Ikigai - The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Ikigai a Japanese concept to define a worthy life. It is explained by a simple venn diagram which involves 4 simple factors:

1) What you love

2) What you are good at

3) What the world needs 

4) What you can be paid for

If one can figure out this one thing that satisfies these 4 factors and continue to practice or do something that fits this "model", then life can be much more meaningful and stress free.

This book "Ikigai - The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life" by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles explores this concept in a very interesting and practical way to remind us what is imminent for us to lead a fulfilling life. The book starts off with a school of psychotherapy termed "Logotherapy" developed by a psychiatrist - Viktor Frankl. Logotherapy the way I interpret is all about finding a meaning for our life. Each individual has his/her own meaning for life and if only we can identify the meaning, life can be be a lot more well...simply meaningful.  Friedrich Nietzsche (who coined my favourite Serenity prayer) says "He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how."

Many of us are in the "corporate" life style chasing targets / objectives that we most often don't have a clue about. A quote from this book, "Executives get lost in the details of obsessive planning , creating strategies to hide the fact that they don't have a clear objective. It's like heading out to the sea with a map but no destination. ". We most often have a very detailed map - to show where things are at or how to achieve / perform a specific task. What we often miss is the "why" or the "how". Only a Why or How will help one or an organization to reach a particular destination in the map.

An important concept of Ikigai is to be in the flow. There are a few books focusing a lot more on that topic, such as "Power of now" by Eckhart Tolle and Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. While those books are different topics to be discussed in detail, it is a very liberating experience when you experience the "flow". It most often happens for me when I am behind a camera. To quote Albert Einstein, "A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell on future." It is no secret why I am happy behind a camera in spite of all the tricky situations it puts me under.

Talking about happiness, yet another quote from this book from Washington Burnap - "The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." This fundamentally summarizes Ikigai.

Personally, I am glad to have identified photography as my "Ikigai". Whenever I am behind the camera, I find myself in the "flow" with a sincere attempt to capture beautiful moments and memories as they happen. 

What is your Ikigai?

C

Visit to Jenolan Caves

So we had an almost impromptu trip to the Jenolan Caves today. The last few days there were some reports of snow fall in Blue Mountains which is not a usual occasion. While we were contemplating on the idea for the last few days, didn't really plan it - so to speak. This morning we woke up (quite late actually) and decided to leave for the mountains in search of SNOW. The first stop was at Katoomba about an hour's drive from our place - which is the commercial head of the Blue Mountain range. Roamed around the town for a little while to find that patch of snow that we could play with.

Apparently yesterday would've been a great day for snow play since there was not much available in Katoomba today. Hence we decided to go further up the hill in search of the white powder. There were some patches along the way where some families were playing around. I kept going further convincing kids that the snow would be better as we go higher and higher. Lo and behold - the route started going downhill into the valley of Lithgow. I had to face a battery of insults for why I did not stop much earlier where there was at least some snow available.

That's when I made a call to move towards Jenolan caves. Until that point there was no plan to go so far. Fortunately for me we were able to stop in a spot where we could make a few snow balls and throw at each other. In the last 5+ years I've been in Sydney never had a chance to visit the Jenolan caves. For some reason I was not heavily thrilled to look for stalactites and stalagmites

as I have seen a few in USA, plus kids were a bit young then. Thought this would be a great time even though I wasn't sure how Nandha would take it. It turned out to be a pretty cool experience.

We reached there around 3.30 PM, had "lunch" which consisted of a few slices of banana bread and muffins. Thanks to the surprise weather, the cafe there was understaffed and didn't have much of anything to eat. After re-energizing ourselves set out to go on the cave tour. Apparently there are different grades available depending on how fit you are physically. We took the only tour available at that time called the Chifley Cave tour which takes about an hour to complete. Our tour guide has been working there since the last 18 years and was also involved in building some part of the cave as well. Obviously she was quite knowledgeable and explained how these mountains should've been under the sea at some point in time and other stories. A lot of the cave formations were named after the explorers wives. ;-)

The caves are still "alive" as the water keeps dripping through the rocks and we could see fresh calcite formations developing. The formations were very strategically lit up to provide a surreal effect. Was pleasantly surprised that kids made through the trek without having to lift them during any part of the trip. 

So long folks. Until next time...

C

For more photos feel free to visit - Jenolan Caves 2015

The Art of Buying & Selling A Car (In Australia) - Part II

Now that I bought a car, I had to sell my good old Camry, a 2008 model which had just exceeded the 100k mark. That truly was a dramatic experience. I came across a variety of people or should I say amusing "characters". Each to their own agenda I guess. I myself had to transform what can you my stand a few times as the conditions changed from aggressive "take it or leave it" to "what can you really offer". Eventually made the "deal" yesterday without compromising too much on the car's value. Camry being my first car in Australia I had not known or should I say I did not bother to do certain things that will impact the value of the car when it comes to selling it off. 

One huge lesson for me is to maintain "log books" aka service history. I didn't find this as so critical in the US market, but here that seems to be the bible. If the service history is not maintained that brings down the value of the car - regardless of the current running condition. While I did get the car serviced regularly I was not perfect in keeping records. A good time to sell is when you still have a few months left in your car registration and preferably before you have to pay your next insurance payment.

As in most markets, the 2 ways of selling a car was to sell it to a private party or to a dealer. In Sydney I found a 3rd category of car "buyers" who apparently give a "fair" value for your car. I read somewhere on the web that when I was buying a new car not to discuss a trade-in as that will dilute the negotiation / bargaining possibilities on the purchase. Hence I kept that out of the equation during the buying process. The so called commercial buyers tend to bring the value down by almost 60% of what you could get from a private deal. I found it easier to be in a position not to be under pressure of time to sell the car off. Less pressure - more power I guess (and vice versa).

Now that I concluded on selling it off privately, I had to advertise the car's availability. I first started with my immediate group of friends using social media - Facebook and Whatsapp. I posted an ad via my friendly cab driver who shared the photos over their network.  There was some traction through these channels but not much. Then there are paid and free public channels. I didn't go for the paid channels - maybe I would have if I was not lucky by now. I chose the Gumtree site which did attract attention and sometimes in ways more than what I would have wanted. 

Initially I tried posting an "asking price" which was really what I was expecting (maybe slightly more), but human psychology meant that one should always start with a few thousands less. Eventually I started advertising with a much jacked up price (withing reasonable limits of course) and then went low once they started negotiating. My car was not in the best possible shape especially with respect to external features. There were some scratches around and the seat upholstery was a bit soiled (family car eh!!) etc. While I couldn't do much about the paint work, I did get the interiors cleaned to make it more presentable.

One key lesson to remember was to ensure the seriousness of a buyer regardless of who it is. There was this prospect who was a friend of my friend. He was quite keen on buying it, price point agreed upon etc. etc. All I had to do was  send my bank details for him to transfer. Being an acquaintance I did not bother to get any token advance which would sort of "seal the deal". Because this guy "agreed" to buy it I took the car off the market and told other people who were interested that the car was sold. After a few hours the guy got cold feet and wanted an "assessment" made for the car. Long story short...he ended up not wanting to buy.

There were a few interesting conversations where one wanted to know which part of India I was from maybe so he can change his bargaining position accordingly. I made some mistakes too being overly aggressive initially. I had to bring myself down to reality and have realistic expectations of what I could get.

