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.

Backpacking through Kerala - Part II - Wayanad district

As you know from my recent blogs we had just been on a 5-day trip to Kerala. And frankly I just couldn't wait to get back there, or at least get out of Bangalore. So we decided on making a trip out to Wayanad, one of the northern districts in Kerala and quite close to Bangalore as well. So we took off on a Friday evening ie 26th May and this time too just booked the onward journey tickets.

Day 1: Arrival, hunt for lodging, sight seeing and getting tired
We reached Kalpetta at around 4am and were wondering what the hell to do. Called up all the local resorts and hotels and found that every good cottage or anything close to an inhabitable spot in the wilderness was booked out for the weekend. So we got into a jeep and headed out to the next nearest town Sultan Bethrey which was around 25kms away. The ride was horrendous considering that the driver was not in his senses at all and could fall asleep anytime. We reached there and checked out The Resort and Regency. The latter turned out to be better equipped and cleaner and so he took 2 rooms for ourselves at Rs660/24hrs. After getting ready we ate like vultures at the hotel's restaurant and had a stack of plates left on one side of the table once we were done. We had a jeep waiting to get us to all the tourist spots close by. He promised to show us most of the stuff by the end of the day. We started off with the Jain temple and the headed to Eddakal caves and finally at the Vythiri caves with some minor spots along the way. The trek up the hill/mountain to the caves was the most amazing part considering that it was pouring cats and dogs all the way and the three (Alok, Himanshu and myself) of us managed to make it nearly to the top of the mountain without too much trouble. But the sad part was that the could cover was so dense that we were unable to take any pics of the high spots and hence no substantial evidence to the claim that we made. Anyways it was a whole lot of fun. The waterfalls that we headed out to next was also equally great. Here the trek was downhill and the heavy rain had cause all of us to be wet and soggy at the toes. But the thunderous pour of the waterfalls was enough to rejuvenate us and Himanshu even made it out to the distant rocks to find his Heman sword :)

For lunch we halted at a local joined and hogged ourselves to some wonderful kerala paratha's, chappathis, ghee rice and curries. We were all stuffed and surprised to see the bill which was grand totalled at Rs62, and yes that was for the whole meal.

Later for dinner we revisited the Regency's restaurant and tried out their chicken and fish items which turned out to be really good. So again a lavish mean with dessert and the works. We went overboard with the milkshakes that we ordered to the room later though:)

Day2: To sleep or to visit the sanctuary?
Well the previous day was really tiring for us. But before going to bed we had called the jeep at 7am to take us out to the wild life sanctuary. At around 6.30am when we woke up, even though the alarm was for 5.50, we were in two minds as to whether we enjoy the sleep of peace in that blissful rainy weather or head out. After some talk we just decided to make the most of our trip by visiting the next place. So we had our breakfast and headed out the sanctuary. The ride was good this time and the rain had just heeded so it made the climate just perfect with little vehicular traffic around. The sanctuary turned out to be a damp squid. We saw a few elephants and tons of deer/bison around the place but no wild cats to satiate our appetite. We hung out on the sides of the jeep the whole time and enjoyed the bumpy ride in there along with large intakes of fresh air. Well maybe that was heavy breathing due to the apprehension that there might be a wild cat right behind us in mid-flight about to take a chunk out of one of our asses. Then in an impromptu decision we decided to head out to Kurva island which was around 50kms away. That too turned out to be a damp squid since river surrounding the island was overflowing and the way was blocked. So no Kurva island either. Just as an FYI it is supposed to be 6kms in circumference with just some tribal inhabitants.

And yes on our way we did stop at a small town for breakfast. There again we hogged ourselves silly. I had a liver plate as well and we nearly tried all the breakfast dishes in the restaurant. And oh the grand bill came up to Rs55 for that and yes for all the four of us.

So we got back to the hotel early. We made sure we packed everything up and were ready to leave at 4pm towards Mysore. We somehow squeesed ourselves onto the overcrowded KeralaSRTC bus and managed to make it to Mysore by 8pm. We had a sumptuous meal at Dasprakash (supposedly the creator of the dosai) and got onto the semi-luxury bus headed to Bangalore at around 10pm. We reached back to this god-forsaken place at and were in bed by nearly 1am.


