Go I Know Not Whither and Fetch I Know Not What

 

In Russian folktales, the evil Tsar would often send Ivan on an impossible quest. Today, with seemingly infinite knowledge just a prompt away, have you also set yourself on a similar pursuit?

Consider the following prompts:

• How to configure a zobot to have a free-wheeling conversation in English and Spanish, interspersed, leading to a call being scheduled?
• Is it possible to configure a zobot to have a free-wheeling conversation in English and Spanish, interspersed, leading to a call being scheduled?
• Do people find it easy to configure a zobot to have a free-wheeling conversation in English and Spanish, interspersed, leading to a call being scheduled?

Take a moment to consider who the Tsar is and who Ivan is. And also look up zobot while you are at it.

Will the responses vary substantially for these three prompts?

• Prompt 1: How to configure…? → Ivan asks for a map, starts the journey, but the forest changes shape and other tools like Dialogflow get introduced.
• Prompt 2: Is it possible…? → Ivan asks if the quest is realistic; maybe the wise old owl says: “Yes, but with moderate difficulty.” And Ivan sets on a chase.
• Prompt 3: Do people find it easy…? → Ivan asks about what others have experienced; maybe the wise old owl says: "Yes, but with moderate difficulty." And Ivan sets on a chase.

This reminds me of a story that I had come across in either ACK or a Tinkle long, long ago.

The story goes like this:

A traveller once asked a villager how far it was to reach the next town. Though the villager had heard him, he did not reply. Thoroughly annoyed, the traveller walked off in a huff. 

But soon the villager called out, “You will reach in two hours!” 

The traveller, confused, asked why the villager hadn’t answered earlier. 

The villager explained, “I had to see how fast you walk before telling you how long it would take.” 

So, let us not do a Tsar to ourselves. Let us understand where we stand before embarking on a journey. The walk in the park, a short trek near Ramanagara, and a trek to Everest Base Camp are all easy or difficult based on our current situation. And only we know it.

Kunagalu Betta Trek

 

It was Diwali's long weekend, and we wanted to go for a long drive. So off we went for a day trip to Kunagalu Betta. It is also known as the "Puppy-hill" trek - because one of the boulders at the base of the trek resembles the face of a pup. It could have been called a dolphin-nose trek as well, but Ooty has already taken that. 

Our pit stop was at Kamat Lokruchi - good breakfast is part and parcel for a good trek for us. A few Dosas, Khara baths and coffees later, we resumed our drive and reached the Kunagalu village. 

The trek is to a small temple for the village deity at the top of the hill. The initial stretch was a nice path with tall trees on either side. We were a little disappointed that this seemed to be too manicured and wouldn't be that much fun.

I only start counting when it starts hurting because that's when it really counts!

                - Muhammad Ali

The "IndiaHikes" website also had something similar to say: "The initial concrete road will give way to mud road which would lead you to a huge boulder. A faint trail will be seen on the left. This is where the actual trek begins."

 This trail looked promising. 

Soon it got quite interesting. There was a cave to go through. Nothing too big, but not too small either.

The last bit was up the steps carved out on the boulder. I have tried to point that with a red arrow . The red circle denotes the spot at the base where we had parked the car.

The view from the top was quite nice. The summit is a small plateau and we could spend 30 minutes catching our breath, savouring the views and clicking a few pics.

A few other interesting pictures:

And, the absolute highlight - our Toyota Hybrid vehicle gave a stunning 27 kilometers per liter as the average.

Agumbe: Tread Carefully in the land of Kaalinga

 It had been a year since we trekked through Periyar and the year-end vacation was coming close. On a whim, we decided to visit Agumbe, the kingdom of King Cobra, also called the Cherapunji of southern India.

The king chose not to give us Darshan, but instead sent a few minions to greet us.

The proverbial journey of the thousand miles begins with a ....... In our case, it was a small thud! Our first coffee break was eventful. As we stopped parallel to the road, the front wheel went in a well-camouflaged uncovered portion of a 3-meter-deep drain. Slightly shaken we all stepped out of the car. Soon there was a crowd, a very friendly one. Eight to ten people pushed the car upright and in less than 2 minutes it was out of the rut. We thanked profusely, had a coffee, and in no time were on the way. This was the second such incident in the last twenty years of driving in the southern states. The kindness of strangers is always overwhelming.

We had an amazing time tracking the creepy crawlies. The first day was slightly scary, and we did not venture anywhere without our guide, however, by the next day we had gathered enough courage to go around on our own.

What is common between the Malabar Pit Viper and the Vine snake?

Yes, both are ambush predators. They are well-camouflaged and blend with the surrounding habitat. They stay steadfast in one place and wait for the prey to venture within striking distance.   The expert guides with us could help spot 3 vine snakes, two of them even during the night trek!

The pit viper (shown in the picture) was recuperating from the removal of the RFID tracker and was about to be released back into the wild in a day or two. We got a chance to go along with the research intern and disturb him as he went about making the daily field notes. 8 pit vipers were being tracked. The daily recordings included wind speed, humidity, location, and temperature, to name a few. 

We came to know that scorpion has bioluminescence and glow under UV light. Look at the one on the forest floor. Very difficult to spot in leaf litter on the floor. There were 2 scorpions that we could spot on our trek, including the one on which we went on our own without a guide. 

Till then, I had seen only dead scorpions as road-kills in our neighborhood of Kengeri. 

There is something eerie when you spot one of these. They are not as intimidating as spotting a snake and yet evoke thrill and fear.