One of the best experiences was from a scammer. It first started with an SMS with the address as "Gumtree" which made it look so legitimate. Then on the conversations happened over email. Someone was trying to buy a car from New Zealand for his son in Australia. The conversations went back and forth and eventually became too good to be true. Thankfully I did a little bit of research and found that to be a scam. Apparently such scams are common when one posts an advertisement in those websites like Gumtree (equivalent of Craigslist).

Facebook has some interesting characters as well. I did get a few interested parties. The best was when someone "Liked" my Ad and asked me what Camry meant when I reached out to him post his "Like".

Eventually one Punjabi guy contacted me after viewing the Ad on Gumtree. 2 guys came over, had a quick look, a short test drive and we agreed upon the amount. This time I took a token of  $50 to seal the deal. Thankfully they turned up next day as promised with cash and took the car. Long Live Gumtree!!

So long folks. Until next time.

C

The Art of Buying & Selling A Car (In Australia) - Part 1

So I bought a car and sold one in the last few weeks. 

It would be an understatement if I call it a daunting exercise. Would I go through this all over again? Probably not. There's a bit of learning which I don't hope to forget. If anything I will come back to this post for a refresher - just in case. Looks like I will have to write this in parts as there's plenty to talk about.

The Art of Buying

It all begins with being clear of what you are after and what you can afford. Easier said than done of course. Thankfully the variables were not many for me. I was clearly after a comfortable 7 seater, preferably a SUV where the 3rd row was not comfortable enough for adults to travel. The budget of course was determined by the banks and you know how much you want to spend in a month. Thanks to all those automobile experts on websites such as www.caradvice.com.au , www.drive.com.au it made it easier to arrive at your choice of brand, make and model. I had almost finalized on Kluger but still wanted to try out a few other models. The first few visits to the car dealer were interesting experiences as well. It was as if I was prey with a label "Eat me - am all yours" when you walk in to a dealer "unprepared". 

The Finances

The first thing to be "prepared" is to get your finances in order. Unless of course you had enough cash reserves you are going to need a financial institution to help. In Australia there are a few options:

a) Direct Auto Loan from a bank

b) Auto Loan from a bank via a broker

c) Auto Loan from the dealer

d) Novated Leases

I very much remember the very first car I bought here and none of the above would suit me due to the visa situation I was in. Now that I am a citizen all options were open and was up to me to decide which one was suitable. Each entity tries to sell the benefits and try to down play the others. At some point I was almost convinced that Novated Leasing was the option for me to gain some pre-tax spending. However that is something like mutual funds - there's a lot of "unknown" costs you will end up with. The best thing that happened to me was me to find a broker who got a pretty good rate compared to the market and banks directly. The brokers do charge a "service fee", but in the long run it evens out with the reduced interest rate that they can get . Sometimes the auto dealer may get a good interest rate depending on the model you were buying. Once you have finalized the model of the car, get your financing option sorted out or decided and THEN go to the car dealer. It was a whole new experience when you walk in to a dealership when you know which model you are after and you have a pre-approved finance in your pocket. You pull the strings....boy that makes a huge difference in your negotiation potential. 

The Buying Process

Once I decided on the brand, make and model, I visited a few Toyota showrooms around where I live usually without any pre fixed appointment. The treatment when I went was typically cold. Unless they know that you have the money in your pocket (or your finances arranged) they wont even come to the table for any negotiation. After a few such visits, did some research online and found a dealer who seemed to be giving a slightly less than market price. Went to a dealer early in the morning (on a rainy day - as someone on the net had suggested) with a pre-fixed appointment. The dealer sales guy has this routine that he has to follow. It almost felt like playing a "Deal or No Deal" game when every time you turn down his offer he goes back to his manager to negotiate further. I had set myself a target of close to 10% discount to the published on road price and tried hard to get close to that. Depending on the model they may be more willing to bring down the price, but for hot selling cars like Kluger the bargaining capacity is rather restricted. Had to use some phrases like "you meet this number and I will put the down deposit right away...". This tells them that you are serious in buying the car and not just wasting their time. Eventually brought down the cost close to my expectation. 

The Closure

HOWEVER, it doesn't end there. We shake hands....agree upon the cost including a few extra accessories etc... and then comes the sucker deal. We get to meet a "Delivery Coordinator" a smartly presented lady has got nothing to do with delivering the car. She convinced us on some "extra protection" for the leather seating and paints. I wish I could've done a little more research on that before I left or asked for more time to decide. They literally tend to ride on the emotional high you are on when you are about to purchase a brand new car which does blind you a bit on some rational decision making. The result being we ended up increasing the spend by 2K. On hindsight when I researched later on about the "protection" options we purchased we got to know that such things could be done at 50% of the cost outside of the dealer. Oh well...yet another lesson. Eventually we came away signing a deal. All Happy!!

So long for just some experiences on buying a car. More to come on the selling experience. A few interesting anecdotes to share for sure.

Until then...

C

Kia Ora Auckland

Kia Ora - Meaning Hi / G'day in Maori the native language of New Zealand (Aotearoa) is the first word you you would come across as you disembark from the flight. New Zealand - one of those countries that has been on my "To Visit" lists got ticked off last week. It was a short 2 day business trip to Auckland. Not much of a chance to look around but still had a good opportunity to soak in the sights of this island nation "across the ditch" as  they call it.

Took a Virgin Australia flight to Auckland from Sydney and was exposed to a different area of Sydney International airport. I understand most of the flights to New Zealand take off via those gates. It looked like a domestic Low Cost Carrier terminal and had to board a bus to get to the aircraft. Thanks to this trip - now I know to check my itinerary if a meal is included in the ticket or not. I just assumed that breakfast would be served being an international (non low-cost) flight. Apparently not. It was served to a select few who had it in their booking. Thankfully it was only a 3 hour journey and I slept through 90% of the time.

Auckland given its proximity to Australia has its similarities to Sydney or should I say Melbourne given the colder weather. However it does have some unique features. For some reason it felt more greener than Sydney. The first striking difference was the existence of pine trees which either does not exist or I haven't seen any in Sydney / Melbourne. New Zealand seemed to have embraced US culture a bit more than their Aussie cousins. I could see a lot of US food chains like Carl's Jr, Dennys, Burger King (not as Hungry Jacks). Tempted to visit Dennys - maybe next time. Stayed in a Park Regis hotel right in the middle of CBD (Central Business District / Downtown). Even though being one of the largest cities in New Zealand the crowd seemed quite minimal even during peak hours. The hotel was very so - so. Wonder how hotels these days can survive without providing WiFi in the room. It was such a pain to place myself in the lobby whenever I had to check anything on my phone.

The planned meetings went on well even though we had to move it ahead by 2 hours and one of my colleagues couldn't make it as a result. Post the meeting we (my boss and I) settled ourselves in one of the "virtual offices" nearby. This is one of the luxuries we enjoy to park ourselves in a business lounge globally rather than limiting ourselves to coffee shops. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on work and closed business at around 6 PM.

Ferry Terminal

We decided to go on a ferry ride to be able have a view of the Auckland skyline.

Harbour Bridge with Skyline

We were suggested to get on to a commuter ferry to a nearby island which will take about 20 minutes round trip. We waited at the pier and got on to a ferry without realizing where it was heading towards. Later on we came to know we got into a wrong ferry. It took about an hour for us to get back to our origin.

