Echoes of the Grey Hills

An Indian Summer in Germany

2012-02-04T11:03:00.000+05:30

Mr Wolfgang Hoeltgen who was featured earlier in this blog is a tireless campaigner of German - India relations. His indefatigable spirit takes him across the country, and which has become an annual pilgrimage for sometime now, spreading GIBC mantra of catalyzing business exchange between the 2 countries especially the region of Niedersachsen. This is despite the almost fatal car crash incident he was involved on the Pune - Mumbai highway last year (some bone chilling snaps of the accident). Apart from the shock & trauma of the accident he also underwent an ordeal with the Hospital which not only treated but also fleeced him to the hilt.

Yet none of these stops him coming to India year after year. I caught up with him this time around in Bangalore and we spent some time together. This years sojourn also had its share of unfortunate event, he had just lost his wallet in the Taj Vivanta where he was staying and along with it some considerable amount of cash. I offered him some financial help but he politely turned it down. It later turned out that the International ATM card that he was carrying was of no use in India. Weirdly enough none of the multinational Pvt Bank ATMs (we tried 2-3 bank ATMS) were able to transact & dispense the cash. Yet though somehow he managed to chug along with his journey without seeking any help.

Event Logo

Beginning this year I will represent GIBC Hannover impulse as Strategic partner representing Bangalore region. Hopefully I wish to translate this into mutually fruitful Business exchange. This year also marks an eventful milestone in the History between the 2 countries i.e., 60 years of diplomatic relations and to commemorate that GIBC is bringing an Indian summer to Germany . For 4 full days the spotlight will be on India at the famous Hannover fair called India days Hannover packed with various events. I have coined it an ‘Achtung Indie’ event for the sheer novelty of its theme & significance. This event has something for everyone; Industry captains, Entrepreneurs, Students, Academicians, Cultural enthusiasts and think-tanks all alike.

A reunion & how!

2012-01-22T16:17:00.007+05:30

What if you turn back the clock by 25 years even for a day? How about being the same old student of your school all over again ? Wishful as it may sound but I and many of my batch-mates (the 1987 batch of St.Mary’s High School Belgaum) actually lived this dream recently. Thanks to Facebook it all began as a small interaction group last year and soon we were all bitten by this fast approaching Silver Jubilee bug. And so we decided to approach the school authorities & the chargé d'affaires, Ms.Jasmine Rubdy who taught us science subjects not only readily heeded to our requests but also accommodated our extraordinary request - to make us a part of the school routine for one full day.

So on a pleasant winter morning we assembled and stood in the usual rank & file along with all other students of classes (1-10) for the morning school prayers. Earlier it used to be the school ground but now it’s the school portico but it really didn’t matter. We followed it up with a class room session where some of our old teachers who now retired gladly joined us for an interaction. The classroom commotion was as usual, proving the boys& girls hadn’t really grown much through the years. Nostalgia also rented the air & one could see the same old glint in the teacher's eyes when they addressed us, the old sternness now replaced by a mellowed sense of affection probably by the awareness that we now sat there as parents to children we once were. Their pearls of wisdom were simple but profound, and the impact was mighty double for I was seeing them now in their twilight years singed by sagely wisdom & experience.

When the class got over for the noon recess the only thing different this time was that we did not dart out of the classroom with all the old gaiety, noise & expending all the pent up energy we used to. Nonetheless we all sat around in the same old environment and had lunch together. Though the school has changed vastly over the years some of the old banyan trees were still around to provide us the shade from the winter sun.

Later in the noon, like the good old days, we played football in the blazing sun and had some competitive sports to keep our adrenalin going. Later we went through a ritual that might have astounded many - a passing out parade for the Matriculation batch that had been customary but somehow bereft this batch 25 seasons ago. Imagine the nostalgia & excitement in us to reclaim our rights of passage from the school , we seemed to be tackling our mid life crisis in a different way!

The crowning glory moment came in the evening get-together when our school principal Mr.Guruprem David joined us for a brief while. Old and in flailing health, and struck down by paralysis, he sat in his car and had a good look at the crowd, he waived his hands animatedly & the emotions for once did not betray him. For the old students whom many knew as a tough & disciplined teacher, it was the defining moment of the reunion.

Event Pics

Bengaluru, Bangalore, Bengaluru: Imaginations and Their Times

2011-11-20T11:30:00.005+05:30

The word Bangalore or Bengaluru evokes different feelings and opinions among different people. While many have lived here & experienced the city first hand but many more by the perception & reputation it has built over the years . I for one belong to the former category & have personally witnessed the massive makeover of the city between 1994 & now. So in that sense a book on the city & its history evinced my interest and I picked it recently.

The 16^th century history provides the early backdrop of the city and its founder Kempegowda emerges from the political fog of the Krishnadevaraya’s rule during this period. The early parts of the city, Pete’s (markets) divided on the basis of caste and later the emergence of the British cantonment that heralded the earliest recorded migrations to the city makes for interesting reading. How the early migrations induced language and not class conflicts particularly evokes interest.

Tracing the roots of a city and its various facets spanning a 500 year period is no doubt arduous & this book will disappoint those seeking scholarly depth. However many interesting & informative nuggets on the various aspects of the city can be found here and the book covers in a manner that juggles between documentary, academia , and coffee table reading .

The Sky (Lab) is falling

2011-09-25T13:58:00.004+05:30

In the summer of 1979, a kind of hysteria gripped my neighborhood. For a non precocious 8 year old it appeared to be the end of the world. All thoughts similar to 2012 were being conjured up, and as a part of a small motley crowd of youngsters i was particularly an impressionable kid then. For days on end this group would animatedly talking of a thing called ‘Skylab’ – a huge monster up in space that was about come crashing down to earth in a fiery ball. But the catch was this; the Skylab of all places could most probably fall in India and a sure shot destination would be my hometown (Belgaum).

