My Window Seat

Visit to Begur Nageshwara Temple - 1300 years Old!!!

2010-01-16T10:10:00.000-08:00

Today I visited the Begur Nageshwara temple near my new house. This temple is 1300 years old and was built by Kulothunga Cholan. This Shiva temple houses 5 lingams. It's amazing to see these arhitectural beauties standing beyond time and natural weathering to tell the tales of Kings and their message!

I am glad that I am moving to a place which was a busy locality 1300 years ago! I am going to spend some quality time in enjoying the temple architecture...

Housewarming performed on 22nd November 2009

2010-01-16T09:59:00.000-08:00

It gives me immense pleasure and sense of achievement! It took a lot of my time and money to build the dream house that was in my mind and paper. We performed Grihapravesham of our new house "Kuberan Kudil" on 22nd November 2009.

Photo Blog of construction of my duplex house...2008,2009

2009-10-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

Thekkady boat tragedy!!!

2009-09-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

I was shocked to hear the news today evening, about the boat that capsized at Thekkady due to weight imbalance created when the tourists on board moved to the same side to view elephants on the lakeside! What is so strange in this news it that, exactly a week ago I was there at the same lake with my family enjoying my vacation. Not only that, I have captured this same boat named "Jalakanyaka" owned by KTDC. I took multiple snaps of this new boat which followed our boat during the 2 hour long journey around the lake.

You can see the elephant behind the boat in the picture I took... Some strange coincidence???

Picasa Collage Works Very Well!!!

2009-09-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

Kerala Trip 2009: Munnar, Thekkady, Alleppey (Slide-show)

2009-09-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

Took off to Kerala for 5 days (21st Sep to 25th Sep). I have been planning for a Kerala trip for quite sometime and finally got a chance to do it! Kids were at home for pooja holidays and I got my leave approved for a week. What else? We travelled to Kerala - Munnar, Thekkady and Alleppey. I didn't want to drive from Bangalore and hence decided to take the air route to Cochin and then a package tour option through CocoKerala! All went well and the rain gods didn't interrupt us too much.

Day 1: Bangalore to Cochin by Go Air, no frills airline. From Cochin to Munnar by road (Tavera, SUV).
Day 2: At Munnar. Took a whole body massage, very refreshing! Then to Mattupetty, Kundala dam.
Day 3: From Munnar to Thekkady. Elephant ride and Spice garden visit
Day 4: Early morning boating at Thekkady. Spotted some wildlife up-close. Elephants, fox, deer, wild-pigs etc. By road to Alleppey and checked in to House-boat at Punnamada, Alleppey. Ride along the paddy fields - breathtaking! Stayed overnight in the house boat. Watched a movie too :)
Day 5:Back to Alleppey and then to Cochin.

Indian English @ Spencers!!!

2009-09-03T23:45:00.001-07:00

You can get "LADISH FINGER" only at Spencers, Jayanagar, Bangalore. :)

The horrible "Movie Watching Experience" this weekend

2009-08-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

It's long time since I went to a movie hall to watch a movie. The comfort and convenient cable TV, CD and DVD movies have changed the habit of waiting in a queue for a movie ticket, first-shows & late-night shows a long time ago. But the release of a new tamil movie "Kanthasamy" and the reviews made me decide on "going-back to cinema hall" for the weekend. I clicked through the BookMyShow website and could book a ticket and choose my seats too, easily! I chose the A-row for my kids to watch it from the middle seats, without hindernace.

Alas, I reach URVASHI THEATER near Lal-bagh today only to find that the seat number A-32 is near a pillar and hence will not bend backwards, like the other seats will. I was disappointed and had to settle with the uncomfortable straight-seat posture! To add to that, the airconditioning was pathetic at this cinema hall that I eneded up with head-ache, in spite of an interesting movie. These guys charge a good amount of money for each seat and mean-minded to save that extra-bucks through switching-off the AC.

There is always a big hue&cry and about the illegal DVD rackets and how they affect these cinema hall business. Certainly it will! I will never go back to Urvashi Theater in Lal-bagh road for a movie. If these cheap businessmen don't realize the need for customer-satisfaction, they will soon have to demolish the cinema halls and sell the place for a super-mall or supermart!

And I am seriously thinking about going to a consumer forum and ask for the money back + a good pain-balm for my breaking head!!!

Update: House construction in progress

2009-08-13T01:13:00.000-07:00

ELEVATION PLANS...

Our New Duplex House: July-August Construction Update

2009-08-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

If selecting a flooring material from various options is an experience by itself, slecting your favourite Granite texture might be another adventure! God's creation, this natural material not only has different colors and designs, but bring in loads of names from the place of their excavation!

Rawsilk pink, Ivory, Colombo Juparna, Madura Gold, Ivory Fantacy, Indian Juparna, Amber White, Black Galaxy etc. etc.

We finally selected "T.Gold" (Picture on Top) and had it delivered on Friday! For inlay we picked up "Lakha Red" too. Eagerly awaiting to see them laid in the new house!

A typical week end in Bangalore for us!!!

2009-08-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

Drive your car in to any street, wait for green signal and enjoy music, the only option to burst stress :)

Leave your wife inside a nice cloth Shop and wait for her to select her choice :) Guarenteed time pass!

Take a long walk in Cubbon or Lalbagh! Free Oxygen and good personal time with family members.

Walk along streets, watching some of these crazy signs. (This I sent to Bangalore Mirror, and they published it last week).

Taste some mouth-watering "Pani-puris" along any street in Jayanagar, Commercial street etc.

My Duplex House - Construction Update

2009-08-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

I am amidst too many activities at this moment! The construction tasks are hectic - selecting flooring options among Granite, Vitrified tile and Marble, electrical options, bathroom fittings, elevation details, cladding of walls etc.
FLOOR OPTIONS:

This is something that takes a lot of time and energy to visualize and decide. Marble for Bangalore is a "No" from many due to its cool nature and porous nature.
Granite and vitrified tile provide a wide variety of options to choose from.
Vitrified tiles pricing starts from Rs. 60-70 per square feet to 120+.
Granite is "natural stone" and gifts amazing nature-made designs and colour shades! Started "Googling" out details and found that India is one of the key granite exporting country. Tamilnadu and Karnataka granites are very popular.
Got in touch with granite dealers (Bannerghatta road has many) and also some links through friends. Based on research zeroed down on - Rawsilk Pink, Ivory Fantasy, Lavendar Blue, Colombo Juparna etc.
Almost picked a lot of Rawsilk Pink from Bhora Granites on 1st August. But someone else took the entire lot away. We had to start almost from scratch once again and found few more options today. Hmmm...
Tips: Bargain for price. Don't get carried away by the price alone.

The year so far - Mid-year review!

2009-07-24T06:34:00.000-07:00

2009 is year of enhanced activity for me :).

First some travel, acquisition tasks, release planning etc. In February I started the gym habit (FitnessOne), and surprisingly continuing it successfully for more than 5 months!

IIMC-Senior Management Program occupies my week-ends completely! During exams, the entire week would be filled with reading activity. Construction of my duplex house also gathered momentum around the same time. (I have been blogging the stages in detail, whenever I had time).

On the personal front, we celeberated the 10-th wedding anniversary on 1-st July! Wow... that's amazing journey so far this year! I also visited a dentist, did complete executive health check etc amidst all these!

I am sure that the rest of the year too will keep me active for good! I would have completed the IIM course, did grihaprevesham, released another version of CRM, started something new for 2010 :). May be I should join keyboard classes in Q4.

I am enjoying this year of "increased activity".

Customer Experience - Any one cares?

2009-07-05T03:08:00.000-07:00

I have been very particular about being treated like a "KING" when I am a customer. It's quite natural as I treat my customers and respect them for their business, always!

But I am not fortunate enough to get a good customer experience, most of the times! Just today, I got the bad taste from 2 of my interactions. One, when I went to A2B food joint with my management program classmates and Two, when I tried reaching Apollo Hospitals for fixing my health check-up appointment.

At A2B (Adyar Ananda Bhavan) we ordered 17 plates of Mini Tiffin, and after first 6 plates noticed that Sambar Vadas weren't there and instead they were placing Pongal twice to compensate for it. I got wild and had to yell at the service guys at the counter for not informing me this! Finally we had to settle for additional Masala Dosas instead of Vadas! Inventory-Dmand mismatch :)

I have been trying to get an appointment over a weekend for executive health check @ Apollo Clinic. Last week I left my phone number and contact details with that agent to call me back and confirm the schedule. But I never got back the reply. I decided to write to them and sent an email to customerservice email id. IT BOUNCED BACK! And today I tried calling their Malleshwaram clinic (080-23317521/22/23) multiple times, and no one picked up the phone. APOLLO HOSPITALS have a brand name (as I perceive) and I had better expectations while I tried reaching them. I decided to follow-up through their Bannerghatta road hospital. Atleast this time, I got a prompt call-back from the lady informing that there might be a technical problem for the call not being answered.

