The Concept of Shiva

I saw the preview of the book at Landmark about 3 weeks back in a small flyer and was immediately captivated by the book cover. This had Shiva with the trishul on the background. To most foreign readers, Shiva or Lord Shiva is considered to be one of the Gods in the Holy Trinity. The Creator, Brahma, The sustainer, Lord Vishnu, and the destroyer, Lord Shiva.

But what if Shiva wasn’t a God. What if this person we revere today as a destroyer of evil was actually a man who rose up to his challenges and acquired the title of Mahadev?

These are the questions that set the tone of Amish’s book, The Immortals of Meluha. I picked the book the moment it was released and spent the next few days reading it. I wasn’t reading it with a religious fervor by any means. I was curious to see how someone would interpret this treatise of thought.

In many lines of thought, Meluha which we know as the Indus valley civilisation is considered to be the original birthplace of these “Super men”. They did things that weren’t done by normal residents. They were thus exalted as Gods. Curiously Shiva here is considerd a cattle herder who actually was at the foothills of the Himalayas, that doesn’t even make him truly Indian but half Tibetan! A blasphemy you would say? There seems to be rich documentation to negate that.

The Immortals of Meluha the book

This book is a treatise on a concept that has not been explored. Amish, the author, is actually an IIM graduate (what’s with all these IIM graduates and writing books?) who takes the concept of Shiva as a Tibetian Tribal man who decides to cross borders to a city called Meluha which is ruled by the descendants of Lord Ram, called the Suryavanshis.

They have their counterpart the Chandravanshis that fight them (kinda like the Devas and Asuras) and Shiva is given their nectar, the Somras. He drinks it and is beheld as the Neelkanth (blue throat). The actual legend is that while the Asuras and Devas were fighting, Lord Rudra (as shiva was then known) drank the poison churned out of the seas and thus his neck turned blue.

But that’s not the case here and that’s all not the case in many of his treatments to the popular characters. Nandi is a close colleague in battle, not the original cow that we know them as, and Dashya, Veerabhadra etc are people who interact with him and remain part of his life, just not in the way we are used to.

There are many other subtle depictions of Lord Ram and other characters and overall its very well written. I wrote to Amish to express one small observation, the script writing is not that sharp. You have words like “Goddamnit”, “bloody hell”, In the name of God what is this nonsense etc, which I guess would be great for an Indian audience but after you just finish a Steven Erikson novel you find it falling a little flat.

But I wouldn’t want to tarnish your read on the book. Here’s the first chapter, indulge yourself. And watch the video following it. Well done Amish, I look forward to the next book. And I am very happy someones taking the Indian folklore to fiction and doing it well.

You might also enjoy the following

1. I watched the Watchmen- A review
2. An ode to Shakti
3. Your playing it small doesn’t serve the world.

“Running a small business is like flying an airplane. There’s not a single thing that keeps you in the air. It’s doing a lot of things right. But the truth is that whether it’s landing a plane or running your business, you can screw some things up and still be successful. You can recover from most mistakes, while others are going to be catastrophic. Forgot to refuel the plane before heading overseas? Probably catastrophic. Didn’t do the best SEO for your website? It will probably cost you more to acquire customers by using AdWords, but ultimately is probably not going to kill your business unless you screw that up as well.

If you compound your mistakes, your chances of failure increase dramatically. But each success will reduce the consequences of the mistakes. This is why large companies can have such a shoddy product and still make money off of it. They have so many things going on that the law of averages ultimately weighs in their favor. Does the product manager suck? No big deal. The engineering team will probably pull his weight. The code is riddled with bugs? No problem. The support team is there to help with workarounds.

So the secret to success is to realize that there isn’t a secret. Everywhere you look, you will find something that needs to be done competently. For everything you do that doesn’t measure up, you will have to make up ground in other places, keeping in mind that one success is less than or equal to one failure and that the sum of your successes must be greater than or equal to the sum of your failures.”

