Fire fighting; Biar miskin Asal Kaya Hati. Furlough, Birthday.

Arising out of the Carlton tower building fire in Bangalore which killed 9 people, we had taken up with our builder Renaissance PARK III to complete the Fire emergency system prepardness as soon as it is possible. Accordingly the builder took up the completion and Saturday the residents were requested to participate in a 1 hr Fire Fighting training program in which Sprikler system, Fire hose reel, hydrants, Fire extinguisher working were demonstrated to residents. This is a good move. We also discussed about fire alertness, fire prevention in a home environment. Prevention is the  key.
I almost had fits and rage when I saw these 23 Photos of Unsafe practices in a construction site; Clearly the Hazard recognition and awareness is the last thing in the workers who were carryin the work. Also in one photo The helmet caption (Biar miskin...) is Strong heart can overcome Hunger/ poverty (poor) is a telling state of affairs. I only hope that all are still alive and kicking..... I am taking the liberty of pasting photos from the original web site  to have the impact!.
Judging by the photos, it is one of the most dangerous professions in the world
Look for yourself.


























I am in the middle of my mandatory vacation the coming week; this should give me a good chance to go back to kitchen on regular basis and work the cusine for lunch, dinner over the next 5 days. Infact today lunch was worked by me. Gujarati Kadi Kichadi which I learned in Ankleshwar when Lalitha had gone for delivery of kids 1992/94 and I had to fend myself. Roop Singh Purohit was the cook at Bharuch (Maharaj as we use to call him in the company Guest house). I also look forward to catching up on lot of reading. Lets see...
Who could have imagined that Ipad would have Bing as the default search enginebecasue of Apple/ Google spat;  Truth as they say is stranger than fiction. On the social media front, today is Twitter's 5th birthday. It has helped to pass thoughts as microblogging but the interactive part is still a long way to go and happens only between select few and more of cotiere. I am finding BUZZ is more comfortable platform to exchange ideas and response also makes you feel listened..... 

On the political front, I am glad the women reservation bill passed its first hurdle; still a long way to go; Shd make thro.


Till next week; take it easy and take care; live consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Work Sation. MT; India Leadership, Blogging. Bugmenot.

Just wanted to share my work station at home; A good work place is required to focus/ engaged, more so when the norm is 14 Hrs a day. The second picture is WIMAX which helps me to stay connected when there was no last mile connectivity.
The key principles which help me sustain is also on sidewall.









































I am a self Confessed Manager tools fan and I consider myself fortunate to have stumbled on the site 3 years back. Since then it has been of immense help and I try to post my comments wherever I can.Most of my work principles are guided my Horstman's law which forms a part of display at my work cubicle. Therefore it was personally overwhelming when I received comment from Mark on the linkedin forum this morning. Thanks MT Team.
I am following @BillGates on Twitter; He sends out valuable links(obviously!). This is one such on what he learns and focuses. On the twitter trips and tricks I find this post helpful to increase response to your twitter page as well as get more followers. I also found Seesmic a good twitter interface and using it now to collect and post tweets in addition to Linkedin interface.


On, HRD front; Peter Cappelli dished out a great article on Leadership lessons from India. The article is well worth to learn aspects that trigger leadership and business. But,I am not sure as whatever is true in 80% of Indian organizations as it is more window dressing here more so when situation demands dog and pony show. Indian companies have a long way to go!!.. On the work front, I found this article interesting on 5 future trends. I agree with 4 of them except taking multiple job aspects tough in Indian environment.

With Facebook,Twitter all hammering in and getting info overload, there is a real threat that blogging which was an hype about 3 years back can lose it's significance. So it was refreshing to read this article on Blogging value add. Very true.

Google keeps dishing out Applications as well as web pages for user interface. Wave, Buzz etc. The new Statistical real time analytic is masterpiece which helps to micro analyze data. Cool one.

An useful apps/ web sits to register temp password without compromising personal data is always helpful. Bugmenot is a good app/web web interface to use to generate temp password,data.


On podcast front FT UK  dishes out Good info; icing being Lucy Kellaway's satire.