 

The rainforest has encouraged various adaptations. The lizard on the right is called a "flying lizard". It glides from one tree to the other. The Malabar pit viper has adapted to carry the eggs within its body. The research intern also explained how everything in the forest is interconnected. Lesser rains resulted in fewer frogs, the staple diet for Malabar pit vipers. This in turn resulted in the vipers unable to accumulate enough fat to survive the winter. Normally, by now, they would have identified a nice cozy nook or corner to rest through the winter, but this year, they were still moving around looking for food.

It wasn't only insects and reptiles. We saw a few birds as well. The trek up a small hill gave us a glimpse of a changeable hawk-eagle. We had disturbed its post-lunch siesta, and it flew away from its perch with a few powerful beats of its majestic wings.

The morning birding was lucky. We spotted many birds: yellow-browed bulbul, plum-headed parakeet, vernal hanging parrot, white-throated kingfisher, Malabar wood shrike, Ashy drongo, orange minivet, Chestnut-headed bee-eater is what I can recollect.

Every morning around 6:30 am, we woke up with a nice orchestra: The musical whistle of none other than the Malabar whistling thrush accompanied by the barbets, sunbirds, and rooster. Two nights are not enough for a rainforest, but then something is better than nothing! 

Leaving you with a few other pictures. Do plan a visit to the rainforests of Western Ghats - tread carefully, in the land of Kaalinga.

Second Cross

Hi - do you known where is Kalpatru? I asked the shopkeeper on second cross, who was sitting at his counter not doing anything in particular.
I had already made a few rounds up and down the street searching for Kalpatru. There were just too many distributaries off the second cross, which seems to be a fertile delta for humanity, for me to investigate each stream. Hence this question to the shopkeeper.
However, instead of giving me the location of Kalpatru - he decided to teach me how to fish. His response was an algorithm:

• Are you sure it is on second cross?
• If yes, then yes - you are on the right street.
• Now look, there are multiple roads branching off the second cross
• Start from this end - and keep on looking into each side street as you move down the second cross.
• At the end of second cross, if you haven't still found Kalpatru, call the person who gave you the address!

How did I end up on second cross in the first place? I was supposed to meet a friend there who also gone to Kalpatru for first time and together we had to get a chore done. And yes, I had already called the friend earlier and his advice was - it is off the main street - just ask any shopkeeper and they will direct you to the apartment.

Now, I was in a fix. This seemed to be a recursive loop. Call the friend, he tells ask shopkeeper, while shopkeeper has given the algorithm which seems to be too much work and might end up in me calling my friend again.

Anyway, I called my friend again - and ask for the nearest landmark - upon which both of us realized that the apartment I was searching for was on the third cross and not second!

Duck-Roast

Appa - are you going to get Duck Roast? asked Pranit on our first day in Langkawi. His eyes were twinkling with mischief.

Let me transport you to Cochin to better appreciate this question.  I love reading about local delicacies and where to eat - and Cochin was rated highly for - guess what - Duck Roast. One fine evening we left the car at home-stay and started in search of duck roast. First I tried at the top recommended restaurants but surprisingly they did not have any - next at lesser starred ones - and finally at anything goes.

We must have walked two kilometers crisscrossing the streets of Fort Cochi - until-
our light backpacks became heavy,
feet started aching,
and in general all of us were tired and irritated.

I would get into restaurant, rest would try to follow in - I say try to get in because even before sitting down, the only question I asked that day was - Do you have duck roast?

Finally we got served Duck-Roast. It was not so much fun - and hence the term "Duck Roast" has a special meaning. By now you understand - each one of us have our own duck roast. I hope you have one too - do share and let's have some fun.

Beaks, Claws and Pugmarks

Kiddos - look to your left - looks like there is an  eagle, I shouted and pulled over to the side. Yes, there was an eagle, must have been disturbed from a tree top close by. Looked as if it had made its mind to inspect the countryside now that it had been disturbed. With few lazy flaps of its wings it gained height , and soon disappeared behind treeline in ever widening circles. We kept our cameras ready, just in case the circular flying pattern brought it back to where we were but you cannot get too lucky - or maybe that was our lucky day.

Appa, there is another one up there on the telephone tower, shouted out my elder one. We zoomed in and were rewarded by the sight of two Egyptians Vultures preening themselves atop the tower. Oblivious of two budding photographers ooohing and aahing and clicking away to glory, the vultures kept cleaning and preening. My mom as well as my kids' mom also came out, stretched their legs and participated in the excitement. After few minutes we packed up and continued on our journey to Bhadra WLS where we had a booking at River Tern JLR.

The remaining trip from Bangalore to Bhadra was incident  free. We saw the usual culprits - many cranes, egrets and parrots and finally reached River Tern lodge - situated next to Bhadra reservoir with no other resort close by and hence spared from deluge of tourists. It is a beautiful property spread across mainland and a small island connected with a suspension bridge.  The rooms in the cottage were well appointed, clean and airy as you would expect from any JLR property. The view of the backwaters was simply amazing. The gentle breeze, ample sunlight, balmy weather - intoxicated us into feeling like kings and queens surveying all that is ours. My mom was also not left untouched with this regal splendor :-) Here - she is enjoying the beauty of green and blue expanse of tree tops and water as far as one could see.

