tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67708752012-02-16T13:35:17.724-08:00Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.comBlogger921100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-3762492888963559162009-06-06T18:27:00.000-07:002009-06-11T01:39:59.656-07:00

In 1999, the stock market was behaving as though gravity did not exist, people were trying to sell dogfood on the Internet, Google was not much more than a thought experiment and India had 1.2 million mobile subscribers (it's 400 million now).On the personal front, I'm back in Bangalore after ten years, and the city has become a bloated caricature of it's previous self.NASA's Earth observatory

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-18985431067698172072009-04-02T02:13:00.000-07:002009-04-02T06:47:02.680-07:00

With the elections fast approaching in India, the leading political parties - BJP and Congress - have started blitzing websites with ads.However, it appears that the electronic campaigning gurus in both parties have not paid much attention to where their ads appear.Both the BJP and Congress  have been competing for banner space in a website called Vote For the Worst whose charter is to ""vote en

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-54255011069111421402009-03-25T00:32:00.000-07:002009-03-25T00:38:02.470-07:00

With the large number of gurus, tantriks, priests and prophets in the market and in recessionary times, you need to find yourself a good guide.However, you should know that your tantrik is up to no good when he asks for Rs.300,000 to book air tickets and catch a rhino.According to the complaint that the 30-year old woman who was looking for a groom filed, "Shah said that sacrificing a rhino would

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-2220083281251862212009-03-06T19:48:00.000-08:002009-03-06T19:57:37.296-08:00

Probably as part of our culture, or as part of our education, we've been indoctrinated to aim for accuracy and completion in our work and that work is not done until it has attained both these objectives.Bob Sutton's "The Cult of Done" Manifesto has a different take on "doing" thingsThere are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-77925429856663519282009-03-05T02:52:00.000-08:002009-03-05T03:10:56.176-08:00

N.Ram, the red-flag waving editor of The Hindu and champion of the People's Liberation Army, just returned from a trip to Tibet and reports that the atmosphere was "relaxed". He added that there was no sign of strain or suppression there as people were filled with excitement and the atmosphere was festive. He also says, "The contrast between the old and the new is very powerful, demonstrating

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-67896931934841308782009-02-26T00:41:00.000-08:002009-02-26T01:32:38.713-08:00

India has been the homeground to a number of unique methods of protesting. Of course, the traditional protests of burning effigies, walk-outs, sit-outs, stand-ins still continues, but over the course of time new methods have evolved.Gandhiji started it with his Satyagrahas, Salt March and hunger fasts.Hunger fasts have been transformed from an event where one individual fasts until his demands

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-20187826686397482172009-01-25T09:19:00.000-08:002009-01-25T19:05:38.404-08:00

Much has been written, and spoken, about the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American President of the United States. But I thought Mr.Obama said it best himself, in the article he wrote for Time magazine in 2005: "“...a larger, fundamental element of American life — the enduring belief that we can constantly remake ourselves to fit our larger dreams.”

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-29257213415506395472009-01-05T23:44:00.000-08:002009-01-25T09:18:13.083-08:00

We'd heard so much about Kumarakom, and the thousands of birds that make this area their home every winter, and we decided that a trip to Kerala would not be complete without a visit to this avian resort.As soon as we entered, we were told by the staff at the gate that we had come at the wrong time and that we should come in May-June for the best bird sightings. We were then hustled into

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-85158465365638000462008-12-14T23:58:00.001-08:002008-12-15T00:15:50.761-08:00

After almost a decade, I made reservations for traveling by Indian Railways and the experience has been as easy as booking an air ticket on Southwest Airlines.When I was in school, and the designated ticket-booker at home, one had to leave home early enough (and 30 days in advance) to reach the booking counter in Madras Central at 7 AM when the counter opened, , fill the form with the passenger

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-61500654221850855872008-09-17T05:53:00.000-07:002008-09-17T06:08:22.252-07:00

Since we do not have a national addressing plan (or atleast one that is uniformly enforced), giving directions in India is an art, rather than a mechanical activity (turn left at 5th Ave and right at 1st Main)Here's an example of giving directions in Bangalore:From FORUM (PVR Cinema side) enter into Koramangala 5th Block, you will come across HDFC Bank, do Proceed 50 meters further you will come

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-49984826814673369232008-08-11T03:11:00.000-07:002008-08-13T22:25:08.221-07:00

