June 30, 2006

Wonderful Andhra Dinner & A Great Cook Book


From left to right: Pratiba Jain, Jigyasa Giri and Pedatha

Pratiba and Jigyasa did something I had long wanted to do. Capture Grandma's expertise in a book. Let me explain. Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers are exceptional cooks and they can churn out recipes like only they can. And they have treasure trove of memories. I always wanted to capture their thoughts but never could.

So, when I heard about these two friends who did just that, I had all admiration for them. I should thank Prabodh Jain for introducing me to them. Their book is a compilation of receipes painstakingly gleaned together from the divine looking Pedatha ( short for Pedha atha meaning Elder aunt). The fact that she is the daughter of V.V.Giri, ex-president of India, only adds to the aura.

I was invited to a lovely dinner by them and I must tell you that it'll be an evening I'll remember for a very long time. Authentic andra food is something I can kill for. Add to that an interesting conversation of their experiences just made it even better.

This self-published book is the fruit of two years of labour. Learn more about it at www.pritya.com.





The wonderful andra spread that I was treated to.

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June 29, 2006

Cycling Chennai to Pondy & Back in a Day

Shree & Karthik, an IITian, are planning to start early morning at 3:00AM this Saturday, July 1st, from Chennai to Pondicherry. They plan to head back and reach Chennai the same day at about 10:00 at night. That's about 320 kms in a single day. Doable, especially since the East Coast Road is a pleasure to ride on.

I'd have loved to join but I have already planned a trip out of the city this weekend.

If you want to join this expedition, send an email to Shree.

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June 28, 2006

Podcast: Listen To My Conversation With Ram Viswanathan

The podcast is on Ram's site.

Ram and I met up at his luxurious house tucked in one of the quietest neighbourhoods at Alwarpet. It was an interesting meeting. The fact that both of us are just getting started off with podcasts and are pretty passionate about it greatly helped in the synergy.

It was a wonderful learning experience. I got to learn about the audio spliter which helps two audio inputs into a single mic jack. I simply must get that from Ritchie street. And oh, also two collar mics as well. We also discussed having an amplifier and analyzer (like how those fancy sound engineers do) and that's ofcourse will get listed in the long wishlist.

Once we set everything up, we started off with the podcast recording. Ram had obviously done his homework well. I saw a printed sheet full of questions. He, wisely, didn't show me the questions in advance. In a way it helped in keeping my answers impromtu and natural, though not eloquently enough.

Anyways, do listen to the podcast chat. And do drop in your comments for improvements. Thanks in advance. Someday soon, we hope to share our learnings for everyone's benefit.

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June 27, 2006

Podcast: Listen to Guy Kawasaki



I woke up bright and early at 4:00 in the morning. I had set up a interview schedule with Guy and sure enough it took place, albeit an hour late. Guy had to pick up his kids from School.

In this 19 minutes interview, Guys explains his blogging experiences, his stint at Apple and about his VC company. There were not so easy questions like why he is 5 years late to blogging and why he had to leave apple when it gave him so much personal branding.

Listen to the interview. If you'd rather download it on to your computer or iPod, here's the link.

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Got Questions for... err... Me?

Ram Viswanathan, the high flying senior exec at IBM, who blogs at ChennaiLiving wants to do podcast interview with me. And he's inviting questions. So, if you ever wanted to ask me anything, you know where to go.

In addition to blogging and podcasting, Ram and I share a common interest in running. The only difference is that he continues to practice every week while I don't! :)

We're meeting up at his home on Thursday evening for a friendly chat where we will tinker around with the recording. Should be fun.

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Coming Soon: The Guy Kawasaki Podcast

It's 11 PM now and I'm about to hit the sack. When I wake up at 4:00 AM, it'll be time to do a podcast interview with Guy Kawasaki. There were some excellent questions put across by readers that's been lined up.

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Of Friends & Theatre

This seems to be a season of friends donning the grease paint. Quite a few friends are trying their hands out in theatre. Check these out.

