3 idiots at Rex –An eulogy

With wife and daughter away on Dec holidays, I was home alone. I got around the idea of watching 3 idiots, after thumbs up from my colleague. So checked PVR, INOX all shows sold out, the only option was Rex. It’s been sometime that I watched a movie in a “theater “as most of the recent movies have been at the multiplexes. I was reluctant as the usual fears, it will not be comfortable, the seats will not have push back, the AC might not work, and it will be stuffy. These fears turned out to be true, but I had one of my best movie experiences of my life.

I went ahead and booked the tickets; it was the 10:00 PM show or since we are the Rex call, it the traditionalists way second show. I was there at Rex by 9:00 PM so it was one good hour before the start of the show. It was real fun to watch the world around you, from the vintage point of the steps near the booking counter. Something that I have never seen of late, is a guy selling tickets in black, he stood carelessly with his leg against the wall, approaching the sad faces who, had just been told that the show is sold out. 140 ka 200! They are the chime sounds of a theater, what an entry! As I was near the booking counter, a crumpled piece of cardboard “sold out”, gotten used to seeing the neon displays saying sold out. The cardboard for some reason makes a bolder statement than the neon display.

A bunch of friends might be a group from work picks up a conversation next to me. One of the guys in the group spots an old classmate; he nudges a shoulder and says “that guy is my NCC mate”. Greetings are exchanged between old pals, and quite naturally they start talking about where their lives have taken them and how their waist lines have kept up with time.

A lady walks in on her mobile, constantly on her phone giving her exact place where she is standing, traffic updates, information on parking status, in her own unique way she had setup a control room, the difference she had to take care of an 8 year old on the job. So all communication on the phone would be interrupted by “shreya not there”, “mama will buy that later”. But she did a phenomenal job; all her family members were now gathered around her.

A constant sight at any theater is a lot of Jain families and groups of guys in the male ritual of looking their best for the million dollar glance from the opposite Sex. This day at Rex was no different.

And the best part is the balance in chaos, there is no rope line, but in some magical way when the doors are opened a line quickly gets formed. No security checks here, the only screening you get is a glance is from the usher to check if you are a usual offender I guess.

Even the movie experience is phenomenal, with the crowds cheering the punch lines, hooting at the lewd jokes. Clapping over emotional wins in the movie. There is definitely a lot of goodness in accompanying the cattle class of which I am a breed too. After the movie you fell a spell was cast on you for the past 4 hours.

Rex might not stay on for long, or might be it will go the multiplex way. Changes are good I am no placard holder stating “no multiplexes”. If 3 idiots was my parting to my old ways of watching a movie, it’s a parting well made.

This is me signing off for 2010 as well, what better way to sign off 2009 and go into 2010 than a snippet from a song from 3 idiots.

Give me some Sunshine
give me some rain
Give me another chance
wana grow up once again

Have a happy new year!

Kumara Parvatha reality check on my threshold limit – physically & mentally

After Chembra it was about which trek would up the ante, KP or Kumara Parvatha stands out tall among most options at least in Karnataka. At work we did a quick opt in/out routine we got 4, but we wanted to connect to some of the other trekkers who would be interested in KP. This got us on Orkut and the Bangalore trekkers community, the thread really gathered a lot of steam, and on the last day we had to say no to a large number of people. On day zero we had critical mass of 11, an eclectic bunch we had Software engineers, sales guys, free lancer, engineering we had them all.

Start point was 4th Block Jayanagar coffee day, quick round of intros and we got started to KP. The journey was uneventful apart from a stopover for gurkha dinner (dinner at 12:30 AM) where we discussed previous treks, hometown details.

We reached Kukke by 6:00 AM, actually the only time in the trip nature was kind to us, kumara dhara was inches below the bridge allowing safe passage. We knew we were in for some bad weather when we saw the IMRD pictures, but we discounted the fact that bad weather meant many elements rather than just rain. The trek started on Oct 2nd morning the day or the weekend that submerged northern Karnataka.

