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.

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.