School contact, roads,

POST 190

Wishing the folks a Happy and prosperous 2011. Better late than never. I was tied up with Personal travel and beginning of year tasks etc. Sundays kind of went in chasing and getting things done like car repair etc. By the time I write this, we are in to the middle of the Harvest festival Pongal, the festival of thanks giving to the Sun god, the Farmer.

I was in for a pleasant surprise when some of my school mates from Karaikudi got in touch with me. It has been 31 years (1980) since I passed out of Algappa Model Higher secondary school. I had given up hope of getting in touch with them as people had moved and my visits to Karaikudi to meet parents was kind of once a year for a day or less with practically no time to make contacts in person. Yes, it helps to have your profile in the social media like google profile, Linkedin, Facebook etc as people who do a search can ferret you out and make contact. This should now help us to find most of our school mates if not all. Feeling very good about it.

We make our annual visit to our family temple at Karisulnthamangalam PIN 627453 (KS Mangalam or Karisuzhntha Mangalam) in Thirunelveli district of TN. It is 5 km from famouse Pathamadai town. Last year we made it on 31st December and achieved the target of a visit every calendar year. One thing that impress me is the small towns are developing and standard of living are improving. For the first time, the temple priest indicated that he would like to wear a T-SHIRT(!) and we picked a couple of them for him. Unheard, 20 years back and also all the bank fund electronic transfer at the most rural of locations. Yes, Tech is changing lives.

We had the road in front of our Apartment, Renaissance PARK 3, (First main road, Malleswaram West) which was in worst condition redone after a year with lot of followup. The road was formally inaugurated by the Local MLA, Dr Ashwathnarayan, this week. This has given a rood drivable road, but the traffic will go mad due to various diversion putting children etc at risk.

Take it easy and take care; Live consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Thommo, APPS, Books, Tapes.

Post 189
A friend was telling about how only a particular section of  function/ location/people were getting all the promotions/ growth in the organization. I had to tell him that there are some bias, halo effect that exist in organizations that can't be overcome easily. I recollect a comment from a famous Aussie cricketer who said, "you just try hard to play for New South Wales, playing for Australia is then very easy for they hand over Baggy Green to save envelope costs". ( I guess, It was Jeff Thomson).
This week also is the week in which the famous FIRST TIE Test at Brisbane happened. I was not born at that time, but I have heard so much from the previous generation. The result was confusion and some people missed the action including Commentator Alan McGilvary. I would think the 2005 Ashes England was the closest we have seen on such even contest.

For the Techies, the Top Ipad apps have been released, it is worth working these apps in your Ipad/ Iphone. 

Also the best 2010 Business books have been selected by 800-CEOREAD. The list contains 25 Books. Vineet Nayar's "Employee First, Customer second" had made it.  Chip and Dan Heath's SWITCH too makes it to the list.

Amazed at the OUTLOOK revelation today on the 800 more tapes on how corporate have manipulated politician / system.... More names are pulled out. People who were pretending saint have shown the ugly side. It was long suspected that there is a nexus, but never to this extent the manipulation. I always felt many of the issues in News TV here,were like character (Fiction!!) Edward Armstead's "ALMIGHTY"(Irwing Wallace) and I stayed away as much to Web for my news update. So I am proved right. News is created / manipulated.
I am daily voting for the PODCAST awards. The voting open until 14th Dec. This is our chance to pay back the gratitude for all the hard work the podcasters put in.


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

Black Friday, BMTC, Books, Test match sofa.

Post 188

So the Thanksgiving week is over indicating that the Holiday season has begun. Also this is the time for conducting Annual Performance review/ setting up goals. I am an ardent Mike and Mark, Manager tool fan. Following their advise over the past 5 years, this has become a routine affair for me. Work the MT goal (Measurable, Timely Goals).Performance review supporting documents prepared by spending 15 minutes a month to collect summary of each month and seamlessly integrating in to the final document. Thank you Manager tools.


