Happy birthday champion

December 7 happens to be the birthday of a very special person. I forgot to write a post on that day, I have no excuses.

Some people are meant to stand out from others, in terms of what they have achieved, hence the word champion, I guess one life is way too small to be thankful for the good work what they have done.

The more I type the more, I end up with teary eyes, happy birthday

Cheers,

PS - I sometimes cannot come to terms with the larger than life contribution made by my parents. 

Year ending, catching up on missing posts.

As the year 2016 comes to an end, I try to catch up with missing posts on my blog. This year has been a mixed bag of things. I have read, read something, I have traveled to few places, but over all things have not been at their best.

- I seriously wish I was a bit younger so that I could have taken more time off to travel.
- I wish my parents were a bit more younger that they would not complain of me not getting married.
- I wish my workplace had offered more stability instead of cost cutting measures and decision round the year. (Sad to see so many people left during the year).
- I wish I had traveled a lot more during the year.
- I haven;t been able to read much during the last few months, owing to my office stress, bad work!
- I have been consistent in the gym not skipped more than 2-3 days/month in the last 4 months!
- December 21 will mark my 3 years in this gym, have seen ups and downs did 4 Himalayan treks plus loads of Western ghat treks all owing to my gym teacher, parents support and God's grace.

Nevertheless, I am happy god has kept me in good health, I did a bit of travel during the year. Took some time out to travel to the Himalayas, went to Punjab too!. I did some treks locally in the western ghats. Now year end planning to travel some more, hopefully.

I wish to hit the coastal areas by road, and probably Goa too if God wishes!

I wish to complete 100 posts for the year too, so instead of whining, complaining, let me write.

Cheers,

Are Indian startups (ONLY) service aggregators?

Just curious are Indian startups only so called service aggregators?

I have come across few startups in recent times, so let me shortlist few of them :)-

- One which provides an online market place for buying new goods/utilities/clothes/books from different vendors,

- One which provides a mobile app / online portal to let common man to buy or sell stuffs from another common man.

- One which provides a website + mobile app to let users chose, select and shortlist homes in various cities/localities.

- One which provides a mobile app for getting your food delivered from your chosen restaurant.

- One which provides a mobile app for parent + child + school connectivity

- One which provides user an online option to search for help (plumbing/electrician etc).

- One which provides a mobile app for availing cab services.

- One which provides a mobile app for availing cargo vehicles for shifting goods etc.

- One which provides a mobile app + website to book bus tickets.

- One which provides a mobile app + website to book movie tickets.

Etc etc, I can name few more, never mind,
Do you see a pattern over here,

Each one of the above mentioned startup tries to automate a service which exists in the market!

Were there not cab services before, were there not parent teachers meet before, were there not bus booking counters before. etc, I am not saying none of them are beneficial,

Infact all of them are beneficial, I have nothing against any one of them.

I am just behind the thought process as to why each one of them is trying to automate service providers with an mobile app + website ?

Why isn't there anyone who can think of any start up which does not have a service provider underneath acting as a producer of revenue?

Is it that hard, when a startup can provide 12-15 Lakhs per annum to a BE fresher with 0 years experience I am sure they have a huge round of funding!

In that case, why cannot they do some path breaking research in core technology?

Well, I think I do have the answer in form of my assumptions,

- Path breaking research also breaks your back, its a pain in the arse when it comes to yielding results.
- Are startup founders trying to hide the above fact
- Are the founders greedy to make quick money and sell of the company to a competitor?

I almost forgot each of the above business / Startup I mentioned has one or more competitors too, thus driving the costs down also profit margins for them down, as a result they either end up in loss or they have to sell more / huge in number or shut shops!

Doesn't IIT / IIM tag add any weightage to research instead of automating service aggregation? I do not know. And by the way are these service aggregation idea original or are they copied from other countries? Well, I will leave it for you to decide!

Cheers,

Random thoughts on Indian Startups!

