kvrlogs

I was reading Madras Day celebrations everywhere and was feeling nostalgic on Chennai. There are so many memories in that hottest city on the planet. I remember bike rides - on those long beautiful stretches between Guindy and Mount Road via Kotturpuram bridge. And the nice shady stretches at TTK Road. And the curvy road at Beasant Nagar  ( last I visited they had bumpers on the curve - bummer ). And the last few years before I left in 2000 - the Velachery to Shollinganallur stretch via Medavakkam and the god awesome crash I had on Mahabalipuram road trying to see how far the needle goes in a Splendour. ( It did not go beyond 85kmph ) And food. The Ponnuswamy's and Anjappar's - alas - I might not be able to indulge there anymore having turned a meeto-taller ( like teeto-taller - you will see it in oxford dictionary next year :D ). The   bread omlette at High Look bar - next to IIT - at night 2am. The kotthu porrotta at Mangudi mess. The Fried rice at the Road side Chinese ...

Here is my journey so far - how I have been hacking spirituality - still not knowing fully what I want or what I am doing. 1995 - I learn TM Good grades the flyer said. I did not know the word hack that time - but now when I think about it - that was what I tried to do. Hack my way to good grades to earn a BE in EEE - while studying less and having a good time  at CEG. I learnt the techqniue - from a ThermoDynamics prof. But I did not practise after that. Perhaps my grades would have been better.  Later - even today - whenever my stress level shoots up - I would get into my TM mode to soothe my nerves. It works pretty well. 2000 to 2006   I would rate this stay in USA as a spiritual void. Was living the materalistic life. Was I happy in this period? When I look back - nope. Perhaps I never fitted in with that world. Perhaps it was because I was made to feel like an alien with a number and a ticking clock - this is how long you can stay here. Perhaps I did not ge...

This is the concluding and final part of this road trip. If you haven't you should read and Part 1 [  http://kvrlogs.blogspot.in/2014/06/bangalore-to-mumbai-on-thunderbird.html  ] and Part 2 [  http://kvrlogs.blogspot.in/2014/06/bangalore-to-mumbai-on-thunderbird_6.html  ] I woke up to a cloudy sky. There was a shower in the night. I dont enjoy riding in rains and I still had another 500 Kms to cover and the last stretch will be quite tough - had to pass through Pune and  Mumbai evening / night traffic. While having breakfast was reading about the death of new Minister in Modi's cabinet - Mr. Gopinath Munde in a car accident. We checked out and hit the road around 9am - peak hour traffic in Belgaum - there were a few vehicles on the road - what a blessing to live in a small town.  The nice Belgaum stretch continued for sometime and suddenly the road started becoming little bumpy and potholish. The temperature was increasing. When I was riding the bike ...

Continuing from where I left off - [  Bangalore to Mumbai on a Thunderbird 500cc - Part 1  ] I was exhausted and sleep deprived - and the moment the head hit the pillow I dozed off. It felt as if just a minute had passed when I woke up the next day morning. I got excited thinking about the ride ahead. A journey of 1000+ Kms awaited me. Bangalore was Bangalore that morning - the night rain had cooled it considerably and it was just perfect. We packed stuff and hit the road around 9AM. This time we were heading to Nice road away from the peak hour madness and the traffic was light. I stopped at a Puncture shop to check the tyre pressure. The mechanic asked me to put center stand since he could not reach the back wheel's inlet. I just couldn't do it. I tried the standing on the stand technique but the bike wouldn't budge. He helped me put the center stand.  Even though the bike weights 200Kgs, I did not feel the heaviness - till this instance. We then entered the Nice ...