As my car was involved in a minor road accident and I had to use public transport for attending a family event. This gave me an opportunity to explore Bangalore public transport buses for inter city commute for the first time.(more than 2 km ride changing buses i.e) I must confess, the experience was much better than what I had anticipated, the volvo buses, professional conductors, Air conditioned environment, All sitting protocol was good enough. The fare was also decent. Yes, the only condition is you need to have time on hand as the bus travels in fixed route and you cant take shortcuts to save time. The 15Km Journey took 2 hrs. ( Including 25 minutes for change of bus at bus station). Infrastructural inadequacy correction has some way to go!!... Let's see.


it is surprising that despite more than a year in to Indian operations, the Wall street journal has not been able to deliver same day delivery of the print journal here in Bangalore. I feel that the news paper/ journals are to be read in print to get a feel of having read. I hope WSJ India works something on this. I am also working for renewing my HBR subscription. This time HBR is offering only 2 year renewal at 47% discount. Looks like cost pressure is building up. But it is worth the renewing.

I heard an interesting podcasts on book review.
1) Spendshift, how the USA recession is seen as an opportunity to change spending pattern and lesson learned. The book SPENDSHIFT.
2) Riding the TIGER, How the adverse situation at Saytam was not allowed to escalate in to an enron, thus collapse of the company. Good learning. 



The Stanford Entrepreneurial Though leaders podcast threw some interesting topics.
Diego Piacentini, Senior VP of International Retail for Amazon, discusses the company's growth-centered business model, its global presence, and the strides it takes to sustain a successful customer experience. Piacentini also describes Amazon's innovative approaches to operations, mergers and acquisitions, and labor practices. 
Jennifer Aaker shares the power behind creating ideas that can build momentum. Through her research on the perception of happiness and meaning, Aaker describes how these concepts relate to a successful and powerful social media campaign.

So the Ashes are of to a cracking start, boy! What a first 4 days of test match. Swing of pendulum could be the best comparison. We are in for a cracking winter. This is the best thing that could have happened to Test Match cricket. I am indeed a bit saddened / disappointed for the absence of Radio commentary coverage to Asia/ Outside UK on test match special. I sincerely hope BBC does something to restart the radio coverage. It can help you to focus on task on hand without watching TV. I have also emailed my request to BBC. Hope something is worked before second test. In the meantime, I came across TESTMATCH SOFA, a website that dishes out audio ball by ball coverage to track.Good job done.


The IPAD version of economist is super, helps you to scan articles quickly. This is free app too for others.


Wayne Turmel's new website, Great web meeting is cool. Links to future webinars, excellent links to practical articles.


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

PS: Felt good to talk to my schoolmate after 31 years, he called from USA. Tech connects and helps you to find people.

HTTLeadership, Books, Thoughts.

Post 187.

So another year gone by, today is my star birthday. Born Karthik month Full moon day, so the name Karthik. Felt good to get call wishing from friends, more so from Parents.In fact I should have called them to seek blessings. The calendar birthday is in 10 days time.

The Hindustan times leadership Summit 2010 was a better worked out event than previous year. The sessions by Jairam Ramesh, Arun Jaitley,Kapil Sibal were frank, honest reflections of the situation in Indian scenarios. Pranab did a decent job of defending the 2G scam.The answers looked convincing in terms of referring to the public accounts committee take the issue forward. The session of Brain was simply amazing. Hats off to Dr.Ravi Gopal Varma on the efforts on the patient who had no control over what she does!!.In 6 months, he turned around the impossible. Bangalore was the IT capital no questions, The way medical challenges are addressed, I wont be surprised if it takes the Medical innovation capital.
The session by Al Gore, Gordon Brown were also practical aspects. I missed the session of PM,(The only one I didn't bother!!) no worth under the present situation, he needs to come clean with an explanation( As like Bhishma in Mahabharat, turned bind eye to Draupadi being stripped off in the court of Kauravas) to be taken seriously. The concluding session on China as a challenge was the icing on the cake. Any discussion of Indian growth/ strategy, without China is meaningless. The Indian press missed this point of view during Obama's visit. No Indian Press/ TV bothered to check the Chinese perspective.
 
