How To Create The Ultimate TED Talk

I am an ardent fan of the TED talks and secretly (well, no more a secret now, is it, if I am making it public here ) harbour a wish to present something that would be rated as “ingenious”, “jaw-dropping”, ” inspiring” , “funny” and “informative”….

Well…Thanks to Sebastian Wernicke, the creator of TEDApp (http://get-tedpad.com/) , I can now begin work in creating that perfect TED talk.

Here’s the link to a fascinating talk by Sebastian, who turns his attention to the TED site itself, in an effort to come up with the success formula for delivering a winning TED talk. Enjoy

YSR’s coverage in the Indian News Media — Spare A Thought

The past two days, the big headlines in the Indian news circuit is all about the sad and tragic demise of the Andra Pradesh Chief Minister, Y Rajasekhar Reddy..

This is what struck me when I glanced through the news papers/ flipped through the news channels –> The urge to cover everything about YSR was so great that nobody bothered to mention about the “four other folks” ( Yes, that’s how the media is writing about them) who accompanied him in the ill-fated chopper…Why this apathy? I mean, don’t these folks also have families mourning for them? Is their lives any less important than the Chief Minister? Not even a passing mention in any of the major dailies, not one photo flash of the Security Officer, the chief secretary, the pilot and the co-pilot…. I had to google to find their names… and the official PR release also did not care to mention them by name…

NDTV’s headline reads ” YSR, 4 others killed in Chopper crash”… Well, fair enough… But does’nt the public ( and more importantly the family of the deceased) deserve a bit more than this in the body of the message?

Small consolation that they atleast mentioned the names –> The chief minister was accompanied by special secretary P Subramaniam and chief security officer A S C Wesley in the chopper piloted by Group Capt S K Bhatia and Capt M S Reddy.

My heart goes out to the families of these folks, whose loved near and dear ones…May their souls ALSO rest in peace!

Ponniyin Selvan -An intriguing Epic..

Sometime last week, my wife picked up the online English version of Ponniyin Selvan. She is not as fluent in Tamizh as I am ( well, I can read, write and converse a tad better than her)… But that immediately prompted me to pick up the tamizh version online…

I remember my grandma having a bound version of this book. This novel came as a serial in one of the famous tamizh weekly magazines ( I am not sure if it was Ananda Vikatan or Kalki..).

It is hard not to get immersed in the plot. Kalki is a master story teller and it is a pleasure to be transported to a totally different universe that he has so meticulously crafted. He understands the pulse of the readers and I can imagine the plight of the readers who would have to wait for a week to know “what next”… Every chapter ends with such intrigue that I really do not have any words to describe the thrill and joy that I experienced  ( and am currently in Vol 2).

I came across this interesting video from Michael wood who explores the world of the Chozha kingdom, on which Kalki’s novel is based. Once you read the book, it is hard to visualize Tanjore and its surroundings with the same way… I am now eagerly looking forward to visiting the Brahadeeshwara temple in Tanjore …..

Meantime, enjoy this video… Skip to 24:00 mins to trace the rise of the chozha empire and then to around 39:00 minutes for an interesting snippet on Shilpa Shasthra…

Oh, btw, my wife completed 4 volumes but she could’nt find the English translation of the 5th and final volume. She now regrets not being fluent in Tamizh….and she will have to wait till I start narrating the story in Tamizh.. I am still at Volume 2…and I can see she is getting increasingly fidgety… hehehe

Bridging Generation Gap….

I came across this gem of a short movie, thanks to an article by S.Ramakrishnan in this week’s Ananda Vikatan. Watch it!

Of late, I hear a lot about “generation gap”  and how this is affectign the relationship between, say, Father and Son or Mom and Daughter… But I think what has not changed is the emotional connect, the primordial bonding between a Father/Son or Mom/Daughter…

Enjoy this short movie…

What is that? (Τι είναι αυτό;) 2007 from MovieTeller on Vimeo.

Ramayana – Revisiting good old times…

So, I have my folks who are visiting us from Hyderabad. They are here on a purpose. As a devout Iyengar, Maama, as I call him, is a prolific authority on all things Ramayana. He had told me that he wanted to do a “Sundara Kanda Parayanam” at our place and we gladly agreed. I consider myself an agnostic , however have been ‘habituated and conditioned ‘ from childhood days to enjoy the traditional festivals and poojas.