Is everything alright? I asked the younger one - sitting next to me in boat safari. Normally he asks questions at a rate of 1 per second - and I was missing 120 questions over last 2 minutes. Where are the mammals? I like raptors and other birds - but where are the mammals? Pat came the reply. We had seen a shy monitor lizard, few spot billed ducks, a plover, few lapwings, many greater cormorants, Indian cormorants and even an osprey - but no mammals were to be seen. The register kept at the resort had mentioned a leopard seen with its kill the previous day. I was sure both kids had read it and their expectations like brahminy kites, were soaring sky high. We did not see a big cat - but were soon rewarded with a small herd of elephants by the side of the reservoir. They were disturbed by our boat and were retreating into the jungle. A young one though, either was ignorant of the threat we posed - or was just confident of its strength, stayed put for a while and was last to leave.

We felt like intruders disturbing the herd in its late evening rituals and left the scene. After 2 hours of a gorgeous boat ride we were back on land and spent time in resort gorging on pakodas and having some tea.

Tea was followed with a movie on dhols with Kamaani leading the back. It was a nicely made documentary. Back in the cottage we compared the photographs we took - and looks like my elder one has a knack of taking good pictures with the Sony 12x optical zoom camera that was passed on to him when we upgraded to a Canon 65x optical zoom one.

Grey horn-bill

Next day we had opted for a jeep safari. We were fortunate to have with us an avid wildlife photographer and enthusiast. He could help us in identifying many birds, nests and pug marks.
We were greeted by some grey hornbills at the checkpost to the wild life sanctuary. We hardly moved few meters when their cousins pied hornbills also came to give us a glimpse. It is a beautiful bird and the first time for us to have spotted it outside the Salim Ali book!

 The jungle was unusually quiet - and we were meandering through the slippery trail in JLR's 4WD - when Sree called out - stop, which is that bird there. There sitting in the fork of the branch was a Serpent Eagle. The wildlife enthusiast accompanying us informed that it was a rare sight and this information made us click twice the number of too many photographs that we would anyway have clicked. Serpent eagle had no interest in us - and though we were just 10 feet away from it - it did not fly off for the 10 minutes we spent there observing it.

It was while observing the eagle, we came across another jeep coming the opposite way. In Bandipur or Kabini, one would frequently come across other jeeps - but in Bhadra this was the only other jeep we met. They mentioned that they had seen a solitary Dhol, wild dog, on the way. This information sent the whole jeep in flurry of excitement. It brought to our attention the pug marks and hoof prints all around us. We have been to multiple safaris - but it was our first time post monsoon. It had rained the previous night and the wet mud had captured the activity nicely.
We were like a bunch of seasoned trackers discussing and debating. The two kids specially were in their elements - and recreated a complete hunt scenario - of which Nat Geo could also be proud of - not to say makers of Bahubali rushing to sign them up for script writing. My wife has developed a keen sight for birds - and soon spotted another one far off on a tree top. Fading light cannot take away the intensity with which the changeable hawk eagle is surveying its fiefdom from atop a tree.
The rest of the trip was filled with questions and uninterrupted chirping and chatting from the kids. They have now developed an avid interest in observing not just the mammals but birds as well. I was also pleasantly surprised that no longer just the desire to see a tiger or leopard - but also the chance to observe pugmarks gets us excited. 
You should tell me if it has gone too far when back in Bangalore, on our walk to get some chores done - the younger one asked - guess which was that animal? I asked where? He elaborated - the animal that could have done that poop over there. He wanted to observe the colour and texture - but I encouraged him to take that up some other day - when is Anna is around to explain - and deftly maneuvered him round to easier topics.

Beaks, Claws and Pugmarks

Kiddos - look to your left - looks like there is an  eagle, I shouted and pulled over to the side. Yes, there was an eagle, must have been disturbed from a tree top close by. Looked as if it had made its mind to inspect the countryside now that it had been disturbed. With few lazy flaps of its wings it gained height , and soon disappeared behind treeline in ever widening circles. We kept our cameras ready, just in case the circular flying pattern brought it back to where we were but you cannot get too lucky - or maybe that was our lucky day.

Appa, there is another one up there on the telephone tower, shouted out my elder one. We zoomed in and were rewarded by the sight of two Egyptians Vultures preening themselves atop the tower. Oblivious of two budding photographers ooohing and aahing and clicking away to glory, the vultures kept cleaning and preening. My mom as well as my kids' mom also came out, stretched their legs and participated in the excitement. After few minutes we packed up and continued on our journey to Bhadra WLS where we had a booking at River Tern JLR.

The remaining trip from Bangalore to Bhadra was incident  free. We saw the usual culprits - many cranes, egrets and parrots and finally reached River Tern lodge - situated next to Bhadra reservoir with no other resort close by and hence spared from deluge of tourists. It is a beautiful property spread across mainland and a small island connected with a suspension bridge.  The rooms in the cottage were well appointed, clean and airy as you would expect from any JLR property. The view of the backwaters was simply amazing. The gentle breeze, ample sunlight, balmy weather - intoxicated us into feeling like kings and queens surveying all that is ours. My mom was also not left untouched with this regal splendor :-) Here - she is enjoying the beauty of green and blue expanse of tree tops and water as far as one could see.

Is everything alright? I asked the younger one - sitting next to me in boat safari. Normally he asks questions at a rate of 1 per second - and I was missing 120 questions over last 2 minutes. Where are the mammals? I like raptors and other birds - but where are the mammals? Pat came the reply. We had seen a shy monitor lizard, few spot billed ducks, a plover, few lapwings, many greater cormorants, Indian cormorants and even an osprey - but no mammals were to be seen. The register kept at the resort had mentioned a leopard seen with its kill the previous day. I was sure both kids had read it and their expectations like brahminy kites, were soaring sky high. We did not see a big cat - but were soon rewarded with a small herd of elephants by the side of the reservoir. They were disturbed by our boat and were retreating into the jungle. A young one though, either was ignorant of the threat we posed - or was just confident of its strength, stayed put for a while and was last to leave.

