kvrlogs

I am noticing this dichotomy everywhere. From life to love to design to coding. It is easy to eat junk food. But hard to eat healthy stuff. It is easy to watch TV. But hard to read a book. It is easy to veg out in the couch. But hard to get out and run. It is easy to hate someone we despise. But hard to love the same person. It is easy to create something with lot of code. But hard to create the same functionality with minimal code. It is easy to get stressed out and feel down. But hard to keep cool and spirits high. Guess what? - in all cases - the hard part is the most rewarding. Yet - we all choose the easy part. Again and Again and Again. Even though we know that taking the hard part will be more rewarding and beautiful. I think this is a test being conducted - and if we have to pass in this we have to keep taking the hard path at every fork. Eat Healthy. Read Books. Run. Love everyone. Write beautiful code. Stay cool & Keep Spirits high. & Dri...

You never know when something deep inside you gets triggered. Could be a near miss with death, losing a close friend/family - or a chance meeting with a stranger. 4 years back - I had a chance meeting with a retired Bank Manager in Bangalore. He suggested I read Conversations with God. I then read all of Paulo Coelho's works - my favourite Brazilian author. Then Steve Jobs died - and read all about him and the spiritual side of him. I have been trying to figure out Who I am and Why I am here - and I am nowhere close to the truth. I am confused and clearer at the same time - just like light - which is both a wave and a particle at the same time. I am not an Atheist I am clear on one thing. I do believe in God as some mysterious supreme power or light or energy. Earth and Humans are not here by chance. I did briefly stray into being an atheist when my father passed away. Did shake me up and for sometime went around not being bothered about God or Religion or any custom...

Alright here it goes - the best kept bong secrets are all revealed. All these from the observation I made during a Bong wedding I attended in February. Fish is a vegetarian dish This is an open secret - but I will not get full marks if I do not list it here. I am yet to figure out this mystery. Wedding doesn't get over on the same day On the night of the wedding day, the boy and girl are kept awake by the 2 sides. There is a mythology where Lakhinder of the Behula Lakhinder legend has to stay awake on their wedding night or he dies. This turned out to be lot of fun - and we all became deep and spiritual ( after 3 am ). Groom's Mom should not attend wedding If this comes up in any of the Tamil TV Serials - all the heads watching the TVs will just explode in unison. I don't know the reason behind this tradition. Bongs hate Rosogolla I am not kidding. Try giving Rosogolloas to them and they will all go - ohh.. eeh.. and if they are pushed to eat and they r...

  In 2008 when we started ApartmentADDA we were faced with a myriad of questions / objections. You have all the data with you. What if you close down. I can build my own. I want to buy your software and put it on my computer.  Why can't I pay onetime and use it lifelong? I want a backup of all my data, emailed to me every day. The questions haven't stopped, and new ones keep getting added. I look around and see so many Indian SaaS Startups fighting similar battles. Educating the populace on SaaS and its benefits. We also market our product through SEO, Videos, Posters and a few lucky days when media bothers to write about these interesting SaaS products. Imagine. If there was a single site which does all the marketing and brings people to its site. It educates the visitors on the advantages of SaaS, lists all the SaaS apps that are available and also lists prices and user reviews. How cool will that be? Advantages of a SaaS App Store 1. Startups like mine and others need not r...

On 16th December, 2012 Nirbhaya / Jyoti Singh Pandey was tortured and murdered by 6 humans ( sorry cannot use the word animals as animals are much too nobler ). The country woke up to a cold hard truth - this country is going down fast - and without any control. The establishment has thrown its hands up - we have laws but they are of no use to prevent such atrocities or we cannot enforce it effectively anymore. Recently saw a video where someone from the audience asked a question to Rahul Gandhi - when kids cannot even read what is the use getting internet in schools? Rahul Gandhi just asked back - what do you think the answer to the question is. This video is being circulated and being laughed at - but actually - I am not laughing. Rahul Gandhi has a point - the establishment has given up. They cannot solve the myriad problems facing this country. Acute Water shortage. Electricity disruptions. Economy in a mess. Movies being banned. India earning just 4 medals from Olympics....