I wonder what would happen if I had to take their service on an emergency! OMG!

It might take ages before I get a KING-like treatment in India, when I am a customer. Till then customer is someone who bothers with too much expectations while paying very little! Good luck folks...

MY DREAM HOUSE: Construction Update

2009-07-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

The house looks awesome with the Blue-Sky above! It will take another 2-3 months to complete the pending tasks like plastering, plumbing, flooring, teak doors etc.

Just started hunting for a good granite, tiles and cladding materials etc.

1st July: 10th Wedding Anniversary

2009-07-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

Wow! I and Rathi are married for 10 years now! The fruits of our marriage - 2 kids gave us a great start today with a deep kiss and a nice greeting card, signed and worded by them nicely! :) Took the day-off from office and spent the most part of it with the family. Enjoyed the "payasam" and "vadai" and a heavy lunch. Though not in office, Blackberry kept updating with minute by minute happening. I will be writing about the 20th anniversary in the same space with more enthusiasm and accomplishments!

[House Construction] This week....

2009-06-09T04:35:00.000-07:00

Hey, Progress being made well. The electrical conduit laying work is in progress. The brick walls bear cuts and lines all-over :) And the grills for all doors and windows were fixed over last week. As per the review with the Architect and Engineer today, the plastering work will get completed in a month's time. Have to select the tiles, granite, marble etc in next few weeks.

[Construction Update] 28th May, Main door frame fixing & pooja performed!

2009-05-28T02:08:00.001-07:00

Today was auspicious day and we fixed the main door frame and did pooja. It coincided with my kids' school re-opening day and we had to rush them very early in the morning to complete the pooja at 7:30 am!!!

We performed the pooja as per Hindu customs, in the presence of almighty Ganesh!!! We placed Panchalogas and Navratnas under the frame. We also got a Vastu Bhagawan printed on a small sheet of silver.

House construction - May Update :)

2009-05-25T00:29:00.000-07:00

The structure is almost complete with roofing done for all floors! Now the walls, flooring, wiring, plumbing all will start! Hoping to get it done in another 4 months! Let's see what my Engineer and team is thinking :)

My Duplex House - Status Update [31st March 2009]

2009-03-31T00:25:00.000-07:00

Visited construction site with kids. They were very happy to see their rooms getting shape... particularly it is as big as my room :) One more level of roofing the building structure would be almost complete in few weeks.

[26Feb2009] My Dream House Construction Update

2009-02-26T03:11:00.000-08:00

It took so many weeks before getting back to this topic... Hmm! I have some good and bad resaons behind it.

First and foremost... My learning - Never approach Private banks for home loans. PERIOD. Always go to your near and dear public sector banks like SBI, Canara or Corporation banks. It's not a suggestion that I am giving. I beg you not to travel the bitter paths that I traveled already.

It all started with my application with HDFC bank, Bangalore. I applied for this loan in November 2008 and was promised a 10-day flay processing time. They quickly took away 11k from me for processing (?!*) the loan. Then they asked me to submit documents after documents after documents after documents after documents after documents after documents after documents.... Never ended. The XEROX shop guy near my house would have built his dream house with the copies that I ordered from him :)

Whatever processes they have, I am sure these banks give loans to crooks and cheaters who will default. The only thing I was not asked by their "brainiest" processing team member is to prove that I am an Indian, and India belonged to Indians - and not to British, as British ruled us till 1947.

Probable questions I would have faced -

"Sir, Can you submit us a proof that you are part of Independant India. And may be a NOC certificate from President of India?"

"And Sir, can you bring all the previous owners' and their families, even if they are dead! We can visit their graves"

Such an agonising experience! Finally one fine day, around New Years eve, I applied for loan with Canara Bank and got it sanctioned fast. What a personalized service from those in this PSU bank!!! Even got a 2009 calendar from the lady who handled my application. Hmm.. Good things are too close to you, you fail to notice them.

The Bank on the other side always looks green and you fall for it. I was made to swim once before I got to know the true-colours!

I am glad that PSU banks are there to help customers with out harassing. That's a lifetime learning for me!

Met the "CRM Guru"

2009-01-30T21:50:00.000-08:00

Just came back from "Loyalty Summit 2009", Mumbai. This was a 2 day event focusing on Customer Loyalty. The key for me to attending this summit was none other than "Paul Greenberg" alias "CRM Guru". This young man traveled all the way from US (24 hours of flying), reached hotel at 3 am and was speaking through the day presenting his views and suggestions on CRM. Amazing & Inspiring! I and my colleague could get some quality time from Paul to discuss various things around CRM. ("Thanks Paul!"). Paul is still fighting with his accident-hit left-leg, but didn't show any signs of slow-down due to the same. And when I heard from him that this accident happened while he was hurrying to safeguard his Cat, I was really moved. (I too had many cats in my childhood as pets...)
The Loyalty Summit had a good attendance and was well organized. The active participation from the attendees was encouraging. More such summits on CRM are most welcome!

[25th December] My Duplex House Construction Status

2008-12-29T08:45:00.000-08:00

Work at the construction site is progressing at a good pace! Visited it on the Christmas day - the water sump is complete now. Pillars are in the making. Workers were filling the ground floor area with sand. Pillars will be coming up in next 2 weeks.

[21st December] My Duplex House Construction Status

2008-12-21T06:34:00.000-08:00

Work is in full swing for last one month. I have been traveling (Domestic & International) for couple of weeks and hence the time looked very short. Made sure to visit the site every week-end, and discussed progress of work with Architect and Engineer.
By mid-November, the foundation work & pillar work in progress.

Around first week of December the steel rods were rooted from the pits.
Temporary electric connection was taken and the submersible-motor for borewell got fixed.
By third week of December, the stone work along the boundary and compound wall was done.
The water-sump is coming up in the front area (near stair-case). This Saturday the concrete mixture for the same was poured in to the structure of steel rods.

21st November 2008: Building My Duplex House

2008-11-21T03:03:00.001-08:00

OK. Let me provide quick Photo updates on the status of the construction.

Markings were made on Wednesday and when I visited the site today morning, this is how it looked.

This is a temporary shed for storing building materials... Hmm, good progress in 2-3 days' time frame.

Building My Duplex House - Part One - Commencing Work...

2008-11-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

Folks, Finally the good news is here to announce. I have started construction of my dream house in Bangalore. It all started early this year (2008)! I visited my daughter's friend Janani on a weekend and shared her father's experience in building their duplex house in a 30x40 sqft plot. I liked the house especially the sun-light passing staircase. That's when I decided to go for my own house. Luckily I bought a 30x40 plot near Electronic City - Singasandra village in the year 2003 for a throw-away price (now). After 4+ years the value of the land in those areas have skyrocketted - almost 7 times.

Then I got in touch with my architect - referred by Janani's father - in March 2008. Went through couple of round of discussions on the plan, saw some basic samples and then confirmed his services in April 2008 by paying a decent advance. (The cost the architect's charge is based on the building costs - but I negotiated for a fixed cost as the actual costs will vary widely...with steel and cement costs spiralling sky-high).

It all looked very easy still I started planning for the KHATHA certificate which has to be procured from the Bommanahalli CMC. I was under a strong belief that I had a Khatha already which we procured through an intermediary who is capable of getting things easily done with "baksheesh". But when I learnt that the one I procured earlier was a CMC certificate and by now Bommanahalli CMC has been promoted as BBMP! The hurdle? I have to get the BBMP certificate by paying additional betterment charges to the same!!!

Hmm... I was assured a maximum of 15-20 days timeframe for achieving this. Okay! I initiated it with charged up mind. After going through circles for several weeks (actually months) I got the Khatha on one fine day - when I almost gave-up :) It was end-of-July 2008 already!

Ok! What next? It's the FLOOR PLAN APPROVAL from the same office. Time frame? 20 days max. Great! Go for it man.

The floor plan approval drama started exactly in August 2008. In this process you are supposed to submit all the papers along with the building floor plan. Here I had really touch time with my architect and the intermediary. Silly mistakes, multiple printouts, corrections, modifications etc etc etc etc.... Oops it took so many trips for me to architect's office and my plot and a good 3 months (QUARTER of an year). It was during 1st week of November 2008 I got my approved floor plan in my hand. Another milestone. Excellent. The plan was to build a beautiful DUPLEX HOUSE with stilt floor for car parking.

Bhoomi Pooja: In the meanwhile, we did the bhoomi pooja on 22nd August 2008, as it was an auspicious "Vaastu Day" for initiating building construction

BANK LOAN SELECTION: I was already doing multiple rounds of analysis and prioritization (what words can you expect from a hardcore Product Manager LoL) with the banks and their interest rates. Here honestly, I was banking big on Nationalised Banks like SBI, Canara Bank, Corporation Bank and the likes... The interest rates have climbed to an all-time high (10.75% to 11.75%). Hmm...