We felt like intruders disturbing the herd in its late evening rituals and left the scene. After 2 hours of a gorgeous boat ride we were back on land and spent time in resort gorging on pakodas and having some tea.

Tea was followed with a movie on dhols with Kamaani leading the back. It was a nicely made documentary. Back in the cottage we compared the photographs we took - and looks like my elder one has a knack of taking good pictures with the Sony 12x optical zoom camera that was passed on to him when we upgraded to a Canon 65x optical zoom one.

Grey horn-bill

Next day we had opted for a jeep safari. We were fortunate to have with us an avid wildlife photographer and enthusiast. He could help us in identifying many birds, nests and pug marks.
We were greeted by some grey hornbills at the checkpost to the wild life sanctuary. We hardly moved few meters when their cousins pied hornbills also came to give us a glimpse. It is a beautiful bird and the first time for us to have spotted it outside the Salim Ali book!

 The jungle was unusually quiet - and we were meandering through the slippery trail in JLR's 4WD - when Sree called out - stop, which is that bird there. There sitting in the fork of the branch was a Serpent Eagle. The wildlife enthusiast accompanying us informed that it was a rare sight and this information made us click twice the number of too many photographs that we would anyway have clicked. Serpent eagle had no interest in us - and though we were just 10 feet away from it - it did not fly off for the 10 minutes we spent there observing it.

It was while observing the eagle, we came across another jeep coming the opposite way. In Bandipur or Kabini, one would frequently come across other jeeps - but in Bhadra this was the only other jeep we met. They mentioned that they had seen a solitary Dhol, wild dog, on the way. This information sent the whole jeep in flurry of excitement. It brought to our attention the pug marks and hoof prints all around us. We have been to multiple safaris - but it was our first time post monsoon. It had rained the previous night and the wet mud had captured the activity nicely.
We were like a bunch of seasoned trackers discussing and debating. The two kids specially were in their elements - and recreated a complete hunt scenario - of which Nat Geo could also be proud of - not to say makers of Bahubali rushing to sign them up for script writing. My wife has developed a keen sight for birds - and soon spotted another one far off on a tree top. Fading light cannot take away the intensity with which the changeable hawk eagle is surveying its fiefdom from atop a tree.
The rest of the trip was filled with questions and uninterrupted chirping and chatting from the kids. They have now developed an avid interest in observing not just the mammals but birds as well. I was also pleasantly surprised that no longer just the desire to see a tiger or leopard - but also the chance to observe pugmarks gets us excited. 
You should tell me if it has gone too far when back in Bangalore, on our walk to get some chores done - the younger one asked - guess which was that animal? I asked where? He elaborated - the animal that could have done that poop over there. He wanted to observe the colour and texture - but I encouraged him to take that up some other day - when is Anna is around to explain - and deftly maneuvered him round to easier topics.

Beaks, Claws and Pugmarks

Kiddos - look to your left - looks like there is an  eagle, I shouted and pulled over to the side. Yes, there was an eagle, must have been disturbed from a tree top close by. Looked as if it had made its mind to inspect the countryside now that it had been disturbed. With few lazy flaps of its wings it gained height , and soon disappeared behind treeline in an ever widening circles. We kept our cameras ready, just in case the circular flying pattern brought it back to where we were but you cannot get too lucky - or maybe that was our lucky day.

Appa, there is another one up there on the telephone tower, shouted out my elder one. We zoomed in and were rewarded by the sight of two Egyptians Vultures preening themselves atop the tower. Oblivious of two budding photographers ooohing and aahing and clicking away to glory, the vultures kept cleaning and preening. My mom as well as my kids' mom also came out, stretched their legs and participated in the excitement. After few minutes we packed up and continued on our journey to Bhadra WLS where we had a booking at River Tern JLR.

The remaining trip from Bangalore to Bhadra was incident  free. We saw the usual culprits - many cranes, egrets and parrots and finally reached River Tern lodge - situated next to Bhadra reservoir with no other resort close by and hence spared from deluge of tourists. It is a beautiful property spread across mainland and a small island connected with a suspension bridge.  The rooms in the cottage were well appointed, clean and airy as you would expect from any JLR property. The view of the backwaters was simply amazing. The gentle breeze, ample sunlight, balmy weather - intoxicated us into feeling like kings and queens surveying all that is ours. My mom was also not left untouched with this regal splendor :-) Here - she is enjoying the beauty of green and blue expanse of tree tops and water as far as one could see.

Is everything alright? I asked the younger one - sitting next to me in boat safari. Normally he asks questions at a rate of 1 per second - and I was missing 120 questions over last 2 minutes. Where are the mammals? I like raptors and other birds - but where are the mammals? Pat came the reply. We had seen a shy monitor lizard, few spot billed ducks, a plover, few lapwings, many greater cormorants, Indian cormorants and even an osprey - but no mammals were to be seen. The register kept at the resort had mentioned a leopard seen with its kill the previous day. I was sure both kids had read it and their expectations like brahminy kites, were soaring sky high. We did not see a big cat - but were soon rewarded with a small herd of elephants by the side of the reservoir. They were disturbed by our boat and were retreating into the jungle. A young one though, either was ignorant of the threat we posed - or was just confident of its strength, stayed put for a while and was last to leave.

We felt like intruders disturbing the herd in its late evening rituals and left the scene. After 2 hours of a gorgeous boat ride we were back on land and spent time in resort gorging on pakodas and having some tea.

