Layshmun

This is one more travel related post.
it was rather foggy that morning.
just two days earlier, flights out of Bangalore were delayed. i was hoping that it was a rare occurrence in Bangalore.
the drive to the airport early that morning, felt suddenly strange. i noticed that many vehicles had their hazard lights on! but still driving at top speed.
my driver did not know if that was any convention to be followed and so, drive with normal lights.
on arrival at the airport, i checked with an airport taxi driver - who confirmed that it is their convention to have the hazards on, as it improved the identification of the vehicles by those that follow.

for the first time in Bangalore, i could see - or rather not see - that the visibility was so poor. all flights that morning were delayed by about 2+ hours!

the other strange experience on the road was in Noida.
as i was moving on an expressway, suddenly noticed that cars were coming in the opposite direction, fairly fast.
the driver was not very concerned.
he also slowed down, made a U turn and drove as if nothing happened till he came to an exit to get off the expressway.
apparently that is a normal thing to avoid any jams ahead.

but one thing from this trip that amused me was the steward on the flight.
it was an economy airline, and i could understand their austerity measures.
this person took it to an extreme in economizing on the announcements.

from what i could recall from other announcements, i could guess that Layshmun - is the economized form of Ladies and gentlemen!

My first step - need your help!

After many years in thinking, I took the first step to formalize my thoughts related to a pet topic.
it is about creating a self development framework for individuals- professionals in particular and professionals in the software industry, to be very specific.

it is a more serious attempt compared to this blog. and may not be of interest to many of you, who have been following this blog.

I call the model the Software Kundalini.
I have discussed this idea with many friends over time and so, may not be very new to some of you.
while it has been an intention - and i had decided not to make any new year resolutions, one of my good friends - Rali - had taken this as his resolution - to push me to start.
By his theory, once you start, the stream might meander, but find its way to the destination.

Rali, thanks. i have taken the first step - after yesterday's call.
.
The first choice to be made was the structure of the documents, i want it to be an interactive and collective project, where i hope that the inputs from my well-wishers would enrich the work product.

after a very quick, not very scientific, comparison, i chose a different technology platform for that - on wordpress.

I would like to invite you to my other blog, look not only at the blog posts, but also the pages.
right now, it is very sketchy.
i hope to evolve it over time.
but early feedback from you all would be very valuable.

do spare some minutes to go to my new project  and share your thoughts.

i will continue with my thoughts on other topics here.

Power Points on trains

as i travel to chennai these days by train, i have been trying to find the most effective timings and options to use the transit time.

i prefer the day trains to night - as the night train timings are not very convenient - and they are usually full.

I try to catch up with some sleep as well reading which, of late, i have been finding it difficult to get time.

the last time i was in the I AC night train, i noticed that they had power points in the coach.
on shatabdi or lalbagh, i noticed that there were plug points, but not for every seat.

when i traveled last week, i was hoping that i would get a seat near a plug point.

i was lucky to get such a seat both ways and could be connected to the net with the data card.

now, i am convinced that day train travel to chennai is a very productive way of travel, as i can also catch up with the mails..

Cool! no?

the transcience of time

i did not know how else to put it.
going through another turn of the calendar year, it was an overdose of looking back, looking forward everywhere, mostly in the media.
add to that the flood of new year wishes.
and some contrarian thoughts.
about the futility of new year resolutions.
or the myth of the self-improvement programs.
or the themes around the anger and frustrations of the effects of terror.
or the invitations from 5 star hotels, resorts and event managers to drink up and usher in the new year.

this time, i decided not to send out any greetings - or even post in this blog - till after a few days in the new year, so that everybody would have cleared their flooded mailboxes..

coming to the topic, i can understand the special days created by - i guess, archies, to promote sales of cards - such as fathers' day, mothers' day, pets' day, secretaries' day, or the festivals that occur throughout the year.
but, new year?

it does not coincide with any other years [birthday - at least for most of the people], financial years, academic years etc around which our plans and activities spin..
as legends have it, the current new year on Jan 1 was also forced from march 1 - when it used to be somewhat synchronized with the advent of spring..
last year, the tamilnadu government moved the tamil new year from sometime in april - according to the tamil calendar - to jan 14, pongal day - which is the harvest celebration.

i feel that we should have anniversary dates for various activities in our lives.
for self improvement - though it may be a myth - or the guilt-washing resolutions, it should be one's birthday.
for financial planning - sync it with the financial year, so at least your taxes would he managed in time.
for holidays, sync it with the school year.

make the current new year a day for social contribution and increase the social awareness around you.

go ahead and indulge, if you wish, but spare a thought and some action for others not so fortunate.