Harbour Bridge

We somehow negotiated our way to get out and come back in without having to purchase tickets again. Had our dinner at Nandos and went back to wait at the right ferry terminal this time. Got on to the ferry ride with a total of 4 passengers including ourselves. This ferry went through what they call as their Harbour Bridge and back within 20 minutes. Eventually managed to click a few photos along the way of the skyline.


Thus ended my 1st Kiwi adventure. Hope to have many more opportunities to visit in the near future.

Until then.. E noho ra (Good Bye)

C

Easter 2015 - Hunter Valley

So here comes the first story for this year. Since the time we've come to Sydney something worth mentioning happens around Easter. Last year it was the Gold Coast and this year it was Hunter Valley. 

We have been pondering over days and weeks how we wanted to celebrate the Easter long weekend and the decision was made a day before we left on our trip. Of course the next challenge was to find a location within reasonable weather, driving limits and accommodation available. We narrowed down on Hunter Valley - being a 2.5 hour drive from home. After a bit of research we figured out a hotel - more of a glorified motel at a town called Muswellbrook that was affordable and also available for the weekend. What we did not realize was it was actually about an hour's drive longer than where we had expected it to be. 

We left on Saturday evening at around 6.15 after Nandhitha's tuition class got over. We picked her up from her classes and hit the highway straight away. It was raining cats and dogs through most part of the journey and it was not a drive to cherish. For a change we had to rely on 3 GPS systems - one from my good old GPS system - whose maps I had not updated since the time I bought it (about 5 years ago), my mobile using Google Maps and finally of course my own vague memory. The reason I had to move to Google Maps was after a while our traditional GPS started showing that we were driving in the water or forest every once in a while. Not sure if the weather had any impact - but definitely we couldn't rely on it. Google Maps came in handy - but that couldn't be relied upon totally as well as the signal and data connections kept dropping out in some areas. Eventually relied upon my memories of a few towns I have passed through the previous trips and decided to take that exit from the highway. It turned out to be a good choice because we could find something for dinner before it became too late.

We reached the hotel at around 10 PM. Being the Easter long weekend the hotel support was minimal. The front office was not manned (or womanned) and there was a sign to go to an after hours entry. Apparently an SMS was sent to me with instructions on what to do. I did not notice that until I was walking up and down and another desi family saw me and suggested that I check for messages. Thankfully I had the SMS - it had the instructions to pick up the keys from a safe. The hotel was fairly newly built - hence quite clean and well maintained. The kids were very thrilled at the hotel stay. This would probably be Nandha's first hotel room that he explored

once he started talking. He was exploring and showing off every switch and fitting in the room. Thanks to the long drive they all slept for a while during the journey and it took a while to put them to sleep.

Easter Sunday - we had pretty much only ONE thing on the agenda - to take part in the Easter Egg Hunt at the Hunter Valley Gardens. We had done that a few years ago at the same location but not a very enjoyable experience then for multiple reasons. This time we had the entire day to spare without any distractions or hurry. The Hunter Valley Garden is almost like a collection of themed gardens like Italian Grotto, Oriental Garden, Indian Garden etc.

Prize for Egg Hunt

Egg hunting

To keep the visitors (read kids) engaged and also to encourage us to explore the entire garden they had given us a "treasure hunt". Where we had to find answers to certain clues in each section of the garden. For e.g., (What distinct smell can you find at the Indian Garden - the answer was curry leaves). We explored about 70 - 80% of the garden and decided to go on the egg hunt which was at a story book themed garden called - well...Story Book Garden. Plastic eggs were thrown around the area and kids had to collect as much as they can and each of them were given a "prize" at the end. I still remember the first Easter egg hunt in Sydney about 7 years ago when Nandhitha was just over a year old. After the egg hunt, finished lunch in the garden and completed visiting the rest of the garden. Nandhitha had her face painted and Nandha was chasing a few girls while waiting for his sister.

Headed back to the hotel at around 5 PM. Thankfully the rain gods waited until we got back into the car. Being the Easter weekend not many eateries were open in Musellbrook. We ended up ordering Domino's Pizza for dinner. The next day left the hotel at around 10 AM and went to a nearby cheese factory for breakfast. Sampled a few cheese varieties and got home a couple. One interesting variety was a beer flavoured cheddar - and I could actually make out the beery flavour as an after taste. Headed back home after breakfast. The journey back home was almost uneventful except for a traffic jam on the highway which would have slowed us down by about 30 minutes at most. Reached back in time for a good lunch at Anjappar and also finish up some shopping.

Thus ended the Easter holidays for me. Thought I will put this down before the deluge begins tomorrow. So long folks!!  

C

2014 - A Year that Zoomed

Oh what a Year!! While FaceBook and Times helped some of my friends to summarize their year - thought now would be a good time to look back and retrospect. 2014 - it's been a year of progress all around. It is also time to Thank everybody who contributed to it in many many ways. Gracias!! 

The biggest milestone this year has been moving into our home in Sydney. Yes, for those whom I haven't shared this earlier - we have moved into a townhouse in a suburb called South Wentworthville. After moving from Salem and having lived in rental properties (for more than 18 years!!)  this is truly a different experience. It gives a whole new perspective in the place where I live. It truly could not have happened without timely help from family and friends. Can't thank them enough!! I will have to write a separate post on all the drama and experience of buying a house. Am glad it's over - at least for a good while.

Nandha's development has come about as a huge relief. Here again a lot of support and help from multiple sources. A lot of credit goes to Uma of course for pulling it through and taking him to all the necessary support activities.

I had promised Nandhitha to send her to India on vacation this year and am glad we could keep up the word - in spite of few uncertainties. An added bonus was for me to take a short break in India as well. A wonderful, short, hectic trip. 

My frequent visits to Singapore this year must be noted as well. Great bonding time with family and of course many many treats to my taste buds. My camera had a fantastic time as well and has resulted in some decent photos.

A few things didn't go well this year, which I hope to work on next year. That has been Tennis and Blogging. Have been very bad - thanks to multiple factors but mostly work and travel.

On the work front it has been a fantastic year. It had a good start in March with me getting an award for Sales Excellence for the previous year. Something I definitely did not expect being a newbie in the field. There were a few setbacks but still managed to add a few more accounts under my hat. It has been a roller coaster with ups and downs every now and then. I guess it kept me on my toes and a great learning experience - though stressful at times. As many people tease me - Manila has now become my 2nd home with so many trips this year. Work related travel also gave me opportunities to enjoy a grand slam experience and other interesting places in Manila and Singapore. 

2015 is already looking to be quite exciting. Expecting to have many new experiences at home and work.

Until then...

Wishing you A Fantastic New Year 2015!!

C

David and Goliath - A Book Review

Before you go too far - if you came here looking for the biblical story about David and Goliath sorry you may not find much here even though the premise is taken from there.

A bit of background on how I laid hands on this book. This was a key "take away" (yeah literally) from our annual corporate conference in Jaipur few months ago. Hence I now have a copy signed by our CEO. We not being a "large" organization (a David) we've always wondered how we can compete with the biggies (the Goliaths). It was quite a timely piece of insight given to us as we started a new year with rather audacious goals. 

The general context of this book is that a strength is not necessarily a strength and a weakness is not necessarily so. Malcolm Gladwell being himself goes to a great extent to prove this. Most of it of course does make sense. The text in bold and italics below have been taken verbatim from the book.

