Book: Steve Jobs... by Young and Simon

Desi Fun(da)

Just done reading "Steve Jobs: The greatest second act in the history of business" by Young and Simon last night while watching Brasil thrash Japan. The book is an amazing journey through the life of an equally amazing technologist. The games that he has played and those played on him through his early career days "make great reading". But what stands paramount amongst the qualities of Jobs is his ability to recognize, recruit and retain talent without which Apple would not be the kind of company it is today - always admired by the uber geeks around the world. It is said that Steve has the unique capability to motivate people behind an idea that is generations ahead and would probably seem unrealistic and totally absurd while working on it, more so when combined with his pulled in deadlines. Probably the most important contributor who made Apple what it is, is the co-founder Steve "Woz" Wozniak. There are little details about him in the book and he barely makes the news (other than lately where he publicly showed his disappointment when Apple went from Power to Intel). Woz is widely acknowledged as a guru in electronics especially his PCB creations that were smaller and better than anyone else out there, and with lesser components. As the book mentions Woz's use of minimal components with Steve's drive for detail by keeping all the soldering and connections along straight clean lines and his attention to external packaging gave the Macs a unique beauty outside and inside.

What makes the book even more of a must read is that Steve had actually opposed the release of the book and threatened action against the publishers, though I think he didn't. But after the release of the book all Mac stores stopped carrying any of the books by the same publisher, according to news reports. But all that just gives so much more credibility to the book right:)

KemCho Mukeshbhai

Desi Fun(da)

Am sure Mukeshbhai's answer to that would be "Majjama". The recent announcement by Reliance Industries to setup the largest SEZ in India at Haryana has bought in a great attention to itself. The location of the zone is strategic, being right next to Gurgaon on the NH8 it will be situated close to New Delhi, which would be an ideal gateway for top executives and being close to Gurgaon the working population will have a well planned town which is already in place. Being spread across 25k acres of land and having its own cargo terminal and power plant it is bound to bring in a rich flow of investment in the manufacturing sector.

Recently Chidambaram was heard saying "Make a list of all the things that block you from achieving 12% growth in manufacturing" to captains of Industry. With that kind of a push Mukeshbhai is on the right track to strengthening his empire. Am sure Narendra "Anti-Muslims" Modi must be fuming considering that Gujarat has been trying to hard sell itself as a sound investment destination especially in manufacturing.

There was a subtle statement made by Mukeshbhai during this press announcement "I would rather make headlines by action than by announcement". Ouch that was definitely a shot at the media-savvy younger bro Anil. A recent article showed that after the settlement between the brothers Mukesh's empire has shown solid growth while Anil's mcap has gone down considerably. While Anil's portfolio is definitely next-gen and with ample opportunity of growth it could never beat the black gold that Mukesh will hold in RIL and RPL. Well lets wait and watch as this generation of Ambanis play their cards and see how much investor wealth they can create in comparison to the legendary Dhirubhai.

Transplant for Shiv Sena

Uddav and Bal Thackeray had a massive rally yesterday for his Shiv
Sainiks. Since his foray into secular or minority based politics was a
total disaster in the last elections, the proof of which hangs sadly
on his chin (he had said he would not shave his beard if he lost), the
party has reverted back to its communal agenda. He has gone ahead and
even claimed that he would take Naxal support to go ahead and crush
Islamic fundamentalism in the country.

Even by the farthest stretch of imagination I don't support the Shiv
Sena but there are things that I admire about Mr. Bal Thackeray. And
one of the most important things he has going for him especially
during his glory years, is the ability to motivate and stir the minds
of people listening to him. A fascinating orator he is always ready to
belt out one-liners that could be taken up for slogans or mottos for
the party cadre. His ability to liven up his party meetings attended
by thousands by things like Marathi Manas and Sons of the Soil slogans
is something that few of our politicians can match. Bal Thackeray is a
true tiger in his own right and his bit off many a small politician
who came in his way of reforms for Maharashtrians.

