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

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

This book has been by far the longest read book I've ever had. I think I started reading this about more than a year ago and for some reason kept ignoring it in spite of having it in my backpack every day. Among many other reasons Angry Birds was definitely one that kept me away from completing this book sooner. ;-) Finally made it a few weeks ago and eventually got time to write about it.

This is yet another book which reveals a few "aha" moments where you smack yourselves wondering why you didn't realize this earlier. The funny thing is, as I read the book I continue to make the same mistakes, but the realization happens more sooner than later. Should try harder I guess to avoid repeating the same in future. Let's see...

The premise of the book is simple - the very same traits that made you "successful" till now will pull you down to move ahead. Paradoxical is what I thought initially, but few pointers did bring out the "aha" or rather "oops".

Marshall talks about 20 basic flaws that leaders normally get into. By leaders we don't have to look at the executive level. Anybody who's had the responsibility for more than his / her own work is a leader in some sense - regardless of corporate designation.

1. Winning too much: The need to win at all costs and in all situations – when it matters, when it doesn't  and when it’s totally beside the point.
2. Adding too much value: The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.
3. Passing judgement: The need to rate others and impose our standards on them.
4. Making destructive comments: The needless sarcasms and cutting remarks that we think make us sound sharp and witty.
5. Starting with “No,” “But,” or “However”: The overuse of these negative qualifiers which secretly say to everyone, “ I’m right. You’re wrong.”
6. Telling the world how smart we are: The need to show people we’re smarter than they think we are.
7. Speaking when angry: Using emotional volatility as a management tool.
8. Negativity, or “Let me explain why that won’t work”: The need to share our negative thoughts even when we weren't asked.
9. Withholding information: The refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others.
10. Failing to give proper recognition: The inability to praise and reward.
11. Claiming credit that we don’t deserve: The most annoying way to overestimate our contribution to any success.
12. Making excuses: The need to reposition our annoying behaviour as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it.
13. Clinging to the past: The need to deflect blame away from ourselves and onto events and people from our past; a subset of blaming everyone else.
14. Playing favourites: Failing to see that we are treating someone unfairly.
15. Refusing to express regret: The inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit we’re wrong, or recognize how our actions affect others.
16. Not listening: The most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for colleagues.
17. Failing to express gratitude: The most basic form of bad manners.
18. Punishing the messenger: The misguided need to attack the innocent who are usually only trying to help us.
19. Passing the buck: The need to blame everyone but ourselves.
20. An excessive need to be “me”: Exalting our faults as virtues simply because they’re who we are.

Thanks to this link I did not have to type all of the above. :-)

Of course not every concept hits you (hard) all the time. Highlighted below a few excerpts which made this book to be a "must read" for anybody (in my perception of course).

(Text in italics are picked from the book)

• Adding too much value - It is extremely difficult for successful people to listen to other people tell them something they already know without communicating somehow (a) "we already knew that" and (b) "we know a better way". You may have improved the content by 5% but you've reduced my commitment to executing it by 50% because you've taken away my ownership of the idea. Try to remember this next time you try to implement a change and you want to involve your team to be a part of the change.  
• Telling the world how smart we are - Being smart turns people on. Announcing how smart you are turns them off. All along I always believed in the principle of self-marketing. It looks like thin-ice after all. Gotta tread carefully.
• Let me explain why that wont work - "If you catch yourself frequently saying, "Let me tell you why that won't work", you know what needs fixing. Can't explain the pleasure of proving someone wrong. Especially if that is going to get yourselves in the limelight. What you lose by this is people approaching you for any positive critique of an idea.
• Making excuses - If we can stop excusing ourselves, we can get better at almost anything we choose. Such a profound statement. Very easy to fall into this pit and very convenient as well. Are you ready to take ownership and responsibility?
• An excessive need to be "me" - I behave this way, and I achieve results. Therefore, I must be achieving results because I behave this way. In other words its simple egotism. However this is one of the key concepts of this book. Just because you were successful because of a particular behaviour it is no free pass to repeat the same and expect a bigger success. Adaptation is key.
• People will do something  - including changing their behaviour - only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their own best interests as defined by their own values. People only change their ways when what they truly value is threatened. I've always wondered why people don't agree with me when the expected outcome is going to be valuable to them. The key here is "as defined by their own values". Have you attempted to understand what their values are?
• In the "can-do"  environment in an organization there is no system for honouring the avoidance of a bad decision or the cessation of a bad behaviour. Especially at this time of the year when the annual review happens, can we measure avoidance of stupidity as a key objective?
• When sharing information or emotion, we have to ask "is this appropriate and how much should I convey?". Sometimes we do this delibrately to get someone else into trouble. As in poker, the greatest trick is to know "when to fold" not go "All In" every time.
• It is a whole lot easier to see our problems in others than it is to see them in ourselves.Gives a whole new meaning to "a thief can catch a thief". It's so easy to be objective with others than ourselves.
• An apology gives you a sense of closure. Closure lets you move forward. The idea is to move on into the future and not let the past hold you back (emotional luggage).
• Feedforward - "Helping people be right is more productive than proving them wrong". This is a bit different to "feedback" that we are all used to. I think our performance review systems should be changed 180 deg. 
• Measurement - Everything is measurable if we're clever enough to see that it needs measuring - and can devise a way to track it. Gotta remember to use this whenever we need to talk about "metrics". Most often we prefer to stay in the dark being ignorant to the need to measure something.

So there you go... hope you had a moment or  2 of aha or oops. This book was gifted to me by some of my team members. Probably they wished I read and act on some of the lessons mentioned. Tough luck guys....it took a while for me to Get Here. Wishing you all the best to Get There!!

Happy Reading

C

Yet another year goes by....

The last year's post ended (or began this year's post??) with "2012 seems quite interesting in many many ways. Let's see how it goes..." Not sure I remember what I had in mind then, but it truly has been quite interesting. There were quite a few "firsts" that I experienced this year, some of I wrote about, some I could not - but all good (well... mostly good). :-)

I see that as the years go by am becoming more and more irregular in writing a post here. As always - easy to blame on so many things but serves no purpose. A quiet Friday evening at home with the little one sleeping and the girls out to the park. May not get another chance like this before this year ends. :-) 

For one, the social life has been the busiest this year in Sydney - thanks to a bunch of great friends. In fact the last 2 months has been quite hectic with some event or the other happening every weekend. It even reached a point where a trip to the city for shopping turned into a 100 km ride up to Central Coast all of a sudden. Nandhitha's classes did add up a bit to our "busy"ness. We truly look forward to those school breaks when most classes take a break as well. 

I guess I've been most active on FaceBook this year compared to the last few years I've been online. So many interesting people to be attributed for that. I now force myself many times not to comment get into a conversation. Some people still manage to tickle my fingers ;-) Definitely something to be controlled for future. 

Professionally it has been a mixed bag year with ups and downs. Getting into business development gave (and continues to give) me a whole new perspective on a wide range of things. It's been a learning almost every day. Professional network exploded - thanks to LinkedIn and the complimentary forums and meetups. Hopefully they all add up to something materialistic. Trips to India, Shanghai, Muscat and recently Manila did add up to the "interesting"ness quotient for this year.

Coincidentally this week marks the completion of 150 weeks of Sydney Stories!! Oh what a ride.... :-)

Hopefully I do better next year with catching up with you all via the blog or otherwise more frequently.

Thanks again for a wonderful year!!

Wishing you all a Very Happy 2013!! Wishing you the best of health, wealth and spirits!!

Regards

C

p.s.: Glad that I could make this post in one sitting. ;-)