Dream Chaser ...

DOing and Learning !

2011-09-18T20:26:00.007+05:30

For a few years now, i've been having this troubled feeling that i don't 'understand' cricket. Like most boys in India, i've played cricket ever since i can remember , for over 25 years. But i realised i could never explain how to swing a cricket ball while bowling and to play a long innings while batting.

This feeling gave me a goal for my last 2 years at RunsNWickets - The team i play for.

After the victory against the Bangalore chapter of our club

I was curious to understand and this made me look forward to the NETS / Matches with the team, the last 2 years.

Though i have a long way to go in learning, am not as 'troubled' now as i was before. I now can more confidently explain why i bowl the way i bowl / bat the way i bat. Some 'learning' memories during the last 2 years -

The Observation NET :

NETS was the key to my learnings. I tried to 'observe' more during NETS sessions. Whenever i bowled a ball, i tried to be aware of my action - the way the ball went out of hand , the way i held the 'seam' , the body position during release and more. After every ball i bowled, i had sometime to think about the previous ball. I really loved to be 'on my own' and think during this time.

Me, bowling during the Bangalore Vs Chennai game

During the matches too, i tried to observe why i was able to swing well on a particular day / cricket ground. At the Marina ground, i got a huge in-swing. At the DB Jain ground, i got slight inswing but better outswing. When i changed the bowling 'ends' at the DB Jain ground, the in-swing got better. That helped to learn some of the effects of wind direction / wind speed on the swing of the cricket ball. In some time, the swing of the new cricket ball became more 'obvious'.

Connect the dots :

I particularly enjoyed the way i learnt to bowl the 'slower one' . For a long time, my cricket mates told me they could easily spot the slower ball i bowled. I was looking to change that. During the worldcup 2011, Zaheer Khan bowled brilliantly disguised slower balls. Luckily, i came across an article on cricinfo that mentioned Zaheer bowled his slower ones with just the 'index' and 'ring' finger on the ball. No doubt, i spent the next NETS session trying this slower one. 'Feedback' was encouraging. This slower one got me a lot of wickets in the 2011 season, so far !!

Travel Together :

I quite enjoyed opening the batting with Anba . We spent a lot of time together in the matches. The best part was Anba was looking to learn as well. We used to share our observations and had great fun 'discovering' finer points.

The one photo with Anba ( non-striker) and Me batting ..

I remember one particular highly enlightening point - 'playing in the present' . We both discovered at the same time that we were 'looking' for a shot we enjoyed playing or we just played. For example, if i played a front foot cover drive to an earlier ball, my mind / body was waiting for another front foot cover drive. It failed to realise that the next ball could be different. We both committed a lot of mistakes because of this. Once this realisation hit us, we worked on keeping the mind 'blank' before the ball. This made us better prepared to face the ball that was actually being bowled ( and not an imaginary ball in our minds ) . These were the moments i truly enjoyed - learning and having fun as a team.

The feeling is magical when we 'travel' together.

What did you ship in 2010

2011-01-05T00:05:00.005+05:30

Inspired by the Seth Godin post , i take shot at the work that got done in 2010

What started off as a fun idea in 2009, twenty19.com become the big focus for me in 2010. More than 90% of my time was spent there. From running around trying to hire the tech team in Feb / March 2010 ( where we wasted many many coffees trying to pitch to the wrong guy ) to the investment offers we got later in the year, 2010 was a lot of fun. The team was delighted to get the positive feedback from the students / companies!
Spent many days at colleges talking to students on 'initiatives'
Loved the process of bringing a 'team' together - twenty19 has a sooper fun / action-oriented team
Media was very generous on twenty19.com
Officially, Ran 1 marathon ( don't ask me the time taken ) and 1 half-marathon ( i said.. dont ask me the time!! )
Scored a few 50s - probably a better year in Cricket
Deepam 3rd anniversary , HP EdTech 2010 award and more
Bits2Marathon had over 600 BITSians registering to run 2010 run - We were thrilled to get the BITS Alum Association support
School 10 year reunion - My awesome school buddies gave me the 'Sportsman of Our Batch' award at our 10 year reunion !! Was sooper excited to get this.. afterall, learnt everything right there, at the school

This year also made a clear statement for me - in a team 'sport' , one is only as good as the team. Am so glad to work along with some awesome folks at twenty19.com / deepam / runsnwickets / chennairunners / bits2marathon and everywhere else!

Inspiration ;)

2010-10-18T00:23:00.000+05:30

She is always the one with the smile(s)

& Her enthusiasm stretches thousands of mile(s)

She pulls a lot of surprise

and makes everyones happiness rise

With her around

Fun is unbound !

A Video on Taking Initiatives !

2010-10-15T09:06:00.002+05:30

Our company Twenty19.com worked with a bunch of fantastic college students Shruti / Mrudula to come up with an awesome video on taking initiatives.

Day 2 & 3 of 10 x 10

2010-08-03T08:29:00.002+05:30

Day 2 - Had an early start at work and had to run at night. Started the run at 10:10 pm, after a long but happy day at work. Squeezed the run, before end of day :)

Thanks to Rajesh for the motivation - he offered to run along, at that hour.

Details here - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42939719

Day 3 - Started the run at 6:15 am, with little sleep and not much recovery from the night run. Crawled to the 10k mark !!

Details - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42939724

Chennai Runners 10 x 10

2010-08-01T14:37:00.007+05:30

Inspired by my running group , I decided to sign up for the 10 x 10.

What is 10 x 10 ? Running 10 km on consecutive days for 10 days.

I’ve never had a running streak longer than 5 days and the 10 x 10 will test me. But will give it a good shot. Watch this space for the updates J

My 10 x 10 - Between 1 Aug 2010 - 10 Aug 2010

Day 1

Saturday night 9:00 pm – engrossed in the colors on display at pecha kucha. Met many friends and as usual, didn’t have a watch on the time L .

9:30 pm – Rushed home for a call with friends in US / UK. 3 of us, in chennai / oxford / cinncinati went over an event plan, that was just a month away. It was 10:45 pm . I was now pinging my dear friend in poland and I was in queue ;)

And then I remember waking up at 1 am , lights on , lying on the desk!!! These days , all I need is some space and I go zzzz . Yes, I don’t just have to ‘make-up’ for the poland miss, I realised I forgot to have dinner!!! It was apple and a few slices of bread. Now I truly fu@#$% up the morning run

With that thought I hit the bed and slept like a log, missing the alarms and woke up at 6:15 am . Tiger and gang would’ve started off at 5:15 am and now I have to run alone . I checked the garmin and it was dead. Decided to juice it up for 30 mins.

At 7:30, with the garmin back alive, I started my 1^st of the 10 x 10.

A very slow 10k through mandaveli , Boat club and Anna University. I was initially planning atleast a 15km but lacked energy.

Run Stats : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42625834

Running alone is never fun and today was no exception.

If you are looking to run in Chennai, in the mornings over the next 10 days, feel free to buzz me. I need you more than you need me ;)

BITS2Marathon 5 x 5 : My 5

2010-08-01T14:07:00.005+05:30

The BITS 5K 2010 is likely to be on September last week. As a lead up to the event, BITS2Marathon is organising a 5 x 5 event ( taking inspiration from my running group in Chennai ).

What is 5 x 5 ? Running 5 km for every day for 5 days. This will be a relay, where someone will pick up the baton and keep the 5 x 5 going.

I just compeleted my 5 x 5 . I ran between Tuesday (27 july 10 ) to Saturday ( 31^st july 10). This was my longest streak – no runs missed in 5 days J

Day 1 – Ran a 6k , ran into some friends who started their run early. Made a note ( yes, again!! ) to go to bed early !!

Day 2 – Ran a 5k around boat club in Chennai and running alone wasn’t fun ! how do I balance running at my convenience and running with a bunch. Clearly, running with a bunch is more fun but can I do this at this point of time ?

Day 3 – Ran in the boat club area again and ran to the gym for a 40 min ‘core’ workout session. The pain was fun!!

Day 4 – Late night work, woke up late , ran around my locality at 7:15 am. Damn, I want to kick myself. Runs should stop by 7 am

Day 5 – Caught up with a friend at ymca, over a long walk. Discussed many things and finally ran near my home.

That was my 5 x 5 .

Lessons : Try to run with a bunch. Running alone is no fun

Education NGOs in India - Segmentation / Big Picture

2010-02-19T15:19:00.007+05:30

A few weeks ago, i had met Dr.Balaji Sampath , to understand the 'Big Picture' in the Education NGO space in India. It helped me get a lot of clarity on the way forward for Deepam

According to him there are 3 models working well in India, presently

Asha / Aid ( US Chapter) - Fundraising organisations - they primarily raise money. their impact measured by the number of organisations they support - For example : 200 orgs supported in India in 2009 etc
Pudiyador / Sukrupa - Centre running orgs - They ensure Kids come to class. They hire teachers or invite volunteer orgs to teach. They are supported by fundraising orgs. Measure of impact - no of kids reached out, improvement in their standards
Content Orgs - Eureka books / Pratham books - These orgs primarily focus on curriculum . They research on the best content / curriculum and provide this for free / at a low cost to NGO's

The 4th type of Organisation - he says are slowly emerging - Deepam is one such. They go out and teach the kids in a focussed way. They can take content from 'content orgs' , go teach at 'centre running orgs' , which are funded byFundraising orgs

According to him, the value that Deepam has created is enormous - So far, the NGO space has been missing "consistency" and "focus" among the volunteer teachers. Someone going to a centre at the alloted time and teach the kids, a specific subject. He says this is quite rare and wanted us to build on what we have created so far.

He says when all 4 of the above is done by 1 organisation in the social sector, everything goes for a toss. Balaji has tried doing all of this in his initial days and failed. Finally, he decided to focus on content and content development.

Anyone here has a better way to segment the Education NGOs in India ? Would love to hear from you.

Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary Trek

2010-01-15T21:18:00.013+05:30

Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary was the setting for 2 day trek / stay in the forests with cousins. With my brother Vishnu's return to India after 1.5 years, the 2 day break was a great bonding / thrilling / interesting experience for all of us.

Stats from the trek into the forest.

Most of the trek was on flat terrain, except for day 2. The steep incline can be seen from this map. Thanks to my garmin , for the stats :)

Route we followed : Coimbatore - Pollachi - Top Slip - Parambikulam. Except for 10-12 km just before top slip, the rest of the roads were in top condition, especially, the road between top slip and parambikulam.

Vishnu and Niranjan on the long straight section on the hills.

At a place we stopped by to have lunch..

Car parked, it is time to head into the forest...

Went past this dam, a km into the trek...

On our way to the forest stay..

Scenic, wooded pathway .. had elephant dung all over the route

It was an easy stroll all the way - the guide kept enthralling us with the stories of the forest

Tiger's pug mark that we came across , on the trek - apparently,28 tigers are found in the Parambikulam sanctuary. The place we were staying at night, was in the home territory of 2 tigers.

The Samba deer that we spotted on our trek in..

A massive tree that was on the way ..

Some more deer on the grasslands..

In front of the place we stayed at night - 6 km into the forest.

The view from the house...

Stay at the house was the scarriest experience in a long time - as the night enveloped all around us, with the guide taking us through the stories of the forest, we got increasingly nervous about staying outside the house.

With every movement around us being keenly observed by us, the wild cat droppings from the top of the tree was enough to get us running inside the house :)

With the doors closed tight, we had our dinner ( cooked by the guide , at a place with basic facilities ) and we resigned for the night.

Crossing a river, early next day, to reach a grassland..

We then returned to the base and drove 15 km to the parambikulam dam, to start the trek on day 2. We set out to climb the peak seen below , enveloped by the clouds ..

Thick wooded route -

There was thick vegetation all over and it was quite steep, going up the mountain ..

That was the steepest section - all of us struggling to go up...!!

A wild elephant had passed though this bush!!

And more climb!! There were leeches all over the place !!

Vishnu "skating" down - it was the best option given the steep inclines! All of us were struggling for foothold and stability. Coming downhill took almost twice the time of going uphill.

A leech on Ram - we burned the leech ( and his leg! )

Jam in the tubes came in very handy!!

More deer that we spotted on our drive back to the base camp.

This was the most thrilling moment during the entire trek - it was worth all the money and more. Vishnu was at the wheels and when we took a turn, we came right in front of a wild elephant crossing the road. After taking a few steps to cross the road, the elephant stopped and came charging at us.

I was sitting next to driver's seat and my heart almost skipped a few beats. Vishnu kept his cool and kept the car still. He switched to reverse but kept the car still / idle. Elephant took a long, hard look at us. That was probably the longest / scariest 5 minutes!!! No lights / flashes or anything to distract the elephant

Elephant slowly decided to move on - took a few steps to cross the road and waited to see our reaction. We stood still and the elephant moved into the forest and we went our way...

An awesome 2 day break - i hope to return to this place again and explore more. Next time, we will spot the tiger :)

My Sports Plans - 2010

2010-01-01T17:11:00.002+05:30

Probably, the only part of my plan that i can talk openly :)

35 km running per week
A sub 2 hour half marathon
1 full marathon
Improvement in flexibility and strength
Cycle more – errands / in city commute, as much as possible
No 2 days without an activity – Run / Cycle / Frisbee / Cricket / Yoga
Cricket – Play atleast 1 tournament with RnW. Improve bowling accuracy and bat longer innings
Frisbee – Play atleast 1 tournament with Chakraa. Learn to handle
Atleast 2 days of yoga, per week

I believe this is possible. Wish me luck :)

My 2009

2010-01-01T15:21:00.003+05:30

My 2009 ( in no particular order ... )

BITS2Marathon – An idea we ( Vignesh in UK , Mahesh in US and Me in India ) discussed over a skype call in September 2009 , took off really well. The group organised the 1^st ever BITS 5K Run for the BITS community ( www.bits2marathon.com ). Over 250 BITSians are a part of this group,currently. None of us quite planned for this at the start of 2009. BITS2Marathon was a happy surprise of 2010 :) . Hope the BITS 5K Run will be a ‘Tradition’ / yearly activity and inspires many to take up running / stay fit.
Deepam has had a special 2009 - Lots of people have now stepped in and are contributing, truly a collective effort. Felt really happy when the 2009 childrens day celebration at Deepam was a success , with *NO* contribution from me :)
Deepam library project getting off the blocks , Deepam UK / KC / PUD centre functioning in a steady way , New centre additions , Improved visibility for Deepam through social media, Partnerships with other organisations and many more at Deepam. India Today mention is a recognition of collective contribution
Chennai Heat 2009 win – Enjoyed playing this Ultimate Frisbee Tourney with Chakraa (www.chennaiultimate.com ). The 1^st tournament victory for Chakraa. Also helped in my “ 1^st strike”.
Couldn't have asked for a better personal life in 2009 :) - The 'dip in the ocean' has been fun. The swim should start soon :)
Probably the best B'Day party i've had in my life, so far !!!! Thanks to some fantastic pals who came over and made the day very special
Watched so many movies in 2009, "hindi ones" especially ;) and enjoyed the road trips to Vedanthangal and the ones in December. Also, i always seem to have a new dress to wear for every occasion. Influences ;)
BITS 30 Under 30 award was a bonus :) - I've done more work / got more recognition from BITS, after i graduated from BITS, than during my times there :)
RunsnWickets has become quite active. Team is gelling really well and i've quite enjoyed the NETS / Matches with the team in 2009. Though we lost a series in 2009, i expect 2010 to be much better , enjoyable year at Runs n Wickets. Personally, i'm more 'aware' of my bowling / batting. Can't wait for a series to start in 2010.
Ran / finished 2 half-marathons, officially. No Marathons in 2009. But i am happy i learnt a few tricks - now i know the areas to work on / know a bit about my running, especially the technical aspect of my running. Earlier, i was shooting in the dark. This awareness , hopefully, should be helpful in 2010
Enjoyed the interactions i've had with the college students through the NEN Entrepreneurship interaction series. Met / spoke with 100's of students at colleges in Chennai. Hope to see atleast some of the students, taking the entrepreneurship plunge
Work has been on the 'slower' side in 2009. 2008 was a much better year for me, professionally. But, if the signs in the last 2 months are an indication, 2010 should be an interesting year.

