"Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young"

The video below is the musical version of "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young" written by Mary Schmich, sung by Baz Luhrmann. I had first seen these wonderful video when i was in pre university college. Recently came across this, in one of my friend's orkut video list. It is amazing, worth a watch.

Mockery of Democracy

A common phrase that people so proudly use when talking about India society is “The world’s largest democracy”. Yes, we do have elections, we select are representatives. But are we really a functioning democracy?

“Democracy”

1 a form of government in which the people have a voice in the exercise of power, typically through elected representatives. 2 a state governed in such a way. 3 control of a group by the majority of its members.

This is the oxford definition of the word of Greek origin. Of the three definitions, in the Indian context, only the 3^rd one makes some sense. Fine, we do elect our representatives, but do these representatives actually represent our voice? NO. I have a lot of issues concerning the type of democracy that we have in our country. But my concern for now is about the representation of voice.

Elections are around the corner in this part of the country (hmm.. who knows we could also have general elections soon). This is the time when political parties start making promises, and release manifestos. For most public, these promises and manifestoes form a significant factor that help them to decide whom to vote for. Obviously there are many other issues – caste, money, liquor, etc., that could have even more effect on certain sections of the society. When I say most public, I mean to refer to citizens for who development issues rather than other issues form the basis while selecting their representatives.

In most cases the public’s voice is what, which forms the part of the political promises and manifestos. Like poverty eradication, electricity, education, social security, infrastructure, etc. The parties promise many things in their public meetings and manifestos, depending on which people decide which party to vote for. But once these parties are in power, do they care to implement these promises? Forget implementing these promises, many times the governments do exactly the opposite.

Don’t we need a proper mechanism where political parties are penalized if their election promises are not implemented? Not implementing these policies certainly amounts to cheating the society. Is this not a criminal offense? A party wining an election and not honoring its promises is a breach of mutual agreement between the representatives and the society. There cannot be a greater crime that this in a democracy. There is an urgent need for some regulatory mechanism to over see this; this will not only deter the political parties from making false and opportunistic promises and duping the public.

Nandigram – this is the reason I am writing this. I would be surprised if any of the pro capitalist governments would even think of trying to do something that the communists did there. They did the exact opposite of what they were preaching for the last 30 years there. All of a sudden they woke up to development and decided that they had to give land to capitalists.

Karnataka – how can I forget this? As long as they had power it didn’t matter to them about any of the promises to the public. All they wanted was power. It was the dirtiest dance of democracy anybody could have witnessed. How a hand full of people played their games with the hopes of 50 million people of this state. Bond papers and ministries were more important to them, than the interest of the general public.

What ever democracy that we have at present is the worst form of democracy. People are displaced from the ancestral lands without proper compensations, women are striped and beaten brutally because someone does not like what she asks for, another lady is made to run from city to city because someone did like what she writes, natural resources are illegally mined and exported to other countries, the list goes on and on….

Do we have any hope? The only thing that can force a government to do its job rightfully is the civil society. But how strong is this society whose stake holders are me, you and every citizen? We are more concerned about our self well being, than about the collective good.

Do we have a solution? Is our system the worst form of democracy?

Turkeys in "Frying Pan Park"

Thanksgiving day is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November in US, is similar to the Sankranthi festival celebrated in India - thanking god for a good harvest.

For this day more than 50 million turkeys are slaughtered and processed to fed America. But there is one lucky turkey (hmm..). Every year the the National Turkey Federation presents the US president with a turkey (specially trained to interact with him and the other VIPs) as a thanksgiving gesture. As a show of kindness, this turkey is granted the presidential pardoned and sent to (oops!!!) "Frying Pan Park" or to (wow!!!) Disneyland to spend the rest of its life.

I guess the fate of this bird is much better than the people of Iraq and Afghanistan where every day his army kills countless number of innocent people.

Krishi Mela - 2007

Krishi Mela, is an annual farmer fest organized at the sprawling 1400 acer GKVK campus on Bellary road. It is organized by GKVK itself. They showcase all the latest developments in agriculture field in this 4 day mela. Buses to his mela is arranged by the government from all over the state.



The students and faculty of GKVK did an excellent job explaining the new technologies to all the visitors. Expecting this fair to be like most dull government events, i was in for a pleasant surprise. The students at the stall were very warm and outreaching to everyone. I was happy to see them explain everything to the farmers with same intensity with which they talked to well dressed city people.