I do this yearly look back of books I have read. [ Here is the 2011 list  and  2010 list  ] Following is my 2012 list of books I read or came in touch with Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson  Love this man or hate him - do read this book. The phone, tablet or laptop you are reading this post right now has Steve Job's hand in it somehow. [ Oh Steve Jobs!  ] Nurtureshock by  Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman If you are responsible for a toddler, at times does it send a chill down your spine - gosh I am responsible for this kid now and how am I ever going to bring up to be a good citizen of the world - wish there was a manual! - Well there is - highly recommend this! [ Nurtureshock ] 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris I am a productivity hacker. I keep looking for new ways of doing more with the limited time I have. 2012 has been very demanding. I tried pomodoro, 3 focus areas a week, even GTD - but will drift off to my bad habits. However this book ...

When the whole world is going androidy, I - an early adopter and still a fan of Android - switched to the iOS world. If you have already made up your mind to get a Samsung Galaxy S3 ( kickass phone ) or an iPhone5 read no further - go ahead and buy it. Don't break your head trying to decide which one is best - both are great choices - its a win win situation! If you are trying to make up your mind - here is what made me switch from Android to iOS. And actually it has got something to do with the Business Philosophy of Samsung. First - my disappointment with Samsung Galaxy S : my first Android phone I got in 2010. In the initial days there was a noticeable lag. Some problem with the file system. I put a Voodoo Lag Fix which solved the problem. The phone came with Eclairs. Then I waited and waited to upgrade to Froyo - the next version of Android. Kies - the amazing piece of software ever written - never showed me the magic upgrade button. So I was sitting with Eclair whil...

Sharing a few thoughts / observations on the TiE Summit held on Dec 20,21 at Goregoan, Mumbai. Also these are not exactly their words - I am looking at my notes and I only have a few phrases. This is a venkatised version of it - essence is the same. Kunal Shah of Freecharge : We are all engineers. We are good at solving problems. But where we suck at is defining the problem. Brilliant! Kunal/Vijayanand of Proto and another Gentleman - didnt note his name : They discussed on traction and finally someone gave a nice sound byte : Traction is when you get customers without spending. That was a superb definition! Ronnie Screwala, Founder UTV Group : First step to start something is big. But don't sit there basking on it. So many first steps have to be still taken  - getting funded, forming a bigger team.. it never ends. [ Perhaps thats why we call them as a Startup!  ] He gave more tips Invest in Teams Get a good vision / mission - this gives clarity more than anything else. ...

The delhi events going on are as if it was scripted right out of a poorly made Political themed movie. In Rang De Basanti, the mom of a fallen soldier gets lathi charged. A similar photo was captured a few days back and got circulated. A police stamping the face of a kid lying on the ground - apparently stolen from a different protest is now being circulated by the protestors on Police atrocity. Honourable Prime Minister addresses the nation - reads out a lifeless 2 para speech in English assuring Security for all women and utters  "Theek hai" to check with the cameraman if it recorded fine which the editors missed to cut off - and it has become the new joke. A police constable who collapsed because of Heart Attack and unfortunately died has now taken the center stage as cases have been booked against 8 kids - even though the Doctors have said there was no internal or external injury and cause of death is Cardio Arrest. I doubt if anyone still remembers why this all...

The past few days I am reading news and protests centred around the atrocity committed on a 23 year old College Student by 6 drunken men. Right now college students in Delhi are fighting with Delhi Police demanding harsh sentences to the accused. Perhaps their anger is not towards the 6 accused - but the general malaise that has spread on how a woman is treated in India. Perhaps they are demanding for a draconian law to punish the criminals. Go back a few months - Anna Hazare was on a fast unto death to brink Janlokpal bill to curb corruption. Anna Hazare has a clear plan - have a good law and that will curb corruption. In both these instances will a law help in preventing both these crimes? Can a law change a society? Indian Men should respect Woman and accept them as their equals if not more. We should stop taking short cuts and not use our unfair advantage ( be it a last name that I have or a big fat wallet ) in order to trample upon others. Can a law bring the change in...