Maybe the hysteria was fueled by the fact that until the final hours nobody (including the Americans) had a clue where it would eventually fall. And in its orbital path lay some of the world's most populous areas, including all of the U.S., much of Europe, India and China.

The 77 ton monster did come crashing down, and due to miscalculation error it landed in western Australia rather than south Africa. The size of this space station – about 9 stories tall had fueled all kinds of wild stories then… a period when there was no 24 Hours live television or internet streaming , word of mouth (call rumour in this case) was a power tool then, and this group made me believe that it was indeed a time for a prayer and bid goodbye.

As news of a similar event appeared in newspapers today (6 tonne NASA satellite falls on earth, place unknown), I cant help but chuckle at the thought of it being such a non event. On second thoughts maybe the world is such a noisier & turbulent place now and amidst all this deluge of information, a wondrous event like this does not evoke the same kind of awe and wild imagination as it did in the summer of 1979.

The Untouchables

2011-08-07T14:05:00.012+05:30

Early last week I met one of the men behind the explosive report of the Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde on the illegal mining in the state. I was waiting at the Secretariat complex to meet the e-governance head at his office when Vipin Singh ambled by. When I congratulated him, he replied in his characteristic style ‘ Kaahe ka congartulations yaar, itna kharab report niklaa hai’. Maybe the final report was not satisfactory by his standard but in a short span of time he and his team had uncovered a large web of illegal activities and their modus operandi that had robbed the state to the tune of 13000 odd crores of rupees. What he meant was had they enough time on hand they could have dug deeper like the huge mine pits that now dot the landscape of bellary and the extent of uncovered loot could have doubled. But the Ammo on hand was enough for Justice Hegde & he had to fire it before taking the final bow as the Lokayukta.

I had extensively interacted with this career IFS officer during a project execution with the forest dept. At that time he was in Bidar and his territory was one of the 4 pilot divisions selected for the project. His name then had cropped up several times during my meeting with the Sr officials & I had quickly gathered his reputation as a sharp no-nonsense IT savvy official in the dept. An alumnus of IIT , he had done some excellent work in the e-govenance areas while on deputation, notably setting up the citizen service initiatives like the BangaloreOne delivery centres. When I first met him, I wondered what a guy like him was doing in a far flung place like Bidar ? In his characteristic nonchalant way he replied that it was a conscious decision and he wanted it that way . Maybe he had opted to be ‘far from the madding crowd’ after a heavy duty assignment that had him in the quagmire of politics , and murky administration . ‘Khoon Jalana padta hai’ I recollect he had said about the nature of work. Our interactions over the next couple of days was intensive & meaningful and then I was back in Bangalore.

Soon I heard that he was once again recalled to Bangalore to head the state SWAN (state wide area network) initiative. I chuckled at the thought that hard as wanted to be out of the limelight it dragged him into it. Later several times I had passed by his new office but found it conspicuous by his absence . Strange I felt till the time I saw this recent article in ToI

It now emerges that he was one of the 5 people picked by Justice Hegde to have a go at the mafia. Exactly the way Kevin Costner (Eliot Ness) goes about in the movie ‘the Untouchables’ - a special team of agents handpicked for their courage and incorruptibility, nicknamed by its title.

And undercover they went about their new assignment while they held to usual official positions on paper . Another official, Bishwajeet Mishra who was a part of this team , and whom I had interacted on few occasions even attended one of my workshop in his official capacity of a DFO . He probed me with some searching questions during the workshop & little did I realize then that he was into something else.

These officials worked discreetly , put their lives & limbs on the line of fire (and as Justice Hegde mentioned in an interview on NDTV the other day – he even feared for their careers) and away from the glare & glimmer of limelight. Unlike Hegde they have not walked into sunset, they will still be around (for greater things perhaps) but their collective reputation like the ‘ The Untouchables’ will hopefully be remembered for time to come.

Predator on the prowl

2011-05-28T18:07:00.000+05:30

This year RCB has been propelled by sheer Gayle power. In many a matches of IPL that featured RCB pitch report has been inconsequential, what has mattered is the weather report which many a time has warned about the impending Gayle storm. And struck it has with brute force like in yesterday’s match (against MI) where the opposition was numbed by the onslaught.

Yesterday my friend Shaz made a prediction based on numbers (termed Numbo-Jumbo) that said ‘Prepare for the Gayle-storm on Friday the 27th, a D9C9. His name number adds up to 27, and his tee reads 333'.

By the 5^th over the result had been scripted and as one of the commentators mentioned ‘it was already showing on the body language of the Mumbai Indians’.

Watch this guy closely, when he walks on to the crease along with his partner the difference in physical attributes is not the only thing striking. His imposing frame apart, with the helmet on and his beaded hair streaming out at its sides I cant help but imagine of the Predator in the 1987 flick. In the movie the creature (that looks a bit like horseshoe crab) has a mask on with hair like appendages struck to its skull. This creature is supposed to be ‘a member of a warrior race which hunts aggressive members of other species for sport’.

Exactly what appears to be happening with Gayle vs others in this edition of IPL.

Trudge

2011-05-08T13:13:00.000+05:30

A fine Victorian era poet and his soulful lines left an abiding impact in me as I sat reading some of his poetry on a lazy weekend. One of it particularly made sense of my situation

We cannot kindle when we will

The fire in which the heart resides;

The spirit bloweth and is still,

In mystery our soul abides.

