5 simple tips on receiving and giving feedback

Exactly what the title suggests...follow the link to read more


https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-simple-tips-receiving-giving-feedback-prasita-prabhakaran?trk=mp-reader-card

9 months, countless ecstatic moments, few sleepless nights, 5 lessons learnt

A mommy break - what a rewarding experience. I won't get into the cliched ones..here is what I could sum it up as...

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141006094418-67504172-9-months-countless-ecstatic-moments-few-sleepless-nights-5-lessons-relearnt?trk=mp-reader-card

Smarter Plant... Internet of every-thing(s)

My first blog on linked in

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140927140314-67504172-smarter-planet-internet-of-every-things?trk=mp-reader-card

Masinagudi -2012

Jeev's parents were visiting us for Diwali and we were looking for a place nearby for a one day outing. Coorg was our first choice, but unfortunately the room bookings did not work out and a week before the actual plan we were left with no place to go.

That is when I recalled the place suggested by my friend Lakshmi, Forest hills resort, Masinagudi. In the matter of hours the plan was finalised, rooms booked and we started off. My iPhone was still new and the craze of using google maps was in full swing. To our surprise not once did we miss a single lane, till we reached this jungle resort. Hail Google Maps!!!

We reached there on the day before Diwali [those were the only days when rooms were available]. To top it being festival days it was like having the resort to ourselves. We stayed on the twin tree houses. It was truly a jungle experience.

After lunch and a small photo session, we decided to take a tour of the Mudumalai Forest. Not much of animal sighting, all we could spot were a few deers, bisons, peacock, elephants and langurs. Back in the resort, Jeev and I played badminton for a while, had some tea and snacks and then we thought of just relaxing in the room while dinner gets ready.

The rooms are a bit spread out and a little 5 minute walk from the reception area. We did not imagine that the walk would be in pitch dark. All we had was one of the house keepers guiding us with his torch. And his stories would just not end. This place being right outside the Mudumalai Forest Range has occasional visitors as wild elephants, beers and lesser harmful ones like deers are often seen right next to the fence. He would suddenly flash his light into the dark and show us a pair of radium lights staring back at us and say, you see the deers often come here. I could barely make out if it was deer or someone from the feline family trying to check out on its prey. The 5 minute walk looked like eternity.

Once we reached the room, we convinced the housekeeper to serve food in the room. Another 10 minutes in the darkness was close to unimaginable for all of us then. Well our tree house had its own share of adventures to offer us. We had left some biscuits in the room, which were now close to the door and been nibbled upon too. We had some more jungle rodents visiting us, another call to the housekeeper and he rushed back with a rat trap. And in between all this a baby bat also flew right into the room. Well we had signed up for a jungle experience and here it was absolute silence apart from the sound of crickets and a rhythmic drum beat supposedly from a far off temple where Diwali celebrations were on.

The creaky tree house was truly fun. We slept peacefully not knowing that a tusker had decided to pay us visit in the middle of the night. We saw the aftermath the next morning. Couple of branches were victims to its hunger and a stronger smelling evidence was right next to it ;)

The next day we spent our time in the resort until lunch time, and then started our journey back.

In spite of all the jungle drama and a little worry that Jeev's parents may not be enjoying the rustic feel, we all had a great time. The very feeling of breathing fresh air leaves you with energy enough to sustain you until the next trip :)

I would strongly recommend this trip to all our nature loving friends.

kaayal... a mediocre restaurant for kerala cuisine

Kaayal is a Kerala cuisine restaurant on Jeevan Bima Nagar main road.  Small place bang on the road and offers a small glimpse of Kerala with its interiors.

An average place to be if you want to eat Kerala cuisine. We have tried pathiri, kappa-meen, kochi roast, karimeen fry, neymeen fry, Kerala parota and so on. The basic gravy remains more or less same though. Fish fry has been good most of the times.

Not close to the typical home made taste though...this is our hangout when we want to eat nada an food and are in no mood to look out for a new joint :)

Thank you ...

Thank You... the most used but not always heartfelt, at times sarcastic too...
We had. Lesson in English in class X. Not sure if it is still part of the Maharashtra state syllabus. The very first chapter where the author thanks everyone from the shopkeeper who sells wares for money to his domestic help. This has remained with me, most of the credit goes to our English Prof. Prasad sir. Thank you sir am sure you would have influenced many lives...

