I wonder what motivates her to just sit down and look around? 

We all know how much fun it is to waste time, especially when there is a lot of work to be done. And we do waste time doing some activity, unrelated to work. For example, we might browse some blogs, update/read facebook statuses, watch TV, listen to music, read the newspaper, walk in the park or just sleep! Some strange people (like me) even think/day-dream in order to while away time. All these involve some form of activity.

But sitting at one place and looking outside for one/two hours, at a stretch? Will I be able to do it? Well, I have done such things many years before (star-gazing) but that is generally accompanied with a beautiful story-line or a dream, in the background. I maybe physically watching the stars, but my mind will be roaming around in various settings/dream-lands. Ah, how much I miss those days

Is the woman in the balcony thinking inside or observing people outside? Is she doing both at the same time? It’s hard to guess because her face shows no expression/emotion.

I wonder what exciting thing is happening on the street or neighboring houses, for her to observe? Nothing much – People walking on the roads, automobiles, courier guys, gas cylinder deliveries, kids playing, someone shouting on their cell phone, etc. All these are routine happenings. Maybe she wants to observe everything that happens in the locality, spot something exciting and tell others about it? Seems unlikely, but…

Does that mean that she is thinking inside, while appearing to observe others? At her age, children are probably grown up and the house-hold responsibilities might have come down. Maybe her grandchildren are not near and hence she wants to recollect their memories by seeing other kids play?  Or maybe she is just lost in thoughts and wants to keep herself in the wonderful company of evening breeze, while thinking?

One can never say for sure.

Do you do something like this? Sit at the balcony and just observe everything around?

I can’t!

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So, here’s my life in six words - 

Six Words? Just One’s Enough: Blogger!!

On a more contemplative note, I had initially come up with this,

“Searching for a non-existent meaning in life”. But this one was too contemplative and also breaches the word limit, so I went with something more jazzy

I now hand over the baton of representing one’s life in six words to,

Ram Thilak who blogs at: http://ramthilakceo.blogspot.in/ and also wish that he becomes a CEO soon!

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People, until yesterday, you were reading the blog of a blogger. But today, you are reading the blog of a blogger & (self) published author!! Yaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!

Finally, I have managed to write and publish that eBook I was talking about earlier :) It’s titled, “Happiness Guide For Tourists Visiting India: 50 Exciting Things To Do“. It’s not a travel guide, but it can be a good companion book to a proper travel guide to India. Of course, it’s a non-fiction book.

I have self-published this eBook in Amazon.com, as my target audience is primarily from the countries where Amazon has a strong presence in. People don’t need a Kindle to read this book (although it’s an excellent option), they can read it in their tablets/mobiles (Android, iOS), PC, web-browser, etc. via Amazon reading apps. You can see all the reading options for Kindle books from here.

Since this book is primarily meant for audience from other countries traveling to India, I request Indians/NRI’s not to buy this book. That’s mainly because Indians and NRI’s (who have lived in India, even for a few years) might be familiar with many points mentioned in it.

Since I am used to writing only blog posts, writing an eBook was a challenge. I discovered that I couldn’t write this book for more than an hour, every day. So, that’s what I did – I wrote this book for one hour each day, for 30 days continuously. It was more difficult than writing blog posts, but since I had split the work into small tasks for each day, it was manageable. Reading, editing, rewriting, formatting, cover design, etc. took more time than I had anticipated!

I do agree that this book is short (10,700 words), but I din’t consider the word-count as an important factor, as long as I was able to convey the message that I wanted to. I was more focused on the value the book provides to the readers and how helpful it is for them, than writing a longish essay that doesn’t convey much! I have kept the book short, crisp and to the point.

Self-Publishing an eBook is quite simple these days, and I hope more bloggers will consider doing it in the future. It’s definitely hard-work (even for bloggers), but the satisfaction we get at the end is worth it! Since this is my first book, there is definitely scope for learning and improvement but we can gain experience only when we do something, right? I guess I’ll keep a close watch on the feedback this book receives.

So, I have accomplished something *little* in life I feel like dancing to this song –

You can have a look at the Amazon product page for the eBook from the below link - Happiness Guide For Tourists Visiting India: 50 Exciting Things To Do.

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I seriously fail to understand the role of technology in ‘improving’ our lives. If you look at it outwardly, then yes, technology is definitely simplifying things and enabling people to do more. The time spent on a particular job has been reduced drastically as technology is being infused into each and every segment these days.

But does that mean all iz well? 

Technology, like everything else, is a double edged sword. Especially in the hands of greedy human beings. If technology reduces the time taken for a particular job, people just want more such jobs accomplished (with less staff)!!