Kamala Subramanian, a college mate of mine at engineering is helping co-ordinate Jaanch Partaal, a comedy play that's taking place in Cubberley Theatre at Palo Alto, CA. You can get more information at www.naatak.com




The second is a play that's happening at Alliance Francaise, Chennai where my marathon running mate, Vidyuth Sreenivasan is taking part. The play is called 'The Curse of Urvashi'. Check the following image for more info.


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June 26, 2006

Somebody's Got Al Gore's Video?

I've been hearing so many positive reviews of 'An Inconvenient Truth' and 'you *must* see it' recommendations of late but just can't seem to lay my hands on the video. Can someone recommend a link to the full video or where I can get a DVD in Chennai?

I got hold of the trailer though on YouTube and it has even fuelled my interest to catch the full movie. Please help. Thanks.


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June 25, 2006

A Weekend of BlogMeets

First, there was the sumptious meetup of authors of Chennai Metblogs, then followed the Chennai Bloggers Meet at Ascendas IT park and the next day saw the first pre-Blogcamp organizers meet under the shady trees at Woodlands Drive-in. All three of them fun filled and very enjoyable.


The Chennai Metblogs gang.



The Chennai Bloggers gang. Great crowd. Nice fun. Check out many more snaps at Sagaro's.

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June 23, 2006

Podcast: Interview With Sujatha, Co-founder of Podbazaar




If you want to get started on podcasting, this would be a good one to listen to. Here, Suja, gives tips for first time podcasters and advices on do's and don'ts. Definitely worth a listen.

The best way to learn, I believe, is to dirty your hands with it. This is my third epidose in a series called 'PodView', short for Podcast Interviews...and I've learnt ways to improve. There's even added music at the beginning and the end. I'd love to hear your feedback.

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June 22, 2006

Got Questions On Podcasting?

I will be talking with Sujatha, co-founder of PodBazaar, tomorrow morning on various aspects of Podcasting. She co-founded the silicon valley based company along with her husband who also runs a podcasting technology company castmetrics. As you can see, podcasting runs in the family.

Suja, as she prefers to be called, is probably the most passionate exponent of podcasing, that I have met with. Her site hosts many popular podcasts from Indians around the world. She comes with a lot of experience in helping folks put their show up and is probably the best person to throw our questions at.

As always, if you have any questions on podcasting you want to get answers for, drop them in the comments below and I will pass them onto Suja. The talk show is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 4:30 AM India Time.

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Hindu Temple Selling Fish

I don't know whether to call this weird or stupid. Today's New Indian Express carries a story on the overgrowth of fish population in the Kapaleshwarar Temple tank. The depleting water levels isn't helping much. So, the temple authorities have decided to sell the fish. Why? This is what the temple authorities had to say..."The sale will prevent the fish from dying".

Yeah right!

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June 21, 2006

Evam's Comedy Play

This weekend and next sees another comedy play form the Evam gang. I've been to a couple of their plays earlier and throroughly enjoyed 'em. Looking forward to catching up with this one.

They've prepared a short trailer (I'm told it's the first for any stage play in India). They're even playing it at Sathyam Cinemas.

Check out the video.



More info at www.evam.in

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Chennai Bloggers Meet This Saturday

At 3:00 PM on 24th June at the Ascendas IT Park. Here's the direction. Here's more info. Never been there but I heard it has a pretty cool food court.

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Soccer For World Peace


(via Boston Bala)

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The Hindu, Don't Do This!

I was taken aback by today's edition of The Hindu. Their front page has an advertisement for Maruti Alto which looks just like one of their main stories.

The big bold headline reads, "No hike in petrol price". There's even a blurb below the title. The story goes on to talk about an Internet survey about fuel price hike and its result. It goes on to show as if Alto is the car with the highest mileage.

Honestly, I think they have compromised their editorial stand. I have respect for the paper which is what makes me cringe when I see stuff like this.

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June 20, 2006

The 4:00 AM Challenge

I have been wanting to do this for a long time. Been priming myself for two weeks. And actually been doing this successfully for the last three days. Yup, I'm talking about waking up everyday at 4:00 AM.