Often I wonder, what do Indian startups have as their business model?

Somehow, I am not able to conclude any decisive long term business model, which comes to my mind, which would carry them through for next few years or many more years.

You may be wondering, its their business, its their money, but what do I do, if my thoughts ask me questions on startups?

I can have an opinion of my own, why not?

So, coming back to the business model, I really think, Indian startups are lesser concerned about providing services to the Indian people. People cannot ask them to provide technology at a lesser price, they simply cannot(it demands another post).

Recently had a debate on a website, where in someone was of the opinion that the online retail & selling company was a technology company working and headquartered in India.

I was wondering, how come someone who is all about service aggregation, bringing different sellers under a common website come under a technology company. I do agree they provide mobile app and a website to chose products from, that does not mean they are a technology company, are they?

So the gentleman replied, technology company because, technology is needed to build a scalable website, mobile app and to maintain it which needs 100's of engineers and thus a technology company.

I was like, what the F! I always thought technology company is the one who gives proprietary technology straight to the end user in terms of usable products and NOT in terms of delivery of somebody's product via website.

- What may happen if the user's start going to stores and buying goods
   Still better discounts + reduced profit margins + higher pressure on buyer to sell more + higher force fed marketing resulting in buying unnecessary junk?
- What may happen if the user's buy only things which they genuinely require.
- Why are these service aggregators  not able to target coastal areas / rural areas
    Is it because rural people buy only stuffs that they need
    Is it because rural people are ready to spend enough time on services automated by these service aggregators?
    If rural people have such time to spend after work, where are we losing time?
again in traffic doing what ? building more of such applications to fool/con people into buying more junk.

Ahhh the vicious cycle continues!

Cheers,

PS - Amidst all of these I just saw someone being driven in a Porsche Cayenne (costs Rs 1crore +) in my tech park, well, may be the CEO of the online retail company, and the money, yeah investor funding!

Someone's sure getting richer conning common man into buying junk!

All about startups (What goes in my mind) Part 1

I have not reached 100 posts for the year, so thought of applying a cheat in order to reach 100.

I have loads of thoughts running with respect to the startups also I have few more posts regarding my past/recent treks to Himachal, the coastal side plus unknown forests. So I guess, I can hit 100 again!

With regards to startups I am trying to analyze about
- Their funding.
- Their business model.
- Their long term vision.
- Their profit making model.
- Their technology / service offerings.
- Their employees and pay packages.
- Their layoffs or retention.
- Their competition.
- Their end results.

You can think this as a prologue for one of those series of posts.
I had series on Cab Drivers, Tales from trek tour and travel, and now on startups,

In a way, I do not see any intellectualism as a part of these posts, just my cheat code to make sure I hit 100 posts for the year.

Meanwhile, its 7 50 in the evening and yes, I am posting from office, using office network! ( Sadly, I just turned unethical).

Cheers,

PS- My previous post was more like a person high on alcohol, probably, I was high on frustration that day, reading salary of employees in the startups, but now I am fine, hence trying to dissect the numbers!

And I am reading less and writing less, I have given some time to a wonderful individual, in return for sheer happiness!

Force fed marketing

I do have some thoughts on whether do we really need so many startups. One thing I noticed about the startups was that,

- The startups were either service aggregators.
   - You can consider service aggregator as someone who ties up with all the cab driver in Bangalore and connect them with your so called app.

- Providing service based on your data.
   - Some of the startups were more to do with online data like how do people decide what to buy, how to hire best people in the market, how to market more goods to people who by online, keep track of who unfollows you on twitter (really?) etc.

- Force fed marketing.
   - Continuing with the previous point, some of the startups come up with something called data science. Each online user's data is analyzed to find patterns of spending and churn out an algorithm where they can be presented with more shit to buy!

I mean common, just because somebody is coming up with a newer technology does it mean we ditch our hard earned money to buy it? Did life never exist without technology?