To be true to the title of the book, it begins with an analogy based on the biblical David and Goliath story. It talks about how David's agility overcame Goliath's raw size and power. Also, the fact that how Goliath's source of power - his giant size also became the source of his weakness not to be able to adapt to David's attacks.

The next chapter talks about why someone who is lacking something is necessarily not at a disadvantage. He bring about various examples from Lawrence of Arabia to Vivek Ranadive - a silicon valley nerd becomes a basketball coach at his daughter's school. He says "To play by David's rules you have to be desperate. You have to be so bad that you have no choice." He claims one's disadvantages makes themselves to be desperate and hence to be able to win.

He then talks about parenting which of course struck a very close chord here. He talks about rich vs poor parents and how being rich is not always advantageous beyond a point. He even claims that as the income of parents get high enough parenting actually becomes harder. This probably explains why riches of one generation is not always sustained in the next and then the cycle repeats.

He talks about an interesting concept called "relative deprivation" coined by a sociologist Samuel Stouffer. According to him "we form our impressions not globally, by placing  ourselves in the broadest possible context, but locally - by comparing ourselves to people "in the same boat as ourselves. Our sense of how deprived we are is relative." A very interesting statement was "one of the things about Harvard is that there's just so many smart people there that it's hard to feel smart there".

He moves on to mental disabilities and how it actually works out in favour of them and the people around. He says innovators need to be disagreeable. "They are people willing to take social risks - to do things that others might disapprove of". Maybe this is what is also known as the ability to challenge the status quo?

Another interesting quote - "Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start. Courage is what you earn when you've been through the tough times and you discover they aren't so tough after all.". Read that twice (or more if needed) but it does make a lot of sense. :-)

He goes on to state many more examples from history such as Martin Luther King's struggles etc where someone literally leveraged on their disadvantages to turn them to into advantages.

Of course it doesn't mean that disadvantages turns into miracles by default for everybody - one has to really work at it and yes it can be overcome. 

Happy Reading!!

C

Mabuhay Manila

So Manila it was - to begin this year's overseas visits. Mabuhay apparently has many interpretations one of which is Welcome. After all these visits to the airport and chatting up with cab drivers I got to know some intricacies of the taxi world in Sydney. Even though every taxi can only charge the same amount, the type of service and the car type varies from different company to company. They have something called "Executive Service" which always has a nicer car and guaranteed to have an experienced driver behind the wheel. So now I've found a guy whom I can book to pick me up from home and the airport. The airport pickup means a saving of about 30 minutes waiting time at the taxi queue. Ok... so much for taxis.

Thanks again to the OneWorld points I was able to get a priority check-in done with no wait time. It was "interesting" to see a newbie / trainee handling a priority guest line. She had to take approval on everything she had to do. Managed to "negotiate" an aisle seat on an exit row. It was a luxury indeed. Enjoyed the Malaysian Airline lounge prior to boarding for a few hours. Came to know later on that the food served at the lounge was the same that got packed as the in-flight meal. It was an 8 hour flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur (KL). Then the dreaded part started. I had a waiting time from 3 AM - 8 AM in KL. Horrible time to be waiting at an airport. Neither could I sleep nor could I look around or go out. I suppose that was a trade-off to avoid an early morning flight. Got to change my strategy next time (which I already did BTW).

The flight from KL to Manila was 4 hours. Being a day flight I was able to enjoy the views of the thousands of islands along the way. It was quite interesting to see the pristine blue borders along the islands. Am pretty sure they make wonderful white sand beaches as well. Maybe sometime... Reached Manila at around 2 PM. This time I could not arrange for my company car pick up and got to take a ride with the airport taxi. Came to realize later that it was like 3 times expensive compared to a metered ride. Worst part the driver couldn't find the hotel with the address I gave. Apparently he was a newbie!! Oh well.. managed to reach my hotel after a few "on the road" enquiries. The hotel had a unique "Water Spa" to which I had a complimentary access. Apart from the usual steam and sauna it had a few herbal aroma therapy jacuzzis. The best part was the water jets around. They had specific jets to address different parts of the body. One of such spots was like standing under a water falls (almost) similar to standing under the falls at Kutraalam or Hogenakkal? There was one area which was like a cylinder with water jets coming in from different directions top to bottom - well...what can I say...had to be a little careful there. ;)

Manila as a city is very similar to Chennai  in terms of look and feel. Yes there are a few high rises around but the surroundings felt very much at home. The only thing that was probably missing was the cows and stray dogs. One of the days I had to wait for about 20 minutes for a taxi outside my hotel and then started on foot to work. It was a good 15 - 20 minute walk - but not a fun thing to do in a 28 deg weather with my laptop bag and blazer on!! The next 2 days went on pretty busy. Started back to Sydney on a 1.30 PM flight via KL. Manila airport has multiple queues before one could actually get to the gate. The gate locations were not quite straightforward too. Flight back was quite Ok. Saw a movie called "The Counselor" - now if anybody can explain what they were trying to do please do ping me. Could not make head or tail except that someone gets killed for some reason.

The stopover in KL was just perfect to have a quick snack, a few photos and then headed over to the gate. Had a Chennai vaasi accompany me to Sydney. He was migrating to Australia for the first time. Being an "investment banker" he gave me some insights into the market. I suppose that might come in handy somewhere.

So long folks. Singapura - here I come next.

C

A Grand Slam Experience

After all these years finally got to see live professional tennis in action and that too in a Grand Slam. It definitely was an experience right from booking the tickets to choosing a game to watch. 

The tickets had to be booked online and it was a very overwhelming process to choose the best seats. I truly hope they make it better for customers to know exactly where they would be in the stadium. I eventually ended up sitting in the last row in the stadium - which is definitely not the most comfortable seats to be in nor the view. I suppose it helps to book in advance as well. 

I booked the evening tickets on Rod Laver arena which was supposed to play premium matches. The best part being with these tickets we could watch every other match except in the Hi-Sense arena a stadium across the street. Got to see Azarenka Vs Zahlavova Strycova (that's just the last name BTW), a bit of Murray Vs Millot and then moved on to another stadium (Margaret Court) to watch the dramatic Paire Vs Kyrgios battle.

I suppose it is a matter of luck to get to enjoy a great game in the Rod Laver arena. While the Azarenka match had a bit of excitement towards the end, Murray's match was not great entertainment. Obviously Murray was great but the opponent couldn't do much and he was cleaned out in straight sets. Kyrgios' match was paisa vasool (value for money). Kyrgios being Aussie had great supporting crowd and the energy inside was something to feel. Being a smaller stadium got to get the match a little closer. Luckily it was not completely packed and I could get a great seat right behind the umpire. There was a Paire supporter probably a French girl who kept banging on the metal wall every time Paire won a point. Now that must've really hurt as the last 3 sets was completely in Paire's favour. It was sad to see Kyrgios getting a cramp towards the end and for some reason he did nothing about it - no medical time out - no assistance requested. It was quite awful to see 3 aces fly by because he could not simply move. Right after that game Kyrgios came out first after the change over trying to demonstrate his energy. End of the day his body gave up and Paire became lucky. Paire throwed 3 of his used t-shirts to those groups who were supporting Kyrgios. Not sure what he was trying to accomplish there. :-)

And yes, I managed to "appear" on TV as well. One of my friends spotted me at the end of the match when I was able to get down up to to the barrier. (Cheers Niven!!) One should plan to spend the whole day at the Open. This way one would get to enjoy many other off-court entertainment as well. Overall a great experience. Hope to repeat it next year.