Moved to Bangalore one more time.The first time I arrived in Bangalore, in 1992, it was a city where you could leave at 1:45 PM for a 2 PM Saturday movie, reach in time and with Rs.100 in your pocket, you could get a balcony ticket, a nice cup of strong coffee from India Coffee house, a book from Gangaram's and still have enough money to take an autorickshaw home. After growing up in the

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-33195989440986479272008-05-24T22:00:00.000-07:002008-05-24T22:12:22.306-07:00

The results of the freebie-loaded elections in Karnataka are coming out and the parties have started their posturingCongress can work with JD(S) : CongressNo tie-up with BJP or Cong : JD(S)No question of tie-up with JD(S) : BJPAs our high school textbooks said, it is left as an exercise for the reader to determine which parties can work together.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-54857684569480738462008-05-23T08:23:00.001-07:002008-12-10T04:34:27.591-08:00

Coconut stand on NH 219 near the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-72725062031791338442008-05-15T17:53:00.000-07:002008-05-15T17:56:08.469-07:00

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a great video on how Entry, Descent and Landing will take place when the Phoenix Mars Lander reaches Mars on 25 May 2008.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-83616236662264106642008-05-14T20:04:00.000-07:002008-05-15T22:17:37.100-07:00

As Jaipur limps back to normalcy after the gruesome bomb attacks earlier this week, the Central government has been on the overdrive making inane statements.India’s junior home minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, said, “One can’t rule out the involvement of a foreign power....From time to time, we complain to our neighbours about their linkages with the terror attacks here, and are in turn repeatedly

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-22497547372755002102008-05-13T19:39:00.000-07:002008-05-13T20:01:18.166-07:00

Today's Economic Times has a piece by Suneet Chopra, the CPI(M)'s Joint Secretary of the All India Agricultural Worker's Union about the dangers of futures trading in commodities.When we speak of ‘future trading’ in commodities, we are referring to a situation in which traders and hoarders buy out the producers cheaply and then raise prices by creating false scarcity.Wrong on two counts -

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-78761742585184519992008-05-12T17:41:00.000-07:002008-05-12T17:56:54.206-07:00

The NY Times had an article on new habits and the benefits of getting out of the rut: ....brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks. Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-5123063425076629742008-05-12T00:50:00.000-07:002008-05-12T00:55:00.616-07:00

After reading what the jokers in the Indian cabinet have done to combat terrorism, a true daughter of India speaks her heart:In a bold statement, the wife of Sarabjit Singh on Wednesday said they do not wish him to be repatriated from Pakistan if it means India has to release hardcore terrorists in exchange."I and my daughters would never like that Sarabjit should be freed if any hardcore

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-91887809489439403162008-05-11T09:13:00.000-07:002008-05-11T09:18:17.507-07:00

After seeing many Indian television programs over the last few months, I've come to the conclusion that the only television worth watching are the ads.Vodafone has some delightful ads with great visuals and music and I would have switched my mobile phone service to Vodafone if their coverage was anywhere as good as their advertisements.Happy To Help AdArt of Living AdElevator Ad

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-76830518013615084122008-05-10T23:52:00.000-07:002008-05-10T23:56:54.323-07:00

Who knew that your daily life fits into Venn Diagrams and Graphs ?

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-3241615092356118772008-05-10T00:34:00.000-07:002008-05-10T00:38:37.817-07:00

The British Library in London has organized an exhibition that our "secular" government would most likely ban, The Ramayana: Love and Valor in India.Over 100 gorgeous 17th-century Indian manuscript paintings are on display in this major exhibition. The brightly-coloured scenes are packed with incident: battle scenes with 10-headed Ravana, the monkey

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-48859676996728363462008-05-09T04:20:00.000-07:002008-12-10T04:34:28.160-08:00

A surreal sight in the middle of rural Andhra Pradesh.The board above the Emergency Phone has the phone numbers for Police, Fire, Hospital and, in case you needed it, the phone number for Hewlett-Packard.All it's missing is the handset.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-39697857955207813822008-05-08T04:43:00.000-07:002008-05-08T05:41:50.814-07:00

The state elections start in a few days in Karnataka, and the political parties have started promising not just the moon, but the entire solar system.The JD(S) [where S stands for their "Secular" credentials] has been promising:All debts of farmers and unorganised labourers written off within one year30 per cent reservation for Kannadigas in IT and Biotechnology companiesFree cooking gas and