There were also private companies exhibiting their latest agriculture products - machinery, seeds, pesticides, etc. This years mela had special focus to organic farming. Looking at the numbers farmers who attended the mela, it was big success. They are expecting close to 200 thousand people to visit this year.



There are (i think) 7 agriculture colleges spread through out the state. Very few young people have the knowledge of these colleges or about the graduate programs they offer. With the advent of organized retailing (read contract farming) in this country, career opportunities are bound to grow for graduates of these colleges.



For a country like India to prosper, the real growth should come from the agriculture sector. Depending on the monsoons, the growth in this sector has been a dismal 2-4% (sometimes even -ve growth). The 9% growth in GDP that we have now is mainly because of the services sector (the contribution from the manufacturing sector is also not significant). No doubt that this is doing wonders, but this affects less than 15% of the population. For India to really grow,

the growth should come from sectors like agriculture (and manufacturing) on which more than 50% of our population depends. For this government should spend more on agriculture research rather than giving out power and fertilizer subsidies.

One aspect i hope the organizers realize, is that they should localize such melas. Instead of having a mela for the full state at Bangalore, they should organize them in different regions. By doing so they can also concentrate on the crops and techniques that are suite for that particular region. Like for example South-East Karnataka (Bangalore, Kolar, Chikballapur, Tumkur) is predominantly dry region, will less than adequate rainfall. Telling them how to grow rise is certainly of know use to them. Providing people with what they need specifically, will help the achieve better results.




You can find more pictures here.

Force India Pictures

Pictures of "Force India" Formula One team (formerly Spyker) owned by Vijay Mallya.

A well designed crisp logo. I hope the government does not raise any objects for using the tri-color. Nice to see the Indian flag on a formula one car.

Random Pictures

An ad somewhere along the ring road :) I guess he was jumping over crocodile infested tank :P

The Shining

Of late I have been seeing a lot of old movies. “The Shining” has been one of the finest movie I have seen to date. The movie is an adaptation on Stephen King’s novel. Though I have not seen all the movies of Jack Nicholson, but I guess this should be one of his best performances.

The plot: Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) agrees to take care of a remote hotel over the winter months, when it is completely closed to visitors. It is virtually cut off from the rest of the world of 5 months. Jack looking for solitude to write his new book, thinks this is the most suitable places and decides to move in with his family. The hotel is haunted by the family of the previous caretaker. The movie revolves around the breakdown of Jack in this environment.

It is a horror movie, released in 1980, in the pre animation/pre special effects era. The movie starts off with a long drive to the remote hotel. The images are truly breathtaking. This movie is considered to be one of the scariest movies ever to be made and what makes it so scary – not gory images or special effects. It’s the surrounding, the cold and dark winter, the loneliness of the place, the amazing cinematography, the settings, and the sheer acting skills of Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd (his son) and Shelley Duvall (his wife). The music of the film is like the icing on the cake – truly brilliant. The claustrophobic nature of the movie gave me goose bumps more than ones.. may be more than 10 times. The set is flawless – those huge hotel rooms, kitchens, the maze everything is perfect – just amazing.

Danny’s tricycle rides around the hotel and his run in the Maze are the best parts of the movie. Jacks facial expression and the depth in his role impresses at lot.

I would rate this movie 10/10 and if you haven’t seen the movie yet – rush to you DVD rental guy and get one today, or else download it like me :) .

But I wouldn’t say that this is the scariest movie. My choice is “Exorcist”. I used to stay in hostel when I watched this movie. For weeks after I saw that movie, I wouldn’t walk in the hostel corridors without lights and used to sleep with my room lights on :( .

Deepavalli Celebrations!!!

From Deepavali

The ultimate survival tips for a software coolie :)

Found his very interesting slide show... created by someone at iim Kolkata..

India’s Biggest Gambling Industry!!!!

It was November 1^st, a public holiday in this part of the country. After much research – spent a couple of hours reading about the company, recommendations from various traders, blogs, I decided to invest in the public offer of a company.

Not having the form I decided to go to a near by stock trader – Geojit. I was there by 9:45. It was not a national holiday, so the stock markets were open. As I sit there filling up that form (filling those ipo forms are really a nightmare), people started to coming. By around 9:50 there were around 20-25 people in the office. People of all ages were there. A young guy – undoubtedly a software coolie, a middle aged woman, an old man – well past his retirement age, all of them. Each one of them glued to one of the 4 huge TFT monitors (trading terminals).

