Kumarakom

Last year same time we were in Kumarakom. When I planned this outing, I had no idea what was in store for us. I chose a resort by doing lots of research on the net. My two colleagues with their family also joined for this trip. We were able to get train tickets also on very short notice.

We reached Ernakulum at 4.00 AM early morning. Resort had arranged a pick up taxi for us from Ernakulum Railway station. Before proceeding we had hot cup of tea and coffee per our individual preferences.

As we started nearing Kumarakom, we could see things more clearly as daylight was more pronounced. Endless stretch of water, lagoons, coconut trees, small boats. Everything seemed so majestic and soothing. We were mesmerized by the landscape and were totally amazed by the absence of city noise and bustling, that we are so accustomed to.

Now came the most surprising part. The taxi guy dropped us at one of the banks on water . He said rest of journey to the resort will be covered by motor boat. Little Kuhoo was so much existed by all this. Even though she was feeling sleepy, she was having lots of fun, particularly because of boat ride. The motor boat dropped us the resort to enjoy rest of our trip amid coconut trees and lots of natural beauty.

Resort had well appointed rooms and lots of open spaces for fun and exploration. My wife was happy with Food hygiene and Quality. We had booked one day Boat safari as part of this trip. This was the most amazing part of Journey. Nobody can imagine the life on these house boats. Strongly built as per every rule and norm of tradition, held together by coir ropes without a nail in sight, the houseboat redefines luxury with its shining wooden floors and luxurious amenities. Moreover, immerse in the amazing, never-ending, display of nature’s magical performances on the sundeck. Two experienced boatmen navigate you through tranquil stretches of Kerala’s favourite backwaters. A personal chef well-versed in tantalizing Kerala delicacies and seafood delights will be at your beck and call with choicest gourmet delights.

We had experience of life time on the House boat. The only thing which pinched me was the detorating state of Vembanad lake. It was full of weeds and silt. It needs to be regularly cleaned and de-silted to retain its original glory and charm. This will benefit both the locals and nature lovers.

Austerity drive

Safety week, Innovation drive, productivity initiatives and latest in the list Austerity Drives. It seems like we need these terms to remind us on basics of professionalism. Do we need to coin these terms to bring out the best in us in our workplaces? Are we not supposed to follow them every time and everywhere?

It’s good to have a symbolic way of expressing solidarity with initiatives that we associate with. My problem is, when they just become a ritual and are disbanded as soon as we forget them. Safety and innovation is way of life. We don’t need to follow it for a week or month. Similarly people in public life are supposed have an austere way of living. It’s not if that they suddenly remember one fine day that they have to lead an austere life now. Now everyday we hear one or other way politician coming out with his unique way of supporting austerity drive.

The mantra of simple living has to come from inside. It’s not something that can be imposed overnight. Also we have to remember that normal public should not suffer just because a politician wants to exhibit his Austerity drive. Also sometimes the cost of maintaining austerity drive for a politician can be higher than if he had not chosen this path. Sarojini Naidu once remarked “It costs a lot to keep him poor.”

I also need to look at cost cutting. But then I have been doing this for all my career. Every time we have cut one cost or another!!! May be there are still some more to be trimmed!! Kuhooji’s advice needed….

Sach ka Samna..

For last few weeks I have been caught up with heavily on my office front, because of relocating to new campus. To re-locate to a new campus, when so much hardware movement is involved is quite a challenge. We have got now ample space in new set up and it should offset the pain of spending more time in daily commuting.

I have been watching few episodes of “Sach ka Samna”. It’s quite amazing how people come out in open and talk about their deepest secrets. I am surprised that no one has been able to answer all the 21 questions. Does this means it’s so hard to speak truth consistently? I may agree partly with this. It’s easy and convenient to speak truth in parts. It becomes increasingly difficult to hold high the flag of truth consistently.

Kuhooji is asking me to tell good story for her puppet show in School tomorrow. I have to go for now. I wonder why she is asking me tell her a story when she herself is so good in making up a story!!!!

Indian postal service

I have experienced this many times. Most of our mails, parcels and deliveries come by some courier company. Gone are old days when your familiar postman used to deliver all your letters, cards and parcels. I have not witnessed a post man now for many years. It may be a bit of exaggeration but my touch with my postman is not there.

This scenario makes us feel that there is no need of Indian post office department. I have to admit that if you feel like this you are not close to truth. Truth is, Indian Postal department is still a powerful mechanism used by many people to deliver posts.

