Question - What's the difference between Delhi Autowalla and Jet Pilots?
Answer - Delhi Autowallas are healthier than Jet Pilots!
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Unconfirmed sources predict "Jet Airways' pilots may be awarded the preventive healthcare award for protecting passengers from possible contagious infections on 130+ flights in September 2009. Selfless pilots give up a day's work to ensure the passengers do not get sick or unwell because of pilots' state of health."
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More unconfirmed sources analyse today's strike as Jet Airway's effort to help Air India's revival by diverting passengers to AI.
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Reports - Economic times report
NDTV Article
Sep 8, 2009
Sep 6, 2009
Heroes and Hope of my India
Human society gives (or is meant to give) us dignity and self-respect. We understand hunger, thirst, love, smell just like other species on this planet do. But feeling inspired, national pride, dignity and other such evolved senses / feelings are more related to humans.
In my memory, the first time I felt inspired was probably when I read the history of our independence in 3rd standard. 20 years later, I relived the same feeling.
One of my very close friends, Aniket Mahulikar and his colleague Madhavi were with me at Delhi for the last 3 days. Aniket is 26. He is one of the best cricket players and certainly the best chess player our building has produced (the team has about 16 players :D). He figured in Bombay division merit list in 10th board exams and did his engineering from VJTI - one of the top Engg colleges in Bombay. He joined Infosys thereafter. He loves seeing TV and cricket. Everything usual so far.
In May 2008, Aniket left Infosys to work as a school principal in Pune. Yes, Aniket and Madhavi are both school principals from Pune.
Aniket runs a school called "Savitribai Phule English School" which has children in Junior KG, Senior KG and first standard. Madhavi runs another school in Pune. Now children to their schools come from nearby slum areas. These schools are a part of schools run by Akanksha, a NGO working in area of education. Aniket's school is funded by the Thermax Foundation.
I asked Aniket what drove him to take up this assignment. What was it that he felt? When did he decide he wanted to be a social worker?
He said he felt it everytime something happened...since he was 12-13 years old. He said an earthquake many miles away would make him worry about the people there. Everytime he walked around slums, he felt "Destiny has given me so much more - I need to share". And he felt the sharing should sustainable.
When he finished his engineering, he and his friends wanted to start a school in 20 years time or so. Wow! Now that is long term vision. To gain hands on experience, he volunteered to work in slums and, he says, he found his calling in education. Whenever he sees children in slums, he is motivated to get them in schools. What amazed me was his clarity of thinking. He understands that he will have to wait for 10-15 years before his efforts show results.
Children are the easiest part of work; it is the parents who need constant motivation and counselling. And I heard both Aniket and Madhavi speak to a couple of parents about children. Their profound understanding of their students' backgrounds is incredible considering they both come from reasonably well off backgrounds. Their work also spans in bringing the community together, instilling confidence in children and their parents, re-igniting the need of dignity and self-respect in the parents' hearts and motivating their colleagues - the school teachers.
It was a heart warming experience for me to see these heroes of my nation. Everyday, when they came back from their training, they would email and SMS their teachers about their day - and, sure enough, they would receive many responses in a few hours time. Their commitment to the cause, maturity of thoughts, clarity of reasoning and unlimited idealism was both inspiring and overwhelming.
Their future plans include taking their respective schools to tenth standard thus ensuring all children come out with an ambition and starting more schools in rural India.
I hope their plans come true and they succeed in whatever they decide. It is these heroes that make me again believe in the future of our nation. Real stars of our times who have committed themselves to the cause of underprivileged.
Vision, leadership, strategy, unlimited energy, patience, faith, humility, pride about work & colleagues, and a disarming smile is how I describe these 2 stars.
It was an honour to interact with them.
Links to
Aakanksha's site - http://www.akanksha.org/
Aniket's blog - http://aniketmahulikar.blogspot.com/
Note - Aniket and Madhavi both mentioned many more people who have helped them in their efforts. Because it was not possible for me to include all the names, so I focused on the 2 of them in this article.
In my memory, the first time I felt inspired was probably when I read the history of our independence in 3rd standard. 20 years later, I relived the same feeling.