I've realized that early morning time is far more productive, workwise. The place is quiet and I'm able to think a lot better. With two little naughty kids at home, that makes a huge difference. Importantly, it gives time to plan for the rest of the day and it feels good to get a head start.

Sure, that's all nice but dragging yourself out of the bed is the toughest part. This is the crucial part. Many a times, earlier, I would just shut the alarm, roll over and continue sleeping. Sounds familiar, eh?! The early morning sleep, especially, is ecstasy redefined. Here's how I managed to beat it.

I would keep the alarm at the end of the room. So, the only way to cut out that irritatingly loud sound is to get out of bed. As soon as I put off the alarm, I quicky (yeah, very quickly) head straight to the bath room, strip, and turn the shower to full blast and get under it. This really wakes you. You should try it. Makes a huge difference.

The other trick is to hit the sack early at night. I make it a point to sleep at 10'O clock. Can't compromise on the hours of sleep or you'd feel like a zombie at office. As the Worldcup reaches the final stages, I'm expecting a slight change in the schedule but I should be sticking to the 4:00 AM wake up time.

I'm hoping to keep this habit for life. Just like how I don't drink coffee/tea, always bathe in cold water and cycle to office everyday. Hopefully, I should.

The weekends, ofcourse, is time for revenge. The rules get the middle finger! ;)

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June 19, 2006

Wanna Question Guy Kawasaki?

I will be interviewing Guy next week (28th June at 4:30 AM India time. yeah, AM!) and I welcome you to participate in the process. It will get published as a podcast. If you have any questions to ask Guy, leave it in the comments box and I'll ask him on your behalf. No, I ain't running dry on questions... got way too many to ask him, but I felt it would be great to involve the readers. So, chip in guys.

Guy achieved iconic status as one of the key guys responsible for the splendid success of Apple's Macintosh. Guy is one of Apple's earliest employees and played an important role as a passionate tech evangelist promoting the brand.

He is also well known for the bestseller books he has authored. He may be a very late entrant to blogging but thanks to his prolific writing and his famous 'top ten lists', his blog zoomed quickly to Technorati's Top 100.

He is currently CEO of Garage Technology Ventures (garage.com), a venture capital firm which specializes in high-technology startup firms located in Silicon Valley, California. He is also a columnist for Forbes.com

Books by Guy

        

        

Here are some interesting reads about him.

Wikipedia entry about Guy
Guy's Company
Interview with Management Consulting News

Go ahead, add your questions to him in the comment box.

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Just Arrived!

The book on corporate blogging arrived today. Nope, it isn't a free copy just because I interviewed the author! Bought it via FabMall.com. Booked it three weeks ago and they had to ship one to me from the US.

I'm in charge of setting up a small library for our company and I have the privelege of choosing the books to buy.

I'm currently reading another book and hence will queue this one for next week.

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June 18, 2006

Viral Marketing - Part Threeux!



Nice one by Nike. This one spotted on Brigage Road, Bangalore by Akshay.
(via Amit)

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Viral Marketing - Part Deux



It's such a coincidence that just when I write about viral marketing in my earlier post, I bump across this today.

Online viral marketing seems to be the in thing amongst marketers. Consider this. www.makeyourmoves.com is a site created for HLL to spread a buzz around Clinic AllClear shampoo. Apparently, the average time spent by a visitor on the site is 18 minutes. 18 minutes?! A brand manager would kill for that kind of brand exposure. And that too amongst the teeny bobbers. Now, you know.

BTW, the short videos are a good timepass.

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Viral Marketing



Click on the above pic to see an interesting ad for MakeMyTrip. These are made by WebChutney... yeah the same folks behind the OkTataByeBye campaign. There's more such campaigns here. Worth checking.

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Seen a Guy's Head Explode?

For a fake video, this one is darn good.


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June 16, 2006

Vintage Video: Steve Ballmer Sells Windows 1.0



This is a gem. At first I thought it could be a spoof. I played it many times over and I'm fairly confident that this is the real guy. I've always been hearing that Steve is an hardcore salesman and Bill Gates is a nerd. Now, I'm convinced.