These days, amazingly, we work almost throughout the day, in spite of so much advancements in technology!! It’s a paradox of sorts – we discover tools to simplify/reduce our work, but our (collective) greed wants more and more, which invariably results in us working more, not less.  

Has technology ended up creating more work for us, instead of less work?

Worse, all kinds of technologies that enable remote working (including the Internet) has resulted in us working even from home! Clients/management/associates call us at any point of time and expect us to complete some ‘urgent task’ as they know we are always connected!

If we think that our changing/demanding lifestyles enable us to earn more and hence we can live happily (in whatever little time that is not occupied by work), we are wrong there too. Our cost of living keeps increasing every year and life just becomes more and more expensive! So, 10% increase in our salary for the next year might actually result in us spending 20% more!! Thanks to the technology called credit cards

I feel that our modern lifestyles and modern healthcare facilities are closely inter-related. It is the modern lifestyle that fuels the need for modern (expensive) healthcare. We can afford to consume excessive fast-food/alcohol, etc. today because we know that our healthcare facilities will treat us (in case of ailments) and our insurance will take care of the treatment costs!

Secondly, there is no time. In a nuclear family, typically both partners work and there is not much time for unimportant activities like cooking! Even if we make some time and choose to cook, technology has infused enough chemicals in our food to ensure that even home-cooked food may not be all that healthy. You want organic food? Spend three times more!!

I do admit that when modern technology aids preventive medicinal practices like vaccination or solves complex surgical challenges due to accidents, etc. it is indeed beneficial. But, when technology creates new lifestyles, which results in ailments; and the same technology is used to cure it, what is the point??

Modern day healthcare should take inputs from our traditional lifestyle practices, which emphasized on preventive care, than treatments. While we have organic foods, there is no equivalent organic treatment methods! How about Naturopathy? Why not advance natural healthcare treatment practices, instead of addicting people to drugs/medicines?

But our ‘modern healthcare practitioners’  won’t do all that. Because, such things give less ‘Turnover’ and ‘Revenue’. As long as medicine is treated as business, any improvements in ‘healthcare technologies’ will benefit only a few, and that too the ones who were already affected by faulty lifestyle practices, fueled by modern technologies.

Let us look at the other side – Since doctors and hospital management are earning so much, are they themselves happy? Absolutely not. They too work 24×7 and they are subject to the same ailments that modern lifestyles result in. But they can get treatment in their own hospitals, if that is any respite! To Doctors and Hospital Management: I am writing this article for your benefit, as much as ours!!

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PS: This article has been written for the indiblogger contest ‘How does modern healthcare touch lives’. To get the pen-drive (participatory prize), I need to link to Cutting Edge (Apollo hospitals page). Of course, I stand no chance of winning anything else

I thought that the concept was interesting enough to mention it in my site. Imagine how much money parents spend on toys/books for kids, only to realize that their child is already bored with it within a few days (hours?). In no time, kids always want another new toy!! So, instead of buying toys/board games, why not rent it? Once the kid is exhausted with a toy, one can just return it and get another! 

The best part of this service is, the team at Bambaram.in delivers and takes back the above mentioned items from subscriber’s homes, once in every fortnight. All you need to do is call or send a mail! Another good thing about this service is, most of the toys/products offer some educational value, in addition to fun/entertainment.

I think they offer this service (via monthly subscription plans) currently only in Chennai (India) but they might extend it to other cities in future. What do you think about this service? Would you like to rent toys or buy it? (They also sell educational toys, but I was intrigued more by the rental part). You can read their FAQ section for further info.

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PS: I have no idea about how good their collections/services, are. Also, I am not affiliated with the above mentioned site in any way. This article is just for your information.

Initially the author touches upon the importance of innovation and the ecosystem required to create innovation. The second chapter is about technology. Frankly, the first two chapters contain a lot of information that we already know. But his insight on PAT (Process Alteration by Technology) offers some food for thought,

“Simply put, Process Alteration by Technology (PAT) is the application of human intellect with modern technology in order to improve and alter business processes to bring in efficiencies, leading to overall development of industry and human beings. Technology is here to make life easier for us; technology is not here to control and rule us though”

He talks about how improvements in various fields (for example, mobile phone industry) has resulted in a better life (in this case, easier communications), for us. The situation before liberalization is compared with the situation now and the author talks in length on how application and mass adoption of technology has changed our lives in every sphere. He also adds,

“The challenge for policy makers, while employing modern technology to improve public life, is to get away from a tunnel vision and create an inclusive and balanced ecosystem wherein even our flora and fauna are protected”

That’s the real problem with rapid development. There is no balance and resources are consumed mindlessly.