One of my very close friends, Aniket Mahulikar and his colleague Madhavi were with me at Delhi for the last 3 days. Aniket is 26. He is one of the best cricket players and certainly the best chess player our building has produced (the team has about 16 players :D). He figured in Bombay division merit list in 10th board exams and did his engineering from VJTI - one of the top Engg colleges in Bombay. He joined Infosys thereafter. He loves seeing TV and cricket. Everything usual so far.
In May 2008, Aniket left Infosys to work as a school principal in Pune. Yes, Aniket and Madhavi are both school principals from Pune.
Aniket runs a school called "Savitribai Phule English School" which has children in Junior KG, Senior KG and first standard. Madhavi runs another school in Pune. Now children to their schools come from nearby slum areas. These schools are a part of schools run by Akanksha, a NGO working in area of education. Aniket's school is funded by the Thermax Foundation.
I asked Aniket what drove him to take up this assignment. What was it that he felt? When did he decide he wanted to be a social worker?
He said he felt it everytime something happened...since he was 12-13 years old. He said an earthquake many miles away would make him worry about the people there. Everytime he walked around slums, he felt "Destiny has given me so much more - I need to share". And he felt the sharing should sustainable.
When he finished his engineering, he and his friends wanted to start a school in 20 years time or so. Wow! Now that is long term vision. To gain hands on experience, he volunteered to work in slums and, he says, he found his calling in education. Whenever he sees children in slums, he is motivated to get them in schools. What amazed me was his clarity of thinking. He understands that he will have to wait for 10-15 years before his efforts show results.
Children are the easiest part of work; it is the parents who need constant motivation and counselling. And I heard both Aniket and Madhavi speak to a couple of parents about children. Their profound understanding of their students' backgrounds is incredible considering they both come from reasonably well off backgrounds. Their work also spans in bringing the community together, instilling confidence in children and their parents, re-igniting the need of dignity and self-respect in the parents' hearts and motivating their colleagues - the school teachers.
It was a heart warming experience for me to see these heroes of my nation. Everyday, when they came back from their training, they would email and SMS their teachers about their day - and, sure enough, they would receive many responses in a few hours time. Their commitment to the cause, maturity of thoughts, clarity of reasoning and unlimited idealism was both inspiring and overwhelming.
Their future plans include taking their respective schools to tenth standard thus ensuring all children come out with an ambition and starting more schools in rural India.
I hope their plans come true and they succeed in whatever they decide. It is these heroes that make me again believe in the future of our nation. Real stars of our times who have committed themselves to the cause of underprivileged.
Vision, leadership, strategy, unlimited energy, patience, faith, humility, pride about work & colleagues, and a disarming smile is how I describe these 2 stars.
It was an honour to interact with them.
Links to
Aakanksha's site - http://www.akanksha.org/
Aniket's blog - http://aniketmahulikar.blogspot.com/
Note - Aniket and Madhavi both mentioned many more people who have helped them in their efforts. Because it was not possible for me to include all the names, so I focused on the 2 of them in this article.
Sep 4, 2009
3 Mistakes of My Life - Book Review
Just finished reading "3 Mistakes of my life" by Chetan Bhagat.
It was a very good book. A change from reading heavy stuff, technical stuff and other such subjects.
The story is about Govind Patel, a young businessman from Ahmedabad. In fact it is a perfect story for a Hindi movie with a engaging mix of friendship, politics, difficulty of situations and yes, a love story.
It gives a lovely insight in the mind of the protagonist and his friends - Ish and Omi. While the book keeps giving hints on how the characters will pan out and mostly there are no surprises, the story is engrossing and makes you wonder what is coming on the next page.
I liked the book for its easy reading style, fast paced and humourous writing. Yet in some places the book is abrupt. Some sections like the Australian part seemed out of place.
But all in all, the book is well written. Do read it when you can.
It was a very good book. A change from reading heavy stuff, technical stuff and other such subjects.
The story is about Govind Patel, a young businessman from Ahmedabad. In fact it is a perfect story for a Hindi movie with a engaging mix of friendship, politics, difficulty of situations and yes, a love story.
It gives a lovely insight in the mind of the protagonist and his friends - Ish and Omi. While the book keeps giving hints on how the characters will pan out and mostly there are no surprises, the story is engrossing and makes you wonder what is coming on the next page.
