My Experiments with Entrepreneurship

About a year and a half back, after I graduated from CEDT, I started my journey on the path of Entrepreneurship. It started with various experiments with ideas. First idea that struck me while attending the Solar products exhibition in Hyderabad was that of making standalone Solar streetlamps. Of course this idea was shot down by my mentor with the reason that there are hundreds of people doing it. That was the first lesson I learned. If you are making something new then you should be either the first or best or different. And my first idea wasn't fitting in any of these and so it was better to leave it there.

With this newly found wisdom we (me and my team) started brain storming again, and realized that instead of entering into renewable energy generation domain, which needs considerable amount of capital, we can enter into the energy saving domain, going by the saying "saving is nothing but earning". 

After few months of market analysis and lots of surveying we finalised on the idea of energy efficient lighting and decided the first product to be energy efficient LED lamp for commercial buildings. We did a small customer survey as well and received a very good response. 

The next question was where to make the product? how to prototype it? where to test it? And a single answer to all these questions was Incubation centre. So we started applying for various incubation centres. Out of these IIMB's NSRCEL was the quickest to response. They called us for a meeting, where they evaluated our B-plan and gave a very valuable feedback. We fine tuned our B-plan accordingly. Meanwhile we realized that for a technology startup it's better if the incubation centre have some technical background and facilities and the best option was IISc Incubation Centre. 

Me being an IISc alumnus (which is also a necessary condition to apply to IISc incubation) applied for it. It took around 3 months to come to the final evaluation meeting. Finally the meeting happened and we got selected for it.

The incubation includes office space for 1 year, a small seed fund, technical support and mentoring needed. Its truly a great support that we got. But this is not a reason to rejoice, getting incubated is like receiving hall ticket for the exam, the real test begins now. 

If anyone from IISc or IISc alumni want to apply for Incubation the procedure is very simple. Go to SID office and submit your B plan and they will start the procedure.

Swargarohini Trek

Imagine yourself in a place surrounded by snow clad mountains on four sides, green grass and innumerable flowers with various colours and shades, a river, many small streams and a glacier flowing at some distance, no other human being in sight, no noise except that of flowing river and only a few birds and their chirping; sounds amazing? Thats exactly what we experienced during Swargarohini trek.

Swargarohini is name for a path which Pandavas had traversed on their way to Heaven, when fully covered by snow it actually looks like staircase, thats why the name Swarga-Rohini. 

On 14th of July Poovaiah, Sathajit, Yatin and I reached Badrinath. We stayed there for 1 complete day to get aclimatized to high altitude. The trek started next day from a small village called Mana (Altitude of 3,000 meter) around 3 Km from Badrinath. On the way of the trek there is no town or hotel or any human residence around hence we had to carry many items like tents, mats, sleeping bags, food items, stove to cook, fuel etc and thus we decided to take 4 porters along with 1 guide making our team of 9. To describe the complete experience and thrill in words is very difficult for me but i have tried my best with the assistance of a tool which is famous as something which speaks thousand words, thats right Photos. The link to the associated photos are given wherever needed, it is recommended see those photos parallely to get a feel. To see the complete album click here.

Day 1#  Mana to Lakshmi Ban (8 Km):

Our plan to start trekking at 7AM was little delayed by the morning showers, so we started at 9AM and crossed the small wooden bridge on Alaknanda river. Rest of the trek was on one side of Alaknanda river. At some places it was dangerous to walk because of sloping mountain on one side, river a few hundreds of meters down in the valley roaring and just enough space to keep 1 foot at a time. Initially a dog accompanied us for a while, the legend goes that whoever goes for this trek is always accompanied by dogs. On the way we spotted two Himalayan crows. At Lakshmi Ban we saw Bhoj trees, these tree's skin was used to write Ramayana in olden times. The view from Lakshmi Ban was amazing, we could see the union of two rivers Alaknanda and Alkapuri. We set up tents there and relaxed. At around 8.30 PM it was almost dark and the sky was clear. No clouds, no light from street lamps to hinder the view, the only light was the moon light reflected from snow around. Because of very clear sky we could see innumerable stars and also many falling stars, after some time when moon rose the view of moon and venus seen next to dark mountains was breathtaking. Unfortunately on all the other nights sky wasn't clear and we couldn't see this view twice.