But tasks in hours of insight will’d

Can be through hours of gloom fulfill’d

-Mathew Arnold

(It is difficult for man to have inspiration at his beck and call. Tasks proposed when inspired shall have to be carried out patiently even when inspiration has passed away and weariness has prevailed upon man)

Remembering 'Uncle Pai'

2011-04-08T17:30:00.004+05:30

Uncle Pai had passed away a month back. I got to know of it when a small postcard invite fell on my doorstep from his hometown of Mangalore to attend the 12 day ceremony. Another Uncle Pai (of Amar Chitra Katha fame) also passed away almost in the same period. To me these two Uncle Pai’s had something in common; they left a legacy - a body of work with a lasting imprint on the minds of the elderly & children respectively.

The Uncle Pai (Kulyadi Madhav Pai) I am referring to is related from Wifi side and I regret I couldn’t attend his last rites due to some commitments. But the time I spent with him & his memories will be cherished. With a small note he religiously book posted whenever the newer editions of ‘Kaggokti Sampada’ hit the stands. The Book and its series were an illuminating body of work on decoding one of the great literary works in Kannada literature by D.V.Gundappa (or DVG as he is popularly referred as)

DVG was a literary colossus & his Mankuthimmana Kagga is considered a Nobel prize winning material, if it had been written in English. This was followed by Marula Muniyana Kagga which Uncle Pai had translated . The beauty of this work ( and there lay in it its greatness he used to say) is that- it makes the reader see himself through the poems, to interpret the thoughts of the poet in his own way.

Kagga is a beautiful and profound collection of 945 poems. Each poem is of four lines. Some of the poems are in old Kannada style (Halegannada). Kagga poems are profound, and poetic and like a bee attracted to the flower Uncle Pai was drawn into it.

An instance (roughly translated to English):

Life is a Horse driven cart, Fate its driver
You're the horse, Passengers - as allotted by God
Sometimes rides to a marriage, sometimes to a graveyard
When stumbled, there's always the earth - says Manku Thimma

In his book preface Uncle Pai writes ‘DVG’s Marula Muniyana Kagga’s beautiful play of words with profound meaning of life urged me to interpret in a layman’s language. It was a long journey though, it started when I by-hearted a few kaggas; the meaning of which took some to sink in. I later took some more & the experience was overwhelming. Based on my initial experiences I began to write but was not happy with the outcome. So I discarded the effort and waited for the next couple of years to truly imbibe the work for an accurate representation’

Finally egged on by friends & encouraged by the “Samyukta Karnataka” newspaper he began compiling the works which went into 7 volumes by the time of his death.

R.I.P Uncle Pai

Morgan Stanley & the pursuit of Happyness

2011-03-13T19:48:00.006+05:30

Remember Will Smith in the Pursuit of happyness? The first time I saw the movie, the telemarketing tactics adopted by Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith), the intern stockbroker, struck me more than the storyline about his struggle for livelihood.

As a single parent he has to achieve the same results and better in 6 Hours where everyone else has 9. He calculates that it would save him 8 minutes a day if he did not put the phone down between prospecting calls. So he keeps the handset up and uses his finger on the button so that he doesn't get distracted. He also doesn't drink much water to avoid wasting excess time in the bathroom.

Why? The company, Dean Witter, where he is earning his spurs has ingrained him with a simple idea: "X number of calls equals X number of prospects, X number of prospects equals X number of customers, X number of customers equals X number of dollars."

The movie not only makes a statement of the hyperactive competition of the US Financial markets of the mid 80’s but also how telemarketing became an integral part in the growth of the financial services Industry (in India this phenomenon was observed about 15 years later)

Dean Witter had an interesting tagline "We measure success one investor at a time" and much like the Business it was into i.e, M&A(mergers and acquisitions) it too underwent mergers (with Reynolds) and was finally acquired by Morgan Stanley which adopted its tagline.

Another iconic name is soon set to join the ranks of Dean Witter; Smith & Barney. Ironic for another legacy company whose tagline was “They make money the old fashioned way. They earn it”.

In case you missed the Irony part , it too is being gobbled up by Morgan Stanley whose role in the subprime mortgages & creation of other toxic assets healthily contributed to the US financial crisis.

The gallows on wheels

2011-02-20T12:01:00.009+05:30

The train chugged into platform #3 at 9:45 pm, it was supposed to depart at 10:15 pm and I was boarding the train to Coimbatore for a client meeting last week. At the back of mind I was aware that for once I had beaten the Bangalore traffic estimate and reached the station almost an hour early. The good thing about the late evening trains is that you just hop in, get done with the ticket collector and hit the bed right away. Early evening trains and one has to bear the usual headaches; tea/coffee, biscuit vendors, the dinner caterer and the usual beggars in between (especially in the less privileged class). Worst are the co-passengers who many a time strikes up a conversation that goes well into the night like some late night chat show.

As I entered my berth in coach B2 I was mightily surprised to find a lower berth LB allotted ( I almost felt like I had hit a jackpot with a roll of dice) Yae! I was about do an invisible Hi5 when 3 Gujarati speaking ladies entered the cabin. And soon enough the youngest among these, a cute looking lady requested me to exchange the lower birth to the middle one for her elderly mother. The request was laced with too much sweetness & I just nodded my head trying hard to keep a straight face. A few moments later a similar request was made by the lady to another guy who had occupied the other LB. It was for the aunt now who had been allotted the upper birth. The guy looked a bit crestfallen , he said he had nasal problems (did not specify what it was at the time) but offered to adjust with the middle birth guy (which was obviously me because the lady occupied the other middle birth). So with 2 unwitting promotions I found myself on the upper birth & this passenger just below me. There was nothing unusual about him, except for a piece of flap (a kind of dog ear) that came right behind his head and covered his ears.

