March 2008 Archives

India is a country that many developed countries are keeping a watch on, to see how fast we are growing, and how they can participate in reaping the goodies.. I am not saying this because I am Indian.

Yes, there are lot of problems in the country with growth and attitude in some sectors, that is at the very early stages of change.. call center services for example, agriculture for example. But, comparing what we have today with how we were 10 years back in a few industry sectors, it is quite a *Show* off growth.

And the growth has been a strong curve in Chennai.

The banking sector revamping from zero ATMs to countless ATMs of every bank in every street corner, the technology space out-growing expectations & growth targets year-on-year, the talent market being flooded with more and more skilled and attitudinal people, the quality of movies, TV programmes, the salary packet sizes these days, the retail market boom, everything just multiplying every other day.

You just sit idle doing nothing for a day in Chennai, you feel little strange and slightly left out, the very next day. I do. Though I don't sit idle for a whole day, I do feel a growing urge day by day seeing things changing around me, right from roads to buildings to new successful companies cropping up everywhere.

If you want to feel the same way, there's an easier way, rather than sitting idle at home... If you are in chennai, all you have to do is visit sathyam theatre complex every weekend, and you will see something about the theatre's infrastructure changed. They keep modifying things regularly. Rather than the theatre management being responsible for the changes, it is demand that makes them alter to people's needs and business's values.

It is this quick change and related process that is so interesting to note, happening in places where a decade ago change was not a managed process.

We all know that all our Indian TV channels, for popularity's sake, copy blockbuster Television program formats from the west, like "Who wants to be a millionaire", "Dancing with the stars", etc.,
But the interesting part is.. the tamil versions of the programmes have brought about a change in the way Chennaiites see society, their inhibitions towards protecting culture, their spending patterns, interests in dance / music, opening up to the outside world and accepting the goods of an open society... everything is changing slowly. Though we Chennaiites are accepting all these changes, we don't seem to be in a hurry and we are carefully and selectively working up the change.

Also, Chennaiite parents are known to pester children on studies and giving zero or less importance to co-curricular activities, sports etc., With figures of successful Indian sportsmen increasing by the day, and the way these television programmes make the other activities and careers rewarding as well, a sudden spurt in interest towards co-curricular activities and sports is seen, and children are learning people skills and life skills because of the open society. The already rich talent market is going to be super-rich in another 5 years in Chennai...because Chennai has always been a conservative society.

All these changes around me are so attractive to notice, that I am losing a lot of free time trying to.. understand.. admire.. how and why the changes are happening and what triggers it to happen quick.

A few months back I read in a blog (I forgot which one) that the United States government has changed its definition of India from a "Developing country" to "Transforming country". That acknowledges India's growth internationally.

A few years ago I gave up non-vegetarian because something I witnessed in a butcher shop when I was a kid was always lingering around in my head and bothering me as I grew older. The butcher, in the excitement of selling fresh meat to customers waiting in line outside, happily slit a goat's throat in front of me and grandma.. we were standing first in the line close to the doorway.

The scene of the goat moaning in pain and beating its legs and waving its head with eyes almost popping out in the fear of dying is something that I still can't seem to forget.

After I became an adult I had the maturity to push it to my family that I am no more eating meat or eggs. Slowly it happened that my people at home felt similarly uncomfortable about the meat they eat, also because they were having one person at home(me) who was running out of the house with excuses whenever meat was on the dinner table.

I also had another reason to quit non-veg.. the vegetarian and junk food industry grew with a lot of options, some of them even kind of replacing tastes that you get with meat. So sticking to my decision was easy for me. and its more easier nowadays with the options you have.

My parents and family slowly moved to be pure vegetarian even disliking the smell of eggs .. partly because we had pets.. from dogs to fishes and birds. We still do have a cute pet dog, and a nice big aquarium at home. These animals showered so much love on us, and we got so attached, that we kind of became so sensitive towards animals. We would have tears in eyes whenever some TV channel does a special story on animals being tortured and killed for meat.

I am not sure whether we can argue and stop the world from consuming non-vegetarian foods.. and I don't believe that it is possible or feasible for human kind to do away with meat because humans by evolution consumed meat always. You can't change something that was historically created...at-least not by showing videos or talking sympathetically, and definitely not in a few years.

But, if you are a non-vegetarian..and you love non-veg foods, and sometimes thought that you can take more of meat for it is tasty tasty and kindles excitement, you should see videos in the youtube.com link below...and make a decision about reducing your meat intake or at least not increasing it.

You tube - meet your meat videos

By this article, I am not trying to put pressure on non-vegetarians just because I have given up meat.. or try demonize the meat industry or people who earn their money with that industry,

but, inturn, I am ignoring everything happening around me, around everywhere, and think of those animals from their point of view of existence.

Like us, they too would have dreams of playing over the grass, munching some, and running around some, or at-least if not all that, to just die gracefully, without dying like in war with all that pain and butchering scenes in front of their eyes.

Think.

China is expanding not just by trade connections, population, and infrastructure, but also by its geographical size. They got HonKong instead of making it an independent country, and they are trying to acquire Taiwan, Tibet and some portions of the far east of India. They hold all these positions unofficially now anyways, and are overwhelming the rulers or governments of these territories to take them over officially.

Chinese are menacing and warning every other neighbouring country that they adjust to their interests and keep quiet... taking advantage of their position as being Asia's largest country.

Their current project is to acquire Tibet wholly, and they have already done that by pushing an overwhelming number of troops into every part of Tibet and destroying protests by the Tibetan people.

