Once in a while.. for a change…!

It has been quite a long time since I blogged or wrote any article. Although many of my friends had asked or rather questioned me on the same I just could not (key-in..?) pen down any of my thoughts. I was little scared now on whether I will lose all my writing skills if I don’t act in time. I decided I will definitely write something this weekend why chumma listen something from someone..? (Chumma - means simply in Tamil).
Circa 2008 December! One fine evening there was some discussion going on in my house with close friends on 'awareness on our health', 'maintaining good diet', 'Walking, Running, Walkathon and Marathon etc., all high-end stuff for an ordinary soul like me you know..! But after some time I could not resist myself and I too boasted of doing something great in this space aka Indian Politicians. I declared or rather took bhishma pratigya that I will one day definitely make walking a regular pratice.Like a joshful project manager I even published my project execution strategy to the loving audience.
Hey stop... Before we can go any further, we need a flash back here to understand my PES(Project Execution Strategy). I live in southern part of Bangalore in JP Nagar 9th Phase close to Anjanapura. This is about 10 Kms from Jayanagar, 7 Kms from Banashankari temple and about 18 Kms from Majestic. I have never walked more thank 2 Kms at a stretch in last 2 years. Last time I actually walked was somewhere in June 2007 with my family in Central Park, New York and places around the same. It was an exhaustive walk since morning about 10 Kms in all. I am fit and fine (not a 6 Pack definitely, I am a sweet ‘Family Pack’ as my friend Ashoka puts it!) and have not undergone any major surgeries so far. I have the confidence that I can walk up to 50 Kms in a day (This just a gut feel, does not involve any WBS or FP analysis.).Why did not walk for so long is because of my laziness...! (Can I really walk that distance??!!)
Accordingly my strategy for walkathon would be...I would try walking on some weekend till Banashankari Temple from home which is about 7 kms... and then further enhance my confidence by increasing the distance...and one find day I will walk 50 Kms in a day.
With every one of you onto same page, let us get back to present! June -09! I and my close ones had almost forgotten about my promise of walking long back. But an opportunity came down this weekend knocking on my doors. Last week, I had given my car for servicing and had to commute to office by my two wheeler. So when I took delivery of the vehicle, I had both two wheeler and car in my office on a single day. Taking home both the vehicles to home on the same day was a challenge or I may have to come on weekend to office to get my Activa Honda. More over there is no direct bus service to west campus from my locality. But our idea man Yashavanth made my life simple and gave a suggestion our colleague Nithin had come to office without his bike. It would be better if he takes the Honda home. It is easy to pick that up from him as he stays in Jayanagar. I readily agreed and passed on the keys to Nithin. He drove home my Honda and I left for my place in my newly serviced car.