C

Good Bye 2013 & Hello 2014!!

So...it has become a "tradition" now to post a blog entry at least on the 1st of each year - with a Hope that this becomes a regular habit through the year. However as every year passes by that has remained just that - a hope!! 

The last few weeks has been extremely busy on many fronts. On the work front I got a contract signed with my very first "new" customer or NN as they call in sales parlance. It was an exciting journey starting from wooing a prospect in a conference totally out of the blue to convincing them to sign up for one of the services I sell. It is a small deal - but nevertheless my First Deal. 

On the personal front I've never been as busy as the last few weeks starting from kids' birthdays to weekend outings almost every weekend. So much that I simply could not catch up to write about it (got to give myself some excuse!!). The holiday season has been quite busy as well. Have seen a few places around Sydney for the first time. Kids have been having a great time - mostly water oriented fun. The New Year's eve was eventful with a trip down to Parramatta river for an early evening fireworks and then followed by a small gathering in a friend's place to watch THE Sydney fireworks on TV. 

2013 has been quite exciting in many ways for sure. A life changing milestone of getting Aussie passports. That does open up quite a few avenues for personal and professional development. The biggest event of course is the trip to India. A long pending wish that got realized. It was also the year with many international trips to Muscat and China. Having my mother-in-law stay with us for a few months has been a great boon. Literally enjoying the best of both worlds. Can't omit reinstating my long lost hobby of photography. 

If I were to summarize 2013 - it has been a year of revelation. Got to understand and learn many things that were quite puzzling until then. I suppose I've just scratched the tip of whatever mystery it is - a long way to go for sure. Every year I begin with a premonition (in a positive way) of many exciting things to come through the year. 2014 does seem to keep up with the trend.

Wishing you all a Terrific and Effective 2014!!

Cheers

C

TheElephantCatchers By Subroto Bagchi - A Book Review

Usually I rate a book by the number of dog ears I create while reading the book whenever I find something interesting. In that sense this has been the most "abused" book where there has been way too many dog ears throughout the book. This book was recommended by the book keeper in Chennai Airport while I was surfing through the rack. He just said "This is the latest from Mr. Bagchi Sir". Am still wondering why I bought into that sales pitch - but thankfully so.

In the corporate world I've always wondered how organizations transform themselves many times bigger than what they started with. Not sure if there are any business degrees or courses which would teach this or one just learns by experience. Thanks to Mr. Bagchi I was able to get a sneak preview of some of his experiences of how MindTree grew to where it is right now. It was a rather bold move to share in public some of such experiences. Am sure there is a lot more yet to be revealed but in my mind this was just a good enough start for kids like me.

The premise of this book is about what he calls as "breakthrough growth". Not a gradual growth in single digit or the lower 2 digit %ages year on year but a transformational growth. After I got into sales and business development a little over a year ago I've always wondered if I was suitable for this job. Apparently I am a "farmer" rather than a "hunter", where this book describes a bit about both. Interestingly this book even talked about a scenario where organizations move a technical person into sales just because he/she was there. That was so me!! This book is far from theoretical. He has picked up examples that are so down to reality that one would see day in and out.

As usual I've taken a few excerpts from the book that I found to be worth mentioning here. 

Any organization may go through waves of difficulties every now and then. He gives and example of a Swamiji from Siddaganga Mutt where he says "Swamiji's most fundamental ally has been his sense of purpose.... That purpose is so powerful that it permeates everything; it is the force that binds everyone in the Mutt and creates alignment".

Talking about growth and strategy - he says "You don't need to think of strategy if incremental growth makes you happy." I've always wondered what happens in the so called "strategy" sessions and even contributed to some to some extent. I was never convinced myself totally on what I've given so far. This book literally shattered those ideas. He says "Great strategy is not about a pie chart sliced and diced to infinity, then multiplied with a radar graph and divided to death by a 3D histogram. Great strategy is simplicity that even the doorman can understand."

He clearly brings a difference in the type of (sales) people you need to have for growth. He uses an analogy of catching rabbits vs elephants. "Unlike an operation to catch rabbits, trapping an elephant calls for expertise over enthusiasm..... You catch a rabbit to eat its meat. It has consumptive value but no regenerative value. You don't catch the elephant to eat it; once caught and tamed, it is meant to be an economic resource. While the rewards are great, the risks are very personal, and a failed enterprise can bring grievous injury and may even prove fatal." I often think I've been a rabbit catcher and hope to become an elephant catcher sometime soon.

For a "village" to transform to a "city" he says "The social contract that laid the foundation of the village will have to be replaced with one for a city. It is time to step back and rethink the purpose of the organization, and be ready to remodel its structure and functioning".

Coming from a medium sized organization one of my common / every day questions is - "How do I breakthrough with a prospect who is already entrenched by other biggies in the industry?".  This book has a few tips for that as well. For eg., "look for what you may have in common with the customer beyond your expected capabilities and use it to create the connect".

Now this is where it came very close to home (literally) - "Just as you need to encourage good salespeople to continue to sell rather than become supervisors, you also need to watch out against creating accidental account managers. This happen when, for instance, a successful delivery guy in a software company, or a creative person in an ad agency, is put in charge of a particular account because he delivers well and has developed a relationship of trust with a client". Not sure if I would've got this job if my boss had read this book. ;-) Am still around....so probably it's not too bad. Am sure there is a loong way to go.

A great insight has been about outlining qualitative strategies. "What is the overall competitive objective? What will I sell, to whom and why? Who will I not sell to and what ill I not sell?" Questions like these are very real and one needs to have a reasonable idea about them.

One of the general perceptions of Indian IT services companies is that we are "glorified body shoppers". He says "If the customer directly engages with out people, while we as a company remain pure intermediaries how would we build employee loyalty?". A very serious question indeed and especially when it comes to having your team Onsite. Employees tend to have more affinity towards the customers than their own organizations.

This book moves on to talk about how even a board should be selected. Things that one does not necessarily think about in the middle-management or front line leadership level. He says "It is one thing to have a stellar board; it is quite another to use it effectively. The latter requires the capacity to seek and receive counsel.... Above all, it requires intellectual honesty".

Every now and then organizations deploy "consultants" to review the strategy and performance. He says "you will invariably get all you need from the consultant in the first six months of engagement. After that, whoever they may be, they are simply repeating themselves".

In terms of intellectual transformation one of the key things that moves one from a "glorified body shopper" to a consulting / services company is the value we bring to the table. He says "In large IT deals the client requires its associate companies to go beyond being "order takes" to becoming "order makers". They can no longer wait for the client to ask them to do something. Instead, they must imagine a solution, take the idea to the client, think through the implementation issues ad lead the way." This was something I felt personally and also received as feedback from one of my customers.

Normally business books don't talk about firing people unless it is a complete HR related theme. Mr Bagchi brings that up as something an organization should be skilled at as well. He says "Fire with reason, fire as the thought-through last resort, fire if you must, fire with fairness, take expert help, be reasonable, keep in mind the indignity of the person being fired may suffer in such a situation and be cognizant of the material difficulty the person may have to face".

One key message to the organization's leaders here - "Often, employees have no idea about the thoughts and points of action engaging the leader between the statement of objectives in the beginning of the year and an analysis of the quarter-end results. Transparency is key. It is important for a leader to regularly publish what is on his / her mind to the entire set of next-level employees."