Closure
And there ends another wonderful journey into Kerala. Wayanad is a wonderful place and supposedly has the second largest amount of rainfall in India after Cherapunji. The place is wonderful and has some tea plantations as well, though not as beautiful as Munnar. There are nice places to visit and I have heard that staying at one of the resorts in Vythiri is worth the 7-8k/night for a cottage.

As I have mentioned the food is cheap and tasty as well. The people are friendly but very few of them know English or Hindi. So it seems that it is not a spot visited by outsiders as a tourist destination. So it makes it all the more appealing since the crowds are pretty low where ever you go. But don't be surprised if all that changes pretty soon. The total expenses for the trip turned out to be Rs.2000/head for the four of us which was per budget.

All in all Wayanad is a wonderful place and I suggest you take a day to just eat, sleep and relax while the wonderful torrential-like rain hits the rooftop.


link to the pics of the trip at yahoo photos

Quota Facts

The past few weeks have probably seen the largest single movement in India's post-independence history. Students from various disciplines and institutions combined with their alumni have stood up for their rights and prayed that common sense prevail in this mayhem of quota politics bought about by the corrupt Arjun Singh. There have been protests all through the country and this has mobilised the student population against the Congress party and its tactics of using the caste system as an agenda to gain votes.

As I said before this is a sweet sorrow for me. On one hand we have seen that students and the public in general have become fed up with the corruption and under-handed tactics of our octogenarian politicians and are ready to take a stand together. On the other hand we have seen that just this is not enough. There needs to be a mass mobilisation of citizens to overthrow, literally, these morons who claim to guard our Constitution and our Constitutional Rights, while most of them don't have the brain-power to draft a 2-page memo.

On one of the talk-shows of "Headlines Today" (another of the long list of new NEWS channels here) the ex-director of IIT-Madras was present and he provided some interesting facts and analogys which I wanted to list here. Some other facts from other sources are added in too.
*** The IIT's have the standard 24odd% reservation for SC/ST/OBC currently but these seats are filled on a reduced merit level. So the candidates of these communities have to give the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination). So if there are 3000 available seats the IIT's take the 6000th ranked student's marks and a percentage of that is used as the cut-off for the reserved students. Yet a handful of these seats are utilised each year. Moreover if any of these students are found to need some sort of educational coaching the IITs provide a 1-year course for them to prepare themselves and get into these institutes. And even then these seats lie vacant.
*** By fact it has been recorded that the average family income of the students entering the IIM-A based on reservation is greater than that of the students entering it in the general/non-reserved category.
*** A perfect analogy presented by another member in the audience, an AIIMS alumni was based on India's polio problems and the various initiatives lead by the government. He said something along these lines "We can eradicate polio by having vaccines available to children at birth and gift them a happy and normal life. In a similar way we can give equal opportunity to oppressed classes by providing them with the right and access to basic education. However what the government is currently suggesting with the quota system is similar to saying that they don't want to provide the vaccines but instead they will give free crutches to the kids who have polio once they turn 21"
*** To provide the promised increase in general category seats are promised by the government it would take 8,000cr and minimum of 3-5 years for it to be effective. This was from a report given in by a committee appointed by the government itself.
*** IIT Bombay release figures that it would take it nearly 325cr and 3-5 years to increase its capacity and get the resources to accommodate these new seats.