I am going thro Henry (Hank)Paulson's new book on the brink, good coverage to get inside preview of the 08 financial crisis. I am also going thro Spencer Johnson's Peak and Valleys.
Finally, Here is to wish all the people in Karnataka (Bangalore) Happy Ugadi the New year on Tuesday. While still I am far far away from picking the local language(13 years here!), the place has helped me learn and grow. So a kind of attachment is established more so when you don't have fond memories of your home state.
Till next week; take it easy and take care; Live consciously.
Regards
Karthik.
1930 Hrs.





 

Roads; Carlton Towers; Budget

I just wanted to highlight the sad state of Roads in Bangalore. The photos above are not the roads in Rural area / Villages in India but at the heart of Bangalore at Malleswaram; outside our home. Repeated request to do something has fallen on deaf ears. What more can you say on governance! To add insult to Injury this road soon be a path to school and 1000s of apartment homes in the next 4 months. Tragedy waiting I guess. 

I am saddened to see the loss of NINE lives in the fire, due to lack of safety norms/ greed at the "CARLTON TOWERS" in Bangalore. This was the building right opposite Diamond District where I lived for 8 years till July 09; always wondered about the mushrooming bill boards and extensions and wondered where it would all lead to. The closure / disappearence of fire passage; the locking of fire exits; rooftop entrance locked for fearing people would use for partying(alchol) were flimsy reasons. Wonder where is the discipline/ governance and compliance to fire safety norms and rules. More so it was the lack of awareness on the employees part on emergency drills; rescue etc was lead to more panic and jumping down. As a safety professional I can only hope that this is a big lesson for companies big and small to learn and put in better fire safety programs in place.They owe it to their people. But would that happen; knowing Indian mentality of cut everything to get profits and business at any cost; I doubt more so with no straight forward legal aspects to enforce. We have one of the weakest/ opaque regulations; so nothing can be expected.

So, the budget is out and looks over ambitious; contrary to what many have showered praise;I stand by Mr Gurumurthy's article on Hindu in which he questions the discipline and brings out more of what the budget evades!!.. Well written...... Yes, the personal tax is ok for middle class; again it misses out the education, medical aspects which are also required to build the future of the country.

Ok; Till next week; take it easy and take care; Live Consciously.
Regards

Karthik

AUTO DRIVER LESSONS----> BOMBAY---->

Exact Narration by Suvendu Roy of Titan Industries, who shares his inspirational encounter with a rickshaw driver in Mumbai:

Last Sunday, my wife, kid, and I had to travel to Andheri from Bandra.
When I waved at a passing auto rickshaw, little did I expect that this ride would be any different...

As we set off, my eyes fell on a few magazines (kept in an aircraft style pouch) behind the driver's back rest.



I looked in front and there was a small TV. The driver had put on the Doordarshan channel.



My wife and I looked at each other with disbelief and amusement. In front of me was a small first-aid box with cotton, dettol and some medicines.
This was enough for me to realise that I was in a special vehicle.
Then I looked round again, and discovered more - there was a radio, fire extinguisher, wall clock, calendar, and pictures and symbols of all faiths
- from Islam and Christianity to  Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism.
There were also pictures of the heroes of 26/11- Kamte, Salaskar, Karkare and Unnikrishnan.
I realised that not only my vehicle, but also my driver was special.

I started chatting with him and the initial sense of ridicule and disbelief gradually diminished.
I gathered that he had been driving an auto rickshaw for the past 8-9 years; he had lost his job when his employer's plastic company was shut down.
He had two school-going children, and he drove from 8 in the morning till 10 at night.
No break unless he was unwell.  "Sahab, ghar mein baith ke T.V dekh kar kya faida? Do paisa income karega toh future mein kaam aayega."

We realised that we had come across a man who represents Mumbai – the spirit of work, the spirit of travel and the spirit of excelling in life.
I asked him whether he does anything else as I figured that he did not have too much spare time.
He said that he goes to an old age home for women in Andheri once a week or whenever he has some extra income, where he donates tooth  brushes, toothpastes, soap,  hair oil, and other items of daily use.
He pointed out to a painted message below the meter that read: "25 per cent discount on metered fare for the handicapped.
Free rides for blind passengers up to Rs. 50.