Day 2# Lakshmi Ban to Chakrateerth (13 Km):

On the way to Chakrateerth we saw Sahastradhara falls, the point where a glacier becomes river. This patch of the trek was comparatively easy. Chakrateerth is a very nice place for camping. A flat ground in the middle of rocky mountains covered with grass and flowers. A stream flowing on the sides carrying pure, cool and sweet water. Water is another unique feature I liked about this trek. The water we drank during the whole trek was taken from the streams flowing nearby the places of camping. It was really pure and its taste is something I cant explain in words, it was simply superb.

Day 3# Chakrateerth to Sathopanth lake (4 Km):

After getting used to the climbing and climate in last 2 days we planned and managed to go only 4 km on 3rd day. The reason was the terrain was full of boulders. One has to be very carefull while walking in boulder zone. We reached at Sathopanth lake in afternoon and camped there. Sathopanth lake is triangular in shape. We took a dip in its water, it was freezing cold. In the evening we went to the icy place which was feeding water to lake.

Day 4# Sathopanth to Swargarohini base to Sathopanth (16 Km):

We started early in the morning as we were going without tents and porters and had to be back to Sathopanth camp before evening. The evenings in this part of Himalaya are very unpredictable, it can rain or the whole place can get covered with thick fog making it impossible to see around and thus walk, fortunately nothing like this happened. On the way we saw Surya kund. After walking 8 Km really fast we reached the base of Swargarohini, the last point of our trek. From this point we could see the way to heaven in front of us. It was very much tempting to continue further and see what lies beyond it (the legend says only Yudhishtir could cross this last part of the way to heaven) but the distance (around 100 Km but looks very close) and difficulty of the terrain would mean a sure way to heaven :) After enjoying the magnificent view around we started walking our way back to the camp at Sathopanth lake.

Day 5# Sathopanth Lake to Mana (25 Km):

We started walking determined to make it to Mana before the end of the day. We took fewer and shorter stops and covered 16 Km really fast. It had rained a lot previous night causing the water in all the strams we crossed on our way up to increase to a dangerous level making them very difficult to cross. We managed to cross all the streams somehow but we got struck at the last stream which had a scary flow. One more tour group was struck at the other end of the stream. With the help of porters from both the groups we managed to cross this last hurdle but it took 1 hour. Again we walked really fast, it was drizzling so we had to take out plastic covers, the night was approaching fast. At around 7 PM we reached at the base of Mana and now had to cross the river Alaknanda which had expanded a lot and was flowing around the small wooden bridge. Crossing this river took 5 minutes and the water was deadly cold. Finally passing through all this when we reached Mana it was complete dark.

We completed the trek safely. The experience was surely a lifetime experience. Himalaya is one of the most beautiful places on earth, a must visit for everyone. I decided to go there many times in the future.

My Experiences with Tata Jagriti Yatra 2009

Tata Jagriti Yatra is an annual train journey with the motto of "awakening the entrepreneurial spirit". In this yatra 400 youth, majority of them from India, are taken on an 18 day All India trip to visit the unsung heroes of India and see their exceptional work with the aim to inspire them to build Social or economic enterprises.

The yatra began on 24th December 2009 at Mumbai. Let me start with the train, a chartered train was arranged for the yatra, all the bogies of the train had yatra stickers pasted outside. For us this train was home for next 18 days. The train comprised of sleeper coaches, 1 pantry, 2 AC chair cars and bathrooms. PA system was fitted in all the bogies of train. AC chair cars were fitted with Audio Visual facilities and were used for on board activities like discussions, presentations etc. But the most amazing arrangement was bathroom coach. Normal sitting car coach was converted into bathrooms in a truly innovative way. There was a pantry car with really supportive serving people, the food served was good.