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-31545564047639464182008-04-27T20:51:00.000-07:002008-04-27T23:00:06.185-07:00

I've lived in California for over 10 years and now when it's time to leave, I've started seeing the things that I had taken for granted in the US the people, the institutions and the land in a new light.Although the Indian scriptures, the Gita and the Upanishads, eloquently talk about the Atman that is in each individual and how it is part of the Cosmic Being, about the dignity of labor in Karma

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-91271355752134029712008-04-20T20:53:00.000-07:002008-04-20T20:54:08.646-07:00

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-48902135008061560942008-03-22T21:31:00.000-07:002008-12-10T04:34:29.470-08:00

The Outer Ring Road in Bangalore is probably not as well known for cricket as the Eden Gardens, Lords or the Sydney Cricket Ground, but last Sunday I was watching a game of cricket on a Sunday morning in one of the few patches of land left on the Outer Ring Road in Bangalore.The kids are surrounded by multi story buildings under construction, land-moving equipment and granite slabs, but nothing

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-70268104209704973082008-03-19T06:19:00.000-07:002008-03-19T06:24:39.522-07:00

I'll be brief: short stories in 6 words or less.Some of them:For sale: baby shoes, never worn- Ernest HemingwayTIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! … nobody there …- Harry Harrison Tick tock tick tock tick tick.- Neal Stephenson

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-50038315222042164772008-03-17T05:20:00.000-07:002008-03-17T05:32:30.437-07:00

Data need not be dry as dust.Hans Rosling's amazing presentation at TED will change your mind regarding how data can be presented and about the growth of the world economy.If you thought this was amazing, see the followup (all the way till the ending).The seemingly impossible is possible !

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-2046184059438248422008-03-14T09:03:00.000-07:002008-03-14T09:37:55.516-07:00

I've just spent a week in Bangalore talking and hearing about connectivity for emerging countries. Living in the United States, one takes many things for granted - water, power, transportation and most importantly connectivity which has become an essential utility. Most emerging countries lack the capability or the will to deliver water, power and transportation to their citizens. However, a

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-62670751008156486292008-03-07T15:38:00.000-08:002008-03-07T16:18:34.038-08:00

NASA has released some interesting material on the composition of the Universe - as it is today and as it was 13.7 billion years ago, 1 second after the Big Bang.Dark Matter, which forms 23% of the Universe, is different from atoms and does not emit or absorb light. It has only been detected indirectly by its gravity.The bulk of the universe, 72%, is composed of "Dark Energy", that acts as a

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-29961975709040541592008-03-04T14:23:00.000-08:002008-03-04T14:24:15.733-08:00

Dr.Srikumar Rao's book Are You Ready To Succeed ? is one of the most unusual books I have read in 2007. I read it on a flight from Bangalore to San Francisco and as soon as I finished the reading it, I went back and started reading it again.The book is sub-titled "An unconventional guide to personal transformation in work & in life" and it is written in a very direct engaging manner as though

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-25601399626608580952008-02-29T07:13:00.001-08:002008-03-14T09:51:05.727-07:00

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-11303290902005087972008-02-25T08:13:00.000-08:002008-02-25T08:18:39.791-08:00

One of my favorite bloggers, Atanu Dey, writes on how to write and has a simple prescription:Good writing is the product of some very hard thinking. Lazy thinkers cannot be good writers. Know a bit, know that you know it, know logic, read great writers, do some hard thinking, learn vocabulary, and practice writing. Repeat until desired results are obtained.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-43797986297581126292008-02-22T14:08:00.001-08:002008-12-10T04:34:29.919-08:00

The Outer Ring Road in Bangalore hosts a who's-who from Silicon Valley: Cisco Systems, Intel, AOL, Accenture, Intuit, Motorola.Among the other inhabitants of the IT corridor:The SMA Pork Stall has a vantage position.And of course, the inevitable gridlocks where nobody wants to yield the right of way.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-40577194784085247772008-02-22T13:17:00.000-08:002008-02-22T13:23:56.235-08:00

How do you make a webpage that lists boomboxes, adhesive tapes and cooking pans an eye-catcher ?Take a look.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-74300777488366462842008-02-02T07:16:00.000-08:002008-02-03T06:28:26.188-08:00