Finally he wraps up the book with what happens during adversity. He says "Despite good intent, top management openness, support for an individual's career development and the overall growth momentum of the organization, not everything will work out the way you want. Don't get disheartened; a certain amount of failure, anguish, alienation and disappointment are rites of passage that every growing company must encounter..... If the existential question looms large and self-doubt takes over, remind yourself of the larger purpose and tell yourself that pain is inevitable but suffering is optional". When things go out of control - "When extraordinary events overtake us it is time to do ordinary things extraordinarily well".

Happy Reading!!

C

Guangzhou & Shanghai - November 2013

So am back from yet another trip from China. Quite "adventurous" in my mind...but as Nandhitha says... what's the adventure...it's just China. :-) Guess one needs someone like that to be grounded.

It was a late morning day flight this time from Sydney. Didn't have to get up too early thankfully. However thanks to the peak hours had to take multiple deviations to avoid peak hour traffic to the airport. Now I know at least 3 different ways to get to the airport from home in case I get stuck somewhere. The flight to Guangzhou was quite fine. Had the entire row of 3 seats to myself so was able to stretch a bit after a couple of movies. Thanks to flight journeys get to watch some movies which I would'nt have bothered to watch otherwise or watch Casino Royale for the nth time. 

Reached Guangzhou at around 5 PM hoping that at this time I would not be approached by the Taxi Touts (TTs). But no...they were hanging around this time as well apart from the legal taxi queue. Only this time they asked for USD 100 for a trip which costs slightly less than USD 20. I had a hearty laugh (they joined along as well) and joined the queue. Guangzhou was quite busy this time with packed activities to be achieved as we were getting close to some timelines. Just as I was exiting my office to catch the flight to Shanghai I was stopped by a police officer who did a "random check" to see if I was working there illegally. After about 10-15 minutes of interrogation (thankfully with a translator around) he let me go.

Reached Shanghai on Wednesday night - same Taxi story there as well. Only that this time the touts were more "professional looking" (with suit, tie and a badge) and even had a booth inside the airport. They were marketing a RMB 400 limousine for a RMB 60 trip. Stayed in a Howard Johnson - not the best of the location or amenities, but the room was huge. Essentially like a single bedroom apartment suite except that the kitchen had no utensils.

Finished my formal meeting with a prospect at about 5 PM and we were supposed to meet again for dinner at around 8.30. In between this time the client recommended that I visit a "fake market" shopping complex nearby where I could get branded items at a much discounted price. I first hesitated not to go there but he assured me on the quality but that I had to look out for good ones. He also gave me a fair idea on a negotiation tactic - basically to look at the quality and decide upon a budget I am willing to spend on it (considering how much it would've costed in Australia). After about 30 minutes of roaming around I landed in one shop where I could get some stuff that I liked. The lady in the shop was kind enough to take me around to other shops where I could get women's and kids items. 

After dinner with the client went to the Bund with my camera and tripod and had a feast shooting the Shanghai skyline. I've been there last time with a mobile camera with no battery. Felt so miserable that time that I could not capture the view. Spent a good time experimenting with the lights. Watching me shoot a tourist gang (2 couples) approached me to take a photo of themselves and if I could email it to them. The ladies in the group offered the roses (which I presume their partners gave) which I had to refuse politely. ;-)

The next day I had some time in the morning for a bit of sight seeing. Not many options within the limited time I had as I also had a lunch appointment with my client before I could catch the flight back in the evening. Went to the Yu (or Yu Yuan) Garden. It is apparently a 400 year old garden which has gone through many changes. Met with my client for lunch in a Chinese restaurant (is that a rhetoric?). Obviously he was such a regular there (and a big shot as well). We got a private dining room (normally given for larger groups) and he just said I need a salad, fish and chicken. The knew what he wanted and brought some awesome dishes. 

Headed back to the hotel to collect my bags and proceeded to the airport. This is where the "adventure" begins. I used my mobile for the last time in the hotel to look at the itinerary. When I looked for it again after checking in - I did not have it on me. :-( I contacted the hotel and the taxi driver somehow but both of them declined seeing it. Am pretty sure it must've been in the taxi but did not have enough time to follow it through as I had a flight to catch. Ironically the flight from Shanghai got delayed by 2 hours which was exactly the time I had between the connecting flight in Guangzhou to Sydney. The flight was still in the air when I was supposed to be boarding my next flight. By the time I landed and got out of the aircraft an agent declared that we have missed that flight and had to take the next available one. The next flight was in the morning - it took a few hours for them to get our (there were a few others to Australia as well) hotel sorted out. It was quite an uncomfortable situation where I lost my mobile, my pre-paid mobile credits on my Chinese SIM got over (and I could not find a place to re-charge) and missed my connecting flight. However I suppose all is well that ends well. Reached Sydney on Saturday night with the rest of my luggage intact.

Photos available here here for your viewing.

So long folks...

Until next time...

C

Ni Hao from Guangzhou

Returned recently from my longest stint (5 days) in China @ Guangzhou. The longest duration where I got to play dumb for most of the time. Either in a taxi or restaurant - all I could do is point at stuff - no talking. Taxi drivers needed to see addresses in Chinese if I had to go some place. Thanks to smart phones I Google the location at my hotel and just show it to the driver - thankfully I didn't have to "draw" the address myself. The return journey is fairly simple - I show my room card which has the hotel address. The only trouble is if I had to make one another stop - well I didn't dare to. Upon seeing the address they usually confirm with a "OK OK" or "OK Lah" - which gives me assurance that I will be taken to the destination of choice. Now I figured where the "Lah" business in Singapore comes from - its from their Chinese counterparts. Restaurants - that's a longer story which I will share a little later below. 

Reached Guangzhou at 4 AM in the morning. Which happened to be the first flight of the day. We in fact opened up the immigration desks to let us out. If my opening paragraph gave you any idea how I had to deal with taxi drivers, my adventure began with having to haggle / negotiate taxi charges to the hotel. During reasonable business hours taxis operate on meter here. At 5 AM in the morning those rules went out the door. I vaguely remembered paying about 80 Yuan the last time and was able to bring it down from ¥200 to ¥ 120. Thought it was reasonable to give 1.5 fare for early in the morning.

Managed to get some sleep in the morning - not an easy job to start sleeping at 7 AM in the morning. Later in the evening went to the Pearl River promenade with the idea of getting on to a late evening river cruise. It was an hour long cruise which crossed a few bridges across the river. Had some good clicks of the Guangzhou skyline. "Work" began next day with a grand lunch organized by our Guangzhou center head with our client. It was a multi-course lunch where food in small portions that just kept coming. Had a chance to taste the famous Peking duck for the first time (maybe 2nd?). The whole duck was first presented to us for a visual treat and then the hostess takes it back to carve it out to different meals. The crispy skin and some meat was used as a filling in a pancake and then remaining meat was served in some sort of stir-fry.

