The World of my Own

Maybe this post is a bit too late. But as they say better late than never. Even if I can get one more extra person to vote in tomorrow's (21st October 2019) Maharashtra state elections, I would be happy. Tomorrow 21st October 2019, Citizens of Maharastra, India go out to choose their state government for the next 5 years. The ruling Shiv Sena (SS) - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is supposed to sweep the polls again behind Prime Minister (PM) Modi's huge win in May 2019 (never like this political term "ruling party" used for the majority party or alliance in India). The opposition is supposed to be too scattered and not focused to mount any sort of challenge to the SS-BJP alliance. It should not be this way. We need to think local in State and Local elections. It should not matter what and who the Central government is made of.  Has your local MP done enough for your constituency in the last 5 years? Does he or she have a vision for the future and understand your l...

I have had the good fortune of having great guides or mentors all my life. Starting my ultimate guide/mentor - My Dad. While he was with us, I looked up to him and went to him for everything. I (and my brother) owe all basic values and behaviors to him (my mom refined those values in us). After him (i was 27 by then), I sought mentors, especially for my professional career. I found many - some of my direct supervisors, other leaders in my firms, and many virtual ones in good books. These mentors have been very influential in my career, in my life, and where I am now. I am so grateful to them for their time and counsel. I always felt mentors are always needed to guide us. Even Indian Gods and Heroes like Ram and Arjun had mentors or teachers that guided them in time of need (Simba had Mufasa).  Multiple TED speakers confirmed this idea. But, recently I interacted with people who told me that mentoring is no use to them. And that they are different than most other people an...

Every day we read about the Water Crisis around the world. 2018 included news of Day 0 (the day when a city or regions runs out of water) for Cape Town and our very own Shimla. We hear of farmer suicides across India - one of the main causes is lack of water for their crops (I know oversimplifying a complex issue).  Our groundwater is at the lowest levels ever. Yet we are not seeing a comprehensive a water management or water conservation policy from the center or the states. But last week, we took a step in the right direction with a new ministery for Jal Shakti . Hope at last India will look at its water resources holistically which is the desperate need of the hour. I will be the first to admit; I don't conserve my water use. I try but I think I can do better. I let my son play in our shower for 15 -  20 minutes almost every day. But he is so happy when he is playing there. I believe we all deserve these simple pleasures. And we, Mumbaikars, can afford it if we manage ou...

A lot has happened since I last wrote a blog post. Lost my rock, my dad to diabetes. I got married to a wonderful lady. Spent 5 years in the most amazing place in the world, Southern California, enjoying each other’s company and exploring the world. Then we had our amazing son; who is two now. Professionally, I grew a lot within Arcadis in Los Angeles. Was lucky enough to graduate with an MBA from UCLA and that too with no debt. But this post is not about all that. It is about my move back home to Bombay (Mumbai) among other things. It has been more than 6 months since we moved back. This move was three or so years in the making. My wife and I made a decision to leave our life in SoCal and move back home to with our family and be part of India growth story. To be truthful, I also wanted to make up for lost time. I missed being with my mom (and late dad) for 14 years. I missed being with and being their for my brother as he navigated through adult life without me. They never asked for ...

I wrote this when i was in Praha 2 weeks ago during my eurotrip but for got to post it. The reason for for my euro trip was to get know the country's culture and i got the with 35 km bike to karlsten castle from prague. My ride was hard. Changes in slope, losing my way, running out water, friends with cramps; i face every issue imaginable. I even had flat tire on one bike. But i fixed it. Anyways, the post is about the czechs. They helped my friends and i every time we were in trouble. Like a fellow cyclist who helped us get to a different to find part of the route. Like the lady in the middle of no where came out of her house to get us back on the right route when she saw that we were lost. Like the bartender who directed me to the next town because he did not have what we wanted. Like the restaurant owner and worker who helped us with some multivitamin drinks and a smile :-) All these czech people live outside of prague. They were so courteous. Always smiling. even if we did not...

It is funny how "not so well off" people end up giving so much and touch your help when you least expect them to. I was returning to the airport from my hotel in Denver last week. My hotel had called a super shuttle for me. It was bang on time. A normal looking black d00d came out and took my luggage. After placing in the booth of his van, he opened the rear door for me and i sat there in one of the seats. He silently then started driving to other hotels around downtown Denver to pick other passengers. He did not seem to find any. At his last pick up point, there were a lot of people and traffic but non for his van. I knew my hotel was fully booked for the weekend and this one seemed the same. I proceeded to ask him if there was a big event in Denver over the weekend and he told me there were several. This was start of a nice conversation with him. To make our conversation easier, he invited me to take the passenger seat next to him. I politely obliged as i love to ride shotg...

