Picture of the kumbha konam. This is considered as the kumbha of south India.

Hindu scared symbols of Om and Trishul made of diyas (earthern candles)

There is a mad rush out here. Large swanky new shopping malls are opening every month to give the desired lifestyle to the next-generation Indians who believe in “work hard – party harder”. An average middle class Indian is earning well and want to live life BIG size.

When I was in Bath (U.K.) in 1999-2000, the difference in lifestyle (between India and U.K.) used to amaze me. I dreamt that one day India will follow suit. But I never thought that it will be so soon!  A lot of credit goes to the new age industries like IT, Biotechnology, Telecommunication followed by resurgence in media, real-estate, finance and retail.

So many new, dynamic and high-net-worth consumers are being created.

But, if you read the fine prints, we are jumping on to eat the fruits before it has ripened and are not putting enough effort to plan new trees.

We are growing because of the knowledge economy. Keeping this fact in mind, it is time that we ask some hard questions –

What are we doing to keep our self at the forefront of this economy?
Do we create and disseminate knowledge which will keep us at the ahead of competition?
Do we have enough universities and institutions which can equip our next generation of knowledge workers?
How will we educate such a fast growing population?
How will we learn to be creative and not repetitive?

The truth is – Our education system is pre-historic and there is no radical transformation since independence in 1947. There is no impetus on practical knowledge and original creation.

And the worst news is that we are trying to open more malls than quality educational institutions. We are happy with our IIT and IIM legacy which creates few thousand professionals every year. We are happy to quote these names and feel proud that these are few of the most respected institutions worldwide. Now ask few more questions:

What percentage of people in India wants to have higher education?
Out of this, what percentage actually gets quality higher education?
How many original world changing inventions have been done at IIT or IIM?
Where are the IIT & IIM alumni? How many of them are contributing towards the growth of India?
How many of IIT & IIM alumni have taken on the responsibility to spread the knowledge they have acquired?

The answers will give the real state of affairs!

For continued progress, India needs a mechanism to produce quality people. For that we need hundreds of quality institutions. Some of them will grow to become “center of excellence” like MIT, Stanford and CMU. But others should not be far behind!

Before, our government and business houses deliver the glamorous new India, they need to sit back and work out how to create the drivers of the new economy.

We need universities, not malls. Considerable amount of investments and efforts should be directed to create a conductive environment to create academia along with the industry. One cannot grow without the other.

The conclusion is:
We are reaping the harvest of the seeds that we sowed years back! But we are not sowing new seeds to secure our future. Let us do that before it is too late!

The lush green valleys of the Western Ghats (South India) indeed gives a feeling of heaven. It is not a surprise why people call it "God's own country". A picture showing – a path to heaven!

Here is a nice picture of sun playing in the Munnar hills. Worth watching –

Feel free to use this picture anywhere you wish or ask for the hi-res if you need. A credit will be appreciated.

On my recent trip to Munnar (South India), I had the fortune to see the bloom of Neel Kurinji (blue-kurinji). It is a shrub like plant which blooms with a blue flower once in twelve years! If you want to experience the same, you will have to visit Munnar in 2018.

Some photographs for you -

A neel kurinji shrub

Kurinji field

Enjoy the pictures. Feel free to use them (and give me credit for the same!)

I was trying to think out – What is the most important soft skill in life?

Some options I came across:
Communication? Public speaking? Problem solving? Team management? Time management?

The list was getting too long!

I tried to find a common thread which underlines several soft skills which came to my mind. I zeroed upon something which can be described as - "ability to take neutral view-points" to be the most important  of all. Communication is an integral part of our personal and professional life. To interact and understand the communication and to respond in an appropriate way, it is most important for a person to be able to see things from various viewpoints and understand the reason behind an action. Only when we understand the reason behind someone's action, we can modify our approach to get the desired result from the person we are dealing with.

A person should be able to put himself in place of the other person and see how will he feel or how will he react to a given situation. This skill can be very important for people who work in communication-centric jobs like sales and marketing, public relations, teaching, project management.

The root cause of all problems and disappointments is that we see things the way we want to see it. We all do this mistake conciously or unconciously.  However whenever we interact, we can try to remind ourself – "Step in his (the other person's) shoes".

Happy changing shoes!

Entrepreneurship knows no barriers!

Last year while searching for an office in Annanagar area of Chennai, I came across an entrepreneur who is remarkably different and inspiring. He reaffirmed my belief that entrepreneurship does not need boardrooms, stylish presentations and big venture capitalist to become successful.

I met this guy who runs an auto (three-wheeler taxi). He has put up "clear and consistent" advertising inside his auto and in the Annanagar area that he can arrange for rented premises. When he receive a call he is quick to react. He behaves in a very courteous manner and show you properties which exactly match you specification.

To add to this, one do not need to spend a penny on transportation as he will take you around free of cost in his three-wheeler to show selected properties.

I took some photographs of this person who found out how he can improve his own life and of others (people he serve) including his employee (Oh yes! I saw that he also employ a person now). He deserves to earn many times more than most three-wheeler taxis, because he has improvised.

Note: The guy sitting inside the auto is the boss! The bald guy is his agent / employee!