I still do not get the point where the so called over intelligent humans are tricking other humans to buy the shit that comes out of their brains? I  mean really, do we need so much of advancement just ot keep the population employed and engaged?

Can't we move to a simpler model, where we promote agriculture, lesser jealously and better life, instead of over exhausting what god has given us, just to end up with rich people and poor people and butt loads of traffic jams, exhaust fumes, hatred and technology to fuel more hatred!

I agree, science and medicine has made progress in terms of treatment/cure, I am not seconding this one, but other areas, instead of building individual electric cars? cant we build a public transportation system over the same electricity?

Jeez, why are we overthinking a problem,

Cheers,

PS - I have no doubt some of the startups are really useful, especially the one's providing cab facilities in Bangalore, but others, will let you decide!

Of startups and investments

Sometimes, I wonder, where the world is headed to. I see a lot of startups in Bangalore,
each one
  - trying to bring something new to the consumer.
  - trying to compete for market dominance.
  - trying to make money (well are they?)

We hear of the startups
- which provide software/app for cab services
- which provide software/app for bringing groceries to your home.
- which provide software/app for online shopping.

And there are many like this, also I see a lot of competitors for each of the genre.
I mean many people providing software/app for cab/groceries.

So, what makes me really wonder is though some of the startups are making money,
- are these startups really necessary
- No wonder these are providing opportunity for many people in terms of employment,
- But weren't there days when they did not exist and we still went ahead with daily chores.
- Haven;t we not arrived at days where we we are trying to automate/simplify things which are not really complicated in the first place.
- For example - driverless cars. app to open the car/start the car - I mean do we really need this.

What I am trying to understand is, are we trying to over think and create problems out of things which were really simple to accomplish? I know driverless cars shall help lot of people, but really, hailing a driver / cab should be simpler? dont you think so?

Found this below image, just wondered where the world is headed to. I just wonder, why people are funding such vada pav selling startups in the first place,

Cheers!

Giving out gyaan

Giving out gyaan or writing intellectually stimulating posts was never part of my intention on this blog, I have written my heart out over the years, but now, somehow, feeling the urge to write some thoughts of the way things are happening in real world, in other words, secretly disguised gyaan.

And yes, I have not been reading much these days, not sure why, my kindle stays idle!.

But here's trying my hand at some new genre of posts!

Cheers,

Ode to my place of worship

Its been close to 3 years I have been going to my place of worship, for the past two years, I have not been able to attend Ayudha pooja at my place of worship. But this year, I did attend and I am even more prompt in putting up a post the same day! I was upset for not making it the last two years!

My place of worship is where I have been training for close to 3 years. Well, I do not know how much it has got to do with my professional side, but to my personal side, its got to do 200%.

I think, its got to do everything with what I do, what I think, what I wear. Its only after I enrolled and visited this place of worship each day, I did get better and its only after I got that better, I did complete 4 (really difficult) Himalayan treks and loads of treks in Western Ghats including Kumaraparvata and also did Kumaraparvata cleanup. [Next planning for the 21 day Himalayan trek, but not that concrete]

This has got to do with why I am persisting with the same job, why I am still content with being in India. It has brought me loads of happiness, in return for a meager two letter word called hard work (and yes discipline too).

I feel very happy after attending Ayudha Pooja, so here's attaching few pics where I pray each day. Hope to continue praying for many more years to come!.

Cheers,

Things changed in the last few weeks

Many things have happened in the last few weeks. Most of which is not prominent. But I do want to mention couple of things though,

- I have been training rather irregularly.
    Ever since I came back from Himachal trek, I did not find the enthusiasm to maintain that zip to train, resulting in missing training sessions for over 3 weeks and the irregularity still continues!
- At workplace couple of people left.
   One person left and the other one is leaving shortly. So the people with whom I interact has come down by 2.
The good part is, we had a security guard who had quit and changed his line of work who came back to being a security guard. It is an exception, but sad part is he too had left for good and probably got laid off in his other job!
- I excessively feel the need to be alone. These days I dislike speaking to people, sometimes, I even dislike people speaking to me nor speaking next to me. I prefer to be alone most of the times.
  If you think thats depression, then I disagree. its needing quiet time after spending your day amidst chaotic honking traffic plus extroverted non sense speaking office people! (I am glad I have matured).
- I am not enjoying work anymore, only thing which makes me stick is the 11-8 pm work timings plus leaves plus the free transport provided plus the comfort of doing my work instead of leading a team of dumb headed incapable nitwits!