My friend Sonal recently recommended to me this blog about personal finance for young people. It is called http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com. Sounds like a scam, doesn't it? At first i was skeptical too. Reading the blog and researching it over the web made me realise - this guy can really help me. The blog is written by a recent Stanford guy, Ramit Sethi . Yes, he is of Indian decent. I think for me, this fact strengthened his genuineness :-)He also recently realised a book under the same name - I will teach you to be rich. I have bought that book. Personally, i think i am ok with personal finance. I am risk taker by nature.and I have been putting a lot of time into reading about it and learning. I have also taken some advice from a financial advisor for my investments. But I was having problems managing simple things. I needed a method to manage the zillions of accounts that i have currently. Yah, I have managed to do that like most young guys just out of schools. Most of the...

NO IPL should stay in India! Will the English FA allow EPL to move outside the country if a similar situation arises??? Its a tough situation because of the elections at the same time. Fear has been created amongst the players by the terrorism propaganda. I think we should reschedule it with lesser games and still play it in India.. - Arunshankar Its a sad thing that IPL had to be moved but its better to have it moved rather than cancel altogether. - Chinmay BCCI is an extremely selfish organization. At some point it called the Indian Cricket team - Team BCCI. but it is shamelessly registered as a charitable trust and it bailed on the country even though the home minister personally asked them to reschedule...because some of the glitz would be lost due to non-availability of players. - Chakkravarthy Before I start, let me make my stance clear - I am fine with the IPL moving overseas. My reasons, firstly, the games should not stop because our Government cannot provide prot...

My friend Munmun sent this today. I really liked it :-) The time will come  when, with elation  you will greet yourself arriving  at your own door, in your own mirror  and each will smile at the other's welcome,  and say, sit here. Eat.  You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart  to itself, to the stranger who has loved you  all your life, whom you ignored  for another, who knows you by heart.  Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,  the photographs, the desperate notes,  peel your own image from the mirror.  Sit. Feast on your life.  Derek Walcott  

My love of cooking and enjoying it was reignited few night ago. On 25th Feb @ignitephx #3 , I heard Chanelle speak about her passion for cooking and eating good food. I realised that in the past few months, i had lost my passion for cooking. It had forgotten how much fun it is to create something delicious and then enjoy eating it. She also emphasised that the food I eat must also look good because I am worth it. Thanks, Chanelle :-) Since then, I have started to cook more often and enjoy it again. I plan to share it all you guys - my friends. If you are in Phoenix, come and join me any time for some delicious homecooked food(call me first though). If you are not in Phoenix, i plan to put up some pictures every so often. The first ones are here on my new food blog: The World of my Food

Yesterday, Gordon and I met near Regal Cinema (South Bombay). This was first chance to go to south Bombay after 26/11. My walk from CST station to Regal cinema did not feel any different. The same old crowded streets with people running around, street peddlers trying to sell their wares, cars honking, it felt like my same old Bombay to me. One change that i saw, was the metal detectors at CST station and more police presence. But, i did not feel any tension in the air. It seemed business as usual in south Bombay. Gordon suggested we have our lunch at Leopold Cafe. This is where all the mayhem started on the 26/11. I had never been to this cafe before. At first look, the place seemed like any other cafe in Bombay except there were more foreign customers than Indians. The bullet holes have not been repaired and apparently they wont be. I saw many people come to the cafe just to see these bullet holes. We were sitting next to a pillar which had a mark indicating that a bullet had brush...

The solution to our internal security is not simple. The responsibility of this situation is just not on the politicians and bureaucrats, but on the whole of India. - The people of India. I think we are as much responsible as the politicians and bureaucrats are for this current pathetic situation. The following are the things that are the needs of the hour : Politicians Create a separate portfolio for Internal/Homeland Security. Have a really strong minister fo r it. Make a division in CBI, RAW etc solely for the purpose of the internal security. They will brief the union minister for homeland security. Each state has its own state minister for internal security. They are responsible for the security of the state s. Have highly trained commandos in all the major cities including tier 1 cities. Train the police to handle such terrorist attacks in the absence of the commandos. Also, train them to work under the commando when they are present. Provide all the equipment required to do the...

This thought came to my mind today morning while riding to work. As countries like India, China and some African countries (in the future) start to develop, will they make the same mistakes that the currently developed countries made during their development. Will these countries and their future generation reinvent the wheel? I am speaking in terms of the environment. Will they use clean technologies or rather use old non environmentally friendly ones? Will these countries learn from other's mistakes. Will hybrid cars be a norm in these countries? Will they generate less non-biodegradable waste? Will they generate energy using clean sources? Who is responsible to see that these mistakes are not repeated? The Government, the people or the entrepreneurs? I wonder...ah?

On a day when India is celebrating the successful completion of Stage 1 of conquering the moon, people are being beaten up and public property worth thousands of rupees is being burnt in Mumbai and its suburbs. What a contrast! But that is my India for you. On one side, people taking law into their own hands proclaiming that they are saving the marathi  manoos and hurting people from other parts of country to gain political mileage and on the other hand, 3000 people from all over India are working together to conquer one goal - the moon.   I am sure, of the 3000 people, there is atleast one  marathi  manoos. Does he care that he belongs the different state than the others working with him? It must not even cross his mind that he is working with an Bihari or Tamilian. He can only see that all of them have a common goal - to put an Indian flag on the moon.  He lives, works and shares his life with others without worrying about their origin. He cannot even think of hurting them. He might ...

