This was my first time as a mentor teaching a group of people how to start running. I was one of the two mentors conducting the c25k (couch to 5K) program for the Hyderabad Runners Society at our location. It started with a call from Shuvendu while I was having lunch with the family. I picked up he said “this is Shuvendu” I said “sorry I did not recognize you but how may I help you?” and immediately got a jab in the ribs, the missus knew how obnoxiously rude and demeaning this problem of mine is. I can never […]
musings
91 posts
It started on the day before we were scheduled to leave Goa…I called up the information office for Dr. Salim Ali bird sanctuary to ask about the boat ride and they gave me another number. I called up that number they gave me another number, I called there and the person said that a Judge and his family are coming later today so there might be a problem but if you come by 4:30PM which is high tide time we can do the boat ride. I said great and we drove out. 25km, 40 minutes not an unattainable feat. Got […]
From the beautifully manicured garden that I have built for myself in the balcony of the spacious and comfortable 21st floor apartment that I stay in I looked out and saw this scene laid out in front of me… In the far off distance was this all glass monstrosity that architects in India nowadays feel “looks so wonderful”. For them happiness is the money they make for building these stupid ass edifices that will be testaments to the stupidity of Indian architecture in the 21st century. Buildings that house the IT warriors of the nation, warriors who are forced to […]
Race Day — well more like a Fun Run Last session Shuvendu and Shekhar had clearly explained that we should aim to be at the parking lot by 5AM latest by 5:15. Of course!! We left the main gates at precisely 5:22. As a result we ended up parking 1.57km away from the starting point and then walking all that way. It was ok the weather was nice the vibe was truly energetic, active. The 21K runners were on loop number one and by the time we reached the grounds at around 6AM the first lot of the 10K runners […]
The advent of AI technology is rapidly changing the way we live and work. ChatGPT, an NLP AI model developed by OpenAI, is just one example of how this technology is disrupting industries and transforming the way we interact with machines. I had previously predicted that we would have a decade to adapt to this technology, but the speed at which AI is advancing has proven that we have much less time than that. The recent layoffs at big tech companies are a sign of this disruption. OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT is a prime example of how this technology is […]
The inherent goodness and generosity of those who have “not much” is often times seen at the farmers market. Today while out for a walk we noticed the farmers market was on… After having purchased two heads of cauliflower for a princely sum of 60 bucks we were moving towards the vendor with nice looking oranges. On the way I noticed a sad looking guy sitting with a lot of greens. Walking past his patch I wondered “why the long face”? I saw nice looking scallions and walked back and picked up two bunches (will make Uncle Roger approved egg […]
There never was an oxymoron more stark and definitive… Business by it’s very definition is unethical. When you are providing a commodity/service you charge a premium based upon the demand-supply gap. This margin is what is counted as profit. The purpose of a business is to solve a problem in the most profitable way possible for the business owner. Over the centuries we moved from the barter system which was the purest form of equitable pricing to a mad race to the bottom of the bottomless pit that is profiteering. Business has moved from solving problems to creating them instead! […]
Six years back we moved to a new house with a sea view. Something that is aspirational in most books you would think, we did too. While we were shortlisting houses to move to a lot of people commented that this would be noisy as hell. We also got to hear the oohs and aahs of friends who couldn’t believe how lucky we were going to be with such a beautiful view to have on tap. All the rooms faced the sea and the kitchen faced the hills at a distance. Not paying heed to the naysayers we moved in […]
After 45 years of living I seem to have come up with the explanation to that line. Every single time in every single endeavour… begin with the end in mind!. If you can see it with your minds eye you can achieve it. Case in point, actually I’ll give you two examples. 1. coffee earlier today — We were done with the awesome stuff from Great Value and it was time to move over to the beans from Trader Joes. Typically any new coffee tends to take a couple of mugs before it grows on you. Today though I approached […]
Since the day we are sentient we are conditioned to start the journey. The journey that ends only when we’re gone from this earth. The chase never ends for most of us. There will always be the next peak to summit. Blessed are those who find a purpose in life, strive towards that purpose day in and day out and achieve that purpose at some point in life. Nirvana awaits those that work their asses off trying to attain it. Well, for the ones who are not so focused in life, I have started to understand, Nirvana exists for those […]
Hiding in plain sight. We live in a world where globalization has meant that the work place is now the real melting pot while outside of the office any and all differences cause friction. Polarization based upon religious, cultural, advocacy or political differences gives rise to group-ism and ghetto-ization of our cities. Bringing this sort of fractured community into the office and trying to make these factions believe in a common corporate vision then work towards common organizational goals… just the sight of that steep trek makes one feel dead. An organization cannot afford to lose so much of time […]
Oh shit! Shit shit! Nooooo Ira wanted ice cream, Ria wanted to go out on a long drive. Sonali was tired from the walk we had just come back from and had thought of settling in with the foot massager for the next 15 minutes. I well I was as usual at their disposal, typical Friday night. We got out to get ice cream at around 10PM. As we were nearing the Wipro circle near home Ira stated that she did not want to go to Funnel Hill Creamery or any of the 24 hour drive in places. So I […]
…pack a small bag! For the vacation that came after a pretty long while we did Goa, our bit for revenge tourism so to speak, Goa like we’d never done it before… with an insiders perspective. Kapil is the hero of this story, Kapil has gone and done what many, nay all of us secretly live for. He has moved from the life of bean counters and pen pushers to live the dream life that awaits us all on the beaches of one of the vacation capitals of the world, Goa! Kapil was a mutual friend through a school mate, […]
This one is a true story from a little over a week back… Got lynched, almost. Passing through Gulbarga on our way to Goa we came upon this rowdy standing in the middle of the highway, SH 155, I figured it was pointless to honk or ask him to get out of the way as he was already arguing with another party. I carefully steered the left wheel off the tarmac and focused on avoiding his outstretched leg. Ira actually remarked “is he not worried that a car could run over his foot”. As the car drove past the guy […]
or Hyderabad for that matter… This isn’t exactly a business promotion, more like a recommendation for a couple of businesses we tried and found excellent over the past 3 months that we’ve been in Hyderabad. (not an exhaustive list just the few that come to mind right now) Harleys Fine Bakery (Owners have two flats in Krishe as well, yeah same place that we live in) — The founder runs a management training institute in Gachibowli and during the lock-down he listened to his better sense/half and started working on the bakery experiment. The stated objective is to make exclusive […]
Earlier in the evening I was coming back from a walk/run and the kids called asking me to pick up some stuff for making mojitos later in the evening… I walked into the store on our building premises and started picking up stuff, then I saw more stuff and I picked that up as well and then I reached the lemons and picked up 6 of those…. however now both hands were full and I really had no way of picking up a bag and dropping the lemons into it… rookie mistake, should’ve picked up the basket on the way […]
I am writing this sitting at my old work desk at the new house (in a new old city). It's 0036 on the clock and yet all I can think about is the people who have made this move so easy (to think I haven't even mentioned the amazingly efficient and professional movers and packers of Santa Fe Relocations).
“Omicron is mild” is more like a bhram a mirage if you will best to avoid this misconception… In fact in comparison Delta was not as contagious and people were not as callous at that time and yet we saw the sort of numbers that we did in India. Omicron is more contagious and the incubation time is much lower. What that means is that more, many more people will catch the infection. Most of the time these will be mild to asymptomatic infections. However the problem enters a different realm altogether when you introduce co-morbidity into the mix. People […]