The second most prominent thing about yatra was diversity among participants. All of us were from different lands having different economical, educational, professional and most importantly cultural backgrounds. There were people from all across the India, few from UK, US, Australia too. Spending time with such a diverse people was an experience in itself, although I faced lot of trouble remembering so many names. I learned how people work on same thing but in different ways. For example there were so many working on micro finance but each of them had different ways.

First line in the guide book given to participants of yatra said 'This is not a joy ride' and we realized how true it was after we started visiting role models. The days were very hectic and on board activities like presentations and discussions further added to it. The map of the places covered is shown in above picture. In 18 days we covered more than 9300 Km. We passed through various temperature zones, 30 deg C in Trivandrum to 2 deg C in Tilonia. This definitely made yatra challenging health wise and tiring too.

About the learning part, I learned a lot from the yatra. Over past years I was made to believe that being an idealistic one can not survive. But now I have seen idealistic people who not only survived but succeeded in extra ordinary works. I learned various ways of working at root level. I learned that Food, Clothes and shelter are still the basic needs and there are billions who does not have access to all three and thus there is a huge potential to work at the root level.

The next amazing thing about the yatra was the role models we visited. (I will write in detail about all of them in a short while) A list of them is given below.

1. Mumbai Dabbawala
   
2. Mr G. Vijayaraghavan, man behind Technopark in Trivendrum
3. Sabriye & Paul founders of Braille without Borders and IISE, Trivendrum
4. Arvind Eye Care, Madurai
5. Aparajitha Foundation, Madurai
   
6. Mr R. Elango, Kuthabakkam village near Chennai
7. Agastya Foundation, near Bangalore
8. Industree crafts foundation, Bangalore
9. Naandi Foundations, Hyderabad
10. Mr Joe Madiath founder of Gram-Vikas, Brahmapur in Orissa
11. Tata Steel, Jamshedpur
    
12. Jagriti Sewa Sanshtan, Deoria in UP
13. Mr Anshu Gupta founder of Goonj, Delhi
14. Mr Bunker Roy founder of Barefoot College, Tilonia in Rajasthan
15. Okhai, Tata Chemicals, Mithapur Gujarat

I observed some common things in all the role models and these are listed below.

• All of them had either seen or experienced a 'pain point' and they decided to act on it.
• Common values all followed were honesty and integrity.
• Common traits all had were hard working ability, empathy, bravery, persuasion.
• All of them were dreamers.
• All created enterprise or organization which wouldn't depend on them i.e. which will grow on its own.
• None of them worried about the money. The lesson here is as long as you are doing honest and good work you don't have to worry about money, money will follow you.
• None of them bent against the problem of corruption. Lesson here is if you give bribe the first time, you will have to give it forever.
  

Apart from all the serious stuff we had lot of fun among our cohort and groups. Singing songs and dancing at any given opportunity, bumps for anyone suspected of having birthday, pulling each others leg while having dinner in compartment, new years celebration on platform, small games played during the short travels in buses, writing messages for each others time capsule bottles are all memorable events too.

The 18 days passed like a moment and in the end I realized that Tata Jagriti Yatra was truly an experience of lifetime which has given memories to cherish, friends to share and inspiration to follow dreams.

Nobel peace prize - A Practical Joke

I read a news item today about how the Nobel Prize committee (who were, I guess, trying to be funny by declaring peace prize for Obama) played a practical joke by actually giving the noble Peace prize to Obama. The committee decided to give the peace prize to Obama in February, when he had just taken the charge as US president and had barely done any 'Peace Work'. The Peace prize committee just assumed that Obama would do some peace work in future so why not give him an award right now for his good intentions, maybe this would put a moral responsibility on him to live up to his Nobel peace prize winner reputation.

But their plan to ensure peace by means of giving a peace prize went to pieces yesterday when while accepting the prize Obama quoted that "war has a role in peace". Obama made it pretty clear that winning a peace prize will not deter him from any of his war plans; whether those wars would ever lead to world peace is a whole different issue. I wish if I could be there in Oslo to see the expressions on faces of committee members.