Now that it has stayed...I don't really shy from saying thanks to anyone. Be it the rickshawala who charges the meter fare only or the domestic help as she picks up the newspaper for me on her way out of the house. Same is the case at work, at times my team members tell me it is our work, you don't have to thank. It is more of a habit now I guess.

But yes formalities aside I would have never done this for my family. Have I thanked Amma Achan for what I am today. My sister without whom I would have not realized my potential. My bestest friend and hubby jeev...for putting up with me and my tantrums from the time we have known each other...Kannettan for being that supportive elder brother and ye of course my niece Muthu who has been a mirror to me on more than one occasion....well these are the people who matter the most to me. Do I take them for granted? Will they feel bad if I thank them, coz a thank you is too formal...

Well formal or not I do wish to thank them all...from the bottom of my heart. Someday when they read this I hope it brings a smile on their faces and brightens their day :)

Amazing Sri Lanka...

This year's anniversary trip was to the neighbouring island country Sri Lanka. Our first international holiday so to say...Jeev and I were pretty excited, as we started planning our itinerary. Courtesy MakeMyTrip our flight was booked. Thanks to the National Geographic site and multiple other blogs and travel sites, we could plan our trip without an agent. We have done this in our travel earlier, but doing this for a holiday outside India was challenging...we loved every minute of our trip :)

We started on 15th August, and before we realized we are in air it was time to land...and lo we were already in Sri Lanka. Hot and humid Colombo was considerably tolerable given that we landed at around 11 pm and reached our place of stay about 12 midnight. We had booked the cab from airport until "Indra Regent Hotel" through the hotel, so this part of the trip was taken care of. The cab driver had been an officer with the Sri Lanka Marine Cops and had been to Mumbai for a few months. He could barely contain his excitement while talking about India, cricket and old Bollywood classics. He was also part of this Hindi Songs Club in Colombo. Well we realized that we were fleeced soon enough, coz we shelled out 2700 LKR for this ride whereas on our way back, we paid only 1200 LKR...we did get smart through the stay and the art of bargaining just got better :). About the hotel, this is strictly a place to spend minimal transit time between your journey.

Colombo Fort Railway station

On 16th we started early to take the train at 7:00 to Kandy. We had booked the exporail tickets online. The distance from Indra Regent Hotel till the Colombo fort train station is only about 3 kms, and the rickshaw charged us 300 LKR. It was raining and was really difficult to find a rickshaw at this price. I had to wait at the station for a good 45 mins. while Jeev figured out the counter to get the ticket. The language problem kicks in, not everyone speaks English. While waiting I realized the tight security in all the major places. We had seen this on our way from airport too, a well guarded place must say. I really liked the cool bicycles that the commandos were using to take turns to go around the Colombo Fort to ensure the security of the place.

Temple of Tooth - Kandy

As we stepped onto the Colombo Fort railway station, it was like a flashback in India. The station had the old world charm and to add to it our train was pulled into the station by a Steam Engine. The 2 hour 30 mins ride to Kandy was nice, the last 30 mins especially gives you good glimpses of the terraced tea gardens. We spend a few hours in Kandy town and saw the "Temple of Tooth" and "Kandy Lake" before moving onto our resort in "Deltota". The Temple of Tooth was well kept and I noticed a mix of south Indian and Chinese influence in the carvings. Their way of praying also seemed very similar to ours.

Deltota is 30 kms from Kandy town and we got a good bargain of 1600 LKR for an auto ride. As we climbed up the hills the temperature dropped considerably and the view kept getting better. We stopped in between to click as many pics as we could, the expanse of green hills was extremely soothing. We stayed at "Mandira Taylors Hill Bungalow", a 120 year old colonial Bungalow, at the edge of the hill, deep inside a plantation. You could hear the wind gushing all the time. My first impression about the place and the care takers was not that great, but this changed completely in the next 2 days and at a point I wanted to extend our stay. If you go there do not miss the "Lamprais","Sambhol and Rice Hoppers". "Kandy Tea" all cooked by Mr. Gamini.