The author then talks about the importance of entrepreneurship, types of entrepreneurship, enabling factors, etc. I liked the insights offered in this chapter, especially since it comes from an entrepreneur.

The next chapter talks about urban-rural divide and how mass-migration to cities is going to compound our existing problems. He also talks about reverse migration where city dwellers are increasingly building farm houses, etc., in a rural locality. Do we need to build more cities or do we need to continue expanding existing ones? How do we make both cities and rural localities more livable and enjoyable? These are some of the topics tackled here.

Surprising me (and everyone else who will read the book), the author then tackles the complex subject of corruption and explores how technology can help fight the menace. He also talks about different types of corruption. It is true that technology has reduced corruption in certain sectors (like the railway ticket booking, for example), but how far can technology go in eliminating it? Even if we bring everything online, there are still millions of people in India who are not literate. As admitted by the author, it’s a complex problem.

I liked his suggestion for the application of PAT to the housing sector (though I don’t want to tell what exactly he has proposed). I feel that since the author is in the housing industry, he should have included more analysis and elaborated on the advantages/ limitations, further.

The caption of the book reads, “Using 21st century to address 19th century issues”. But there is one more thing to it – “19th century mindset”. What can we do about that, author?

Question to the readers: Do you think technology can solve our major problems?

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Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book for review purpose.

I happened to go to the Jane Jacobs Heritage walk today that involved us covering a few famous buildings & monuments in North Chennai, India. This walk was organized by Urban Design Collective. Actually, I was born and brought up here and lived in this part of the city, during the first five years of my life. Thereupon, since our grandmother’s house was close to Broadway (Metro station), we used to visit this place quite frequently. I still remember the cycle-rickshaws we hired, back then. I was surprised to see a couple of them even now!!

As you can guess, I have some wonderful childhood memories associated with this place. But over the last decade and a half, I have (almost) not visited this part of the town at all! All our relatives moved to other parts of the city and each of us live far away from here.

Since I was too young when I used to visit North Chennai, I had no idea about the history and importance of the place, in the making of Chennai. I knew that the harbour and fort are situated here, but I did not know that some of the first residents of Chennai happened to be located here. I did not know that this part of the city was the epicenter of the economic activities in the city, until a few decades back. As I went for this walk, now I know better

The two photos shown above were taken right opposite the beach (electric-train) station. I am visiting this station for the first time!

The part of the city we went around today, was called the ‘black town’, because Indians who worked in the Fort-complex (during British period) lived here. It seems all the streets in the small lanes surrounded by the main roads were designed in a grid-pattern. Many old buildings have survived until today and the above two photos show two such buildings.

The park shown above is called ‘Maadi poonga’ and it is an important site because the only remnant of the large boundary wall constructed surrounding the town (during the initial years of the British period) can be found here. It seems, once the British defeated Tippu Sultan, they no longer thought that the wall was necessary and it has been demolished over the years. Thanks to the efforts of Chennai Corporation, this small patch has been converted into a park and is being preserved!

The building you see on the right is a very old building belonging to Binny group of industries, which was one of the two companies that supplied oil to the city. It seems they have since moved on to other businesses, but the house with pillars has survived.

Have a look at the style of windows constructed in the buildings of those days! There are so many houses/buildings with such fancy windows and other aspects/styles that one can see and relish even today, in this part of the city. Don’t you think that when compared to the old architecture style (which had a lot of taste and style), our new style of architecture is rather bland? Look at the carvings, pillars, designs, colours, anything. They are very much unique and exquisite.

The above picture was taken inside the Armenian Church, which is a rare sect among Christians. It seems, only two Armenian families are present in present-day Chennai. The Church is open for public viewing and I have taken some more pictures inside this Church, which I will share in a separate post. This Church was constructed in 1712 and the language on plaques inside, were undecipherable for us!

The buildings shown above are a part of the majestic buildings that decorate the NSC Bose Road, today. The building on the right (Dare House) is now owned by EID Parry (Murugappa Group), but it once belonged to an Englishman who played a very important role in building the city.

Doesn’t the above building remind you of the Madras High Court? This is the SBI regional office building, not the High Court! Despite getting so close to High Court, I was not able to take photos of the majestic monument.

Did you know that the Madras High Court once served as the Supreme Court of India (under British rule)? Did you know that the first operational (though experimental) rail-line in India was actually built in Chennai between St. Thomas Mount and Redhills? Did you know that there was an active Tram network (rail line that goes in the middle of the road) that went across the City?

You can learn all that and more, if you participate in one of the Jane Jacobs walk!