As the clock turns 9:55 (opening bells!!) each one starts making notes, shouting to get to know the prices of the stocks and deeply following those blue and red blocks on the black screen. Each one, ordering the guy operating the computer, to buy some stock or the other. By then a few more people had started coming to add to the chaos. It was nothing short of a fish market. A few were shouting, about the killer they made from a stock and I could see a few dejected faces.

If you were to visit the Bangalore Turf club, trust me you will find a similar behavior, but each one shouting the horses name instead of the stock names. I was told that since it was holiday, there were more men than women. On a normal trading day, there would be more women (all middle aged house wives) than men (which would mainly consist of retired men).

I am sure none of them would have done much research on the stocks they trade in, relying excessively on the stock tips by their stock traders or on the news flashes on the plasma TV in the room. In my view it is nothing more than gambling. Luckily the markets are doing well for the last 2-3 years, and most of them would have made some good profit. Also 2/3^rd of this would be day trading. You never know when you will be in for a big shock.

With the advent of online/phone trading, more and more of these software coolies are getting involved in the markets. I know a few people who spend more time on this during their work hours than on their work.

After seeing people around me (and some out of my own experience), I would suggest a few trading tips J :

• Stock markets are highly addictive, just like gambling, the more the profits you start making, the more you start to bet, and then on the D day, you will have it.
• Never ever get involved in day trading, unless of course you have some reliable information that by the end of the day India’s economy is going to double.
• If you want to trade in stocks, maintain a small but diversified portfolio, and track your companies in detail. Another golden rule – don’t take the “buy” advice/tips, but always consider the “sell” advice/tip from your agent.
• Entering the markets via the primary market (IPO) is a good option (again get to know about the company before you actually invest).
• Exit from non performing stocks. A very common mistake done my most investors is, holding on to underperforming stocks in the hope of them doing well. If you have invested in such stocks you have already made a mistake, exit it from them at the earliest and invest else where.
• Don’t invest too much of your wealth into stocks. Have a fine balance. Even if you were to loose it, it shouldn’t affect you much.
• Don’t get emotionally attached to the gains and losses.
• Invest in Mutual Funds (this too is tricky, will write in detail about this soon). Any day a better option.

Prof. Randy Pauch’s “Last” Speech – “How To Live Your Childhood Dreams”

This is a must watch video – 1hr 44mins of pure inspiration.

Dr Randy Pauch is a Computer Science professor at the Carnegie Mellon University. Everything about this 46 year professor, father of 3 kids look absolutely fine, except that he has pancreatic cancer and he is going to live, just for a few more months.

Wall street journal called it the “THE LECTURE OF A LIFETIME”. The talk filled with humor and enthusiasm lets you doubt, if this man is really going to die in a few days.

In the lecture he talks about his life journey, from his love for stuffed animals, to his passion to work for Disney.

He tells why teaching is the best profession, for him it was a way to “enable the childhood dreams of others” – his students.

If you don’t see this video you will certainly miss something very precious in life, take my word for that. He starts of showing his CT scans, but ends up teaching you how to live your life.

Some of his quotes:

“But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

“And I think that that’s one of the best things you can give somebody – the chance to show them what it feels like to make other people get excited and happy. I mean that’s a tremendous gift.”

“When you’ve had something for ten years that you hold so precious, it’s the toughest thing in the world to hand it over. And the only advice I can give you is, find somebody better than you to hand it to.”

“The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they’re learning something else.”

“I, like Moses, get to see the promised land, but I won’t get to set foot in it.” – about one of his pet program Alice’s next version which will be released probably a bit too late for him.

“I mean I don’t know how to not have fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there’s no other way to play it.” – this thing brought tears in my eyes.

“How do you get people to help you? You can’t get there alone. People have to help you and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being earnest. I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.” – this was like god talking to me.

“Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to achieve their childhood dreams. Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap.” – as my boss say ‘persistence man persistence, that makes all the difference.’

“When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it. Show gratitude. When I got tenure I took all of my research team down to Disneyworld for a week. And one of the other professors at Virginia said, how can you do that? I said these people just busted their ass and got me the best job in the world for life. How could I not do that?”

“Be good at something, it makes you valuable.”