We took many walks around the Bungalow  to the Sandalwood Project nearby, Deltota Town and also to Galaha. Green and fresh air were the biggest advantage of being in Kandy, yet away from the regular tourist spots. We were drenched in rain a couple of times, but that did not deter us from going out again. We also found an Indian shopkeeper from Tirupur, I brought a Sri Lankan saree from his shop and he gave me a nice discount too :)

In the 2 days we figured out how to reach our next destination "Nuwara Eliya" and the bus to take us from "Deltota" to "Peradeniya Junction". On 18th we started at 5 to catch the bus, the security escorted us until we reached the main road. As we walked we could see the dawn approaching, the transformation from a silhouette of trees and hills to the pale orange of the dawn was beyond description. Though not a trek this short walk of about 2 kms was a memorable one.



As we approached Peradeniya Junction, we could see The Peradeniya University buildings stretched over an expanse of a few 100 acres. It was absolutely magnificent and full of manicured lawns and huge trees. This time we booked tickets in the observatory car. This is the last compartment in the train with huge glass windows and a full view of the rear, perfect for tourists to take pictures. This journey of 4 hours to Nanu Oya is a nature treat, especially the last 1 hour. At a point you only see hills until the horizon and all full of green, with of course the ugly mobile tower once a while to spoil the show. We passed by stretches after stretches of tea estates, water falls, a reservoir, those long roads placed beautifully between hills, tiny temples with multicoloured figurines decorating the roof...the list was long.

We took the state transport to go from Nanu Oya to Nuwara Eliya. It got much colder by then and had also started to rain, we only had 1/2 a day to spend here, so we decided not to rest. We spend some time in Nuwara Eliya town, the botanical gardens, golf course, and some old colonial buildings. Our stay here was in "Hill View Resort". This was about 2 kms from the town and was up on the hill, we were actually amidst clouds :) I couldn't believe this. We could barely see things a few meters from us...it was heavenly.

The same night we started on our journey back to Colombo. As we waited for our train at "Nanu Oya", it was nice to interact with a few the locals. They helped us find the right compartment. We were back in Colombo by 7 am. We spent time at the Galle sea face, and headed straight for our last aim this vacation...shopping!!!  We shopped like crazy at Odelle, picked clothes, tea, souvenirs and so on.

Contented by the 4 days of nature and shopping we headed back to the airport. The cab driver this time too was a big fan of India. His son had been to Bangalore for a cricket tournament and wanted to know all about our vada, religion, different states...the list was long.

A word of caution to all who plan to use credit card for their transactions. We got messages from our bank stating that the card was used in a high risk location and that it would be replaced. I did not realize that I had to sms to get this done, and in the meanwhile my card was already skimmed and swiped in the US. Thanks to citibank for recognizing the fraud and for reissuing my card.

I would want to go back again...the northern and eastern provinces could not fit into our agenda this time...Jeev are you listening??

...greener...me!

I have been fortunate to have spent all my school vacation at my grand parents place right in the midst of nature in the villages of Kerala. It was on our last outing in Goa, when we stopped the bike just to look at the spread of green fields.  It was such a delight, a sea of green. I really loved that about Bangalore when I landed in this city in 2005. It was even more delightful coz I came from suburbs of Mumbai where a speck of green is a rare sight.

As a kid I loved to water plants see them grow, eagerly wait for them to flower. Though we did not have the luxury of a garden, those few pots in the balcony were good enough. The credit for my green thoughts definitely goes to my mother. She has had a minuscule vegetable garden right in our balcony, with no hybrid seeds or manure for her aid. My father too loves the garden stint whenever we get back to Kerala.

The kitchen garden hierarchy(few pots in our balcony) continues at our tiny home as I boast of farm fresh pudina in the chutney at the dinner table :). I am proud to have harvested(as if it were acres of farm land vs. my humble plastic pot) pudina week after week, grown 1 tomato and a few curry leaves, along with Aloe Vera, Curry leaves and Tulsi. Well the credit for all the yield goes to my dear hubby, who takes care of my plants in my absence and never forgets to mention his contribution to any visitor at my farm :P

I hope to keep my garden dream alive...and my hands green, and yes if you need an Aloe Vera sapling I am more than happy to give you one :)

Kolkata Kitchen

This small eat-out close to our place is a nice little eat out. For all those who love bengali cuisine, or are yet to try it...do visit this place. What caught our attention the very first time we went there about 2 years ago, was the interiors. It does take you back to kolkata (...showing off my 5 month stay in the city of joy ;)


The katha design table cloth, slow music, a loud display of anything and everything from kolkata and the most interesting the collage of amazing sign boards. We have tried many of the things on their menu, but my all time favourite is the Khicudi that they serve only on saturdays. Jeev feasts on the macher jhol and special fish thali. The veg thali too is interesting with panch meshali and aaloo posto. The sting of the mustard paste in the posto is just too good.