The Indian Express reports:A volatile atmosphere prevailed in the Assembly on Friday with members of the ruling party, including a couple of Ministers, and those of the AIADMK almost coming to blows.During the discussion, PWD Minister Durai Murugan, addressed Jayalalithaa in singular person. The problem started when Jayalalithaa said Anbazhagan was just an assistant professor in Pachaiyappa’s

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-17655836792377461922008-02-01T10:09:00.000-08:002008-02-01T10:21:01.405-08:00

The Reserve Bank of India has launched a comic book series to explain monetary policy to the public. It shows the secret control room that the RBI maintains and the levers (literally - there's a lever called Interest Rate !) they employ to control the economy.Read and enjoy ! There's more financial education from RBI on their website.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-45391536259496197622008-01-28T16:38:00.000-08:002008-01-28T22:50:02.604-08:00

AOL announced that it will stop supporting Netscape from Feb 1. In almost a decade the company grew to symbolize the Internet boom, it's IPO the start gun for the dot-com boom, it went through the M&A process which symbolized the excessive valuations, had an epic battle with Microsoft(which realized the power of Free! No purchase necessary) , it lost market share, became obsolete and now it's

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-20244257756708482172008-01-23T11:10:00.000-08:002008-01-24T21:25:35.717-08:00

It takes a great deal of introspection and courage to state what you believe in 500 words or less, especially in a public forum like NPR .What are your core beliefs and values that define you, that you would never compromise on?NPR has many essays from celebrities as well as others on "This I Believe"Worth spending a few hours reading.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-63860568679988935182008-01-16T10:50:00.000-08:002008-01-25T06:32:30.018-08:00

Some self-analysis for a change ....What drives you as an individual to make specific choices and how do you act on them ?Adam Smith, in The Wealth Of Nations, claims that it is the "invisible hand" that motivates individual behavior and when each person acts in his own self-interest, it benefits the society as a whole. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker,

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-79518006632970269342008-01-11T21:28:00.000-08:002008-12-10T04:34:30.198-08:00

The Hindu has the story of how the Government of India issued Letters of Intent for telecom operators:... representatives of wannabe telecom companies literally got into fist fights and blows in a bid to be the first to get the letter of intent. At 2:45 PM The DoT announces that Letters of Intent will be issued at 3:30 PM ...a representative of one of the applicants got a hired goon to ensure

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-87443554955232327102008-01-11T10:52:00.000-08:002008-01-11T18:11:21.071-08:00

Gandhian Engineering is the term that's cropping up all over Cyberspace after the launch of Tata's radically innovative car: the Nano.Clayton Christensen's company blog refers to it and India's version of the Wall Street Journal, Livemint, says Gandhian engineering is "combining irreverence for conventional ways of thinking with a frugality born of developing-world scarcity".The car has no

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-71316617836831685302008-01-07T14:34:00.000-08:002008-01-07T14:56:20.162-08:00

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on a low-tech innovation that has helped improve the standard of living for some of the poorest people in India.In this impoverished tribal belt in southern Tamil Nadu state, catching rats has been a primary job for members of Chinnapayan's Irula tribe - an impoverished community of 3 million people at the bottom rung of the Hindu caste hierarchy who have often

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-48382764025932023642008-01-06T12:35:00.000-08:002008-01-06T12:39:30.172-08:00

After looking at the Meaning of Life a few weeks ago, I saw this on allthingsd.com on the Universe: “[L]ogically the world could be an information simulation running on a three-dimensional space-time screen”and some speculation on how the Universe will end - with a Blue Screen of Death ! This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-71222334356573805052008-01-03T11:17:00.001-08:002008-01-03T11:57:48.200-08:00

Probably due to my proximity to San Francisco, I'm a Starbucks-drinking, tree-hugging, classical-music listening NPR fan ;-)Vocal Impressions is a series that I recently caught while driving home in the evening. In this program, listeners are asked to describe different voices. Some descriptions are truly wonderful and the combination of the image they create and hearing the voice they describe

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-7528129364375351702008-01-02T15:57:00.001-08:002008-01-02T17:18:33.541-08:00

Why has it taken mainstream Bollywood so long to deliver a movie with no songs and no romance (aka running around in foreign locations singing songs) ?Bollywood seems to have found the magic formula of making blockbusters :- one superstar- an underdog team which seems to have no hopes of winning- a game which most of India understands and has historical associations- a rivalry with another (

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-72047541492188947462008-01-02T12:47:00.000-08:002008-01-02T12:50:41.527-08:00