I went with a private bank first and had horrible experience. Now applying with Canara Bank and hoping to get it soon.

During 3rd week of November, I decided to go for a BOREWELL.

Googled-out details on Water-diviners, borewell service providers, costs involved (a well-informed customer, you know). The water-diviner kept me waiting near Singasandra petrol station for an hour and finally came around sunset to mark the place for digging borewell in the North-east direction mf my plot. He used a tree branch and coconut for identifying the right location!!! 99% reliable they say. My BRAIN 2.0 failed to accept this belief but had to go with it after the borewell owner, an-Ex professor in a city college explained about the water-diviners and their precision in predictions.

And today, 16th November 2008 we started out borewell digging exercise early in the morning. 8:30 am we were sucking the sand out of the marked spot with ELGI drilling machine. While digging I had some visitors from around my area - and some experiences I heard from many of them induced jitters in me; In one place, they had to dig more than 800 feet deep, still failed with water; abandoned due to silt in another place; etc.

By 4 pm after 320 feet of drilling and hitting a good water table, I have my mission complete for the day.

Value of IIMC-Senior Management Programme....

2008-11-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

Hi, I have attended 2 weeks of IIMC-SMP programme. This certainly is very valuable education, that combines the depth of in-campus management teaching and the flexibility of distance learning! The infrastructure for this program is brought to us by NIIT. The attendance system is very strict - If you are 15 minutes delayed to a class, the attendance is lost and affects your chances of getting through the programme successfully!!! I like this....though challenging :)

The usage of video+audio+text chat enhances the experience as a student. It brings so many of us throughout India in a single virtual class room.

What do you get at the end of this exciting program - if you are expecting a CERTIFICATE that you can proudly hang in your living room, NO! It adds value to your managerial skills and hones you for SENIOR MANAGEMENT challenges, without doubt!

First of all it is for 10+ year experienced professionals - you are not competing with 2-3 year old profesiisonals for a space in "MBA" certification! This is much more than the MBA, and hence I prefer to call it as "SMP" - as such!!!

I would strongly recommend this programme - if you are seriously looking at enhancing your skills to climb the corporate ladder and becoming a LEADER!!!

Another beautiful Sunset!!!

2008-10-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

Every sunset reminds me about the next days' sunrise!!! Have faith.

Ganesh Chathurthy 2008...Back with bang!!!

2008-10-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Ganesha Idol immersion at Yediyur Lake - captured from my balcony.
நல்ல மனம், நல்ல நண்பர்கள், நல்ல ஆரோக்கியம் கொடு கணேஷா!!!

கொழுக்கட்டை தின்றோம், தும்பிக்கையானை தொழுதோம்!

Sudharshini and Sarath Sundar with their friend Shweta near the almighty Ganesha-ji!!!

IIM Calcutta -Senior Management Programme Campus Visit

2008-09-29T04:12:00.000-07:00

Folks, Just came back after a 3 days (2.5 days to be precise) of IIMC-SMP programme - campus sessions. This was my first visit to Kolkata and IIMC. Nice to meet with 127 other participants gathered in a huge auditorium within IIMC. The weather was fine with continuous drizzle. The campus itself has many lakes and hence felt water everywhere!!! Feels good to be back in classroom environment after many years. It also feels good to hear somebody else in the room talk - after getting used to the professional meetings and discussions in the corporate world.

Got glimpses of the Kolkata city, the taxi service, trams etc. We stayed at IITD, which is not within the campus. IIMC made arrangements to pick us from there to the campus everyday. The classes were 9:45 am to 7:30 pm. The food arrangements were done at Tata Hall - the quality and variety were GOOD!!! Our batchmates are all set to roll-out a website and group-email already. Hoping to harness the power of networking in coming days, weeks and months. Will keep posting my experiences here.

Join My "India Product Management Group"

2008-06-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

Dear,

Living in the era of Web 2.0 it would be a sin to not use the power of web to initiate, involve and nurture professional relationships. Having spent a decade plus in Product Management, I thought I fully qualify for initiating a group that would bring together like-minded professionals in my domain. Hence my "ipmg" aka "India Product Management Group"!

If you are a product manager (ONLY), irrespective of the number of years you have spent in this field, click on the above name to knock the doors of my new world. I take pride in rejecting anyone else...

The idea of forming this professional group via Linkedin is not just for fun or "me too" type activity. I am confident that I will be able to value-add to the members of the group by creating an interactive space that enables and empowers my community.

Product Managers are creative, innovative and hence my motive should be fulfilled by the cooperation from every PM!

Back in action after inaction!

2008-06-05T06:20:00.000-07:00

Guys, Gals

Back in action. Summer trips, release schedules occupying my calendar completely and hence wasn't blogging for a while! Kids enjoyed their vacation thoroughly with trips to Tirupathi (for my birthday), Chennai (for a marriage), Coimbatore (staying with Grand parents), visit to Black Thunder (water theme park near Mettupalayam), Isha Yoga center, Kovai Kutralam etc.

Sunset by the Sea.... April 2008

2008-04-20T01:41:00.000-07:00

Went to Murudeshwar last week and captured this sunset and sand...

Seattle January 2008

2008-01-13T22:34:00.000-08:00

Reached Seattle (13th January 2008) Visited Space Needle...

Man made Vs God Created!

My Canon S5 IS Pics...

2007-10-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

My Kidzzzz!

2007-10-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

Got my Canon S5 IS last week and started playing around wtih it's powerful 12x zoom!!!!

Bengaluru - Lalbagh 2007

2007-08-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

Kids enjoying the Coooooooool Sunday...at Lalbagh!

Welcome Yellow!

Take it easy...

Flower show @ Glass House!

Taj Mahal...Made of Flowers! Kudos to those horticulturalists!

Wow!

Belur, Halebidu, Shravanabelagola trip - Apr'07

2007-04-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

And finally I made it to the historical places I wanted to visit for a long time now :)

Last 3 months, I have been traveling a lot - fortunately to the places I would like to go again and again :)

This trip was through KSTDC package tour. Starting from Bangalore (KSTDC office near Corporation circle) at 7:30 am we reached the first destination of Shravanabelagola at 10:30 am. Climbing up the 650 steps looks herculean effort for the IT spoiled healthy (!) body! Huffing and puffing we reached the top of the hill in about 35 minutes.

SHRAVANABELAGOLA

The steps are not that steep...

Picturesque view from the hill...

The Bahubali statue... standing tall, for centuries now!

Another view of the town from the top...

BELUR

London - Windsor Castle

2007-03-19T04:36:00.000-07:00

Visited Windsor Castle on Saturday (17th March)...up on reaching London from Miami!

Mind boggling Miami - More Photos 4 U!

2007-03-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

Mesmerizing Miami - South Beach

2007-03-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

Looking through....

Everglades National Park - March 2007

2007-03-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

My visit to Everglades - Gator Park (15th Macrh 2007)

US Trip 2007

2007-03-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

Miami 2007 March :)

Nice Sandy Beach.

And the Birds adding beauty....to it!

And these girls from Heaven :)

This is a view from my Balcony...@ LOEWS, South Beach

Ganesh Chaturthy 2006...

2006-08-27T04:59:00.000-07:00

Ganesh Chaturthy 2006 @ our home:
Today we celeberated Ganesh Chaturthy. Today God Ganesh visits every worshipper's house in the form of Murti (made of clay...sometimes painted too). You can see that the Murti is decorated with his favourite "White Erukku", Arugampul" (Grass), and flowers. This murti is worshipped for 2-10 days and immersed in a nearby Tank, River or Sea!

We make Modagam (Kozhukkattai in Tamil) which is his favourite food! (A modak is a dumpling made from rice flour with a stuffing of coconut, jaggery and some other condiments & Steam Cooked)

Other food items were: Ellu Urundai, Sundal, Paruppu Vadai, Athirasam!

Writing this blog after overwhelming lunch with all the above mentioned South-Indian specials!!!

OTHER PLOGS (Photo Logs!)
Yediyur Lake - getting ready for a month-long idol immersion from today!

This view is from my Balcony...

[My NH Travelogue: Trip to Madurai, Kutralam, Tenkasi, Papanasam falls, Srivilliputhur]

2006-08-16T09:54:00.000-07:00

A view from my Dashboard…

{Own driving: Bangalore – Hosur – Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri – Salem – Namakkal – Musiri – Kulithalai – Trichy} [Hired Vehicle: Trichy – Madurai – Krishnapuram – Kutralam]

5:40 am: Started from Jayanagar, Bangalore (after visiting Ganesha temple @ RV Road)

NH-7 feels like hot-knife-on-butter! Except for a small stretch of bad road-yet to be done to NH levels - between Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri.

