Desi Fun(da) ... and more.
All of us Indians are used to seeing illiterate, unsavvy and crumpled politicians talk out of their ass all the time. With the arrival of Lalu Prasad Yadav in the early 90s we saw a new breed and unique breed emerge. A seemingly foolish looking guy clad in the regular khaki kurta payjama (typical wear for the region of Bihar and most politicians) came out of nowhere and started being a major force in Bihar politics. His reign at the helm of Bihar, first by himself and later by his wife, came to an abrupt end this year with the reemergence of Ram Vilas Paswan, his long time rival.
But well Lalu has moved on to greater things since the UPA came to power. Being a supporter of "secular" forces Lalu smartly joined the Congress and allies to form the government at the centre and was made the Railways Minister of India. Little would people think that under his reign the Raiways has seen unique and impactful reforms to compete with the emerging flood of low-cost airlines. Lalu has managed to not only compete but in many aspect beat these carriers with unique schemes. Some of his projects include
* upgradation of canteen facilities at all railway stations
* use of earthen cups for serving water
* use of khadhi extensively thereby providing employment for the small scale industry workers
* unique upgradation scheme to facilitate retention of revenue via upgrading a waiting list passenger from lower class to the next higher class if possible instead of refunding the money
* now a new low cost ac train to for the common man
and am sure there are more that I can't recollect.
When Lalu speaks it is usually with a wonderful sense of humor and is always willing to make a joke on himself while subtly snubbing his opposition. He has worked wonderfully as the Railways minister and he deserves a pat on the back. Todays TOI reports that the Railways is infact growing at a rate surpassing the economy of India. That says a lot and it is wonderful to hear. The Indian Railways being "the" largest rail network in the world and one of the largest employers in the country has a lot to be proud of. With the Railways doing well these employees will definitely benefit and thereby bringing in the benefit of a successful PSU to the common Indian.
Am looking out for all the unique schemes he is keen on getting started this year in the Railway Budget (did you know that the Railways presents its budget before the Central Budget.. a kind of legacy which shows the importance of good transport infrastructure). Keep the good work going Mr Minister.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
OpenSolaris acknowledges
Desi Fun(da) ... and more.
I was just going through the community fixes webpage at the opensolaris.org website. This was one fix that I started out with and then waited for a while to do a putback. When I mailed the list for a sponsor I was informed that it was being handled by another internal engineer as part of a larger set of features to be putback soon. So unluckily for me I couldn't do that putback. But hey they have atleast mentioned my name on the list so they are acknowledging that the work was done by someone else too. I love that.
Later I have worked on Eric Schrock's mdb challenge" and managed to win the apple shuffle he handed out as the prize. Cool thing was that I got to meet him too and hey it seems his dad grabbed a Nobel prize in Chemistry. So thats the closet I've been to a nobel laureate or prize:) Well hopefully I will get to do a putback of this dcmd soon and get another row on my name out on the above page.
Thanks guys.
I was just going through the community fixes webpage at the opensolaris.org website. This was one fix that I started out with and then waited for a while to do a putback. When I mailed the list for a sponsor I was informed that it was being handled by another internal engineer as part of a larger set of features to be putback soon. So unluckily for me I couldn't do that putback. But hey they have atleast mentioned my name on the list so they are acknowledging that the work was done by someone else too. I love that.
Later I have worked on Eric Schrock's mdb challenge" and managed to win the apple shuffle he handed out as the prize. Cool thing was that I got to meet him too and hey it seems his dad grabbed a Nobel prize in Chemistry. So thats the closet I've been to a nobel laureate or prize:) Well hopefully I will get to do a putback of this dcmd soon and get another row on my name out on the above page.
Thanks guys.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Advice for a startup
Desi Fun(da)
I started off on my first job at a small startup back at PennState working with 5 other guys and one person who was supposedly one of the founders and ought to have lead the development effort due to his computer savvy skills and his knowledge of the field of chemistry we were dealing in. Suprisingly for a startup there seemed to be an equally large contingent of management aides on the payroll for the company. Going into all the specifics is not my intention. The dude gave me a swell letter of recommendation and hey for that he rocks.
Some points I would like people running startups to possibly have in the back or even better if its in the front of their minds during their daily work.
1. The whole benefit of a startup is the small team.
This leads to a friendly and competitive work environment which encourages learning and understanding of various problems faces while solving the same. Encourgage thought sharing, not just for how cool it sounds, but because it actually enables in arriving at the best solution for the problem being discussed.
And hey since most of you will be all crammed up in a small room somewhere don't keep emailing the littlest things to each other. Instead just howl out the question for everyone. Be a bit more personal.