The delightful flight of a paper airplane over the streets of New York.You find yourself wishing that the flight never ends and also wondering where it will end.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-69972032929600721132007-12-31T11:56:00.001-08:002011-05-16T00:57:33.133-07:00

On WorkWhatever you can do or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, power and magicin it. Begin it and the work will be completed.- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe“Do little things in an extraordinary way; be the best one in your line. You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God’s creative

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-31506327041040728372007-12-26T10:48:00.000-08:002007-12-26T10:52:19.365-08:00

In today's excerpt from Kent Nerburn's book Letters to My Son, delanceyplace.com highlights the value of travel, whether physical, spiritual or mental--and the value of taking risks: "Because I have traveled, I can see other universes in the eyes of strangers. Because I have traveled, I know what parts of me I cannot deny and what parts of me are simply the choices I make. I know the

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-46972298015903589832007-12-24T11:49:00.001-08:002007-12-26T16:02:57.947-08:00

Over the last few months I've received invitations from people I've never heard of belonging to social networks I've never heard of either.I have been asked to join Yaari, Doostang, Spock, Spoke, Blue Chip Expert, Friendster, Facebook and Orkut. I've also received invitations from hi5, Ringo and Plaxo.Of course I need a username/password for each of these services who believe they are providing a

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-6606037570058241312007-12-21T09:57:00.000-08:002007-12-23T06:28:49.062-08:00

It's the end of the year and magazines are throwing out their lists of successes and failures. In the spirit of the season, these are a few of my favorite things:Fortune's list of 101 dumbest moments in business Among them:Nine-year-old Shea O'Gorman sends a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs suggesting ideas for improving her beloved iPod Nano, including adding onscreen lyrics so people can sing

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-56458644015194699662007-12-16T20:58:00.000-08:002007-12-18T11:39:03.055-08:00

I often walk/drive around with a cellphone-camera and have been taking photos of number plates that piqued my interest.My on-going photo collection is available on Picasweb. Some of these have been taken through the windshield of my car while waiting at a traffic light - yes I'm one of those multitasking people your driving instructor warned you about ;-).My favorite one is a Hummer's number

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-13525684105607529592007-12-16T20:10:00.000-08:002007-12-16T20:42:15.737-08:00

Peer reviews are often a great source of inputs on the purchase decisions which most of us make. In some cases the reviews attract much more attention than the product themselves.An Amazon user's review of the BIC ballpoint pen"Today is the fourth day of ownership of my pen, and I have to say I'm starting to treat it like an old friend. ..In summary, I would happily recommend this pen to anyone

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-70477804155541444772007-12-14T14:33:00.000-08:002007-12-14T14:36:43.011-08:00

Here's the map.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-92046311275558220912007-12-13T13:59:00.000-08:002007-12-26T16:05:15.641-08:00

When the weather is cold and it gets dark by 4:30 PM at the end of the year, thoughts turn to the meaning of life. Does the universe have a purpose or is it a random collection of sentient organisms with no higher purpose than being born, living, reproducing and dying ?From an engineering point of view this seems to be a very inelegant solution and a colossal waste of resources for no perceivable

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-71781186508565623362007-12-11T13:32:00.000-08:002008-12-10T04:34:30.788-08:00

Carl Sagan on our home: We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-48259384557214637072007-12-02T21:23:00.000-08:002007-12-11T06:29:31.815-08:00

Your correspondent reached Bangalore spending almost 19 hours on a Boeing 747 from San Francisco to Bangalore via Frankfurt. After landing at the unearthly hour of 1:23 AM we got a scenic tour of the airport from the plane. When you spend 40 minutes on the runway because the plane has no place to park, you know the traffic is bad.Although the airport seems to be frozen in the Nehruvian past, the

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-46820979885671293912007-11-13T05:56:00.000-08:002007-11-13T06:13:50.146-08:00

The Transport Control Protocol(TCP) is thirty years old. The Register reports on the invention of TCP:On November 22, 1977, as it motored down the street somewhere south of San Francisco, a souped-up delivery van sent some information to a computer lab at the University of Southern California, 400 miles away. No one can quite remember what the information was, but that really doesn't matter.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-32560269701399547012007-11-11T23:12:00.000-08:002007-11-12T07:12:50.511-08:00