After a hearty meal do not forget to taste the desserts....my all time favourite is the mishti doi...though i miss the kullad that it is served in back in kolkata...but the taste is pretty much the same..

we are yet to try the roll club, a new outlet of theirs on Jeevan Bima Nagar main road...for now its just the same tried and tested place that we can go to any day of the week.

Volvo ride....

Time and again my lethargy overpowers me to miss the morning shuttle and get some extra sleep for 60 more minutes. This leaves me with no option but to take the Volvo from HAL rather than waiting for the late morning shuttle which is only at 10:30. If I reach HAL before 9, I am usually lucky to skip a few buses and take the next less crowded bus.

Most of us from IT make full use of this service. We also make a few assumptions one being, my laptop bag is a new part of my body. I am sorry to say most of us move into a crowded bus, right through the fellow passengers without realizing the damage this new body part does to others. Can we please have the courtesy of taking the bag off the shoulder just to avoid dashing others with it?
Next observation is applicable to both IT and non-IT population alike. "I can’t live without my phone". Even as we board and alight from the bus we show no hurry in finishing the call and caring about our own safety. Well this is just limited to one’s own safety. The other day I saw a lady speaking her way to glory on her mobile and standing right near the front door, when the bus was not full with ample standing space. The driver’s view of the mirror was blocked thanks to this mobile speaker, who did not pay heed to anything that the driver said. Finally she was too irritated and asked the driver “aapko koi problem hai?”

One day the Volvo had a breakdown close to Marathahalli. The conductor was really helpful and told us that we could use the same ticket in the next bus, he stopped a bus for us and made sure we were not charged again. The same day the new bus conductor stopped way before SAP, and when I asked him if the bus wouldn’t stop ahead, he asked me if I wanted a drop inside office...both sides of BMTC staff on the same day.

Yet another day I got into the Volvo, without having the exact fare in hand. I usually bully Jeev into giving me 30 bucks change for the Volvo or the closest denomination 50. This conductor was really rude and asked me to get off the bus at the next stop if I don’t have the change. I said ok and started to dig my wallet for all the coins that I had. I managed to mine 26 Rs from my wallet and showed the whole bunch of coins to the conductor saying I am short of 4 Rs. I am not sure if he was assured that I really don’t have change or just had a mood swing, he agreed to accept the 500 Rupee note instead.

Most of my experiences have been good though, and I appreciate the courtesy shown by the staff especially to people who don’t speak the local language. And now that I know tit-bits of Kannada..even an “eshtu” and “next stop AECS aaa” does help…and so did “Same ticket use madakke agutha?” the day the bus had a breakdown. And am sure what we give is what we get back, let us be polite to them. After all they are providng us with a great service... 

random...

I can never judge when to start from home to reach any place in Bangalore city, if I am going by rick, all thanks to the rising number of vehicles in this garden city and the ricksha-walas of the world who never seem to like the place where I wish to go. That day I started from home at 6:30 to reach Infantry Roan in time for my Visa appointment at 8. Guess what, my 4th attempt for the rick worked for me, and I managed to reach the Visa office at 7:00.
Now that I have an hour to go, I sit gazing at the pigeons enjoying the morning sun. I spotted this naughty pigeon...guess a he trying to woo a pigeon..I like to believe this was a she :) Soon enough there was a perfect filmy triange...and I could imagine the 3 dancing to "Mujhse shaadi karogi.."...blame it on my joblessness at that hour of the day, my thoughts had no breaks :) I even felt their walk was so well synchronized that even Saroj Khan would have been inspired by them.
Some words of Dr. Phatak crossed my mind, about nature being the greatest engineer. Have you imagined the power required if a pump were to pull water to the height of a coconut tree...nature does it effortlessly, we call it capillary action.
I see a convention centre from the window, and this takes me to Kiran's wedding. I know our gang would have had a great time there...I missed it guys.
Its time for my appointment and a much needed break to my random thoughts...

...listening to Dr. Phatak - a thought provoking experience!!!