Yep - Did a crazy ride from Bangalore to Mumbai. Here is the full story. On May 23rd ( the night before we released the new UI - product plug 1 -  http://apartmentadda.com/blog/2014/05/23/myadda-a-brand-new-ui-for-apartment-residents / ), I was doing QA on the site. I stumbled upon this Classified on Buzzar ( product plug 2 : an open post-it area for buy / sell related stuff for ApartmentADDA Users ) about a Bangalore dude trying to sell his MH Thunderbird. As part of testing on the new UI I clicked I am interested and sent him a message. Immediately I got a call from him - and we started chatting. If you know me - I am not a biker. A biker is one who grows a thick moustache, has a beer belly, has a tattoo on his biceps, can explain to you what the C in CC is in layman terms, and can fix his own motorcycle. I am none of the above. I love the idea of riding a cruiser - like a Thunderbird, or a Harley or a Triumph. I drool on all the pictures in Top Gear, or Team BHP. I wo...

I am starting on my Fad Series. Well now and then I hear a crazy idea and try it out - sometimes it sticks to me ( like running, buddhism, meditation, vegetarianism ), sometimes it remains a fad.. like my standing desk.. which is yet to become a full time habit. Whenever I try something weird - I get challenged - oh is this your newest Fad. I say yes - and now onwards will blog about it - so when I look back I can see how many Fads became habits. Before I begin - I checked what "Fad" really means..  "an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived; a craze." So the Fad of the moment - Juicing  South Indian Vegetarian Fare is actually not that healthy. We boil everything, use a tank of oil, and use lot of salt and masala. There are so many of my Uncles and Aunts - who are vegetarians - and yet suffer from Diabetes, High Blood Pressure etc.  Have been reading about Juicing - how the vitamins and min...

For an ex-meat eater the temptations are there all around me. However I have not relapsed - it has been more than 10 months now since I shunned meat. Heard of buyers remorse? It is a similar thing - once I stopped eating meat I started reading more on Vegetarianism. And the more I read, listened to podcasts - the more I was convinced and did not fall back to eating meat. Here is some of the stuff I gathered. 1. Eating fear. This one I picked up from the movie - August Osage County - 2 of my favourite Hollywood Actress - Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep have acted in this. A teenage kid who shuns meat, while eating in the dinner table has this to say. When animals are killed, at the moment of their death, cortisol gets released in their blood. This is the same hormone that gets released when we are stressed. Its bad for our health. The meat when we eat, we are eating some of the stress hormone in it. The poor kid is laughed at and they make fun of her - "I am eating fear...

Yes, this is a fan boy post. You can skip - or continue reading to take pot shots at it. Scroll back in time. To a really long long time. Perhaps to the age where there were a few crazy nuts named Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose were getting started. You and I are in a cushy job working for the British. And this Gandhi and Bhagat Singh are creating a ruckus. We both read and laugh at Tweets and FB posts about these people who do not want to join the system but want to trash it. They are questioning the status quo - and are trying to destroy the comfortable life we now have living under the grace of the queen. I don't see much of a difference to today. We have grown used to gross in-efficiencies in the system. Corruption has become part of life. We pay high utility bills, taxes without questioning. We slow down for every pot hole on the road, and let it injure the spine.. and not complain. This is India - this is how roads are done. Poor contractor, he has to also...

I do this yearly roundup of books I have read. [ Here is the 2012 list ,  2011 list  and  2010 list  ] I let myself be influenced by books. And for this reason I choose books carefully! Books made me a runner. Books made me a honest salesman. Books made me a Vegetarian. Yes - books are dangerous :) Black Swan - The Impact of Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb I did not get to the end of the book. Dropped out somewhere in the middle. However it was an eye opener. It made rubbish of the expert analysts - in every field - especially economists. This book resonated with Tim Ferris's philosophy ( 4 Hour Work Week ), that it is futile to read news daily - and to read magazines instead - as the news gets consolidated and refined. When World War 2 was being fought - no one called it World War 2 when they were in the middle of the war - the historians later christened that phase as World War.  I doubt if there is any useful takeaway fro...