After 14 years of Windows, we finally defenestrated it and upgraded to a Macbook last week.The out-of-the-box experience was a dream compared to what we've seen with the two Dell machines we purchased over the last 4 years - no junk ads proliferating on the desktop and system bring-up with minimal user interaction. The system came loaded with Mac OS X Tiger and an upgrade DVD for Leopard. Upgrade

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-86342311139050895712007-11-11T21:38:00.000-08:002007-11-11T22:14:08.352-08:00

One of the advantages of being a "lesser developed country" or a "developing country" or an "emerging market" (pick your favorite nomenclature) is that new technologies can be deployed without having to worry about support for legacy deployments. Now, thousands of patients in rural Tamil Nadu are receiving treatment thanks to a WiFi deployment that is a collaboration between Aravind Eye

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-58521531197529962062007-11-07T14:43:00.000-08:002007-11-07T14:54:26.586-08:00

Some things to think about while contemplating a change of careers.Jack Welch weighs in on whether to stay or go."Does the prospect of going in each day excite you or fill you with dread? Does the work feel interesting and meaningful or are you just going through motions to pull a paycheck? Are you still learning and growing? Second, do you enjoy spending time with your co-workers or do they

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-11026236530748848532007-10-29T13:25:00.000-07:002007-10-29T23:23:41.287-07:00

With mobility becoming a commodity, how's a service provider or a phone vendor to differentiate itself ?In recent years there has been an ongoing battle between the carriers, content providers and the phone vendors to gain access to the valuable real-estate in the palm of your hand.They've all taken different approaches to gain access to the consumer.Nokia recently opened two flagship stores in

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-19046982609981245952007-10-25T06:41:00.000-07:002007-10-25T09:44:32.712-07:00

Here's a dummies version of a discussion between the ephemeral vs the eternal (at least in relative terms). This post and the reply has probably been blogged and analyzed ad-infinitum on the blogsphere, but it channels a lot of economics and Buddhist philosophy ;-)What am I doing wrong?Okay, I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I'm

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-69814966743426258942007-10-23T05:19:00.000-07:002007-10-23T10:24:47.097-07:00

The White House has received credible intelligence reports about a levitating Dutchman

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-89099433314106214332007-10-09T14:49:00.000-07:002007-10-26T05:17:08.210-07:00

HBS's Working Knowledge has a great article on dealing with irrational negotiators.Mistake 1 : They are not irrational - they are uninformedMistake 2 : They are not irrational - they have hidden constraintsMistake 3 : They are not irrational - they have hidden interestsAfter having dealt with a couple of people who seemed to be irrational - this provides a good framework on how to approach these

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-39057523508220076872007-10-05T07:04:00.000-07:002008-12-10T04:34:31.093-08:00

There are corporate slogans that work: Cisco has "Welcome To The Human Network", GE has "Imagination at Work", HP has the evocative "Invent" and we all know who has "Always Low Prices. Always". And then there's this: Who else but a bureaucrat at the Government of India's Airport Authority of India could come up with this: "Safety Culture Is Of Paramount Value"?

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-80071189010356468712007-10-01T06:04:00.000-07:002007-10-01T06:05:43.584-07:00

I don't think any non-IT company or for that matter any IT company in India has a company blog. The blog run on the Mahindra website by "Joel Combs – 32 years old, live on and farm 170 acres in Pine Knot, Kentucky USA. Gateway to the Big South Fork NRRA. I have 3 children, ages 5, 7 and 9, and I work as a Machine Operator for Kingsford Charcoal in Burnside, KY. I’m a 5-year member of LIUNA local

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-71773858365699407202007-08-15T13:02:00.000-07:002007-11-26T15:15:44.806-08:00

The New York Times reported on it's front page on 15 Aug 1947"Sir S. Radhakrishnan, noted Indian philosopher , paid tribute to the British and asked Indians to look within themselves for faults that in the past had made the Indians "ready victims" for the imperialists. "From midnight on," he said, "we cannot crowd blame on the British." He called for an end to "nepotism and corruption, which

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-43408472152271906222007-06-21T08:08:00.001-07:002007-06-21T11:44:32.612-07:00

It's a great time to look up at the heavens.K and I got a chance to see ISS and Atlantis fly over Cupertino last night.The Atlantis was a very bright and followed by the ISS.Among the also-seen celestial objects: Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-44462940617394288192007-05-20T21:14:00.000-07:002008-12-10T04:34:31.414-08:00

Half Moon Bay had a negative tide (where the low tide goes below the average low tide levels) today which was a great opportunity to go tide pooling. We reached the beach at 9 AM and the low tide had exposed miles of the beach that was normally underwater.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-69460370137835596312007-05-17T12:47:00.000-07:002007-11-11T23:09:56.072-08:00

NPR's To The Best Of Our Knowledge (TTBOOK) has a 5 part series on Science and Religion:Can Science ever be reconciled with Religion? How did the Universe begin?Can Science prove there is a biology of belief?Can you believe in God if you accept Evolution?Where can you touch the fabric of mystery?