The amazing fact is that Obama invoked his hero Mahatma Gandhi as his role model for peace work. Gandhi was nominated for Nobel peace prize five times but never got it. It is surprising that Nobel prize committee didn't find the man who donated all of his life for actual peace work and died for it, worthy of a prize. Maybe he was above a Nobel prize.

Looking at events I have resolved that I will meditate everyday for 15 minutes about research in Physics. This will help convey my intentions to do something great to add to the knowledge of Physics. And maybe I will win the Nobel prize for Physics.

Bangalore to Nandi Hills - Cycling Endurance Race

I am proud to say that I secured 42nd rank in the cycling endurance race conducted by BBC (Bangalore Biker's Club) from Bangalore to Nandi Hills :)
I know that 42nd out of 100 participants is not a kind of rank which can make one proud. But considering the terrain of the racing route and the fact that this was my first cycling race, I am little bit proud of myself that I successfully finished race.

The race was scheduled to begin on the Sunday morning at 7 o'clock from the CCD outlet on Bellary road. Totally 4 guys from IISc (Abhijit, Poovaiah, Alex and I) had decided to participate. But an interesting thing happened on Sunday morning which comples me to believe that whatever Murphy said is true. It so happened that there are 2 CCD outlets on Bellary road, one which is around 2 Km away and second which is 20 Km away from IISc campus. As per Murphy's laws until 5.30 AM on Sunday we were assuming that the race will start from the first CCD outlet, so we imagined that it is an easy 5 min ride from campus.

But we got a call from organizers and they clarified that the starting point is actually the second CCD. All of us got ready quickly and set off at around 6 o'clock. We cycled as fast as possible, as if the race had already begun and reached starting point in 45 minutes. There we saw around 100 cyclists with full enthusiasm ready to shoot. Many of them had carried cycles in cars, SUVs etc.

The race started at around 7.15 AM. The total distance to be covered was around 40 Km. There were 3 checkpoints. Water and electrolyte was provided at checkpoints. After first checkpoint the Nandi hill peak (which was the finishing point) was visible. The top part was fully covered with clouds. I got really excited imagining that I'll be there in clouds soon.

After 2nd checkpoint started the last 12 Km stretch of road which was all uphill. I was getting more and more thirsty with every passing Km. But the worse was after 3rd checkpoint, last 3.5 Km was quiet a steep road up. There were many steep and dangerous turns. The sun was fully out. The real test of stamina and endurance was in this part of the race. It was difficult to keep the spirit steady and legs moving. At a very steep hair pin turn, the roaring people was audible and there it was, the finish line of the race. I finished in 2 hr 20 min.

It was a great feeling having finished the race. After that we roamed around there for some time and returned to campus in the evening.

Second semester over....

Last week second semester of first year M.Tech got over.
But why am I writing a post about it? because this semester wasn't like any other semesters.

It started normally. I had taken 6 courses totally. First 3 months were as usual, assignments and labs. But as the last month i.e. April began, all the profs started giving mini projects one by one. By the end of April first week we had 6 mini projects staring at us like raging bulls. We tried finishing as much work possible between the exams, but by the end of April none of the project was over. So the deadlines got extended to May first week and the work ultimately came down to night outs.

One by one we finished all the mini projects. The night before last submission, the labs looked like as if preparations for some festival are going on. Everyone working in various labs trying to finish the job on time. For some, the night continued till next night. But after finishing everything the feeling of satisfaction was amazing. Now there is a little respite for coming 2 months.

Beauty everywhere.....

Come March and the IISc campus starts changing colors. Actually it starts acquiring various colors. Flowers with yellow, red, pink, purple, white and many more shades are seen. Even the huge trees starts blooming with flowers on the top.

Apart from flowers also the leaves of many trees starts getting various colors. Like some trees are seen with only yellow leaves, some with only purple leaves.

Just a look around and you can see beauty everywhere.

Cycling trip: IISc to Ramanagaram

Last saturday 6 of us had gone for a cycle expedition from IISc campus to Ramanagaram. Ramanagaram is around 55 Km away from IISc. It is located on Bangalore-Mysore highway. 2 Km off the main road there is a small village called Ramgadh, the famous hindi film Sholay was shot here (this place was shown as Gabbar's Adda). It is surrounded by huge rocky mountains.