I will tell you my personal experience. My wife gave me two packets of “ Raksha bandhan” to be sent to our relatives. One packet was for international destination and other within the country. As always I was perplexed on what mode to choose. I thought I will try a courier company attached with my office. For international destination, the courier company demanded Eight hundred and fifty rupees. For the other one they demanded something within Hundred. I asked them if they had any other cheaper option. They said No Sir. I thought, let me try Indian post office.

I went to my nearest post office and asked them how I can send my two packets. I was informed that I had at least three options. Ordinary mail, Registered mail and Speed post. The price for international speed post was five hundred thirty, much less than what courier guys were demanding. Surprise was registered post. Price for international registered post was only Sixty eight rupees. I readily agreed with this option.

I really felt very happy utilizing the services of Indian post office. Indian post office is the only one agency which provides so many options to suit all economic strata. They are also very efficient. It took me hardly two minutes to post two packets. I also got a printer receipt for my transaction. I think this is what I was looking for. Indian postal department has upgraded itself with time. They are still the most reliable and economic handlers of all our postal solutions. Apart from this they do lots many other services like handling NSC bonds, postal deposits, various schemes and so many other things. So, next time before dismissing Indian postal department, please think twice. They me be your best friends.

Reforms in Education system

There has recently been lots of Buzz around reform in our education system, especially Schooling system. New Education minister Mr. Kabil Sibbal is seen as making some sincere effort in making improvements to our Education system. He wants to start with making some changes to CBSE Board. First of his many suggestions is to remove class 10th Board examination from Schools, which have classes till Class 12th. There is lot of debate in the country whether it is right or wrong. I agree with the logic forwarded by Mr. Sibbal that there is no need for a common exam if the student has to remain in the same school. I agree that 10th Class Board exam puts lots of unnecessary pressure on parents and children. It seriously hampers any pursuit of hobbies and extracurricular activities by Children as they focus only on Board exams.

There has been lots of noise made on our education system, which makes children Good in cramming and mugging up the lessons instead of wholesome learning. I have slightly divergent views on this. From time immemorial Indian Education system has stressed lots on “learning by heart”. Kids use to learns by heart all the slokas in Gurukool. There was a very structured way for learning the wisdom from Books and Literature. This skill of our Children has held us in good stead by making us very fast in calculations and logical interpretations. I think, “learn by Heart” skill is very necessary for kid’s growth process. It provides right stimulus for memory and helps in proper development of Brain. Indians all over world are recognized today for their ability with high learning and fast calculations. Let us recognize this achievement of ours and don’t do anything, which washes away this skill set from our future generation.

Let us do a thorough review of our Education system. Let us weed away unnecessary roadblocks and stress more on overall learning. Let us bring more in terms of skill development. While doing all this, let us also retain whatever Good things our current system has. Let us not wash away everything in our enthusiasm to get something new.

What a comparison?

If I didn’t had to compare myself with others… I feel root of all sins on our planet is this ability to compare with others. “Doing Comparison” is a skill inherent in all Mortals. People compare everything, be it Money, Fame, Health, Possession, Family, Color, Creed, and everything else one can imagine. For a moment imagine this. What if we loose this ability to compare? Wow!!!!! What happens? Everything that I have is looked in absolute terms. The theory of relativity is thrown in dustbin ( Mr. Einstein’s spirit may please excuse me. I don’t have anything against his postulates). I am happy with whatever I have with me. I don’t have to bother with what my office colleague or neighbor has got. I won’t be craning my neck to see what is served on my neighbor’s plate. I won’t bother if my colleague’s kid’s topped or failed in his school exams. I won’t bother if my friend brought a new sedan. I won’t bother if he just upgraded to a LCD display TV in his home. I will be happy in my own World. I won’t be distracted by worldly possession of others. I will be contended and eternally satisfied. May be this is what they call “Moksha”. Hmmmm… I am going too far??

On a lighter note: Kuhooji( for uninitiated , Kuhoo is my 5 year daughter)admonished me once again. I feel she has no job other than coaching me. Today it was for leaving Rice on lunch plate. She asked her Mumma not to give me Rice anymore as punishment. If this thing continues I will have to start eating everything that is served to me. This looks somewhat difficult for a guy like me, who always makes some excuse for some food item or other. I guess things have to change soon. Kuhooji is not going to let me relax on this account.

How costly are tomatoes?

The storm has ebbed. Storm "Aila" has subdued now and it has left a vast stretch of destruction and death behind it. Also there has been this Violence eruption in Punjab. People are stranded because of disruption in traffic. Vaishno Devi pilgrims are having a tough time to find suitable mode of transportation. One of my close relatives is also caught in this. These events make one feel the fickleness and helplessness in our lives.