I guess the guy had been traveling earlier (the train was coming from Mumbai) for he hit the sack pretty soon and began his deep guttural sounds. The nasal problem he had mentioned earlier seemed to be a mild statement in passing. There was something seriously wrong with them: they were sounding like the twin exhausts of a rundown sports car. More specifically like the Spitfire engine of WW2 Jet fighter hovering around as he went into deeper sleep. The sound had a particular acoustic effect on me as I was right above him, a dog fight like situation every now & then where this slam-dunk fighter pilot come right under and created one hell of a turbulence (being struck down once and for all would have been a better option though) . I frenetically tried to beat the problem; I reached out for my Philips Gogear but as if lady cruel luck was smiling upon me, I could only find the MP3 player without the earplugs. I thought of plugging in cotton buds but it was like holding an umbrella in a thunderstorm. So helplessly I tried to draw my mind away from the problem but very often this guy would break into different rhythmic cycles of grunts & snores that became too difficult to ignore.

Every passing minute now seemed to bring in added agony . I stepped out of the AC cabin hoping the TC was still around and Voila! (bless the almighty Railways) he was still around immersed in the reservation chart. I explained him my problem and requested for another berth. He muttered something in Tamil and started to run through the list while I held my breath and made a quite prayer. After a while he said B51 was available . I almost felt like hugging him for releasing me from the torture chamber. I quickly made a dash to the ill-fated berth and picking my belongings waded through the cold and dark railway bogey (which by now resembled a morgue with several dead bodies wrapped in white sheets). Finally I located B51 which again seemed to be an upper berth.

There was a bigger problem waiting for me though: this section had 2 snorers who were already in their elements by the time I had arrived!

Imagine my state when I landed in Coimbatore the next day morning.

Aero India

2011-02-13T19:18:00.004+05:30

admitation

2011-02-06T19:07:00.001+05:30

IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY - a phrase usually said ( ironically though) when someone tries to gain attention by copying someone else's original ideas. I am not sure whether this highway restaurant guy (whom I encountered recently) got the right attention or not but his copying of the ‘ No Admission ’ with a twist was certainly flattering .

Banking by design

2011-01-23T14:11:00.006+05:30

Recently I landed up at the offices of several banks headquartered in Bangalore & Mangalore . Each presented me a study in contrast, in the way they expressed their character and brand values through their front offices. And the script ran on familiar themes;

Public sector banks have this - no frill, sedate & dull almost to the point of boring you to death types of receptions. One (Canara Bank) resembled a check-in counter at the airport, complete with uniformed staff manning a X-ray baggage checking machine next to the receptionist. Another (Vijaya Bank) had large showcases of what appeared to be several large trophies & awards around its reception area. I don’t know where & how they won so many but it certainly reminded me of my school & college receptions. Corporation Bank had this wooden box like reception area that resembled a ticketing counter of a 70 era cinema theater.

Private sector banks were much more refined in their presentation. One bank (ING Vyasa) had revolving glass doors and a large steel art piece hanging like a chandelier as one approached its front desk. It appeared straight out of an art gallery. Another (Karnataka Bank) had a minimalistic approach, several layers of transparent glass corridors leading from the security to the reception.

Essentially the style and substance in presentation speaks a lot of the banks, and it seems only the private sector banks used it as a calling card and a sophisticated way of differentiating from peers. Given the bad reputation and some stigma facing the industry it made a lot of sense for banks to trade goodwill and reputations through their corporate front offices.

Years back when I was working with ICICI Bank I used to marvel at its BKC headquarters, a place for our frequent visits and meetings. It appeared as jewel-de-paragon on the Bandra-kurla complex which during the initial years of its completion stood out against the monolithic blocks of concrete buildings as one entered the complex from Bandra side. I couldn’t differentiate these buildings from the fort (some called it residence named Matoshree) of the aging tiger (Bal Thackeray) who lived on the other side of the road. Several other organizations sprung around ICICI Bank later each trying to outdo the other in architectural splendor.

Magnificent as was it from outside contrast the reception where loud and bawdy Marathi speaking manoos’es who many a times doubled up as security and receptionists undid most of sophistication that Kamath had tried to portray as a dynamic universal Bank.

Few years later I was frequenting Mahalakshmi where Centurion Bank (CBoP) had converted a portion of a old rundown mill into its Corporate HQ. While on the exterior, the building exuded some charm of a heritage building the interiors were all glass and gloss. There was one small glitch though, a secretarial college rubbed shoulders with CBoP as its neighbor in the same complex.

Finally to understand how size can be one’s own undoing one can visit the head offices of NABARD in Mumbai. You will be reminded of how it would have been like while being swallowed by a 10000 pound dinosaur.

A nature trail & the new Year

2011-01-05T21:33:00.003+05:30

I am penning my thoughts after a 2 week break which took me to a wonderful Nature park near Madikeri and the pristinely clear water beach of Maravanthe in Karavali district. Amidst this I also had the luxury of mixing a bit of Business with pleasure ,so on the way I addressed a good gathering of Govt officials in Mysore , a few Business calls In Mangalore and a bit of follow-up in Dharwar after that. All in all 1650 Kms of sojourn it was and with all the hectic driving & the body creaking of exhaustion I was back in Bengaluru yesterday.

Eventful it was but it had not prepared me to lose my mobile during the trip which I did in Mysore. I thought I was ensconced in a secure area (the old sprawling Govt bungalow which is the official Guest House of the Forest Dept is surrounded by high walled compound & a security post at the gates) and during the evening sit out on its sprawling veranda facing well manicured garden I left my mobile on the chair only to find it missing in the morning. The Vodafone service (or disservice) after the incident is better left unsaid for it will fill the rest of the article.