Came Saturday and I had to pick up my Honda from Nithin. This is the opportunity where in I felt I can execute my plan of walking for 10 Kms.But would every one appreciate and support my idea really..? No idea. So I just told my wife and kids that I am going to Jayanagar to pick the two wheeler and will be back in 2-3 Hrs. My wife gave a long list of grocery to be brought and my kids said "Appaji, bring some majaa katt from Jayanagar". That means I have to bring some surprise for them. Majaa katt is a kannada word quite frequently used in North Karnataka region. It means 'something interesting’ or 'some surprise'. I have successfully added this word to the vocabulary of Neha and Moksha, the loving kids of my friends Shobha and Gangadhar who live in New Jersey, US for last 18 years. Whenever I visit them, the kids welcome me saying "Mummy, look, majaa katt uncle has come to meet us! ".
It was 6 minutes past 9 in the morning. The cloudy Weather, very rare in recent days, was just more than ideal for a walk. Temperature was around a cool cucumber 20-25 degree centigrades.I stepped out of my house and started off towards Jayanagar. I had my projected estimates to cover approximately 6 Kms per hour. I kept myself a safe target of 2 Hrs to reach Nithin's house.
Ours is an extension area and no BMTC buses come inside the layout. I took about 4 minutes to come out of the layout and reach nearest bus stop. This is the main road, which got recently tarred and now drainage is being constructed. One could see the mud dug out of drainage and all the construction material lying on the road. There was no foot path because of this reason. Children and elders have to be more careful in night times to avoid these big drainages. I
I walked a little further and reached next speed breaker. I remembered that my car and two wheeler never pass smoothly over this speed breaker. I got to know the reason now. This was not a scientifically laid speed breakers, but a raw unused electric pole, placed across the road. From there I could see one such customized speed breaker within a distance of 100 mtrs. Someone told me the people in this locality do not want any vehicles to ply on this road and have put up these speed breakers. There were lots of kids running around and playing on the road. Actually I avoid this stretch when coming by car. There is a school on the left side and you can always see two trucks parked there. It is very narrow lane to drive. Within distance I could see one more official BMPP speed breaker. So in all there were three within 100 mtrs. But as you know BMTC busses don’t care for any one. All the buses ply on this main road only and children have to manage on their own. So far so good! Nothing major has happened in last 5 years. People are still safe.
But one thing is for sure... this road is always bustling with lot of activities and one can walk down on this road freely even at 11AM in the night. Now I had reached glass factory where road becomes quite wider and easy to drive. But there is a blind curve and most of the vehicles come at very high speed. There is no good foot path. It is quite dangerous for the vehicles in both the directions and even more so for a pedestrian. After a walk of about 20 minutes I had covered close to 1.8 Kms and reached Harinagar cross.
This is Harinagar bus stop and one can see a classical combination of Bangalore bus stops here. A Travel/tourist ticket booking shop, a bakery, a darshini, a STD/ISD, A xerox shop and a Temple. You must be wondering whether we missed one special thing here. If you glance on your right towards Kohinoor road, you can very well see a bar and restaurant, just next to the densely populated residential layout! Wow this bus stop is a complete package in one place. J

I proceeded further and noticed that Konanakunte has grown by leaps and bounds during recent years. It was not the same locality some years back. If you recall the history Konanakunte was a distant village from Bangalore. When late prime Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated way back in 1991, the assassinates Sivarasan and gang had taken refuge in this village. Karnataka and Tamilnadu police and Indian CBI were on man hunt to trace this gang. At the end, in a major commando operation, they were all surrounded and got killed or rather surrendered to Cyanide. The name Konanakunte came up on the pages of world media overnight.
When I bought a site in this locality, my close friends used to exclaim "Oh that place ... where Sivarasan was hiding himself"! Now much water has flown under the bridge and many would have even forgotten the history. But out of curiosity I was looking for the house that house where they were hiding and I could not succeed. But later I found a news report in Times of India saying that the owner of that house tried hard to re-rent that house after commando operation and no one really came up. At last he got fed up, and changed the appearance of the house, renovated most of the parts and began living there with his family.
People’s interest on this history invoked recently when a Kannada movie by name 'Cyanide' on this subject was released. It was a runaway hit. I would recommend you have it in your DVD collection. Good one! For the moment, it was time for me to feel proud that I am living in a locality with some historical importance! :)
I was enjoying my walking, watching people, vehicles, surroundings and thinking for myself and traversing the journey. People say they get bored very easily when they are alone. I would not agree with that. You can wear your thinking cap when you are lonely. This is the time when you need to work on your personality and give finer touches to it. You are like a student who is out on a trip to explore most of the interesting things in the world.
GOD is great! Each person in this world is unique. It is a trait just to watch these wonderful creations from distance, then go to them, talk to them and study them and their personality and get close to them. Even cities are no different from them. Each city offers something unique. And I thoroughly enjoy this City exploration hobby. I have been to few good cities in India and my experiences have been wonderful. I was in Madurai (Tamilnadu) in 2005-06 for close to 4 months. I did not have too many friends there. Language was a barrier, but being alone I explored the city (Of course by walk!) and thoroughly enjoyed my stay there. I will write about that some other time.
I had now covered 3.5 Kms of distance and the time was 9:42AM, it is now Konanakunte cross where you will hit our state highway Bangalore - Kanakapura Road. I paused for while at the traffic signal and gazed at an auto coming from Banashankari side was taking left turn towards Konanakunte. I saw a man in the back seat holding few bamboo sticks and one dome like structure stretched outside the window. This is quite a familiar scene on Bangalore roads. It seems someone was dead in the locality and that passenger was actually carrying all the necessary accessories required for final procession of the dead person. This structure usually made of bamboo is used for carrying the deceased person till the graveyard during the funeral. The structure is called vimaan or Imaan. It is a box like structure based on four long bamboo sticks to lift it and a spherical dome structure on top of it. The deceased will be placed inside this structure in a sitting position. If you watch from a distance, it looks like a mini temple
Four persons will be carrying the vimaan on their shoulders till they reach the destination i.e. rudrabhoomi or graveyard. They might change on rotation as and when they get tired. This vimaan is used in particular communities like Lingayat and others and not all. As soon the person dies, the elders in the community/locality get together and begin the process of last rites. Whatever may be the position in which person dies, the body, legs and hands are folded and adjusted so that the person is in a sitting position like meditation/padmasana position. This is done so that the deceased can be made to sit inside Vimaan without any issues. If you delay further the dead body stiffens and hands and legs cannot be folded. It is very important activity.
In Bangalore people actually create this bamboo structure after the person dies. In north Karnataka and other district places there community Mutts which have dedicated wooden Vimaan, fitted with required accessories always available for peoples usage. These vimaans will be rented out to people whenever someone dies and returned to mutts after the procedure is completed. In Bamboo structures, the neck of the deceased is tied with a soft cloth to the vimaan so that the body does not move or fall off on face during procession. But in wooden Vimaan , there are ready made nuts and bolts which will be used for this purpose. Vimaan is decorated with flowers and utmost care is taken it to make it look good because this is the last journey of that person.