The moderator is an area where the HT leadership summit needs lot of improvement. The Indian TV /News personalities it appears, play a pre arranged script, artificial. (More so, I have overheard participants in Indian news tv show confessing, offline, that they have been scripted, thus the ingenuity/authenticity of discussion is questionable!!???????)They can learn a thing or two from Nik Gowing who did an excellent job on the session with Pranab Mukherjee. And yes thankfully NO damm Indian cricket lousy stuff. Yes, Wasim Akram came in on the diabetes session, that is pardonable.


I finished reading the book "SWITCH" by Chip and Dan Heath. It has left a deep impact on me. 3 simple principles, Motivate the elephant, Direct the rider and Show the path. The authors have used 10s of example in each section as well as working the practical tips to start change. It easily connects to Gandhi preaching, You must be the change that you wish to see in the world. I am glad, I picked up this book.

I have begun reading "The Essential Drucker", I was tempting to take notes, but I found it impossible as each paragraph is more important than the previous or the next one. What amazed me was that Drucker had the vision to see all this in the late 60,70,80s when Knowledge worker, Globalization must have been unheard off.
From my e-reader, I got a copy of Seth Godin's Linchpin. The practical way to move from routine,cog in to indispensable. 

So the Ashes, the only cricket action that I bother following live on TV starts this week. This may bring disruption in to my daily routines over the next 6 weeks. It is worth it. Ashes in Australia is always special more so with Bill Lawry's it is all happening!!!.. , also the Nov-Dec, cold weather lot of coffee to gulp and watch over breakfast, lunch is pleasure. (More so on Saturday, Sunday!!!!). Yes, Will match the radio commentary (that use to wake me up at 5am) of Jim Maxwell, Alan McGilvary, legends, no one can replace them. I expect Aussies to regain the ashes comfortably. That is what my predictor tool "The  Economist" says. I have always gone with that and never felt let down. Yes, England good team, but Aussies are picking steam........

I close with a great feeling of getting connected to my school mate from karaikudi after 30 years. Thanks to Linkedin. More so delighted to see that he is now a CEO, settled in east coast,USA. His upbringing by his parents,(More so by his father who was demanding) never left any doubt in me that this guy will go places. Glad it materialized....Parents know what they do.. It is like bitter medicine, good for health. Wonder if the present generation, realizes that.
Yes, till next week, take it easy and take care; live consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Diwali,Books,

POST 186

The Diwali the festival of lights was an quiet affair for all of us in the family. The children were very busy with coaching class schedule as well as there had been a bit of personal situations which have made to take the diwali on a low key one. We did participate in the community gathering at the PARK 3 celebrations for an hour. I was wondering on the money spent on bursting crackers by the community (easily in to US$3000 or so) that could have been well spent for a better cause (Children education or etc).

As indicated, I had taken a week off, and spent useful time to catch up on reading books as well as to spend time in the Kitchen.

1) A must read is Marshall Goldsmith's book MOJO. It was an eye opener for me, especially  on issues that people tend to connect everything to the past happening and let that affect your present performance. Also the calculator of Overall Mojo was a good theme. Also connecting from the personal sense was the distinction and transgression people make to get a bit off guard between personal and professional lives. I have also began to let go off the people who had been not good to me, forgive and move on. An excellent book. This was also touched on the recent podcast by Anna Farmery on the Engaging brand podcast with Anna Mason.
2) Got a chance to read John Grisham's THE CONFESSION. A good begging, goes well up to 75% and then loses steam. A bit of let down for a die hard Grisham fan.
3) I got the book Beating Diabetics, which I went thro to know a bit more of the life sytle handicap. The book is a  must read for all TYPE I & II (More so for type II). It covers all practical aspects the temptations, the overdo, the food charts etc. The good thing is the book offers a lot of solution to the day to day issues.
4) I am halfway in to TRUE BLUE, the Baldacci Thriller, going good. I may try to finish it before the year end, hopefully.