After the Mysore schedule I drove down to Kushalnagar where I stayed at Nisargadhama (nature park of the Karnataka Forest dept) for a day. The Mercara district forest officer had invited me to stay over before visiting their Mercara offices. This island in the hub of the river Cauvery is a scenic & serene place and tourists can also stay in one of the few (only 4-5 thankfully) cottages at a very reasonable price (I payed zilch though as I was the official guest of the KFD). After entering the island through the rope bridge, we were ushered into the ‘Kannika” cottage where we just slept through the afternoon amidst the distant noise & chatter of the thronging visitors. However by 6 in the evening the area fell into deathly silence (after the park closed for visitors) and this lively nature park is best experienced during this period. Sitting by the river side & with a riot of noises around I penned the following lines to describe the experience;

A drooping cottage by the river

Stands high on a pile of bamboo pillars

Perched on its banks, its small veranda

Reaching out to kiss the river

Water by the side , in a haze of light green

Whispers as she flows through the rocks

Bamboo stocks, aplenty

Crackle sporadically in mystified voices

In between the chitter chatter of the thickly wooded park

Telling us something , about nature’s benign voice

As do the fishes, playfully whipping up the surface of the river

Birds in the surrounding woods , do the real tweets

Oh!....Nature trails are so sweet.

Christmas eve was spent in Udupi & we did manage to visit one of the church in town on 25th but all the pomp & revelry had gotten over the previous evening. So much so that not a soul was visible in the church on the Christmas day.

And New Year ushered us at the old Deccan Gymkhana club in Dharwar town, next to it was the sprawling KC (Kittur Channamma) park where two colorful water fountains sprung to life randomly in colors of green blue & red symbolically reminding us of the hope, joys and sorrows that lay ahead in 2011.

Wishing all my readers a Happy & Prosperous New Year.

Lampner’s sleight of hand

2010-12-10T11:27:00.006+05:30

That the various laws of life come into play frequently at the most inappropriate moments of our lives is something everyone might have experienced. Murphy’s law, Kauffman’s paradox, Salary axiom, Miller’s law of insurance and the list goes on but recently Lampner’s law caught up with me.

The Project work with the state Govt that keeps me preoccupied these days took me to 2 places away from Bangalore last week, one of which was a welcome break from the hustle & bustle of city life to a vast serene Govt. training campus spread over several hundred acres on the outskirts of Dharwar town. An official jeep ferried me from the Railway station to this campus as were countless others - all senior & mid level officials from north Karnataka covering several districts who came to attend the one day workshop cum orientation training. I had requested the department boss (a senior functionary equivalent to a CEO) to grace these sessions and he had kindly obliged. But giving company was also another Sr official (sectional head) who was supposed to oversee the arrangements and facilitate these workshops.

This guy was anything but helpful: pesky, irritating us all the time with his typical Babu tantrums. He did little to facilitate the workshop but hung around us everywhere. Even tagging along when we met some officials in their chambers after the meeting. So the second day we (myself & colleague) decided to give this guy a slip after the meeting. So when the workshop got over we managed to pack our things quickly and made our way through the Govt building progressively getting away from his visual sight . First we made our way to the toilets and then watching him through the distance among the Govt office corridors we slyly made our way to the exit. We had spotted him moments earlier walking into one of the adjacent buildings and so were confident of our final move to the parking lot to make it to our vehicle.

But as if by Lampner’s (law) sleight of hand, there he was at the parking lot! – a mischievous grin on his face and we were stranded like people with 2 left feet!

NatGeo Mission Army : a firsthand account

2010-11-27T13:03:00.016+05:30

NatGeo in association with Indian Army conducted the selection process to Mission Army: Desk Ke Rakshak in Bangalore last Sunday. The previous such attempts by NatGeo namely Mission Udaan, Mission Mount Everest & Mission Navy had been quite popular . So decided to check it out this time around. The fact that I was competing with mostly 18-25 year olds didn’t deter me, I wanted to see whether I could really stand up to the rigorous selection standards (reportedly the SSB format) set by the Army set for this reality TV show

So on a cold Sunday early morning I set out to the ~~Rajput Regiment~~ Parachute Regiment Training Centre (PRTC) (said to be the fittest of the Army units) at JC Nagar Bangalore . There I expected to see large crowds, given that it had been well publicized, but could find only about 25 faithfuls at the gates around 6 in the morning. However by the time they herded us into Army trucks in groups of 25 around 7:30 am the crowd had swelled to around 200.

After the registration formalities, a display crib was tied to each participant and bundled in groups of 50 each. Each participant had to undergo 4 rounds of selection to finally make it to the lucky 5 from each city Mumbai (for west), Bangalore (for South) & Delhi ( for North) . The final 5 would spend 45 days as a part of the Indian army & one among them would finally end up abroad and train with the Israeli intelligence (Mossad)

The first hurdle in this journey was the endurance test : a candidate was supposed to cover a vast 2.5 km stretch of Army ground under 10 minutes or the first 25 whichever earlier . A designated track was marked along this vast stretch of grassy army land that was both picturesque and daunting. After a basic instruction drill by a smartly dressed officer, the gun was fired and most of the young hopeful darted as if it were a 100 mts dash, not surprisingly many were out of steam after about 800 meters. I ran the course steadily and after a bit of stretch in the end made it through the first round. About 90 made it through this round.

A cream bun & puff breakfast later the second hurdle was a case study analysis followed by a group discussion. Groups of 15 participants were to analyze a case situation that was given to us in a brief write up and pictorially depicted on a large display map ( marked out by railway & road tracks, forest boundary, Villages, Scales etc). Under 7 minutes the participant had to analyze the situation & provide a course of action to tackle the situation in a brief 1page write up. This was followed by a group discussion. An army officer read out the Instruction at the start & followed up with a hawk like observation at a distance, constantly jotting down the progress made by the participants . 50% of the participants were filtered out in this round of selection. The group that made through this round let out a war cry when the results were announced in the noon. Little did we realise what lay in store ahead.