Stopped over at a place where at Rs.15/- you were allowed to use the toilets and cleanup, there was no point taking a shower as it was raining torrentially. They had luxury/non luxury toilets. Luxury toilets had light and a mug, non luxury was devoid of these. Breakfast was basic included one of south Kanras delicacies Buns (not your typical bun, bun that you have with sambar and chutney).

The trek is split into 3 halves, 1st half is a 5Km trek through the forest some moderate gradients, the 2nd half is grasslands with gradients slightly tedious, then the shola forest the difficult gradients.

The trek through the 1st phase of forest should be pulled through easily, if you are ok with continuous rain and leech bites. There are a number of ways to get leeches not to bite you, but in heavy rain all those tend to get washed away and the leeches have a feast. So I let them do what they are best at, and never stopped over to pull any out. When you are just out of the forest into the grasslands, in the occasional window when the fog clears you can get some breathtaking views and the aerial view of Kukke. The grasslands had visibility of a maximum of 10 feet at some places, and it was round about noon, so this was a prelude for things to follow. On the grassland is the only home popularly called Bhattra mane, where two brothers over the age of 50 for sure cook for the trekkers at 60 rupees per head. Lunch is rice and huli forget what huli. On that day itself Bhatta was serving close to 60 people, all were from Bangalore. There is definitely something about what Bangalore does to you, to make you take the route not taken.

When you put on your shoes you realize what damage phase one has done already, the shoe is filled will rain water and blood from leech bites, the socks pour out mixture of blood and water when you dry them.
When we started phase 2 our goal was to camp at mantapa, but change is what you need to be ready for on a trek like KP especially considering weather. When we reached the mantapa , there were occupants already, so alternates were discussed and we decided that we would trek on and camp at the most favorable location. It was getting colder and the terrain was rough, practically climbing a stream caused by the rain. We reached a place that looked kind of ok, with rocks on the sides and even ground, but we just realized it was leech HQ, these guys were huge and all around the place so we abandoned that idea.

So we trekked further, there were guys with cramps and most of us in real bad shape, but we wanted to camp at the peak put the tents on the Somwarpet side protecting us from the winds and rain. We reached Shesh parvatha, we knew we were close, now the trek through shola forest. Shola forest is like a real jungle, its got the largest share of leeches and snakes, and the light was fading. The trek through Shola was swift, till we reached the waterfall, trekking through a waterfall is a great experience, the cold water the rain the leech bites cocktail of nightmares.

Then comes what is called angel rock, due to the heavy rains we could not go straight up but took a detour, we reached a point where there was no way ahead, light was fading so we could not go back to Shesh parvatha. The place we were at was like being at an edge of a whirlpool. The land was flat which meant the winds would rattle you, leeches were everywhere.

But we had no other option so we put up the tents and since the winds were actually knocking us off our feet it made sense to put up 2 tents for 11 people, as the probability the tent lasting the night was 80%.

So 5 in tent 1and 6 in tent 2, I was in tent 2. Initially it was fine the winds would rattle the tent, but we were glad that we stopped getting wet any further. In wet clothing inside a tent for 6 does not seem like a lot of fun, but with the cold that had been hitting us all day, a roof and dry place was a luxury.

We had dinner, chapattis chutney powder, Goju. Done with dinner it was around 7:30, we could only get out at 6:00 Am tomorrow considering the weather, so it would be 12 hrs in the tent. It was real cramped and we found our spots to kind of sleep the night off. But within 30 minutes water entered the tent and someone realized that we were sleeping in water, difficult to realize actually as our clothes are like the ones you might have just dipped in a bucket of water. Two of the guys in the tent started to drain the water from the tent, the tent floor had no water but it was still wet. It was 8:00 PM, the floor was wet winds hard and cold, lasting the night was going to be worst nightmare for all of us. Some of us could not bear the cold, removed the wet shirts and draped themselves with every plastic cover they could find. Smoking in a tent of 6 where 5 are non smokers would have been a no no, but the heat was a solace, but the smoke would get to you at times. The wind was relentless, if you are at a beach in rough weather when a big wave strikes you can hear the roar much before it hits the shore, the winds at 5000 feet are exactly similar only difference they strike in any direction.