Tea was followed with a movie on dhols with Kamaani leading the back. It was a nicely made documentary. Back in the cottage we compared the photographs we took - and looks like my elder one has a knack of taking good pictures with the Sony 12x optical zoom camera that was passed on to him when we upgraded to a Canon 65x optical zoom one.

Grey horn-bill

Next day we had opted for a jeep safari. We were fortunate to have with us an avid wildlife photographer and enthusiast. He could help us in identifying many birds, nests and pug marks.
We were greeted by some grey hornbills at the checkpost to the wild life sanctuary. We hardly moved few meters when their cousins pied hornbills also came to give us a glimpse. It is a beautiful bird and the first time for us to have spotted it outside the Salim Ali book!

 The jungle was unusually quiet - and we were meandering through the slippery trail in JLR's 4WD - when Sree called out - stop, which is that bird there. There sitting in the fork of the branch was a Serpent Eagle. The wildlife enthusiast accompanying us informed that it was a rare sight and this information made us click twice the number of too many photographs that we would anyway have clicked. Serpent eagle had no interest in us - and though we were just 10 feet away from it - it did not fly off for the 10 minutes we spent there observing it.

It was while observing the eagle, we came across another jeep coming the opposite way. In Bandipur or Kabini, one would frequently come across other jeeps - but in Bhadra this was the only other jeep we met. They mentioned that they had seen a solitary Dhol, wild dog, on the way. This information sent the whole jeep in flurry of excitement. It brought to our attention the pug marks and hoof prints all around us. We have been to multiple safaris - but it was our first time post monsoon. It had rained the previous night and the wet mud had captured the activity nicely.
We were like a bunch of seasoned trackers discussing and debating. The two kids specially were in their elements - and recreated a complete hunt scenario - of which Nat Geo could also be proud of - not to say makers of Bahubali rushing to sign them up for script writing. My wife has developed a keen sight for birds - and soon spotted another one far off on a tree top. Fading light cannot take away the intensity with which the changeable hawk eagle is surveying its fiefdom from atop a tree.
The rest of the trip was filled with questions and uninterrupted chirping and chatting from the kids. They have now developed an avid interest in observing not just the mammals but birds as well. I was also pleasantly surprised that also it is no longer just the desire to see a tiger or leopard - but also the chance to observe pugmarks that got them excited. You should tell me if it has gone too far when back in Bangalore, on our walk to get some chores done - the younger one asked - Guess what was that animal? I asked where? He elaborated - the animal that could have done that poop over there. He wanted to observe the colour and texture - but I encouraged him to take that up some other day - when is Anna is around - and deftly maneuvered him round to easier topics.

Roman Days - Spent with Caesar - He takes me for a walk

It was a balmy November evening and as always Caesar our 3 year old golden Labrador took me for a walk. Yes, unlike my previous pet Pomeranian, Caesar was the one who would lead the way. He would hold one end of the leash in his mouth – while the other end would be in my grip – and then he would decide the route for the day.
Caesar’s addition to the household coincided with my leaving for the college. The first 3 years were the years of great change for both of us. I was becoming a very thin, bearded engineer while he was transforming from a fluffy ball of wool to a slightly overweight, very adorable and cuddly golden lab. It had become hard for anyone apart from close family and friends to recognize me – while Caesar by accompanying Mummy and Papa on a 2.5 km morning walk circuit had become a well-known personality.

Anyway, coming back to that November evening when I was home during a semester break and Caesar was taking me for a walk. We were enjoying the peace and quiet when suddenly I heard someone shout:

“Aiyee – where are you taking the Vakil Sahib’s dog?”

It was none other than a neighborhood dairy owner, who as expected did not recognize me.My mouth went dry, as I frantically tried to recall the dairy owner’s name. Finally I could squeak it out and convince him that I wasn’t taking the Vakil Sahib’s dog anywhere and instead it was Caesar who was taking me for a walk.

My Guava Days

Or maybe my Guava months, or, better still years. And why restrict myself to guavas, I can very well say – my Mango days, my papaya days, custard apple, litchi, narangi and even jackfruit days.

Yes these are the trees I grew up with. Many of them, like the Mango and the  Guava are still there, while few like the narangi and the litchi have been chopped off.

The mango tree still bears the mark of the great fall. There was a period in summer holidays when we were monkeys and even had our breakfast sitting on the mango tree. One typical morning, after the breakfast was finished perched on the tree, I asked Manika – “What if the branch breaks?” – next moment both of us were lying flat on the ground. The mango tree still has the mark where the branch used to be. It does not look that great a fall now. The branch that used to be touching the sky does not look that high anymore. But it was pretty exciting the day we fell. Lots of turmeric milk to prevent any clots and a little pampering through the day.

Guava tree was another friendly tree we had. A tree we shared with parrots, squirrels, mynahs and cousins. We learnt from the squirrels the habit of tasting the fruit before plucking it – and after a while there were many half eaten fruits hanging from the branches – few bore the parrots’ marks, while others were from squirrels and yet other from my sister and me.

It is an art to find a comfortable perch on the guava tree. You see its branches are not smooth; many stumps and twigs poke you – and only after a period of discovery you arrive at the perch most suited to you. There is never a dull moment up in the tree. If you stay still you can observe parrots and squirrels. And if you stay hidden and very quiet, you can even catch red handed the neighborhood boy stealing your guavas.

Did you know that few good guavas can fetch you coke and snacks. Yes, when you take the ripe Allahabadi Guavas to your friends, and to your Buas and Chachas, you get treated well – cold drinks, samosas and sweets – all are offered to you.