Ok, so the clock is put back by an hour in Europe/ USA, so Indian work days will get longer by an hour for all the conference calls. In this connection, the Podcast by Mike and Mark on managing distant team is a good practical guide. Wayne Turmel does monthly training sessions on how to manage remote teams. A good one to participate.
Another must listen is the WEEKLY Leader podcast by Peter Mellow. Lot of thought provoking interviews. Yes, you may require more than 45 mintues for most show, but worth it.

I guess, I haven't mentioned about Grammar Girl podcast. A must listen if you care to improve your English speech/ writing. I do as it is not my mother tongue.


Until next week, take it easy and take care; Live Consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Google, Friends, Food.

IYou would assume that Google is well used all over the world, well,my experience in the USA last week,was that there are some people still who dont google to find out things that are beyond LA to NY( That they call World series!!!).

1) A friend asked me if Budhism is the biggest religion in Pakistan? (He has double master's degree). He had been to this part of the world!!...
2) 2 folks from Latin America had no clue where Bangalore, (I was too embarassed to ask if they know where India is!!) is and what is it's commercial signifiance? I too struggled to explain them, thinking it is obivious!!....
3) There was also confusion/ hesitancy in many people I met to know whether I am a MUSLIM? (My beard didnt help). Yes, I guess the Pakistan work association must have paid off for this Madarasi, Indian Brahman!!!!...

So the world has lot of catchup to do??? What intelligent software/ implant would do this!?

So this visit also helped me to do some important things.

1) Met my first working boss, Dr M V Patel ( 1986-1991, Unique group, Ankleshwar) at Chicago after 19 years, did lot of catching up over  Gujarati dinner at his place in West Chicago. It was great to meet his family too. 


2) Met Wayne Turmel, the Host of Cranky Middle Manager podcast show, over dinner at a Sea food restaurant. 2 hrs just flew by. I always felt that great people always squeeze out time from their busy schdeule to interact with people. Wayne is no exception. Thank you very much for your time Wayne. We appreciate what you do over CMM.


3) Sat behind a wheel of a car( Toy Car) at GO KARTING at Lanciano, Italy at a team event. This was my first experience behind wheel after 10 years, as Bangalore traffic is hazardous to self driving and leave it to professionals. Some initial nerves, things worked out.

Dr Patel

Go karting

Wayne
 It was sheer delight to be back at the CASTELO DI SEPTE,hotel in Mozzagrogna. The hotel is in my best hotel list. It looks a castle and rooms are standard with basic amnities. Wireless internet (Free) is bonus add on since my last visit in 2008. The food in the resturant is amazing.
We had been to a restaurant (more like a Agri tourism farm house), the Italian food was amazing!!. (more than 3 course dinner and we finshed at 1am!!)....

One of the other learning on the trip was the airline food has shrunk in long distance flights, the food they serve is simply not enough. I learned the lesson quickly and started picking up food from counters as an addon to the served flight food to prevent going hungry for hours. Yes as usual, the baggage didnt make it during the short flight to Chicago. (4th time!!)So rushed to Walmart to get some clothes, (My relatives helped for the trip for 2 mile drive, if you cant drive you are in trouble over distances in USA!!)


I was also very very much disappointed at absence of paid lounges in TERMINAL 5 at Heathrow during the 6 hrs transit. (I lost my BA Silver status due to lack of inernational travel for some time!!)The absence of Shower facility is an insult to the clean traveler like me (Who shower minimum twice a day come rain or shine, (I even did at -15 deg cel at Salt Lake city). I hope some one listens and do something to install some showers (Paid one also would do!!).......

By the way finished reading Frederick Forsyth's COBRA. A must read to know the intricacies of COCAINE Trade. Master story.