Every time the wind strikes the tent gets bend to a point, when we hand on to the bars fearing that they would break. One of us had his hand glued to the rim all night, at all times. This was the state for nearly 6 hours when someone from tent1 came out to fix the tents, they put some stones around our tent as well. This reduced the size of the tent significantly, the tent is meant for 3 people we were 6 now and with tent size reduced further we were like chicken you see being transported on bikes with their legs all tied up. We would be woken up by guys crying with cramps, but humanity takes a backset during survival.

At around 5:00 my mind started giving up, I wanted to get out the cold was no longer an inhibitor I just wanted to get out of the tent. At 5:30 I got out bared bodied getting pounded by the cold winds but my body was taking it surprisingly, everyone got out by 6:00 AM and we were off by 6:30 AM.

One of us had twisted his ankle and I was suffering from sleep deprivation, so we slowed down considerably, two more guys accompanied us. This stretch I would call the hallucination phase, I could see people, structures everywhere, my mind was so keen to see civilization it was making me believe things. This was extreme it would only get worse, so many times I yelled out to the rest of the guys look there are people calling, there is the forest office, there is the mantap. We reached bhattra mane some guys had stayed back fearing the worst things had happened to us. After lunch and my power nap we started again, me and any injured friend fell behind yet gain and one guy fell back as well to make sure all was ok. My friend was in excruciating pain, he would take steps forward and the pain would get to a point where he would go dizzy and walk astray. At every break I would fall asleep and my hallucinations were getting worse, but I stopped telling people about them, but started waving to the people I was imagining hoping that they were real.

In the forest we saw a sign board saying 2 Km Subramanya, 2 hours would have passed but we just seemed getting deeper into the jungle and the light was fading away. This is when fear sets in gain, I was confident that we were on the right path, but after some point walking in the dark would be next to suicidal considering that KP is home to a large number of snakes especially the Cobra, camping in the tent considering this fact was also impossible. Fear lends you wings, my sleep deprivation vanished, I started running down shouting out hoping someone would respond, but for 30 min this went on with no sign that we were reaching anywhere, it was dark now, I could not see either of my friends just a few feet away, I kept shouting when I heard the dog bark, it was a sure sign that we had reached the foothills, after a 10 minute stretch which seemed like an hour we reached the road. When I put my feet on the tar, it was the time my body gave in, I put my bag down and slept on the tar road for a few minutes.

Luckily me managed to get an auto that dropped us to the temple, at the restaurant anyone would have imagined that I would have been the penultimate picture of gluttony, but all I had was 3 glasses of tea, sometimes the simplest things in life give you a sense of security that the worst is over.

It would be totally unfair, if I would not thank all the 10 guys that made this trip happen, and helped etch a memory that will last the tides of time. Thank you guys!

Cycling in 1995 and in 2009

We are celebrating eco week at work the coming week, as a part of this activity on every day of the work week we launch an initiative that minimizes carbon emissions. Transports of all forms nearly are the usual culprits, and in Bangalore they contribute to 94% of the carbon emissions. So we start eco week with a No fuel day initiative. As a part of the No fuel initiative we would abstain from any mean of transport that involves carbon emissions. So the alternatives are either you walk to and from work or cycle to work. This is purely voluntary. I use my 2 wheeler to commute to work which is 38 km to and fro, which means on any given day I pollute my city with 1.7 Kg of carbon, given that data I volunteered to cycle to work.

No Fuel day is scheduled 18th Aug 2009, but I needed a cycle. Bala is a colleague of mine and he cycles to work every day for nearly the past year now, he was ready to lend his cycle as he had opted to walk to office as his place is quite close by. I had to borrow the cycle on Friday so that I could cycle to work on Monday.

As decided I turned up at Bala’s place on Friday evening, after some time with his family, I pushed the cycle from his place a bit nervous. I told Bala and his family not to laugh if I fell from the cycle. They took me real seriously, now it was sinking in I had to cycle after 14 years and it’s going to the maximum km that I have every cycled.

In school in 1995, I used to cycle to and from my home in Domblur, to my school in Frazer town which should be approximately 9 km.