IIT is reason enough for me to get excited, moreover this time it was a professor from IIT Powai talking to us at the keynote of DKOM - Developer KickOff Meeting. IIT Powai reminds me of the Mathematics workshop we attended there, while doing TY BSc, those days my only aim in life was to pursue MSc. Mathematics at IIT...well that can be a blog in itself...as of now the focus is the keynote by Dr. Phatak.

He had around 98 slides each with a few words, and trust me each slide was thought provoking. He started off with the dream each of us have about getting a good degree, decent job, a house , joy and happiness et all.. and continued on to the dream most of us envision for India. He had some very interesting anecdotes that kept us gripped to the session that went on for more than 60 minutes. One of them was about this paper set at IIT for electrical engineering. There seemed to be a problem which Dr Deepak and another professor were not able to solve, and thus went to Professor Mukherjee who had set the paper. Professor Mukherjee told them that this problem was part of a research paper and had not been solved for 10 years. He thought that the batch was intelligent enough to solve them. The very confidence of Professor Mukherjee on his batch was enough for the students to host a "Milk Shake" party, which is one of most desired celebrations for the hostelites.

Simple facts stated by him like, most of us learn our mother tongue and another language (thanks to the cosmo culture of today) in the age group of 2 to 4. At this age all of us were alike. It is the grooming afterwards that has a great impact on the way we proceed in life. He continued to say a teacher is an institution created by mankind as we don't transfer our knowledge through heredity. Today the institution is powerful but not the teacher. While at this prestigious institution the teacher continues to be empowered. The teacher has all the rights to set syllabus as well as the question paper and his/her decision is the final one. Best part is that IITians are proud of this fact...perhaps thats what is the most striking feature of an IITian. The learning is wholesome and not restricted to the typical syllabus. Well there are my thoughts and Dr Phatak did not endorse IIT.

He also pointed out our way of partitioning knowledge the way we have in our educational system.
We in IT often don't show the urge to understand problems relevant to other areas like biotechnology, physics or chemistry. A simple question that he asked was ...does a problem come with a tag...I am a PHYSICS PROBLEM?? ...no a problem is a problem and we need a solution...there are no boundaries in problem solving.

The satisfaction of attempting 10 difficult problems and getting a solution to just 1 or may be none is much higher, along with the learning, as compared to that of solving 10 easy problems.
Simple facts of life all woven to tell us that we need to continue learning. Face the problems and attempt to solve them. Never let the desire to learn stop....

I salute this great teacher...and hope to learn and more importantly implement what he shared with us.

12 months ...12 trips...what a year that was!

2010..what a year that was! Every month we had a trip and most of it was planned just a week in advance.
The year started with a bang with our first big trip post wedding...and the choice of destination and timing were the best...Goa and my birthday. This has been our best holiday so far...sunset at Sinquerim beach will be remembered forever...and the ride all the way from Margao to Panjim and back was no less than an adventure. If you have never been to Goa..you have missed a lot already...
Then came other trips like our home trip, Kerala trip et all...family and travel were the highlights here. May was the time to go to another beach..ya I agree not really the best time to go to Om Beach @ Gokarna, but our elite gang had their own plans...We had pure fun at the beach and one of my best trips with friends would remain Gokarna...
While our parents were here we had two short trips, one to see the city of the sword of Tipu Sultan, Srirangapatna. History came alive at the different monuments there. Second was a day trip to Banerghatta zoo. After being in Bangalore for 5 years, I finally got a chance to be there. The safari was amazing. Seeing the tiger, lion, bear and white tiger at less than 5 feet from the safari van is a humbling experience.

The next big trip was to Vythiri, Wayanad in August...to celebrate our 1st anniversary. It was the first time that we let ourselves be pampered by the comfort offered at the resort. The view of the forest from our cottage teamed with the sound of the stream flowing right next to it was heavenly. It was raining all the while and this made the experience all the more special.
We had short trips on our own, Ujjeri being the one from my office. Isa and I became very good friends thanks to this trip. Jeev had his own away day at Royal Palms and was happy to have participated in the war cry :)

Velankanni trip was more road than sight seeing or the beach. I was happy to visit the shrine though.

Finally in December we went to Pondicherry to celebrate the New Year! This was fun again, bike rides, following the map and Auroville too...

Hope 2011 has much more in store for us!!!

Majestic Mysore!