Few lessons that we can learn from him:

1. He primarily operate within a geographical limit. Thus he can get first-hand information on the properties vacant and possible tenants in that area.

2. He has used cross-selling on steroids. A person sitting in this three-wheeler gets a ride and pays for. If he is interested in renting out his property or taking a property on rent, he will immediately get contacts without any additional expense.

3. He knows what his customer exactly wants. He was right on target. I thin the reason was – He listened.

My best wishes to this gentleman and I hope to see him doing better everyday!

There has been a lot of talk over the BIG IT talent pool in India. Every bureaucrat and market research agency in the country shows towering numbers of colleges and students that they produce.

But the burning question is – Is this talent employable?

The biggest challenge Indian IT industry faces today is the ever-growing gap between graduating engineers and employable graduates. If not checked in time, it might result in a lost opportunity for India Inc. as opportunities will not wait and move towards economies who provide more employable talent at the best ROI.

The main reasons for this gap are:

• Low motivation for top experts to take up teaching as a profession.
• Outdated syllabus, course curriculum, infrastructure, teaching methodologies and content!
• Little or no emphasis in making people "life long learners", primarily because education is spoon fed in most institutions.
• Priviledge to "best education" has been made available to selected class.
• Poor use of technology to spread education to rural areas

There is a lot to rant about the negatives, which we all do. I never liked the way education is imparted in our country and always wanted to grab the first opportunity to change the same.

I am taking a humble step towards my dream project by launching Indus Net Academy in the third week of June 2007. I have coined the slogan as "New Age Education", which is timeless and conveys the feeling behind the project. The initial academic setup will be in a small area of 1000 sq feet, which will be extended as we mature and generate more demand.

Indus Net Academy has been housed in SDF Building, Sector V, Salt Lake, Kolkata for the following reasons:

• Close to the industry!
• Easy availability of successful professionals who might like to share their experience and knowledge.
• Ease of management, since Indus Net Technologies is also located on 4th and 5th floor of the same building.

The purpose of Indus Net Acaemy can be summerised as follows:

• Create employable talent
• Continued education for working professionals
• Accumulation & distribution of knowledge
• Rural education

(From now onwards the team behind Indus Net Acaemy is being termed as "We" instead of "I" since many key members of Indus Net Technologies thinks about the academy the same way that I do and are working tirelessly to make it a success.

Initially, Indus Net Academy will start with career oriented professionally taught courses on:- Web Design, Web Development & Internet Marketing. The course will be taught by experts who are practising these subjects at Indus Net Technologies and serving clients from all over the world. Teaching methodology will be a mix of classroom based core concept delivery, self paced study, research and discussion on important ideas, lab sessions and practical tips from practitioners of "how things are done in real life".

We are further backing up the courses taught in Indus Net Academy with guaranteed jobs by joining hands with companies who need the "industry-ready talent".

Since we have in-house professional talent available in Indus Net Technologies, we chose to start with subjects related to Internet industry. As we move ahead, we expect professionals from different walks of life to be a part of this movement and make a difference – to make the "new age education" dream a reality!

Will keep you posted. Looking forward to a bright future…

Keep an eye on http://www.indusnetacademy.com/

I am staying at the executive housing of ISB – Hyderabad today. It is managed by Sarovar Park Plaza (http://www.sarovarparkplaza.com/). The room is great and the service is impeccable.

But what caught my fancy is a small plaque on the work desk (photograph included).

It reads – “FORGOT SOMETHING? If you have forgotten any essential toiletry item, please contact Housekeeping. We will be pleased to deliver with our compliments. Shaving cream, disposable razor, comb, toothbrush or toothpaste”

I feel that this kind of approach has two fold benefits –

It increases the perceived value of the service. You are consciously requesting the toiletry and you feel obliged towards the hotel when you get them. In case these items are present by default, you take it for granted. The hotel is also getting an extra opportunity to serve you and deliver 'experience', which does matter a lot when you compare service providers.

It makes you feel that the hotel cares about you! – even if you do not want to use the toiletry. So they are creating a positive image in minds of its customers without spending a dime or invesiting any effort. It cannot get better than this.

The bottomline is – Communication (of value) and customer contact (to deliver positive experience) creates lasting, high value relationship.

Recently, I finished reading "The Fourth Estate" by Jeffrey Archer.

It was a nice read – a bit long though. At some places it becomes boring.

The overall storyline is interesting. What is more interesting is its simmilarity to real life media tycoons Rupert Murdoch and Maxwell. There are too many simmilarities to ignore and it looks like the real story has been spiced up and censored wherever required to give it a look of a fiction novel.

Murdoch like Townsend, was born to aristocrat family in Australia and they moved on to United Kingdom and then to USA to conquer the media empire. On the other hand Armstrong like Maxwell followed the trail from war torn Germany to the British army and both ended up in United Kingdom and then in USA to fight the penultimate battle with his arch rival. The incidence of misappropriation of pension funds brings the fiction and real life drama a step closer. However the climax is the way the novel describes the death of Armstrong which is very simmilar to that of Maxwell.

I found it more interesting as I read this book after I saw biography coverage about Maxwell on History Channel (most probably).

Worth a read!

Abhishek

I recently got a caricature done by Simon Ellinas. It rocks What do you think?
I highly recommend his service. Is is a real pro!