Talking about eating and restaurants it definitely was an interesting experience the past five days. Had a chance to try the multicourse expensive restaurant meal all the way to a "kaiyendhi bhavan" style street food. In any restaurant where it is inside a building there is usually a menu with either food pictures or an English translation (however strange it may sound - like a "dancing buddha"). However with street food I had to point to the type of noodles, the meat (if I could think it was chicken) and egg. Needless to say - the taste was amazing. The worst experience I had was eating spaghetti with prawns in tomato sauce in a Chinese restaurant. I literally walked past a few Italian restaurants on that street thinking I should only eat Chinese while in China. I ended up at these seemingly 100% Chinese joint which had many many menu options. After a good read I ended up selecting "Spaghetti with shrimp" with a very sincere assumption that spaghetti was just a translation for regular noodles. My heart sank when I saw them (yes I had a seat with a good view of the kitchen) put a lump of boiled spaghetti in a bowl and topped it up with prawns in tomato sauce. 

The hotel that I stayed was adjacent the famous "Beijing Road Shopping District". A block of few pedestrian only streets with the colourful shops of various budget ranges. Whenever I walk there I seem to have the board "Tourist" written on top of my head with glowing neon lights. Every few steps the "imitation hawkers" approach me trying to convince me the benefits of a Rolex watch. You don't like watches its ok - handbags, perfumes - you name it they have it. Felt a bit annoyed at first but then got used to it. Apart from Chinese you get to see a lot of middle eastern and african people in China. In fact there were quite a few middle eastern restaurants as well. Of course there are a few Caucasian expats around but not many from the Indian sub continent. I did see a few but not as many as you would see in any other western country.  The time I visited there happened to be the time for the 114th trade fair / exhibition of some sort. The restaurants had the banners stating "ovation to the participants of the trade fair" - whatever that translates to Chinese - which I think means "Welcome to the participants...". I also learned that whenever they say "maybe" - it means they are pretty sure about it. :-) 

One unfortunate event happened during my stay there. A colleague of mine was assigned to accompany me on a local sight seeing / shopping trip. After about 10 minutes on the road he got a call from his mom that his father was in ICU. We immediately rushed to the hospital and then I continued on with another colleague. After a few hours that guy calls up this new colleague and checks whether I was doing fine and whether was able to do what I intended to do. I asked this new guy to call him back and enquire about his dad and got to know he had expired a few hours ago. I was shocked that a guy who's father had just expired checks in on me to ensure my sightseeing was happening as planned. Chinese hospitality at its heights!!!

Click here for a few photos.

So long folks. Until next time...

C

Incredible India - Part III (The Finale)

As they say, when it rains it pours. After a long hibernation 3 posts within a week - now that's a record. Here's the 3rd and concluding part of the Incredible India series. 

 

After all the exciting events left for Chennai on 11th night via the Chennai Express (ok to be precise - Salem - Chennai Express). Had a "bread omelette" for dinner (another tick in the box - eating bread omelette in train) and had a solid slumber until the train reached Egmore. Reached Adyar by auto - probably overpaid a bit but did not bother to haggle much at 4 AM in the morning. The next 2 days were quite relaxing at Mogamma's place. Did a visit to Vijaya hospital to see Ramappa. Brought back memories of my days in Vijaya Hospital trying to implement a patient information system using FoxPro (yes I have done some programming at some point in my life). 

 

The next day started early with Ayudha Pooja @ Thiruvengadam St followed by a morning show movie - Naiyyandi at S2 (ex Thyagaraja theatre). Naiyyandi in a word - torture. Happened to see Ranjhanaa on the flight back to Sydney and was interesting how the same actor could be made to look mature and dumb in different movies. Must give a hats off to Dhanush to be able to adapt so well. ;-) I realized early that morning that my luggage allowance was actually 30 kgs and I had only loaded 20. Did some shopping literally last minute at Nilgiris to make best use of the baggage allowance.

The check-in at the Singapore airlines counter was quite a breeze at the new International terminal in Chennai. Could be attributed to many reasons. The immigration officer looked at my Aussie passport and commented "First time entry aa?? - You should apply for an OCI so you dont need such multiple entry visas."  Point taken!! At the airport met with Chikappa's friend - a very "interesting" person. He saw me walking the floor a few times and reached out to introduce himself. He "found" me again in the flight and had a long chat including an air hostess. Was surprised that she could spare a good 30 minutes talking to one passenger.

The connecting flight to Sydney was quite quick. I had very little time and thankfully it was just a few gates away in the same terminal. Landed in Sydney at around 5.20 and caught the taxi at 6 PM. The quickest exit  I've had after an international flight. Immigration was so quick with the E-Pass system where I did not have to meet any immigration officer. Just another perk for an Aussie passport. The customs / quarantine didn't question much on the spices I loaded up the previous day just had to get the bags scanned. The cab driver happened to be a Singaporean who migrated here 29 years ago who chatted about the various gods and goddesses in Hindu mythology. I had to give him $2.50 in change finally for which he gladly accepted Rs 120 in Indian currency. A first of a kind I must admit.

Thus ends the Incredible India 2013 trip. It was hectic, refreshing and nostalgic. Wonder if there is any single word to describe these adjectives (maybe Incredible?). There were ticks in many boxes and of course a few that had to be missed. Especially meeting with friends. Hopefully next time...

It sounds formal - but thanks a lot to everybody who made this trip quite memorable for all the good reasons.

More from Guangzhou next week. Until then...

C

Incredible India - Part II (Main Events)

The main events started on Saturday 5th October with Narayana Murthy (a tradition followed in our family during the month of Purattasi). We are supposed get dressed up as "pandaram"s with naamam (white and red stripes on forehead) and garland to beg for rice from other houses and have that day's meal from the alms received. Used to be one of my favourite traditions back then. It was good to do that again and also a chance for the kids as well. 

 Later in the evening it was dressing up Nandha as Krishna event. Of course it was a nightmare to dress up Nandha. Thankfully we had his naamam done while he was sleeping. By this time we had a full house with grand kids (all 5 of them) at Salem. The girls were dressed up as Radha(s) - Radha 1, Radha 2 and Radha 3 as they called themselves and Sai was dressed up as Krishna. Kids had a blast dressing up and with the photo shoot.

Sunday 6th October was THE event of this trip - Nandha's Mottai (Mundan / head shave) at the Vanavasi temple. It used to be a nightmare even for a haircut for Nandha - so I was expecting a fair bit of drama for the mottai. We even tried to "drug" him a bit prior but it had absolutely no effect. It took about 6 adults to hold him tight to finish the task. Ear piercing was not that much of a challenge - thanks to some local anesthetic applied on the ears. All was well that ended well. 

On Monday the 7th we all set out to Yercaud on a 2 day trip. Until now Nandha has been showing his "prowess" within the closed walls of any house he visited. We were quite unprepared as to what to expect from him at Yercaud. He showed his cross country running skills chasing dogs all around the house. The stay at Nanjam was quite refreshing after a long time. Rummy sessions started right after lunch. Card games went on  without any age bar. We had the usual Yercaud town - Lake and back morning walk with Nandha on my shoulders 50% of the time. We went for a short trip to the horticultural gardens followed by a trip to Kaakambadi estate post lunch. We had a bit of adventure on the way back having to push an abandoned small lorry which was parked in a single lane road. Had a nice dinner at a restaurant overlooking the Salem valley. The best part of the dinner was the waiter offering to baby sit Nandha allowing us to eat in peace. Left back for Salem "early" in the morning the next day after a breakfast at Venkateshwara hotel. They still maintain the old charm except that we don't have to throw the plaintain leaves ourselves.

We managed to take the kids to our fields at Neikarapatti. Kids were amused by the "pattaasu kai" a seed that cracks on contact with water on its sharp end.