Jeev's parents were here, and we planned this trip to Mysore. The November weather was just right for the trip. We started at around 7, stopped at Kamat's for breakfast. I can't stop admiring this place, amidst all the crowd and chaos, your order reaches your table on time, in good quality.


We went to the Mysore Palace. I have been here twice before, its grandeur leaves me awestruck. We were inside the palace, admiring the murals, the ceiling, glass paintings, pillars, the doors the furniture...and what not. Its nice to see that the place is well maintained.

The next halt was the Mysore zoo. It sprawls across 6.2 acres of land. The first animals to welcome you are the silently meditating giraffes. I craned my neck to get a good view like a 6 year old. The variety of birds was an interesting watch as well. We spent nearly 2 hours seeing the white peacock, white tiger, snakes, crocodiles, hippopotamus and so on. Most of the animals looked healthy too. The sponsorship of animals is a great idea, but having the board right in front of the cage is an annoyance as is the cage itself.

We went ahead for lunch, and then came an interesting visit. This was to a handicrafts emporium run by the government of Karnataka. The huge Ganesha Idol at the entrance, was priced at around 3 lacs. We saw a dining table worth 2 lacs. We were curious to know why the table was so expensive. We were also allowed into their workshop upstairs, the speciality of the table was again the pattern carved on it. Each of the colours used were from a different kind of wood. The detailing of the art left me speechless. Most of this finds value abroad.

This majestic trip thus concluded...

Vailankanni road trip...

I call it road trip as we spent more than 24 hours on the road, and about 17 hours at the destination.
Bad vehicle and irritating driver were the start points of this trip. Broken taillight, dirty seats and horrible condition were the highlights of this cab that we had hired.

We started from Bangalore at 6:30 am on 27th November 2010. The wait just before Hosur, to get the paper work done, itselt took more than 30 mins. We were having breakfast close to Krishnagiri at around 10:30. From Krishnagiri to drive straight to Salem, Namakkal, Trichy, Tanjavur and finally on the way to Nagapattanam you would take a diversion to go to Vailankanni. The whole onward journey took us about 13.5 hours, yes we reached our hotel in Vailankanni past 7:45 pm.

A tiring journey, I would advise you to take a sleeper or train or at least a vehicle that can go beyond 120 km/hr if you plan this trip from Bangalore. We stayed at VPN residency, it was a good hotel, the only saving grace for the days travel.

I wanted to go and see the sun rise, as I have never been to a beach on the east coast. I woke up only after 6 am to see the sun shining at me :) (which I did not regret after seeing the beach). We had breakfast, and went to the Shrine of Basilica". The church was grand, and the shrine well maintained. It was not crowded, so we spent some good time within the church premises. After this we went to "Our Lady's Tank", I must admit I could not see anything from the small holes. Some said it was water, others said they saw a cross. I failed to see either.

We marched to the beach. My cousins and Jeev were excited about having fried fish there. The way to the beach is extremely crowded, with a lot of shops. I was still expecting to play on the beach. Just before you hit the sand, you get to see a lot of tiny shops displaying raw fish, marinated with spice and ready to be fried. The surrounding did not make it attractive though. The beach I must say is not the cleanest one I have seen. There was garbage everywhere. I could not stand the stink of all of it put together with the smell of raw fish. Nausea made me run back to the shops, to avoid the sick feeling.

On our way back we had some fun in the vehicle. Our driver uncle reached a record 90 km/hr speed and we rejoiced. Jeev was renamed Raj by my cousin's son (nicknamed Koutons). The memory of this trip would be incomplete if I dont quote few of our talks here. Koutons says "This man wont allow me to yawn properly" after our driver uncle jams breakes at the last min for the umpteenth time. We had some song and dance in the vehicle as well :). Apart from the church and the fun we had on the way back, the trip was not one of my great outings.

Blog Action Day

Have you heard about this before?

Let me tell you more on this.
Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action.

This year the topic is Water. To read more on this visit: http://blogactionday.change.org/

Get your blog registered to contribute to this. Lets do our bit to help this cause!

...a learning experience!