Gandhi is the father of the nation. He preached ahimsa. Got freedom for India. A compelling movie was made by Hollywood that went to win Oscars.. I did not know this man's greatness till yesterday. Blame the boring History books of this country - they never taught how cool this man is. I was busy mugging the dates and the events to get marks - actually used to hate these history classes. It was the last keynote of TiE Summit held on Dec 20,21 in Goregaon, Mumbai. I was actually bored - a linkedin geek came and gave a geeky boring presentation. Sorry dude - any other day I would have appreciated the hard work and innovation that is happening in linked in - but I did not pay to TiE for this gyan. Rant done.  Then this fine old gentleman, Alyque Padamsee - comes on stage - with lot of difficulty he climbs the stairs. I had no clue who he was - [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alyque_Padamsee ]. Apparently he is the father of Indian Advertising and has created over 1...

I read Paulo Coelho's - The Alchemist - in mid-2008. The right book to come to my hand at the right time of my life. If I write my auto-biography some day I will give credit to The Alchemist for having changed the direction of my life.  After that I read all his books and loved them all. I am not a big fan of biographies but after reading Steve Jobs my opinion on biographies have changed - now I am curious to know what made them successful.  I picked up this biography on Paulo Coelho and got a glimpse of my favourite author. He had a troubled childhood. He had no interest in schooling but was a voracious reader - he was crunching 300 books in a year at one time! That is almost like one a day.  He was a rebel, did not want to toe the line his parents were setting up for him - the usual college education - but wanted to be a writer. Conflicts happened everyday and Paulo was generally not interested in his daily life. His parents put him in a ment...

I clocked the last 2 runs at an incredible pace ( by my standards ) 10Kms in 1 Hour 2 minutes. If you are a pro I can hear your chuckle. But this is a 37 year old who had not run or worked out till 35 years of his life - and was never those athletic types. And here I am - clocking better and better timings. July 2012 I did 10K in 1 Hour 8 minutes May 2012 I did 10K in 1 Hour 18 minutes Nov 2011 I did 10K in 1 Hour 35 minutes Feels as if my pace is increasing. The real reason for better timings is nowadays I don't take any breaks while running - not even slowing down for a walk. I am getting efficient in running. My pace seems to be the same. I am growing well when it comes to running! And this makes me happier. But this happiness will not last long. I will be gloating over this 10k timings for another 2 or 3 runs and my happiness will wane. Then I will be setting a new target - either 10k under 1 hour or 12.5k. Why I am doing this? Why am I not satisfied with ...

Few weeks back I was reunited with Starbucks. And here is the story. Way back in 2001, I was a FOB ( Fresh out of the Boat ), in Louisiana State University ( LSU ), Baton Rouge. While roaming around the campus I came across this Coffee shop in the campus Bookshop which was serving coffee at 4$. And it had a funny name - Starbucks. Right opposite it was McDonalds - and for 4.5$ I could get a good filling burger, french fries and a large coke drink - enough for that day's hunger needs. ( it was 2001 - I was still young and was burning Bank of India loan money and was in the midst of an economic downturn in my life. ). I added a mental note to check this coffee shop someday. I don't remember when I had my first cuppa - would be after I got an assistantship most probably - but for a coffee addict the taste and caffeine kick was out of the world. I remember I had a Caramel Frappuccino and it had stayed from that day since as my favourite. Much later, in 2006 when I started ...

Yesterday morning I woke up to see the news of the passing away of Moorthy Uncle in our Apartment Complex. He was an enthusiastic retired Bank Manager - full of knowledge and vision - and it's a big loss to our community.  He was an initiator of eco-projects and also kept a reality check on us in our Association dealings. I was sad initially but then started thinking - every year some 10% of the people I know are bound to pass away. When Steve Jobs passed away I got sad. Some day the other people I "worship" are all going to pass away. Wouldn't life be too depressing? - to wake up every day to mourn. Perhaps it's time I take a second look at death and look in its eyes. The souls who are here are done with this adventure - Jobs created the PC industry, Tablet industry, Phone industry, Moorthy Uncle in his stint as a Bank Official must have made a difference to many lives who I will never know - but I know that he started eco projects in our Apartment Complex....