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-89003995457365829792007-05-08T21:33:00.000-07:002007-05-08T21:36:49.271-07:00

Preparing for change is never easy. Shift Happens gives a great perspective on what to expect. Be scared. Be prepared. It's already happening

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-26060957003126310382007-05-03T16:23:00.000-07:002007-05-03T16:25:15.091-07:00

Here's a haunting piece.It's one of those notes that sound very familiar and stay on forever.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-49074454719927085582007-01-11T05:52:00.000-08:002007-01-11T06:05:12.005-08:00

How do you get your message across in a time when customers are bombarded with information from TV, Radio,websites, blogs, Wikis, e-mails, and blocking ads with TiVo ?Terry Gross has an engaging interview with Frank Lutz on Words that Work and there's an excerpt from the book also available.These are words that touch many organizational, marketing and political hot buttons.Expect to see more of

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-38779188088790614622006-09-26T16:36:00.000-07:002006-09-26T16:42:11.906-07:00

Just discovered a link to Shannon's "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" .If you were a electrical engineering geek in college, you know who who Shannon was. For the rest, there's Wikipedia.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1157434750576003502006-09-04T22:30:00.000-07:002006-09-04T22:40:14.316-07:00

After the dot-com boom of 2000 it appears to be the dot-11 boom of 2006.IEEE has come up with an alphabet soup for the wireless standards in the unlicensed band.Wikipedia has a good summary of the alphabet soupIEEE 802.11 - The original 1 Mbit/s and 2 Mbit/s, 2.4 GHz RF and IR standard (1999)IEEE 802.11a - 54 Mbit/s, 5 GHz standard (1999, shipping products in 2001)IEEE 802.11b - Enhancements to

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1157230766550801842006-09-02T13:54:00.000-07:002006-09-02T14:14:39.720-07:00

This is the entrance to the "old shrine" at Sri Ramakrishna Math in Mylapore, Chennai.The arch is emblazoned with this uncompromising line from the Kaivalya Upanishad:न कर्मणा न प्रजया धनेन त्यगेनैके अमृतत्वमानशुःNeither by rituals, nor by progeny nor by riches but by renunciation alone one can attain immortality.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1157157958109900732006-09-01T17:28:00.000-07:002006-09-01T18:03:07.213-07:00

A view of National Highway 47 heading south towards Thiruvananthapuram. The single lane accomodates cycles, mopeds, motorbikes, cars, jeeps, buses and lorries. The only change I've seen in the last few years is the increased availability of mobile phones and ,since my last trip there in 2004, the increasing penetration of "broadband" (which is 256 kbps). Virtual connectivity has fast outpaced

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1156876616429239102006-08-29T11:07:00.000-07:002006-08-31T17:51:24.370-07:00

Yesterday was M's Nakshatram - she turned 1 and we went to Livermore temple for conducting Ayush Homam for her and K.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1156828836131418822006-08-28T22:15:00.000-07:002006-08-28T22:20:43.953-07:00

ChandamamaIf you grew up in the 70s in India you were probably encouraged to read Chandamama. This magazine is now in it's sixtieth year. I still remember taking the latest copy of chandamama to read in school when I was in the 3rd standard. I opened to read it in the Moral Science class and the copy was promptly confiscated by the teacher.Looking back it seems quaint that we had a subject called

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1156353335334331922006-08-23T10:12:00.000-07:002006-08-23T11:30:48.280-07:00

InterviewingAfter interviewing dozens of potential candidates at my current employer, I ran into this piece on the "One-Question Interview"If you were allowed to ask only one question during the course of the interview, this would be it:Please think about your most significant accomplishment. Now, could you tell me all about it?To see why this simple question is so powerful, try it out on

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1138216263892974632006-01-25T11:11:00.000-08:002006-01-25T11:11:03.900-08:00