On a sultry noon, when the sun was beating upon us , they took us to another hard sand ground where the still euphoric 45 participants faced this new Instructor. This guy appeared straight out of a Hollywood commando movie, gruff and with a bit of features that reminded me of Bruce Willis. He put us through a exercise regimen over the next 45 minutes that I would like to forget in a hurry. 40 normal push-ups followed by 20 knuckle push-ups as we simultaneously carried the entire body 5 steps forward & backward respectively. Followed by another 20 while clapping hands in the middle of the pushups. The groans that started mid way through this exercise increased to desperate pleading by the time the count reached 80. This was followed by various types of leg squats, body stretches & exercises that I never knew existed in physical regimen. The Nat Geo guys quickly sensed a medical emergency situation and thankfully stopped this Rambo from doing any serious damage to us (the guy though reacted as if it were just the warm up & the main course was yet to begin!)

The third round was what I would call a physio-psychometric test, the final batch of 45 were broken into 3 teams and assembled around a small ‘situational area’ where the team had to follow certain set of instructions and overcome certain natural barriers. We had to act as a team and not individuals to cross the barriers. We were given a set of 2 ropes, a plank and a wooden pole, that we had to use to overcome the situation. Areas marked in blue were one could either stand & not use the support material while those in white where we could do both. As we went through the exercise another officer watched closely at a distance and made notes.

By early evening, around 4 pm the exercises were over and a final list of 11 (instead of 15) were announced for the final round of interview. 2 Girls & 9 boys (lucky eleven I would say as there was nothing much to differentiate) were selected and the rest of us, well disappointed to say the least returned back to the base posing for a final photograph before we bid adieu to each other.

2 Hammer head sharks under the bonnet

2010-11-10T18:45:00.004+05:30

There is something about the car facia that gets my goat. Sometime back I mentioned about fiat Punto on this Blog. This time around its Hyundai which has come out with its new variant of Verna – its midsized car. Verna by the way is a very common first name for women and I wonder why Hyundai could conjure this name for a masculine looking car? Anyway that’s not the point. Look at its front grill, it has two pieces of what appears to be shovels jutting out of its Bumper. To me it appears as though the car is carrying two hammer head sharks under its bonnet!

Hammer head sharks with their mallet-shaped head called Cephalofoil are not the most elegant looking in the shark family, their strange headgear is almost considered abnormal. Neither is the creature known for any positive attributes like strength, aggression or speed. If the car designers were not inspired by it what could they? Generally car styling (product form) is done with a purpose of creating an impression or generate inferences regarding other product attributes like say ruggedness or power? For example the 1994 Dodge Ram pickup’s front end was designed to resemble the cab on an 18 wheeler to suggest strength & power.

I have no clue on the former but generally it is believed that many car makers adopt front grille among the styling cues (developed in their research labs) in search of a new unified Brand image & to achieve a distinctive character that would allow its models to be easily recognized in the global markets. Examples are Subaru & closer home Tata motors. Last week I saw their new crossover ‘Aria’ on a TV news channel with its trademark semi smiley grill - massive though it was.

Speaking of Subaro, the Japanese carmaker took its design so seriously that it fired its Design Director Andreas Zapatinas over its controversial front grille design which was based on the propeller theme.

So is this Verna design has something to do other than what their designers wished for? Maybe then they can take a cue from BMW's DesignWorks and Nissan's Design Center which are intentionally placed far away from the dogmatic limitations that guys in grey suits and ties in corporate headquarters usually impose.

Counting your Chicken before they hatch

2010-10-27T18:29:00.005+05:30

Why is IIPM offering an MBA degree that nobody would recognize? muses Vir Sanghvi in his blog recently. The answer it appears is simple though. IIPM has this CEO who simply believes & acts in ‘Counting his Chickens Before They Hatch’!

On a serious note the reality of the matter is that there are too many wannabe MBA institutes wanting to get a chunk of this large market and the fight between the ‘me-too’ segments is only getting fiercer. However dubious their claims or reputations may be – Vir’s well articulated article being a case in point. It’s another case, for instance, why many colleges in Bangalore go without a single admissions in a year

My Project office lies bang opposite the Karnataka Examinations Authority office in malleswaram and I have been witness to what could be called a prolonged spectacle. That is until recently CET Counseling was in full swing here and flocking this center were hordes of engineering & other degree (including BBA - MBA) Institutes that marketed their wares in every possible way. Just passing by that road meant that you would have brochures of atleast 15 different colleges in hand before you crossed the centre. And parking on the opposite side of the road were numerous College Vans & Buses with banners, buntings and all kind of promotional materials.

The interesting thing is; as the days progressed and the counseling progressed to the lower rung ranks of students, newer and never-before heard colleges from far flung & beyond areas appeared near the counseling center. And many tried hard with their outdoor presentations; decent looking campuses & beaming students on their brochures & posters.

So what if one of the promoters of these colleges goes to bed worrying about the empty benches but wakes up one fine morning & says ‘lets do something different’?

There you have another Arindam Choudhary story.

Saik it up

2010-10-21T11:46:00.003+05:30

Captured this Sheikh pushing his cart near Corporation circle recently, reminded me of the Joke
Q: What do you call a Badam that likes to dance?
A: A Badam shake (saik)!
Notice you can also have ‘Choklate’ variety here...

Bangalore Blues...& Red & Green..

2010-10-09T11:10:00.003+05:30

Bangalore aka Bengaluru gets its usual colour every fall; the myriad flowering trees (numbers of which are dwindling though) blossoming in a riot of Yellow, Red, Purple & White. This time though they have some serious competition; street side colorful murals depicting various facets of Karnataka & India.

The effort of the city municipal body (BBMP) that kicked off in 2009 seems to have paid off; in place of defaced public properties covered with anything from film posters to advertisements for jobs or paying guests one now finds serene pictures. Like the good old photo studios of yore, theme backdrops backgrounds in muslin or canvas where one could pose for photographs on a dummy scooter or car. Only difference is that nobody pauses for a photograph here though!