Until next week,take it easy and take care; Live Consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

iPad posting

I am posting this blogpost from the Ipad. The Ipad was an impulse purchase last week when I was in Chicago. I had been to the Apple store at woodfeld mall for an ipod for Lalitha. So impressed was I with the Ipad features that I picked up 16gb wifi version. My friend Clyde Roe ( ex-Monsanto) helped me for the shopping trip.

Yes, the good news for my son is that the ownership of the Iphone3GS is now 100% his. I used to pick it up once a while.


I will post the Europe/ US travel experiences soon.

Take it easy and take care, live consciously.

Karthik.,

Rolex vs Rolodex, podcasts, Mallory

I came across this brilliant website on building your network by Harvey Mackay.Listened to the great podcast by Wayne Turmel; Cranky middle Manager show. There is also an intersting podcast on project management.

Manager tool at it's best with 2 podcast. My Manager Resigned and Manager & Government politics. As usual MT way, it is all about behaviours and you are there to fulfill what the organisation needs.

I completed the paths ofglory by Jeffrey Archer. A brilliant account of a true event. The climbing of Mt. Everest in 1924 by George Mallory. My Gut feeling says, Mallory did it. 


The Indian connection in the weekly leader podcast.Lidsay Levin discusses the Indian common man who possess great leadership qualities thro her oranisation Leader's quest.


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

taxi, tollway

Last week I was on travel to Madras and Pune.

The Learning at Bombay(to reach Pune) was that the airport taxi system can test your patience. It took me 20 minute to get a token to board a taxi(Queue and system billing) and another 20 minutes to flag a cool cab. So 40 minutes lost. My learning is for next trips is to make sure that Car is prebooked and some one waits with a placard. Considering traffic chaos in Bombay, it imakes practical sense. Even at 9pm, it took me 90 minutes to reach Bhandup (30 Km away from Airport). Yes, the cool cab which I tried for the first time is good.

The next day, it was a different experience, I took the toll expressway from Bombay to Pune. The 130 Km was done in 3 Hrs flat. The 3 lane road is dream. Yes there are odd potholes and Jaywalkers on the elevated expressway. There is also a good resturant near Kapoli. The toll US$4 is worth it as it easily saves good 3 hours.

At the Pune Airport, after years, I picked up 2 fiction books. Theodore Boone by John Grisham and Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer. Boone is a dream kid lawyer in making( Ideal Child). Archer's book is about George Mallory the unconfirmed first guy to climb Mt. Everest.

The economist has released list of best MBA colleges. University of Chicago is the number 1 college, Harvard at 4th. No Indian school in top 50, as expected!!!???.


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

Ganesh, 9/11, Milk, typo

This week the festive season are in full swing. Coincedentally all religions had some festival to work about. Virgin Mary feast for Christians, Eid culminating the fasting period for muslims and Ganesh Chathurthi the elephant god for Hindus. At Park 3, this was the first festival celebrations as a community with about 65% occupancy. We did our little bit.

This week also was the 9th anniversary of 9/11. This year for various reasons, the sombre occsaion had its own conterversy. I can only hope all the issues are sorted out to every one's satisfaction. It calls for give and take and look for a win-win solution.

I was very much touched by this story in Gaurdian, story of a Afgan child went without milk in the midst of flies and stench. Fortunately, the story had a happy ending as some good hearted folks from Pakistan worked out to collect aid and served. The child could get his milk and food.


I came across this intersting article about how the work will change in the next 10 years. This will be more about colloboration, Remote working etc.

I leave with the intersting post on typical typo error found in public display. 


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

Back to Blogging, festivities, WTC, Birthday, 3cups of tea.

It has been quite a while (2 months) that I have not blogged. Yes, I was active on Twitter(@Karaikudy) and posting comments and thoughts in that medium. I begin to feel that the personal touch comes from blogging.
We had some celebrations of Independence day, Janmastami over time and I thought of posting the photos here.