 
My wife and I were struck with awe. The man was a HERO!
 
A hero who deserves all our respect!!!
 
Our journey came to an end;
 
45 minutes of a lesson in humility, selflessness, and of a hero-worshipping Mumbai, my temporary home.
 
We disembarked, and all I could do was
to pay him a tip that would hardly cover a
free ride for a blind man.
 
I hope, one day, you too have a chance to meet Mr Sandeep Bachhe in his auto rickshaw: MH-02-Z-8508.

 

Blizzard,Buzz; Toyota; Driving License; Gossip.

So it appears that summer is fully in Bangalore; last 3 days are getting warm that venturing out 20 min walk at 2pm is a difficult task. One side there is a huge debate between global freezing and global warming in view of the continuous blizzard in the East coast of USA. The debate is on, and will go on forever. Things were not helped by the so called doctoring of data in favor of global warming.

So, the Google BUZZ is out, unlike the WAVE this just came unannounced (without much of the hype of wave;rather than waiting for the invitation anxiously, As I do for any Google product, just love them) this was sitting in the in box sort. 4 days in to Buzz, I kind of like it. Yes, there are many questions about privacy settings, I am sure that all will blow off over time. I am more in to ERIC SCHMIDT's school of thought, if you don't want something not to be in public domain and has concern over that it will be known, may be you should not be doing it in the first place. 
On the funny side, It was hilarious to see the Driving license application in Bihar. On a serious side, I am glad to see that the state is making progress. It has been backward for long and things have to change. The challenge is to meet expectations and sustain. On the political side on a different note, it was sad to see the bombing in Pune which took lives. But reading international journals, this was not a kind of not unexpected, it was only a question of when rather than whether as this article explains.

The other surprise turn of events is the Toyota Recalls. Some lessons. There have been articles in the recent past about how the company is slipping and this has come as a huge blow. I guess this recall even goes to question the effectiveness of lean manufacturing. I hope for the sake of world class manufacturing the order is restored.
There was an interesting article I came across "How to keep your executives". Practical aspects. On the organization side,Mike and Mark have come out with a gem on "Gossip handling". Again it is all down to behaviours.
Till next week; take it easy and take care; Stay Healthy and live consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Back; Computer Engineer; Listorious;Carly.

Good to be back to Blogging; I think this is the best way to put thoughts in to a platform. So off to 167th Post. 4 years have just flashed past.

On the personal side; after ages it was feeling good to fast / starve for some 6Hrs in connection with15th Anniversary ceremonies for my late grandfather to whom I was very much attached. So fasting cant do much damage it seems. 

This post on how to cover the basics how to be a good computer engineer gives a good practical 101. Abhisek Desai has covered all the practical aspects. I am still surprised that people have not harvested the potential of RSS feeds;and asking why, why, why. As a Safety professional, I will be on streets If I dont ask that question to get in to the root cause of the issue, so it has become second nature. 

As the year is well on; it is a good time to take stock on the goals, objectives, targets as well as career etc; This article gives guidance as what should be the right way to plan a career covering transitions, job search, networking, etc all the essentials for a smart career. On the other side, I have been tracking the fabulous realities of Performance appraisal, incentives; no better expressed than in this blog column with good link to grandmother stories by Arun Vemuri. 

On the leadership side; came across from my Twitter following on the best 10 leadership Blogs for 2010. No Surprises are most names are well known. Some of them yes to follow; One twitter application I came across is Listorious which gives a good list of twitters in to follow.

Came across this multiple search engine;Autopedia allows search about 9 search engines and spits out results from 4 of them simultaneously. Good for spread search.

On the political side; Here is an interview with Carly Fiorina; who is likely to run for the Cal Senate seat. The interview "The nation with the best brain power wins, echoes Drucker's ideas of knowledge worker. There is also a great question on Why women should be involved with Technology. Carly is one of the few Business Leaders inspire me; in fact her summary of Leadership" Courage; Capability; Collaboration; Character" I have displayed at my work table to refer. 

Got a copy of SIDIN VADUKUT's DORK' Exciting book; planning delibarately to go through slow; but the first 46 pages makes me that task is difficult. I will give my review when completed.