You might also enjoy the following

1. What does it take to be a billionaire?
2. Azim Premjis speech highlights – IIT Delhi Convocation
3. Entreprenuers I admire – Vijay Mallya

You might also enjoy the following

1. Will Smith’s lessons on hustling, life, being outworked and achieving what you want.
2. MG Siegler of Techcrunch talks productivity and techniques.
3. Grabbing Google Reader by the neck and taking control

I used to be a big fan of this zen online -self help thing. Till I realised the whole thing is great for about some time. Then the so called masters keep expounding the same bullshit. That’s why I gave away most of my books on that topic.

Self help begins with the self. Help yourself first then take advice from others on helping the “ideal” self. And all this faff talk is great for the ears, but gets you no where (As I am constantly reminded by a very smart and successful friend).

So as today, I’m not going to give you self help bullshit, because I can’t be fake. I will however continue to keep giving you quality (;-)) stuff to read about people who have made it successful and why. I have a couple of special interviews planned too !

Anyone can start a business.

Anyone can run a business. Anyone can also strike it rich by being lucky. That doesn’t make them an entrepreneur.

(By the way, that E word has been so overused that I want to puke every time someone who started a website puts Entrepreneur in his linkedin profile. Let me get that out of the way, a guy who takes a risk at the throw of a dice NOT for the sake of risking it (daredevils can be idiots too) but is willing to shake the system up is the only one that can bear that title).

Some very smart friends have shown me that starting something the first time coupled with luck can help you strike it big. But doing it again and again and never giving up is where the thing is really at. So here are 4 tips from them.

Think Big but think in numbers.

I had a business plan. I saw most people making money out of blogging, some claiming to be experts at it, but in the end it was just a blog that depended on, what I now think, is a fail strategy of ad selling. As my friend says, putting it in numbers to make sense. But more important is thinking big. Let’s start with the numbers part. The friend here is CEO of Krawler, Shashank Dixit.

A business goes like this. If you are alone and you hire one guy. You’ll get overheads. To be in a decent range of financial independance you need to make minimum 5 Lakhs in your first year or min 10L if you want to re-invest and grow. That comes out to be 20k USD or 2K USD per month which is about 100 USD a day (that’s about 5000 ~ 6000 Rs per month). That’s when you have a zero investment business. Flipkart is not a zero investment business, but keep that in mind. If you have a eCPM rate of about 5 dollars then that means you need about 500k hits per day to make 100 USD.

Do you see the beauty of putting it in numbers? You suddenly have a target and goal to reach. Besides wanting to be Techcrunch to get those numbers, you clearly see why most people drop out of blogging. The original uncles keep at it because they had the first mover advantage, every other noob claiming to make money through blogging (if they do it at all ) has to reach those numbers. So blogging for money doesn’t cut it. Not anymore.

Thinking bigger therefore leads to a syndication network. That’s where the money is. Prime example:- Gawker media. I’m not saying you ape it, I’m saying that’s the sort of thinking we must have to become affluent.

The Love vs Need thing
Hugh Macleod has this great Sex vs Cash Theory. I urge you to read it. I have been shown the Love vs Need theory. Which sort of derives from the Sex Cash theory but more important is more grounded. The love part is what we are brought up – Passion. This whole passion thing has been a sexy thing the Media has been jerking around us with. Few people live their passion. But everyone successful is MADE to be passionate about something.

Think DLF’s head was “passionate” about house building? Balls. He saw business opportunity in it. Decided to go ahead with it.

Think Azim Premji was “passionate” about IT services and infrastructure? Nonsense. That brings us to the most important thing that most of us don’t see. The Need thing. Indians need to get out of this passion thing. Till yesterday I was rosy glassed over by this passion become Steve Jobs thing. Today it hit my head that it’s about the needs thing. I’m sure this sounds like common sense, but few heed.