There are many ways of eating a guava. The uninitiated might just cut it into quarters and eat. But that suits only the ripe ones. In the peak season, all of us used to have great fun harvesting the fruits. We would pluck the fruits in various colours and sizes – some small, some big. Some were bright yellow while others were little pale. Some had red pigments, while others were green. The less ripe, bordering on raw would go to Amma to be processed into chutney, the ripe and yellow ones to be quartered and eaten. The bright yellow ones had to be handled differently – outer juicy core had to be nibbled and the seedy core could serve as a good ball to practice your bowling. You might ask me – “What about the guava with the red pigments? How should that be eaten?” Oh that was a special one – something to fight for and gobble before anyone else claimed it.

Ah! Those were the guava days – their sweet and sour smell is still strong.

After a small gap

Haven't written much off-late.. coming back after a while.

It's a trip down the memory lane - triggered by a birding trip we went on this weekend.
I was never good at kite flying - but that did not take away the joy of accompanying my friends as they went about flying them. It was one such evening when disaster stuck. A vulture got stuck in the sharp thread of the kite and came crashing down.
It fell next to our boundary wall - and we rushed to take a look at it. I don't recollect now the exact type it was - maybe it was the Egyptian Vulture or who knows it might have been a white backed vulture. There were just too many vultures and no one loved them. Anyway, I was not so keen into bird watching back then.
We did not know much about what to feed it. We had a pet dog and I knew that it used to like milk. So I borrowed its pan, poured some milk and kept it next to the hurt vulture. Of course vulture did not care much for the milk - and we did not know much about how to take care of it.
How I wish - we all knew how to care of the vultures back then.
Fast forward to the weekend birding trip. Almost after a gap of 30 years, I was lucky to have seen a Vulture in its natural habitat. For my children, it was a first time they had sighted the vulture - can you believe it! What a rare sight it has become! It seems there are 20-25 vultures in the hillocks near Ramanagara, so we took a detour to it while coming back from Ranganthitu and were rewarded by the rare sight.
Somehow that "extra" sight was more thrilling than all the Ibis, Storks and Pelicans we saw at Ranganthitu. The bird was perched high up in a hole on the cliff. The camera battery was dying out - and the guard at the check-post was telling us to hurry - but we were lucky enough to click a snap or two and capture that bird and moment for eternity.

Papa: Trips down the memory lane

My earliest memory is that of a scooter ride on a hot, very hot and sweaty day. It was a trip from Allahabad to Fatehpur on a Vijay Super. So what it was hot and sweaty.. I still remember the fun it was to overtake Trucks and then count them passing buy as we enjoyed the boiling hot oranges standing under the banyan tree - all this even after 28 years. There have been longer, more exciting, more luxurious trips since then, but No, I don't remember the details as I do of the trip to Fatehpur, with my chin in line with the handle, standing on the foot board of the scooter. Who else could have dared to take two kids and their Mom on this adventure but my Dad! Oh, what an enjoyable trip that was.
So many nights we would plan going painstakingly over the road maps. Yes, multiple maps as we always had few of them to get different points of view. We would compare the merits of chosing a longer route over national highway, or a shorter one going through the countryside. These road trips were always welcomed by us, and thankfully they came by quite frequently. We never went to Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur by public transport. There were many trips to Vindhyachal, Vindham Falls, Falls near Rewa, Chitrakoot peppered by longer trips to Hardwar, Agra, Panchmarhi in between.
Papa loved taking us out on these trips. He had boundless energy and passion. Not everything was smooth in these trips, apart from his brows. I don't remember a single trip when he was not in control, or he was hassled, or worried. There were trips like that to Amarkantak where we traversed Katcha roads (since Narmada dam was being built) over hills at 10:00 pm in night with the fuel indicator showing last few litres in reserve. We had trips where we ended up with two tyres nicely sliced by the razor sharp road edge - I had gone off road while overtaking! We had few accidents, a dead dog and cock, a hurt cyclist, a shattered radiator. We had trip where we tried out alternative therapy of pouring turmeric in the radiator to plug a leak! We went to Dhudhwa in rain, we went to Pachmarhi in peak summers. They were not luxurious trips, but they were alwaaaaaaays fuuuuuuuunnnnn.
Now, I have to take up trips without Papa . He has left me a tough act to follow - no matter whether the trips are smooth or not, they can be always FUN if we keep our brows smooth. I have the years to work on this - have a loving family to practice this on - and inherited passion from Papa to carry on making these trips - on and on...

Fish Bowl

Inspired by Assimov:

What the hell, where is the dinner, shouted Mr. Molley to Mrs Molley! What has happened to the "Provider"? Did we forget our prayers yesterday? And look at the mess our world has become - wish someone could clean it up a bit.
The "provider", Appu was busy with the new toy his Dad had got him. He had been eyeing a toy train set for long - the one with shiny red engine, glistening tracks, a bridge and a remote, and now finally yesterday he got it. Wow, what fun it is to make combinations of the track - and he thought - wish Dad was here with me. The dinner for Molleys, and cleaning their fish bowl could wait - anyway they looked over fed and under exercised.
Dad Kumar was still in office, busy in the new project he had bagged. He knew how critical this project was for the company in these recessionary times. The CEO himself was personally involved with it - but of late, the CEO looked pre-occupied - how Kumar wished he could get a slice of CEO's bandwidth and remove the hurdles to get the project rolling.
What has happened to the "Provider"? Did we forget our prayers yesterday? said Abhi, the CEO to his wife, as he stared blankly at the grim medical reports just handed over to him. Now, finally as his company looked poised to tide over the crisis, medical complications threatened to ruin it all.
The "Provider" was happy playing to the new toy her Dad had got her, and she completely forgot that earth used to be her favourite not so long back.