I have heard Ramayana, like any other kid of my age, from my grand parents. Circa 1980′s, television had not taken the center place as much as it has now in a middle class home. Those days ( gosh, i feel old already!), there was only Doordarshan with its own “Krushi darshan” ( or Vayalum Vaazhvum – Kadalai saagupadi saivadhu eppadi ) programs and this was clearly not on the high priority for  kids @ home. We all felt we were better off listening to our Grandmas’ – Yes, there were  minimum two or three in a joint family, so we had to call them based on their seniority – (Patti amma, Chinna Paatti, Rukkamma Paatti). So, we all used to sit on the verandah and slowly, the paatti ammas will begin narrating the accomplishments of  Rama in small, digestable and infinetely enjoyable story lines. They knew all the tricks of a good story teller, pausing at appropriate juncture just to gauge our attention span, repeating certain nice characteristics that they would want us to follow in our daily lives and had the right answers to all the irreverent questions from their young audience…

Sundarakanda Parayanam @ Vasu's place

Cut Flashback….Present time…..These days, we are experiencing horrible power cuts in Bangalore. Every night, prime time television has gone for a toss, as parts of the city is engulfed in darkness and people suddenly are finding themselves clueless…. My Maama is also part of the same junta who are addicted to mindless, numb and dumb mega serials ( his latest favorite is towards the COLORS channel – Note to advertisers –> target this age group or the kids, you are bound to see good ROI).

Sriramajayam@Vasu's place

Anyways, coming back to the present. So, no power, no TV. what to do? Well….What began as a simple question from my wife to Maama -”Why don’t you start narrating Ramayana”, has now grown into a full fledged hour long katha kalakshepa, a moment of discovery for both us and Maama. Every night, Maama engages in an hour long story telling session, in his own inimitable style ( We offered to record these conversations, but he was kinda reluctant and so we gave in). Maama, as I said earlier, has this complete conviction and unassialable faith in Lord Rama and it shows in the way he narrates the story. He also makes it easy on the listener as this is no more a Bhaashan, but something that everyone, especially, folks from this generation can relate to. So, his description of  Rama/ Lakshmana’s meeting with Sugreeva ( Kishkintha Kandam) to help them find Sita is peppered with the protocols between “heads of state and presidents”… what’s the connection you ask, well, you had to listen to the story then .

And that, is an entirely different story…. I am signing off now, as we are eager to hear Sundara Kandam today…

IBM’s “innovative” patent on Time Management..

Ever wondered being called into a meeting where you had absolutelty nothing to contribute ? Or have you been to a meeting wherre there is some guy who is showing you a presentation packed with zillion lines on the company template, with his back to you and reading through those lines as if you ( or others in the room) never existed?

Well, IBM seems to have wondered about such meetings. A little too much. So much that, they have “figured” it all out and are claiming a patent..haa! who knew ? and how… They have put some cute screenshots from, i guess, Lotus Notes ( IBM does NOT use Outlook) and are proclaiming that well, if you schedule a meeting for one hour, you end up finding enough issues to keep you occupied for that one hour… Solution? oh well… Keep the meetings short….. Brrrrrrillliant, i say and yes, definetely patentable….

No wonder, they keep shattering the “patent records”. maybe, they need to file another patent for shattering existing patent records…

Here’s the link for your viewing pleasure… http://ipwatchdog.com/patents/US_20090119148.pdf

“Masala Inside” Dosa @ vidyarthi Bhavan, Bangalore- A Delight….

Last weekend, I had been to a place called Vidyarthi Bhavan, located in the bustling Gandhi bazaar marketplace in Bangalore. After completing our regular shopping ( “regular” would mean anything and everything to do with wifey dear, who is great on impulse buying ), wifey dear suggested I try out Vidyarthi Bhavan….

A relic from the old times ( one board indicated “estd 1934″ ), this place has been suitably modified to suit the modern times. well…almost.. The ambience is definetely old world, complete with waiters dressed in Veshtis/ Uniformed blue shirts, gigantic idly/dosa batter making devices, etc.