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

2010-10-01T15:28:00.002+05:30

Courtesy my BiL and his complimentary tickets at PVR I saw the movie over the last weekend, this sequel to the 1987 hit was not that captivating though. Imagine Ketan Parikh coming out of jail , his sins pardoned, to write a book called ‘Greed is Good’ and lecturing people on how & why people like Harshad Mehta or Ramalinga Raju screwed the financial market. Gordon Gekko does something similar but with a lot of panache and polish . His daughter in the meanwhile who has grown up to hate him for not only his misdeed but her brother’s unfortunate death whom she holds him responsible for neglect, stays with her boyfriend (Jake) who incidentally also happens to be a bright upshot on the wall street. They stay in plush apartment, buy expensive gifts and drive fancy bikes courtesy the fat bonuses Jake gets from his boss who also happens to his mentor at the Investment firm. But it so happens that Gekko’s former bête noire (Bretton James) now drives Jake’s mentor boss (Lewis Zabel) to death when the Investment firm goes belly up.

Jake wants to bring the father-daughter together much to her fiancé’s consternation, who at one point in time tells him ‘Dont go back to him, he can hurt us’. The daughter knows the father too well and he lives up to his billing. Gekko convinces Jake to get his daughter to transfer $100 Million from a trust account in Switzerland that he had stashed in her name just before he went to jail . But instead of transferring the money to some company involved in fusion technology, which Jake believes is the next big idea, he pockets the same & vanishes in thin air (the plot seemed a bit far fetched though – imagine somebody hoodwinking the attorneys & amidst all the paper work in a Swiss bank involving a huge sum of money).

Nonetheless Jake in the meantime has joined Bretton and later fallen out with him decides to deliver a sucker punch to redeem his mentor death. He sits overnight & produces some damning piece of report that sends this billionaire wall St hotshot into a legal & financial tailspin. Quick time-Haha. Gekko who has now turned this $100 million into billions (god knows how) has a change of heart and comes back to fulfill the broken promise i.e, transfer the $100 Million to the fusion company and bring the 2 together.

A kind of family melodrama where the son-in-law redeems himself, daughter reconciles, a common enemy vanquished & the wily gecko turning a leaf for the better. Good in parts & with Oliver stone at the helm you can expect a well knit movie with brilliant texture and feel to the film. Sonny & Wifi slept through the movie though.

A case of the missing National pride.

2010-09-22T16:03:00.005+05:30

Sometime back a humor mail went around on the subject what would happen if IPL was nationalized, it implied the possible horrors of ‘govmint control’ on this format of the game. Joke? certainly not, looking at the way the commonwealth games are being organized in the country. Yesterday all hell broke loose on TV News channels with the Foot Bridge collapsing near the Nehru stadium. Worse was the comment made by Mike Hooper, the CWG official about the filth around the Games Village. Amidst this clamor & the inanities (especially the replies by concerned officials) one thing I find woefully missing – NATIONAL PRIDE. Where the Hell is it ? Not a sign of it anywhere .

On Aug 24 National Geographic aired an episode on Mega Bridges Week that I watched with great Interest. The ‘Millau Bridge’ was a colossal engineering effort meant to shorten the route connecting Paris to the Mediterranean by about 60 miles. Watching this serial was a lesson in ‘National Pride’; what it takes to make a country truly great and remarkable. The care & sensitivity in choosing the bridge design , the precise engineering skills applied to building it, the innovativeness shown in facing challenges (they end up inventing tools to meets its unique construction challenges), the commitment to meeting deadlines and the finesse with which they finally complete the Job.

The crowning moment comes when the two ends of the bridge finally inch towards one another at a height of about 343 meters from the ground (higher than the Eiffel tower). With the precision of a Swiss Watch the 2 ends meet while the French National Flag furls symbolically at this very point while the French President hovers above in a Helicopter to witness the moment. The commitment is awe inspiring but underneath the whole effort one can see the undercurrent of national pride and zeal. Seeing the French national flag at the precise meeting point reminded me about the 9/11 incident in the United states. At the ground zero (where the twin towers had collapsed in a rubble) & the damaged portion of the Pentagon building , the US flag was hoisted with great pride & determination. ‘Down but not Out’ the signal went indicating the zeal to rebuild it because national pride was at stake.

An ounce full of this fervor among all of us can help us tide over this mess called CWG.

The Millau bridge

The bad lands of Hindukush and the Indian woman CFO.

2010-09-10T10:29:00.003+05:30

The retail asset hub of CBoP in Andheri used to be a beehive of activity during 2007. Amidst the crowd and clamour Shweta Singh glided through her work almost effortlessly. The lady had an unusually broad face , a heavy build type that complimented it and usually accompanied by a serious demeanour that I felt was necessary for her job profile in the office. You cannot expect credit managers in Banks to be of the jovial friendly type, usually they come across with a ‘do-not-mess-with-me’ air hanging around them. Most of the time they are hounded by Sales guys to get their files passed and then pilloried by collections for asset book quality. Its a classic ‘middle of the chain’ job profile that gets grinded from both sides.

So when this lady announced on LinkedIn that she was taking up a banking job offer in Afghanistan I wondered whether things had gotten really that worse for a credit manager in India! While congratulating on her new role as ‘Chief finance officer’ of an Afghan Bank the curious’ier in me again got hold ‘You are a brave heart i must say...but Afghanistan of all places?’ I blurted. To which her typical gumption filled reply was

“I got married & my Husband was shifted to Kabul as he works for a company which is NATO allied. So I have to shift there...actually there are a lot of Indian's out here but they avoid keeping their families. But actually living in Kabul is not that dangerous as it may seem on TV. I feel pressure of being in Islamic country rather then Talibani's.”