“Find the best in everybody. One of the things that Jon Snoddy as I said told me, is that you might have to wait a long time, sometimes years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.”

“It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.”- this is THE quote.

If you don’t get tears after you see this video I recommend you visit an eye specialist, coz you might be suffering from Keratoconjunctivitis sicca.When I watch something like this I try to analysis my own life. It’s a bad feeling I a getting, I might have just wasted 23 years of my life (my age - 23).

Srirangapatna and Chamundi Betta

Pictures from my recent visit to Srirangapatna and Chamundi Betta.

Rangaswamy Betta

Below are the pictures taken during my recent visit to Ranganathaswamy Temple on the Rangaswamy betta(Hill). The temple was supposedly built during the Ganga Dynasty rule, sometime between 8th century AD to 12th century AD.

The temple is pretty small, and architecturally not really significant. It is located around 70Km from Bangalore on the Bangalore - Gowribidanur road, around 20Km from Doddaballapur. We have to travel a further 6-7Km from the main road. The drive is pretty unpleasant because of the road repair works going on, on the Bangalore Gowribidanur state highway.

After the right turn from the main road, the narrow road is surrounded by lush green fields. The ride gets further bumpy with only traces of tarred roads. As you near the foothill, all you you get is a narrow mud road. Due to the heavy rains overnight, the road was practically washed off and we had to park the vehicle 2Km away from the foothill.

This was my third visit to this place, first one was around 21 years back.

The hill is part of the mountainous range which also includes Nandi betta and Kalavarahalli betta.

There is no clear cut route to the top. Occasionally you will find some directions written on the stones. It will take around 45 mins to reach the top. The lush green fields and the surrounding hills give a wonderful view as you climb up. The view of the Nandi Betta and the Kalavarahalli betta with the hat shaped fog cover over them was a breath taking view.

On the top you will find the Ranganatha Swamy Temple. Recently some some miscreants had dug up the inside of the temple when rumors of some hidden treasure beneath the temple spread. It was latter restored and also a standing version of Ranganatha Swamy idol was installed. The masonry work was extremely bad though. Apart from the temple you will find a well and ruins of some old stone structures. These ruins, which are on the other side of the hill indicate, an old stoned pathway to the temple.

The temple is normally closed during the week days. The temple is maintained by the Muzrai department of Govt of Karnataka. The priest resides in one of the villages at the foothills. People throng the temple on the Saturdays of Sravana massa.

Sorry… which company did you say?

Last week was my cousin sister’s wedding. Oooph it was an experience. I generally like to stay off from marriages/functions unless it involves someone close to me. Else I will end up sitting somewhere giving smiles to unknown people :).

I had a few interesting conversations with people, I think they are worth being put here. I am sure most of us would have come across these conversations - except the last one.

Some aunty/uncle.. especially the aunties (that too a bit aged ones) suddenly pop up from no where and ask me..

“Hey do you know who I am?”

In most cases I put on an embarrassing face indicating I have no idea who they are, but in some case I vaguely guess the place they are from trying to save my face.

I am amazed at how so many people tend to ask to same question to so many people. I think probably, they (atleast a few of them) who ask this question, might also not be sure of who the other person is, to cover this up they ask it.

This one is more funnier:

Again, aunties that too the aged ones love to start a conversation this way –

I had last seen you when you were so small / 10 years back. See how tall you have become now.

Ok that’s a nice way to start a conversation, but come on did they expect me to stay that way itself. Even more funnier was this person, whom I am sure I had meet at some function may be an year back, came and told me the same thing, I though of reminding that person that she/he had told me the same thing when we meet previously.

Also some people say that you have become taller than when I had seen you last. Haha, I haven’t grown an inch in the past 3 years. I can accept if they say i have become fat or thin, but not tall.

This one - is an assault on me :(

After all the initial talk they ask me what I am doing now. The conversation some what continues like this:

I heard you completed your studies, so where are you working now?

To which I reply:

I work with a company called Ty fone:

The first reaction to this is “Sorry.. which company did you say?”

Then I try to explain to them that it’s a small startup located at ITPL.

What the hell, I doubt if some of these people know that people also work at places apart from Infosys, Wipro, Satyam….. Their reaction is as if that, I haven’t got a job in any of these companies and so I am working with this small unknown company. How I wish I could have told them on their face that I rejected a few good offers from these companies and joined here. And if I had actually said that, I wouldn’t be surprised if they would have though that I am mentally instable. The fact that it is located at ITPL, makes them feel that may be it’s a good company (thank god we shifted to ITPL from Marathahalli).

