Highs and Lows of 2013

HIGHS

• Handed over 13 projects this year- 4 successful years of being on own
• Got 15mbps 40 GB Internet High Speed line
• Lamb Burger at Singapore Zoo
• Lovely city of Singapore
• Samsung Galaxy Note 800 Tab
• Catching up with Shru and Manish
• Driving through Bandipur with Kush
• Unwind in Wayanad
• Son missed me late night- early morning flew to see him
• A nest in the making
• Driving around & cycling with my son together
• All the pickups and drops with my lovely wife.
• Crossed 1 Cr turnover
• Received Gold as a token of appreciation from the Client

LOWS

• Dad's cancer condition
• Unbelievable Stress levels- realisation & acceptance
• Laptop RIP
• Frequent Illnesses
• Disappearance of my Memory Card & bike keys
• Spend 4 months without my son and wife around
• No movement still towards Health & Fitness

Singapore- A tourist's Experience 2013

Visited the Lovely city of Singapore in Feb 13. A quick and brief summary of the experience.

Wow factors

1.       Ofcourse- Roads

2.       All roads are boulevards

3.       F1 Track

4.       Gardens by the Bay- The Rainforest Dome

5.       Gardens by the Bay- Outdoor Tree structures

6.       Singapore Cable Car- riding over the seas

7.       Resorts World- Open seas wall

8.       Night Safari- Driving silently thru the thick forest in the night & wolves howl.

9.       Lamb Burger at Singapore Zoo foodcourt

10.   Lebanese (brinjal) starter dish

11.   Imported top-quality vegetables (1 ft long and 3 inch thick carrots)

12.   Food courts- can eat anything, anywhere, anytime

13.   Buildings designed by all the well-know architects

14.   Mexican Food at the Boat Club

Haan, theek hai

1.       Malls

2.       Lamborghinis, Mini, Benz, BMW etc

3.       Public transport- Volvo styled buses

4.       Singapore Flyer

5.       Singapore Zoo

6.       Museums & Souvenir Shops

7.       Marina Bay Sands & Its lazer shows

8.       Boat Quay

9.       Skyline

10.   Super-markets

Common Sense

1.       Signages

2.       No-nonsense Immigration

3.       No-parking lanes marked on the road- instead of on boards

4.       Unified Parking Ticket & Flash Cards

5.       Swing of the automatic Doors marked on the floor

6.       Extremely tourist friendly help & information providers

7.       Unique Bus-stop Ids

8.       Amazing Kerb stone and drainage design

9.       City within the trees

10.   Parking lots with indicators above for vacancy- to avoid searching for parking

11.   No Camera Fees – where everything is worth clickable

12.   Memorabilia Photos- Buy only if u want to

13.   Pipes and other Services guarded by rail in Basement so that cars don’t bump into them

Arrey, yeh kya baat hui

1.       8 Days in Singapore- didn’t see a single cop

2.       Parliament didn’t have a single guard outside

3.       Too much Public Smoking

4.       Vibrator – which vibrates once your order is ready in restaurants.

5.       Best quality Granite imported from India is used everywhere

6.       Rains atleast 6 hrs in a day and yet there is construction work happening all-over the place in full swing

7.       Saw- tyres of Dump trucks being watered to remove the muck- before coming on to the road, within the construction site

8.       No parking attendants

9.       Underwater aquarium- 90 mins waiting- 40 mins inside the aquarium

10.   Heavy reliance on Electronic Security and no security guards

11.   Public phone is hard to find. Tourists don’t carry cellphones!!!

Alchemist and Ayn Rand

The Alchemist - 2012 - just out of Undergrad college- was the year this book got into me, and glad to see where i am now. I do acknowledge this book as the First storey in my "Conscience Building", wherein the Foundation and Ground Storey was already laid by Swami Vivekananda and Metallica & Pink floyd respectively.
Yes, though looking back now- i feel these books are bit over-rated- fundas seem 'of-course' LOGICAL and 'as a matter of fact'- but then in the same breath- never deny or doubt the trip and the grip these books have on us & the way we respond by trying to be 'some-one' out of a 'no-one'
Guess, to be put in a nut-shell, all these books say the same god-damn thing- in different contexts and languages. It is 'old wine- new bottle', after a while. Now atleast- after a decade of going through atleast 4 different philosophies, innumerable lecturers- the effort since a year or so- has been more towards 'implementation' of this. These things are nice to read and feel good about- but then i feel the real test is 'putting them into use'. eg: It is soooooo damn difficult a cultivate a new habit- i am amazed at the sheer effort it takes and the amount of strain on the willpower. So far, i have none on the board- just goes on to show that i need lot more inspiration 'within', and decade of reading has hardly helped. Well, i end up comforting myself saying that it is new phase - just a year old and have a long way to go......
Now, coming to Ayn Rand- Let me tell - being an architect - i shamefully accept that it was only in Mar 2013- did i read 'Fountainhead' and starting nibbling at Rand's universe. And this is one book- which shook my 'Conscience Building'- by completely questioning the fundamentals of my beliefs, our upbringing and Indian way of Perceiving oneself and the Society. Still confused and yet to buy in- the theory of Ayn Rand. But dread to even think - what i would have ended up had i read this book- a decade back ( the usual time any architect- is forced/ bound/ inspired to read this book- kind of 'me-too' factor)
Here's the question for you- ARE YOU ALTRUIST ? (Something which Ayn Rand admonishes)