Now the times are different I weigh 3 times as much, and in a city where I have never seen school kids on a cycle. The only guys who cycle is the guy who cannot afford public transport then there is the IT guy on his Firefox and the 1 lakh bicycle definitely not the nano of the bicycle world. I am going to juxtapose cycling in 95 and 09 as I felt the changes in the city only during this ride, the infra, malls, traffic all said and done there are some elemental things that are much closer to me that I would love to share.

Ok with Bala and his family with the worried look watched me mount the cycle, with two quick movements I had started my journey, I could hear a cheer from behind from Bala & his family, I wanted to turn and wave back, but I wasn’t confident yet, so I just waved looking straight ahead. Bala is 6ft odd and I am 5 feet 6 inc, I looked like a guy in the circus riding this huge bicycle, so my first pit stop was the cycle mechanic. Before that I had to make my first turn onto the main road, this is when I really missed the indicator, somehow I made it I didn’t heed to any of the abuses being hurled at me by fellow commuters.

In 1995 I had a school bag on my shoulder, which was a Bata bag, filled with text books and note books. In 2009 the times are no different I have a wild craft bag meant to be a bag pack for adventurers but now a stylish lap top bag for my daily adventure through Bangalore traffic. In my laptop I had more data than all my schoolmates put together from class 1 to 10. Talk about changes by leaps and bounds.
I stopped at a cycle shop or should I say a bike mechanic but I don’t mind the odd cycle guy types, I just had to reduce the height of the seat. In 1995 I knew the cycle shops to and from school like Google maps in my head. In 2009 I hardly remember seeing one. For fixing the seat height the usual transaction is “We will cover it next time” or a rupee max, now its 5 rupees. After 14 years I stood on a pavement and watched the world around me. In 95 my panoramic view on the same spot which I am familiar with would have been LIC row houses, and at the end of the road a departmental store, today it was neon lights and I just couldn’t see past them.

The seating was perfect; I needed some music to keep my ears immune to the orchestra of Bangalore traffic. So I put on the iPod and started. I agree by saying in 95 I sound like an army guy discussing spoils of the two wars that he was a part off, but I am still going to do it. In 95 music on the move for me meant one of the few BTS (Now BMTC) with a speaker system, the only time we would hear the music is when he slowed down at a bus stop.

In 95 when I cycled to school, it was few great pals, Sudhir, Harish & Shyam Krishna, sharing jokes communicating to each other effortlessly. Today I was alone, but thinking about those days when we rode through the MEG campus telling the guards we are going to meet my uncle Major …. made me laugh. I passed through MG road, lots of first time thoughts here, my first movie Herbie goes to Monte Carlo, Mecana’s Gold in Symphony.

I still had 18 Km to go, but enough thoughts from 95 to fuel my journey. I don’t know if it is being a kid that I am happy about in 95, or how Bangalore was in 95, guess it’s being a kid.

Be the problem Creator – Happy Independence Day.

My work profile demands that I closely work with the software product ecosystem in India. As a part of this profile, I get to speak to CXOs of product companies of various sizes, and of various software segments from the ERP to the iphone application.

Somehow every time I came across a product it is usually solving a larger problem created by a larger product company in most cases from markets abroad. This is not a dampener when you realize the market share and the kind of revenues that the companies make. But the concern is that we are missing out on the bigger piece of action.

When you are a company of a size of a SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM they have so many Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) that develop software around their platforms that they need to run a partner program to coordinate with the ISV eco system. In this case this case SAPs, Oracles, Microsofts & IBMs of the world are the problem creators. So when I say problem, I mean that they have created a product of such great usage, that consumer wants to extend/customize to their daily lives at work/home. To address the pain area we have a number of applications in the market to address the consumer needs.
Ipod is one such case, they created a way for listeners to listen to quality music on the go with great use, but the problem that it created was that, consumers felt would it not be great if I could play games on this device, get my personal accounts, carry work on this device. So now you have App stores which are just solving all these problems. Which is great, but you are not the problem creator.

Tally is one product company we love to talk about and they are typical example of a problem creator.

Now When you question why this is so. It looks like a problem with eco system itself that does not encourage problem creator level entrepreneurship. Google, Microsoft, HP all these companies are formed by individuals from Ivy League colleges, but now we have IISC, IIT , IIM and premier engineering and management schools out there with their own incubator programs. So the issues must be the money, there are more VCs looking at India than some of the mature markets.