Hmmmm..Did we deviate somewhere..? No.. ! Wherever there is hyperlink, we have to click that and see what is there..? That was good piece of information on Vimaan. Now let us come back to main hyperlink. Before that let me cross the road..OOooo…OOhhohooo… so many vehicles man! They just don’t have patience! Ok.. At last I did..!
Now I am on the main Kananakapura road heading towards Banashankari Temple from Konanakunte.

(To be continued..!)

That haunting old role....

This thought of haunting old role is haunting me for last few months .. But some how I was not able to blog it down onto net so far.Before being hunted down completely I would like to omit all my thoughts here.

I feel amazed about the wonderful capabilities of human being at the same I love to explore the endless boundaries of human psyche, its creative nature and limitations.

Life looks like a play for me.. It is a series of different roles and different responsibilities that we play in our lives. Long long back I was a kid .. Then a school going boy.. Then a high-schooler and college guy and a professional graduate. An unemployed youth...an engineer. And so on.

If you see the pattern, every one has changed their roles over the time. But funny part of this role change is we don’t get know or realize when do we change our roles. May be we know , but are not very conscious about it. We just get into our new role even before we could realize it..

Scene-1
A daughter is brought up in a family for 25 years, she knows she is going to a new family as some one's wife. But she does not realize after marriage that she is playing a new role of wife. Very often she keeps comparing both the families and their culture. Very often there will be arguments. At the same even husband forgets that he is now some one's husband and thinks he is still the little cutie pie of his mother!
Adding to that mummy also forgets thinks her son is now some one else's husband also and we need to share the space equally. Both mummy and wife or husband and wife forget this fact and keep arguing/fighting unnecessarily.

Scene-2
Many of us have seen our dads work for some govt dept or bank for years together.. They become depressed when they retire and they don’t know what to do after that. They try cultivating new hobbies.. Struggle a lot to spend time.. Keep running for arranging alliances between relatives.. They suddenly start keeping in touch with relatives by attending all the functions. This phase continues for a while before the dads realize that they have to live with this new role.

Scene-3
Let us turn to our offices now. I have made mistakes many times by forgetting my current role. I forget delegating certain responsibilities and start doing them on my own. That way I may not be doing justice to my role. It has dual negative impact in that I am doing some one else's work and also I am not clear about my role and responsibilities in current role. Some where deep in my heart that old role will be haunting me and I will be pulled into that. Many of us in corporate life suffer with such syndrome.