Chennai Express: Review

Watching a movie 3 weeks into its release- its indeed a challenge not be judgemental. But, should admit was quite successful in this. Getting on the movie- first on- its not at all a 'bad', 'pathetic', 'bore' movie as how the critics have panned out. Needless to say- we have been subjected to lot worse movies. In a nut shell- its a decent earnest movie- which knew what it was doing and to whom it was being made. If this seems to be a problem- the critics must take a hike. There are several positives in this movie- the production value of the movie is top-class & technically, a brilliant hindi movie- each shot / colors/ locales have been digitally enhanced- (deja-vu Life of Pi, Potter series). In terms of visual pleasure- certainly one of the firsts for Bollywood. There are couple of scenes where the colors are too blinding but they are few and far. Then, is the 'story telling'- Narrative and alike a lot of hollywood movies- the movie is a series of well-scripted 8-12 minute plots- each unique- like humorous song narratives, Dipika's Midnight avatar etc etc. It is in this segment that I dont feel its as bad as what the critics have portrayed. Then, its SRK SRK SRK all the way- midway through i was tempted to count the number of frames without SRK. Its SRK a movie and that too - surprise surprise- no overacting - except for one scene in the climax. I must agree that he has a done a great job. Dipika too adds on and compliments SRK and poses no threat to him, as who owns the movie. Besides, these Yes- there are cliches, predictability, bloopers, 'nothing new', 'cartoonisation' etc etc- but as i said- when you know the intent of the movie- there is no point reviewing it otherwise. Out- on Out full paisa vasool movie, and do not regret watching it. Rohit shetty and team deserve the kudos.

What are your hobbies ?

An interesting 'food for thought' moment happened about a fortnight ago. Was driving with a new acquaintance from the Client's team - and we started to get along pretty well. thereupon the obvious question popped up- WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES ? Man, what a moment- everything around me just turned into a BLACK HOLE and turned non-existential. I could see through everything around me. My eyes narrowed- tongue twitched and well I HAD TO THINK to answer this pretty - off the cuff question. Just made me realize- how old i have grown. Hobbies !!! Such a lovely thing- such a thing we proudly cultivate with an intent to distinguish from rest of us- Such a thing which we used to give unconditional time and commitment- such a thing - which spoke of who you are- such a thing- we used to KILL time with. Well- simply had no idea where all these- fell off without my notice- along this great transitional journey from a student to a professional to a family man. Of course- things change as time loses out on us- but then no way an excuse to make a victim out of this. time to play CATCH UP. But- where and how to start ???

My New Love

Something I DESPERATELY aspire.  Couple of years may be. Lets see. Its materialistic though. But I think I deserve a pass.

Tabbing, a new era

Sent from Samsung tablet

Fountainhead

Finally reading the book- full of mixed thoughts- yet to form an opinion. But keeping me actively occupied for the past fortnight. Something i really look fwd to. Watch this space

Bharath
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Brilliants Gifts

My darling wife gifted me these two books ...Cant tell how happy i am.

Too Little time- too much to achieve

I know its a very cliched statement- but then i am amazed at how people fast-track themselves, multi-task themselves, and 'make the most of it- once they are in'. Last week- i was lazily browsing through the Channels- and stopped by on NDTV GoodTimes because my Fav cookery show of Vineet Bhatia was on- and this guy was roaming around the streets of Calicut- searching and sampling the local food. Till the time- the ad break came in on the show- I had never bothered to look into the antecedents of Vineet- and also given the fact that he didnt figure in Vir Sanghvi's (other person who i devotedly follow) writings & opinions. During the ad break- it was narrated that 'the show would be back in couple of minutes to see what's in store for 'MICHELIN' starred Chef. 'M-I-C-H-E-L-I-N' Yes- exactly the point which made me 'literally' jump in my seat. An Indian Chef with Michelin star- my God- how could i be not aware of it. Not that i lovedVineet before- but this made surely bow to him. Then began my imprompto one-hour odyssey of browsing through every bit of literature and article published online- for me to chronicle Vineet's journey. What amazed me is that in a span of 13 years after opening his first restaurant in London- he has two Michelins for both his restaurants (other one in Geneva)- he has authored a book- he travels- writes-owns a Harley- plans on opening restaurants in Maldives as well as in India (Oberoi in Mumbai). Bow to you man.
This is the context which made recollect the above mentioned cliched line- and after Vineet- tweaked it- 'Too Little Time- So much is achieved'
This is more relevant considering the journey i am in of running my firm- which is now three years old. By grace of God- we have achieved both Financial & Resource stability with very strong projections for the next 18 months. Now this where- experiences like that of Vineet, Gold Mantis- is really inspiring to stretch the higher rungs of the ladder I am climbing and also push the limits of Comfort Zones like never before. The fact that success in Cooking- like Design requires constant hands-on effort from the Chef and the Architect alike. Seeing- how these creative people become successful business, delegators & managers is the nut that needs to be cracked.

Raven-eye

Bharath
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Wait

Lost in quest. A soul in wait to soar...bUt where ?

Bharath
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Entrapment

Bharath
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Flights

Bharath
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Bharath
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Sketches

Bharath
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