So according to mean it’s the idea with what you start your company, most the companies look at the ecosystem there is ready 40 million user base for this product or consumer need so let me go and design a product for that. Not many companies In India come up with an idea, let me sell virtual 30*40 plots (referring to Second life, the idea still seems way above but we have every company buying space on Second Life). In years to come we need such problem creator ideas.

Hope there is a day in the Software product ecosystem in India, when the enviorement is dominated by problem creators.

Happy Independence day!

Trek to Chembra

Trekking has been a passion that I have managed to purse on a near annual basis courtesy my team. Every year when we as a team get together we go on a offsite activity which is usually out into the wilderness. The first two treks were into the forests of Mudumalai, the treks were real exciting but not with the quest of reaching a summit but with a coupled feeling of thrill & fear on being able to see an animal in its natural habitat. I have not managed to see any, but a part of my team saw a tiger. According to the available data, the tiger population in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve Forest, could range between 62 and 80 in an area of 321 Square KM. With these stats how precious this sighting is. That is enough backgrounder, but as a trekker I am still a novice in trekking, never scaled the heights of a peak, and this thought was always on, Chembra was the peak to summit.

Chembra is in Wayanad district in Kerala, its 2100m above sea level that is about 6600 feet, height of UB tower is at 120m, which means that the peak is at 17.5 times the height of UB tower. All this data is in retrospect we had no clue about the height of the peak when we started of the trek. We were supposed to start the trek at around 9 AM but we could manage to start only at 12:30.

When we reached the forest office, we were asked to pay five hundred only, and he arranged a guide for us. We had to walk up to the point where the trek starts as the road leading to the start point had caved in, which meant walking at least 5 km. I was asking the guide in Malayalam which was the peak, but he said that the peak could not be seen. This was one question that would be only answered when we finished the trek.

After the uneventful rather boring walk we reached the tower, which was the start point. After catching a few quick glimpses of the view from the tower we started the trek to Chembra. Think we would have covered 3 km when we just did a status check; the route was at a 50 degree incline, and some of us would not be able to make it as the guide told us that it would get worse and more slippery. Some of us had to leave company to maintain critical mass so that they could head back to the tower and wait. The rest of us now resumed the trek. The team here is Syed, Bala, Praveen, Marco, Nasir & myself.

At some point Syed cited a Kannada proverb “doradha Betta Nonnuge” which means a peak is the distance looks small and easy to scale. The trek was no straight path we would have reached 500m above sea level with no sight of chembra; we still had to cross to other peaks before we could even see Chembra.

It’s no rock climbing, cliff hanger kind of stuff, but nature was testing our strengths to scale one of its peaks. After climbing a stretch, on some occasions you would be totally out of breath, some parts it was just steep, so you had to get your position right. We were in monsoon season, so the rocks were slippery and the threat of leeches. On the leeches we never got bitten at all, not that it hurts or we were worried but they just did not get to us.

After a few stretches we reached the grassland part, here the terrain was easier, so these are some of the spots we managed to take a few pictures. The views were amazing you could stand there for days looking at the peak and the mist clad mountains. But we had no sign of the heart shaped lake which was our destination; we saw a heart shaped lake and nearly declaring victory when the guide told us that this was the smaller one and we still had some distance to go. We crossed another peak and finally from a distance we could see the lake, it was like the schools had closed and it was summer holidays. The guys ran towards the lake, from a distance you see clapping, thumbs ups in the air. It was victory. We reached the peak at 2:30, there was no way we could reach the peak as the officers shut the place off by 4:00.

We had finally reached with 2 liters of water and one red bull shared by 6 guys and top it all most of us were in sports shoes which were made so that we could skid. With the rains and the slippery rocks everyone had their fair share of falls. I topped the list, with my 12 year old addidas tennis shoes. This was a shoes bought by my mom, the shoes had whistood all the abuse of 12 year including the previous treks, but on the terrain of chembra asking anti skid from a tennis shoe is just way too much. I slipped at every 5th corner, but finally was able to reach the tower with no major injuries.