India's bonds had their biggest plunge in seven months yesterday after Reddy unexpectedly raised short-term rates. It isn't additional rate hikes that traders fear -- it's that rapid growth will fuel inflation. The Reserve Bank of India was right to raise its overnight borrowing rate to a three-year high of 5.5 percent from 5.25 percent. Its fourth increase in 15 months proved

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1137434658145799172006-01-16T09:56:00.000-08:002006-01-16T10:04:18.146-08:00

Budget season is approaching in India and I can still remember the annual budget TV broadcast and the talking heads who followed - basically the communists saying that the changes announced were "anti-poor" and the businessmen being "cautiously optimistic".The Finance Ministry has a good website which provides links to the Union Budgets and Economic surveys."The economy had registered a growth

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1128750067445898192005-10-07T21:50:00.000-07:002005-10-07T22:41:07.476-07:00

AstronomyMy 4 year old may be starting out on new hobby - we read about constellations a few days ago and he had wanted to know more about the constellations. We went to Google to look at the shapes of the constellations of Cassiopeia and Orion. We also looked at Starry Bundle installed on our PC, and then decided to go out to take a look at the eastern skies to see if we could spot Orion the

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1128746551870394212005-10-07T21:32:00.000-07:002006-09-05T09:31:35.493-07:00

What I'm readingJust finished Louis Sachar's Holes. Although it is classified as juvenile fiction, it still rates as one of the most satisfying books I've read for a long time. It's got everything a classic should have - hidden treasure, a boy in trouble with the law, deep friendships being formed, and a villianly authority figure. Everything in the story ties up nicely towards the ending,

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1094236153278559322004-09-03T11:28:00.000-07:002004-09-03T11:30:06.763-07:00

Mr. and Mrs. Iyer Aparna Sen's Mr. and Mrs. Iyer starts quietly in a bus journey down a meandering hillside that brings together a diverse group of passengers. The camera pans between rows to build up a quick snapshot of the characters and soon (if you're Indian) you see almost every kind of person you have met in the long bus journeys and train journeys that are so common in India - a bunch of

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1092629437075481952004-08-15T19:39:00.000-07:002004-09-01T14:06:09.686-07:00

India's 57th Independence Day. Went with R & K to the parade and mela in Fremont. The parade was depressingly similar to the many Independence Day events at school.

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1091236946072915912004-07-30T18:10:00.000-07:002004-07-30T18:22:26.073-07:00

What I'm Reading Rj has taken a collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories from the library and I read them again after probably 20 years. In retrospect, these stories seemed interesting because of the novel character who was the center-piece of the stories and his eccentricities rather than the who-done-it part of it. Most of the stories do not reveal all the clues to the reader - Holmes often

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1091076574053923622004-07-28T21:44:00.000-07:002004-07-28T21:49:34.053-07:00

Discussion on death penalty with Rj. Kerry had said that he opposes death penalty except for terrorists. My view is that this is pretty wishy-washy - this has to be a black&white issue and one cannot have positions on both sides of the issue. If you impose the death penalty on an individual, terrorist or otherwise, then you are pro-death penalty. Rj thinks that death-penalty should be decided on

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1087419312766359622004-06-16T13:53:00.000-07:002004-06-16T13:55:12.766-07:00

Recieved my gmail account today - a day after Yahoo upped the storage quota to 100MB on the two accounts I have over there. So now it raises the question of whether I need to change my e-mail address to get an additional 900MB !

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1085778640842327042004-05-28T14:02:00.000-07:002004-05-28T14:11:47.750-07:00

What I'm reading I normally have multiple books going on in parallel - some are bathroom reading, some are dining room reading and others are dedicated reading. Execution - by Ram Charan and Larry Cassidy Reiterates what every executive needs to know - strategic planning needs to be follwed by execution of the plan and followup. Has some good examples and case studies. Message in a Bottle -

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6770875.post-1085766145381207372004-05-28T10:41:00.000-07:002004-05-28T14:17:48.193-07:00

On the Parliamentary elections in India In May 2004 Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress Legislature Party announced that she would not be accepting the post of the Prime Minister of India and that Manmohan Singh would be the PM. This was greeted by her admirers as a great renounciation on par with that of Gautama Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi and an expression of her "Indian" character. Let's

Girishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11809385335797463152noreply@blogger.com0