This was the follow up trip, of my earlier blog "Motivation is the outcome of Frustration", yes some of us decided to accept an offer to vising Selco Labs and see innovation first hand.
After a tiring journey of 9+ hours we reached Ujjire, near Dharmasthala (Karnataka). After a quick check-in at the hotel, we started off to meet some of the customers of Selco. We met three happy customers happy to show us the solar light installations in their little homes. There is no electric supply here. They rely on the Solar panel to light up their homes. The basic installation containing 1 light and 6 LEDs costs them 14, 500 and the loan EMI comes up to 330 Rs a month at the rate of 11% p.a.
Most of us enjoy electricity at our homes at subsidised rates and misuse it. How many of us would be ready to give off the subsidy, and use some greener energy at home? Forget going green, for the sake of the subsidy given to us, let us use electricity only as much as we require.
I experienced "Athithi Devo Bhavah!" first hand, at the homes of these customers. They offered us some sweet for being there, which would perhaps shaken their daily budget (remember they earn for the day). The exemplary service provided by Selco needs to be highlighted here. The Selco representatives, reach out to their prospects try to understand their problems (read requirement gathering) and propose a product (read software) most suited to them (read customizing). How many of us software engineers know of the end user using our software, and if it really makes their life any simple?? Innovation is embedded into the system. In one particular instance the sale representatives, realized that the customers were finding it difficult to get loans to buy the solar equipment. They suggested Selco deposits an amount equivalent to the price of the equipment in the bank as guarantee, and as the customers pay off the loan Selco can withdraw an equivalent of the amount from the deposit.
This is social entrepreneurship, not merely preached but followed passionately!

Hot and Humid Hogenekkal!

My parents were visiting us, and we decided to go to Hogenekkal for a short trip. We booked easy cabs vehicle, the drive was super boring, it took us about 4 hours to reach there.


The first sight was not really appealing. Dad went ahead and commented, if we were to see this muddy water while walking under the scorching sun, we would rather not hire a cab and travel this far. I was dissapointed. This was the first trip that I planned for and wasnt working as planned. The time we went was not really the best time to visit Hogenekkal.

We spoke to one of the coracle riders, and got a deal for Rs 400 to go see the falls and get back. This was inclusive of a bit of walking along the river side. As we were about to get into the funny round thing, I could hear a policeman calling out to people who were playing in the river. He was saying, all the rain from the previous days had raised the water levels, and that it was no longer safe in there. I almost went pale, looked at Jeev and told him, lets not go. Am not sure how convinced he was of the safety, he pointed me to others who were going in coracles as well, and told me only swimming was risky.

We started our ride,the sight was nice, but the sun was irritating. We soon reached a point from where you would have to walk for a while and then take the coracle again to reach the falls. So far it was only the sun, coracle gives u the "Chinna Chinna Asai ..." feel though. Jeev was tempted to eat fried fish that they were selling close to the river banks.
After all the sun and exhausting walk, the sight of the falls was simply superb. It was soo refreshing for me to stop admiring it. I sat on a rock, my feet being massaged by the water currents. It was such a relazed feeling. On our way back the water levels had risen further, though there were no rains out there, the water currents were strong enough to sway the coracle away from its riders control. I left it on God, to bring us back to the shore.

Fresh fish served at a restaurant near by was yummy!!!
I wish to go back again but when its not so sunny for sure.

Rajdhaani...get ready for a flavour riot

Have you been here yet..if not its like going to a wedding. The food here is Gujarati/Rajasthani...pooris fried in ghee, loads of sabzis, 3 kinds of daal, khichudi with loads of ghee and the sweets in ghee again. For a ghee freak like me this is the place to be.

The service is exemplary. With loads of people pouring in over the weekend, the service remains at its best. I always feel like a wedding coz they keep getting back asking if we need anything more, another roti..some more sabzi..daal and so on..I am always sad that i did not eat enough ;)

This remains at an all time high on my list of favourite eat-outs here in bangalore.

Peepli Live

Natha the farmer wanting to commit suicide to get the compensation money of 1 lac, to save his family. This is the essence of the movie "Peepli live". Media and its interest in the TRP alone, has been depicted very well. The ineffectiveness of the policies of the government are portrayed with satire. When Natha is given a "Lal Bahadur" ...the hand pump, he does not know what is to be done with it as there is no money given to install it.

The ignorance of the so-called leaders is seen in the act of given his family a color television, when he doesnt have enough to eat. The song "Mehangai dayan khaye jaat hai" too seems to come alive with the rising price of onion :)


Kudos to the film crew!!!