I actually support him this time on the topic of taking Naxal support,
but I would use it in a different manner. What is plaguing us the
corruption at the political levels. By funding the Naxalite movement
to be sharp shooters for gunning down the filth in politics we could
actually channel their movement to a more productive channel. Am sure
that the naxals are not into killing innocent people as a primary
target anyways. It is way more difficult than it sounds but it is a
viable approach. Considering that the Indian army would never stage a
coupe in India there doesn't seem to a strong enough force to go ahead
and weed out this political menace. Unless of course we manage to get
some ex US marines working for us:)

Bal Thackeray is always at his best at his rallies where even today a
large support turns up and clogs the roads in Mumbai. He still has a
massive following but then he needs to give the Sena a heart
transplant, he needs to realise that we need a bit more than communal
hysteria and rhetoric to start voting for him... or is that simply
enough even in today's Maharashtra?

23 months in Bangalore

Desi Fun(da)

Well I finally made it back home to Mumbai. I have spent the past 23 months in Bangalore working for Sun and unfortunately they had to have their sole Indian Engineering Centre in Bangalore. I had travelled to Bangalore when I was a kid and still remember the lush greenery and the vast open spaces and most importantly the calmness and lack of crowds. Things have definitely changed. The intrusion of the IT sector in this small-town-turned-city has shaken a lot of things in comparison with its past. The people out there seem to be more greedy and envious of the success of the vast number of out-of-state engineers coming into the city each day. They leech of us for everything right from rentals, to food joints and even the god-forsaken rickshawallas. It just seems that everyone is just out to get us. Imagine most of us have to deal with unbearable rents that are based purely on the whim of a landlord who is willing to move into his inhabitable basement to rent out the rest of his habitable house. Most of them pack their families into small rooms and rent out the rest, how pathetic is that. Why would someone compromise on his quality of life and worse still that of his immediate family just to earn a few more rupees. If the family needs the money it is understandable but I have seen people whose kids are in the States earning a healthy income and still going down this path. Come on how greedy can you get? Not just that the rents are ballooned up but they keep increasing the same by 5-10% each year based on pure fantasy.

I know we Indians are a bit overzealous at times but hey no one can beat the crap that is happening in Bangalore. Other than the cool weather, which is slowly disappearing with the green cover in the city, is there anything worth mentioning in the positives about Bangalore.

• Don't have good roads and
  
• The prices of fuel is the highest in the country in Karnataka.
  
• The average time spent to reach Electronics city is going up every year leading to misery of thousands of young engineers. And the same is true for any travel. One of my friends takes between 35-60mins to travel around 9kms to work.
  
• The layout of Bangalore is circular in nature which is the worst conceivable way of developing a city.
  
• Land grabbing is at its highest in the place with politicians like "humble farmer" Deve Gowda owning most of the green belt and they slowly getting them into development projects etc.
  
• Then you have these pseudo Kannadigas who just want every person in Karnataka speaking their language come what may and regardless of their economic contribution to their state.
  
• Then there is the messy excuse of an airport that couldn't even stand up to a bus depot in Mumbai.
  
• The new airport is being built in a god forsaken place more than 30kms out of Bangalore's centre and that too away from Mysore. If they had planned it on the Bangalore-Mysore highway both cities could have benefited.
  
• Then due to the burst in population a minor drizzle leads to clogging and streets are just covered with water for days together.
  
• The drainage system is the worst. Go near any hotel and the stink would drive you away before the bad service pisses you off
• No proper supply of drinking water
  
• and well we can go on an on with the crib but lets just stop at these few things
  

For what its worth I too am a Kannadiga by descent, but man thank god I am not from Bangalore. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live my life in a 30x40 or smaller house where I would rent out 2/3rds of it to complete strangers, have nearly three common walls with my neighbors and be stuck in traffic for more time than I could spend with my friends and family.