The Independence day celebrations were the first one to be celebrated at PARK 3, and we called Dr Ashwath Narayan MLA Karantaka State, Representing our area, Malleswaram. He has been instrumental in getting railway gate open 24 Hrs (from 8 hrs which saves 3 km of circutous route) as well as doing all the lighting and hygiene aspects. The local corporator was also present. His speech was more on participating in civic leadership and not to look at politicians with cynicism. We also arranged some programs for the kids and adults with lot of of patriotic songs.

Some of the Programs.

This week also marked the celebrations of Janmastami, the birth celebrations of Lord Krishna. The celebrations were special as my parents are here. The foot print of lord krishna as child.....

Our Apartment, Renaissance PARK 3 is now officialy adjacent to the first WORLD TRADE Centre, Bangalore. The Brigade gateway project Building NORTH STAR has been declared WTC Bangalore.

3rd Sep is also a red letter day. MY daugther turned 18 and so now a Major and free to choose her path and way forward. We did some small celebrations.

Ok, on to the general happenings.
I am listening regularly to the weekly leader podcast. Great interview, discussions, social media min as well as podsafe artist. Peter Mello and Pam Fox Rollin do a great job. 
This week interview with Bob Sutton on Good boss- bad boss gives a divergent perspective. Yes, I have been blessed to work for great bosses for over 25 years now, except for a 24 week period in 1999, yes that triggered the desire to look for change.!!...
Finished 2 great books...........1) 3 cups of tea; The story of Greg Mortenson on building schools in Af-Pak. I am sure one day the nobel peace prize will redeem itself by going to Mortenson. What a way to fight terrorism!..
2) In to thin Air. The Disaster at Mount Everest 1996,12 deaths. More so as a safety professional, I correlated the various discrete incidents to the multiple causation theory.
3) I am more than half way done with WAR- Sebastian Junger. Mind blowing account. Never knew Bullets travel at 2000miles/hr and you get .25 sec reaction time and some shells at 18" away from you too can cause skin burns...!! A must read.


4) Came across email alert on 10 must read HBR articles. All are great lessons. Very fortunate to have read all of them. Print subscription to HBR helps. 
5) I am very disappointed to see that Wall Street Journal print doesnt do same day delivery @Bangalore. The day it happens I am in. Hope this happens sooner... Many  Indian cities are covered.....
Ok, till next week; take it easy and take care; Live Consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

School, Ethics,Anonymous,

I was saddened to read in newspaper that a school kid was crushed to death by her school bus here in Bangalore. It was a just an irresponsible act. I recollect the school bus in western countries take so much care. Wonder when the responsibility will take over.

I keep telling my overseas friends when I travel there that in India we progress in-spite of our government. The corruption, irresponsibility are so much. The resignation  here in Bangalore of Mr Santosh Hegde is a classic case. In this connection the open letter written by Mr Rajah Iyer to the PM is worth going. I follow Mr Iyer's blog very closely and lot of lessons to learn.
Some of the articles I came across this week.
1) Taking criticism personally wont help you; It will retard growth. 
2) Why I returned my Ipad HBR Blog. Peter Bregman
3) Inside the mind of an anonymous online poster.  How emotions flare up as response to events. 
4) Japanese folktales. Very interesting.


I am back to regular podcast listening and catching up. Would post links from next week. The Worldcup football is reaching fever pitch. 


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


 

K'naan, Schools, Twitter,

It is the time that comes once in 4 years when everything is set aside to focus on the action on the field and watch through television. It is truly the world cup  with 180 teams reduced to 32 exciting stuff not to miss. I am spending as much time as possible to watch action. I also blocked as much time in my outlook calendar to coincide the match timings as out of office.Luckily most matches are after office hours, yes some calls needs to be multi tasked. My four teams to quarter finals are France, Brasil, Uruguay/ Argentina and Germany/ Italy. Let me see. Already some exciting stuff with South Korea and England goal keeper making action.
The world cup Theme song has caught my imagination and I have been singing it umpty times as well as in the head. The singer K'Naan from Somalia just catches your imagination.