Oh, if i have missed out something, feel free to refresh my memory ... :)

Thanks and have a fantastic 2010.

BITS World 5k Run

2009-11-27T17:59:00.004+05:30

Come December 6th, 2009, the 1st BITS World 5k run is organised around the world - over 150 participants in 13+ cities around the world are taking part in this run.

Go to www.bits2marathon.com to sign up !

Post run, all the participants can download a customised certificate with their photo / timing / city / name . Sign up NOW!!! Thanks to BITSAA Technology and the Communications team for designing this beautiful certificate and making the certificate download, possible!! You guys rock!!

Kimba, the Tigerrr

2009-11-19T20:26:00.004+05:30

The spirit of the childrens day celebrations is captured very well in this video !! Srini, our creative guy, has made an awesome video . The spring in the step....

( if you zoom in to 'bridge the divide', you will find a collage of Deepam Childrens day Celebration pics )

Check out www.deepam.org.in

BITS World 5k Run

2009-11-01T12:04:00.004+05:30

First ever BITS 5K run - Calling all BITSians / Alumni and Friends : Run on a 5k route near you!

Check more here - www.bits2marathon.com

Chennai Heat 2009 : Ultimate Frisbee Nationals : Chakraa - Champions !!!

2009-10-31T16:17:00.003+05:30

Beach ultimate in India started off at Chennai , 2 years ago – When i came across this sport , i instantly got addicted to the quick thinking / running aspect of this sport. It has been quite a journey, since the last 2 years. Chennai Heat , which started off as a regional tournament in 2007, has grown to be the biggest ultimate tournament in India currently. 10 teams , over 150 players played in the Chennai Heat 2009 over 2 days, watched by over 2000 people each day

Since the 1^st tournament in Novemeber 2007, i’ve been on the losing side – with the nov 2007 tournament hurting the most ( we lost from 4-1 up/leading , in the finals ).

The other tournaments that Chennai team played , were mostly ‘individual’ driven – 2/3 players stood out and dominated the team. Ultimate being a team game, Chennai ended up losing, despite playing some brilliant points.

When i started practising for the 2009 tournament, i noticed a distinct difference – many players were playing confidently / playing smart games. The pace of the game had improved and yet, most of the advances were solid – throwing to the free man, swinging around , waiting for the right cuts and cutters responding to the handler. All the practise games were tight ones and each of the teams looked like winners. All of the team members seemed to know what the handler was expecting instinctively.

It was after one of the practise days, i was thinking to myself about the possibility of the ‘first strike’ - Striking off #3 in this list. Seemed realistic .

In the tournament, Chakraa was playing as a team – everyone was having fun. Everyone was doing their bit – no spectacular plays, yet thrashing the opponents. The ‘hardest’ game was a 9-5 win. Chakraa won all the games comfortably. Final win wasn’t a surprise :) . Am sure, there was very little pressure on the individuals - 'Team' play carried us through :)

Interest in Ultimate is growing in Chennai – Thanks to CUF and some active players like Manu , Abhinav , Ajay , Mama , Bharani , Mondams , Subbu among others. They nurtured Stall 7, which is the team to watch out for in the coming tournaments.

Ultimate time ahead for the ultimate fans / players in India !

Chennai Half Marathon

2009-10-10T14:19:00.006+05:30

Yet another marathon , where the 'want' and 'execution' were poles apart. I wanted to do a sub 2 hour 21 km run. But never practised for it. An occasional 10 km sunday run and a 5km run on some days during the week happened. Before the run morning, the longest run i did was 12 km.

And naturally the result - 2:38 for 21 km .

However, the regular frisbee / cricket and the runs ensured i was NOT depleted at the finish line. But surely, i need to improve strength in the legs. The positives from the run - 5:1 run-walk technique and the identification of areas to improve.

Also, this run was my first fund-raiser run for Deepam - Run for a Cause. The big target is to go under 4:30 for the 42 km at Mumbai in Jan 2010 and also to hit $10,000 , through run for a cause.

Need all your wishes and support to hit both goals!

P.S Thanks to the energy bunny Shankar Lal for the pics!

Why Do I Run ?

2009-08-24T22:52:00.000+05:30

As i start answering this question, i can clearly separate the pre-marathon and post-marathon days..

During the school days, i was lucky to win a few medals at the school / district and run at the state levels. I ran 100 / 200 mts at school / district levels and 400 mts & 4x100 mts relay at school / district / state levels. Those days, i admit , the top reasons for running were to be the fastest runner in school , receive the medal from the school principal at the morning 'assembly' in school , win a medal at the state level ( and get into a top engineering college through sports quota!! ) , impress some of the 'friends' at the school sports day :P .. okie, i know that was selfish !!!

Move a few years forward and i ran my first marathon in 2006. And here are some of the reasons why i run these days...

The Marathon Dream
The Bet
A simple morning run can result in this - An idea that was discussed over a morning run :)
The Marathon
Have fun with pals here , here , here and here and more...
and listening to that Pink Floyd ( high hopes / coming back to life) or A R Rahman , an hour into the run, is surely out-of-the-world - a 'free high' !!
And many many more...i sure can write a book on this...

“If you want to win something, run the 100 meter race. If you want to experience something, run the Marathon” – Emil Zatopek

India Today - Newsmakers 2009

2009-08-13T09:36:00.005+05:30

India Today has an anniversary 'Youth Special' this week on 'Newsmakers 2009' - They had chosen Archana and me, on behalf of Deepam. The group is shaping up pretty well, with contributions from a number of volunteers. They, truly, are our strength. Expect more to come out of Deepam, in the coming days / months / years... check out www.deepam.org.in

Bits2Marathon

2009-08-10T15:21:00.003+05:30

A new initiative :) - Reproducing Vignesh's email to the BITS Community -

Running is probably one of the most popular and yet simplest sport, ever. All you need to start running is just a pair of shoes and the will to hit the road. It is this reason, why there is a huge bunch of people who are already running or eager to jump into it with that small and much needed nudge.

We all run for different reasons, sometimes to burn that double cheese burger you could not resist, or the 5 pints of beer that you drank during your last Friday pub evening. Some run in groups and join running clubs to make it a social activity and others use it as a point of introspection running alone to clear the multitude of thoughts. I know friends who started running to apply to B-schools, to travel and see places by running marathons around the world and sometimes just for the feel good factor after a great run, what is commonly referred to as the “Runner’s High”!

However, the key still remains that everyone needs that first nudge to start running. During a Skype call with a few fellow Bitsian running friends, the idea of promoting running amongst Bitsians through a forum was formed – Bits2Marathon. Being amateur runners, with a couple of marathons under our belt, we’ve benefitted tremendously by staying as part of a running club in terms of running tips and advice, motivation to run and help in garnering funds when running for charity (BITS.aid has a Run for a cause program encouraging Bitsians to run and raise money for the many projects under its banner). We hope to achieve the same through this forum.

The aim of this group is to promote running within the Bitsian community, by meeting for weekend runs, train for marathons in your respective cities, travel together for running competitions, run for charity and change lives, get new friends and stay connected in the process. We have created a Google groups as of now and invite all runners and those interested in running to join the group. Also, feel free to spread the word amongst your Bitsian friends who do not know about the group. The more the merrier!

Please click here to join group

Slowly as we grow in size, we will start up with more activities and have weekend or long-runs.. Who knows one day, we will be strong enough to have our own Bits Marathon, around the campus in Pilani!

Happy running,

Mahesh Krishnamoorthy

Boston – Vigneshwaran Chandran

KK – Karthikeyan Vijayakumar

35 X 35

2009-06-14T16:27:00.004+05:30

Am turning 27 in a few months and that got me thinking about goals / things i've done. Ideally, i should've made this list of things to do when i was 21.

Still, i guess it is never too late. These are the 35 things i would like to do before i reach 35. I've got 8 more years and am going to take a shot at this.

I will track the progress on 35 X 35 ( 35 by 35 ) and will update every 6 months.

1. Finish a marathon ( under 4 hours )

2. Win a local league cricket tournament with ‘ Runs n Wickers’ www.runsnwickets.com

3. Win the ultimate Frisbee nationals with ‘Chennai Ultimate Frisbee’ www.chennaiultimatefrisbee.com

4. Help Deepam (www.deepam.in) teach 10,000 kids every weekend

5. Run a company successfully – Build it from startup stage

6. Run a ‘rural-focussed’ sports school

7. Teach entrepreneurship at college

8. Invest in 5 college start-ups

9. Cycle 1000 miles of the ‘tour de france’ route

10. Play the guitar

11. Buy some land and farm

12. Travel to atleast 20 states in India

13. Write a book

14. Watch a cricket worldcup final from the stands

15. Travel to atleast 5 continents

16. Never have a 'tummy' - Fighting fit and six pack abs

17. Go on a week-long trekking trip

18. Watch 5 F1 races from the track side / drive an F1 car

19. Watch all tennis grand slams from the stands

20. Build a green car

21. Fly an aircraft

22. Finish a triathlon race

23. Cook a full course meal for friends / family

24. Run a restaurant / Hotel

25. Dance at a social function!!

26. Design an energy efficient product

27. Understand school / college physics concepts!

28. Visit 50 countries

29. Launch an innovative product / keep innovating in that space

30. Run a rural market focussed company

31. Have a paint-balling arena / climbing wall / fun outdoor games at home

32. Do an M&A deal

33. Explore Tamil Nadu / North East India / All of India

34. Spend a month in a forest / Camping

35. Run a social enterprise

Workshop on Shopping for Work

2009-05-12T15:56:00.005+05:30

I was invited for a talk at Chennai Business School . Ram and I put our heads together and decided that we will have this session 'interactive' ( previous experience(s) of students getting bored listening to me :P ). We wanted to make it useful for students ( near term - Job hunt , since they are graduating in a month ) and for us ( we have this big aim of getting people/students around us think about starting up ). So we called this one ' Workshop on Shopping for work' - Shopping being required for both the job hunt and all of entrepreneurship. (Thanks to NEN / Vishnu for this opportunity & tips to interact with students )

I've pasted my speaker notes below - Examples i used in the class for each step is missing.

Made students 'write' on a piece of paper on how they would go about Steps 3 and 5 . We discussed TWO case studies for Steps 3 and ONE for step 5, with students contributing all the answers with me 'moderating' the session with 'questions'. Tried to make the session more 'actionable / implementable'

Workshop on 'Shopping for Work'

Ice-breaker ( write your dream jobs on paper and ‘rocket’ them to front )
Pick a few of them at random and read them to the class. Find out why they are ‘dream jobs’. Go to the ‘root’ of all dream jobs. Clarity on what is a 'Dream job' - A job which you love doing and get paid for doing those.
Shopping for work – Jobs – how to land that dream job ? ( Become an expert / learn/think : Read on internet / blog / learn from people - Share ideas : blogs/twitter/web/social media – take initiatives : Organise events in your dream area / Do projects etc – connect with people in the ‘dream area’ )
Why starting up makes sense in this current economy ? Examples of start-ups formed during recession
Startup workshop – How can one startup ?

Do all of Step 3
Why do company’s exist ? ( To solve people’s problems for which they will pay : So, go find people’s problems : get inquisitive : ask questions wherever you go / whoever you meet : Read on the web – blogs of entrepreneurs / experts etc )
What is the most important ingredient in a startup ? (Team : How can you build team ? Where can you find people to form a team ? People complementing skills )
How will you sustain – you have an idea / team .. ? ( Monies : 1st customer – how do you get . Raise money from pals , family etc )

Do what you love doing – you have the best chance of becoming the ‘best’ at it. Startups are magical – they are created with nothing but have the potential to become big thing. Startups need not be just companies, it can be a band or a sports team or a non-profit group and many more. Take initiatives , this is the time for it – you don’t have many responsibilities. Starting up right after school is the best time since cost of failure is low – after that, it becomes a lot harder due to responsibilities and cost of failures. So, go out there, the world is your playground. Experiment , create and have a lot of fun.

Would love to know your thoughts on how to make the session 'engaging' and yet provide useful 'content'.

Help launch a New Portal - Intern with Excedos

2009-04-17T17:13:00.001+05:30

Curiosity , 2nd year at Deepam and 1st mail

2009-03-23T11:07:00.002+05:30

The first mail to Deepam ( bridgethedivide) , sent about a year ago.

'Imparting Curiosity' will be the big theme at Deepam, for 09 / 10.

cheers

Hello Friends,

I look at the last 10 months of my life , since i decided to throw away my "comfortable" job and start-up on my own, and i realise all i that i required was just a few thousand rupees and a dependable computer . I would like to add that i would have bet on my computer more than the few thousand rupees i had, for the few thousands vanished quickly . But my computer stayed with me, ON all days and a lot of nights. And surely, it helped me make much more than the few thousands i had initially.

On every single day, the last thing i do is to walk away to the bed shutting off the laptop and the first thing i do is, not difficult to guess, run to the computer. ( Most of us .. am sure all of us in this group , probably follow the same routine. )

When i went to school ( now seems ages ago, 8 years ago ), the single most important gift my teachers ( Dad was the best and some teachers in school ) gave me and my school buddies was the imparting of CURIOSITY. They made us dream. They made us curious about object around us. They made us ask questions. I wasn't the smartest guy in my class . But i was always curious about things around me. When i heard about BITS ( and the stories my school principal told us about my school seniors who went to BITS and their success ), it inspired me to work for the entry into the great insitution. There were some amazing teachers during my school days without whom i would've got stuck in a much smaller world.. the dream-less world.

I live quite close to a Govt. school and i pass by that school quite often. A hundred + smiling innocent faces spend the crucial initial years of their life in that institution. With due respects to the teachers in that school ( and other Govt. Schools ), i wonder how many of these energetic kids are transformed into a curious, inspired student.. for a lifetime.