Being a veto power in the United Nations, China made sure Tibet never got its membership to UN. Because if it does, its like all UN countries have accepted Tibet as a country..and any reaction to threats to a UN member country will be supported by the UN, which would then spoil the Chinese dream.

Also, Chinese pressure forced the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet to leave China and come to Dharmasala, India on exile. Tibet is self-ruled and its parliament-on-exile is run from India even today. This is the only instance I know where a government of a state is in another country on exile.

All this Chinese have been doing for years.. but recently the Chinese expansion project is very aggressive.

Now, while entire Tibet is protesting the takeover by china, none of the UN veto countries are talking anything about it, for china itself is a veto power.. and all veto power countries use their power to get away with all these nasty jobs, as much as the US is getting away with Afganisthan, Iraq and Iran.

India is the latest now, who is listening to everything Chinese say. Poor India is unable to help Tibetans, India having had such weak-hearted, not-so-bold prime ministers like Atal behari vajpayee, and now Dr. Manmohan sign.

China even condemned the visit by Indian prime minister to an Indian state 'Arunachal pradesh', saying Arunachal pradesh is Chinese territory.

All these territories are considered disputed territories and have a history wherein the Chinese never signed or agreed to any border agreements and Chinese say they have 'Suzerainty' over all these territories...simply meaning that the territories as autonomous territories within China.

Below links have details on the border disputes/resolutions Chinese have/had with their neighbours on the territories
Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh, Hongkong, Taiwan

Someone out there seems to have understood the mega-giga percentage of untapped internet radio market, and has brought out a tricky cute radio for your desk called "Chumby".. its ok if you misspelt it "chubby".

Chumby plays only internet radio, and accepts an wi-fi internet connection as input source. This chumby is still evolving, and so it doesn't yet have the neccessary stuff to play radio out of the box, it needs either a comp, or, any music device with an USB-out, wi-fi broadband.

Don't ask me more.. checkout the chumby site yourself. I don't have a chumby.. but I have already added that to my wishlist.

If you have unlimited bandwidth broadband.. and you have your wi-fi 'ON' all the time.. you should have chumby. It will keep you nice company.

And what not.. like a mobile device, you can use its touchscreen and browse some web I suppose.

For the tricky part, of finding new, free, good radio sources on the internet, chumby supports shoutcast radio servers.. and hence you will have more than 20,000(and growing) of those online free radio broadcasts to choose and play. .. and for this you would love somaFM.com .. they are AD-free.. so you will hear only music.. no DJ voices or commercial breaks.

These days, I seem to get more worried about what I have not achieved in life, both personal or career.. because everything that starts takes too much time to be fulfilled... to the extent that it sometimes pricks that "I am not yet there, then am I a failure".

Getting out of an inspiring movie like 'The pursuit of Happyness' or 'Yuva (Tamil)', I would dream of doing something in my life to achieve what the lead roles in these movies seem to achieve in close to 2 hours. And when I plan to do it, I realize I got a truckload of problems, no patience, no money, no resources, no contacts, no that and no this. So much would broil over in my head, I simply think this is not something I can do, and sit and wonder when and where am I going to be successful.

I get 101 ideas to work on, to make a business, to make a company, to make some money to make more money, and all that, but with every idea there seems to be certain need of time, money, resources, which I just misunderstand as zero always, and try to think I can complete projects in nothing more than 8 hrs of a day, even if it be a sunday with lot of distraction of TV programmes, or a friday when a lot of seemingly good movies get released.

I am not a movie buff, but movies are the only things that motivated me after college.

If you don't work in a salaried job, probably you would also have had such occassions where you think you need a break.. from yourself.

This is where I get reminded of a lot of things I have read somewhere, or known from some source, that every idea has a nascent stage, the beginning of things where you get to know the idea more and know what all the idea wants to drink and how long it will take to become big, take shape, and give you back what you wanted it to.. like money or happiness. Even relationships have a nascent stage...where you break-up - patch-up, break-up and again patch-up, but were you make sure NOT to give-up.

The nascent stage of an idea:

Ideas are sparks.. they ignite, but take time to develop.
Be it a big company CMD with a lot of bucks, or be it a small guy on the street, I learn that both will take the same time to realize an idea that they have.. but, if, and only if they wait for it to happen and waiting doesn't mean.. just .. standing and waiting.. but working towards something, or atleast working on something else for the time being.

Some people give up when things take time, and taking time in a business means taking time to make profit, have a return on investment(ROI) and all.

These things are best understood in financial terms.. Short-term and Long-term.

Becoming rich, Making an Achievement or accomplishing something in life, developing and realizing an idea, why, even having a nice and happy family, are all long-term processes. They just can't happen quick like in films. Whatever money you have, your money can only pressurize the idea to happen.. What makes ideas reality is your constant effort on it, and patience.

Except for financial goals, money cannot be used as a resource to accompolish any long-term goal. You need to invest a lot of Time, a lot of brainstorming, and pull in enough resources now and then to develop on, to gradually allow your idea to grow.

If you remember old cartoons, the bulb glowing off above your head is just representation of a spark of idea. The realization and efforts take longer and are not represented in motivating movies or cartoons or even your favorite professor's speech...because putting all that straight is actually "de-motivating".

The nascent stage of an idea.. is a spark.. if you get it, be happy and work on it whenever possible. You will reach there.

My school's caption line said it all "Efforts never fail"... so put your efforts, invest some time, for your ideas are your babies which will need time to grow.

Now my worry is off.. and I am back to work.