I liked the book for its easy reading style, fast paced and humourous writing. Yet in some places the book is abrupt. Some sections like the Australian part seemed out of place.
But all in all, the book is well written. Do read it when you can.
Aug 31, 2009
Ganpati - Social Networking before Internet Age
Effects of what we do today are seen long after we are gone.
We so often talk of how social networking or professional networking sites have brought about a change in society. We talk more today using profiles, blogs, message updates, chats etc. But think of how important internet is in there as the underlying platform for this networking.
Seeing Ganpati today, one is compelled to admire the vision of Bal Gangadhar Tilak who started it about 100 years ago in Maharashtra. If we think about it, the occasion of Sarvajanik(Community wide) Ganpati is a form of social networking. In fact, the original form of Social Networking. Even the Ganpati celebration at our homes creates social networking.
Tilak's greatness was in understanding the potential of Ganpati's powers in bringing people together. By placing Ganpati (who has such great public following) at the centre of it all, Tilak ensured that his technique would certainly succeed.
Till date, so many people come together, meet...so many young people start arranging Ganpati Pooja at home. And the best part is, this occasion cuts across generations. Old, young, children all come together in these 10 days.
And yes, congratulations to Police in Mumbai as well who manage it more or less in a disciplined manner. The traffic jams due to processions have come down and most of this is managed by the volunteers of the Ganpati Mandal groups. That is public involvement in preventing domestic issues. I remember the horrendous jams when we were in school...that has changed drastically over last 1 and a half decade.
The only one thing I would like to change about the way this festival is celebrated is the use of noisy musical instruments and those eardrum blowing loudspeakers during the processions. They are unnecessary irritants in this festival.
We so often talk of how social networking or professional networking sites have brought about a change in society. We talk more today using profiles, blogs, message updates, chats etc. But think of how important internet is in there as the underlying platform for this networking.
Seeing Ganpati today, one is compelled to admire the vision of Bal Gangadhar Tilak who started it about 100 years ago in Maharashtra. If we think about it, the occasion of Sarvajanik(Community wide) Ganpati is a form of social networking. In fact, the original form of Social Networking. Even the Ganpati celebration at our homes creates social networking.
Tilak's greatness was in understanding the potential of Ganpati's powers in bringing people together. By placing Ganpati (who has such great public following) at the centre of it all, Tilak ensured that his technique would certainly succeed.
Till date, so many people come together, meet...so many young people start arranging Ganpati Pooja at home. And the best part is, this occasion cuts across generations. Old, young, children all come together in these 10 days.
And yes, congratulations to Police in Mumbai as well who manage it more or less in a disciplined manner. The traffic jams due to processions have come down and most of this is managed by the volunteers of the Ganpati Mandal groups. That is public involvement in preventing domestic issues. I remember the horrendous jams when we were in school...that has changed drastically over last 1 and a half decade.
The only one thing I would like to change about the way this festival is celebrated is the use of noisy musical instruments and those eardrum blowing loudspeakers during the processions. They are unnecessary irritants in this festival.
Aug 24, 2009
US Government IT Dashboard - Amazing tool to track IT spend
Check out this IT dashboard that tracks US Government's federal IT spending. This is an amazing tool. It is simple, it is elegant and it gives the information you want pictorially.
The beauty of this dashboard is in its simplicity. While it is information heavy yet the dashboard loads pretty quickly.
The main page - IT Dashboard
Don't miss the tree map view here. I like this feature the best.
Finally, for the more analytical mind - Check out the FAQs - IT Manager's can think of tracking the ROI on IT project expenditure in their organizations based on some of the ideas from here.
Hat tip - Prabal, my colleague, told me about this site.
The beauty of this dashboard is in its simplicity. While it is information heavy yet the dashboard loads pretty quickly.
The main page - IT Dashboard
Don't miss the tree map view here. I like this feature the best.
Finally, for the more analytical mind - Check out the FAQs - IT Manager's can think of tracking the ROI on IT project expenditure in their organizations based on some of the ideas from here.
Hat tip - Prabal, my colleague, told me about this site.
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