I have seen myself and other Developers I have worked with miss on obvious silly things - may be an obvious typo - or a mis programmed checkbox etc. Really obviously silly things which will make me kick myself  ( or my pair ). Well here is psychology to the rescue. Invisible Gorilla A study was commissioned by a psychologist long back. He played a video of  a basketball game between a team wearing white shirts and team wearing black shirts. The participants where asked to count the number of passes made by the white team. Most of the participants got the total number of passes correct. Here is the twist. In the middle of the game, a girl dressed in a gorilla suite, walks across the floor. And most of the participants who were busy counting the passes - totally missed it. When the video was played back to them they were shocked at how they could have missed the gorilla. The logic behind is that our brain operates in 2 modes - the Analytic mode and the Intuitive...

I picked up Deepak Chopra's Buddha. It was more of a fiction - of how Siddharta became Gautama and then Buddha. The story dwelt more on the love and war during Siddharta,Gautama period and dwelt little time on the really interesting part - how Buddha attained enlightenment and the aftermath. I was more curious and upset that what I wanted to know was covered little - perhaps the book wouldn't have sold if it was all sermons - the enlightenment part would have been boring. This man attained enlightenment at the age of 40 or so - and lived till 80 years. Daily he gave a sermon to his disciples. He answered any question thrown at him - and these have been captured and compiled as the Buddhist Philosophy. Taking a step back - my quest on what is God has been running for more than 4 years. Ever since I started reading Paulo Coelho's books I had this nagging feeling - something more is there to this life of ours. Then I picked up Conversations with God - and after some in...

Attended my first Mumbai Barcamp ( http://www.barcampmumbai.org/index.php/BCM12 ) yesterday. Reached there at 10:00 am on the dot and the orientation session was going on.  Do not take off your shirt - one of the rule items had. Moving on.. Picked up a sticky and put my session ( 3 Running Myths busted ) on the wiki. I had to move it around so I could attend another Running talk. Went to the first session - it was on Meditation by Kiran. He showed a simple technique and asked the audience to try it out. Folks had mixed experience. Interestingly half already knew some kind of technique or the other. Each session was 20 minutes with a 10 min break in between for any discussions and change over time. The volunteers cut off precisely after 20 minutes and did a great job in keeping the sessions contained. I moved on to the next session - How an average runner can run the toughest foot race in the world and you can too! - this was a paisa wasool session for me. I have r...

Sep 18th, 2008. You might have forgotten - this is the day Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. The world came to know about Sub Prime Derivatives and economies around the world started collapsing one after the other. And this is the day I started my journey as an Entrepreneur. And just like that I have travelled 5 years of my life. If I look back - was it easy, was it fun, what did I learn? - let me take one at a time. Was it easy? Hell No. I am totally out of my comfort zone. I hate talking to strangers, hate small talk, I am an introvert to the core. But I was pushed to deal with prospects, vendors, investors, partners - day in and day out. I have to sell - and have to speak a lot - to strangers. I have tricked myself into enjoying this but inwardly I prefer the comfort of a keyboard and a good Editor. I have to speak in Hindi ( thank you for nothing Tamil politicians ). I have to say No ( mostly fancy requirements or things which I know will set them up for a ...

I tried mindfully eating the other day. Ordered a Masala Dosa in the canteen in a hospital last week. Was alone. By habit I pulled out my phone to read or browse something while eating. Then I stopped and put the phone back - had been reading Awakening the Buddha within - thought let me try mindful eating - a practice as suggested in the book. Tore off a small part of the dosa - dipped it in sambhar and chutney and ate it. Chewed it trying to discern the contents - the dal, rice, coconut, onion - thought from where all the ingredients would have travelled. Relished the taste of different ingredients - it was just like listening to a symphony and trying to identify the music instruments. Then my mind drifted away - don't remember what it started analysing - and after sometime realised I should be mindfully eating - and again started focusing on the food and the moment. Man it is tough. The mind keeps drifting. After that day, have tried a lot of times when I eat al...