Zooming past Electronic city, Hosur, Krishnagiri we reached Dharmapuri (133 Kms) at 8:15 am. Filled the petrol-tank (few Rupees cheaper than Bangalore...dude) and decided to fill our stomach with delicious Idly, Dosa, Vada and stopped at my favourite spot "Sri Saravana Bhavan Hotel" near main junction, Dharmapuri.

9:05 am: Drove via Salem (196 kms - 10:20 am) reached Namakkal (246 kms) at 11:20 am

Visited the temples of Hanuman and Narasimha swamy...
( The cave sculptures were engraved by GUNSILA Adhiyan Kula, King during 7th Century) More...

12:20 pm: From Namakkal drove to Musiri (298 kms - 1:30 pm). From Musiri I took the bridge across River Cauvery to Kulithalai, as I was suggested that the road/traffic via Kulithalai is better compared to the Musiri-Trichy road.

2:10 pm: Destination Trichy...

Ucchi Pillayar Temple (Rock-temple)

From Trichy we hired a Toyota-Qualis, as we had to accommodate more passengers... The Trichy-Madurai road is being widened and one can expect a cool-ride very soon in this sector!

From Trichy we went to Madurai, Meenakshi Amman Temple and had a good darshan of the goddess...

Though I have visited the temple so many times earlier, this time I could see the closing ceremonies... Especially God Sundareshwara travelling in a "Pallakku" back home!

From Madurai we travelled through Thirumangalam, Krishnapuram etc., and reached Kutralam (Courtalam) at about 1:30 am...

Kutralam has ample lodges and "Illams" with decent rooms at decent prices...You can pick and choose from the wide range of lodging options and we settled down for a good sleep, after planning for the morning bath at the Main Falls! When we actually planned for the Kutralam trip, I was informed through various sources that the weather was dry and the falls had little water to bath. Expecting a huge crowd and long waiting hours...we went to the Main Water fall the next morning, to see the falls at its best - lotz and lotz of water due to overnight rains! Wow....what a beautiful sight!

Kutralam Main Falls (August 13, 2006)

It certainly was a feast to eyes to watch the gift of mother-nature. Why and how the droplets falling on the peaks of mountains gets collected, saved and presented to us? Most of the visitors to Kutralam opt for Oil-massage (Malish) charged at Rs. 30/-per head. Police announcements all-over cautioned about chain-snatchers, warned drunken not to enter the bathing area...And there was a Police-control room very close to the water fall to monitor and control the crowd. Without them it may not be possible for everyone traveling from far-off places to enjoy the experience of taking bath in Kutralam!

After introducing the water-fall bath to my Kidz for the first time in their life, we visited the Kutralla Nathar temple, famous Shiva shrine.

The next thing to do naturally was to head to a hotel (called "Mess") nearby the temple for delicious South-indian "Idly, Vada, Dosa"...You have variety of options to choose your dosa...Podi dosa, Podi Uthappam, Malli uthappam, Onion Utapam, Pattani uthapam, coconut uthapam....Wow, no Pizzas can compete with our taste!!!

Menu card....No Menu Board at Saraswathy Mess, Kutralam

We then went to Tenkasi, about 5 kms from Kutralam. Kasi Vishwanatha temple is one of the oldest with beautiful, magnificant GOPURAM standing tall proudly...announcing the greatness of ancient Tamil architects!

Tenkasi Viswanatha Temple

We then went to Papanasm water fall took bath again and returned back to Kutralam for shopping time....

Varam tharum Vinayagar pond....Azhvarkurichi

Next day morning we went to Aintharuvi (Five-falls)...Due to overnight drizzle the water flow was very good and hence we enjoyed the great bathing experience...

Ayyanar Saastha Temple @ Five-falls

After 2 days of marathon water-fall visits and baths we started our journey back to Trichy...

On the way we visited Srivilliputhur temple...(left pic)

Next day we came back to Bangalore via the same Musiri-Namakkal-Salem-Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri-Hosur route.

Srirangam temple rajagopuram (pic on right) from Trichy-Kulithalai road

At Dharmapuri this time we tried Hotel Sriramas and found it excellent! Parotta was simply superb!

There is a Monkey hub near Krishnagiri....where the lorry, bus and other visitors/travellers offer food to Monkeys as they are considered Avtars of Hanuman! We too stopped over....

And some scenic beauty on the way back near Krishnagiri and Hosur...

God's Own Art!

Linked in......

2006-08-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

Guess who this chubby kid is.....It's me dude!

2006-08-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

India with Kalam and Rahul Mahajans...

2006-06-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hey...

What is happening? Today I was so happy on seeing the 75 year old (YOUNG?) Abdul Kalam flying on fastest fighter aircraft and equally saddened with the news on Rahul Mahajan's arrest for drug (ab)use! Salutes to my President.

Media in India - Please do not flash Rahul's arrest in 1st page and report President's action in Page 10. Please discourage negative publicity and encourage good stuff...for a difference!

Samsung...Deserves praise!

2006-06-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

It's long time since I blogged, and now I am back in action. Today I am writing this note with my experience with Samsung India service. My Television (Samsung) went in to coma last week-end and the service guy who inspected the set declared the PCB be changed as it got partially or maximum damaged due to some power surge (very common in Bangalore?). I couldn't decide immediately as it costs more for the change of circuit and hence decided to take the TV to Samsung Customer Service Center at BTM layout (Yes...the same traffic messed BTM layout my fellow Bangalorean). As son as reached the place - it was raining already - the security guard informed an attender and my TV got a warm welcome to Samsung center and found a warm place @ Discussion room! Just with in 10 minutes it was attended and I was informed that for a PCB change I would get a brand new 200 channel, Game included TV circuit in place of the old circuit for 3800 Rs. only. What a surprise....The same TV that gets sold for 4 folds in the market would come to me cheap. I ordered for the same and within 24 hours it was delivered at my home (3 after-service calls from their team too)

Altogether it was a pleasent experience today, in contrast to most service providers in India! Keep it up Samsung!

Yes..I forgot to mention about a follow-up call from Delhi call center of Samsung asking if they charged me correct amount! Wow...I am a King as customer of Samsung!

God...I wish this happens!

2006-04-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

I was shocked and shattered to see today's report about killing of an Young Indian Engineer Suryanarayanan. What a barbaric act by Talibans! Seeing the footage of the young wife and kids crying after hearing the news, I couldn't control my nerves.

Hey...You brainless idiots of terrorism, just think, if your Mom fed you blood instead of Milk! How can you become so barbaric and heartless? Is this what "what-ever" religion you follow, teaches you?

I am sure you'll have a family and I pray to your god that your families too should be punished in the same barbaric fashion, that too in front of your eyes! Let's see if you enjoy those moments. Who knows you may eat the flesh and drink the blood too!

Lalbagh...Through my eyes!

2006-04-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

Meerut Fire Accident - Who'll hang those responsible for Lapses?

2006-04-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Friend,

It is very sad that 50 died in a Shopping Festivel @ Meerut, North-India...Who and how will those who were responsible for the safety be punished? I wish the officials responsible for the tragedy handed over to the relatives of the dead and wounded, and they decide how to punish them....Not forgiving just like that! Think about those who have lost the beloved ones...Father, Mother, Brother, Sister etc etc....

GOD....R U JUST WATCHING? Common...time for action!

Wish no-such accidents in any part of this world!

East or West...BSNL is the Best!

2006-03-21T07:57:00.000-08:00

Hi Dude,

I recently moved to BSNL Broadband and Wow what an exemplery Customer Service!

My phone line initially gave some problems and hence the Link line was down from the day of Installation...But these guys gave me a complaint booking number and kept it open till they resolved the issue! (In contrast to a private operator who used to clear the docket within 8 hours clverly and then cheat me!)

Let me say this once again...East or West, BSNL is the Best!

I may face issues and link down problems in future, but iam sure with the BSNL's friendly Approach, I can be rest assured. Special thanks to Mr. Prakash, JTO and Ibrahim (Line-man) 3rd Block, Jayanagar for swiftly and promptly resolving the issue and help me browse once again!!

KEEP IT UP BSNL!

Hari
21/3/2006

2006-02-28T09:17:00.000-08:00

My world!

2006-02-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

Architecture of yester years...

2006-02-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

Roadside beauty...Boston

2006-02-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

My Canon A400 on day 1...

2006-02-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

Maangadu Kamatchi...On Golden Chariot

Will these celebs keep their mouth shut!?

2005-11-18T23:51:00.000-08:00

Hi,

I have been following the news about some celebs in India, like Khushboo and Sania Mirza commenting about Pre-marital sex and the kind-off negative publicity they attained through it. First of all, it is better for these half-baked celebs to understand that Indians don't require advises from them. If they are talking anything about the film-industry or Tennis, one shall and will welcome that, but not about having free-sex in this country rich with culture and also has taught the whole world on how-to-do-it with Kamasutra! Some may argue that India has one of the high Aids patient reported country, but that's due to population and education.