2. Don't feel shy to fire someone.
You just have one shot at either making your company work or going bust in the dog-eat-dog world of venture capitalist begging. If there is a weak link get it replaced on the first signs of the same. Waiting means you just waste time, money, effort and worsen your chances, that too not just of yourself but of all the other hardworking people in the group.
3. Use the term workaround tightly.
A workaround is supposed to mean that you need to get around to working on it again sometime soon and replace the workaround with a solid and permanent solution. Keeping a workaround, around, for too long means there is going to be a disaster pretty soon.
4. Make your game plan and stick to it.
People will keep asking you if you can do this or that. You need to have a clear picture of what you are out there to deliver. Make sure that you have that picture clear in your mind. While talking to customers tell them about that picture. If you see too many people not seeing the uniqueness of your picture you need to go back to your drawing board and paint a new one. After you have done that stick to it. You need to keep this cycle to a minimum. Hint# If you have to re-paint your picture too often either you are not marketing your idea well or it just aint good enough to be appealing.
5. Know your prize horse and bet on it.
You will have few people working for you in a startup and you are bound to know each of them well. If not personally then you will definitely know how good they are at what they were hired to do. Make sure you ignite the passion in your prize horse and keep him/her as keen to get the whole thing successful as you are. If you can do that you have a chance to be in the race and probably win some too.
6. Push your guys.
Keep your guys on their toes. Make sure that each of them is being pushed to their maximum. Extract the most out of them and make sure that you are giving the most of yourself for them.
7. Don't feel shy to take a lesson from a stranger.
If someone comes up to you and says hey your idea sucks you should take that guy out to lunch and know exactly why he/she thinks so. You will definitely learn to improve on something from that lunch.
8. Make promises and deliver beyond them.
Being successful is not just about delivering what has been promised but delivering beyond the promises made. If a customer is promised ABC and you deliver AB he/she is going to be unhappy. But if you promise AB and delive ABC he/she is going to be thrilled out of his/her mind.
These are the few things that come to my mind. I used to discuss this a lot with one of my roomies, Pyush. He too worked in a startup and went on to form his own team and had promised that he would stick to these thoughts while leading the team. Hope he has, because I know he is a kick-ass guy and well if he could follow these simple and obvious things then the guys in his group would have gained a lot and so would he.
Though the rules are obvious. I thought I'd put it out here. After all people have made millions by writing the somewhat obvious into a bestseller and then coming back to say one more obvious thing (7 habits of highly effecitive people, or was it 8 habits or 9 habits ...)
disclaimer** the term guys is used loosely to refer to a male or female person. no sexism intended.
I started off on my first job at a small startup back at PennState working with 5 other guys and one person who was supposedly one of the founders and ought to have lead the development effort due to his computer savvy skills and his knowledge of the field of chemistry we were dealing in. Suprisingly for a startup there seemed to be an equally large contingent of management aides on the payroll for the company. Going into all the specifics is not my intention. The dude gave me a swell letter of recommendation and hey for that he rocks.
Some points I would like people running startups to possibly have in the back or even better if its in the front of their minds during their daily work.
1. The whole benefit of a startup is the small team.
This leads to a friendly and competitive work environment which encourages learning and understanding of various problems faces while solving the same. Encourgage thought sharing, not just for how cool it sounds, but because it actually enables in arriving at the best solution for the problem being discussed.
And hey since most of you will be all crammed up in a small room somewhere don't keep emailing the littlest things to each other. Instead just howl out the question for everyone. Be a bit more personal.
2. Don't feel shy to fire someone.
You just have one shot at either making your company work or going bust in the dog-eat-dog world of venture capitalist begging. If there is a weak link get it replaced on the first signs of the same. Waiting means you just waste time, money, effort and worsen your chances, that too not just of yourself but of all the other hardworking people in the group.
3. Use the term workaround tightly.
A workaround is supposed to mean that you need to get around to working on it again sometime soon and replace the workaround with a solid and permanent solution. Keeping a workaround, around, for too long means there is going to be a disaster pretty soon.
4. Make your game plan and stick to it.
People will keep asking you if you can do this or that. You need to have a clear picture of what you are out there to deliver. Make sure that you have that picture clear in your mind. While talking to customers tell them about that picture. If you see too many people not seeing the uniqueness of your picture you need to go back to your drawing board and paint a new one. After you have done that stick to it. You need to keep this cycle to a minimum. Hint# If you have to re-paint your picture too often either you are not marketing your idea well or it just aint good enough to be appealing.
5. Know your prize horse and bet on it.
You will have few people working for you in a startup and you are bound to know each of them well. If not personally then you will definitely know how good they are at what they were hired to do. Make sure you ignite the passion in your prize horse and keep him/her as keen to get the whole thing successful as you are. If you can do that you have a chance to be in the race and probably win some too.
6. Push your guys.
Keep your guys on their toes. Make sure that each of them is being pushed to their maximum. Extract the most out of them and make sure that you are giving the most of yourself for them.