Until next week; take it easy and take care; Live consciously.
Karthik

Blog update

As I will be updating most of the thoughts thro Twitter, My posting in BLOG will be sporadic with deviation from regular Sunday evening posting till further notice.

Please follow me on Twitter.

Karthik.

MLA,EE; Management,

Today the Renaissance PARK III (Our #APT)Adhoc committee team of which I am member met the Malleswaram(Bangalore Nortwest) Member of state Legislative Assembly(Congressmen in US term) to thank him for helping us to get the Landline Telephone (It took 7 months as there was no last mile connectivity) as well as to request for some better amenities in the area. Dr Aswath Narayan is a medical doctor. This is my first close interaction with elected rep as I usually stay away and great believer that we progress in spite of the Government. The 20 min we spent, I found him to be accessible to people, very practical, down to earth as well as reeling of statistics on welfare measures. Yes, there was a bit of language barrier as I am yet to be well versed in Kannada the local language to fully understand the nuance of the conversation.

I came across an interesting article on Employee engagement, a kind of buzz word some time back but fizzled out in recession times, but still a good concept to work around.The acronym"RAPS" works well. Retention, Advocacy,Satisfaction, Pride. Good basic concept to work and take forward.
On the management side, MT /CT has come out a 2part gem on Admitting mistakes; Admit early and don't beat around bush. The MT podcast on Developing Subordinates (!! most may blink!!) is an eye opener for those not thought of it as necessary.(Org will take care Hmmmm)... On CMM, Wayne has come out 2 podcast (CMM/ Working week). CMM one with Timothy Clark on leadership with volunteering touching the strategic aspects of why/ what you want to be as leader is very thought provoking. On Working week with Dr John Kennedy, the Heart care is a must listen. On the satire/ time pass as we call in India, Listen to Lucy on the awards / Management guff is a must listen.

Here are the list of 15 Most hated companies in USA. No major surprises. Walmart, United,YES DELL.(MY son calls Hell), Yes they do well, the numbers are good but an aversion.

I was fascinated by GOOGLE Squared. Never knew it existed until I stumbled on the site. A good way to tabulate results and compare.

On the books side, Marshall Goldsmith's MOJO is out for release in Feb, cant wait to get a copy when it hit book stores here. Also on the lookout is Sidin Vadukut's DORK. I read the excepts in live mint.

As an avid Non Indian cricket follower, Test Match special BBC was a great site to follow cricket on Audio web for me. Pleasure listening to CMJ, Peter Baxter; Now Testmatch sofa looks equally good.

Pongal came and gone; so Summer (Uttrayan) is not far behind looking forward to move from cold,(20C!) and fog to Sunshine.

Ok, Till next week; take it easy and take care; Live consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Newyear, Twitter, Technology, Converters

It is good to be back to blogging in 2010. We had celebrations in Renaissance Park III for welcoming the new year. It was all Women arrangement and they did an excellent job for entertainment, food, logistics as well as for the memento too. Well done. Photo above of the team who did a great job.

I am posting the photos of the Brigade North star which was in news for the first IT Corridor office complex in Northern Bangalore. This place is 50 Feet from my home and is part of complex of office, hotel, Apts, Mall, school. See Photos.

It was also time in the new year to catch up with my EX-Boss from Monsanto, Jolanta was here in Bangalore and took time in her schedule to catch up with us. It is close to 4 years since I left Monsanto and we are in touch. It was a great relation. On the news of Monsanto, I was not surprised to see HUGH GRANT Monsanto CEO, has been chosen by HBR as the top 10 Best performing CEO. I had met him couple of times, Hugh is all about accessibility, Care, compassion and commitment -the hallmark of leadership. He was instrumental as a Sponsor for bringing in World class vehicle safety program in 2002 to turn around driving concept. Congratulations.

On the tech front came across the 69 coolest web applications that changed the world in 2009 and 5 Tech apps that is dictating us. Very practical and we have reached a stage where we are nothing without these apps as they say.

Mr Murali of Netspeak comes with very useful links, He is one of the Tech geeks I follow on Twitter. His latest links on PDF to word Converter and Scribblar a useful web sharing application. My wife used the Scribblar and says it is very useful but not happy with audio for her web coaching sessions.