Thiruvalluvar wrote some many thousand years back, for these idiots "Yaa kaavaraayinum, Naa Kaakka Kaavakkal Sogaappar Sollilukku Pattu!" - What a saying that was!

Are they hearing?

Hari

My experiments with Canon A400!

2005-11-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

One more Deepavali (Festivel of lights) photo!

Sparkles....Filling My Home!

Sea Sighting...Rameswaram!

2005-11-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

I took these photos in April'05 on a rainy day, when we went to Rameswaram (India).

Taken from Pamban Bridge at Rameswaram!

My son...on his first day to school...

2005-11-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

My son Sarath on 14/10/2005...Look at the cheer on his face (without knowing what's in store at school!)

The Donigal trek photos!

2005-11-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

READ THE DETAILS OF THE TREK IN MY EARLIER BLOG!

I bow Rainbow!

2005-11-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

Rainbow Decorated On A Tree-vase!

Photos on my blog...

2005-11-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

Before Nature We Are Nothing!

Some more Diwali Photos....

2005-11-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

A PERFECT "8" WITH A MATCH-STICK!!!

CANON POWERSHOT A-400

My Broadband Nightmares are over!!! Photo Experiment 1

2005-11-11T09:21:00.000-08:00

Hey,

I am back in action!

Here's a photo I took during this Diwali (we light firecrackers and enjoy this festivel in India)

Hari

Too busy....

2005-08-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Sorry for not writing for sometime! Got busy. Will try to write more in coming days.

Mumbai rains, Britain bombings....still life goes as usual.

Hari

Do we need middle-men for GOD?

2005-04-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

Do we need middle-men for GOD? -21 April 2005

Hi Friend,

Do we really need middle-men or so-called swamiji's to connect with God?!

My answer is a big NO, when these middle-men step beyond their limits of being a preist and becomes a God-men!

I visualise them as vessels that carry water! The vessels have to be empty if it has to carry what it is supposed to! Here I relate the emptiness to the deatchement these

people should have towards the worldly pleasures. When I said Pleasures - I didn't mean about eating good food, living a normal life (read as -married life including SEX).

These guys should act as a Guru/teacher who dedicates part of his life in understanding the depths of religion that he belongs to, the rites and rituals (with meaning), value of

the system etc. This learning should make him EMPTY, or detached from qualities like happiness/sad, jealous etc. Then he is qualified for preaching us what life is all about

and how GOD can be reached through them.

One more analogy I would like to use is that these guys should act like a copper wire conducting electricity! They only conduct it, but can never become IT or even like IT!!!

When someone crosses this limit and try to behave like GOD himself and expect the respect/rituals that is given to GOD, then these guys can be certainly called as

GOD-BROKERS rather than Swmaijis. In rcent times we have seen many such guys getting jailed and punished for many wrong-doings -including sexual mis-behaviours.

What a shame!!!

Donot give any importance or respect (read as Fear sometimes) more than what these guys deserve! Like the servants of government these guys are also just doing their

duty and for that pay only TIPS not salaries/gifts!!!

If you agree with me on these, next time when you visit a temple/god-man, do not worship him, but just wish him!

Waiting for your comments,

Hari
21 April 2005

Abandomed Railway Trek Adventure (January 2004)

2005-04-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Though not a regular to treks, I was part of a team that explored this wonderful and adventurous trekking along/on the abandoned railway track near Bangalore! Read on...

HARI

Abandoned Railway Track Trekking Adventure:
in simple terms its nothing but walking along the railway line (metre-gauge) with few bridges and tunnels surrounded by picturesque ghats!

After getting bored with the regular week-end routines, myself and my friends decided to do something that would refresh our body and soul. After discussing about various options like picnic, playing cricket etc., we finally decided to "Trek". Inspired by some of our friends' trekking experience reports, we were looking for a right location to try out our first trekking adventure. And we came across this peculiar trekking track that involved tracking along an abandoned railway track from Donigal near Sakleshpura to Yedukkumeri.

Once we heared about the terms like Donigal, Sakleshpur, Yedukkumeri etc., we were all jumping into the web jungle with Google net to fish maximum possible details about the place. Wow! There were so many of them , with few encouraging notes to many discouraging tales! For a week we were all engaged in planning, discussing about possible stress levels etc. Though initially we had apprehensions about the trip, finally we all decided to take the challenge whole-heartedly. The only advise given by almost all of them who went there earlier was "Donot try this during rainy season or night".

Though most of the websites we referred to, described the bridges as heart-attack generators to people suffering with Acrophobia, Allodoxaphobia, or Fear of Heights, nothing of that sorts happened to most of us!

I am not going to explain here about our ticket booking, shopping trekking bag, snacks, torch-lite, batteries, food items etc.

On 2nd January 2004 (Friday) night we took the 11.00 pm bus to Sakleshpur. Early morning we were dropped at a tea-cum-snacks shop "The Picnic" after duly paying the conductor with incentive of 10/head (Look....For government I have a suggestion to make Donigal railway station a official bus-stop and can charge public, than conductors making money) After having a cup of Coffee (my advise to you is never order coffee here...) and a good Tea (Tea was ok!) we started from this place. In the meanwhile one more bus stopped by and a group of 11 guys got-down for the same trek! (In a way these guys helped us.....I will tell abt it later!)

The First Mistake!

From the hotel we have to walk about half-a-kilometre to reach a bridge, after crossing which we have to take a small path uphill to reach Donigal railway station! Pretty simple isn't it! Yes.. it would have been,in the day light! But in the darkness and a fool who guided us on the opposite direction. we reached a small temple (Siddheswara)! We wasted about 45 minutes in this effort and finally reached the station around 6.30 am. After taking few snaps we started our Historic Trekking!

Walk... Walk... Walk!
Walking on the small stones along the railway line is certainly a streneous exercise for your feet! Better wear an old pair of shoes so that you can through them away after the trek. After walking for about an hour or so we reached our first Bridge...picturesque scenary around it. Crossing it was easier than we all thought and taught...Ate some dates and continued walking till we found a small stream to stop by for our breakfast! Ate fast some chappathis for Breakfast, and started walking past some milestones.

We started crossing some good bridges (read small ones) and some bigger ones! Few of our colleagues started crawling on the bridge...due to the fear (You some times feel that you are standing on the bridge and the groubd alongwith the trees beneath are rolling fast)

By around 12:30 we have covered a good amount of tunnels and bridges and were about to cross Tunnel 9 to cross the longest bridge!

Bee-Stings!
This is when our climax happened that we saw couple of the guys belonging to the group that overtook us on the way came running out of the tunnel shouting "Don't come! Run away!" Suddenly i thought that they were being chased by some tiger (or the cheetah we saw on some website) One of the guy was having the bee-stings all over his face. They told that there were bee-hives on the pillars throughout the bridge and it would be deadly to cross it! The only option now is to go back all the way to reach Donigal, which is about 16 Kms away! (Oh...God!) Or to try crossing the river by going through a short-cut 9ha..ha...that's what we thought)

ADVENTURE BEGINS...
One villager by name Swami came for our rescue, who encouraged us to cross the river by going down the hill slope and then cross a bridge that leads to a village from where we can get buses to Sakleshpura! Wow..how simple it looks from the above. But we faced the adventure of our lives when we stared following him. This guy takes us through some real jungle, by cuttgin few trees and branches on the path (actually making path). At one place we felt that we are going to roll down and break one or more of our bones! Yes.. the slope was so steep that we have to hang with some trees or roots like Tarzan!

With great difficulty we reached the river, that followed another adventure. Here the wooden bridge that we had to use for crossing the river was actually abandoned (atleast some 10 years) and hence again we have to cut some trees and plants to make our way.

By this time most of us were totally exhausted and feeling the need for rest! But we couldn't afford to take rest as we have to rush to catch a bus from the village.

Swami told us that it is just few minutes away...but this time we have to climb up-hill (luckily through some jeep-trail).This part of the trek really made me sweat-out all the liquid that i had! And with great difficulty we reached a place from where this guycalled a pick-up jeep to drop us at another point!

Wow...13 of us were stuffed into that small pick-up truck (Bale..Mahindra) We reached a village were we had tea and bargained with another jeep driver (Bale...Mahindra again) to drop us at Sakleshpur.

On the way some of our guys got on to a truck passing by to reach Sakleshpur!

As soon as we reached Salkelspur we all went to Hotel Kamat and had a full meal with excellent butter-milk that brought back some energy.

From Sakleshpur we came to Hasan (thinking that we may get some Luxury bus..) but got a Red bus (Dubba) back to Bangalore.

Reached home at 3:10 am and dived in to my bed! (For next 2 days I had severe pain in the thigh and feet to remind me about how much i have stretched myself)

What a great trek to start the year with!

Interesting Facts...If you are interested!!!