On lunch table today my 5 year daughter Kuhoo was once again giving me a piece of thought. She said “You know from where the tomatoes come?” I was about to answer it when she cut me short. “I will tell you. They come from market.” She said in a sermonizing tone. I was puzzled. So what’s the big deal in this? She was in no mood to spare me. She carried on “As you have not finished completely the tomato Soup in your bowl, it will get wasted.” I knew where she was leading me. To buy tomatoes we have to pay money and you are wasting money by not drinking it. Samjhe!!!! From the corner of my eyes I could see my wife Giggling.

What makes you happy?

I really feel happy when I am in middle of some work which I am passionately involved with.

I really feel happy when I stretch my limits and try to accomplish something which is out of my range.

I feel happy when some one talks his or her heart out to me. Same is the case when I open my Heart to somebody. Most of the times these chats don’t have any specific purpose .

I feel happy when an Infant smiles at me and tries to communicate in a language which is know to only to him.

I feel happy when my little 5 year old Kuhoo lectures me on everything under Sun. She just keeps on flooding me with all her Sermons. She tells me what is right and what is wrong. I just have no logic to counter her arguments.

I feel happy when on a given day everything starts falling as per my wish. On some special days it seems God bestows me with some extra power. I can do anything that day and I sense a feeling of achievement in all my actions.

I feel happy when I listen to an old Folk or semi classical song from my old Collection. It just takes me to my Childhood days.

I feel happy when people around me Smile and laugh their heart out.

At last..

So elections results are out. It’s quite a decisive mandate. Indians have preferred stability over ever every other issue. Left parties have taken a big set back in these elections. They need to do a re-think on the policies and plans adopted by them. I seriously think they need to re-invent themselves. They have to stop being dogmatic and start taking more futuristic look in their policies.

BJP had hoped Big in these elections. In retrospect it looks like they were being too optimistic. Saffron party was unable to raise an issue which touched Indian electorate’s chords. Party needs to bring up mass base leaders who can re-galvanize the party at the grass roots. In short they need their own Rahul Gandhi.

Congress needs to grab this opportunity with both hands and go full throttle on the much needed administrative and financial reforms. It needs to work big way on creating Infrastructure projects. Country needs to create huge Infrastructure in shortest time possible. Power reforms are badly needed. Some key decisions need to be taken regarding FDI investment in Retail and Insurance. Our Civil services and internal security badly need Reforms and push from Central Government. I am sure Congress leaders are aware about it and they will not spare any effort in overcoming all the issues. Man Mohan Singh has unique opportunity to become a legend in his lifetime.

Which side you are...

Yesterday’s match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians was fantastic. Warnie has displayed his leadership skills in many such nail biting finish situations. He comes out as a leader who has full belief in his team and keeps his lads always super charged and motivated. He does not give away any match easily. He trusts the skills of his players and is always optimistic in any match situation. IPL is nearing the semi final stage shortly. Delhi Daredevils have confirmed their birth in Semis. There is going to be a tough fight for remaining three positions.

It’s great to see TV studio debates between political parties representatives. I only have one grouse against it. I keep on seeing the same faces regularly. The debates are looking very predictable and some times you are put off by hearing the same person across all news channels. I feel Political parties should nominate many more young faces from their party for such political debates. This will provide many more ideas and freshness to debates in TV studios. Mr. Manu Singhvi, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad , Mrs.Jayanti Natarajan and other spokes persons of the parties will also get much needed break from their monotony.

Kuhoo said today “Daddy I am not in your party. I am with Mumma.” I said what will make you switch to my party. May be some chocolates or Gol-gappe.. She thought over it and said she will reply on weekend!!!. So off I go and wait for weekend to know who is on which side.

Have a nice time and great weekend….

After a long time

I have been trying to watch IPL matches. I must frankly admit that matches don’t seem to be so interesting as in season one. Somehow the Zing is missing in this season. Also very few matches are high scoring ones. I have not been able to watch even a single match non stop from start to end. The other reason may be because match timings coincide with my Wife’s Soap opera timings. Any sane husband would dare disturb his better half’s daily TV viewing schedule. I am also reading Fake IPL players blog. This one looks quite interesting.

Last month has been election time. I am an avid political watcher. I have a very keen interest in politics of our Country. This is the reason for my immense love for News channels. Problem is, I find very few people with similar interest. Coming back to elections, I don’t see any wisdom in organizing it at peak of summer season. This has lead to drop in poll percentages. It looks like it may be some kind of repeat of 2004 Lok sabha elections. Same set of players with some alterations may make a bid for Power once again. I personally feel that we may be in for some surprise. Let’s wait for 16th may to have more clarity on this.