She went to add “I am the first female to be approved by the central bank of afghanistan (RBI for this country), that's an achievement by it self. Its realy good to get such mails from old colleagues. Thanxs a lot & take care”

I really felt happy for her but something just dint seem right somewhere . And now, a couple of months later I read that ‘Kabul Bank’ the largest of Afghanistan’s 10 private bank is tethering on the verge of failure. The bank’s chairman & CEO - its 2 biggest shareholders have siphoned of millions of dollars in sometimes-clandestine loans to themselves and afghan govt insiders. The Bank also is alleged to have used one of afghanistan’s traditional money transfer outfit (hawala types) to move hundreds of millions of dollars out of the country to avoid detection.

Imagine the plight of a ‘chief finance officer’ in such a Bank. I am certainly hoping that she not only watches her back on the streets but also on her new job.

A Kulfi & the Mast Kalandar act

2010-09-04T16:04:00.003+05:30

Kulfi – the creamy essence of a slow cooked milk that comes in assorted flavours is one of my favourite for a dessert whenever I am in Delhi. And the ones that come in sticks (as opposed to the one in Matka) always bring me the memories of Mainu’s irresistible Kulfis (the vendor who was regular outside St.Mary’s school in Belgaum). So recently when we decided to check in for some desserts at Mast Kalandar on Wifi’s birthday outing I was in for a jolt.

Located near the traffic junction of the Kormanagala indoor stadium, this was my first visit to this joint and going by the instore branding & visual display’s I was quite convinced that this must be an authentic north indian joint. We had already finished dinner at the Forum Mall food court and going by the impression of its North Indian authenticity I ordered for some Kulfi & Rabdees. In Delhi I have tasted some authentic & mind blowing Kulfi’s at some of the Kiosks dotting the upmarkets Malls in Delhi & Gurgaon. A visit to the original Kuremal Mahavir Prasad Kulfiwale in Chawri Bazaar Delhi-6 has not materialized though.

Coming to this Mast Kalandar kulfi we were in for a surprise when it came in the form of a ravishing Badam milk in a matka. After 2 sips I was convinced something was amiss & summoned the restaurant manager. “Excuse me, I think we ordered for a Kulfi, is this is how you make Kulfi” I said as I took a spoonful and poured back into the Matka. The guy apologized saying there may be some problem with the freezer. He hurriedly took back the small pot and made a ‘Mast Kalandar’ act. He disappeared into the Kitchen never to appear again. A while later a waiter came back with the replacement pot but the poor thing was frozen rock hard in the cryogenic blast it had gone through. The absence of the manager made us realize that his freezer was vacillating between 2 extremes and he was quite embarrassed to face us. We quietly had it parceled and dipped into it almost an hour later in the confines of our house.

A Jungle trip

2010-08-28T10:58:00.005+05:30

The south western stretch of land west of 12°58'12"N 75°46'48"E is where the force of mother nature has still kept human encroachment & habitation at bay. At an average elevation of 915m, the western ghats run parallel to the coast and is thickly blanketed with tropical & temperate evergreen forests. I was in this region recently in connection with a project. This project entails me to engage with Forest officials across all levels and after one such meeting in the district headquarters I headed out to Sakleshpur (a small town nestled between coffee estates and bordering this green jungles).

I made a brief visit to the local Forest ranger’s office & met the officials there to take stock of the project requirements. The ranger had initially planned to make arrangements for my stay at Kadumane estate (a nearby tea estate guest House nestled between thick forests) but due to last minute change of plans it was over to Munzerabad Club. Established in 1893 by white planters, for white people this place has a common link to Kadumane estate. Both were founded by a Gentleman called Middleton, a coffee planter from Ceylon who came seeking fortune and adventure to the jungles of Malnad. It is said that an officer (of the East India Co) took him to the virgin ghats here and told him to take the jungle from this hill to that, and from that hill there to this hill here for no tax at all, but to remit quarter of the earnings to the government.

Horn-bearing skulls of wild game that these planters indulged in during their leisure time gazed upon me as I went through the numerous photographs (most of them dating back to early 1900s) in the main hall. Here in the club log book one can find names like Crawford, Radcliffe, Young, Middleton (junior)-have signed notes on ordinary affairs like missing cutlery, the minimum whiskey that should be stocked, and other such matters ( I must say the English were thorough in such mundane matters).

After a pleasant night stay I hit a road less traveled towards the Bisale forest. A 40 Km detour from Sakleshpur the route to Bisale forest makes way through undulating green landscape & really bad roads. I was greeted by several mini waterfalls flowing down the Hills all along the way. The world as I knew ceased to exist as I went deeper into this unchartered territory . The chilling story that the ranger had told me the previos day came to mind as we ventured deeper into the forest.

It was about 3 trekkers (software engineers from Bangalore) who lost their way into one of these forests and were actually found in a skeletal state a few months later . Apparently one was wearing a gold locket which was still hanging from the remains when a forester accidently found them. Such is the thickness of these Forests where even the forest officials carefully tread. However I dint have to worry any such fate, an experienced forest official was actually leading us to this spot popularly called ‘Beauty Spot’

The forest dept have built a outpost at the spot that actually overlooks a steep valley . Down below the Kumaradhara river flows . “Sir it offers a picturesque deep river valley and rich hilly forest terrain view from this point . The breathtaking valleys, regal looking meandering river and the splendid scenic beauty of the thick Bisale forest make it an awesome experience” patil (the forest official) convinced me while drawing me to this spot. But after an arduous trip all we got to see was a thick white blanket of mist surrounding the valley from this vantage point . We hung around there for a while & started back disappointed; none of us had imagined that the mist would have played spoilsport on a such a lovely rain drenched day.