A Short Movie on 'Deepam'

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

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

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

1. 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 )
2. 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
3. Cricket - Play 1 tournament with RunsNWickets. Practise for 2 months before the tournament
4. 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

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

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

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

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

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

Am running this one.. Are you ???

Chennai Runners presents ECR8, in association with APOLLO DKV.

Register Now at www.chennairunners.com (Last date for registration is October 15, 2008) 

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

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