Political parties fight with each other tooth and nail during elections and then form an alliance later to form a Government. This is not a right practice. This needs to be stopped. It’s making a mockery of Indian voters. Parties need to form a pre- poll alliance before going for elections. They should stick to the same alliance and no changes in compositions should be allowed. This can only be achieved by making a law or doing changes in public representation act. I pray that this will be done soon.

Lately I have a feeling that I am searching for some thing. This is now there for past so many weeks. I still have to find what am I searching for? I need to know it very fast and close this chapter of searching as soon as possible.

Nirvana through eating!!!!

How and what you eat can say a lot about you. First thing it tells is how evolved you are. I have always admired people with Good knowledge of different varieties of cuisines and delicacies. Needless to say I am also big fan of cookery shows on Television. I enjoy watching hosts giving us insights into different foods and flavors.

Cooking is an art and it has to be practiced to be perfected. Like any other art you need to have some natural talent to be good at this art. I am privileged to have blessed with ladies who are very Good in this art of Cooking. My childhood days memories are filled with best food prepared by my Mother. I still love to eat food cooked by her. She gives lots of attention to fine details and that is her strength. Later my Younger sister introduced me to different verities and flavors of Food. She is very good in experimentation and master at whatever she makes. She is really very good at this art.

My better half is also very good in the art of Cooking. She likes experimentation and trying out different recipes. She ensures that my food is never monotonous. I love eating different dishes that she enthusiastically prepares. All in all I feel very blessed in being surrounded with so many Good cooks who keep my appetite for Good food always fulfilled.

No need to save oil !!!!

Petroleum prices have been going northwards during this year. Yesterday’s price was 140 dollars per barrel. Some experts say it can easily touch the figure of 200 Dollars per barrel. In such a scenario one wonders if there is any alternate possible for Petroleum. What if all the oil existing in underground reservoirs is exhausted? What if we keep on relying only on petroleum for all our fuel needs? How much more increase in oil prices can we bear?

I personally feel there is no need to panic at this point of time. It’s true that oil prices are continuously increasing because of shortage of oil. I feel we can still absorb greater prices of oil. If we see all around us we will notice that people are still using there Automotive vehicles freely. The demand in oil has not reduced because of increase in oil prices. Economics tells us that this means oil prices are still at comfortable level.

I am very much sure that we will soon find an alternate to petroleum. Lots of research on finding affordable means of alternate fuel is going on. I am very much sure that soon we would find a cheaper fuel source which can be mass produced. This means that we can still continue to burn oil freely. I sincerely hope that I am not wrong in this analysis.

I got a call...

While driving I got a call on my mobile phone. The call was from my Home and I picked it up to answer the call. I expected my parents to be on other side. Normally they enquire about something related to everyday stuff. I was surprised to hear the voice in the phone.

It was my four year old daughter calling me. I was not able to comprehend how she was able to make a call to me. Any way she asked me what I was doing. She asked me to come to home for lunch. After knowing from me that I was driving she said that she will disconnect immediately as I was busy driving through heavy traffic.

After reaching home I asked my parents if they had helped “Kuhoo” with the call. They said they were busy in some work and Kuhoo had made this call all by herself.

I was still not willing to believe all this. I asked Kuhoo if she knew my cell number. She immediately told my 10 digit mobile phone number. She told me that she had also included zero at the beginning of this number to get the dial tone from my Airtel land line.

It’s true that Zero is required in the beginning to get dial tone as this phone also serves as an intercom. She very innocently told me that her Mummy had helped her in remembering this number. This instance is just one of the surprises that I keep on getting from my naughty four year old daughter “Kuhoo”. Keep on visiting this space to read other similar surprises...

Planning ....

Below article is copied as it is from one of those spam mails that we get daily. Normally I avoid re-using any such article. I am making an exception here because I liked the association of word planning used in this article with general perception of planning. So go ahead and have a happy reading.