I am just quoting 2-3 examples here, but in life, we see almost each and every one struggling with haunting old role and conflict with new role almost every day every minute.

The primary reason for this conflict is we are not willing to accept the changes so easily. When our mind is empty we try and look and crave for that much needed change. But when we get used to that change , we don’t want to change. So strange!

Luckily in any organizations there will be many trainings , orientations programs and sessions to understand these changes and we some how if get along with the new changes a little later, if not immediately.. Life continues..

But irony of life is , no such training or sessions are given and you wont even a get a copy of org chart ppt presentation saying that your role has been changed. You just don’t know when and how that change occurs. Here there is no appraisal cycle. Increments. May be or may not be .. But there will be definitely role changes. Sudden role changes.. Good or bad.. High or low.. But there will be some!

Everything was going smooth in your family.. Suddenly dad passes away.. the family becomes more responsible and silent. You don’t know how to complete sisters marriage..You may be taking additional responsibilities.

Just one day of lose motion. Your husband is no more ! Your son is just two years old! Life gives a very cruel blow!

You are happily married and have a simple job in a govt organization. You both are expecting a child. But the kind GOD blesses you suddenly with triplets! You don’t know how to manage the new role with 'additional' responsibilities.

GOD many times even pulls out your sources of love, money and moral support in the form of losing one’s job, loved one’s and meeting with challenges. But it is all HIS way of cost cutting in life ! You still have to manage your role in that role in a most possible economic way.

It goes on and on...

Many of us, almost always get confused or shocked or lost or when such changes occur. We are still playing the old role and cannot accept the new role/change so easily for various reasons.

We just forget that a particular that incident happens to my friend can happen to me also.. A shock that occurred to my wife's friend can also occur in my life.

But if we think consciously and live the life for fullest and on just open terms, rather than complicating it with too many constraints and conditions, I believe we have the answers within ourselves. We should believe in the fact that' any thing can happen any time' and 'I should enjoy this very moment for myself and make it more meaningful and be ready for any role change any time'.

I guess only then there will be no surprises and that old role stops haunting us and life will be beautiful with conflicts.

Thanks for your time !

I am still there!

Hi all,
You all must be wondering where this guy disappeared? I am still very much there! Just got little lost with my work and personal life.
Ofcourse only 1 post in last 4 months is too bad a record for a person like me ! :)
I will come back shortly with my new thoughts!
See you soon,
-Arun

Hi Saudi Arabia!

I returned to Bangalore last month after successfully completing one of the exciting assignments in my career. It is really nice to conclude some thing with a great note.

This was my first ever visit to Middle East as well as Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is one of the prominent countries in Middle East and is also known as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The population is around 3+ crores. The form of government is Monarchy and not democracy like in India. A monarchy is a form of government in which an individual rules as head of state, often for life or until abdication. The person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. Currently 44 nations in the world have monarchs as heads of state, 16 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognize Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom as head of state.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is being ruled by the members of a Royal family. The brothers will take oath as King in the respective order. Later the sons of eldest brother will become King and then sons of next brother and so on. There is no restrictions on how long will a particular king rules. It is as long as he lives. So every one has to wait till their turn comes. Currently King Abdullah is ruling the country. Before that King Fahad, elder brother of current king Abdullah ruled the country for about 23 years till 2005.

I was staying in a city by name Al-Khobar on the east coast of KSA. Riyadh is the capital city of SA. Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Yembu, Al-khobar, Mecca, Madina are some of the main cities in Saudi. My Place was about 450 Kms from Riyadh (Capital City) and about 1300 Kms from Mecca and Madina. Mecca and Madina are two greatest religion places for Muslim Community in the world. It is presumed or understood that the King is the savior of these two religious places and he needs to implement/follow all the rules of Muslim community in the kingdom and maintain of sanity of the religious places.

When it comes to life style here, it is little restricted compared to neighboring countries like Dubai and Bahrain. The restriction is in the form of policies and a very hot weather.