Some more facts
*** The women's reservation bill has been flying around the Parliament for decades now. There has been no action taken on it at all. I doubt if they would be able to find the original draft if asked for.
*** There is no such reservation in Parliament for OBCs
*** Arjun Singh is a crappy old corrupt maniac who can't stand or walk by himself and with no strand of common sense in a 1km radius around him

Jago India Jago

DaVinci Code Controversy

There seems to be some sort of an unholy concoction brewing out here with some priests protesting against the release of the DaVinci Code movie being released in India. It seems really suprising that the Catholic community here, which I am a part of, has chosen to protest the movie in such a way. Usually we are a much more docile and if I may say so, a very lazy community at times. But these protests seem to be the work of some priests who have just had a dash too much of the bubbly at mass. Did they not notice that the Vatican itself has decided not to grant too much weight to this issue with Dan Brown because speaking about it is just going to get people listening and getting the damn thing more publicity. But no our Indian priests seem to have been offended a bit too much by this. Well its a movie afterall so chill:)

Anyways did they protest the book or they numerous other literatures out there that have various consipiracy theories. Anyways its alteast good to know that the Indian Christian/Catholic community is awake for a change.

Lacking the common medium of communication

While noticing these protests by the various sections of the student community I was on one hand thrilled to see the massive protests against the corrupt Arjun Singh and his meaningless actions, while on the other hand very much stunned by the way in which these very students were treated by the police. Though student protesters worldwide have always lead radical changes and sometimes revolutions in their countries there is one thing that separates us from all the other countries - A common medium or language of communication.

The range of languages and cultures in India is so large that is feels almost impossible to have a vociferous and motivating leader who can move the masses from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. The communication barriers are so high that it would be a mind blowing task to motivate the masses and pass on a common message to all of them without being lost in translation etc. It is such a daunting task to even dream about.

At the same time think of Hitler who through effective communication of his party's and indirectly his agenda managed to motivate the whole of Germany into various criminal acts, while beating the drums of nationalism and the Aryan bloodline. All this he achieved by effectively communicating his thoughts through Mein Kemf. Would that ever be possible here? Because that is what we need right now ie a full fledged revolt against the corrupt politicians and their families and weed them out of the fabric of new India. The students have risen and I hope all of us stand with them soon.

Anti-Reservation protests intensify

The anti-reservation protests by medical students, supported by various sections of the medical fraternity, has intensify with the All India Medical Association calling in a nation-wide stir to protest the Quota bill to be delivered to the Cabinet and the wrongful and lawless behaviour of the Delhi and Mumbai police, which have lathi charged peacefully protesting students. The lathi charges have been repeatedly shown live on various news channels and caused a lot of unrest in the educated classes.

Throughout the world in various key protests which have gained nation-wide momentum the student protesters have played a key and significant role in getting the masses involved. Be it the Tianneman Square protests in China or the Anti-War protests against the Vietnam War in the USA. student protesters have been at the forefront of it all. There is a similarity out here as well. We are seeing the masses rallying behind these students and demanding that there be a meaningful dialogue between the blood-sucking and vote-hungry septuagenarian Arjun Singh and the representatives of the student bodies.

With reservations for the OBC classes being proposed for nearly 50+ and more it seems that the Government of India is keen on getting India back to the stone ages. I totally agree with providing a level playing field for the underprivileged and deprives sections of Indian society by providing them with opportunities at the primary and secondary level of education and possibly at various government colleges and government jobs as well. At the same time I feel that the opportunities being given to these classes is being misused in many cases by people faking caste certificates and gaining entry into prestigious institutions on the basis caste rather than true merit. This is totally unacceptable. Like I pointed out in one of my previous postings I would totally support a low-interest or even a 0% interest loan for eduction of any such meritious students from these sections of our society but vanilla reservation without any regard for merit is totally uncalled for. We already have a 25%+ reservation system in many of the educational institutes and this is definitely sufficient. Moreover the government should be able to guarantee that this fake OBC/SC/ST certificate menace is put to an end.

Basic Investment Tip

Desi Fun(da) ... and more.

Investing is always a pain in the ass. But for the regular anand (desi version of regular joe) there is nothing better than a fixed deposit to save up all the hard earned rupees. While I was in state college I got into the habit of saving up and converting parts of my savings account into CD's ie Certificates of Deposit ie fixed deposits, which invariably have a decent rate of return. Thanks to Abby at PNC Bank who really helped me out with all this. They have this simple advice on how to maximize your returns in a FD scheme. Look at the
PNC Bank- Building a Ladder of Savings Certificates for their solid advice.