As indicated, HBR Print in it's new avatar looks different. Time Hangover!!, but good any way. The website too looks rejuvenated.

I leave with a bit of humor on English. Very funny no doubt.

Till next week, take it easy and take care; Follow me on Twitter at Karaikudy.

Karthik

Sunsigns, Best books of 2009, Panama Canal, HBR

Good to be back after the Xmas Holidays. I would make this short post as to catch up on things.

I was amazed to read this post on predicting your boss nature based on his sun sign. I guess this is partly correct in as far as me as a boss as well as with some of the boss with whom I had interacted. Cant take it all the way though!.... On the boss front, I came across this fabulous picture post by Kris Ashok on doing Jalsa and showing Jilpa(Dont know what it means, not that I have heard till 1985, when I left Tamilnad) on how boss react to your sick leave. I also came across the post on Interviewing smart tips for tech folks, who miss the nuance of preparing and working out the job interviewing aspects.

As indicated in my earlier posts, I am trying to understand the essence of Bhagavad Gita thro the Discourse of Chinmayananda. I was fascinated with this post on linking Githa in modern management terms. Very apt and practical explaining Passion, Ignorance, Goodness, the 3 key aspects in human being.

I leave with the thoughts on Best business books of 2009, worth the list. Also I look forward to revamped HBR from 2010.

I was fascinated reading about Panama canal, never knew that you need Millions of gallon of Fresh water to move ship and more so to lift 85 Feet...... Marvel..

So 2009 was a decent year, lot of challenges, well overcome with ways to find a practical solution and move on. Ofcourse, ultimately it all boils down to what your stakeholders feel and that's what matters.

Take it easy and take care; live Consciously.
Karthik

Avatar, Meetings, Despair, Cheques bounce

I am still in daze from the Avatar effect. My son persuaded me that I should accompany all to the movie(My 4th movie in 11 years, Titanic, HP V and Spider man) were the other 3. Also I was pulled in as I wanted to experience the 3D progress from the days of the Poltergeist. my dear Kuttichatan.

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Avatar is a mixture of Indian beleif(Moving soul from body to body, Spirits etc which are well documented in Indian history) and technology. For 160 minutes you are at a different world forgetting traffic jams, Lousy situations etc. The music of James Horner is master piece (Austrian touch of Mozart!) (As good as John Williams in Star Wars, Riders of the last ark and his own Titanic) adds to the thrill. It is a must watch for every one. The take away for me is It might help me to dream better and get better ideas as seed for thought process/ innovation to continuous improvement.

Cheques are going to be part of the history. With all the plastics, Digital aspects happening, Cheques may become extinct as per decision taken in UK. So the term Rain check may become Rain Digital.

With Cynicism at it's height in these depressing work state across,no wonder the site Despair.com, would help to let out the frustration and show out. Slogans, mug, posters etc. This site came to my knowledge in response to the practices of dog and pony show on safety thro behavior change in Let's get real which I shared with friends.

On the management side, 3 of the articles this week caught my attention. 50 Minute meeting by David Silverman on setting tight time and not just stick to calendar timings. 10 min saving can go a long way. The other post was on How to detect if your colleagues are lying.(Very apt both when lied or lied up on!!). The third one was Retaining top performer in tough times. Show your feeling and thank them is key also work out non cash rewards and align career expectations. Also I want to mention Mike and Mark podcast on Making your favourite candidate succeeding in your interview process. Top Stuff.

Google has come with a navigator that adapted to the Indian needs. In India the concept direction like North, south are alien. It is more to do with street, shop, temple, post office and work reference to that. So Google maps have adapted to that. GMAIL language typing in to TAMIL தமிழ் is a cool stuff.
I leave this week with the chart that caught my eye on How web Browser use has changed over years from all MS to Others. This is what they call CHANGE HAS COME TO THE WORLD. Also a quick look at the top 10 Web platforms.

Till next week, Take it easy and take care; Live consciously.

Regards
Karhik.

PS: As a favor to my son for taking me to Avatar and giving me good time, I will watch and support CHELSEA his team tonight.