How wonderful it would have been if marriages truly happened in heaven :).

Gratitude redefined

A lion thanking its rescuer :)

A wonderful video i stumbled upon.

Somanathapura

From Somnathapura

Somanathapura around 40 KM from Mysore houses the temple dedicated to the Lord Keshava. Built by the Hyosalas in the 12^th century AD is one of the three main architectural marvels built by them, the other two being Beluru and Halebidu. It was commissioned by Somanatha Dandanayaka, an illustrious general of Hoysala King Narasimha III, and the place is named after him.

This fine example of Hoysala architecture is dedicated to Lord Keshava. It also houses sanctums of Lord Venugopala and Janardhana.

Like most Hoysala monuments Somanathpura temple is star shaped – this design is followed by most Hoysala temples to increase the surface area of the temple.

The three shines or the sanctums (Thrikuta design) are identical in design and is built on an elevated platform. The pillars inside the temple are in itself a marvel.

Another feature that this temple shares with the other 2 temples is the bands of intricately carved figures running all around the outer walls. The lowest band contains images of elephants in different postures. The elephant signifies strength and they are supposed to support the temple on them. The next band contains images of horses, again in various postures. Other bands contained various animals and idols and complex patterns, telling us the stories form Ramayana, Mahabharata and other Puranas.

The Father of Hoysala architecture was Amarashilpi Jakanacharya. Jakanacharya was the chief architect of both Belur and Halebidu both of which were built in early 11^th century. However the temple at Somanathpura was built only in mid 12^th century using most of his ideas.

The temple like the other two temples is carved out of soap stone (technical name - dark grey green chloritic schist). This stone when freshly quarried is soft and easy to work on, however with time they become hard.

I was surprised to see that pooja was not performed in this temple. Same is the case with the temple at Halebidu. The idol at Halebidu and the temple was damaged by a Muslim ruler Malik Kafur. The original idol of Lord Kesava of Somanathpura is currently in a british museum. Only a replica of the original idol is present here. Also the idols in the 64 cells

around the main temple were either taken away by the british or have been damaged. According to Hindu mythology once the main idol of the temple is damaged, no longer is the pooja offered at the temple. I am not sure if the poojas still take place at the Belu temple. It’s a pity that we have lost such precious souvenir of ancient India. I hope that one day this idol comes back to where it actually belonged.

Another wonder to watch in the temple are the ceilings. It’s truly marvelous. I tried my best to capture it on my cam, but being an amateur photographer didn’t help.

One can also observer that the ceilings were painted, I am not sure if these are the original paintings or done latter. My guess is they are the original paintings. However the rain water seeping in through the ceiling has damaged these paintings. I am surprised the ASI hasn’t done anything to stop this. But over all ASI is doing a pretty good job in

maintaining the temple. Absence of the poojas and an entry fee to the temple has certainly help.

I would consider this temple the grandest and the best among the 3 main Hoysala temples. This temple stands testimony to the fact that Karnataka is the cradle of stone architecture in India.

Images That Changed The World

An amazing collection of photographs. I am shocked at the intensity of these pictures.

Why do startups survive the bigger fishes?

Another interesting discussion and another interesting outcome! My company is working with a large financial services company, on a particular service. They have been involved with us for quite sometime, and I am sure they would have got a pretty good idea of our product. Now the question I got was “What stops them putting up their own team and start work on a similar idea? Why do they have to come to us?”

My though process was, since they being a large company, they would have had enough resources, both in terms of man power and money, they could just take away our idea and start implementing it all by themselves. They could easily bypass us.

But it seams that it was not so. These big companies are too much involved in what they are doing. They don’t have time to think about new ideas or implementing them. Their current work keeps them preoccupied to try anything new (certainly there are a few exceptions). That’s why they turn to startups for new ideas. They would prefer to invest some money to buy this new idea, rather than implement it on their own. The effort involved in starting something new in these large companies (it seams) is nothing short of an experience of getting a building plan approved at your municipality. So the best way out for them is work with small startups, see if their ideas actually work in the market, and if so latter buy them at an extra premium or pay heftily for their services.

Do we have a defined process?