Thus ends the main events of our trip to India. 

So long folks. Have a great evening / night / day.

C

p.s.: Currently back in Sydney and living on Indian time zone.

p.p.s: Photos available at: Initial travels, Narayana Murthy & Mottai, Yercaud, Neikarapatti

Incredible India - Part 1 (Initial Travels)

"Incredible India" is one of the marketing campaigns that we see for Indian tourism in Sydney - probably active in other countries as well. It is interesting to see myself as a "tourist" in a place where I grew up. I suppose a few years away from home can make that difference.

Had a good short break in Singapore where the prime needs were met - family, sight seeing, shopping and of course hawker style food. A loaf of stale bread and a fish pond was all it took to keep the kids occupied. Travelling with Nandha comes with its own entertaining moments. He was quite engrossed with Tom and Jerry (mostly without ear phones) through most of the flight segments. However he had the need to stand up on the seat every time during take off and landing. Guess he wanted to enjoy the full effect. The current air travel regulations had to be enforced providing a bit of entertainment to fellow passengers.

First stop - Chennai catching up with family, friend and filling up ward robes. Had a road trip to Bangalore with a slightly (2 hours) delayed start than planned and reached Bangalore at around 3 PM for lunch. Since then our lunch timings changed to post 3 PM for the next 2 days (almost the rest of the trip). Managed to play some tennis and a quick trip to Anekal to visit our house. After a 2 day break in Bangalore left for Salem on the 29th morning. We had a quick stopover at Kaatu Aanjaneyar (Forest Anjaneyar/Hanuman) temple. It is supposedly a "powerful" temple granting many people their wishes. Each wish is secured with a coconut in a red bag and a unique identification number. I understand that once that wish is materialized you visit the temple again and break that coconut open (and probably file your next wish as well).

Salem was a short stop initially - just 2 days and headed off to Mettur. Managed to go on a movie (Raja Rani) date with Uma - thanks to her grand parents baby sitting the kids. After a day in Mettur had another quick road trip to Anekal. It was a quite refreshing trip with pleasant weather and the green fields along. Returned back to Salem on the 3rd Oct. Had dinner at Gandhi Rd with take away food from Parasakthi  - a small restaurant which tops my list of favourites in Salem. A huge tick in the box for my trip.

Will stop with this for now. More to come soon.

Until then...

C

The Great Indian Vacation - Day (-2)

So we are almost there - 2 more sleeps to go for the Great Indian Vacation after 3+ years. Little did we realize that we are now a different "category" of visitors to India. Am not talking about the new Aussie passports here - that is just a document. We are now called visitors of the type "VFR - Visiting Friends & Relatives". 

I have been travelling a bit this year to countries of different sanitation standards from Muscat to Manila, throw in a Guangzhou as well. Never bothered to do any precautionary / preventive vaccinations prior to my travel. This time being a vacation and also involving travelling with kids thought of taking some measures. Our GP - a lady from Sri Lankan origin gave us a nice long lecture. We apparently were supposed to see her 2 weeks prior to our trip. She was quite disappointed that we went just a few days before. One of the vaccines (for malaria) had to be taken 2 weeks prior to the trip. 

That is when we got to hear this term "VFR". Apparently there are different types of visitors - corporate travellers who stay in posh hotels and eat in posh restaurants. Normal Tourists who stay in decent hotels and eat from propah restaurants. And then comes the VFRs apparently the most riskiest as they are usually ex-locals going back to their families and friends. They supposedly tend to be more prone to catching a bug or two here there eating "carelessly".

There was a long list of can's and no-can's when it came to eating. What can I say - it felt "different". 

Parasakthi - here we come!!! (Incorrigible??) ;-)

C

The God Delusion - A Book Review

If I were to summarize this book in a sentence - A cleverly written book. The author obviously knows what he is talking about with all the painful (??) research he must've done over the years. So yes, this book is about Atheism and why the concept of God is a delusion as the title says.

When the book begins with a quote - "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having the believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" it pretty much sums up the tone for the entire book. The book as such is a huge collection of quotes, passages and lectures from many people with a bit of commentary interlined by Mr. Dawkins. To know that such a book can actually become a bestseller - we must give it up for Dawkins. A clever man indeed. Inspite of being an Atheist book the word   God was written with the G instead of g throughout. Guess he couldn't break the rules of grammar? When did God influence grammar? Hmm... 

The basic premise of the book revolves around the differences between Darwinistic theory of evolution and the "biblistic" theory of creationism. He very clearly puts a reasonable boundary for his thoughts. He does not attack any and every representation of God. He limits himself to supernatural God and specifically about Abrahamic religions (Jewism, Christianity & Islam). Although he briefly touches upon other religions such as Hinduism, he does not consider Buddhism as a religion. He calls it a philosophy.

There is an interesting 7 scale categorization made to distinguish different levels of Theism and Atheism starting from someone who just does not believe but knows there is God and one who knows there is no God.

Rather than proving or disproving the concept of God this book brings out all the dirty linen of Christianity, Islam and Jewism articulated in a very succinct fashion that it would make one cringe to be called a Christian or Muslim or a Jew. It would make one wonder - is that  really what we are basing our beliefs on? Unfortunately (or fortunately?) there has been enough material for him to collect and paint A picture. This book delves a lot on articulating various stupid acts that has happened in history in the name of religion rather than proving anything one way or the other. Am sure there are enough acts of stupidity in the name of science, but that is not the topic of this book is it? :-)  

Towards the end he attempts to look at the "softer" parts of religion where it is supposed to be helping mankind. I don't think he had any strong argument to prove why religion cannot be helpful for consolation or inspiration.

Eventually the book ends with a scientific explanation for an illusionary world which was long captured in Hinduism as "Maya".

All in all an interesting read, a good collection of passages that support the theme, but does not seem to prove anything either way.

There were quite a few interesting quotes throughout the book. As always I've selected a few that interested me the most. 

Some people have views of God that are so broad and flexible that it is inevitable that they will find God wherever they look for him.

We have names for people who have many beliefs for which there is no rational justification. When their beliefs are extremely common we call them "religious"; otherwise they are likely to be called "mad", "psychotic", or "delusional".

Many of our human ailments, from lower back pain to hernias, prolapsed uteruses and our susceptibility to sinus infections, result directly from the fact that we now walk upright with a body that was shaped over hundreds of millions of years to walk on all fours. 

Predators seem beautifully designed to catch prey animals, while the prey animals seem equally beautifully designed to escape them. Whose side is God on?

Could irrational religion be a by-product of the irrationality mechanisms that we originally built into the brain by selection for falling in love? Certainly religious faith has something of the same character as falling in love (and both have many of the attributes of being high on an addictive drug).

Bernard Shaw - The fact that a believer (in God) is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.

At what age does any developing embryo, of any species become capable of suffering?

"Really", for an animal is whatever its brain needs it to be, in order to assist its survival. And because of different species live in such different worlds, there will be a troubling variety of "reallys".

I guess I come under a category somewhere between a "Deist" (who apparently believes in a supernatural intelligence, but one whose activities were confined to setting up the laws that govern the universe in the first place) and a Pantheist (where God is used as a non-supernatural synonym for Nature). 

Guess the bottom line is - Vaazhavae Maayam!! (Life is a Delusion!!) :-)

Cheers

C