iPhone5 is around the corner. Rewinding back to 2008 when iPhone was introduced in India. I was working in ThoughtWorks that time, and I badly wanted the iPhone. I had read so much about it and I was in awe. And the price was quoted - ( around 30k - dont remember ) and I was floored. I didnt buy one as I was hoarding cash towards doing a startup. I envied the iPhones which some of the lucky bachelor guys had splurged themselves with. Fast forward to 2010 - iPhone3 was introduced at around 36k I guess. I went and bought Samsung Galaxy S for 28k which looked like iPhone and had this Android thingy on it. And it was one of the best buys. I started on 2G and could SSH to my servers smoothly.  Later 3G came along and there was no looking back. I was available round the clock - I can process all my emails, view attachments, chat during the long train journeys between Mumbai and Bangalore, could upload Photo tweets, download podcasts while running if I was bored - in short - ...

Last weekend we made a trip to Gorai Beach - in the northern part of Mumbai. Even though it was a Sunday it was empty! We took an auto from Kandivali East from our home. The auto guy asked us how do you want to go - trick question. The wife smartly answered - whichever has less traffic. The meter reading came to 7.3 ( return it was 5.5 ) - and he took us for a ride through winding roads. We reached the Gorai Creek and got into a Ferry. Many had come with their 2 wheelers and I was wondering why they will need it. On the other side it became apparent. The beach was quite far. Autos were plying for Rs.50. Horse cart was Rs.80. And its fun to take your own 2 wheeler if you can. Worth it. And the beach was dreamy! - not like the Chennai ones with sand getting into ones toes. The sand was black and wet. And it was a huge beach. We had to walk half a km to reach the water - which was very shallow. The car waalae had brought their cars and were driving it really fast splashing...

I always thought the 4 Hour Work Week book was a scam. This is a shining example for the adage - Do not judge a book by its covers. This book is a Whack on the side of the head  ( another good book! ) - made me rethink what I am doing with my life. Here are the important take aways : 1. Work less for Better Productivity. I did not end up working 4 Hours per week ( yet :) ). But I definitely work lot lesser now. However I am more productive than before. What am I doing different? a. No more FB, Twitter, Google Plus ( adding for posterity's sake...I had to think hard to remember what was the other one ) b. No more checking and responding emails round the clock. I batch them. Best part is some of the issues will get resolved by itself by the time I check. Now I check emails around 10am ( when I come to work ), 2pm ( after lunch ) and 5pm ( before the team goes home ) c. Give aggressive deadlines. I have started biting more than I can chew - and guess what I chew more n...

CRM 3 years back, we had a decision to be made in the team. Should we use a CRM software like Salesforce, HighRise or get an open source one like Sugar CRM, or build one in-house. For a Bootstrapped startup "money" is this big fat guy sitting across the table, without a care,  smoking cigar and blowing rings in the air - while we fight it out. He finally clears his throat and says - to hell with your arguments this is what you should do - and he leaves the room. It was decided for us - and we decided to build a simple CRM in-house. The interface is not fancy, no configuration  was necessary - because this is a square peg fitting exactly into a square hole and had no unnecessary reports, and no data upload was needed. We started with simple categories - Boo, Cold, Warm, Hot, Super Hot, Win. It did not make sense - so we changed them to Boo, Uncategorized, Nurture, Qualified, Demo, Propose, Negotiate, Negotiate Critical,Collect Cheque and Win. Whenever the team says - man this ...

(image credit : http://especiallyemilyd.blogspot.in/2010/10/lion-and-tigers-and-tamers-oh-my.html ) Last weekend I went to a mall and was playing with an iMac - what a beauty it is. Apps were loading with one click and they looked beautiful on a gorgeous display.  I got home and checked my 13" Mac book pro which is nearing its complimentary 1 year warranty  ( debating whether to bite the expensive Apple Care or going Commando ). It was slow. Really slow. I longed for the spiffy machine I once used to have. This put me on a hunt and meanwhile set up development environment in Windows and worked on it for a day to see how things are. Here is the bitter truth - Apple Fans - OS X Lion sucks at Memory Management. The net is ablaze with cribs and complaints on how poorly Lion manages memory - inspite of Macs being blessed with super powerful processors and enormous amount of RAM. Still I would vote OS X Lion to be the best in class for Productivity and by the amount of things one ca...