I may sound sarcastic in this post but do I care, I still have the urge to travel, but too lazy to pack bags hence become excessively choosy on travelling. Plus I am aging too!

Cheers,

Blogging from office courtesy ..Jio

I never had dreamt of blogging from office, reason being unethical, using office network to post personal posts on blog. But owing to some very specific reasons, I did change myself and let myself in to the craving of posting during office time rather lunch time.

Those reasons include.
 - Lots of time since I posted, urge to write something!
 - I see people going for pizza breaks/lunch/tea time and again for over an hour. Is that ethical, considering we are billing 8 hours?
 - I found no time after going home that I could write about, either I travel out of town or to office or train.
 - Plus I get so moody after interacting with people that, I need some alone quiet time that, I do not want even writing to come in between, heck even the reading has taken a back seat.
 - Finally, I am blogging not from office network but using Reliance Jio hotspot from somone's mobile.

If you can call this as free marketing attempt for Jio, do I care? as if my blog has many readers!

Many things have happened over the last couple of months and I am indeed running short of time.

Let me try to put it few stuffs which I might have missed and which I can recollect!

Cheers,

When I travelled on a historic route - TTTT 23

Last month I traveled from Amritsar to Delhi by Golden Temple mail. The train starts from Amritsar and goes all the way to Bombay.

So if you are wondering, whats so historic about this route, well, let me try to convince you!

- Before winding up our day at Amritsar, we went to Wagah border, Attari village. Lahore from there is just 23 kilometers. (from the India Border).

- Before partition, I am guessing the train line which starts from Amritsar would have ended at Lahore.

- I remember reading about Sadat Hassan Manto, traveling all the way from Pakistan to Bombay by train!

- I also have read, Mahatma Gandhi doing an all India travel by train where he mentions crossing over to Lahore by train,

So, coming from Wagah border and travelling from Amritsar in a train going to Mumbai via Delhi, dont you think, I just traveled by a historic forgotten route!

Yeah, I do not get to cross the border! But ain't my imagination weird and correct?

Cheers,

When a journey from Spiti Valley to Manali took 18 hours during the day - TTTT 22

Yes please, during our last trip to Himachal Pradesh, we had 2 days where we traveled during the day (that too 12+ hours)! Previous post indicated one, now its time to write about another such long day.

We had completed our 10 day trek in 8 days, by not taking a rest day plus covering 2 days distance in 1 day (27 kilometers). So we got two spare days and we made most of it!

This day, we started at 6 AM in the morning from Mudh Village in Spiti, again by a local bus We took 4 hours to reach Kaza too which is in Spiti. After around 1 hour for breakfast, we could rent a vehicle which would take us to Manali for about 9.5K.

So we started from Kaza and we had travelled around 47 Kilometers, our tyre went flat. The driver changed the tyre and within few meters the spare tyre burst out!

We were stranded in Spiti Desert for almost 3 hours with zero support. As there was no vehicle which to take us. Very few vehicles plied on that road leaving us with no option but to wait on the road!

Finally after 3 hours, we could manage a spare vehicle from Spiti itself, a 10 seater TT and we resumed our journey around 3 pm. Reached Kunzum Mata temple and Kunzum pass around 5 30 PM and Rohtang pass around 11 PM.

Made it to Manali and then Naggar around 12 in the night. So there it goes 18 hours of travel. Some pictures from Spiit Valley are below!

