cause could range from research on percentage of CEOs who have been taller than 6 feet, the shine and polish on the forks and knives at the dining hall, the precision and diligence to make sure that every single paper in the portfolio is punched at the right place, the intensity of training that makes you want to try and be a Navy seal despite failures in previous attempts, the range just covers the works. It is the committment which i see in so many people around me, and a passion to be the best at whatever one does, that is both humbling and inspiring.

And when i think, such people are not just here on this campus. Not just here in the surroundings. Not just at the workplace. Not just in my circle of friends and aquintances. All we need to do is look, not just from the eyes, but also from the heart. Such individuals are everywhere. And everywhere, they make the world around them shine through their passion and committment.

And almost invariably, they do it with a smile ! Being around such people transmits positivity, transmits an unknown energy. And to expereince that, one need not be on one of the most high profile campus on the planet. One could just be anywhere.

TS Elliot resonates.

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

I smile.

And my first blog in months is on its way.

Scene from Cyberia

Dinner

Jaadoo with his front teeth gone

Gearing up for test match cricket

The man and biscuit

An artists impression of the cricket world cup

Artist jaadoo

Jaadoo and world cup art

Jaadoo with hairband

61 years of the indian republic

The picture says it all

Life comes calling, again

Sairam santu

Jaadoo art, an air India plane