A few days back, I was at a lunch with my team, discussing day to day activities at the company. My company is a products company involved in developing mobile banking applications.

Mobile applications development is an interesting and complex one, considering the variety of platforms (operating systems), form factors and companies involved. Optimizing user interface experience for the user is a critical factor deciding the success of the product.

Now we as developers we expecting a well defined set of process for certain things like security, user interface and blah blah… That started of an interesting discussion.

Since we are developing a new product, there is no benchmark for what we need to do and how we need to achieve it. The product keeps evolving; I myself know how much we have evolved in the past 1 year when we started off to where we are now. There is no defined path/process in a startup. Different people will come up with different ideas on different things. For some things like security, things will get clear, but for some other things like UI and various functionalities we as developers, have completely no control. Some things could be solved by consulting domain experts but ultimately the user will decide the things. The out come of this discussion was, don’t expect things to be defined. The development is a continuous process – a regenerative one. Probably the real development could actually start when the customer gets his hands on the product.

A recent article published by a mobile development expert stated that – “To develop a simple mobile application in 5 languages for 50 different phones, it would require around 7500 builds, averaging around $ 2500 per build”. A scary scenario indeed.

Speak Up!!!

“First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Social Democrats,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Social Democrat.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew,
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.”

Pastor Martin Neimoller's – on why we should speak up against injustice even when it don’t really affect us and on the importance of free speech. Neimoller was a Protestant German Christian who had supported Nazis initially but eventually ended up in one of their concentrations camps. He was fortunate enough to have been freed.

Pseudo Women Empowerment

"This is a victory for the principles which our Indian people uphold" – President Prathiba Patil.

I am a bit worried about what principles she is actually talking off. Now that she is the President, all we can hope is she keeps up the values that our outgoing President Dr APJ Kalam had brought to this office.

Political parties specially the UPA alliance has been talking about this as a victory for women’s right. I am indeed very happy to have a lady President. But if a lady President was selected on the basis of principles, contributions to the society, rather than loyalty to some person or family, I would have been happier.

All this apart two other incidents concerning women in India, happened this week

• Discovery of more than 30 female fetuses dumped in wells

• Kiran Bedi not being offered the post of Delhi’s commissioner

More than 30 female fetuses each packed in polythene bags were found in Orissa. A reminder of how female infanticide is still so persistent in India, even after having so many laws against the same. I am really shocked to write anything about this. Probably dowry is the single most import cause for this epidemic (if I can say so). Will we ever see an end to this horrific practice? I am certainly not prepared to read one more article by some council in UK about 20 million girl children being killed by Indian parents.

Kiran Bedi, India’s first IPS office, a person with impeccable character and background, recognized and honored internationally, an excellent reformer, was denied the post of the Commissioner of Delhi Police. Another example of male domination or just that other “babus” believed that they couldn’t handle her. Mrs Bedi was over looked though she was the senior most person for the post. Certain newspapers even reported statements by the people in the government stating that she was too radical and out spoken for the post.

On one side UPA talks of women empowerment by electing females to ceremonial posts and steps back when actual empowerment is considered. Female infanticide can lead to a lot of social problems; a skewed sex ratio will lead to a lot of social unrest and increase atrocities and crime against women. The issue of 33% reservation for women has also had a silent death.

Trek to Kalavara Betta

Its been a few weeks since I had been to this place. I am writing this so that if you happen to read it and plan to go there don’t make the mistake we did.

I had read a lot about this place. This place is so strategically placed that, if you reach the top, you will just be above the cloud level, and you get to see the clouds/fog form the top. I had seen wonderful pictures, and was expecting a similar experience. To my disappointment I didn’t get to see any of this. The blunder we made was, we started climbing late, at around 8:30 in the morning. Also this is was not the ideal time to visit this place. However you could still get a good experience if you start your trek the previous night and reach the top before sunrise.

As we were climbing, we meet a lot of people getting down. Probably a few would have been laughing at us for starting so late. A few of them whom we talked told us about the wonderful sunrise they had seen. Most of them had gone there the previous night itself and spent the night on the top. I am sure it would have been a great experience.

6 of us, packed into one car, left Bangalore at 7:00AM and reached there around 8:30 (we could have reached there much earlier if Mr Nag had handed the wheel to someone else). At around 8:40 we started climbing. The sun was kind on us. The first 20-25 minutes everyone where just trying to race each other. After that we climbed for 5 minutes and rested for 10 minutes. I will take around 1:45 to 2 hours to reach to the top.