What did these kids do to deserve this "moulding" ( if you can call it that ) ? What did i do to receive such close attention and care from my teachers ? We talk of earning/deserving what we want / get . But when i was young, as a kid , what did i do to earn the great education i had in school ? Nothing. We talk of equality but where is equality when it is needed the most - at the begining of the life of these kids. They need someone to bring curiousity to them. They need someone to teach them to dream. They need someone to open their minds. They need some great teachers and the great teachers.. as i realise, are great friends.

Now put all these together... and we start this initiative - bridge the divide ( DEEPAM ) - An initiative that will help the kids in Govt. schools / kids who are under-priveleged ( living in slums ) to become curious about computers.

The idea / impetus came out of a discussion between Ram Viswanathan ( someone i look up to ), who is the founder of chennairunners ( a group that helps spread fitness and specially running in chennai ), and me after a morning run. Ram had been a great mentor ( in other words, a great friend ) from whom i walk away having learnt something new, everytime i meet with him. His passion to do good things, his vision and his mentorship will be really valuable to all of us as we begin this journey.

In the next few days, we can try to get as many passionate people to help us get started on this initiative. We need a lot of helping hands. Volunteers can help in a number of ways - teach / inspire the kids , talk to corporates and get computers that are discarded, talk to schools and organise classes and many many more.

If you know someone who will be interested, i request you to bring them into this google group ( http://groups.google.com/group/bridgethedivide ).

If you have ideas ( be it on corp funding / getting computers from Corps, teaching or anything at all ) , just mail in.

Stay Curious

Deepam - The Journey Begins

2009-03-09T11:36:00.000+05:30

Archana has made a video , capturing the 'start' of the Deepam Journey. Please take a look and spread word

Deepam 1st Anniversary Celebrations

2009-03-09T11:13:00.001+05:30

"I have not seen a bunch of kids as happy and contented as these kids are " mentioned Rahul Nayar, as he observed the kids at the Deepam 1st anniversary celebrations. The life of Deepam, these kids made the anniversay a very special day for all of us, who were present at the celebrations. The Nalamdana centre at the olcott kuppam , venue for the event, was charged with enthusiasm and energy - thanks to the kids, the chief guests and the volunteers.

The MC's for the event, Basu and Meera, keeping the kids engaged..

We had a special person talking to these kids on Saturday - Sarath Babu - He was truly 'one of them' . As he stood in front , sharing his rags to riches story, one could see the kids getting inspired. The room went silent , as the kids and the volunteers were in rapt attention.

Sarath interacting with the kids

Kiruba, the other chief guest, in his usual way , engaged the kids with an interesting story and conveyed a nice 'life-lesson' across.

It was a year ago, when Ram , our mentor, suggested we go to govt schools and teach kids there. His point was simple - 'Lets start small , 2 or 3 of us can go teach at a local school but the focus should be on making an impact ' . Since then, he not only taught the kids, but the volunteers as well.

Kids presenting a memento to Ram

Ram announced a scholarship program for kids - 5 deserving kids ( Deepam Stars ) will get all their education expense covered for 2009-2010.

The anniversary cake , cut by the kids

We also had performances from kids - Nalamdana Centre girls mellifluously sang a popular tamil song

These kids can sure shake a leg..

All the winners of the cultural events were awarded medals. Kids got participation certificates as well.

Its the volunteers , who work tirelessly, who have helped Deepam make an impact. They were awarded certificates as well. Anupama's commitment to pudhiyador center is outstanding.
Meera who comes to Chennai every weekend, from Bangalore - She and her husband Vijay, teach on saturdays and sundays, every weekend

Archana, who puts in a lot of energy and helped build Deepam, gets the certificate from Ram

The start has been good - The 1st year flew by. It can only get better !

A big thanks to all the kids and the volunteers !

P.S More photos can be found here http://picasaweb.google.co.in/chauhanarchu/DeepamFirstAnniversary#

Support Education - Vote for Deepam

2009-03-04T09:29:00.000+05:30

An Essay and a Film on Deepam is in the running for the National Knowledge Commission Prize. Essay / Film talks about how Deepam is solving some of the problems in Indian Education System.

Your vote will make a BIG difference - Support Deepam / Support Education

Apart from the quality of the essay / Film, the judging criterion for

Essay - No of Votes / Rating of the essay
Film - No of views / Rating of the Video

How can you support :

Please vote / rate the essay here ( please create a login for knowledge portal )

http://knowledgeportal.in/contests/node/290

Please View / Rate the video here ( to rate, please sign-in to youtube )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imvkeqnfaXI

Please spread word ( twitter / facebook / gtalk ) - request all your friends to support Deepam and help spread education. Please vote ASAP.

Thanks

Friends of Deepam

Auroville Run

2009-02-18T09:42:00.004+05:30

The run experience at Auroville was just simply ... Beautiful. The experience itself is very much a reflection of the spirit of the place - The beautiful trail through the forest , very scenic , the waiting in anticipation of whats next on the trail , the woods and the unpaved roads , local drummers upping the tempo of the run ( me syncing my run to the beat!! ), these volunteers who would go miles to ensure a great experience , the cyclists accompanying the runners all over the course , volunteers cheering runners at exactly the right moments - it was all magical ! It is Auroville..

The Beautiful trail through the woods

The Carbo loading at the pasta party - we stuffed ourselves with so much food. Thanks to the dinner, i could last the distance.

I had a fantastic run - though i couldn't crack sub 2 hours for my 21.1 km. Gut given the tough last 2 months , with a terrible IT band that put me off sports for 3 weeks and a bout of fever/ cold that lasted right into the marathon day - am happy with the time i took 2:19 or a little less. I managed to do 15 km in 1:29 and had a smooth run till then. I was sapped of energy to come up with a strong finish.

Thanks to this podcast ( on Energy , by Vinod Khosla ) i managed the first 1 hour easily - i had some doubts going into the run. I hadn't run for 10 days , thanks to the fever. So, the podcast really helped me take my mind off the negative thoughts. I learnt a great deal, listening to it, in the first place. After the 1st hour, it was familiar territory - a bit of tiredness , heavy breathing , heavy legs : Just hung on till the finish :) . Am falling in love with that 'phase' of the run!!

The target is to now crack sub 2 by end of 2009. This run gave me a lot of confidence and hopefully, should stick to the routine and crack the goal.

P.S - Thanks to the organisers for a beautiful run. I borrowed these pics from Balu / Venkat and others. Thanks !

Idea # 7 - Flash Visuals of Concepts to aid Teaching

2009-02-18T09:24:00.003+05:30

Problem : I was teaching the kids at Deepam , the concept of 'Force' , some months ago. I had prepared 4 simple examples t0 help students understand , better. I used the blackboard , 'told' them examples - Didn't help them much to 'visualize'.

I got a couple of kids to 'enact' what i was 'saying' - the kids were able to understand easily. So, clearly, the problem is with 'teaching methods'.

Solution : Develop flash visuals for all concepts from the LKG to Class 12 and beyond.

If someone is aware of any free content on the web, please do let me know.

Harvard Model and Deepam

2009-02-18T09:20:00.001+05:30

How does Harvard attract the best of the best students to study there ? Most of us ( definitely, i thought ) would think the big boys at Harvard would have it easy - the best students fight to get in there ( similar to the IIT situation ).

I was WRONG - This business week article shows why .

Harvard admin / professors / alumni go all out and scout for the best talent to study at Harvard. Machine ( computer) involvement is so minimal. Its this personal touch to the whole effort, that brings the best of the best to study at Harvard. Am quoting Mr.Fitzsimmons, the Dean , here "What we aim to do is to get the very best faculty together with the very best students," he says. "Our hope is that these synergies will develop the talents of these students to a much greater degree and that they will then give back a lot more to America and the world."

Am thinking Deepam should aim to ' Bring the best volunteer effort , with a good infrastructure / technology and enable the underprivileged kids become the best students '

Its possible... with a personal touch :)

Deepam - Collaborative Painting

2009-02-08T20:18:00.013+05:30

Deepam 1st Anniversary celebrations kicked off with a ‘Collaborative Painting Workshop’ on Saturday and Sunday. Students at 3 of our centres – Olcott School , Pudiyathor and Besant Nagar Community center had a lot of fun splashing the colors on the canvas. Over 40 students participated in this activity. The kids enjoyed themselves immensely - their creativity and team work was on display as they turned the blank canvas into a piece of art .

A big thanks to Archana and Balaji - They helped take this concept from an 'Idea on Paper' to 'Painting on Canvas' !! They planned this event well, from buying the right materials / coming up with a 'workable theme' to coordinating with the other volunteers and kids, to ensure the event was a success. Thanks to all the volunteers, who worked along with the kids , got their hands dirty with the paint and brought shape to the painting.

Here are some of the pictures

Idea # 6 - Google Lattitude and Indian Public Transport

2009-02-08T13:26:00.003+05:30

Google Latittude was launched last week. It brings real time location updates of friends using Mobile phones. This features opens up a bunch of possibilities - one of which is in Indian Public Transport system.

Idea - Provide real time update on Indian Public Transport, using Google Latitude ( similar to London )

Resource : A compatible mobile phone in each public bus / train. Use of the Google Lattitude API ( not available right now, but can be requested ? ). One website, which updates the location info, which can be accessed from mobile / PC

Monestisation : This service for each bus / train might cost about 12k every year for connection plans + cost of device (12k ) + maintenance cost ( hosting / support - 12 lakh per year ? ).

The website will have ads. Also, people can also request location info with a simple SMS. So, ads can be sent through SMS, for every request. Ads bring in monies.

Benefits : More usage of public transport ( since i can plan my travel better )

What do you think ?

2 for 4 ( Continued )

2009-02-01T11:53:00.004+05:30

I wrote about 2 for 4 here http://karthikeyan-kk.blogspot.com/2008/08/2-for-4.html

I had planned to run the Chennai Marathon in Sep 08 and Singapore Marathon in Dec 08, to raise money for Deepam. Chennai Marathon was DONE -http://karthikeyan-kk.blogspot.com/2008/09/chennai-marathon-2008.html. But couldn't practise / run the Singapore in Dec 08.

Am running the Auroville Half Marathon ( 21 km ) on Feb 15 2009, to complete the 2 for 4 project. 2 weeks ago, running even a 2 km was proving to be difficult, because of a knee injury. Some resting / stretching has helped me recover . This morning, i did a 21 km and i should be able to do the 21 km at Auroville, comfortably.

Here is the appeal again -

2 for 4 : Through these 2 runs, i wish to raise 4 lakh rupees - this money will be utilised to get computers, Internet connection and reading material for the kids. We wish to place the computers permanently at the locations we teach - Govt. Schools, Slums and orphanages.

I request you to support me in this effort - If you can donate / spread word about the program, i would really appreciate it.

Please do get in touch with me, if you can support in some way.

A Short Movie on 'Deepam'

2009-01-15T01:32:00.004+05:30

Archana and Vidya had made a short movie on Deepam. This was presented at a conference in Chennai last week. Can be found here as well http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=bUdVOjJc1lI

Slumdog Millionaire - Real and Imaginative

2009-01-12T02:44:00.003+05:30

It is 2:30 am now and just watched Slumdog Millionaire - The perfect end to a weekend ! ( or the start to the week ).

Every one who played a part in the movie, only competes with the other , to excel - Original story ( but bollywoodish ) , full-of-color /life visuals - Reminded me of a Mani Ratnam movie ( which is a compliment ) , 'real' acting by the young actors and AR Rahman completing the piece with music that 'connects'.

The movie inspired me to do 2 things - learn photography and capture the 'real' life around me & learn to play an instrument ( both of which have to wait for a long while.. ).

A must watch!

Fighting Fit

2009-01-05T08:26:00.004+05:30

'Fighting fit' is my sports theme for 2009. The personal 'sports' goals for 2009

Run regularly - Run 4 days and Average 35 km per week. A sub 5 hour marathon and a sub 2 hour half-marathon. Marathon plan - Auroville ( Feb 2009 ). A half marathon, later this year ( yet to decide )
Ultimate Frisbee - 2 days a week. Learn to 'handle the disc' and learn to 'flow' in the game. Play 2 tournaments - at Kodai and the 'home' tournament at the beach
Cricket - Play 1 tournament with RunsNWickets. Practise for 2 months before the tournament
Cycling - Do a 300km + ride - Into the rural TamilNadu. In September 09. Replace daily 'car drives' with rides

This is the energy boost, for me to work on my 'other' activities - Excedos and Deepam.

On Entrepreneurship - #1

2008-12-26T00:42:00.001+05:30

I've been talking to b-school students in Chennai in the past couple of months on Entrepreneurship, thanks to TATA NEN Hottest Startups nomination of our company, Excedos. The creativity and energy of the students during these sessions shows a lot of promise for entrepreneurship in India, in the near future. In a series of posts, now on, i will share my experiences ( limited!! ) on Entrepreneurship.

Read up - Before i started up, i had spent hours reading about startup experience of others. Blogs are a great resource - they help us to learn about the entrepreneur's personal life ( helps to build the skillsets we need to have ) , in addition to their startup experience. Here are some great resources to learn from, before starting up -

http://www.fabricegrinda.com/?cat=6&paged=2

http://iinnovate.blogspot.com/

http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html

http://www.slideshare.net/anupendra/the-irrational-act-of-entrepreneurship-presentation

http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html

Alpine, a budding entrepreneur, posed a question on Entrepreneurship to me - When is the right time to startup ?

Its a tough one to answer , mainly because, every possible answer can be justified :). There are so many experiences of people starting up and go on to succeed because they 'just' wanted to ( and they didnt have a great idea ) and also experiences of people who had a great idea /saw an opportunity ( Jeff Bezos - Amazon , for example ) to implement, before starting up. My 'philosophical' answer here is - we need to have the passion for whatever we are doing. Its just a question of how much we want this / do whatever ( within the framework ) it takes to achieve our goals / vision

The philosophical part is the easiest one - everyone thinks this way. Companies actually succeed because they filled a 'real' need / solved a 'real' problem for which someone is willing to pay. Most startups fail to transition to a successful 'revenue' model. At a conference i had been to, before i started up, someone mentioned an interesting line - ' Is the startup's product / service , a 'fevel pill ' or a 'Vitamin pill ' - Not many customers buy vitamin pills. Fever pills have the most possibilities of success.

Here is a great post by Fabrice on 'business selection criteria' - http://www.fabricegrinda.com/?p=5 - Brings a rational way to arrive at a startup idea.

Family Support : I had a phenomenal family support. My parents were completely supportive of my venture ideas ( Helps, when your dad is a biz man, himself! ). If family is a bit reserved about your move, don't worry too much - as they see us succeeding , they will come around.

If you want to 'create' something , if you get bored doing 'normal / routine ' job , if you want to make an 'impact', if you think learning from mistake is 'fun' , if you want to 'change' things in the world for the better, if you always look at a 'better way' of doing things, if you love taking initiatives and 'implementing' them, if you are 'DO'er and many more , startup is where you need to head!