We started cycling from campus at 5 o'clock in morning. The path selected was via Outer Ring road, University road, Kengeri town and Mysore road. In the morning the atmosphere was little cool, the roads were pretty much deserted and Bangalore-Mysore road is effectively slope down, because of this we covered 18 Km in first 1 hour. After having short tea break of 15 min and a breakfast break of 45min, we reached Ramanagaram at 9 AM.

After getting there we climbed a few steps and reached at a temple with a small pond next to it. Then we trekked a little bit and reached at the top of a huge rocky peak. A cool breeze welcomed there. After shooting some photos, we started climbing down.

After that we had lunch at Kamat's restaurant 5 Km away from Ramnagaram. After lunch rested for a couple of hours at a place called Janapada Loka next to Kamat's. Then started return journey at around 4 PM and got back at campus at 8.30 PM. The last 20 Km distance was very difficult to cycle because of tiredness and city traffic. Totally we covered 120 Km in 16 hours. For any such trips the important thing to carry is lots of water.

Overall the trip was a good and a memorable experience. The next day we had to go to some place in city and the first mode of transport that came to our mind was cycle........ :-)

Near Ramgadh

On the top

Different view on Slumdog

Finally Slumdog Millionaire won 8 oscars with A. R. Rahman getting 2 and Pookutty 1.
Slumdog Millionaire is the showcasing of poverty in India by a British director (though the richest man in his country is an Indian). How true are the facts depicted in the movie can be a debatable issue.
But in my personal opinion the song which got oscars "Jai Ho", if we compare it with other Rahman's songs is not that good. So if such a song can win oscar it clearly shows that Indian artistst have a talent much more than that. The only thing to be celebrated about oscar win is the global recognition for Indian artists.

Dandeli & Karwar Trip

Last 2 days we had a trip to Dandeli and Karwar located in North Karnataka. On the Friday night i.e. 16th Jan we took a KSRTC bus to Dandeli. It dropped us there at 8 o'clock on the Saturday morning.

After getting the accommodation we headed for the "Kali river" for White water rafting. In 1 boat we were 7 people plus 1 instructor. Also there was 1 extra boat with 3 experts for rescue purpose. The total distance to be traveled was around 10 Km. We were given life jacket and helmet. Initial part of the river was very calm and almost still water. We could hear the roaring of water very nearby. Initially the instructor explained us how to swim with life jackets and help others in case of emergency situations. Then our boat entered the speeding water and the real fun began. It was a great feeling to go down the water with such a speed and rigor. It was like a dream come true where we were going down the river with dense jungle on both sides and not even a single trace of human being around. At one point when the water was calm we jumped into water and enjoyed floating with life jacket.
At the last rapid while trying to surf up the current, the boat flipped completely upside down and in a moment everyone was in river. Few were under the boat, few were holding the boat. The rescue people pulled us on their boat. It was shocking but also the best part of the tour.

In the evening we went for the Safari in Dandeli Sanctuary. There we saw Bisons, Wild boar and Horn bill birds.

Next day morning we left for Karwar, which is around 118 km from Dandeli. At Karwar we visited the Warship museum. It is the Indian Navy ship 'INS Chapal' converted into museum. Spent the evening at the Karwar beach and started return journey.

The best part of the trip was definitely water rafting. Initially I was little scared of the idea of jumping into the river, but later enjoyed it a lot. Maybe that's the whole crux of adventurous sport, it brings out the fear from your nerves and converts it into joy.

The IISc Centenary Conference.... a lifetime experinece

Last 4 days at IISc we celebrated the completion of 100 years with "The IISc Centenary Conference" from 13-16th December. It was a wonderful event organized in a truly International way. The campus got into festive spirit right from the 12th evening. Alumni from all across the world and from various age groups (from 20s to 80s) came for attending the conference.

First day began with inauguration by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The actual programs began from second day.