Spousal Jealousy, Drucker, Soft Skills, Password

So the year is coming to an end, 2009 looks like went like a whistle.

Came across this interesting article on Spousal Jealousy arising out of a new term I came across as work spouse. Of course, keeping the relations to the platonic level is the key and to avoid the wrath of home spouse I guess. Very practical article in MI and It covers indepth analysis of various issues at work and has a distinct UK flavor. I also came across lot of good management information at Management today. This also covers practical happening at the Management aspects. From an Indian perspective, Tickledby life is a good website on all updates in management.

I cant help keep writing about Peter Drucker. This HBR Website article just moved me I thought that I should share with all. This covers the personal side of Drucker which we seldom get to know.

Two articles which got Twitted around caught my attention. 1) The soft skills people require to work their way around by Kate Nasser. 2) 10 HR trends of the decade by Susan Heathfield for with web taking over the process. Wonder if HR folks would change their Mindset????

Everyday we use a lot of passwords for various access to websites, machines. A practical way to remember the password is explained here.

A live update of all the trains running in India are covered in the South Central Railway website. This covers update within 20min of current time and give the train status.

Till next week, take it easy and take care; live consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Thumb impressions, Tiny URL, Dictinoary, Gil Schwartz

I am glad to be back on blogging after a week's gap as I was away last Sunday evening for some shopping and couldn't get time to blog. So feels good to be back.

I was amazed to read this story of a Florida, USA, bank insisting on a thumb impression of a man who has no hands to cash his cheque. You think you will hear such stories in this part of the world. Looks like the" crow is black" every where as they say in India, Kawwa Kaala Hi.

Tiny URL is a good feature to use when you have to shorten the URL which are lengthy. More so when you have to use it in Twitter or other microblog or send as link in email. It shortens and cuts it to less than 10 characters.

Google has done it again, The new Google dictionary is amazing to translate meanings. Not only that it gives meanings in various context of word and gives example. I tried features in my mother tongue Tamil and found it fascinating.

Bing, Stanley aka Gil Schwarz, (Bing, not the search engine) has come out with a new book, and has done a great podcast with Wayne on CMM. Give a listen. Bing writes fantastic column on Fortune and blogsite. Wayne in another podcast called Working week has covered the link between environmental sustainability and employee engagement in a conversation with Jagan Nemani. Give it a listen.

Mike and Mark have come out with a fabulous podcast on DISC Behavioral profile downfall and have covered HighC this week. Eureka, that is it.....

Gina Trapani, some time has written an excellent blog post in HBR on throw away your business card and create your GOOGLE Profile. Very true. I have done my Google profile . Of course, GOOGLE exposes you on all about you or what others write about you as this case study "We googled you" indicates.

Ok, Untill next week, take it easy and take care; live consciously.

Regards
Karthik

Education, Scandal, Steve Jobs,2611

Education access is an universal right for every one. I recollect reading some time back that Indian government passed a bill making basic education a fundamental right. In that connection, reading goes as a part of education. So I was amazed to see the SLS Planet read effort by subtitling film songs/ programs which would make people read and improve learning. This is common sense as one might say, but how many common sense ideas get implemented??.

So on to some of the scandals I came across this week.
1) 112 Year old man marrying 17 year old girl in Somalia- Mother of all scandals I guess!!..
2)Read the scandal by Tony Young in duping investor funds. The modus operandi was too common and wonder how people fall for it...

You can love him, you can hate him, you can forget him, but you cant Ignore him. Steve Jobs is back. He has been chosen as Fortune's CEO of the decade. You have to agree, the Ipod, The Iphone and Macs.. What is next? Just cant wait, made music a common access. My son was on for a music recording for his school program yesterday and he got a feel of Mac Pro tools 8.0 for that and says that MAC a thing to have.

This week on Friday will be the First anniversary of the Bombay Seize. Time flies. But you wonder any significant learning has happened and the sense of security has improved. It is time to ask the questions and see if we get answers. Meanwhile I share the grief, memory for the departed. Vir Sanghvi has written a great article.

Ok, until next week, take it easy and take care; live consciously.
Regards
Karthik.