The needs thing dictates that to be in business you serve a need that people want. This doesn’t mean 10 percent better service. This means a new service or a well defined niche. Chocolate doughnuts are great. But selling icecream is another opportunity NOT selling chocolate doughnuts + nuts shop. But remember think big.

What are your tips?

You might also enjoy the following

1. What is the single most important thing to be successful?
2. Business Advice – Marc Andreessen
3. Entreprenuers I admire – Mark Cuban

Person standing next to a billion dollars.

Shaun Rein, a great person who replies on twitter too!, is the head of the China Research Group.  He had an interesting article on what it takes to be a billionaire. Obviously, that caught my interest as it is in the list of things I plan to do.

I like his writing style and in this he explains what is observed as a common pattern among billionaires (besides luck and timing). I firmly believe that a person who strikes hot one time was smart enough to ride a wave. Like a lot of these online marketing gurus are doing these days. But to consistently do it AND to have liquid cash in your bank is where the real deal is at.

Shaun brings in a good point to billionaires (and that applies to larger than life celebrities – Not including the internet online marketing social media hacks in this).

While almost everyone we interviewed said luck and timing played a role in their success, we found some other similarities in their responses, too. Most of the truly rich, perhaps surprisingly, are not that different from you and me. They have the same fears about their children and their health, and the same desires. But we did find some differences.

We narrowed those differences down to three secrets of the truly rich that most of the people we talked to said had helped them get to where they are:

The three secrets are.

1)  Never be Afraid of Failure: Many of the billionaires chose the road less traveled and more important the route harder to travel but offering the greater reward. Even if you fail, get back on your feet real quick.

2) Look creatively at problems so that your solution is non main stream: Great story here. Ever passed by a petrol pump? Ever stopped to buy chips, sometimes even have a coffee while you are on the move? Do you know the creator of this “concept” was ridiculed many many times before he sold this idea. He’s laughing at those critics today with 5 personal jets. Those critics have found a new persons ideas to laugh at.  The billionaire wanted people to spend more time at his petrol pump. An important point here is not be an idiot in being different, such as saying: Walk on your feet, it’s the new black. Not.

3) Marry well: He writes this better, so I’m quoting him.

Starting a company or running a conglomerate takes a lot of sacrifices. The stress can be a killer. Having a good spouse to support you and, most important, believe in you as you struggle to the top is critical.

Heh. I don’t think this is a P1 item. But someone who fits your wavelength is important. The physical deteriorate and settlers never do anything. Neither do gold diggers.  I recommend the read by Shaun, hit it up here.

You might also enjoy the following

1. Guess who is the sexiest bugger this side of the world?
2. One fangirl dream down, 4 more to go.
3. On what good design is.

That was before Starcraft 2 beta was announced or released. I hope you saw the trailer.  I have been restricted to just watching replays and I am DYING to test the game to it’s limit. DYING.

So it was a welcome relief that a great WOW blog called Paladin Schmaladin posted a contest giving away a free SC2 Beta key. You had to write a nice comment there or draw something. I decided to write a poem in a comic. I’m fairly certain that’s ground breaking right there. No man but me has attempted that before.

Seriously though, here’s the comic, if you are a war3 fan or a SC2 fan, this might bring a chuckle. And what do you think of my cartooning skills?

You might also enjoy the following

1. Starcraft 2 beta coming out this month February!
2. I started a gaming site.
3. Comic Book writer Alan Moore on Life, Focus, Identity and Hardwork.

As a Social Business Consultant, there are certain things I have observed both before getting on to the industry and while in. This post is primarily about my observations and certain myths I had (and some that friends shared) and to clear them. I think writing it down is a wonderful way of expressing what Social Media is really about.

Myth: Social Media is a new way of life.

Social Media is not a way of life. Because life hasn’t really changed. Conversations and connections are still about the core of any relationship: People. What has changed is the way you reach out to these people and the way you connect to them. Social Media is inherently a form of marketing and advertising that envelop so well that it seems new but it’s really not.