Ultimate Frisbee Nationals - 2008

2008-12-21T17:28:00.005+05:30

Nov 29 and 30, 2008 was a fun-filled weekend - 2 days of total beach frisbee in Chennai. It was the CUF Nationals 2008, organised by the Chennai Ultimate Frisbee club (www.chennaiultimatefrisbee.com ). Manu , Mama, Abhi , Subbu and others had put in a lot of effort to organise the tournament - Got permission to play on the beach under lights , overcame a bad weather bout when the whole city was under the water and many more. Ultimately, the tournament turned out to be a super hit, with teams coming all the way from Colombo ( Serendiscity ) , Delhi ( Stray Dogs with Sweaters ) , Mumbai ( Stormchasers - hats off, they came over just after the Mumbai shooting incidents ) and Bangalore ( 2 teams - Learning to fly ( LTF ) and Disc o Deewanae ( DOD ).
There were 2 teams from Chennai - CULtimate ( i played for this team ) and Live-wire. Everyone enjoyed immensely, made friends and all went back with great memories.

I enjoyed the games immensely, myself. We had an easy first round - we won 2 games Vs Delhi and Mumbai comfortably but lost 1 game to Bangalore ( Learning to Fly team ).

The semifinal between Cultimate and DOD was the closest game of the tournament - we led 7-3 and DOD climbed past us and were up 8-7. It was an intense 1 hour+ game, under the lights. We managed to win the game, though, by a whisker. Manu / Abhi / Mama / Subbu pulled a miracle of sorts - they managed to have the semi-finals under the lights at the beach. That brought in a lot of crowd and hometeam ( us!!! ) got a lot of support. Over 500 people were watching us play and it sure was an awesome experience!

LTF played against the Serendiscity in the other semifinals. It was a close one as well - Colombo fought hard. But the lack of subsititutes proved costly - they ran out of gas and LTF won the semis. The finals was played on Sunday morning - LTF won this game against Cultimate. We started off well, scoring a point more than the LTF guys at each stage. But they took off after 4 points and eventually won the game 9-6.

Overall, a fantastic weekend - Great people , awesome games, lots of fun !

P.S - A Related post http://www.deepam.in/2008/12/weekend-notes.html

Cricket and Emotion

2008-11-23T17:33:00.004+05:30

Once in a while, when i question myself on 'commitment' levels, one answer helps me feel better - Cricket. I've played that game for 20+ years , though i have not progressed much beyond the school /local league games. Cricket in general and Indian cricket in specific, defined my english vocabulary. I made most of my school pals on the cricket field. I played cricket all weekend long when i was growing up, even at 1 am, when the sun was burning us. Fought with any one / anything, to allow me to play a game of cricket. Have had a broken nose and fractures, playing cricket !!! To improve my bowling, i used to bowl against a brick wall - Result : Ball marks all over all the walls around our house!!!I used to practise my batting stance and bowling run-up, all day and night. The mind ran the bowling run-up all the time. I still have the earliest cricket bat my dad got me. I've played cricket games the day before big exams, watched Sachin smash the aussies , the day before my 10th standard board exams. Listed to India cricket games on radio restlessly, on the journey from school to home and rush to switch on the TV. Felt depressed when India lost and like a conqueror of the world when India won.

Suddenly, i stopped watching cricket. I was losing the 'emotion' i attached to the game. It became just another routine - to see the scores of India games. Winning / Losing not doing much to the feel.

When Anil Kumble and Saurav Ganguly decided to leave the game - the 'feel' which was missing for a few years, re-appeared. That seemed to be the emotion one feels on the departure of a friend, after a fantastic holiday at one's place. I grew up as these guys gave their best for India. Anil seemed to define intensity and commitment. He showed how much 'attitude' can do to anyone especially, if they lacked talent. Saurav taught us 'attitude'. He taught us to be 'aggressive' , paving way for the current assertiveness of Indian cricketers.

These guys made my day happy, so many times.

When i read about their departure on Cricinfo, it brought out the emotions hidden deep below. It made me think about the possibilities that lay ahead. I decided its time to recharge my 6 month- unusedTATA SKY cable box. Its time to watch every game that Sachin plays now on...

When he leaves, am certain , its time to 'move on' ..

Entrepreneurship

2008-11-09T16:35:00.002+05:30

Been at it since the last 18 months - Having the time of my life! Haven't made a better decision than to 'take the plunge'. Come here and you won't regret...

(Via : Meera )

ECR 8

2008-11-09T11:56:00.008+05:30

East Coast Run 8

Date : 19 October 2008

Start / End Point : Mayajaal

Distance : 0 to 5 km , 10 km , 15 km, 20 km, 30 km and 35 km

ECR 8 was by far the best organised run from Chennai Runners - We had an event director in Vidyuth who led the show and a bunch of us played the support role ! We had a few 'firsts' with this event - First time we had a sponsor ( in Apollo DKV Insurance ) , First time we had the ambulance support ( from Chettinad Hospitals ), First time we had water / Gatorade support points ( thanks to Pepsi / Gatorade for joining in as the 'Hydration Partner' ) every 2.5 km all the way ( 0 to 35 km route ) and the first time we were on air spreading the running movement in Chennai ( Thanks to the 'Chennai Live' radio station ).

Despite the very heavy overnight rains, over 50 runners turned up for the run. They were supported by about 15 sooper enthusiastic volunteers! Their energy and encouragement helped a lot of runners stretch beyond the limits.

Here are the 35 km runners, at the start point

The runners at the start point at 4:45 am

Some of the finishers at the finish line. Enjoying the 'runners high'

Thanks Nithya, Shyam and me at the 15 km point. Nithya ran the 20k along with us ( she went from running nothing at all to 20 km run , in all of 4 months )

Thats me at the 5 km point..

Personally, i had a good run - the longest since the chennai half marathon. I had only run 5k runs since the chennai half but the weather helped my 20 km run. It was a 'fun' run for me - i started last, after all the groups left and i stopped at all the water points ( every 2.5k ) to chat up with the volunteers. From the 10 km point, i ran along with Nithya and Shyam and exchanged a lot of stories ! We managed to finish the 20km run in 2 hours and 44 minutes.

After the 'catching up' with all the runners at the finish line and an 'ok' breakfast at the On-Shore resort at Mayajaal, it was time to head home. Another ECR run down and the run gets better with every edition. All this experience will help us at Chennai Runners to organise our own ' Namma Chennai Marathon' ... very sooon.

East Coast Run 8

2008-10-14T11:01:00.004+05:30

Am running this one.. Are you ???

Chennai Runners presents ECR8, in association with APOLLO DKV.

ECR 8 Details..

Date: October 19, 2008 (Sunday)

Start Time: 5:15 am

Start point: On Shore resort inside the Mayajaal compound

End point: On Shore resort inside the Mayajaal compound

Assembly time: 4:30 am

Events: 5K, 10K, 15K, 20K, 25K, 30K, 35K

Entry Fee: Rs.250/-

Hydration Partner : Pepsi ( Aquafina / Gatorade )

This event is organized by runners. Runners will be taken care of well. Well stocked water points along the route. Breakfast @ On shore Resort inside the Mayajaal Compound for Runners and volunteers

Cell phone towers, Wind Turbines and a 4th std govt school kid

2008-10-11T19:51:00.002+05:30

A Guest Post by my Brother Vishnu..

Hello people,

Cell Phone towers with wind turbines. I came across this idea about a week before my departure to US at NGRI (Govt School – near my home at Coimbatore). There was a science competition for govt school students. A 4^th std boy from Dharapuram (small village in TN) came up with this idea and I was impressed at his out of the box concept. The sad thing was when the judges came to examine his idea; they thought it was a joke. I told the teachers about the creativity these boys had shown but they mocked at it and left.

Came across a link, yesterday – Ericsson (Telecom Major) is developing cell phone towers fitted with wind turbines.

http://earth2tech.com/2008/10/09/ericsson-unveils-wind-powered-cell-tower/

We should have a platform to bring the innovative ideas of these children to life. Especially in a field like clean tech – were out of the boxes are need of the hour. If the same boy was here in NYC - he would have won the best innovative idea competition under any age group

Cheers,

Vishnu

Idea 5 - The Real Need ..

2008-09-19T13:59:00.002+05:30

The last driver we had at my parents' place, was a very special man and when he decided to quit, it must be a very special reason that made him to. He was more an extension of our family than a 'driver'. Though his primary 'duty' was to help with my mom's transporation needs, he was a passionate 'gardner' , helped my dad's office with some odd jobs , helped my bro with the aquarium 'maintenance' and many other things. I had lessons to learn from him - i still remember the times when he used to push my dad into buying more saplings and make the little space around our house GREEN !!! He was always treated well - his kids education expense were taken care of and my mom would treat him, the same way he would treat his sons.

So, when the special man decided to quit, there must be only reason - Entrepreneurship. Yes, he is an entrepreneur now !! He got some money coming his way and he decided to 'start-up'.

When asked what he was going to do , his answer was to supply drinking water to some areas in Coimbatore. He had planned to buy a mini delivery van and get a contract with one of the drinking water bottlers.

But what struck me was his answer to the question 'why this business ? ' - " Water is a basic need and people will always buy water. There is a REAL need for water and i can satisfy this need. "

He, sure, has thought hard about solving a 'real' problem - Simple, responsible thinking. Not a surprise.. coming from him.

Having known him, am sure his new venture will be a huge success.

My Best 26th B'day Gift

2008-09-05T22:20:00.005+05:30

The greatest satisfaction and happiness comes out of making some real impact with the things we do - Ever since i quit my regular job, the need to make a real impact is what drives me largely, to do things that i do now.

So, when Meera , an active volunteer at Deepam, e-mailed this on our e-group, it was a huge boost to the small effort a bunch of us had made thus far at Deepam ( Despite, me knowing that Meera was being a bit nice to us :), given her talents )

Here is the mail

Subject : How Deepam landed me ( Meera ) a scholarship

" The interview went well, but there were a couple of determining factors. Here's how -

Interviewer- So Meera, your work ex all seems ok. Also, we sometimes need to use complex software which is unknown to us. Right from our faculty, to the staff and students, we might need some instructing to use the software.

Have you ever had a chance where you taught people to use new software or technologies?

Meera -This is really exciting. I, in fact really love teaching, especially computers/software.

' I gave them a brief gist of Deepam and what we do here. I told her that we are a small group working to make literacy for lesser privileged children a reality. That we, apart from teaching them to use computers,also try to work on so many concurrent things like building their english, trying to get materials ready,and setting up a system for them, give certificates, encourage them to questions, read up on news.. etc ''

She ( Interviewer ) was very impressed.

Finally, this is what she ( Interviewer ) said - These kids, am sure are smart, and catch these software and concepts real quick. If you can teach lesser privileged kids, you surely need to stretch a bit more and be patient with our faculty and students here, and I'm sure you can teach them too. This is a really good job you are doing here.

This came from the head of the department! Considering that this department is a behavioral science department, they were all the more impressed, and knew the impact of such voluntary work in the society. They told me they'd keep me informed about the position after the weekend. But, they gave me a call 30 minutes after the interview and told me I got the position. I was elated.

The Deepam factor sure gave me a definite edge over the others.

I know working in Deepam gives immense satisfaction, but additionally for me, it helped in landing me a job + assistantship :) :) "

Thanks Meera !!

That was the best b'day gift i got , this year ! ( Yes, i turned 26 last week :) )

Chennai Marathon 2008

2008-09-03T16:36:00.010+05:30

Some months ago, i watched a short clip of the 1982 Boston marathon - Alberto Salazar won that closely fought race. What stayed with me was a line from the commentary - " Salazar runs longer than anyone else at the 'red line' - the point of pain. He continues to run at the red line longer than his fellow runners "

That line was a big motivation for me when i started training 3 months ago . I wanted to run for a good amount of time at the 'red line'. That was the goal, since, i had always given up at the red line.

I can see some improvements - I ran for 2 hours continuously on 2 sundays in the last 1 month (Before this, the longest i've done is 1:35 , for a non-stop run ). My breathing which was shallow, has improved as well. And importantly, i've become more regular at the runs and i run atleast 4 days a week - whether it is at 5 am / 8 am / 1 pm / 8 pm or 1 am ( Yes, i've run at all these times in the last 2 months ).

So, with all of this behind me, i ran the chennai half marathon last sunday - I finished the 21 km in a disappointing 2 hours and 38 mins. Disappointing, since i was targeting an under 2 hour run.

The heat was not the excuse since i was all ready for the big day – I even ran from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm , one of the Sundays. I trained for the hot conditions. But, i just couldn't change into 'overdrive' mode because of a mild fever i was carrying.

The first 40 mins of the run was smooth for me and I ran at 10+ kmph. Around the 40 min mark, I started to walk... That was the hardest part of the race – the mind playing games and suggesting that I quit the race ( I always had the ‘fever’ excuse ). I decided to walk for a while and shut those thoughts out. It was hard when a fellow runner ( ofcourse, he was being nice :) ) , asked me not to ‘give up’ and run… just the other week, I ran a 2 hour continuous run…

I just decided to finish the race and 2 hour target had to wait for another day.

I kept walking for another 10 mins and i had a chocolate bar. I decided to walk the ‘shade’ part of the course and run in the sunny parts. Soon, I started running and ran the next 4 km. From then on, running in the sunny parts and walking the in the shades, I managed to complete the run in 2:38.

It was a great feeling, running the ‘home’ marathon – knew lots of people who were running this one and the encouragements and simply, running with a ‘known face’ kept me going. Towards the end, I ran with Rekha – Shes a mom of 2 and used hit 81 kgs on the scales 3 years ago. Currently, she is possibly one of the fittest women one would meet . Despite the hot conditions, she was pushing herself and we finished the run together.

About the run,

Positives

Great participation - it was a nice feeling to see so many runners on the road
Closed roads - the roads were closed for vehicle traffic for over 3 hours

Negatives

Organisers didn't have a clue on conducting this race - From the BIB distribution, water points, route planning, volunteer involvement and many many more
Poor crowd participation ( except for a few sections ) - Run the Mumbai run, to experience the crowd participation
It was sad to see the water bottles / polythene covers strewn all over the roads and 'kid' ragpickers going after those - afterall, a lot of us were running to raise money for those kids..

It was clear that the Chennai Marathon has miles to go, before it can hold a world-class , runner-friendly marathon. NOBODY cared about the runners - they are the focus of the running events. The focus was on ' getting the attention' than ' doing the job '.

P.S Thanks to Karthik at chennairunners for the photos.

Runs and Podcasts!

2008-08-12T08:40:00.003+05:30

I stopped listening to music during the long runs - I used to listen to music mainly to keep the boredom of a long run away and distract my thoughts on 'stopping'. But, i figured out that listening to music held me back from improving on my run performance. Without the Ipod , these days, am able to focus on keeping myself relaxed , maintain posture and importantly, work on my breathing and keep it steady.

Last sunday was an exception - i listened to the interview of Intuit's Founder and CEO Mr.Cook ( www.iinnovate.blogspot.com ) . One of the best interviews on starting up, i ever listened to. Very honest and very real life !