Second day onwards there were keynote talks by:

• Mr. S. Ramadorai (CEO, Tata Consultancy Services)
• Dr. Subra Suresh (Dean of Engineering, MIT, Cambridge USA)
• Mr. Nandan Nilekani (Founder and former CEO, Infosys Technologies)
• Dr. Martin Rees (President, Royal Society, London)
• Dr. Sydney Brenner (Nobel Laureate from Cambridge Univ., UK)
• Mr. Sam Pitroda (Chairman, Knowledge Commission, New Delhi)
• Dr. Eric S. Maskin (Nobel Laureate from Princeton Univ., USA)
  

These people talked on various topics related to their expertise like Mr. Nilekani talked on "Imagining India"; Dr. Rees talked about "Understanding our cosmos"; Dr. Eric talked about "Game theory"; Dr. Suresh talked about "Interdisciplinary Research in engineering"; Dr. Brener talked about "Reading human genome" etc. All the keynotes were overcrowded in an auditorium with capacity of 750.

Apart from these there were number of workshops carried by renowned experts and researchers from across the world.

Apart from keynotes and workshops there were cultural programs like Santoor recital by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and a music program by IISc music group.

Another interesting thing to be mentioned about conference is "food". All the 4 days we enjoyed sumptuous food. There were innumerable varieties of Indian, Chinese and Italian dishes and sweets.

This Conference gave us an opportunity to listen to some of the great people in world in a short span of time and that too at a single location. Where else would I have got to listen to Ramadorai & Nilekani on same day?

The wonderful event came to an end with a speech by our Director Dr. P. Balaram. He stated a famous quote by Winston Churchill "...... this is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, this is the end of the beginning."

Letter to Prime Minister... must read and act too.

I got this in a forward.....


Dear Mr. Prime minister,

I am a typical mouse from Mumbai. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mouse. Mouse at least squeak but we don't even do that.

Today I heard your speech. In which you said 'NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED'. I would like to remind you that fourteen years has passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place. Dawood was the main conspirator. Till today he is not caught. All our bolywood actors, our builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him. Reason is simple; all your ministers are hand in glove with him. If any attempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed. Your statement 'NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED' is nothing but a cruel joke on this unfortunate people of India.

Enough is enough. As such after seeing terrorist attack carried out by about a dozen young boys I realize that if same thing continues days are not away when terrorist will attack by air, destroy our nuclear reactor and there will be one more Hiroshima.

We the people are left with only one mantra. Womb to Bomb to Tomb. You promised Mumbaikar Shanghai what you have given us is Jalianwala Baug.

Today only your home minister resigned. What took you so long to kick out this joker? Only reason was that he was loyal to Gandhi family. Loyalty to Gandhi family is more important than blood of innocent people, isn't it?

I am born and bought up in Mumbai for last fifty eight years. Believe me corruption in Maharashtra is worse than that in Bihar. Look at all the politician, all are rolling in money. Present CM is one of the worst Chief minister I have seen. His only business is to increase the FSI every other day, make money and send it to Delhi so Congress can fight next election. Now the clown has found new way and will increase FSI for fisherman so they can build concrete house right on sea shore. Next time terrorist can comfortably live in those house , enjoy the beauty of sea and then attack the Mumbai at their will.

Recently I had to purchase house in Mumbai. I met about two dozen builders. Everybody wanted about 30% in black. A common person like me knows this and with all your intelligent agency & CBI you and your finance minister are not aware of it. Where all the black money goes? To the underworld isn't it? Our politicians take help of these goondas to vacate people by force. I myself was victim of it. If you have time please come to me, I will tell you everything.

If this has been land of fools, idiots then I would not have ever cared to write you this letter. Just see the tragedy, on one side we are reaching moon, people are so intelligent and on other side you politician has converted nectar into deadly poison. I am everything Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Schedule caste, OBC, Muslim OBC, Christian Schedule caste, Creamy Schedule caste only what I am not is INDIAN. You politician have raped every part of mother India by your policy of divide and rule.

Take example of former president Abdul Kalam. Such a intelligent person, such a fine human being. You politician didn't even spare him. Your party along with opposition joined the hands, because politician feels they are supreme and there is no place for good person.