We had reached a height of 1600m, but 2100 was target it was just that time was not available. With breakfast at 9:00 AM and nothing else when we reached Kalpetta, south indian good breakfast or tiffin items is like an endangered species. Non veg is plentiful but good veg food is rare, but we found solace in an awesome Uduppi restaurant, if there was a video of me eating it would have been in the list of scary vidoes on youtube.

We will be back Chembra some time, as of now we plan to summit Kumara Parvatha in the month of October, which is a 2 day trek.

Ice cream for all

Last weekend, on our routine visit to Sankey tank park, an incident made me coin this slogan “Ice cream for all’

Our weekend visits to the sankey tank park our near routine these days. Due to the vacations, the park looks like a crowded shopping area, where kids with their parents queue up in each of the play stations. If you are married and have kids this is ritual stuff. When we were done, we walked out of the park to get an ice cream (a good thing about the park they do not allow eatables inside), that is when this incident occurred.

The ice cream vendors are usually the kwality walls guys in their uniforms, selling ice creams, to the ever so consuming middle class. Me being in this group, got an ice cream and wife was feeding the ice cream to our daughter. Along with the ice cream vendors there are other vendors’ chaat guy, bhutta guy, ballon guys. The incident involves the ballon guys, the ballon vendors are kids I think barely above 10. Sales strategy adopted by them is also pretty interesting; they position the product only to the kids and never to the parents who holds the financial strings. Inevitably this strategy works, the parents buy the ballon end up carrying the ballon home, as the kid was just acting on impulse and has no further fondness towards the ballon.

So I was watching this one kid, who seemed a bit lethargic compared to the other kids selling the balloons. He had his eyes fixed on the ice cream vendor; his dilemma was I guess to I buy the ice cream or not. The positives would have been that he would for 5 minutes actually be a kid of his age and enjoy the coolness and the sweetness of the ice cream on a summer evening. Negatives would have been might be skipping a days food as perhaps the 5 bucks was his commission for the day, which would have fed him for a day. The dilemma was gripping the kid, he just would not take this eyes of the ice cream cart, the he made a bold move took 5 bucks from his pocket and asked for the vendor for stick ice. The vendor pushed him away, saying Hoogua (meaning go away in Kannada). Ice cream vendor did not want any customers moving away from his tall at the sight of a poster boy of poverty, standing there slurping away at an ice cream.

The boy backed of without any resistance; I had half a mind to buy the kid an ice cream, but a lot of things stopped me, one being with my act of philanthropy will the kid think that this is easier, I can just act sad an hungry and people would buy me things to eat and might be some money as well. The kid was actually trying to make a n honest living, with one act I did not want that to change. I am no expert at child psychology, so my action might not have caused the change at all, but I did not buy him the ice cream.

This is were nature as a leveler kicks in, the crowd eased it was nearing eight and the park was closing. The ice cream vendor calls the kid gives him an ice cream, and takes no money. Perhaps he understands the plight of being a ten year old hungry boy, envying the lives of the kids that passed him every day in and out of the park.

At that point all characters involved in this incident moved on, the ballon boy might to some pavement nook, the ice cream vendor to this thatched house in some slum and me to my apartment.

This is when, is it too much to ask there is an ice cream for every kid on a Sunday summer evening?

Occam's razor

If you have watched the movie Contact, you would be familiar with Occam's razor (pronounced AHK-uhmz). Occam's razor is a line of reasoning, where the simplest answer is considered the solution.

There is no simpler theory than Occam’s razor to deal some of the daily or occasional dilemmas life throws at you.

Most of us apply Occam's razor without our knowledge of it; say when you have consulted 2 mechanics regarding the problem in you car. One of them tells you that I think it’s the engine, there seems to some problem with the pistons they are not firing correctly, timing problem, the rings must have got jammed. The other says looks like the rats have eaten your cable that is connecting the engine cylinders that is why they are not firing. The latter is the correct as it’s the simpler answer. In my case I choose the 2nd mechanic and he was right.

Apply it to your interactions with doctors you will see that you would have applied Occam's razor.

Now apply it to a situation in your daily life, let me know a few instance might be we could debate them.