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Why Planning is important ?
One Night 4 college students were playing till late night and could not study for the test which was scheduled for the next day.
In the morning they thought of a plan. They made themselves look as dirty with grease and dirt. They then went up to the Dean and said that they had gone out to a wedding last night and on their return the tire of their car burst and they had to push the car all the way back and that they were in no condition to appear for the test.
So the Dean said they could have the re-test after 3 days. They thanked him and said they would be ready by that time.
On the third day they appeared before the Dean. The Dean said that as this was a Special Condition Test, all four were required to sit in separate classrooms for the test. They all agreed as they had prepared well in the last 3 days.
The Test consisted of 2 questions with a total of 100 Marks.
Q.1. Your Name......................... (2 MARKS)
Q.2. which tire burst? (98 MARKS)
a) Front Left
b) Front Right
c) Back Left
d) Back Right.....!!!
True story from IIT Bombay...Batch 1992

Try answering a Kid's Question

If you want to be truthful, then face every question of a 4 year old kid honestly. This is what I have learned in last few months. Kids in the age group 3 to 5 ask lots of questions. They are very inquisitive during this phase of there growing up. They keep on asking all the questions in the world.

We grownups are required to come up with answers for all these questions. Sometimes we may get irritated because of the sheer number of questions. At other times we may be very much occupied with a very important work. During all such scenarios we tend to ignore the barrage of questions from young ones. This may seem perfectly normal.

I tend to disagree on this. We should try to provide correct response to all the queries of young ones. This provides them material to set there reference point in life. If we neglect the queries now, it adds to deficit in child’s learning. The kid may take very long time afterwards to get correct reference points.

A kid asks very genuine questions concerned with basic facts of life. This provides us with valuable opportunity to have a re-look at ourselves. If we can truthfully answer all questions of a young kid, we can be sure that we are on right track. May be you readers would also like to give this a try.

Bike riding

I recently drove my bike after long time. Lately I have been using my SWIFT for all my transportation needs.

I have always loved Bike driving. It always brings me memories of my bachelor days. Bike driving in Bangalore is a good option in comparison to four wheeler driving. It saves you lots of precious time required for negotiating nasty Bangalore traffic.

My better half also enjoys bike ride. At any time her vote will go for Bike riding than for four wheeler driving. As per her she feels a sense of independence on Bike! Now this is somewhat not easy to comprehend even for me.

One day Sickness

From my latest experience I have began to like one day sickness.

When you fell ill( my favorite is fever!), suddenly everybody around you starts taking more care of you. If you are in Office, every body will enquire about it. Nobody will give you that extra strenuous work. At home you can spend time just lazing off. Family members give you special treatment. You may be treated with special massage!!.

Mind you , it’s not always that you get everything you like. Sometimes you are watched so closely that you can’t do anything except lying on Bed. I don’t like this kind of sickness. I like sickness, which provides you with a certificate of authentic sickness but doesn’t hamper your movement.

The best part of being sick is when you recover from it. You suddenly feel a surge of energy inside. You feel rejuvenated and ready to take on the World.

Which Channel to watch?

I face this question everyday? Which channel I can watch with my family members. To make things more clear, I don’t know which channel I can watch with my wife and 4 year old Daughter.
All Hindi entertainment channels such as Star plus, Sony Entertainment, Zee TV and NDTV Imagine are flooded with typical Soap operas. Either these so called Soaps are Saas Bahu based or Beti Bahu types, Devraani Bahuraani types or you can call by any similar names. I really don’t know what to look for in these daily serials. A strange kind of frustration starts growing in me as I watch these daily TV Soaps.

My kid invariably looks for Pogo, Disney or similar kid's channels. Though initially they are enjoyable, but they repeat the same stuff every time. I am bored of seeing Takeshi’s castle and Mr. Bean’s histrionics. I would have watched the same thing at least more than hundred times.

One would have thought that News channels would provide some relief in such a gloomy scenario. I am really sad to inform that they also are not better than any thing coming on idiot box. Many of the news channels particularly Hindi one’s like Aaj tak, Star News etc have started recycling comedy serials, that too during primetime. The news channels are in competition to become number one entertainment channels. In the process they have lost the relevance of news broadcasting.

I believe that solution to my problem lies in watching as less TV as possible. I have started a campaign at my Home for decreasing the TV viewer-ship. I am not sure if I have attained any degree of success in it. I somehow feel it’s my way of crusading against all nonsense being relayed on Idiot Box.

Indian police force

Repeated instances in past one year have highlighted incompetence of our police forces. The approach take in high profile cases has been unprofessional to say it least. There has been total absence of any systematic approach from the protectors of society.

We as a democratic society need to look at this issue very seriously. Not enough thought and resources have gone in modernizing our police forces. Ruling out some exceptions, the training method employed is very archaic and impractical in modern day.

We need to invest lots of resources in such a critical institution. The training for our forces needs to be world class. The living condition of our Police jawans needs improvement at a rapid stage. A sense of pride and prestige need to be inculcated in our police force. This will make them more responsible and citizen friendly.