7. Don't feel shy to take a lesson from a stranger.
If someone comes up to you and says hey your idea sucks you should take that guy out to lunch and know exactly why he/she thinks so. You will definitely learn to improve on something from that lunch.
8. Make promises and deliver beyond them.
Being successful is not just about delivering what has been promised but delivering beyond the promises made. If a customer is promised ABC and you deliver AB he/she is going to be unhappy. But if you promise AB and delive ABC he/she is going to be thrilled out of his/her mind.
These are the few things that come to my mind. I used to discuss this a lot with one of my roomies, Pyush. He too worked in a startup and went on to form his own team and had promised that he would stick to these thoughts while leading the team. Hope he has, because I know he is a kick-ass guy and well if he could follow these simple and obvious things then the guys in his group would have gained a lot and so would he.
Though the rules are obvious. I thought I'd put it out here. After all people have made millions by writing the somewhat obvious into a bestseller and then coming back to say one more obvious thing (7 habits of highly effecitive people, or was it 8 habits or 9 habits ...)
disclaimer** the term guys is used loosely to refer to a male or female person. no sexism intended.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Yet Another one bites the dust
Desi Fun(da)
These past couple of months, December 2005 and Jan, Feb 2006 have seen a lot of weddings. Many of them are people I grew up with. There was Sheldon Rego, Gayle Dsouza, Gavin Dsouza and now the latest is Jasmine Mathias.
Congrats guys. Hope married life is treating you all well. In the unregulated revelry of one raunchy bachelor party last year we found the perfect song for you all.... Another one bites the Dust - Queen!!
Cheers, Best wishes and God bless to all the couples and dont forget to name your first borns after me:)
These past couple of months, December 2005 and Jan, Feb 2006 have seen a lot of weddings. Many of them are people I grew up with. There was Sheldon Rego, Gayle Dsouza, Gavin Dsouza and now the latest is Jasmine Mathias.
Congrats guys. Hope married life is treating you all well. In the unregulated revelry of one raunchy bachelor party last year we found the perfect song for you all.... Another one bites the Dust - Queen!!
Cheers, Best wishes and God bless to all the couples and dont forget to name your first borns after me:)
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
7 habits of HEPs
Desi Fun(da)
Due to some reasons that are still not clear we started talking about the book by Steven R. Covey titled "The 7 habits of highly effective people". Well it seems that the people who have read this book are highly impressed by it and especially the 7 habits that are listed in it.
Well to be frank I had seen this book at Heathrow airport while travelling back home and was about to buy the paperback because it seemed impressive and hey the chicks on the plane weren't going to start a conversation with me anytime soon and the 7 hour flight to Mumbai was a bit too much time for self-introspection. So well as I moved towards the counter what do I see in the just released section, but "The 8th habit of hight effective people".
What!! This dude may be a good writer and all but did he forget to read his own book? He sure as hell wasn't effective in putting down the list all 8 those single line sentences into one book. Now why would I want to read some advice from a jerk that himself proved, by releasing the second book, that he isn't effective at all. He has the gaul to release the second book and whats even worse"er" is that the damn publishers publised it and even worse"er" that people are buying and reading both ... come on people.
Ofcourse I haven't bought or read the book.
Due to some reasons that are still not clear we started talking about the book by Steven R. Covey titled "The 7 habits of highly effective people". Well it seems that the people who have read this book are highly impressed by it and especially the 7 habits that are listed in it.
Well to be frank I had seen this book at Heathrow airport while travelling back home and was about to buy the paperback because it seemed impressive and hey the chicks on the plane weren't going to start a conversation with me anytime soon and the 7 hour flight to Mumbai was a bit too much time for self-introspection. So well as I moved towards the counter what do I see in the just released section, but "The 8th habit of hight effective people".
What!! This dude may be a good writer and all but did he forget to read his own book? He sure as hell wasn't effective in putting down the list all 8 those single line sentences into one book. Now why would I want to read some advice from a jerk that himself proved, by releasing the second book, that he isn't effective at all. He has the gaul to release the second book and whats even worse"er" is that the damn publishers publised it and even worse"er" that people are buying and reading both ... come on people.
Ofcourse I haven't bought or read the book.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Rang de ...
Desi Fun(da)
Last week we finally got tickets for Rand De Basanti. As always the Aamir Khan starrer was well publicised and much awaited for the past few months. And well I admire that dude and his attitude, no doubts about that.
The movie started off well and the first half was awesome. It met and surpassed the expectations. The movie along with a superb cast and thoughtful dialogues managed to spark a sense of awe and admiration of the byegone generation of freedom fighters, some of whom I had left behind in my school history books and never bothered to think about again.