IPL = Indian Premier League. India's answer to the EPL (UK), NFL (USA) etc. I am sure there are zillions of articles/blogs on the web that gives its views on the IPL. This entry of mine came about because of another blog entry by my friend Gordon . Gordon has an interesting and good analysis on the business strategies that various franchises owners in IPL are using. Anyways, this is how the franchise system works. It has been around the US (and other parts of the world for a long time). It all depends on why an individual owns a franchise. There can be various reasons - 1. You loves the game so much that you want be involved in it. In this is the case, money comes secondary. You just want to win for yourself and for your team's fans. Once you start winning, more fans, more money. You will break even late but the profits (or losses) will be greater. I think Kolkata KnightRiders fall in this category. Other international examples - New York Yankees (Baseball), Dallas Mavericks...

Sorry for not updating the blog since my last entry from Dubai. Since then I have been home in India. It was so amazing to see my family and friends after 3 1/2 years. I spent most of my time in India with my family. Two important things I got done while I was back there were my H1B visa stamping and getting my parents and brother their respective visitors visa. They will come to US this year. Yipee! Rupesh-Poonam wedding was great. I met a lot of friends there and also some of my professors from VJTI It was sad to leave home but I knew i will see them soon in America. On my way back, I stopped at London and met my dear Munmun. It was fantastic to see her. We roamed around London for 2 days and It was so much fun. London is really picturesque city with lot of Victorian architecture. The London visit with Munmun will always be a special one for me. Back in Phoenix, I got back to work. I got a new job at Malcolm-Pirnie as a Engineer (Grade 2). They also got my visa transferred and ...

It is 8.30am local time in Dubai on the 24th of January 2008. My flight from London reached Dubai at 6.30am. It was still dark in Dubai so I could not see the structures below clearly. I was wondering if I would be able to see the palm tree and world map structures. But I did see a ship dumping sand probably to make more of these fascinating structures. We took a bus from our plane to the terminal as the new terminal is under construction. The airport seemed more crowded than Heathrow. I managed to get a calling card and called dad letting him know that my arrival in Bombay would be on time. This flight to Mumbai will be short one around 3 hours. So I am almost there :-) As for the previous flight, the emirates service was exemplary and so were the air-hostess ;-) The dinner was really nice and the entertainment system was amazing. The only problem I felt was the seats seemed a little uncomfortable. I did not sleep on the flight at all. I chatted on and off with a lady next to ...

I reached London around 1 hour ago. Flight was comfortable and empty. I had no one next to me on the flight so I could spread myself and get a nice sleep for a few hours - around 4-5 hours. Since I did not have any one next to me, I have no interesting conversations to report this time. Food was ok – Dinner and Breakfast. The entertainment system was real bad and did not work well. I watched the, starting of rush hour 3, middle part of transformers and end of the Simpsons movie. There was supposedly some glitch in their new system. The highlight of the flight was the landing in London’s Heathrow Airport. The weather is cloudy here. As my Boeing 777 broke through the clouds, the most amazing sight appeared. Below me was London city with its Victorian style houses and lush green gardens. I saw a few football grounds, cricket pitches and I saw a stadium too, but could not tell to which London football club it belonged to. I realized that the cars were on the right side of the roa...

After an hour long delay in Phoenix where I was sitting in the plane due to snow storm in Chicago, I reached O’Hare Airport around 30 minutes ago at 8.55pm local time. The flight was uneventful except that my cabin luggage just fit into the overhead storage of the McDonald Douglas S80. I do not know what I would done if it had not. I met a person (do not know his name) who sitting next to me. We did not converse for the first half. He was listening to music and I was reading. After the drinks were served, I tried to break the ice by asking him if he was from Chicago and thus started a nice conversation. He was management guy with a company which makes manufacturing tools. Our conversation ranged from his company, Boeing 787 (he knew a lot about aircraft manufacturing) , the financial market (he was an accountant by education), his fondness to golf and of course the Chicago Cubs. Alighting from the plane, I called my friends in Phoenix and parents in India and made sure that I called Ni...

I am writing this note from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport awaiting my flight to Chicago from where I will take flights back home to Bombay. Yipeee! I have been dreaming of this day for 3 ½ years now, since I came to ASU for do my masters’. Now, after a masters’, an internship and my first job, I can go back home to see my mom, pop and joo – my family. I cannot easily describe what I am feeling now. There is a real sense of excitement but there is also some apprehension about going back home. I have changed a lot in past 3 years and India has too. I just hope that I am still the same old venkat to my family that left India with big, ambitious and silly dreams. Everybody is real excited to see me in India and I am too. I think it has still not sunk in yet that I am actually going back home. It just feels like a dream. Like any other air trips have taken in the US in the past. But I am sure it will start sinking in when I board my flight from Chicago to London. I will blog again at O...