2005-04-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I used to read all those facts printed on Snapples bottle-cap while traveling to NJ! That made me collect some interesting facts for you!

Let me know if you liked it!
Hari

* Most cell phone antennas have no purpose other than to make people believe that flipping up a 2 inch antenna just gave them better reception. They are not connected to any circuitry.
* TIME Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1938 was Adolf Hitler.
* The most productive day of the workweek is Tuesday.
* The New York Stock Exchange started as a coffee shop!
* One quarter of the human brain is used to control the eyes.
* Babies are born without knee caps.
* According to U.S. FDA standards, 1 cup of orange juice is allowed to contain 10 fruit fly eggs, but only 2 maggots.
* In New York City, approximately 1,600 people are bitten by other humans every year.
* It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.

Snapple Facts
#1 A Goldfish's attention span is three seconds

#2 Animals that lay eggs don't have belly buttons

#3 Beavers can hold their breathe for 45 minutes under water

#4 Slugs have 4 noses

#5 Camels have 3 eyelids

#6 A honey bee can fly at 15mph

#7 A queen bee can lay 800-1500 eggs per day

#8 A bee has 5 eyes

#9 The average speed of a housefly is 4.5 mph

#10 Mosquitoes are attracted to people who just ate bananas

#11 Flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp

#12 Emus and Kangaroos cannot walk backward

#13 Cats have over 100 vocal chords

#14 Camel's milk does not curdle

#15 All porcupines float in water

#16 The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1

#17 A hummingbird weighs less then a penny

#18 A jellyfish is 95% water

#19 Children grow faster in the spring

#20 Broccoli is the only vegetable that is also a flower

#21 Almonds are part of the peach family

#22 Alaska has the highest percentage of people who walk to work

#23 The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile national monument

#24 The state of Maine has 62 lighthouses

#25 The only food that does not spoil is honey

#26 The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters

#27 A ball of glass will bounce higher then a ball of rubber

#28 Chewing gum while peeling onions will prevent you from crying

#29 On average a human will spend up to 2 weeks kissing in his/her lifetime

#30 Fish have eyelids

#31 The average human will eat an average of 8 spiders while sleeping

#32 There is one million ants to every human in the world

#33 Termites eat through wood two times faster when listening to rock music!

#34 If you keep a goldfish in a dark room it will eventually turn white

#35 Elephants only sleep 2 hours a day

#36 A duck's quack doesn't echo

#37 A snail breathes through its foot

#38 Fish cough.

#39 An ant's smell is stronger then a dog's

#40 It is possible to lead a cow up stairs but not down

#41 Shrimp can only swim backward

#42 Frogs cannot swallow with their eyes open

#43 A cat's lower jaw cannot move sideways

#44 The bullfrog is the only animal that never sleeps

#45 Elephants are capable of swimming 20 miles per day

#46 Elephants are the only mammal that cannot jump

#47 Giraffes have no vocal chords

#48 Cats can hear ultrasound

#49 Despite its hump...camels has a straight spine

#50 Mosquitoes have 47 teeth

Why (few) popcorn doesn't pop???

2005-04-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

Came across this interesting piece of news on Rediff today! Hari

Why popcorn doesn't pop!
April 19, 2005

Ever wondered why, in a bag of popcorn bought at the movies, there are always some unpopped kernels at the bottom?

Well, a Purdue University team led by food chemist Bruce Hamaker of the Whistler Centre of Carbohydrate Research has the answer.

"It is a matter of scientific curiosity and we are in the food business, so we decided to find out," Purdue's Rengaswami Chandrasekaran said.

After analysing 14 varieties of corn popped in a microwave oven, the team discovered that the key pop-ability factor is the kernel's cellulose hull, known as the pericarp.

Chandrasekaran, a crystallographer, found that the pericarp in corn that popped has a stronger crystalline structure than the pericarp in those that didn't.

"With a better organised crystal structure," he said, "the kernel retains moisture better. It swells as it heats up until it finally explodes, creating popcorn."
If the moisture leaks out prematurely or the pericarp collapses, the pressure will not build and the frustrated consumer is left with unpopped kernels that stick in your throat, plug up your teeth and dislocate your dental fillings.

-Amusing Isn't It? Hari

Some useful Scribbling I came across!

2005-04-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

April 3, 2005
It's a Flat World, After All
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
In 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail for India, going west. He had the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. He never did find India, but he called the people he met ''Indians'' and came home and reported to his king and queen: ''The world is round.'' I set off for India 512 years later. I knew just which direction I was going. I went east. I had Lufthansa business class, and I came home and reported only to my wife and only in a whisper: ''The world is flat.''

And therein lies a tale of technology and geoeconomics that is fundamentally reshaping our lives -- much, much more quickly than many people realize. It all happened while we were sleeping, or rather while we were focused on 9/11, the dot-com bust and Enron -- which even prompted some to wonder whether globalization was over. Actually, just the opposite was true, which is why it's time to wake up and prepare ourselves for this flat world, because others already are, and there is no time to waste.

I wish I could say I saw it all coming. Alas, I encountered the flattening of the world quite by accident. It was in late February of last year, and I was visiting the Indian high-tech capital, Bangalore, working on a documentary for the Discovery Times channel about outsourcing. In short order, I interviewed Indian entrepreneurs who wanted to prepare my taxes from Bangalore, read my X-rays from Bangalore, trace my lost luggage from Bangalore and write my new software from Bangalore. The longer I was there, the more upset I became -- upset at the realization that while I had been off covering the 9/11 wars, globalization had entered a whole new phase, and I had missed it. I guess the eureka moment came on a visit to the campus of Infosys Technologies, one of the crown jewels of the Indian outsourcing and software industry. Nandan Nilekani, the Infosys C.E.O., was showing me his global video-conference room, pointing with pride to a wall-size flat-screen TV, which he said was the biggest in Asia. Infosys, he explained, could hold a virtual meeting of the key players from its entire global supply chain for any project at any time on that supersize screen. So its American designers could be on the screen speaking with their Indian software writers and their Asian manufacturers all at once. That's what globalization is all about today, Nilekani said. Above the screen there were eight clocks that pretty well summed up the Infosys workday: 24/7/365. The clocks were labeled U.S. West, U.S. East, G.M.T., India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia.

''Outsourcing is just one dimension of a much more fundamental thing happening today in the world,'' Nilekani explained. ''What happened over the last years is that there was a massive investment in technology, especially in the bubble era, when hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in putting broadband connectivity around the world, undersea cables, all those things.'' At the same time, he added, computers became cheaper and dispersed all over the world, and there was an explosion of e-mail software, search engines like Google and proprietary software that can chop up any piece of work and send one part to Boston, one part to Bangalore and one part to Beijing, making it easy for anyone to do remote development. When all of these things suddenly came together around 2000, Nilekani said, they ''created a platform where intellectual work, intellectual capital, could be delivered from anywhere. It could be disaggregated, delivered, distributed, produced and put back together again -- and this gave a whole new degree of freedom to the way we do work, especially work of an intellectual nature. And what you are seeing in Bangalore today is really the culmination of all these things coming together.''

At one point, summing up the implications of all this, Nilekani uttered a phrase that rang in my ear. He said to me, ''Tom, the playing field is being leveled.'' He meant that countries like India were now able to compete equally for global knowledge work as never before -- and that America had better get ready for this. As I left the Infosys campus that evening and bounced along the potholed road back to Bangalore, I kept chewing on that phrase: ''The playing field is being leveled.''

''What Nandan is saying,'' I thought, ''is that the playing field is being flattened. Flattened? Flattened? My God, he's telling me the world is flat!''

Here I was in Bangalore -- more than 500 years after Columbus sailed over the horizon, looking for a shorter route to India using the rudimentary navigational technologies of his day, and returned safely to prove definitively that the world was round -- and one of India's smartest engineers, trained at his country's top technical institute and backed by the most modern technologies of his day, was telling me that the world was flat, as flat as that screen on which he can host a meeting of his whole global supply chain. Even more interesting, he was citing this development as a new milestone in human progress and a great opportunity for India and the world -- the fact that we had made our world flat!

This has been building for a long time. Globalization 1.0 (1492 to 1800) shrank the world from a size large to a size medium, and the dynamic force in that era was countries globalizing for resources and imperial conquest. Globalization 2.0 (1800 to 2000) shrank the world from a size medium to a size small, and it was spearheaded by companies globalizing for markets and labor. Globalization 3.0 (which started around 2000) is shrinking the world from a size small to a size tiny and flattening the playing field at the same time. And while the dynamic force in Globalization 1.0 was countries globalizing and the dynamic force in Globalization 2.0 was companies globalizing, the dynamic force in Globalization 3.0 -- the thing that gives it its unique character -- is individuals and small groups globalizing. Individuals must, and can, now ask: where do I fit into the global competition and opportunities of the day, and how can I, on my own, collaborate with others globally? But Globalization 3.0 not only differs from the previous eras in how it is shrinking and flattening the world and in how it is empowering individuals. It is also different in that Globalization 1.0 and 2.0 were driven primarily by European and American companies and countries. But going forward, this will be less and less true. Globalization 3.0 is not only going to be driven more by individuals but also by a much more diverse -- non-Western, nonwhite -- group of individuals. In Globalization 3.0, you are going to see every color of the human rainbow take part.