When a journey from Himachal Pradesh to Punjab took 12 hours during the day - TTTT 21

It was one awesome journey from Manali all the way to Amritsar. Yes it took 12 hours by road. And it was done all during the day! It was fun, but it did take away one precious day, which we could have explored Himachal Pradesh, never mind, we got to see Punjab as well!

Day started at 7 am when we got ready and packed our belongings from our homestay in Naggar / Himachal Pradesh. We managed to catch a local bus heading towards Kullu and from there we hoped we could get a direct bus to Chandigarh.

Kullu to Chandigarh shows 270 kilometers by road, so it would be close to 7-8 hours. We were hoping to hop on Volvo as going by ordinary bus in the hills would be much slower. Boy we managed to reach Kullu around 10 15 AM and then there was a Volvo bus heading to Chandigarh around 10 45 AM, booked the tickets.

The bus started on time and made all the way through the hills with loads of curves with pretty good speed. Only thing was, there were sharp turns to an extent where many people started throwing up. We managed to stop for lunch around 2 PM and then finally got down at Ropad/RoopNagar Punjab at around 4 15PM.

The main road where we got down and the bus stand of  Ropad are atleast 3-4 kilometers far. We managed to check out the Ropad Railway station hoping to catch a train which would make our journey quicker. But the only train to Amritsar was in the morning and we were left with no option but to go by bus and we walked all the way to the bus stand.

I was already feeling the heat. I was sweating badly and then we had to walk too with the luggage, boy it was tough, finally made in time to Ropad bus stand where we got a bus to Amritsar, All this was at 6 PM.

Distance between Ropad and Amritsar is around 190 Kilometers. I wondered if we could make it before midnight. We reached Jalandhar around 8 15 PM and the bus broke down leaking diesel fuel. We were put on a replacement bus and finally reached Amritsar around 11 PM.

What a day it had been. Luckily there were plenty of lodges around the bus stand and then got a room and finished dinner at around 11 40 in the night and slept off. Thoroughly entertaining day, considering we hopped on multiple buses, walked by foot, went to a railway station too!

Cheers,

When I travelled by foot/road/air/rail/water on a trip - TTTT 20

One such trip / travel I remember in my memory where in I traveled by foot/road/rail/water/air.

When I had been to Sikkim on a trek, I did travel by all the means mentioned above.

1. Travel by foot
    - The Himalayan trek
    - In Yuksom
    - In Gangtok/Kolkota and almost everywhere we did walk.
2. Travel by road.
    - NJP /Siliguri to Yuksom
    - Gangtok to Namchi/Pelling/Ravangla and finally NJP.
    - Yuksom to Gangtok
    - Gangtok to Changu Lake
3. Travel by rail
    - Sealdah / Kolkota to NJP/Siliguri.
    - NJP/Siliguri to Dakshineshwar / Kolkota.
4. Travel by air
    - Bangalore to Kolkota and back.
5. Travel by water.
    - Boat ride across Hoogly river / Dakshineshwar.

Ain't that fantastic, what memories!

Cheers,

When I refused to eat an apricot and wild strawberry on a trek - TTTT 19

This time during our Himalayan trek we had few interesting encounters, yes with flora and fauna of course. During the first day, we ended up having encountered numerous apricot trees.

Couple of my friends ate apricot. But I did not eat them. They are generally fresh and boy they were fresh. There were couple of reasons why I did not try them.

- All my focus was on completing the trek. I did not want to eat apricot and end up with upset stomach or something else.
- This fear took the better of me, and did not allow me to eat.

I do not have any such regrets, that I did not try. I completed the trek without having any stomach related illness, but was regularly teased throughout the trek for being over cautious.

Did I mind, nope, I wanted to finish the trek, and that's it.

On Day 3 we encountered wild strawberries, did I eat them, well, no infact!