On a sidenote, watch this nice little video on Channel9 with Bill and Steve discussing about Bill Gates' decision to step down in two years.

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MoMo Bangalore

I was just getting a feeling that there's a severe shortage of mobile tech professionals considering this space is heating up so much. Maybe there are folks but I was finding it rather difficult to meet up with such folks. MoMo or Mobile Monday is a pretty good answer.

Mobile Monday is an informal gathering of mobile professionals in the industry for sharing knowledge and networking. It was originally started in Helsinki in 2000 and has grown to cover many cities around the world.

There's one happening this coming Monday in Bangalore. Here are the details..
Date: 19th June, Monday,
Time: 6:30 pm to 8 pm.
Venue: Koshy's Chill Out Cafe, St. Marks Road.

Good way to network. Hopefully, similar stuff will happen in Chennai and other cities.

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June 15, 2006

Podcast: Listen to the Robert Scoble Interview



Scoble is easily one of the best corporate bloggers that I have come across. It's not easy being the "Unofficial Official" spokesperson for Microsoft but I personally felt he did a a damn good job. And how!

I'm glad I invited folks to throw in their questions. Some of them were really good and I threw them to Scoble. Got some pretty interesting answers.

For those who want to know who Robert Scoble is, I strongly recommend this Wikipedia entry.

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India Smiles : Humor Book From Penguin & Sulekha.com



It's an awesome experience bringing out a book. I can tell you it's not easy. So, when I just heard from Penguin Publishers that the book that you see above has gone to press and it will hit the bookshelves this July, I was super glad. That's awesome news. I was part of the team bringing out the book and the pride I exude is obvious.

Last year, Sulekha launched a fairly high-profile humor writing contest. We received over 5000 entries which were democratically shortlisted by the Sulekha's global community of readers. The final selection of winners was made by a very distinguished jury consisting of Khuswant Singh, Ruskin Bond, Ashok Mahadevan (Editor of Reader's Digest) amongst many.

Here's the blurb from the book.
"The book brings together the best of humor writing. Real-life accounts, of desperate parents lining up potential sons-in-law for unconventional NRI girls, young mothers struggling to make sense of their suddenly topsy-turvy lives, droll accounts of the unintentionally funny collision between technology and tradition, these are unpretentious, tongue-in-cheek stories, sure to bring a smile to your face"

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June 14, 2006

Coming Soon: The Scoble Interview

The podcast interview with Robert Scoble went off great. Woke up early in the morning to get things set up. The interview lies on my comp at home and there's some more work on editing and coversion that needs to be done before I can upload it. I have to rush to office now and will work on it tonight when I head home. I really liked the interview and I'd strongly recommend you listen to it when its put up.

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June 13, 2006

Wanna Question Robert Scoble?

I'm doing a podcast interview with Robert Scoble tomorrow at 6:00 AM India Time and I'm throwing open the question field to you. If you want to ask a particular question to Scoble, leave it in the comments box below and I'll ask him on your behalf. There's a time limit, so I'll pick up the best ones.

Who's Scoble, did you ask? Well, you need to crawl out of that big rock you have been hibernating in. Scoble is a tech evangelist at Microsoft but better known as it's most vocal corporte blogger. Here's what BBC has to say about Scoble: "Scoble's blog is widely seen as helping to humanise Microsoft and shift its stance from arrogant and aloof to one that is more inclusive and accepting of criticism."

Why is he in the news? 'Coz he is leaving the tech giant to join a start-up called PodTech as its Vice-President.

Two weeks back, I has requested Scoble for a podcast interview, much before I came to know of his daring move. So, here's your chance to question the guy. Drop your questions in the comments box.

Here's some related links for your reading.

MSNBC - Microsoft's Scobleizer blogs out
Globe and Mail - Corporate blogger Scoble to leave Microsoft
Microsoft Watch - Scoble The Exit Interview
Robert Scoble's post on leaving Microsoft

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Rain Dance?

I have a strong feeling that Brian Lara and his men would have performed some kind of rain dance. Whatever it is, the ritual seemed to have worked in saving a certain defeat.