Like the Inspector guy from Ratatouille, it was compelling to order everything that was there was there on the menu, only catch being there was NO menu. The menu was whatever the waiter told you… and it was pretty much the standard fare…you had the following choices:

1. Masala dosa
2. Vada
3. Khara bath
4. Kesari bath

Delicious fare- Unbelievable prices

I ordered the first three… and then the fun started.The sheer experience of watching these folks “optimize” the way they serve the customers, the way they tossed the plates (and sometimes the customers) around, the spontanaitey of it all…. left me mesmerized….

Masala Inside- Vidyarthi Bhavan's trademark dosa

Then the dosa arrived. Just the dosa. No accompaniments. No sambar, no chutney…atleast not yet. The waiter was handling twenty plates of dosas and tossing them around the table… And then there was another guy who would follow him with a huge “chutney jug” and pour the semi liquidy chutney on top of the buttery dosa which is filled with the delicious masala inside. The dosas here are thrice the thickness or regular dosass we get in Chennai/ elsewhere.

Vidyarthi bhavan- retaining Old world charm in a modern world

Filter Coffee was a tad watery and quite disappointing.. I like my coffee to be of  just the right proportions – frothy, aromatic, not too sugary, and a swirl of white milk with browny edges and ofcourse served piping hot.

All in all, a great experience.

Kondajji Varadaraja – “The Purple Cow” Effect…

At first glance, Kondajji, which is around 15 kms from Haasan looks like your typiclal “middle of the nowhere” village. Lush green fields on one side and a rivulet on the other side of a narrow road, nothing “out of the ordinary”… EXCEPT that this tiny village has a gigantic vigraha of Varadarajaswamy, an avatar of Lord Vishnu.

When we reached there on a drizzling saturday afternoon, we did not know what to expect. But we were in for a pleasant surprize. The Lord was gorgeously decorated as can be seen from this picture.

Kondajji Varadaraja Hasan

Rudresh, the self anointed priest, tells me that this could be a 14th century statue built under the times of Hoysalas. However, it was buried under ground to protect it from the then Muslim invaders who went about rampaging the cultural icons and dieties of the day.

Folk tales also have it that there was an old woman who dreamed of bringing the Lord to her place as she could not visit the “chenna keshava temple” which is around 15 kms from here in Belur. So, she managed to literally “move” the Lord by the power of her prayers. Hence the name “Konda Ajji” which would rough translate into “Old lady’s bringing”

Well..What is the purple cow connection? Hmm….People who have read Seth Godinwould have immediately got the connection. For others who are wondering who Seth is,  that link is a good place to start. One of his books talk about the “Purple cow” effect as a powerful marketing message. I am willing to wager a bet that this temple is going to gain more visibility and popularity within an year or two. There is this “Otaku effect” that is currently gaining critical mass….

Here are a couple of more snaps of Kondajji village….

Lush greenery

and one more….

Kondajji rivulet

Moron Award of the Day – June 5th

Well…If you thought the Gov’t would act as role models by following road rules, think again… Here’s one Karnataka gov’t vehicle driver who was on a mission — mission to kill anyone who came across his way. While it is not evident here as to the rampant behaviour of this driver, he was confusing the heck out of the other vehicles as he kept changing lanes haphazardly.

And so he deserves my “Moron Award of the day”

More to come….

Photoblog -Moron Award of the day- 4th June

Here we go, my first of what could become a “vigilante”/ “Active citizen” initiative about bringing into focus, all that’s wrong ( and I hope i also find interesting positive nuggets that I can share with you) with the Bangalore Traffic.

The camry driver is oblivious of the fact that  a) he has gone beyond the “zebra crossing” line which makes it difficult for pedestrains to cross to the other side b) You can clearly note that the signal is “red” c) there is no way he could merge with the already clogged traffic lanes with two buses one behind the other d) He is driving a Camry, which ain’t your “Let’s go, Alto” kind of small vehicle in the Indian roads and is not going to be easy to ‘squeeze’ it between an Auto and the Bus…

Clearly, this guy deserves my “Moron Award of the day”.

More to come….