Cheers,

Lonesome days

July 2016, I had been on my 4th Himalayan trek, and boy o boy it was fun. It was difficult, it was different. But then, now its done, I got many such sweet memories, which I am waiting to write down, but unable to do so due to time shortage, other commitments, no mood to write, lazy etc.

I traveled by foot, air, by road, by rail, ahh man, travel by sea was one thing missing! Ahh, I can post one more entry when I did all the above on a trip,

Its almost 3 weeks since I have come back from Himachal and I have been as lazy as I can, unable to train, having some dust allergy which kinda of ends up with me having a blocked nose repeatedly. Luckily I guess I am through with the allergy.

Busy with work and traffic in Bangalore makes me go nowhere. Trying hard to get back to writing something atleast hoping it would inspire me to write some more.

I haven't yet taken off the pictures from my trek/trip out of the camera. High time I do it. There goes the extent of my laziness.

Let me make a comeback of sorts into this materialistic world of ours. Here it goes!

Cheers,

Break from blogging

Well, I had taken a break from blogging. Too much of work coupled with leave and personal milestones, had taken a toll on me, and I preferred to stay quiet rather. Hence no posts.

Firstly, completed my 4th Himalayan trek (July 18-26). This too was in Himachal. Then traveled through Spiti valley, Kunzum pass, Rohtang pass. Then on towards Jalandhar, Amritsar then Delhi and Gurgaon and now Bangalore.

All in all 15 days of travel, 10 days of planned trek which we completed in 8 days. Loads of stories to tell.

Personally, I felt best because, I had not trekked in the last 3 months, I fell sick with some stomach infection after drinking water from the forest somewhere in April and people had advised me not to venture into tough treks.

I had 1.5 months to train back and get ready for the trek. The Himalayan trek was called on a short notice period and we had only 2 participants from Bangalore. It was like icing on the cake, lesser crowd means better synchronization altogether.

It was tough on my parents, because they were always worried about the rainy conditions plus landslides and the thoughts of Himalayas melting.

Somehow, made it through, completed the trek and now feeling quite better posting this update on blog after coming back home yesterday!

Cheers,

When I was sweating like a ... in Amritsar - TTTT 18

This was one such incident I would like to forget. I was in Amritsar recently, and I just experienced some heat. The day began with visit to Golden temple. I had kept most of my luggage in the baggage counter and in the process forgot to carry my bandanna and cap into the temple.

Then, after completing the temple visit and having lunch at the langhar, it was decided to keep the baggage at the counter and visit Jallian Wala Bagh and then Wagah/Attari border.

As we proceeded out of Golden temple, what hit me was the heat. I was sweating, sweating as if there is no tomorrow. It did not end. All along the way to Attari Border I was sweating, even while I entered the stadium there for the parade, I was sweating. The parade got over and again I was sweating. Believe me, it was a tough and embarrassing day.

I have learnt my lesson, hence forth, I shall keep a bandanna and cap handy everywhere I go.

Cheers,

When many people in the bus vomited / threw up, while travelling - TTTT 17

What a strange post to make a sort of comeback. I have to write this before I actually forget!

While travelling from Kullu to Chandigarh in the Himsutta AC volvo, during the day, (10 45 AM start), I noticed, throughout the journey many people started to throw up.

The reason being it was hills hills and more hills. Turns climb then again turns and climb. What else you expect people to do, who just had completed their morning heavy breakfast and waiting to munch on lunch!

I'm not exaggerating but the people sitting towards the rear end of the bus were all kind of feeling sick. Your's truly, well, I did sit at the rear end of the bus, did have breakfast, but somehow managed to calm myself not to throw up.

how could I have observed this if I was sitting up front and would I be even writing this, if I was one of them, who threw up! (no points for guessing I did not throw up!)

Meaning I did not throw up. Once the bus crosses Swarghat (HP) and entered Punjab, there you go, you find flat roads and you are out of the hills!

Cheers,

PS - You can avail the hill sickness bag if you wish to throw up, and all the windows are sealed, so..