Couple of observations I made -
1. All the shops and businesses close during prayer time for about 15-20 minutes for five times a day.
There are facilities to do your prayer in all public places for ex: in places like Airport, hotel, offices etc.,
2. Alcohol/Drug are strictly banned here. If you are found to possess drugs, the punishment is death and judgment will be made within a week.
3. All the women irrespective of their community, country or religion must wear burkhas when they step out of the house and women must be accompanied by either their husband or any relative. They should also possess the proof of identity. They cannot go out alone.
4. Women cannot drive any type of vehicles in SA. They cannot work in any public sectors except in jobs like teachers, nurses.
5. Cinema is banned in public, but satellite channels are available and you get some Indian Channels like NDTV Arabia, Zee TV Arabia, Sony Max etc that are aired from Dubai. These channels are approved/censored versions of their Indian counterparts, so the contents sometimes will be little late and obsolete.
6. Life is also restricted by the weather and it makes people sit inside the house or go out only in air-conditioned car. The temperatures are very high here usually above 40 degrees. The peak temperatures at 12noon will be around will go up to 46 to 50 degrees centigrade during noon. And believe me, these construction workers from different countries work in open air at such hot temperatures! All for the love of their loved ones back home in India. It rains once or twice in a year.
7. Life is very restricted, but NOT dangerous. I had heard many stories about this country. But it is that not bad. Life here is just like in India. Only weather is very hot. If you live within your limits without trying any adventures and extra curricular activities, this country is very peaceful.
8. The neighboring countries Dubai and Bahrain are quite different than KSA and encourage a very free life style. Bahrain is just 2 Hrs drive from Saudi Arabia. You have a world-class highway connecting Bahrain and KSA. People quite often drive to this country for entertainment. Tourism is the major industry in Bahrain.
9. There are an estimated 55-lakh immigrants here in KSA, majority of them from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Philippines. Many of the Indians are living here for more than 10-15 years. I met couple of Kannadigas also who have settled here for long time.
10. But the majority of Indian population is from KERALA. It looks like a mini Kerala. Every other guy here is a Keralite!
11. For sight seeing, you can see Sand Racing in the evenings. People drive their car up the hill at high speed over a sand mountain and return at same speed. There will be so many of them trying their skills! In between you will find young kids driving their little bikes run on petrol engines and racing ahead.
12. About beaches, there are two types of beaches family beaches and hidden beaches. Family beaches are strictly for families and hidden beaches are for people from foreign countries like USA, UK..etc.,
13. The local currency is SAUDI RIYALS(SR) and fraction of it is called HALLAL. 100 Hallals are equal to 1 Saudi Riyal.
1 SR = 11.5 INR and 1 USD = 3.75 SR.
14. General food is non-veg. I can say 90% of the hotels provide only non-veg food. But there are many good Indian hotels, which provide both veg and non-veg food.
15. Dates is one of the major products grown here in this country. There are an estimated 500 different types of dates grown here. Just like the bakery shops in Bangalore, you will get too see so many sweet shops which sell variety of sweets, chocolates made of dates.
16. Saudi Arabia’s Economy is very robust for next so many years and they have excess reserve funds in their kitty to plan and implement their vision for the future. Currently the government is building a huge city called King Abdulla city near Jeddah to reduce the population density in Jeddah and provide more and more job opportunities for all. I heard there is requirement for an estimated 12 lakh people over next five years.
17. Usually tourists from outside mainly purchase Gold and Diamond here. This is not for the cheaper price, but for the quality of Gold. You will find authentic gold ornaments made of 24, 22, 20 and 18 carrots. They will even provide you with certificate on authenticity.
18. KSA has got world-class infrastructure as far as Malls and Highways. They are just replica of American highways and malls. You would really love to drive fast cars on these highways. Allowed speed limit is 120Kms per hour, but people drive at speeds of around 180Kms ! The drivers even overtake through shoulders, talk on mobiles, drink water and even take hands off the steering at these speeds! I was just thinking to what amount my company has insured on my life when we were being driven at such speeds!
19. And of course petrol is much much cheaper than water here! 1 Ltr petrol costs you 40 Hallals i.e about Rs.4.50! People have costly cars here, which consume 1 Ltr just if you start the engine! (Our kannada cine star Darshan’s Hummer consumes 1 liter of petrol for every kilometer!)
1 Ltr of water costs you any where between 2 to 5 Saudi Riyals. (Rs.22 to 55)
20. We heard there is a religious police, which strictly maintains all the religious rules. But we never faced any such situation or saw this olice force.
21. Cost of living depends on what kind of accommodation you choose. A typical double bed room would cost you around 1000 to 2000 to 3000 Saudi Riyals based on the locality. There is no advance concept here. You will have to deposit six months rent in advance. Food in Kerala hotels is quite reasonably priced. But Indian hotels in down towns charge heavily on food.
22. All the major Indian Magazines and newspapers are available in Kerala Hotels. I even bought some Kannada Magazines there.
23. There will be dust storms every now and then. The dust storm is not just hard sand, but fine particles of sand. Dust storm looks like a cloud and covers the city for about a day when it comes. It is dangerous to breath such contaminated air.