Dear Mr Prime minister you are one of the most intelligent person, most learned person. Just wake up, be a real SARDAR. First and foremost expose all selfish politician. Ask Swiss bank to give name of all Indian account holder. Give reins of CBI to independent agency. Let them find wolf among us. There will be political upheaval but that will better than dance of death which we are witnessing every day. Just give us ambient where we can work honestly and without fear. Let there be rule of law. Everything else will be taken care of.

Choice is yours Mr. Prime Minister. Do you want to be lead by one person or you want to lead the nation of 100 Crore people?

Hurray ISRO!!

After a long wait finally India's Chandrayan succeeded with a glory. MIP (Moon Impact Probe) with our tricolor painted on it landed successfully on the south pole of moon. Its truly a proud moment for all of us. Only 3 other nations have achieved this feat before, US, Russia and Japan.

I can't wait for the Chandrayan-2 when IRSO will send a rover to moon.

Wanted..... 4 Steve Jobs

Recently Mr. Guy Kawasaki visited India. He is an expert Entrepreneur and author of many books. He has been there in Silicon Valley since 25 years. He has worked at Apple Computers for many years and had major contribution in the success of Macintosh.

While speaking at a talk on "Entrepreneurship in India" @ Mumbai he mentioned a very interesting thing. "America have 300 million population and India have 1.2 billion, so India should have 4 Steve Jobs. I am sure they are out there. You just need to find them. There must be a bunch of young techies in India who are not satisfied with the work left by some American."

In my opinion he surely have a valid point. If a "handful" of such techies join together, some of them will definitely succeed in creating a miracle........something like Steve Jobs did in his parent's garage.

A Wdnesday

"A Wednesday" is a fantastic movie..............
Truly a must see movie of the year......................

An Optimistic End

Very soon the Beijing Olympics 2008 will come to an end. The host China have clearly scored maximum number of Gold medals, much more ahead than U.S.A. Many other countries have won the medals overall in proportion with their might. So in that sense China is the world's most powerful nation today.

India have won 3 medals, 1 Gold and 2 Bronze. Here we can see that the equation of Number of medals proportional to might of the nation is not satisfied. We have one sixth of the world population compared to which number of total medals is almost negligible.

Looking at the brighter side. We have won our first individual Olympic Gold medal this year. This year we also won the maximum number of individual medals in a single Olympic games ever. If we look back into past, China had won their first Gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles games. And in just 24 years, China is at the top slot of the medal tally. So we can hope that India too will follow the similar path and start rocking the games all over the world.

Its not the talent we lack. We just lack the awareness, training and professional approach towards sport. Nonetheless the success of the 3 Indian sportsmen at 2008 games have created a good awareness about sports. Further the way in which medalists were flooded with reawards, I am sure this will motivate many Indians to take sports seriously. When this will happen, next time we will double the number of medals than this year and all the games which will follow.

So, India's success at 2008 Olympics have a potential to roll the chain reaction for creating some great and more importantly successful sports persons, who will take our nation at the top in yet another field at global level.

Life @ IISc

Bangalore

4 Aug 2008

Finally I have joined Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
The IISc campus is all green and huge, spread across 500 acres of land. Fully covered with various trees, flowers and lawns. And the beautiful Bangalore weather adds more harmony to it.

All the buildings on the campus are spread horizontally, not exceeding 2 stories.
The sport facilities are very good. There are state-of-the-art facilities for almost all the games.

I am allotted a Hostel room which is single seated. Only disadvantages of the hostel is no internet connection in the rooms (there are some academic reasons behind it).


The department i.e. CEDT (Center for Electrical Design & Technology) have many labs set in collaboration with companies like TI, Intel, Freescale etc.
The course structure is mainly design oriented. Equal credits are given to Compulsory courses, Electives and project. There is lot of freedom in choosing the electives. One can choose any course offered on the campus as elective.

That's all for now.

Out of TCS

Pune
9 July 2008

Today was my last working day at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. My first job which I joined on 28 Aug 2006, is now over. Resigning from TCS have created a void in my mind today. Mixed feelings, a little sadness cause of leaving the job and at the same time the anxiety of future.