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Amazon's Video Book Reading



This is a brilliant idea. They have a video of Manoj Shyamalan reading from his new Children's book. That's a great way to promote the book.

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June 12, 2006

Currently Reading


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June 11, 2006

What a Day To Be a Sports Fan!

I'm trying to cut down my TV watching time. But that stood no chance on a day like yesterday. Try this. The dream clash of Nadal V/s Federer at the French Open Finals, the rivetting Alonso v/s Schumacher in the British F1 GP, Sustained batting display by Dravid & Kaif in the Calypso and ofcourse the spirited display by the minnows against the biggies in the FIFA World Cup. How can you not stay glued to the tube?

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June 09, 2006

Stagefright Plays

Good tidings for Chennai theatre. This June 17th and 18th comes Stagefright, a series of five short plays, all romantic comedies, all really funny.


(via Samanth)

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MCC Class of '81 Reunion





The Class of 81 of the prestigious Madras Christian College is celebrating their Reunion on the August 13th and 14th at Chennai. The theme is "Celebrating 25 years of Nostalgia and Fellowship" and the two days would provide an opportunity for '81 Alumni to get reacquainted with former classmates and families to reminisce old times.

Madras Christian College, established by John Anderson, a Scottish missionary in 1837, is one of the oldest and finest colleges of the Indian sub-continent. I have been there on teaching assignments and I've always loved the greenish campus and the spirit of the students.

If you know of any MCC alumni, do pass the news around. Make sure to ask them to check out the website http://classof81mcc.com. Murali is one of the passionate organizers of the event. Any queries can be addressed to connect[@]classof81mcc.com

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June 07, 2006

Top 10 Marketing Blogs

Using Google PageRank and Alexa ranking, Mack Collier had jotted down the top 25 marketing blogs. Here's the cream.

1 - Seth's Blog - 11018
2 - Guy Kawasaki - 14793
3 - Gaping Void - 18059
4 - Duct Tape Marketing - 18562
5 - Creating Passionate Users - 22087
6 - Marketing Shift - 53816
7 - HorsePigCow - 53986
8 - Brand Autopsy - 85385
9 - Church of the Customer - 87685
10 - What's Next - 90302

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The Lara - Dhoni Episode

Thanks to CAS, I missed seeing the brouhaha over Dhoni's shot being a six or a catch. Thanks to the nice guys at CricketVideosUncut, I got to it. Rather interesting.


(via Sportolysis)

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June 06, 2006

Run and Live Longer

A rap on my knuckles to restart the running practice.


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Interesting Links

Web is the No.1 media : CNet reports that Web media is the dominant at-work media and No. 2 in the home. It reflects my personal usage. While I catch news both online and offline, online is clearly taking precedence.

Rafael Nadal Blogs: And he does it very regularly. Probably the first tennis celebrity player that I'm coming across who devotes so much attention to his blog. It doesn't look like its ghost written. But he does seem to have a full time photographer following him! :) (via Dilip)

And oh! So does Basab Pradhan: Who's Basab? He was the head of worldwide sales at Infosys. Less frequent updates but nice ones. He has an awesome name for his blog.

After Word, it's Excel : Google continues chasing MS Office.

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June 05, 2006

Why I Should Continue to Cycle to Work

When people ask me why I cycle to work, I always tell I do because, I enjoy cycling. The answer, invariably, is taken with a pinch of salt and a squinted eye. They then proceed to ask for the 'real reason'. They somehow can't see any enjoyment in cycling 22 kilometers every day in the traffic and heat.

After a period of time, I got tired of explaining the thrill in cycling and the feeling of staying real fit. So, I say its because of the rising cost of fuel. People quickly nod in agreement, tch tch the increasing cost and emphatize with me. I inwadly smile, happy not having to do any further explanation.

Now, for the first time, I'm beginning to believe what I'm saying. The fuel cost is indeed getting steeper and its infact becoming a strong reason why I should continue to cycle to office. In addtion to the 'health' factor, the 'cost savings' factor is beginning to get higher prominence.