An Accident, Traffic Jam, Broken Door and Pilfered Fanta Bottles

Other day we were coming back from an outing to one of the resorts on Mysore Road.
The day had been well spent with friends - and journey back was fun till we hit a road block. The traffic had come to almost a stand still. In between listening to the music, kids' fighting and honks we made the following observations:

1. Few people were smart and went the wrong way- even bullying the oncoming traffic to slow down and give them way. Makes me wonder why only few people do it? When will it happen that everyone will go the wrong way?
2. Finally we crawled on to the reason for the slow moving traffic: an accident where a truck load of fanta had a breakdown
3. What a site it was - it was free for all:
4. We had to stop to let two people scamper away with a fallen down door panel of the truck - they must be really looking forward to making some fast cash with it.
5. Then as we were passing by the treasure chest, a small scuffle broke out - and unmindful of the traffic people broke out from the truck like a swarm of bees onto the right most lane. Made us wonder if a bottle or two of Fanta is really worth a life?
6. Anyway, as we passed by we noticed that many more trucks, tractors and buses were slowing down onto the side so that the occupants could satisfy their thirst

Organised Retail: No Smile within a Mile

Its that time of the week when I have to go for the weekly grocery and vegetable shopping, and NO I'm not going to the Supermarket anymore..
I had enough of moments of truth and finally the truth has dawned that I'm not good enough to enjoy the benefits of organized retail.
The "moment of truth" in service marketing parlance is described as the moment when the service triad composed of the Consumer, the serving personnel and the service organization meet. In organized retail, the experiences I had with the truthful moments were never great, but I stubbornly trudged along from one outlet to the other - expectant that some day I will have a truly enjoyable moment.
Imagine a typical scenario:
It is Sunday morning, and I get ready for the trip. I collect the cloth bags (yes, we are trying to reduce our plastic dependance), the list is safely tucked in the pocket and the kids are secured on the back seat as we drive down to the supermarket.
The first hurdle is to find a parking slot. The store is big, but the designated parking slots are too few - and even on the Sunday morning they are full. We poke our noses into side streets and quickly occupy the one slot free.
Next hurdle is getting the empty cloth bags inside. The mighty security gurads are programmed to reject any bags from going inside. If we are lucky we might be allowed with the bags - else we might escape with a simple admonishment that bags need to be deposited at the entrance, to be collected later while the billing is in progress.
It has been half an hour since we entered this wonderland. Our trolley is half empty(we are optimistic people you know), to accomodate the planned items from the list which is still safely tucked in my pocket, as all of us have been stuffing the trolley with things that we don't need.
I refer to the list and ask one of the attendants where a particular item is stacked. It is always a dangerous question. It triggers a chain reaction where the query gets transferred from one attendant to the other and after a considerable delay the response could be don't know, don't care or it is out of stock.
Another dangerous question could be: "Do you have a fresher stock"? This typically happens with perishable items - with warning like "best within 15 days". In cases when the 15th day happens to be tomorrow, expect no sympathy from the attendant - come on you could still consume the item within today. Do you have to really trouble them with such silly questions as : do you have a fresher stock!
The trolleys are full with 70 percent of the planned items bought and we are in the final lap - just the billing is pending. The queue is long, some of the counters are closed, but attendants could have been the receptionist of a clinic for all you know. Typically they were the only ones in the service industry who could get away by being rude. Your appointment should come in 10mts from now, where 10 mts instead of being earth minutes are typically those of Pluto. (http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/skytellers/day_night/activities/nightlife.shtml)
Coming back to retail - the attendants don't care - selling is NOT their job - they have a role: receptionist, customer care, billing, stacking - thats all - but who sells??
So, now I have come back to my friendly neighbourhood mom and pop store. The store does not have AC, it is not sparkingly clean - but it has a person behind a counter and not a role.
It has a person who acknowledges that I exist, who tries to make small talk - who at least tries to help and pretends to listen when I crib.

Something common between Brand and Religion

What?? The title looks absurd.
I had two completely free days - no not really - but then got bored of assignments, and normal routine work. They say Empty mind is Devils workshop - and we all know Devil wears Prada - and Prada is a well known brand - so one thing lead to the other and ended up spending time in Library and reading about brands.

Came across this book: "Sonic Branding" by Daniel Jackson.
The book discusses, Brand in general and Sonic branding in particular.
Like the way the author has brought out the concept of Brand.

So what is common between religion and brand (no offences meant to religion).
It is the belief of the follower that is important.
The book says:
Brand is Belief.
Belief comes when believers put in their emotional capital.
Hence, Brand is like religion. E.g Christianity- initially the evangelists had to struggle to get the converts – but once converts had bought in the idea – they became the ambassadors.
Now consider the e.g. of Coke and McDonalds.
What is coke – just a normal thirst quencher – like sprite, Dr. peppers, Thums UP. But if you look around – Coke stands for American spirit. It is “the original thing”. And getting coke in a country means that American culture has arrived.
Similarly MaC…

Loyalty and Choice

When are you loyal to a brand?
When you have enough alternatives to choose from and you still stick to it!

Such a basic idea - lets see whether it holds good in some other spheres:
1) You are loyal to your company when you have enough choices to leave - but you still remain
2) You are loyal to your country, when you have enough choices and still you remain

So what drives the brand loyalty?