I was into the podcast so much, that i ended up running for close to 2 hours, despite running between 1 and 3 pm on sunday ( and the cool weather helped :) )

2 for 4

2008-08-06T08:44:00.002+05:30

"If you want to run, run the 100 metre race. If you want to experience something, run the marathon" - Emil Zatopek

Can't agree more with this great Czech runner's words. The marathon experience , when contrasted with my 100 metre experience, has so much more to offer to life - the friendships, the lessons, the 'collective' high's , the opportunity to run and raise money for a cause and many more. The last aspect of Marathon running is something am mailing on here -

A bunch of us are working on 'Deepam' - A program to take computers to underprivileged kids in Govt. Schools , Slums and Orphanages. More about the group can be found here www.deepam.in . It has been a fascinating journey for us in the last 7 months - Taking 'Deepam' from just an idea to teaching 40 kids every weekend in Chennai, right now. Personally, the class is something i look forward to - 2 hours of being friends with the little kids, answering their questions , learning from them and experiencing a high - to witness 'Deepam' connect with the kids and seeing them take to computers with curiosity !

Am running the Chennai Half - Marathon on Aug 31st 2008 and the Singapore Marathon in Dec 2008 . In addition to finishing these runs in less than 2 hours & 10 mins and 5 hours, i wish to raise money for the Deepam activities through these runs.

2 for 4 : Through these 2 runs, i wish to raise 4 lakh rupees - this money will be utilised to get computers, Internet connection and reading material for the kids. We wish to place the computers permanently at the locations we teach - Govt. Schools, Slums and orphanages.

I request you to support me in this effort - If you can donate / spread word about the program, i would really appreciate it.

Please do get in touch with me, if you can support in some way.

Thanks
kk

( karthikeyan dot vijayakumar at gmail dot com )
+91 9884217276

The Connect !

2008-07-27T11:53:00.001+05:30

The Connect is a 'high' - Like the dancing the right moves to the beat , timing the ball perfectly well with the cricket bat , Pacing a 15 km run well over the course and sprinting to the finish, picking the right song for that car drive at night, packing the right "to-do's" in a day - never too much or little , business meetings going the way we'd prepared for and many more.

Yesterday i found a few more connects and high's during the Deepam class at Olcott School.

The kid we taught at the school trying to reply in English - His Tamil response and the sentence being translated and formulated in English by him ( and the joy on his face when we said he was right !! )
This other kid ( after being "talked to " by me ) going back to his computer and working along with his team mates and helping them with tricks of using Word processor
The class listening to Basu teach them and stopping him to ask questions !

The little joys on saturday afternoon !

Deepam on Times of India !!!

2008-07-26T22:49:00.004+05:30

It was nice to see Deepam featured in the Times of India paper on 14th July 08. The big goal for our group is to positively affect 1000 kids by 2010. Media mentions such as this will surely help us gather more support in the goal chase !

Here is the online article. If you want to know more about Deepam, please go to www.deepam.in

Idea # 4 - The Village Potter

2008-07-10T09:22:00.003+05:30

Before I begin - Am just "reporting" here -

A few months ago, i met this guy - An Indian, born and brought up in the US. He had returned to India to do social work for a year. He is my age ( young !! ) and had travelled to a village, about 250 km west of Chennai, India. This village was in the middle of hilly terrain and hence, a trip to the grocery / vegetable store takes more than a day. And none in the little village could afford a refridgerator. Result - The food that people ate usually was devoid of vegetables and most of them were undernourished.

His solution - Low cost "refridgerator".

He designed a "system" that would lower the temperature inside the "system" by 10-15*C compared to the outside temperature.

The System - 2 pots : a large and a small one. The smaller pot is placed inside the larger one and the space between the two is filled with sand. Sand is always kept watered. The resulting evaporation through the pores in the pot caused the cooling and lowered the temperature inside the smaller pot by 10-15*C .

Since the cost of this "system" is just Rs.80 , all the household in the village could afford this system, store the vegetables and eat healthy food.

and.. the village potter is having the time of his life!

(P.S. I meant to write this one months before - but completely forgot about it. Thanks to Abhi for the link to Guy's blog, where he had written about the pot idea ! )

Sports Story #5 : The Pull

2008-07-05T01:56:00.003+05:30

It was more than a year ago - i would put on my running shoes and head out for the usual run. I succeded, as far as getting on the road. Most days, i ended up walking and in the few, i did run, the run would stutter to a stop and a walk, in a few minutes. Physically, i could've run a marathon ( which i actually did, at Mumbai in Jan 07 ). But it was the mind - a thousand thoughts . This was right after the Mumbai marathon finish ! I tried - to not think at all. To break free - of the thoughts. I wanted to wake up fresh. I wanted to sleep. I wanted the energy. And i almost gave up on my runs.

Between the mumbai marathon finish in Jan 07 and March 07, the shoes just gathered dust , from my house, not the road. The shoes, btw, were new - a 6k adidas ( new shoes usually don't have try too hard to get dirtied ).

And i did run in May 07 - the midnight marathon - managed my best half marathon timing so far - 2:15 .

Sometime in March, this guy took a liking to call my phone at 5 am in the morning !! I ignored it a for few days ( well, can't go running, having not slept a wink ). He decided not to give up ( just like me ! ). He threatened to come home ! And i did turn up for a morning run - when everyone else had burned the road and got ready to go home . Walked for a bit with him and i went home. In a few days, his calls woke me up on time and my jogs took me across a few km. He would run with me , get me immersed in a conversation and take me away from the 'thoughts'. Soon, i was running with him for a good 45 mins.

For more than a month, he would run with me on most days. This guy runs the fastest in my running group, but for a month, he ran at my slow / steady pace. He pulled me out ! Thanks Coach ( Hari )

This post is dedicated to his dad and mom, both of whom passed away, recently.

I guess , it is my turn to take a liking to call his phone at 5 am...

Any Given Sunday - Peace

2008-06-25T09:52:00.002+05:30

This one gets me all the time ! Even now, after a few years and many hundred times of listening . When i was a part of Frost cricket team, we used to listen to this one before the big games / tournaments... :)

Enjoy

The 2 weeks

2008-06-19T23:16:00.003+05:30

2 weeks flew away
All happy along the way
A movie that was funny
but even better was the company
Morning run
was all fun
At 30 kmph, car drive was always slow
but the conversation had a flow
ECR run in the morning
had never seen better timing
Food was mostly chinese
with you i was always at ease
Valuatation, Music, books, sports and the whole gamut was the conversation
The intensity, excitement and the happiness.. stays on

P.S An ( poor ?? ) attempt at verse.. after years!!! Thanks to the 2 weeks!

Moview Review : Dasavatharam

2008-06-16T15:23:00.004+05:30

I have not taken the initiative to watch a movie in a long time - I blame my friends for all the pampering - the pull, tickets, pick-up and more :) . But for some reason, i was bent on watching Dasavatharam last weekend. When the first "source" didn't work out, the fall back was my usual guy - Always got tickets from him for weekend shows / 'closer to painpoint' shows. The 30+ calls i had to make, all of Saturday to get the tickets to watch Dasavatharam was definitely worth the time. A case of making up the mind to do something ( watch the movie ) and doing all it takes to accomplish ( watch !! ).

Plus :

The pace of the movie - i thought i was reading a Bourne series book :) ( yess! )
"RAW Kamal's" comedy !! He replaced the need for Vivek / Vadivelu
Stunts - One of the best i've seen in Tamil cinema
Story and the Characterisation of "Flectcher" , "RAW Kamal " , "Scientist Kamal "
Brilliant acting by Kamal in each of the roles

Minus :

Screeching by Asin - Not to blame her. She hardly had any scope.
Music - Could've been a lot better
Make-up Mishaps - Some roles had near perfect make-ups but some let down badly

I went in expecting a serious movie from Kamal. It turned out to be an entertainer. Friends and i thoroughly enjoyed the movie !

It is definitely a must watch !

Choices and Cravings

2008-06-14T18:20:00.001+05:30

Choices, sees a few in front of him. Picking 1 has always been easy. When the car has built up speed to the crossroads, there is only one way it can go. The direction and speed , dictated by the events and not really the daily traffic.

Insurmountable want ? Passion ?

Deepam Starts off the 2nd program

2008-06-07T02:32:00.003+05:30

Friends,

Please check www.deepam.in , for the post on the latest program.

Am also posting here...

Deepam started off its 2nd computer program at Besant Nagar. Thanks to Nalamdana, we have a clean place (with a great view of the sea ) where we teach the kids, at the Olcott Kuppam area.

Start Date : May 24 , 2008
Place : Olcott Kuppam, Besant Nagar
Class : Saturdays - 2 PM to 4 PM
Duration : 4 Months

Ram lead the class, taking the kids through an interesting path, trying to get the kids to open up and ask questions. He began by getting the kids to talk about the dreams and openly encouraging the kids to go after the dreams.

In a subtle way, he was making the kids think , leading them into areas they have never been before - the master at work ! It was a lesson for not just the kids - for us volunteers as well !! From thirukural to tamil movies, civil engineering to animation, input / output devices to MS Paint, the kids were taken through an interesting session.

The kids then had their "hands-on" session - they let their creativity free on MS Paint. It sure was a happy feeling to see the kids hooked on to the laptop, exploring MS Paint - they probably know more tricks with the tool than many of us do !!!

Personally, the class is a source of great joy . The times spent with the happy kids just whizz past ! Every time in the last 2 weeks, i had gone on near empty gas ( late night work .. ) but came out of the session charged up. The kids' energy levels rub off on us !! Their smartness keeps us on our toes . The class' also serve as a way to discover myself as a person - it teaches me to be patient all the time . This is a class where learnings happen both sides - both the volunteers and the kids learn :)

If you guys have the time, just feel free to drop in during the class / volunteer to teach .

thanks

kk

My Favourite Writer !!!

2008-06-06T09:35:00.003+05:30

I wish i had her ability to express thoughts... Like she did here

" For the chronic traveler some journeys end and some others begin. The feeling of standing at the very brink of a new world always seems to persist. Maybe that is the drug, his only known addiction. His face, like worn leather, looks hardened by the sun and toughened by the winds. The scars on the other hand, marks from another world, tell vivid stories. His skin is by no means flawless........

.....Defeat is his when another journey, another trip, another mad plunge seems beyond his mental fiber.... "

Exactly what was running through my mind ! Thanks Anu !

ECR Cycling

2008-06-02T23:14:00.005+05:30

After an absence of almost 4 months, i rode my bike - thanks to the ECR Cycling event organised by Chennai Runners and TI cycles. The participation and the ride was just simply awesome!

We had over 40 people cycling and many of them had never attempted the planned distance - 30 km !

I was very happy to see some pals cycle all the way to the finish. Having never cycled this distance before , they were apprehensive at the start. The finish line was one joyous scene - everyone on the finisher's "high" and lively !! The excitement, positive energy and the "high" was visible on every single finisher ( all of them cycled the entire distance ).-Archu / Amie - the 2 sports who had never done endurance sport before ! Both completed the distance easily !

Personally, i had a great ride. I started off pretty well and led the group for about 10 km, before i was overtaken by guys riding in TREK's ( Some day, i will get a TREK too ). At the 15 km turnaorund point ( crocodile bank ), TI had had a pit stop with refreshments. I had much needed energy bars and water and decided to chase the TREK's to Mahabalipuram.

A stead head wind kept coming at us right through till Mahabalipuram. I loved cycling the stretch between Crocodile bank and mahabs - we did 28-29 kmph . At the mahabs turnaround point, we had done 27 km in little over an hour.

The ride back was made easy by the tail wind. With speeds around 26-27 kmph, we were cruising until a puncture stopped a friend's ride. We lost 20 mins , before the backup vehicle picked him up. Then on, it was a smooth ride to the finish line.

A big thanks to all my pals who waited patiently at the finish line !

Ride stats :

Total Distance - 55 km
Route - ECR from Toll Booth to Mahabalipuram and back
Avg Speed - 25 kmph
Top Speed - 29.5 kmph

Runs N Wickets

2008-05-01T23:05:00.003+05:30

It has been a good start to the year ( late start as well.. ) for my cricket team - Runs N Wickets. We won by 150+ runs in our 1st 25 over game and in the 2nd won by 5 wickets with 5 overs to spare. If you enjoy playing cricket and stay in Chennai, you are welcome to join the team. We play matches and do "NETS" in the weekends. Just head to www.runsnwickets.com and join the group by providing your mail id.

Our team has just enrolled for a local T20 championship. Scores and more will be up on the site now on.

Deepam off the Blocks

2008-04-30T22:29:00.004+05:30

It was in Jan 2008 ( 15th to be precise ) that Ram ( My mentor at Chennai Runners ) suggested that we do something like Deepam. It took almost 3 months and lots of discussions over coffee and email , to action the idea. A bunch of dedicated volunteers ( Special mention about Archu's efforts ) enabled Deepam see the light of day. Please do take some time and go over the site ( www.deepam.in ) .

If you can help us in some way, i would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Addiction - But I won't Complain !!

2008-04-23T23:13:00.002+05:30

Oflate, am addicted to a practise - Whenever i come across any company that pricks my curiosity ( happens most of the time ), i immediately start clicking to reach the founder bio's !!! It's really an addiction !! But i don't plan to quit this anytime - i only seem to benefit from this :)

During one of these "trips" , i landed on the justdial page and happened to read about the company founder's bio - extremely impressive !! Someone like you and me going on to build a fabulous company !!

He started out with just Rs.50,000 and right now JustDial is valued at 500 Crore!!!!

What is even more impressive - He actually worked at one of the Yellow pages companies, which was rather a commodity market ( lots of directories providing the info ). He then thought of a more customer centric business model for the directories, which didn't exist then and relentlessly worked on executing it. Quite a learning on differentiation in a commodity space.

Kodaikanal Cycling Trip

2008-03-29T20:41:00.000+05:30

After a long break from cyling, i decided to join the Madras Bike Hash ( the group that bikes 100+ km every week ) in their cycling trip at Kodaikanal in the last week of 2007. Though i had been off the bike for more than 2 months, the cycle was in top condition . So far, i've spent 10k on my cycle. Thats not much in absolute numbers but consider this one - the cycle just costed me 3k - 7k has been spent on doing up the cycle ( electronic speedo ) and maintenance !

For a long time, i was eyeing the cycle - carrier , to transport the cycle on the car. It was time to buy that one . The cycle below on Indigo Marina is my mean machine !

Day 1 : After a 500 km drive from Chennai to Kodai the previous day, i was all set for the day 1 of the cycle ride - From Kodaikanal town to the start of the forest near Barijam lake ( 34 km ).

After a breakfast of hot idli's, vada and dosa, we started our ride from the guest house, which is very close to the kodai lake. Once we hit the roads, the low gears immediately came into play. I was riding a 6 gear cycle, with 1 large crank and 6 sprockets at the rear. Straightaway i had to downshift to gear 2. The climb was a gradual one and i was quite comfortable doing the uphill. But the uphil just kept getting longer and in short while, i had to shift to gear 1 to overcome a pretty steep uphill. After about 6-7 km, we reached the end of the uphill stretch. The next few kms were a riders delight. The road sloped down , thickly wooded sections on either side of the road, smooth pot hole - free roads and the cycles were the only traffic on the road. Soon we were doing 40 kmph on the downhill section and all the eyes were only on the road and the fingers close to the brake lever.