The "Go Back Simon" protests, the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai and most of all the massacre at Jalianwala Baugh sent a chill down my spine. What transpired at those horrendous events in Indian history were so aptly revived in this movie, enough to rekindle one's thought of how gory the path to our independence was. The bravery of the few who garnered the masses to start a revolution and iginite the passion of freedom within the people. The brave souls who had to give up their own freedom and get jailed to spread their word. The movie brought that out wonderfully.
But,... yes there is a but, then came the last quarter of the movie. And well did it disappoint. The concept of beating up an elderly mother of an Air Force pilot followed by her falling into her comma. The heroes turn mercenaries and what follows is a blood bath, starting with the death of a politician, a son killing his father and finally the reverred Black Cats coming into the AIR studios to kill the heroes.
What pisses me off is not the fact that this is a bad ending. Compared to today's hindi movies this ending was really good. But the movie maker had a wonderful opportunity to really ignite the masses with this movie. With the idea that our generation holds the key towards the rebirth of our nation into a place of integrity, love and pride. This movie could have been the Mein Kempf for a generation of Indians. For losing the opportunity to truely make a difference in today's India of indifference the people associated with this movie cannot be forgiven.
Last week we finally got tickets for Rand De Basanti. As always the Aamir Khan starrer was well publicised and much awaited for the past few months. And well I admire that dude and his attitude, no doubts about that.
The movie started off well and the first half was awesome. It met and surpassed the expectations. The movie along with a superb cast and thoughtful dialogues managed to spark a sense of awe and admiration of the byegone generation of freedom fighters, some of whom I had left behind in my school history books and never bothered to think about again.
The "Go Back Simon" protests, the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai and most of all the massacre at Jalianwala Baugh sent a chill down my spine. What transpired at those horrendous events in Indian history were so aptly revived in this movie, enough to rekindle one's thought of how gory the path to our independence was. The bravery of the few who garnered the masses to start a revolution and iginite the passion of freedom within the people. The brave souls who had to give up their own freedom and get jailed to spread their word. The movie brought that out wonderfully.
But,... yes there is a but, then came the last quarter of the movie. And well did it disappoint. The concept of beating up an elderly mother of an Air Force pilot followed by her falling into her comma. The heroes turn mercenaries and what follows is a blood bath, starting with the death of a politician, a son killing his father and finally the reverred Black Cats coming into the AIR studios to kill the heroes.
What pisses me off is not the fact that this is a bad ending. Compared to today's hindi movies this ending was really good. But the movie maker had a wonderful opportunity to really ignite the masses with this movie. With the idea that our generation holds the key towards the rebirth of our nation into a place of integrity, love and pride. This movie could have been the Mein Kempf for a generation of Indians. For losing the opportunity to truely make a difference in today's India of indifference the people associated with this movie cannot be forgiven.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Have your knees ever ...
Desi Fun(da)
Have your knees ever given up under you
At a sight of that girl you waited all this while
Had you felt your heart beat faster
To try to say a hi to her
Has beauty found a new meaning
After you saw that face
Has love become understandable
After that day
Can a person by just passing by you
Have such a lasting impression
Can that person with a slight smile
Cast a shadow on everything else around
Could her voice sweeten your day
And her eyes chill every nerve in you
Can her presence be so soothing
That your knees forget to hold
I wish I wasnt a coward
And tell her how I felt
Oh then I'd tell perfection
That its match I've met
For even a rose would loose its pride
In her presence I am sure
For it's never seen true beauty like I haven't before
The rose may fade away
In shame of its false grandeur
It felt until that day
Its not about love
Or anything as such
Its just about a feeling
And that girl I like so much
Its about her every move
That I long to see each day
Its about those execuses I make
To bump into her sometime
Its about just bringing out her smile
I wish I could tell more
But such a coward am I
I wish I could do something
Instead of writing this cry
Have your knees ever given up under you
At a sight of that girl you waited all this while
Had you felt your heart beat faster
To try to say a hi to her
Has beauty found a new meaning
After you saw that face
Has love become understandable
After that day
Can a person by just passing by you
Have such a lasting impression
Can that person with a slight smile
Cast a shadow on everything else around
Could her voice sweeten your day
And her eyes chill every nerve in you
Can her presence be so soothing
That your knees forget to hold
I wish I wasnt a coward
And tell her how I felt
Oh then I'd tell perfection
That its match I've met
For even a rose would loose its pride
In her presence I am sure
For it's never seen true beauty like I haven't before
The rose may fade away
In shame of its false grandeur
It felt until that day
Its not about love
Or anything as such
Its just about a feeling
And that girl I like so much
Its about her every move
That I long to see each day
Its about those execuses I make
To bump into her sometime
Its about just bringing out her smile
I wish I could tell more
But such a coward am I
I wish I could do something
Instead of writing this cry
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