100 Day Challenge to Author your Book!
Something very interesting happened recently. I asked on my Facebook wall a simple request, “If you ever wanted to author a book in your lifetime, click the ‘Like’ button.“. To my utter surprise, 261 people showed interest in authoring a book. Over 80 people have even finalized their topic of the book. It is astounding to see the kind of interest that people have in writing a book.
However, even though people have the intent and desire to author a book, it’s a lot tougher to put that into action. When I started with book authoring many years ago, I faced that problem initially and I really wished there was someone to help guide me and motivate me.
Having authored four books now (and working on my fifth), I figured it would be nice to have an event to help people achieve their dream of authoring their book. Thus was born the ‘Book Authoring Retreat‘. It’s an intense, highly focused, two day book writing workshop which is part of the 100 day plan to bring out the book. The aim of the retreat is to encourage and help the participants publish their book by March 1st, 2014. Every participant commits to ensuring that their book gets published by that deadline.
It takes place in a lush green 9 acre farm in a beautiful village. You can get more details about the event at http://Kiruba.com/authoring
Building a Chicken Coop: Want to Join in?
We are planning to build a Chicken Coop at our Farm. The photo above is an inspiration and want to build something along similar lines. We intend to build it with as much local materials available in the village. If you are someone who likes to build things, someone who gets a high by getting busy with DIY (Do-it-Yourself) projects, we’d love to have you join us.
Rajendran, a talented carpenter from our village will be guiding us in building the Chicken coop. So, we are in very capable and safe hands.
We have already bought a pair of Turkey chicks and Guinea Fowls ( which escaped today !!) and intend to have a large bunch of country hens and cocks. While the intention clearly is to raise them as free-range, we want to have a nice night shelter built for them.
We plan to start constructing the Chicken Coop from next week. I suspect that this may take anywhere from two weeks to a month to finish it. If you are interested in joining us during any of the weekends or even longer, give me a shout at Kiruba(at)Kiruba.com. You can stay at our farmhouse and we go dutch with food.
This will be a fun project to work on.
IBM Bets Big on Cloud and Mobile
Disclaimer: I’m here on invitation on IBM to attend the Innovate 2013. This is an annual event where over 5000 developers from around the world gather together to hear over 300+ speakers.
At the IBM Innovate 2013 summit, its very loud and clear that the Big Blue has its eyes set on four major areas: Cloud, Mobile, Big Data and Social. Even as the event was going on, there were acquisitions made in these spaces. (Just today, IBM picked up SoftLayer for a rumoured $2 Billion)
IBM is ramping up its software, training and resources to help organizations create, test and deliver mobile and cloud applications. These new initiatives expand the development capabilities of IBM’s SmartCloud and IBM MobileFirst offerings.
Key to this transition is DevOps. DevOps is an integrated approach to software delivery that integrates an organization’s culture, processes, and tools. It spans the entire lifecycle, from business planning and creation to delivery and feedback. The goal of DevOps is to enable continuous software delivery allowing businesses to quickly seize market opportunities and better meet client demands. To view a picture story on the importance of DevOps, click here.
Given the close connection between mobile and cloud applications, the need for a single, automated DevOps strategy for both technologies is essential. IBM’s DevOps portfolio helps businesses address the full lifecycle of software delivery with a common approach regardless of the type of application being developed. Learn more about the entire portfolio here.
Inviting Volunteers to Vaksana Farms on June 15 & 16
Over the weekend of June 15 & 16, we are inviting people who are passionate about farming to come be part of the farming activities at our village. Vaksana farms is an idyllic 9 acre farm set in a beautiful village called Rettanai, near Tindivanam. You can learn more at http://Kiruba.com/farm
This volunteering opportunity would be ideal for people who are exploring farming as a way of life or for city folks who want to experience rural life.
So, here’s the plan. We leave for the farm from Chennai at 7pm on Friday evening. On Saturday and Sunday, we wake up early and get ourselves busy with lots of activities. We start back to Chennai at 6pm on Sunday evening. (If you think you can come only for one day, that’s also fine.)
Transportation
We all meet up at Koyambedu bus stand at 7pm on Friday night and take a bus to Tindivanam and then to Rettanai. There are plenty of buses available. All buses that go to Villupuram, Trichy or Madurai is good for us. This is a cheaper option and all of us pay our own fares.
Accommodation
Accommodation is taken care of. We have a lovely small house right in the middle of the farm. It has a large hall and a mezzanine dorm. We recently got electricity connect but the power is off half the time.
Food
We typically buy food from a hotel in the nearby town. We go dutch and food is fairly inexpensive. Alternatively, we have a working kitchen and we can attempt to do group cooking. Will be lots of fun.
Activities
OK, here’s what we plan to do over the weekend.
1) Plan and plant a complete living fence. ( a fence made completely from plants)
2) Plant fruit saplings to create a mini food-forest ecosystem.
3) Mulch and manure the fruit tree saplings.
4) Build a balcony railing from Bamboo stems.
5) Prepare Panchakavya (organic manure) for the farm.
If this sounds interesting, do join us to volunteer at the farm. You can reach me at Kiruba@Kiruba.com. Look forward to having a very productive, sweaty, fun-filled weekend !!
Announcing The Bucket-List Bootcamp
Pic: ThinkContra
I’m a big believer in bucket-lists. I remember I made a list on the eve of the year 2000 and when I turn back and look at the list, it has really defined me as a person. It has given me the right clarity and focus in pushing forward.
I have been meaning to do a retreat focused on chalking out things that we truly want to pursue in our lives. Thus was born The Bucket-List Bootcamp. More info at http://Kiruba.com/bucketlist
While its easy for us to write down the list ourselves, its far more difficult to follow up and turn them into reality. Just like how training for a marathon as a group makes it easy, gunning for our goals makes it possible with the right team. The goal of the bootcamp is to invite 15 very motivated individuals with lots of hunger to pursue their passion together and help form a self-supporting group. Each of us will push others to achieve our goals.
The event takes place at my 9 acre farm, a nice, quiet, idyllic place to relax and plan our life. More about the place at http://Kiruba.com/farmstay
The event takes place on September 14 & 15, 2013. We are currently inviting application to select the best 15 people. If you are interested, I encourage to apply at http://Kiruba.com/bucketlist/bootcamp. Click on the ‘Apply’ button. Once selected, each participant makes a door donation of Rs.3000 which will be spent towards workshop materials, resource persons, fresh organic farm fresh meals, accommodation, local travel and excursion to Gingee Fort. There’s option to make the payment in installments if you need flexibility in payment.
Do you know a person who can benefit from this? Please do share the word around. Thank you in advance.
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