Came across this interesting post on testing your 1)focus and 2)Multitasking on the Newyork times tech page.

I was appaled by this news on attack on school in Bombay by some political activists. Where are we heading? It is sheer act of terrorising young children. There could be issues, but this is not the way. A far cry from the west where even presidential motorcade stops for school bus. When we will learn to be more civic! I wonder. On being Indian, I felt the resonance with PriyaRamani on the Indian way of thinking and interaction, her thoughts are very valid.


Here is an intersting cartoon on Remote conrol a woman might want! Hmm. I have not shown to my wife so far.(Now showing her!!).

With Twitter getting more and more part in our lives(Looks like 2 Billion tweets and counting), you need a client to handle. I came across Journotwit which helps to create column and manage contacts and behavior. My Handle is @karaikudy.
OK, It is short post, Will come back more next week. Till then take it easy and take care. Live Consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Success; Rewards; Social Media; Zakumi

It is good to be back to blogging after 4 weeks. I must apologize for this sluggish frequency over the last 3 months. This was due to travel, Construction work at our apartment as well as serious discussions on children education/ admissions as well as catch up on periodicals. Yes, it is also laziness to some extent. Moreover I was also more in to Twitter.(@Karaikudy); I love blogging as Chris Brogan's post and would posts more frequently. Needless to say my podcast activity is also at all time low. Should work that out too; So my excercise... It's time for serious review!!!

Glad to let all know the children are done thro school admissions, Daughter got in to St. Joseph college, with 93% she had walk in interview and done with. Son also made it in to NPS in science group 11th, having secured 99.5% in 10th CBSE. So it was not much of an effort chasing admissions which can be a nightmare for parents. Thankfully the kids spared that. Credit to them and my wife for having made them realized that education is the key asset for middle class to come up in life.
So with all good performances, son's favorite team Chelsea winning the EPL and his God Drogba winning the golden boot, I had fulfill his demand for an IPHONE 3GS. So that was given to him as a gift. He enjoys it, I also get a chance to work around it once in a while and I find the APPS amazing and user friendly and reliable as well enlightening.
Ok; Enough of personal info;
1) As indicated Twitter micro blogging site has lot of useful add on applications. This helps you track followers, find people with common interest. Here are 27 apps; some links. 
2)I am also in to GOOGLE BUZZ, which is 4 months old, cant believe, so much happening. It is also a good social trend and helps you to stumble up on new aspects in tech/ social/ every aspects. Buzz, I sense is more personal then twitter. Up on using them I came across so many acronyms that I was required to get a ref page for all symbols, short forms.
3) Here is an excellent article on Managing virtual teams posted by Economic intelligence unit. A very practical aspects in this cross knowledge/ functional/ frontier of managing work place. I am aghast at some of the goof ups / Faux-paus that happen when cross cultural interactions. 
4)One of the tough task is to register every webpage for freebies or product info, download and it is a tiresome task. I came across this site which helps to capture data and auto post to a temp email account which wont cause spamming of your genuine email in box.
5) Here are some good productivity hacks and Myth; This is a good site that allures the myth associated with. 


With the world cup foot ball starting this week; it is time to spend must time in front of the idiot box to capture the real world cup where 180 teams fight for a cup. I look forward to a fascinating, non eventful (safety, peace) football with ZAKUMI. The timings are also right. My 4 teams for semi final Brazil, France/Italy, Germany, Uruguay. Let's see.!!!..


Till next week, take it easy and take care. Live Consciously.


Regards
Karthik.

1000; IPL;Travel

It is good to be back to blogging almost after 4 weeks gap; We were away on travel holidays. Also the catchup and some personal emergency situation in the family means no time to sit in front of laptop and put the thoughts in keys.