You still talk about Brands. However, what has happened is that you now have micro brands. These micro brands are people and individuals who could never seek to get their voices heard on traditional mediums. To get on to a poster of a Lux Ad you needed to be a model, to get your car ad up on TV you needed to pay millions of dollars. That traditional concept was broken. Because no matter how many times you went on a monologue saying how awesome you were, you never had a clue on how many people were talking about you.

Social Media drives conversations. IT helps you connect better. It empowers your freedom of speech for relatively little investment on your part. Most important it makes you feel heard (or read). This is what traditional media never reached out to. The people’s opinions. The true spirit of any conversation is Dialogue. Social Media enables that.

Myth: Social Media began a few years back. It started with Orkut, Facebook, insert xyz platform.

The first social media network wasn’t facebook or orkut. The first social media network was online gaming. When it was first introduced it brought in a world of innovations that the current Social media buzz is just picking up on. Gaming connected individuals of different places of the world. It taught that the skill you have in playing games and the micro brand I just talked about was an inherent untapped potential. You could reach out, form clans (groups) with your buddies, achieve a common purpose, discuss strategies, share pictures between yourselves and watch videos together. Sounds familiar? It should. You do all of these things in Facebook. It just wasn’t as sophisticated as then.

Myth: There is no ROI in social media.

Really? Have you ever been to a party to network with people? Have you measured the ROI of your conversations with them? Did you write down the effectiveness and draw up metrics on the person you talked to? I’m sure you didn’t because your going to the party was a catalyst to another step that would lead to a business deal. Social Media is just like that. It helps you find a purpose, take things forward. To be fair, there is a lot more you can do in Social Media primarily as a broadcasting/advertising/marketing channel itself, but I’m talking about the most fundamental step that most people don’t seem to get.

Think about connecting to people you want to work with. Find out what they are about, reach out to them and give them your feedback. That’s everything that Social Media inherently drives.

Myth: I have my twitter and facebook page up. I am a social media pro.

Riiighht. This is akin to having a car for 5 days and claiming yourself to be a mechanical engineer (if you are a mechanical engineer like I am, then think about it as owning a computer and knowing how the Chip integration and circuit board of your motherboard works). You don’t know enough. Stop making a fool of yourself.

You might also enjoy the following

1. Don’t wait to be handheld, Say no to social validation
2. Lessons from the King of Talk show hosting.
3. Dictum of Business – 3 tips from in-business friends.

Starcraft is the best RTS game on the planet. It has been 10 years. Starcraft 2 is being released 12 years after the original game and WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Here’s the intro to the game. Listen to it like I did (5 times).

You might also enjoy the following

1. Warcraft 3 vs Starcraft 2.
2. Comparing Orkut and Facebook and their look.
3. How to write sexy titles and preambles that get you 10k readers.

I think Google wave is just way too complex and un-intuitive (if that’s a word) for most users to grasp. Google Buzz on the other hand is very fast, very easy to understand and very easy to setup. It works only in my personal inbox and I haven’t seen it in hosted websites (like the work place where we use google apps). I started adding stuff to it and quickly realised that Google’s potential foray into being the Nexus of all information on the web took another step forward. I have to hand it over to the guys for constantly releasing products and experimenting.

However it can get very annoying when people are posting updates too. So here’s a quickfix that I found on Lifehacker to help me remove the stuff. I’m posting screenshots reiterating the theory a Picture speaks a 1000 words and all.

Steps to remove Buzz notification emails in your inbox.

1.  Every email has a search filter, to click that option on the top on the right of “search web” called “Create a filter”.

2. In the right hand column first row there is an option called “Has the words”, in that type “label:buzz” then click next step.

3. It’ll pop up a warning message that’s fine, go ahead and click ok .

4. Choose the first option in the filter “skip inbox (archive it)”.

You should now be set to not have those annoying 45 messages (I got 53 in just 4 minutes) in your inbox.