Unfortunately other places are not getting any better wrt. congestion. I have lived my life in Mumbai and hey things are getting worse with respect to traffic congestion and population out here by the hour. Earlier we used to get up and leave for school/college by around 8am and all the trains would be nearly empty. I went to the station last morning at 7.15am and the trains were overflowing. A rapid transport system is needed asap in Mumbai and it is good to know that the Metro is placed on top priority by the state government, work on it should start by September with the contract out to Reliance - Anil's half of it. My mom actually posed an intriguing question today.. where would I run away from all this if I can't stand it so soon? Any suggestions? Bachao!!!


Personal Note:
In other news I've just had a happening Saturday with special email traffic, which was unfortunately cut short by some visitors. Hopefully the weather and status on the fairer side remains suitable for the conversation to continue. Need to check if Cafe Coffee Day's claim of "a lot can happen over coffee" stands true or is just a farce:). And in my "stupid things Allen did" section I just showed The Passion to my mom. I'll be through purgatory and back during the next few weeks. Pray for me!

World Cup Fever

 

Desi Fun(da)

 

Ok so the World Cup started a week ago and my first blog entry about it is so late. But well the world up ain't started until Brasil has played a game. And so they did it yest early morning by playing Croatia and they beat them ofcourse, but only by a 1-0 goal score. I slept through the first half and missed the goal but for the entire second half I just felt Croatia was a really really good team and if they had capitalised on a couple of attempts on goal they could have stolen the game away. Then again as one of my friends said Brasil would've responsed if the Croats had taken the lead in the game.

 

Anyways the World Cup is on and to all you ppl out there have a blast watching the games while I pack up and move from Bangalore to Mumbai to Gurgaon.

 

Back to School Nostalgia

Kids everywhere in uniforms, Walking their way to school from dorms
Of sleepy faces and tied up laces, Little guys and girls up since early dawn

Some of them being the first time at school, Crying for mommy and daddy to stay
The smiling teachers are all ready, With classrooms ready to wisk them away

Of pretty faces and ponytails, Little girls name shalini and gayle
Boys called rohan and adrian, All walking up to the school atrium

The day will start with the national anthem, A speech by the priest and a nun maybe
There will be some classes and a lot of fun, With all their classmates they will run

The day started with a sleepy face, All powdered up by mommy or granny
By the time they reach their home it won't stay, Coz all of them will play in the muck today

Oh so glorious the days at school, Be it the girls from Joseph's
Or being punished to stand on the stool, Be it the crammed up buses
Or the music classes, The sports days or Be it memorizing those verses
Even the walk to and fro, Oh Jesus I miss them so

So to these kids I'd say make sure you enjoy every day
Because once you get out there is no going back
You will miss your pals and the masti you had
And then like me you would say "Wish I was in school too!" almost everyday.


I could possibly write on and on about my days at St.Xavier's hanging off banyan trees, or levelling the pitches at Don Bosco's and the fun years in junior college at St.Xavier's and then the rocking time at Fr.Agnel's.

Quitting Sun Microsystems

Edit: I keep getting google hits from people searching for some info on Guavus. Well I do work at Guavus Networks, out in Gurgaon. Drop me a line at allen.mathias@gmail.com if you would like to know anything specific other than NDA stuff ofcourse:)


Personal Note:

This weekend I decided to make my move. I put in my resignation at Sun in Bangalore while accepting an offer from a startup in Gurgaon. It has been a wonderful 2 years at Sun. I worked with a dedicated team having a wonderful set of individuals at the Diagnostics Group in Systems, developing SunVTS. The learning curve for any techie at Sun is very sharp, if you want it to be and, as long as you want to exploit the vast pool of senior and talented engineers here, who are always ready to reply to your emails or talk to you on the phone. I was especially thrilled to be a part of Sun's SEED program and I wish I could have stayed on longer to learn more from my mentor Greg and possibly try to get some more email interaction with Eric.

All in all its been a wonderful and vastly learning experience at Sun. I truely believe that Sun is getting back on its feet again and I wish I could be a part of that as it happens. My only regret here has been something personal as you might have seen in some previous posts but well balls wasn't something Sun promised I would gain while I worked here :)

So its time to move on and get some more people hooked onto the Solaris bug. Cheers.