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June 04, 2006

Google's Googly Ads

Cricket in india is so big that even Google can't afford to ignore it. In a marked departure from their methods, Google has launched a special advertisement package for the India-West Indies series. Hadn't known about it so far.

What they do is very simple. They have lined up a set of cricket related websites from their Adwords network so that the client ads will feature both Google search engine as well as cricket related websites.

An ominous sign of how Google's India team is beginning to eat into the online ad market by taking the portals in their own game.

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The US Immigration Experience in TTD

Yesterday's visit to the Tirupati Tirumala Devastanam (TTD) office at Chennai reminded me of US immigration. Rememer when you land in the US and have to pass through the immigration counter where you get photographed and finger-printed? We had to go through a similar exercise right here in Chennai.

We had gone to the Venkatnaryana Road temple to buy the darshan tickets and book accomodation for our trip to Tirupathi. My second daughter is nearing her first birthday and we need to tonsure her head. We stood in line at the booking counter and when our turn came up..yes, you are right, we were photographed and finger-printed. This surprised me. Looks like the officials are getting very security concious.

Sure, I appreciate the security measures. The only downside is that its mandatory that all members be photographed and fingerprinted. This means that I can't go alone and book tickets for my family. I had to drag my entire family members for the exercise.

They also have online booking. No identification or credentials checked here. Beats me.

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June 03, 2006

CNN IBN Scores on Blogs



I just chanced upon this page on IBNlive.com. It looks like almost every newsperson in CNN IBN is blogging. 73 is the count. I guess that must be a corporate decision. The last time I checked, only a handful were doing so.

When they say that they are most interactive news website in India, I might just have to agree with them. They also have a nice citizen journalism initiative.

I did a quick check with their competitors. Times Now has just one very unattended blog. Shame considering their site site, IndiaTimes runs a full fledged blog service. NDTV has none. They definitely are missing the game.

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June 02, 2006

The Indian what Challenge??



A rally race on our autos!! Yes, that's the Indian Autorickshaw Challenge. It definitely caught my fancy. Check this out. A 1000 kms rally, starting from Chennai till Kanyakumari, spread over 7 days. I thought the blurb they had on their site was perfect - "An Amazing race for the clinically insane"!

What's interesting is that the whole idea has been the brainchild of a bunch of guys from Budapest, Houston and Chennai. I'd say the brilliance of this idea is that its different. If it was a bike race or a car rally, I'd have yawned. But autorickshaws?! Now, you're talking.

The race is happening from August 21 till 27th. Even while reading the info, I was mentally packing my bags and selecting my rally mates to take part in the race.... until I saw the entry fee. 1000 Euros. That's Rs.60,000. gulp. And that's not including the petrol which is on us.

I foresee a lot of expatriates in Chennai and rest of India take part in the race. There aren't any such crazy trips happening and this should certainly entice the adventure starved ones.

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Error Messages That You Begin to Like



With more error messages like this, it makes you wish they had more downtimes! :)

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June 01, 2006

Podcast: Interview with Shaheen



Shaheen is an upcoming singer based in LA who's debut album 'Rock Candy' became an instant hit. She is the first guest to be interviewed in my new series called 'Podview', short for 'Podcast Interview'.

Her roots trace to Trichy, a town in Tamilnadu but has lived most of her life in Cleveland and LA. I don't remember how I got to her website but when I did, I was immediately drawn to the music playing on her site. For once I didn't frown at an audio playing default on pageload. I checked out the rest of her songs and took a good liking.

I shot an email to her publicist and we quickly set up an interview time, with her in LA and me in Chennai. We did it over Gizmo which has a really good recording facility. I did the editing and audio conversion using Audacity. Sujatha of PodBazaar was very helpful with tips.

Quick note: I suck at questions. Should improve over time. My side of audio was pretty poor while the other side was pretty good. So, you may have to bear with my feeble voice and listen up.



More info on Shaheen.

Yahoo! Movies Interview (Yeah, she did a cameo in a hollywood flick)
Screen Magazine Interview
Interview at Mahiram.com
SepiaMutiny coverage.

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