I am delighted to let all know that I have reached 1000th Linkedin connection this week. When I joined Linkedin in 2007 July, little that I had imagined that I would build a network of Safety, HR and other professionals over time. The acceptance of linedin has also changed over time; It is no longer a portal viewed as putting yourself for job hopping; It is much more than that. ( I havent changed one in the last 3 years!). Mike and Mark have emphasized the importance of linkedin in their MT/ Career tools podcast. A must listen.
So the IPL is all over; I am glad I didn't watch any match on TV and hardly followed. I always had doubts about it and was expressing it to my friends before the skeletons tumbled. I am glad a newspaper of Economist stature has also brought the issue out. 

We had a good travel around Delhi, Agra, Hyderabad and I had been on Twitter on the progress. It was a good trip and We enjoyed every moment of it. Watch out when going to TAJ; you may be dehydrated as there are no water refills(Shame!). Also the traffic unpredictability in Uttarpradesh with the traffic jams.(It can double your travel time). I am attaching Photos below.

Redfort

Snow world at Hyderabad when outside temp was 43 Deg cel it was -5C inside. Good one hour.
Till next week; take it easy and take care; Live consciously.
Regards
Karthik
Honeywell
Bangalore.

TUK TUK;

After ages it was back to business travel with the trip to Pune; Hectic week it was and it feels good; (Even Family felt that I needed to go out May be nuisance value increased!!).

As indicated in last post, My Manager Anthony Wareham was in India, I took the opportunity to see a bit of Bangalore with him.(Some places even first time for me after 10 years stay!!); We got to get a chance to go on a TUK TUK for 100metres on the Brigade Rd / MG ROAD to give him a sense of that.

The family got a chance to meet Anthony and he was kind enough to take time to visit our new home.(Well now 7 months!).

It was a disappointing experience with this JET CONNECT flight. No lounge use, no Food served it is a nightmare for a business traveler. The irony is that you don't know about the issue until you check in. NIGHTMARE...... Never expected travel industry to dive so low. Looks like they give USA Airlines a run for the money for lousy service in the name of no frills..... Tragedy.

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

Regards

Karthik.

Auto Driver; Furlough; Tweetminer; PREM JOSHUA.

Usually when you think of Madras; the capital city of Tamilnadu; (A city which I avoided at all costs even during transit to North India in the mid 80s, 90s) the first thing that comes to mind is the arrogant/ Untrustworthy attitude of Autorixa( 3 wheeled Scooter). So it was a refreshing change to see an Web site of Samson Autodriver; and all the accolades that are posted there. Great! Way to go!.Tech goes on and on. Yes, the Folks in Bangalore are different.

It was a week of Mandatory vacation for me; so I spent the time in Kitchen to explore some dishes; It was almost after 15 years full time in to Kitchen.(when Lalitha was away to home down during pregnancy) I did make following receipes.


VathaKuzambu.
Sambar
Kaadi Kichadi
Lemon Rasam
Cabbage Vegetable Dry.
Tomato Carrot Salad
Snake Gourd Curry. (Trichosanthes)
Potato onion curry DRY.
 
Yes some did come out well; others not to my liking. The family said it was Ok.
 
I came across site TWEETMINER a good tool to discover friends on Twitter. I had installed yesterday and the results in 24 Hrs are satisfactory.
I stumbled up on the MUSIC of PREM JOSHUA. It has been a revelation. Esply the Ganges album Water down the GANGES. A must listen for all. Worth spending.


I will be catching up with my Manager; Anthony Wareham almost after 19 Months face to face in Bangalore this week. The virtual world has shrunk the need to meet in flesh and blood (Still deliver performance and results!); Looking forward to the meeting and travel with him. 


Also This article caught my eye, People tend to leave job in the spur of the moment/ performance apprisal dissatisfaction. Mistake....


To all my Christian friends a pious Good Friday Observation and A Happy Easter.  Until next week; take it easy and take care; Live consciously.

Karthik.