I couldn't resist the temptation to up the speed and soon i was doing close to 50 kmph. Thats when this huge curve appeared ahead. I pressed the brake levers with all my might but couldn't over do it since the rear wheel was skidding away. I tried to sway my body to the right ( the road curved to the right ), trying to keep the cycle on the road. Soon i realised i had carried a lot of speed into the curve. While i was braking and bending my body to the right side, i was also making a promise to god - if i ever got out of the curve safely, i would never speed again. For a few moments, i thought i may live to keep that promise. But thats when the water bottle fell off the bike and the rear wheel went over it. The cycle went down with me on top ( turned out to be lucky ). I clung on to the handle bar and as a result i didn't fall hard on the road , but the cycle took me down gradually. I was sliding along with the cycle ( i was on top of the cycle ) for a brief while and finally my body fell on the road and the photos tell the rest of the story ...

Both wheels were bent and thanks to the mechanics we brought along, that was mended. The initial few mins was the most toughest - i was hoping i hadn't broken something and thankfully, i didn't. I decided to tear off the lower half of my pant and take off one of my fav shirts and continued biking.

The next few km was downhill and i slowly was recovering from the fall , mentally and decided to go the full distance.

The only woman cyclist - Nidhi. She was awesome on the bike - did the 34 km !!

The next 5-10 km was a steady effort on the bike as we went through some beautiful stretches.

The uphills are sometimes, very cruel - i see a 40 m climb and cycle up, in the hope that the uphill stops there . If not for a downhill, i would be happy with flats from the summit. Once i reach the 40 m summit, that is when i realise the uphill stretches another 50 m . I engage the lowest gear and just pedal the hill away. I absolutely loved the uphills - it took some effort, suffered a bit but the ride was worth everything.

25 km into the ride - most of us were exhausted by now. I missed bringing the energy bars. Especially on one long climb - we were riding up and up and up for about 5-6 km. I really wished someone had a banana or a choclate bar. So, next time, i will never miss taking an energy bar along.

We did about 34 km and decided to stop biking - we almost reached barijam and we had to get permission from forest offices to enter into the reserved forest area.

We biked a km into the reserved forests and turned back - the metal road was easily the most beautiful stretch we biked in. Maybe, someday i will get the permission and ride into the forests.

After a testing day 1, we decided to take it easy on the day 2. We went up some serious inclines and but decided to do some easy riding , a few km into the ride. No more suffering during the trip !! We still did some uphills but these were gentle ones.

Some lessons learnt

Get a mountain bike, to ride in the mountains. Roadbikes can go out of control
Take energy bars along while riding in the mountains - we won't come across shops to buy on the road
I am tempted to say " don't speed" on the mountains - but i think i will surely do these high speeds next time am at kodai :)

Smoking to Killing

2008-03-29T17:07:00.003+05:30

He smoked the sticks earlier , he kills people now

I mean, he stopped smoking and started killing - yes, play a game of ultimate with this guy and try to keep up with him. I did and i suffer.. all the time.

Sooper work Abhi - salute !

Chennai Marathon 2008

2008-02-11T07:58:00.000+05:30

Finished - Half Marathon ( 21k )
Stupidity - Missing dinner on Saturday night ( Run was on Sunday Morning )
Forgetable - Slowest ever run . Completed in 2:57
Mistake - Should've stopped at 10 km point. The heat and lack of water stations sapped me of energy.
Lessons - Train regularly :)
Happy - Finished strongly. Infact, took almost equal times for the 1st and 2nd half of the run, despite the 2nd half being the toughest.
Goals - Train for 10k runs and do a strong 21km run by the end of 2008.

Woaaah!

2007-11-14T15:18:00.000+05:30

Came across this somewhere

"Nothing's better than the wind to your back, the sun in front of you, and your friends beside you."

YES :) !! It's never been better in a long time. ( touch wood )

Team Hoyt

2007-11-12T13:47:00.000+05:30

Woah.. haven't seen something like this for a while.

Dad & son team running the triathlons / Marathons. Nothing uncommon. Just that the son suffers from cerebral palsy!

Truly awesome.

( Via Dragon )

Discovery!

2007-11-11T17:55:00.000+05:30

'When was the last time you did something for the first time? Keep Discovering' goes Emirates tagline...

Today, is my answer

And yours ?

20 years in 20 years

2007-11-08T20:41:00.000+05:30

Thats the improvement to the new house buyer's profile in India. In the last 20 years, the average age of a new house buyer has reduced from 50-58 years to 30-38 years ( According to a report published in Business Line 2 days ago ) - A clear indication of spending power in the 30-40 year age group. The spending power is just going to penetrate even lower ( 25 year olds, depth ) and to a larger group ( more people in the age group, breadth) in the coming years.

As for me, i have managed to resist the pressure from mom ( who else!! ) and despite the tempting offers she threw in ( offering a small part of the money required!! ).

This step will have to wait for a while..

Illayaraja - At his best !!

2007-11-08T16:19:00.000+05:30

My carnatic-music trained brother sent me the link to this song by Illayaraja. The song is composed by 3 notes SA-RE-GA in carnatic & C,D,E in western. Its a tough one to compose , given the limitations ( to be sung only in the rising note ).

I should admit i couldn't figure out the nuances.

I liked the rhythm , nevertheless.

BITS Pilani, Gym Grounds, Marathon

2007-11-06T10:11:00.000+05:30

Mahesh Krishnamoorthy ran the recently held marathon (42.2 km ) in Columbus, Ohio in 4:26:30.

Something about him...

He and I went to college together and on most days, we were the only ones running on the 400 m oval at the BITS, Pilani grounds in the evenings ( some days, we were the only ones in the ground !! ). And i used to comfortably out run him, every single time !!!

With this reality , both of us decided to enter into a bet ( before we left BITS in 2004). We decided that we will return to the same 400 m oval to do a 50 lap race 28 years later, at 50! ( I was so confident, that i really upped the stakes :) )

Now i realise that the only time i was better, was when we ran during our college days. Last year, when he was down in Chennai, he kicked my back... while i was huffing and puffing to complete the 20 km run, he was cooling off at the end point with the shoes off and waiting for me to finish ( prly 25 mins slower ??? )

and i ran my first marathon and i finished ( ok ok, that talks about my timing ... 5:59 ). And Mahesh ran his first half ( 1:42 !!! ) and just did his first full ( 4:26 !!! ) ( and i say, i ran in INDIA and he in the US !! difficult conditions, i've run in !, my excuse )

I still have 25 years to improve though ... ( am just hoping someone ties him up inside his house in Cincinnati).

This aside - the reason for the improvement. He was extremely dedicated to running. He never misses his run ( lesson for me !! ) . Runs 10k on most days. When i speak to our common pals in Cincinnati, they tell me that if anyone wants to meet with Mahesh, they have to either go to the grounds or to the research lab !! oh yes, the other thing - he just doesn't stop at running. He has been awarded a fellowship to do more research in fluid dynamics ( not sure of specifics ). He won a few awards at a national conference for his work,recently !!

And he says, his running made him more focussed on his research !!

Sooper stuff Yogi! Hope to learn from you :)

Sky high !

2007-10-31T19:59:00.000+05:30

I finally have access to a number of TV Channels - Specifically looking forward to watching a lot of sports ( yaaay ) and Discovery & Nat Geo channels. Been almost 7 years since i watched TV on a regular basis. Thanks to some nice and sooper generous pals - I finally have a TATA SKY satellite TV connection at home.

This is a b'day gift from the bunch ! And i was mighty surprised. Thanks a ton guys and girls!

Ennem Maa Thozhi..

2007-10-30T07:41:00.000+05:30

Sometimes ( very rarely , though ), we end up listening to just one song in a day. Nopes, not just once - One song ALL DAY. With the REPEAT ON, i listened to the folk song by Vedanth Bharadwaj, the whole of yesterday. A bunch of us went for a story telling session on Sunday ( despite the heavy rains) where Vedanth performed. He had us in a trance, to say the least. Was worth wading through the waters... definitely!

This song ( Ennem maa thozhi ) can be found towards the latter part of the You tube video below. Thanks Vedanth for sharing this one.

Video , btw, is made by Vedanth's pal Bindu Malini. Awesome creativity.

Enjoy!

Btw, i have the mp3 of "Ennem maa thozhi...". Mail me if you want this one.

A week and a Weekend

2007-10-21T23:53:00.000+05:30

One 20 hour work day
two 18 hour work days
Packed work week
My Cricket team chasing 189 in 22 overs and winning, on saturday
Meet passionate entrepreneurs on saturday night over drink and fun
Garba and dancing ( ok ok trying to !!) with pals 11 pm to 3 am on saturday midnight
Head home for more fun at my house party with pals , till 5 am ( sorry i slept at 4 !! )
Head out to play ultimate frisbee at 5:30 am ( dark red eyes!! )
Burn lung at the frisbee game
Work on Sunday afternoon
Watch McLaren lose ( :( ) over dinner
Write this post at 12 midnight, Sunday

Love my work and play ( the orders change but the intensity remains!! )

P.S Missed running with ChennaiRunners :( . Damn...

In or Out ?

2007-10-21T23:29:00.000+05:30

Are the In and Out stores found in the petrol pumps - In or Out ?

While filling up diesel at the petrol pump yesterday, the sight of the well stocked "In & Out " store made me think. "In & Out" stores are the retail outlets in most Bharat Petroleum fuel stations.

Am thinking aloud here - Do let me know what you think.

If " In & Out " has to make money, the store has to bring people in. Obviously, the biggest target customers are the people who come to fill fuel. In the western nations, in the absence of a fuel pump attendant, the car drivers / owners fill fuel in their cars on their own and are forced to go into the petrol station office ( in all cases, a retail outlet is a part of the office ).

If we look at the Indian scenario, the petrol pump attendant fills fuel and the car drivers/owners pay cash near the pump and leave away from the station. Also, the space constraints limit the drivers from parking the cars and getting into these retail outlets.

The only time i went into the retail outlet was when a bunch of us were driving around at 2 am and were hunting for a non-alcoholic drink.

Unless customers are drawn into this store, this model may not work.

Would love to hear what you think about this .

Life and Living

2007-10-14T12:12:00.000+05:30

All of us will die. Until then, we can live. Here is a man who has lived fully - Read this , this , this and this.

Beauty & Economics

2007-10-09T10:41:00.000+05:30

Fabrice has this funny post on his blog - a question and answer on Craigslist.

My dear gold medalist ( both BA and MA Economics !! ) friend Archu will find the answer part really interesting!!!

What am I doing wrong?

Okay, I’m tired of beating around the bush. I’m a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I’m articulate and classy. I’m not from New York. I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m overreaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that’s where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won’t get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?

Here are my questions specifically:

- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms

-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won’t hurt my feelings

-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I’m 25)?

- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I’ve seen really ‘plain jane’ boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I’ve seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What’s the story there?

- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?

- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults - I’m putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I’m being up front about it. I wouldn’t be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn’t able to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.

PostingID: 432279810

THE ANSWER:

Dear Pers-431649184:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament. Firstly, I’m not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here’s how I see it.

Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a cr@ppy business deal. Here’s why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity…in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’tbe getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!

So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold…hence the rub…marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease. In case you think I’m being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It’s as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.

Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as “articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful” as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn’t found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation.

With all that said, I must say you’re going about it the right way.
Classic “pump and dump.”

I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

Girls, Running in Marina and Men

2007-10-07T12:32:00.000+05:30

Running on the Marina sands is one of the best running experiences. It feels like you are lugging some 20 kg weight strapped to your legs. It feels even better when you do a 200 metre sprint on a hard road, at the end of the workout - gravity doesn't seem to affect you at all and you can really TAKE OFF!

Ok, that is not the point of this post.

Whenever i've run at Marina ( on the inner tar road ) with a girl, i've a great time (it is because of the company, obviously :P ) !! . It is also really interesting to observe the men ( who form the majority of the morning walkers / joggers and most are in the 30's , 40's and 50's ). Some points..

I stare at men ( ok ok I am quite straight .. ) for like... ages and not one has noticed that ( for he is staring as well )
The velocity of the man in front relative to us decreases considerably from the spotting time till we pass him / them after which it picks up again
When i spot an interesting girl in front of us and coming towards us, then my velocity with respect to her decreseas as well ( oh yes, am not a hypocrite!! )
And if the girl in front has a man in tow, their relative velocity has little change on spotting us ( poor guy.. he doesnt have an option !! )

And yeah, it kind of hit me hard when i saw men staring at my pals - It really makes them uncomfortable with the attention and most times, it interferes a great conversation happening during the run. Sometimes, its hard to be a girl . ( I am not a saint and i sure do have spent times looking at the women ). Having had the opportunity to be almost in the shoes of the girl, i can get the discomfort men sometimes cause ( harmless intent , if i have to defend the men and me)

I Can't Believe...

2007-10-05T10:01:00.000+05:30

+ I can't believe that we are world champions in T20 ( still it hasn't sunk in )

- I can't believe that Joginder Sharma is in the same league as Shane Warne, Glen McGrath , Wasim Akram , Joel Garner, Kapil Dev , Muttiah Muralitharan and a few others ( all are bowlers in cricket world cup winning teams !! ). Wish he proves me wrong, given his domestic cricket credentials.

+ I can't believe that Chennairunners has grown to 280 members and makes a real impact on people's lives every day ( if you don't get what am talking about, join the club )

+ I can't believe the rate at which India and importantly the smaller cities are growing . Clearly, a new India is emerging and suddenly, middle/lower class is seeing and taking advantage of the opportunties to grow big (Real estate prices in Coimbatore has grown some 600-1000% in the suburbs in the last 2-3 years )

+ I can't believe that Frisbee can be a gripping , lung burning , addictive team game ( if you want to experience this, land at Besant Nagar beach at 5:15 am on weekends )

( + positive wonder and - ( you know what i mean !! ) )

Update : Thanks Absdoobs. I believe i got the spelling right now!!

17 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

2007-10-05T09:50:00.000+05:30

Since the last 6-7 months, i've focussed my reading mainly on anything related to entrepreneurship, startups , success stories , lessons learnt and trends in the market among others. The article i found here exactly fit into what i was looking for. Thanks Karthik

Here it is...

John Osher has developed hundreds of consumer products, including an electric toothbrush that became America’s best-selling toothbrush in just 15 months. He also started several successful companies, including Cap Toys. He built sales to $125 million per year and then sold the company to Hasbro Inc. in 1997. But his most lasting contribution to the business world just may be a list of screw-ups he jotted on the back of a piece of paper.

“After I sold my business to Hasbro, I decided I’d make a list of everything I’d done wrong and [had] seen other entrepreneurs do wrong,” explains the 57-year-old Jupiter, Florida, serial entrepreneur. “I wanted to make a company that didn’t make any of these mistakes. I wanted to see if I could come up with the perfect company.”

He came up with an informal list of “16 Mistakes Start-Ups Make”-since expanded to 17-that has been used in a Harvard Business School case study, has been cited in many publications, and has become a part of what he teaches budding entrepreneurs in his frequent university lectures. He also used the list in 1999 when he started Dr. John’s SpinBrush to sell a $5 electric toothbrush that quickly became America’s best-selling toothbrush. In 2001, Procter & Gamble purchased the company from him for $475 million.