The fort

As we reach the top we cross an old fort. One of my uncles (grandmother’s younger brother) latter told me that the construction of this fort was started by Hyder Ali and completed by Tipu Sultan. My uncle during his childhood days, it seams used to go grazing cattle all the way up to this fort when they had holidays. The fort is pretty impressive and strategically placed. The stone walls are quite impressive considering the height at which they are built.

The temple

At the top you will also find an old temple. It’s the temple of Lord Ganesh. Its very simple, with just a single room and the Lord placed at one end. You will find a Nandi opposite the temple. Interesting because, you generally find a Nandi in front of a Shiva Temple.

The scenery and the winds

At the top the winds are extremely powerful. If you jump, probably you could be pushed off a bit. On the southern side you get a wonderful view of the Nandi hills and the steep “Tipu drop”. On the eastern side you get to see the whole of Chikballapur town and National Highway 7. To the northern and western side we can see a lot of other hills and forests between them.

Mistake you shouldn’t make if you plan to visit this place

The best time of the year to go here would in the winter season between Nov to Feb. You will get a wonderful view of the fog/clouds from the top. It would be ideal to climb at night. A full moon night would be perfect but then expect a huge crowd – which actually is better considering security. Start your climb around 12:00 AM. You will need a lot of water and a few packets of snacks will certainly help you. You won’t find any of them once you start your climb. Carry lots of lighter/match sticks and collect a few dry wood as you trek. However I doubt how successful you will be in starting a bonfire considering the heavy winds. It could get a bit cold on the top, so you may want to carry a jersey.

Beer bottles

You will be appalled to see the number of empty beer bottles and plastics thrown around. Do take care not to add to this. It’s a wonderful place.

Other Details

Location:

Kalavara Betta, Chikballapur

How to get there:

Take NH7 from Bangalore and proceed towards Chikaballapur(58 Km from Hebbal). Once you reach the town, at the Sir M Vishveshvaraiah Cricle take a left. Proceed in this narrow lane leading you outside the town to reach the Omkareshwara Ashrama – around 6-7 KM from the town. You will have walk from this point on.

Best time to visit:

Nov to Feb

"Favor Bank!!!"

Ok I finally decided to start my blog again. Not that I had a regular habit of writing blogs, but I had made an attempt and like the 80% of the people who started writing blogs I too stopped. I promise myself this time to be more regular. But then are promises made to break?

Sometime back I was reading “The Zeher” by Paulo Coelho. The book by itself is pretty mundane and a bit boring too. Nothing compared to “The Alchemist”. But he explains this concept of “Favor Bank”. An amazing concept I felt. The following is an extract from that novel



‘I start making deposits in your accounts – not cash deposits, you understand, but contacts. I introduce you to such and such a person; I arrange a few deals, as long as they’re legal. You know that you owe me something, but I never ask you for anything.’

‘And then one day....’

‘Exactly. One day, I’ll ask you for a favor and you could, of course say “No”, but you’re conscious of being in my debt. You do what I ask, I continue to help you, and other people see that you’re decent, loyal sort of person and so they too make deposits in your account – always in the form of contacts and nothing else. They too one day will ask you for a favor and you will respect and help the people who have helped you, and, in time you’ll spread your net worldwide, you’ll know everyone you need to know and your influence will keep on growing.’

‘I could refuse to do what you ask me to do.’

‘You could. The favor bank is a risky investment, just like any other bank. You refuse to grant the favor I asked you, in the belief that I helped you because you deserved to be helped, because you’re the best and everyone should automatically recognize your talent. Fine, I say thank you very much and ask someone else into whose account I’ve also made various deposits; but from then on, everyone know, without me having to say a word, that you are not to be trusted.’



I work with a startup company in its early growth stages. I have seen from the people who have started it, as to how important is such an account.

Each of us should consciously make an effort to help and promote friends and people we know. It’s very important to help as many people as possible when you are in a situation to do so. You never know when you will need their help. I have know people who think twice before helping their know ones, just because they feel that they may become more successful than themselves. (You may call me rude but I conciously make an effort never to help them. I hate such people.)But that’s not the case, that’s not reality, by helping out people we grow and succeed, more than they do, and also the sense of satisfaction you get by doing so is just amazing.