Brand Loyalty Defined

”You learn that creating customer loyalty is neither strategic nor tactic;
rather, it is the ultimate objective and meaning of brand equity. Brand loyalty is brand equity.” Daryl Travis, Emotional Branding
So, what constitutes brand loyalty? According to Bloemer and Kasper, brand loyalty implies that consumers bind themselves to products or services as a result of a deep-seated commitment.
To exemplify this point, they rendered a distinction between repeat purchases and actual brand loyalty. In their published research, they assert that a repeat purchase behavior "is the actual re-buying of a brand” whereas loyalty includes "antecedents” or a reason/fact occurring before the behavior. Bloemer and Kasper further delineate brand loyalty into "spurious” and "true” loyalty. Spurious loyalty exhibits the following attributes:

Biased ; Behavioral response; Expressed over time; By some decision-making unit, with respect to one or more alternate brands; A function of inertia .

True brand loyalty includes the above, but replaces inertia with a psychological process resulting in brand commitment (Ref: Journal of Economic Psychology, Volume 16, Issue 2, July 1995).

So are you loyal to your company/country?

Wakeup Call

Is Anything gone wrong?
We are deaf with indifference, and the Mumbai blasts should be loud enough to wake us up.
Wake us up to understand : what has become of us - us as a nation!
Will you pay donation to get your child educated at that elite school?
Or will you compromise on her education?
Will you pay bribe to get that seat in the railway compartment?
or Will you suffer the discomfort of standing and travelling?
Will you pay the 100/- to traffic inspector and save time and money?
or Will you instead park on the side, settle the fine, waste time and money?
Will you watch that nice movie available on the net?
Or wait like a fool for three months before the DVD is officially released?
Will you be street smart or a dumb person? Which one will you be?

So what can I do?
We ask what the politicians are doing, what is police doing, what has happened to this world?
We never ask - what has become of us? What has happened? Why has our core competency of being adjusting in nature has become our core rigidity of "chalta hai". Everything goes - we take everything in our stride!
Corruption has set in every small thing - it has become part of us - we don't even feel now that somethings are bad!
Imagine, from where will the policemen, armymen, the workforce will be drawn from?
From us - they are us - they inherit our core rigidity of "chalta hai" from us.
How can we expect them to be suddenly holy and saintly?

Still, what can I do?
So,what can I do - can I be foolish - as the world overtakes me - acts street smart?
Am I a weakling? What is in it for me NOT to be corrupt? No one catches me - and its all in so small things - no one minds?
Why shall I do anything about corruption? I cannot be a martyr - you see - I have my company to run, my family to take care, my responsibilities to fulfill.

But if I still don't wake up - what else do I need?
What if my family was in Taj that fateful day?
Isn't this a grim enough reminder, that forget conscience, forget duty, forget responsibility, just for my own sake - it is high time that I stop being corrupt.
The fight has come to my home - I need to stop this corruption - and I have the power to do it.
If each one of stop being corrupt in small things - there could still be a difference made.
Let the feeling of guiltcome back into corruption. Let that ticket checker, that traffic inspector feel ashamed in asking for a bribe.
Stop corruption, be awake - please now before its too late

Core Rigidities

A definition:
Flip side of core competencies, and caused by overreliance on any advantage(s) for too long. While a successful firm's management relaxes its improvement efforts, others keep on getting better and obsolete its competitive advantage.

Are we by nature also like this?
We stop challenging ourselves - and relax our individual improvement efforts - and what used to be a core competency for me when I was 30 yr, becomes a core rigidity by the time I'm 35??
If its true for me - in past few years - imagine the rigidities I have developed over last 32 yrs of my life!!
And now think of a culture that goes beyond decades - and is measured in Centuries!!

Came across this concept of "Capitalization Problem" by Malcom Gladwell. It talks of what stops us from reaching our full potential!
He gives an example:
He refers to James Flynn, an academic who got really interested in why Chinese immigrants to the US vastly outperform white Americans. Within one generation, they’re achieving at an extraordinary rate. The difference is not usefully described by differences in IQ. The cap rates for people who are smart enough to be a professional who end up being a professional is vastly different in different communities: 78% in Chinese American community rather than 60% in the white community? How are they able to capitalize on this? Flynn suggests it’s because they work harder, and Gladwell agrees. But why?
If you take a group of Chinese schoolkids and a group of American 10-year-olds and give them a complex maths task and time them at it, you’ll find the American kids give up after 2 minutes; the Chinese kids will still be working after 15 minutes. It’s about persistence: it’s the consequence of ingrained cultural notions of how hard you should work.
This is a cultural problem.

Core Rigidities and competencies of Indian Population?
So how do we go about unlocking the great potential we have within our nation?
Do we have core competencies and core rigidities that need to be unlocked? How do we go about identifying them and then leveraging them?
In my quest of contributing to alleviating poverty - to go beyond mental masturbation - and really act - I feel the key is in:
identifying these rigidities - against which I will have to fight, and
identifying the competencies - they will have to be leveraged

Let me start with identifying the core competencies of the "Rural Indian Market" - thats where the 70% of people reside - people who do not participate in the great debates in popular media - people who still die of hunger, malnutrition and preventable diseases...
I'm sure they don't want to die - and I don't have any data, but I'm sure their IQ and zest for life is not below their Urban bretherens..

So why do they die? Why are they poor? What core competencies can we leverage upon and get them going?
I need your support in identifying the core competencies first.
Please do post comments about your ideas - what could be the core competencies of the "Indian Rural Population"

Diwali-away from home

Despair not for diwali is here...
They lift up our heart: the flower-pot and the crackers..
So what if we are all not together (with our families),
This too shall pass –
and next Diwali will be much more fun,
But don’t forget to as well enjoy this one!!