“I didn’t expect it to actually work like that, but it did,” Osher says. “It’ll probably never happen again. But we made a perfect business, from the beginning to selling it to another company.” Since then, however, Osher has created another product, an electric dish scrubber that he also sold to Procter & Gamble. And he has yet another health-and-beauty product-development effort underway-although he’s keeping the details close to the vest-in which he’ll try again to create the perfect business.

To home in on what lies behind the 17 mistakes, Osher told Entrepreneur what they are and how you can learn from them to achieve your own level of perfection.

Mistake 1: Failing to spend enough time researching the business idea to see if it’s viable. “This is really the most important mistake of all. They say 9 [out] of 10 entrepreneurs fail because they’re undercapitalized or have the wrong people. I say 9 [out] of 10 people fail because their original concept is not viable. They want to be in business so much that they often don’t do the work they need to do ahead of time, so everything they do is doomed. They can be very talented, do everything else right, and fail because they have ideas that are flawed.”

Mistake 2: Miscalculating market size, timing, ease of entry and potential market share. “Most new entrepreneurs get very excited over an idea and don’t look for the truth about how many people will want to buy it. They put together financial projections as part of a presentation to pump up their investors. They say, ‘The market size is 50 million people that could use this product, and if I could only sell to 2 percent of them, I’d be selling a million pieces.’ But 2 percent of a market is a lot. Most products sell way less than 1 percent.”

Mistake 3: Underestimating financial requirements and timing. “They set their financial requirements based on Mistake 1, and they go ahead and make a commitment to this much office space and this many computers, and hire a vice president of sales, and so on. Before they know it, based on sales projections that were wrong to start with, they have created costs that require those projections to be met. So they run out of money.”

Mistake 4: Overprojecting sales volume and timing. “They have already miscalculated the size of the market. Now they overproject their portion of it. They often say ‘There are 200 million homes, and I need to sell [to] x number of them.’ When you break it down, though, a much smaller number of those are really sales prospects. That makes it impossible to make their sales projections.”

Mistake 5: Making cost projections that are too low. “Their cost projections are always too low. Part of the reason is that they project much higher sales. There are also unknown reasons that always come out that usually make costs higher than planned. So on top of everything, their margins are now lower.”

Mistake 6: Hiring too many people and spending too much on offices and facilities. “Now you have lower sales, higher costs and too much overhead. These are the things that you see every day in companies that fail. And they all grow out of that first mistake: failing to research the size and viability of the opportunity.”

Mistake 7: Lacking a contingency plan for a shortfall in expectations. “Even if you’re realistic in your estimates to start, there are things that happen when you start a new business. Your sales ideas may be no good; bank rates may go up; there may be a shipping strike. These aren’t the result of poor planning, but they happen. More often than not, entrepreneurs just feel that something will come along when they need it. They don’t have contingency plans for it not working out at the size and time they want.”

Mistake 8: Bringing in unnecessary partners. “There are certain partners you need. For instance, you often need money, so you’re going to need money partners. But too many times, the guy with the idea takes on all his friends as partners. Many people don’t provide strategic advantages and don’t warrant ownership. But they’re all going to get 25 percent of the company. It’s totally unnecessary, and it’s a mistake. Before people are made partners, they have to earn it.”

Mistake 9: Hiring for convenience rather than skill requirements. “In my first business or two, I hired relatives. It was easy to do, but in many cases, they were the wrong people [for the job]. And it’s hard to fire people, especially if they’re relatives or friends. More time needs to be spent handpicking people based on skill requirements. You really need super-skilled people who can wear more than one hat. It just bogs you down when you hire people who can’t do the job.”

Mistake 10: Neglecting to manage the entire company as a whole. “You see this happen all the time. They’ll spend half their time doing something that represents 5 percent of their business. You have to have a view of your whole company. But too often, the person running it loses that view. They get involved in a part, and they don’t manage the whole. Whether I do this product or that product, whether I hire somebody, [I consider] how they [will] fit long term and short term in the big picture. Constantly try to see your big picture.”

Mistake 11: Accepting that it’s “not possible” too easily rather than finding a way. “I had an engineer who was a very good engineer, but with every toy we developed, he would say, ‘You can’t do it that way.’ I had to be careful not to accept this too easily. I had to look further. If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re going to break new ground. A lot of people are going to say it’s not possible. You can’t accept that too easily. A good entrepreneur is going to find a way.”

Mistake 12: Focusing too much on sales volume and company size rather than profit. “Too much of your management is often based on volume and size. So many entrepreneurs want to say ‘I have a company that’s this big, with this many people, this many square feet of space, and this much sales.’ It’s too much [emphasis] on how fast and big you can build a business rather than how much profit it can make. Bankers and investors don’t like this. Entrepreneurs are so into creating and building, but they also have to learn to become good [businesspeople].”

Mistake 13: Seeking confirmation of your actions rather than seeking the truth. “This often happens: You want to do something, so you talk about it with people who work for you. You talk to [your] family and friends. But you’re only looking for confirmation; you’re not looking for the truth. You’re looking for somebody to tell you you’re right. But the truth always comes out. So we [test] our products, and we listen to what [the testers] say. We give much more value to the truth than to people saying what we’re doing is great.”

Mistake 14: Lacking simplicity in your vision. “Many entrepreneurs go in too many directions at once and do not execute anything well. Rather than focusing on doing everything right to sell to their biggest markets, they divide the attention of their people and their time, trying to do too many things at [one time]. Then their main product isn’t done properly because they’re doing so many different things. They have an idea and say they’re going to sell it to Wal-Mart. Then they say they’re going to sell to [the] Home Shopping Network. And then the gift market looks good. And so on.”

Mistake 15: Lacking clarity of your long-term aim and business purpose. “You should have an idea of what your long-term aim is. It doesn’t mean that won’t change, but when you aim an arrow, you have to be aiming at a target. This [concept will] often come up when people ask ‘How do I pick a product?’ The answer depends on what you’re trying to do. If you’re trying to [create] a billion-dollar company with this product, it may not have a chance. But if you’re trying to make a $5 million company, it can work. Or if you’re trying to create a company [in which] family members can be employed, it can work. Clarity of your business purpose is very important [but] is often not really part of the thought process.”

Mistake 16: Lacking focus and identity. “This was written from the viewpoint of building the company as a valuable entity. The company itself is also a product. Too many companies try to go after too many targets at once and end up with a potpourri rather than a focused business entity with an identity. When you try to make a business, it’s very important to maintain a focus and an identity. Don’t let it become a potpourri, or it loses its power. For instance, you say, ‘We’re already selling to Kmart, so we might as well make a toy because Kmart buys toys.’ If you do that, the company becomes weaker. A company needs to be focused on what it is. Then its power builds from that.”

Mistake 17: Lacking an exit strategy. “Have an exit plan, and create your business to satisfy that plan. For instance, I am thinking I might run my new business for two years and then get out of it. I think it’s an opportunity to make a tremendous amount of money for two years, but I’m not sure [whether] it’s proprietary enough to stop the competition from getting in. So I’m in with an exit strategy of doing it for two years and then winding down. I won’t commit to long-term leases, and after the first year, we’ll start watching the marketplace very closely and start watching inventories.

Simultaneously, I will keep the option open to sell it in case I can’t get something more proprietary. That means I won’t sign international agreements that would kill any opportunity to sell it to a multinational. I will make sure that the patent work is done properly. And I’ll try to make sure manufacturing is up to the standards of any multinational company that I might try to sell it to.

Another exit strategy can be to hand the company to [your] kids someday. The most important thing to do is to build a company with value and profits so you have all the options: Keep the company, sell the company, go public, raise private money [and so on]. A business can be a product, too.”

Phenomenal - Randy Pausch

2007-10-03T23:47:00.000+05:30

When this man and this man talk, we better listen. When they recommend you to do something, we better do ( Will be too silly, if someone asks me why.. ). I did just that . After a long day ( but fun day ) at work, the best thing i could've done is listen to Randy Pausch speak.

He is just PHENOMENAL. The lecture is about an hour and 25 mins long - please do watch/listen all of it. I stayed awake all through the lecture after a 16 hour day and really wished i could watch the man one more time. The talk is on "Really Achieving your Childhood Dreams "

Some notes from the last trip to Coimbatore...

2007-10-03T11:20:00.000+05:30

Had to reach Coimbatore at 8 pm on friday, last. Had a ticket in the 6:50 PM Paramount airways flight from Chennai to Coimbatore. Started from my home at 5:15 PM, in the pouring rain to catch the flight ( thought the rains would keep the roads free and i could reach the airport on time ). I was almost right, till the auto crossed the first km, when we faced a massive traffic jam. Then the interesting bit - the smart auto driver got off the "main road", drove through the narrow lanes ( sometimes just the width of the auto) even though it costed him more to ferry me, once almost did a 90* spin trying to avoid a careless driver , went out of his way to keep me and my bags shielded from the pouring rain , asked for just Rs.100 from my house to the Airport ( the usual price i pay, without any bargaining from my side and despite the rain) and ensured i caught my flight on time. All this because i mentioned that i might be running late to catch a flight. I gave him an extra 30 bucks ( only because i just had a 500 on me . He deserved atleast a 50 )
Have flown by Paramount Airways flight twice so far. I'm IMPRESSED. At the cost of the economy flight ticket fare charged by other airlines, Paramount offers amazing service. The airline is miles ahead of the others operating in the country, currently. Jet Airways in its early days ( it is still going strong ) is the closest match to Paramount's service. Surely, if Paramount comes out with an IPO, i will fight to be the first in the queue ( if i have money, i.e )
Bro, another cousin R and I were talking about the profits of some industries located in Coimbatore. Another cousin S ( who has no access to the business world, no financial reports, no one talking serious business stuff around him ) was listening in to our conversation, butts in and tells a figure. We asked him how he got this number, since it was so close to the actual profits of the company. His answer " Probably about 2000 people are working in that company, each of them will contribute about 20,000 Rs in profits , so the total profit might be about 4 crore ". I was stunned. He is only in class 9.

Runs N Wickets

2007-09-29T08:19:00.000+05:30

If you want to score your runs and take the opponent's wickets, join RunsNWickets.

That is the cricket team i play for. We are a bunch of passionate cricketers who meet up every weekend for a hit in the NETS or play a match. We also meet online using the google groups where the finer details about the game are shared and discussed.

Some photos from a recent game at Madras Christian College ( MCC) ground at Tambaram - One of the most scenic grounds i've played .

The green ground..

Vinoth ( Our keeper-batsman, who has played for TN under 17 team ) shows defense..

That is me, going hard after a cricket ball ..

Needless to say who won the game :)

My Paaatiee

2007-09-28T23:12:00.000+05:30

She is the nicest lady i've ever met, the most caring person, totally pure - have never heard her say anything bad against anyone , she was almost like a kid - very innocent ( managed to take her innocence to the grave, quite an achievement considering the world she was in ) , she gave the best of education to her 6 kids ( all this despite being an ordinary worker in a textile mill ), sweated it out all her life ( if i was awake, i have never seen her sleeping after 5 am and she was always wide awake till 10 pm ) , went out of her way to feed a hungry soul , Never said NO when asked for any help, had amazing energy all her life (during her active days - she worked from morning 6 am to 4 pm and held the fort steady at home till 10 pm and she also walked from Coimbatore to Palani ( 150 km ) every year), brought up each of her grand kids in the best possible way, told us the stories - ( I looked forward to her stories of "those days" during bed time, whenever she stayed with us ) and she always had a beautiful smile on her face - My Paaaatieee, she was the bestest...

May her soul rest in peace.

ECR Run # 3

2007-09-27T10:19:00.000+05:30

ChennaiRunners had the big run for the quarter on September 16th.

No of Runners : 36
Total Distance : 26 km approx
Route : Toll booth on the ECR to Mamalla Beach Resort at Mahabalipuram

We called this event 40 x 30 - 40 people attempting 30 km run and we almost met the target. Runners met at 3:45 am at Dimensions Gym in Alwarpet and car pooled to the start point ( Toll Booth).

We had 2 cars that worked as mobile water points - they stopped every 5 km for the runners to get hydrated. Thanks to volunteers Savitri madam ( she is 50+ and her energy is amazing. She wants to finish a marathon very soon ), Ravikrishnan, Srivats, Jayant, Ramesh's driver and Bhargav's pal. They egged the runners on and supported us all the way to the finish line.

Weather aided out efforts - We never saw the sun till we reached the finish line. The finish point ( Mamalla Resort ) had ample space for us to walk around and some of us even took a dip in the sea. The weightlessness in the sea after the 26 km of pounding the leg received is just heavenly.

After a sumptuous meal and a fanatastic time with the runners, we left back to the start point. The runs always bring out great camaraderie at the finish line. It is almost as if the runners want to break free and make up for the "lonely" running moments...

Some photos

Ravi and Sundar at a water point. Savitri and Srivats , the enthusiastic volunteers.
Ram speeding away on the ECR ...
Shiva - 0 to 30 km in 3 months!!

Relaxing at the Mamalla

Sumptuous breakfast at Mamalla !!!

Hope to target 50 X 30 for the next run.

T20 - Some thoughts

2007-09-25T07:27:00.000+05:30

Totally enjoyed watching the T20 final ( Finals and the semi's are the only games i watched ). Some thoughts about the game, Indian cricket and more..