All in all, I enjoyed my stay in KSA and got a different perspective on the life here than what I had earlier. It was memorable. More later!

Back on my blog!

I am back on my blog ! :)
Sorry for not blooging for over a month. I was away from India on an assignment in Saudi Arabia. (Yes.. you can very well expect some good informative blogs from me on KSA!)
Lot of things have happened during this phase and I have met lot of different types of people. Many things to share!Watch for my blogs!
In the meanwhile I have received couple of feedback from new readers.
Thank you all for visiting my blog and providing your valuable comments.
-Arun Yadwad
arun.yadwad@gmail.com

For what all I need to save?

You know what , of late I am thinking a bit more about where is all the money going actually?( Don't say I don’t have any other work to do..! :) ) For what all I need to save? Or how many things, I mean different headers I really need to consider and care about vis a vis financial stuff.
I keep discovering and my list goes endless. I believe in any urban city whether both husband and wife are working or it is only husband is working, it does not really matter . These headers will remain common and in fact may even grow bigger. The only thing that changes is the size of the canvas that you are playing on.

I am now a days hit by this analysis bug, courtesy the advice given by my close pal Suresh Purisai other day! So I hit upon idea of analyzing and listing down these headers, which might become a full-fledged financial plan later. In this blog, I am just listing down the headers. Going further we will talk about them in detail. The audience I am considering here is the salaried class living in urban cities like Bangalore.

Whatever may be your salary, job profile or age, you need to concentrate on and consider these headers and work towards saving for them or plan for them.

Following is a comprehensive list of such headers, which may even grow further, based on the kind of lifestyle you are leading.

1. Day to Day Expenses (Like Grocery, Electricity, Water, Gas, Milk ..etc)
2. Home loan EMI or Monthly House Rent
3. Dependants Care ( Your family,Parents, In-laws or any other relatives..)
4. Insurance for your life and dependants
5. Home Loan Protection Coverage (Very IMP)
6. Children Education Fund
7. Children Marriage Fund (These two headers depend on no. of Children!)
8. Retirement Fund
9. Emergency Fund
10. Any other EMIs

I will further detail out each of this header in next few blogs.

Vasanthi Hariprakash - Goooood morning Bangalore girl....!

Do you remember sometimes back the Radio City 91 FMs mornings were filled with this loud, lively and bubbly voice called Vasanthi Hariprakash who could effortlessly speak more than four languages and light up every one's morning with her lovely voice.

When I last listened to Radio City 91 FM, this voice was missing and I was wondering where did this girl disappear? You may not be aware that she is also a qualified journalist and is a sort of multi faceted personality in her own way. When I last read about her, she was going to abroad regarding presenting some paper. She had a very successful career as an RJ at RC for more than two years and was a house hold name in all Bangalore Radio listeners circle. But for some time now, there was no news of Vasanthi.

Suddenly last week I could trace her on TV! Now she is with NDTV new channel as a full time journalist from Bangalore, a profession probably she is most passionate about. Really a good move on the part of her career.

The most popular woman radio jockey of the city, Vasanthi Hariprakash, has a very eventful career from Electronics Student to Journalist to RJ to again to Journalist.
You can read more about Vasanthi at :http://www.discoverbangalore.com/Profile15.htm

Hope she will be equally successful there in her new role. Good luck Vasanthi!