In the last 2 years at TCS I have learned uncountable things. A very good experience in Embedded Systems, especially Automotive sector. I got to work on various Microcontrollers. A close insight into end to end product development. I got knowledge about work processes and very systematic approach for managing an organisation with more than 100 thousand associates.

But I have also seen the other side of the so called 'Indian Software Industry'. But looking at the positive side, it was an awesome experience. Something I will never forget.

~~ Adhiraj

Chetan Bhagat's third book release

Pune
25 May 2008


Today I attended the book release function of third book by Chetan Bhagat named " the 3 mistakes of my life". This book is a story of 3 friends based at Ahmedabad and how they try to do some business about cricket. Mostly the story goes around 3 topics Business, Cricket and Religion.

The second book by same author "One night @ call center" is being converted into Bollywood movie. The producer of the movie Atul Agnihotri and the leade role Sharman Joshi were also present at the moment. The name of the movie will be Hello. The promos for the movie were also shown.

Chetan is a very cool guy, down to earth. He answered the questions from audience freely.

L to R: Chetan's wife, Chetan Bhagat, Atul Agnihotri.

Sharman Joshi (center)

I too got a chance to get a snap with Chetan.

Journey is more fun.......than getting there.

April 10th 2008, I got a letter from IISc (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) that I have to attend a test at IISc campus on 21st April for admission to M.Tech. course offered by CEDT (Center for Electronic Design & Technology, IISc Bangalore). This came to me as a surprise since IISc is known for calling only the top rankers of the GATE exam and my rank being 349 this was least expected. But this letter put me in confusion of what to do, whether to go to Bangalore or not, whether to waste my money and time because I was almost sure of not getting selected. But since I had nothing to lose, I decide to go for the test and convinced myself that I'll get to see the Bangalore too.
As much time wasn't there, I rushed through a few forums on internet regarding the exam pattern of CEDT and got a little idea. Collected 2-3 books from friends like Engineering Drawing and Electrical Machines. Prepared very basic things and left for Bangalore on Saturday 19th April.
When I reached Bangalore it was a summer Sunday afternoon but temperature was quite cool (much cooler than Pune). Next day i.e. on 21st April I reached at IISc campus at around 8.30 AM. IISc campus is very much green. Fully covered by trees, lawns and gardens. Most of the buildings are old and new buildings are also built in the similar fashion. The ambiance is very quiet though it is situated in the heart of the city.
Around 500 students from Electronics and Communication Engg, Electrical Engg and Instrumentations Engg had came for the test. The test began at 9 AM. It was a 90 minutes test. It contained varied questions divided into 5 sections. There was a funny thing about the first section. First section had maximum i.e. 20 questions and marking system was like 2 marks for correct answer, -1 mark for wrong answer and -2 marks for each un-attempted question :) . But overall the test was easy. I did well and was hoping to clear it.
The results were to be declared at 5 PM on same day. So I decided to explore the campus in the mean time. After a long wait of 6-7 hrs the result time came......the list was put up and as expected..........my name was there in the list. Selected candidates had to appear for an interview scheduled to be on next day. 160 people out of 500 were selected for interview.
Next day i.e. on Tuesday I appeared for the interview. It was conducted by panel of 4 Profs. They asked me about hardware projects I had done and very basics of electronics. It was neither great nor bad type. That day I did a little bit of sight seeing and left for Pune.
After coming back to Pune, I was checking the result everyday on internet. When I checked it on 8th May it showed that I have been called for joining M.Tech. course in CEDT..........I was just thrilled (Since only 30 people are selected). For a few moments I couldn't realize what actually happened.
It took me 2-3 days to adjust with the fact that I'll be joining IISc. But as now it is finalized, I can surely say that "journey is more fun than getting there". All the events like trip to Bangalore, test, interview and everything was truly a great fun. And I am looking forward to much more fun after joining IISc.
I'll write separate post about IISc and CEDT once I get there.

~~ Adhiraj