T20 is surely cricket's answer to the basketball challenge. Americans went the basketball way since the game offered excitement and uncertainity every second of the game and the game itself lasted only about 1.5 hours. From, what we saw in the worldcup, T20 can clearly match up to the "American" challenge
T20 world cup in 15 years will surely see stiff competition from the countries in the Americas
T20 worldcup in 15 years will probably structured the same way as the football world cup ( regional level competitions and then the world stage )
Bowlers need to be accurate all the time and have 2-3 types of deliveries to keep the batsman guessing. The 07 T20 finals saw Harbhajan being smashed for sixes. Harbhajan was attempting to just bowl 1 type of a ball ( fire the yorker in ) and the batsman can, by default, wait on the front foot to smash him. This puts the bowler under a lot of pressure to pitch on the right spot , ball after ball. On the other hand, Irfan Pathan kept mixing the balls - one was a slow offcutter, another was a quicker one, a short one ( at Afridi ), a fuller one and he was clearly successful
Also, the T20 worldcup clearly showed that the batsman has to have solid batting skills to excel. The batsmen who smashed - Yuvraj, Hayden, Misbah and others had a clear method to their hitting. T20 may not bring out the same grace from the batsman as a TEST match does, but it will surely match up to the One day international levels.
As a result of T20 games, if the One day international games are played ( i see the one day games dying out very soon ), the 50 over a side games will see totals of 400+ being scored regularly
Lastly, i couldn't feel more sorry for Sachin - He gave his everything for the Indian team for 17 years. Sometimes, it was as if he was the only guy who was playing straight - literally and otherwise. He deserved that world cup the Indian boys won as much as guys such as Yuvraj, RP Singh and Dhoni, if not more. He should have been a part of the team. That cup should be dedicated to his contribution for the Indian cricket. ( Joginder must be one lucky guy on planet earth. He kept bowling at all places on the pitch and still managed to be a part of the world cup winning side). Sorry Sachin - Life is really cruel sometimes

Things i will do before i kick the bucket

2007-09-16T14:53:00.000+05:30

Here is a dream "to do" list - things i will do before i kick the bucket ( have more to add than that appears here and will do so at an appropriate time )

~~Finish a Marathon ( Finished the Bangalore 2006 and Mumbai 2007 marathons )~~
Run a Marathon in under 3 hours and 30 mins
Take a cricket team to tournament victory ( Corporate league or local divisional league )
Write a book
Play the guitar
Learn to dance comfortably ( move away from my current embarassing moves on the floor!! )
Keep playing active sports ( run marathons, play cricket, badminton , tennis etc ) even after 70's
Have a house by the beach
Have a house in the hills
Build a lasting entreprise
Drive on an F1 track ( If not an F1 car, atleast a Ferrari )
Do cross country biking ( Atleast 1000 km )
Learn to cook !!!
Learn to speak Hindi and French ( at the least! )
Read biology lessons again ( i sucked at it at school and want to have a another go !! )
~~Win a competitive 100 m race ( Have won at school, college levels )~~
~~Set a record in Athletics at a competitive level ( 400 m junior Coimbatore record is in my name~~ ~~J )~~
Finish a triathlon race
Travel to all the continents
Explore a rain forest
Travel around India on a Rs.100 a day budget
Ride through the tour de france mountain section
Read the college physics book again ( and understand the concepts )
Build a car from scratch
Become more energy efficient ( thanks to my bro's inspiration )
Fly an aircraft
Learn to be efficient when working 14+ hours
Use few words to convey a point and do so convincingly
....

This will be a rolling blog post - will update when the time is RIGHT to add to the list / crossed the action.

Am tagging my buddies below, to come up with a similar blog post

Amie
Anu
Nithya
Sumi
Abhinav
Arvind / Neeru
Boston

Children !

2007-09-15T15:38:00.000+05:30

Went to a pal's place recently and spoke to his kid( who is in LKG) for a short while. I realise, as i write now, that the last time i interacted at length with a small kid was when my cousin brother ( who is in class 6 ) was 6-7 years younger!

The innocence, their questions, their answers to our questions, their tone, laugh, walk, interests, experessions, actions... one will only fall head over heals for those, like i did

Some memories...

I asked the kid , what his favourite colors were - he said " i like whyteeee and bleeuuu ( expression being happy excitement and wide grin... ). I like my shirts to be whyteeee... just like my teeth ( he had a wide grin... and pointed to his teeth and told us how white it should be..) "

He was playing with his toys, mainly cars. He fished out some toys, from the bag, which included a dump truck. His dad tried to join his "play" with the dump truck and his typical kid response "Appa, don't play with the dump truck. The dirt ( since it "carries" waste and not the toy being dusty ) will enter into your eyes... "

Thoroughly bathed myself in the innocense ...

This kid is super active and super smart.. someone to watch out for !!

Chennai Runners on India Today

2007-09-10T08:40:00.000+05:30

India Today has a piece on Chennai Runners in its edition dated 17th September 07. The "Simply Chennai" section has this piece. It was 2 weeks ago, when the runners met with the India Today Photographer and the correspondent at Anna university grounds. After a number repeated routines to get the right picture ( and spending an hour in the process and having fun.. ), the memory card in the photohrapher's high tech camera gave up!! and we did the same routine again a few days later.

Here are the scanned pages - Thanks to Ram for these!

Hope more of you join us for the early morning runs - 256 is current group size. Check www.chennairunners.com

On Turning 25...

2007-09-10T07:17:00.000+05:30

Have gone past a yearly milestone for the past 25 years, but the last crossing ( just over a week ago) is clearly taking me into a new world . I can clearly see the transition, with its hazy beginings 6-7 months ago, becoming more clear. If look back at the last 25 years, i had 2 BIG dreams - One was to play cricket for india ( Day dream, as it turned out to be... ) and the other to be a successful entrepreneur.

Though i have played Cricket at reasonably competitive levels, i was far away from the dreams. Never worked towards it - Spent the extra 3 hours required everyday to hone the cricket skills in studying !! The fear of falling flat on my face made me take a safe decision - to study. The trade offs we make always takes to the point of no return. Yes, i do play cricket still ( it energises me everytime i play - its my recharge point ) but far far away from where i wanted to be ... it turned out to be an unreal dream !

With the entrepreneur dream, having learnt from my previous mistakes, am putting myself on the line. Am not going to be safe and i hope to be doing a "turning 50" post with more positives to it than the current one. It sure will be an exciting next 25 and more...

And for the crossing itself, it turned to be very memorable - thanks to some thoughtful pals !

The surprise landing at my place with the cake was easily the best - thanks :) ( best surprises come cheap !! ), the chirpy afternoon/quiet evening drive to mahabs and back, the calls at the stroke of 12, calls and messages on "both days" ( if you know what that is ), the calls from London, Bombay, Bangalore, TN and Costa Rica, the many messages on orkut, the sms at 3:06 pm on 29th , the dunking into the sea at besant beach after the frisbee, the mails and the quiet dinner and the breakfast and many more - It sure was a memorable "crossing" !

Thanks for making me feel really special .

Update - Apologise to the person who called up at 6 am on 29th and sang a beautiful " Happy B'day" song . Am really sorry to have missed this out.

Shauk Hai - Rahman's best!

2007-09-09T14:16:00.000+05:30

Anu has an amazing ear for music - digs out some brilliant ones from the repository, every now and then! Am hooked to her latest discovery - Have been listening non-stop for over an hour before this post! Thanks girl !

Surely, this song will rank as one of Rahman's best.

My hindi "Knowledge" required that i google for the translation of lyrics - Lyrics are beautiful
Thanks to Arvind, for the lyrics and translation.

( I have an mp3 version as well. Mail me (karthikeyan.vijayakumar at gmail.com) if you want this one).

Raat ka shauk hai
I aspire of the night

Raat ki saundhi si khamoshi ka
That earthen silence of the night

Shauk hai
I aspire

Subha ki roshni
That light of the morning

Bezubaan subho ki aur gungunati
Humming toward the mum morning

Roshni ka Shauk hai, ho shauk hai
I aspire of light, oh…I aspire

San sani anwlon ka
Of those pungency of amlas (I aspire to taste)

Ke ishq ke banwlon ka
Of those crazyness of the lovers (I aspire to have)

San sani anwle
Those pungent amlas

Ke ishq ke banwle
Those crazy lovers

Barf se khelte badolon ka
Of those clouds playing with the ice

Shauk hai
I aspire (to touch)

Kaash ye zindagi Khel hi khel mein kho gayi hoti
I wish this life were a child's play

Raat ka shauk hai
I aspire of night

Neend ki goliyon ka
Of those sleeping peels (I aspire)

Khwab ke loriyon ka
Of those lullabies of dreams (I aspire to listen)

Neend ki goliyan
Those sleeping peels

Khwab ke loriyan
Those lullabies of dreams

Bezubaan aus ki boliyon ka
Of those (unsaid) words of mum dews (I aspire to listen)

Shauk hai
I aspire

Kaash ye zindagi binkahe binsune so gayi hoti
I wish this life had gone to sleep without saying or listening
anything

Subha ki roshni
That light of the morning

Bezubaan subho ki aur gungunati
Humming toward the mum morning

Roshni ka Shauk hai, ho shauk hai
I aspire of light, oh…I aspire

The Man who Moved the Mountains..

2007-09-05T10:35:00.000+05:30

"Every morning, for 22 long years, a frail, diminutive man, barefoot and clad in a loin cloth, would trudge two kilometres to a hillock of solid rock and chip away at it with a hammer and chisel. Bemused onlookers thought he had lost his mind, and he was an object of great fun for village urchins. But the women of the village, young and old, admired him, for his was a labour of love "

- You can be rich, you can be powerful, and you can be famous, but you won't amount to much of anything until you change the world-

"Dasrath Manjhi was building a memorial to his wife Phaguni Devi—one that won't ever find a place in hallowed global must-visit lists, but can well be passed down from this generation to the next as a monument of love. A poor man's Taj, literally. Not for its aesthetics, but for the way it symbolises the human spirit's capacity to endure, its indomitability. Dasrath had undertaken a Herculean task, perhaps unequalled in recent human history. The direct beneficiaries may be few—the residents of Gelaur, a remote hamlet in Bihar's Gaya district—but the act itself is a gift to us all: a fable for our times."

More here

Its really amazing, the extent a human being can go to conquer something .. if they set their minds to it ...

Sports Story #4 : Spectator and more

2007-09-04T07:19:00.000+05:30

Of the many gripes about sports in India, there is nothing more damaging than the lack of spectator interest in the games beyond the national stage. Support and encouragement to the sports and games played at the local level will be a big boost to the sports in general and players in specific. My friend in the US regularly talks about going to watch his local football team play. He and his friends take a picnic meal along and enjoy the weekend supporting and appreciating the local league games. In contrast, the only people who turn up at the local games in India are the player's family.

Can this situation change ? ...I don't have an answer. But i do know of someone who stands by a cricket team like a rock in India - In an earlier life, i used to captain the cricket team of Frost & Sullivan in Chennai. This highly enthusiastic team used to play competitive cricket against other corporate teams almost every other weekend. We always could count on this person to turn up and support the team - whether the game happens at the easy to access, in-city grounds such as St.Bedes or the grounds that are miles away and have to be reached through "national highways" ( Yes yes, grounds beyond Tambaram in Chennai ).

She has played the role of a 12th man taking water to the thirsty souls in the burning heat in May, been the cricket scorer when the players dumped the work on her , team's photographer clicking away the snaps and promptly mailing it to the players for "keeps", Run around and organise farewell gifts for players moving away from the team ( Cricket and Frost ) and importantly, cheer the players ball after ball ... For over a year now.

If only we had many more of her tribe, am sure there would be some positive change in the sporting culture in India.

Thanks AC !!

Here is a video she put together ... That was one of the best teams i've been a part of and it shows in the photos!!

Spyware , Adware, Spybot , Ad-Aware and More

2007-08-19T22:31:00.000+05:30

Am trying to show off my knowledge on computer security here - Recent addition to my knowledge repository . When you spend all Sunday reading and working on straightening out the security bit , you are allowed that freedom to show off, even if thats not the intention. If you are reading this piece, you must do the following to save your Sunday for other things..

Install Spybot and Ad-Aware .

If you are using XP or Vista, ensure the firewall settings are resonably tight. Both are free to install legally. Inaddition to the regular anti-virus, these are must-haves. They help to identify any spyware, adware or malware in your computer.

My computer was accessed into and the hacker had left "Key logger" and "Adwares" in my laptop. All my key strokes were stored and sent to the hacker. Thankfully, my bank and credit card accounts are safe, though i have been using online banking quite often these days. Am no longer the administrator of my computer and don't have access to Control Panel, Registry Editor etc.

Was working long days for sometime now and was looking forward to this Sunday to take it easy. But, to waste a Sunday tending to the computer, killed me. I could've done fun things .. like a neat blog post, play cricket or read - things i really was looking forward to. Things happen , when you least expect them to - both the good and the bad .

And am going to spend all of tomorrow on formating the hard disk and reinstalling millions of applications. Great start to the week !!

(And all through this , i never lost my cool - Something i worked on , in the past few months! )

John D Rockefeller

2007-08-13T13:08:00.000+05:30

Sorry guys. Not finding time to post often ( Best excuse for not being productive !! ).

Found the following piece here ( Fabrice never ceases to amaze with his range of thoughts, must read for everyone! ).

Patience and Thrift by John D. Rockefeller
Patience:

All the while, John Rockefeller, with the dogged patience that would defeat scores of embattled competitors, waited determinedly in the wings. …
Rockefeller succeeded because he believed in the long term prospects of the business and never treated it as a mirage that would soon fade.

Thrift:

Again, like Weber’s ideal capitalist, “he avoids ostentation and unnecessary expenditure, as well as conscious enjoyment of hispower, and is embarrassed by the outward signs of the socialrecognition which he receives.”

By avoiding talk of money as unbecoming, Rockefeller concealed from his children the magnitude of his fortune. When Bessie [daughter]enrolled at Vassar in the mid-1880s … she went on a shopping expedition with some classmates to purchase a Christmas present for a favorite teacher. At a Manhattan store, they found the perfect gift: a $100 desk. Since Bessie and her companions had only $75, they asked the merchant if he could wait a fewdays for the remaining $25. He agreed to do so if a New York businessman would vouch for them. “My father is in business,”Bessie offered meekly. “He will vouch for us.” Who is your father? asked the man. “His name is Mr. Rockefeller,” she said. “John D. Rockefeller; he is in the oil business.”The merchant gasped. “John D. Rockefeller your father!” When he agreed to ship the furniture, Bessie imagined he had merely changed his mind to please them.

Dislike of show-offs:

Rockefeller and Morgan were antithetical types, offering a vivid contrast between the ascetic and the sybarite, the Roundhead and the Vavalier. As the chieftain of the Anglo-American financial establishment, the wellborn Morgan, expensively educated in America and Europe, was a consummate insider inthe business world. … Blustery and theatrical, Morgan was impetuous and hot-blooded… At his headquarters at 23 WallStreet, he often seemed harried, ruling by brilliant snap judgements. Fond of luxury, Morgan inhabited the world of the ultrarich, with their gargantuan cigars, fine port, and oversized steam yachts.
For Rockefeller, Morgan embodied all the sins of pride, luxury,and arrogance. When they first met … they took an instant dislike to each other.

[Rockefeller’s] retirement was equally remarkable for its omissions. For instance, he lacked the wanderlust that infected other rich men, such as J.P. Morgan, in their later years. He never collected art or exploited his wealth to broaden his connections or cultivate fancy people. … He showed no interestin old-money clubs, parties, or organizations. … When someone expressed surprise to Rockefeller that he had not gotten a big head, he replied, “Only fools get swelled up over money.”Comfortable with himself, he needed no outward validation of what he had accomplished. We can criticize him for lack of imagination, but not for weakness.

True philanthropy (as opposed to self aggrandization in the guise of philanthropy):

Before Rockefeller came along, rich benefactors had tended to promote pet institutions (symphony orchestras, art museums,or schools) or to bequeath buildings (hospitals, dormatories,orphanages) that bore their names and attested to their magnanimity. Rockefeller’s philanthropy was more oriented toward the creation of knowledge, and if it seemed more impersonal, it was also far more pervasive in its effect.

John D. Rockefeller Quotes

“I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money-making has never been my goal, I had an ambition to build.”

“The person who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed; you must have a larger ambition. There is no mystery in business success. If you do each day’s task successfully, and stay faithfully within these natural operations of commercial laws which I talk so much about, and keep your head clear, you will come out all right.”

“Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it.”

“Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one’s aim.”

“Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty.”

“If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.”