''Today, the most profound thing to me is the fact that a 14-year-old in Romania or Bangalore or the Soviet Union or Vietnam has all the information, all the tools, all the software easily available to apply knowledge however they want,'' said Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of Netscape and creator of the first commercial Internet browser. ''That is why I am sure the next Napster is going to come out of left field. As bioscience becomes more computational and less about wet labs and as all the genomic data becomes easily available on the Internet, at some point you will be able to design vaccines on your laptop.''

Andreessen is touching on the most exciting part of Globalization 3.0 and the flattening of the world: the fact that we are now in the process of connecting all the knowledge pools in the world together. We've tasted some of the downsides of that in the way that Osama bin Laden has connected terrorist knowledge pools together through his Qaeda network, not to mention the work of teenage hackers spinning off more and more lethal computer viruses that affect us all. But the upside is that by connecting all these knowledge pools we are on the cusp of an incredible new era of innovation, an era that will be driven from left field and right field, from West and East and from North and South. Only 30 years ago, if you had a choice of being born a B student in Boston or a genius in Bangalore or Beijing, you probably would have chosen Boston, because a genius in Beijing or Bangalore could not really take advantage of his or her talent. They could not plug and play globally. Not anymore. Not when the world is flat, and anyone with smarts, access to Google and a cheap wireless laptop can join the innovation fray.

When the world is flat, you can innovate without having to emigrate. This is going to get interesting. We are about to see creative destruction on steroids.

How did the world get flattened, and how did it happen so fast?

It was a result of 10 events and forces that all came together during the 1990's and converged right around the year 2000. Let me go through them briefly. The first event was 11/9. That's right -- not 9/11, but 11/9. Nov. 9, 1989, is the day the Berlin Wall came down, which was critically important because it allowed us to think of the world as a single space. ''The Berlin Wall was not only a symbol of keeping people inside Germany; it was a way of preventing a kind of global view of our future,'' the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen said. And the wall went down just as the windows went up -- the breakthrough Microsoft Windows 3.0 operating system, which helped to flatten the playing field even more by creating a global computer interface, shipped six months after the wall fell.

The second key date was 8/9. Aug. 9, 1995, is the day Netscape went public, which did two important things. First, it brought the Internet alive by giving us the browser to display images and data stored on Web sites. Second, the Netscape stock offering triggered the dot-com boom, which triggered the dot-com bubble, which triggered the massive overinvestment of billions of dollars in fiber-optic telecommunications cable. That overinvestment, by companies like Global Crossing, resulted in the willy-nilly creation of a global undersea-underground fiber network, which in turn drove down the cost of transmitting voices, data and images to practically zero, which in turn accidentally made Boston, Bangalore and Beijing next-door neighbors overnight. In sum, what the Netscape revolution did was bring people-to-people connectivity to a whole new level. Suddenly more people could connect with more other people from more different places in more different ways than ever before.

No country accidentally benefited more from the Netscape moment than India. ''India had no resources and no infrastructure,'' said Dinakar Singh, one of the most respected hedge-fund managers on Wall Street, whose parents earned doctoral degrees in biochemistry from the University of Delhi before emigrating to America. ''It produced people with quality and by quantity. But many of them rotted on the docks of India like vegetables. Only a relative few could get on ships and get out. Not anymore, because we built this ocean crosser, called fiber-optic cable. For decades you had to leave India to be a professional. Now you can plug into the world from India. You don't have to go to Yale and go to work for Goldman Sachs.'' India could never have afforded to pay for the bandwidth to connect brainy India with high-tech America, so American shareholders paid for it. Yes, crazy overinvestment can be good. The overinvestment in railroads turned out to be a great boon for the American economy. ''But the railroad overinvestment was confined to your own country and so, too, were the benefits,'' Singh said. In the case of the digital railroads, ''it was the foreigners who benefited.'' India got a free ride.

The first time this became apparent was when thousands of Indian engineers were enlisted to fix the Y2K -- the year 2000 -- computer bugs for companies from all over the world. (Y2K should be a national holiday in India. Call it ''Indian Interdependence Day,'' says Michael Mandelbaum, a foreign-policy analyst at Johns Hopkins.) The fact that the Y2K work could be outsourced to Indians was made possible by the first two flatteners, along with a third, which I call ''workflow.'' Workflow is shorthand for all the software applications, standards and electronic transmission pipes, like middleware, that connected all those computers and fiber-optic cable. To put it another way, if the Netscape moment connected people to people like never before, what the workflow revolution did was connect applications to applications so that people all over the world could work together in manipulating and shaping words, data and images on computers like never before.

Indeed, this breakthrough in people-to-people and application-to-application connectivity produced, in short order, six more flatteners -- six new ways in which individuals and companies could collaborate on work and share knowledge. One was ''outsourcing.'' When my software applications could connect seamlessly with all of your applications, it meant that all kinds of work -- from accounting to software-writing -- could be digitized, disaggregated and shifted to any place in the world where it could be done better and cheaper. The second was ''offshoring.'' I send my whole factory from Canton, Ohio, to Canton, China. The third was ''open-sourcing.'' I write the next operating system, Linux, using engineers collaborating together online and working for free. The fourth was ''insourcing.'' I let a company like UPS come inside my company and take over my whole logistics operation -- everything from filling my orders online to delivering my goods to repairing them for customers when they break. (People have no idea what UPS really does today. You'd be amazed!). The fifth was ''supply-chaining.'' This is Wal-Mart's specialty. I create a global supply chain down to the last atom of efficiency so that if I sell an item in Arkansas, another is immediately made in China. (If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be China's eighth-largest trading partner.) The last new form of collaboration I call ''informing'' -- this is Google, Yahoo and MSN Search, which now allow anyone to collaborate with, and mine, unlimited data all by themselves.

So the first three flatteners created the new platform for collaboration, and the next six are the new forms of collaboration that flattened the world even more. The 10th flattener I call ''the steroids,'' and these are wireless access and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). What the steroids do is turbocharge all these new forms of collaboration, so you can now do any one of them, from anywhere, with any device.

The world got flat when all 10 of these flatteners converged around the year 2000. This created a global, Web-enabled playing field that allows for multiple forms of collaboration on research and work in real time, without regard to geography, distance or, in the near future, even language. ''It is the creation of this platform, with these unique attributes, that is the truly important sustainable breakthrough that made what you call the flattening of the world possible,'' said Craig Mundie, the chief technical officer of Microsoft.

No, not everyone has access yet to this platform, but it is open now to more people in more places on more days in more ways than anything like it in history. Wherever you look today -- whether it is the world of journalism, with bloggers bringing down Dan Rather; the world of software, with the Linux code writers working in online forums for free to challenge Microsoft; or the world of business, where Indian and Chinese innovators are competing against and working with some of the most advanced Western multinationals -- hierarchies are being flattened and value is being created less and less within vertical silos and more and more through horizontal collaboration within companies, between companies and among individuals.

Do you recall ''the IT revolution'' that the business press has been pushing for the last 20 years? Sorry to tell you this, but that was just the prologue. The last 20 years were about forging, sharpening and distributing all the new tools to collaborate and connect. Now the real information revolution is about to begin as all the complementarities among these collaborative tools start to converge. One of those who first called this moment by its real name was Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard C.E.O., who in 2004 began to declare in her public speeches that the dot-com boom and bust were just ''the end of the beginning.'' The last 25 years in technology, Fiorina said, have just been ''the warm-up act.'' Now we are going into the main event, she said, ''and by the main event, I mean an era in which technology will truly transform every aspect of business, of government, of society, of life.''

As if this flattening wasn't enough, another convergence coincidentally occurred during the 1990's that was equally important. Some three billion people who were out of the game walked, and often ran, onto the playing field. I am talking about the people of China, India, Russia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Central Asia. Their economies and political systems all opened up during the course of the 1990's so that their people were increasingly free to join the free market. And when did these three billion people converge with the new playing field and the new business processes? Right when it was being flattened, right when millions of them could compete and collaborate more equally, more horizontally and with cheaper and more readily available tools. Indeed, thanks to the flattening of the world, many of these new entrants didn't even have to leave home to participate. Thanks to the 10 flatteners, the playing field came to them!