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Do you remember the blue-colour inland envelope letter with a printed stamp on it? That’s what I got. I saw the name of the person who sent it, and it was my bench-mate during the previous year. I did remember us discussing sending letters to each other during vacations (this was just one among so many other grand plans we made), but I never took it seriously.

He not only took it seriously, but also wrote a letter and sent it to me!! 

Frankly, that’s the only hand-written letter I ever received, but the joy I felt while being informed about the letter, while tearing it open, while reading every word written in it, is just unmatched. It’s impossible to explain it in words, I was in cloud 9!!

Right on the next day, I bought an inland envelope, scribbled something and posted it to him. But there were no more letters from his side and the exchanging of letters stopped with just one. I went to a different school from the next year. One year later, when I bought a cycle, I went to his house. But they had already shifted their house from there!

Later on, when I was discussing about this with another friend, he told me about the concept of pen-friends. He told me that people from different states/different countries  write letters to each other and become friends. I was enthralled by this very concept. But he did not know how to get pen-friends.

I went and pestered my parents. They asked me to read the ‘classified section’ of the news paper. Someone might advertise that they want pen-friends. I religiously glanced the classified section for a week, but no one advertised. I got bored and forgot about it!

In this age of instant e-mail & instant communications, I sometimes wonder what it would have felt like, to have lived two generations earlier. We might have exchanged many letters by post. Maybe I would write a blog post and send it to all of you by post. You would have sent me your comments, by post too!

Have you received any hand-written letters by post?

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“In ignorance, we behave like animals, choosing to dominate and establish pecking orders and territories  In wisdom, we invoke the human in each other and work towards mutual happiness” 

Answer this question in your minds: Is wealth-generation, a result or the goal? Is wealth-generation an indicator of the growth or growth itself? Does sustainable wealth-generation require companies to domesticate employees as per their ‘organizational culture’ and exploit them through ‘expert managerial talent’, or create an environment of learning/growth and inspire employees to grow along with them? 

That raises an even more vital question – What is growth?

Like the author, I don’t want to answer questions. I would like to only raise questions throughout this review and make you think. Because that’s the style he has followed in his book! To help us, the author gives practical examples from the business world after discussing each topic.

Both the topics and the examples discuss what people do and why they do it. This is crucial because, when we start understanding this, we shed all our preconceived notions about people/systems.

“There is nothing right or wrong in this world/. There is only cause and consequence. That is why accountability and responsibility matter”

However, the book doesn’t discuss what companies/organizations/people need to do. Because realization/action needs to come from within and should not be thrust on us?

Most of the examples and situations mentioned in this book have been drawn from Indian mythology. This book offers convincing explanations about what rituals actually mean and how, by following them blindly/literally, we are killing the spirit ingrained into each of them. Wait. I guess the interpretation of the rituals is as per the author’s imagination and his interpretation, as our ancestors may or may not have had the same thoughts when they implemented them.

The primary ritual discussed in this book is the ‘Yagna’ that our ancestors used to perform. The author explains why the performing of ‘Yagna’ is more about the symbolic interpretation of things around us, than about tangible gains that one expects out of it. We are aware that people used to perform ‘Yagna’ to gain power, wealth, might, status or even to establish their superiority over others. But is this the goal of a ‘Yagna’?

Most of our religious rituals have lost their significance because they were forced on us. Naturally, when we see something better, we want to move towards the new-found system that offers easier interpretation and proof for verification.

“In a world that celebrates alignment and compliance to the vision, systems and processes of an organization, is the individual getting increasingly invisible?”

The western goal-based management concepts have their limitations. Is it possible to achieve Infinite wealth, which is the ultimate goal of any organization and hence a pre-condition for happiness?

“Business is not merely an instrument to generate wealth for shareholders or provide services to customers; it builds an eco-system that provides opportunities to entrepreneurs and creates markets that benefit society at large. For the perfect marriage between industry and society, a perfect balance needs to be maintained between consumption and restraint”

Restraint – The word that western management gurus hate. Because restraint means, less volume/business-growth and consequently lower margins. But, is it a bad thing after all? Isn’t restraint the primary ingredient of sustainability?

In my opinion, every system has its pros and cons. We have seen how the Indian ritual system has been abused over the centuries and it’s meaning has almost been lost. Here is a person throwing new light on extinguished fire. Will the phoenix rise again?

What one can gain from a book like this, depends on what stage of life, he or she is currently in. If a person is currently feeling like a master of the world and worse, has been successful with his/her ways, they may not even read beyond the first few pages.

There is a reason why this book is offered only as a hard-bound version. It’s difficult to digest the synopsis of this book in a single-read. I will definitely read it again.

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Disclaimer: I got a free copy of ‘Business Sutra’ for review purpose. This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!