Besides this, I think the step ahead is great. I’m getting an android based phone very soon and I think this would help me stay connected,  since Gmail is my nerve center right now,  to everything on the web while I am on the go.

Good work Google, I love your innovation. Here’s their video on what Google Buzz is about (nicely explained too).

You might also enjoy the following

1. Some awesome Google search help tags
2. How to get started with Gmail to do’s.
3. How to remove the Nav Bar from Blogger

Anyone who has held a comic book of the DC universe has come across Alan Moore. A writer extraordinaire and an artist too, he has worked with titles such as Swamp Thing, Batman, Superman and many many others. His comic works like V for Vendetta, Watchmen and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have been converted to movies and blockbusters at that.

Alan Moore brings a profound realism to his writing and he is one of the writers responsible for taking the comics we know to a different level – Adult Graphic Novels. A lot of the dark imagery and moods set have often been an industry first initiated by Alan Moore.

But that’s not what this post is about, this post is about his advice to people who are starting out on writing and reading. In this gem of a youtube video he shares his thoughts. Now he’s british so it made it quite hard to understand him but for anyone not able to understand what he says, I have taken the trouble of transcripting the interview for you here. I think it’s a fantastic read. Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Importance of Focus.
The first thing you really want to focus on is why you want to do this. If you want to be famous or you want to be rich, then it ain’t going to work. The only thing you can do is if you want to become a success focus upon the thing that you do purely for its own sake. If you like drawing comics, writing comics, making music or whatever and you are not doing it to become famous or get money and you are focusing on it because you love it and you only want to get better and better and better. Then you probably will do it right.

Focus on the right things.
Do not focus on the fame and wealth, that’s what everyone wants. You can become famous and get money purely by going on Big Brother. What does that prove? Those things can be got easily. Focus purely on what it is you like to do. If you got a talent you got a talent even if its not that much.

On Talent and continual improvement.

That’s how we all start out. I couldn’t write when I started out I couldn’t draw either. But I liked writing. I liked writing compositions at that phase in school as a phase in school. And I liked reading. And I liked thinking, ok how good am i as a writer compared to these guys I liked reading. And you think, actually I am rubbish. So you try to make yourself a little better and if you are honest with yourself. Not over critical, theres no point in looking at everything and and saying it’s rubbish and tearing it up. If you can atleast be honest and say ya this has got some bits in it that are good, I could have done better with these bits. This is not good as so and so, who I admire would have done it. Next time this is going to be better. And you try and make each thing you do a little bit smarter, a little bit more sophisticated than the thing you did before. Eventually people will notice.

Importance of Identity.
Eventually, you’ll start to move beyond what everybody else is doing. And with out ever having a master plan to it but you’ll find suddenly without having to compromise anything, without having to sell out your vision and it’s important that you do that, because that’s the only thing you have really got that seperates you from everybody else. There are probably loads of people that can sing or do music or write or draw the way that you can. The only thing that makes you unique, is that you are you. You have your experience, you have had your life. You have got sort of your knowledge. So put all of that into what you do, make it individual, make it unique and make it your selling point. You have had this experience, so put it to use and I don’t think you’ll go far wrong.

It’s not easy.
There’s a lot more to it than that of course and there’s a lot of boredom, grind and anxiety where there’s this ”Am I good as I think I am?”. “Am I ever going to really make it?”. But don’t worry about that, if you are doing what you love, even if you aren’t making any money out of it, you are still better off than 99 percent of the people in this world who are not doing what they love. They are doing something that gets their day by. Maybe they are entertaining dreams that one day they could be this and one day they could do that but often those deams just die in the cradle. Stay true to yourself. There is nothing you can’t be if you try hard enough.

The Youtube video is here if you want to watch it.

You might also enjoy the following

1. Focus on the important, not the urgent.
2. My folder techniques for Google Feed Reading.
3. Dear Students, here is some advice on life.