It is this convergence -- of new players, on a new playing field, developing new processes for horizontal collaboration -- that I believe is the most important force shaping global economics and politics in the early 21st century. Sure, not all three billion can collaborate and compete. In fact, for most people the world is not yet flat at all. But even if we're talking about only 10 percent, that's 300 million people -- about twice the size of the American work force. And be advised: the Indians and Chinese are not racing us to the bottom. They are racing us to the top. What China's leaders really want is that the next generation of underwear and airplane wings not just be ''made in China'' but also be ''designed in China.'' And that is where things are heading. So in 30 years we will have gone from ''sold in China'' to ''made in China'' to ''designed in China'' to ''dreamed up in China'' -- or from China as collaborator with the worldwide manufacturers on nothing to China as a low-cost, high-quality, hyperefficient collaborator with worldwide manufacturers on everything. Ditto India. Said Craig Barrett, the C.E.O. of Intel, ''You don't bring three billion people into the world economy overnight without huge consequences, especially from three societies'' -- like India, China and Russia -- ''with rich educational heritages.''

That is why there is nothing that guarantees that Americans or Western Europeans will continue leading the way. These new players are stepping onto the playing field legacy free, meaning that many of them were so far behind that they can leap right into the new technologies without having to worry about all the sunken costs of old systems. It means that they can move very fast to adopt new, state-of-the-art technologies, which is why there are already more cellphones in use in China today than there are people in America.

If you want to appreciate the sort of challenge we are facing, let me share with you two conversations. One was with some of the Microsoft officials who were involved in setting up Microsoft's research center in Beijing, Microsoft Research Asia, which opened in 1998 -- after Microsoft sent teams to Chinese universities to administer I.Q. tests in order to recruit the best brains from China's 1.3 billion people. Out of the 2,000 top Chinese engineering and science students tested, Microsoft hired 20. They have a saying at Microsoft about their Asia center, which captures the intensity of competition it takes to win a job there and explains why it is already the most productive research team at Microsoft: ''Remember, in China, when you are one in a million, there are 1,300 other people just like you.''

The other is a conversation I had with Rajesh Rao, a young Indian entrepreneur who started an electronic-game company from Bangalore, which today owns the rights to Charlie Chaplin's image for mobile computer games. ''We can't relax,'' Rao said. ''I think in the case of the United States that is what happened a bit. Please look at me: I am from India. We have been at a very different level before in terms of technology and business. But once we saw we had an infrastructure that made the world a small place, we promptly tried to make the best use of it. We saw there were so many things we could do. We went ahead, and today what we are seeing is a result of that. There is no time to rest. That is gone. There are dozens of people who are doing the same thing you are doing, and they are trying to do it better. It is like water in a tray: you shake it, and it will find the path of least resistance. That is what is going to happen to so many jobs -- they will go to that corner of the world where there is the least resistance and the most opportunity. If there is a skilled person in Timbuktu, he will get work if he knows how to access the rest of the world, which is quite easy today. You can make a Web site and have an e-mail address and you are up and running. And if you are able to demonstrate your work, using the same infrastructure, and if people are comfortable giving work to you and if you are diligent and clean in your transactions, then you are in business.''

Instead of complaining about outsourcing, Rao said, Americans and Western Europeans would ''be better off thinking about how you can raise your bar and raise yourselves into doing something better. Americans have consistently led in innovation over the last century. Americans whining -- we have never seen that before.''

ao is right. And it is time we got focused. As a person who grew up during the cold war, I'll always remember driving down the highway and listening to the radio, when suddenly the music would stop and a grim-voiced announcer would come on the air and say: ''This is a test. This station is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System.'' And then there would be a 20-second high-pitched siren sound. Fortunately, we never had to live through a moment in the cold war when the announcer came on and said, ''This is a not a test.''

That, however, is exactly what I want to say here: ''This is not a test.''

The long-term opportunities and challenges that the flattening of the world puts before the United States are profound. Therefore, our ability to get by doing things the way we've been doing them -- which is to say not always enriching our secret sauce -- will not suffice any more. ''For a country as wealthy we are, it is amazing how little we are doing to enhance our natural competitiveness,'' says Dinakar Singh, the Indian-American hedge-fund manager. ''We are in a world that has a system that now allows convergence among many billions of people, and we had better step back and figure out what it means. It would be a nice coincidence if all the things that were true before were still true now, but there are quite a few things you actually need to do differently. You need to have a much more thoughtful national discussion.''

If this moment has any parallel in recent American history, it is the height of the cold war, around 1957, when the Soviet Union leapt ahead of America in the space race by putting up the Sputnik satellite. The main challenge then came from those who wanted to put up walls; the main challenge to America today comes from the fact that all the walls are being taken down and many other people can now compete and collaborate with us much more directly. The main challenge in that world was from those practicing extreme Communism, namely Russia, China and North Korea. The main challenge to America today is from those practicing extreme capitalism, namely China, India and South Korea. The main objective in that era was building a strong state, and the main objective in this era is building strong individuals.

Meeting the challenges of flatism requires as comprehensive, energetic and focused a response as did meeting the challenge of Communism. It requires a president who can summon the nation to work harder, get smarter, attract more young women and men to science and engineering and build the broadband infrastructure, portable pensions and health care that will help every American become more employable in an age in which no one can guarantee you lifetime employment.

We have been slow to rise to the challenge of flatism, in contrast to Communism, maybe because flatism doesn't involve ICBM missiles aimed at our cities. Indeed, the hot line, which used to connect the Kremlin with the White House, has been replaced by the help line, which connects everyone in America to call centers in Bangalore. While the other end of the hot line might have had Leonid Brezhnev threatening nuclear war, the other end of the help line just has a soft voice eager to help you sort out your AOL bill or collaborate with you on a new piece of software. No, that voice has none of the menace of Nikita Khrushchev pounding a shoe on the table at the United Nations, and it has none of the sinister snarl of the bad guys in ''From Russia With Love.'' No, that voice on the help line just has a friendly Indian lilt that masks any sense of threat or challenge. It simply says: ''Hello, my name is Rajiv. Can I help you?''

No, Rajiv, actually you can't. When it comes to responding to the challenges of the flat world, there is no help line we can call. We have to dig into ourselves. We in America have all the basic economic and educational tools to do that. But we have not been improving those tools as much as we should. That is why we are in what Shirley Ann Jackson, the 2004 president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, calls a ''quiet crisis'' -- one that is slowly eating away at America's scientific and engineering base.

''If left unchecked,'' said Jackson, the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics from M.I.T., ''this could challenge our pre-eminence and capacity to innovate.'' And it is our ability to constantly innovate new products, services and companies that has been the source of America's horn of plenty and steadily widening middle class for the last two centuries. This quiet crisis is a product of three gaps now plaguing American society. The first is an ''ambition gap.'' Compared with the young, energetic Indians and Chinese, too many Americans have gotten too lazy. As David Rothkopf, a former official in the Clinton Commerce Department, puts it, ''The real entitlement we need to get rid of is our sense of entitlement.'' Second, we have a serious numbers gap building. We are not producing enough engineers and scientists. We used to make up for that by importing them from India and China, but in a flat world, where people can now stay home and compete with us, and in a post-9/11 world, where we are insanely keeping out many of the first-round intellectual draft choices in the world for exaggerated security reasons, we can no longer cover the gap. That's a key reason companies are looking abroad. The numbers are not here. And finally we are developing an education gap. Here is the dirty little secret that no C.E.O. wants to tell you: they are not just outsourcing to save on salary. They are doing it because they can often get better-skilled and more productive people than their American workers.

These are some of the reasons that Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman, warned the governors' conference in a Feb. 26 speech that American high-school education is ''obsolete.'' As Gates put it: ''When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow. In math and science, our fourth graders are among the top students in the world. By eighth grade, they're in the middle of the pack. By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations. . . . The percentage of a population with a college degree is important, but so are sheer numbers. In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor's degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many graduates majoring in engineering. In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind.''

We need to get going immediately. It takes 15 years to train a good engineer, because, ladies and gentlemen, this really is rocket science. So parents, throw away the Game Boy, turn off the television and get your kids to work. There is no sugar-coating this: in a flat world, every individual is going to have to run a little faster if he or she wants to advance his or her standard of living. When I was growing up, my parents used to say to me, ''Tom, finish your dinner -- people in China are starving.'' But after sailing to the edges of the flat world for a year, I am now telling my own daughters, ''Girls, finish your homework -- people in China and India are starving for your jobs.''

I repeat, this is not a test. This is the beginning of a crisis that won't remain quiet for long. And as the Stanford economist Paul Romer so rightly says, ''A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.''

Thomas L. Friedman is the author of ''The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century,'' to be published this week by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and from which this article is adapted. His column appears on the Op-Ed page of The Times, and his television documentary ''Does Europe Hate Us?'' will be shown on the Discovery Channel on April 7 at 8 p.m.

My First Scribble!!!

2005-04-13T01:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Reader,

Let

Happiness
Rest
In You
Always!

(My Haiku!!!)

Hari