©anxiety | curiosity | thrill

Donate to Wikipedia!

2011-11-25T14:57:00.001-08:00

Whenever I come across something that I don't know but want to, I take out my phone, tablet, laptop or go to my home computer and search for the basic information and invariably, I get it from Wikipedia. Even if it is not the last place of reference, the quality process of Wikipedia ensures that there are enough citations which will allow me further research. Wikipedia is an integral part of my life.

As a kid, my parents could not afford the expensive WORLD BOOK, BRITANNICA encyclopedias. But that does not matter anymore. My progeny will always have them and more! Right to information is one of the most remarkable achievement of the modern age which thrives on freedom and Wikipedia is one of the tenet elements enabling that! Great work.

The correctness of information though questionable at times, Wikipedia still is certainly the richest source of information.I will go a step ahead and say, if the correctness is questionable, I can use the various processes (with lots of backs and forths) to give it a good try to correct the information. The infamy is partially my fault because most often, I don't try enough to strengthen the process. Nevertheless as I mentioned above, it is certainly most used and the richest source of information

If you are reading this, I would like to urge you consider supporting Wikipedia.
Donate and (| or) share ! Little money and (| or) all the wisdom!

Thank you

Another one for Sathya - The Phd Student!

2011-09-28T13:51:00.001-07:00

Another one for Sathya!

Am I Industrious or Greedy? or Both?

2011-05-12T00:46:00.000-07:00

Consider this simple scenario - A man lives in a town, sells rice, makes good amount of money. Always buys from the same set of farmers. Keeps a steady source of rice at all times and sells it to in fair price. But he does not stop at that. He gathers intel about better, cheaper (and hence inorganic) say, fertilizers and makes the farmers use them. Makes more profit. Now expands the same to a neighboring town. Now maker even more money. Makes a reproducible methodology of doing things and soon puts people out of business.

Now, how do we term this? By making other businessmen in the neighboring towns go out of business, by making farmers use fertilizers which are not as good as they seem, etc. has he proved to be Industrious - in other words, a good business man by definition; or has he proved to be greedy.

All through the history, reading about the many many Rulers and kinds turning into Despots, I think the same thing had happened to each and every one of them except that they were more powerful and affected many many many people. They turned greedy from being Industrious - lateral thinking, unconventional, forward thinking, etc. etc. etc. Czar Nicholas II, Napoleon Bonaparte, Hitler, Bush (?! really ?! Just kidding), Ivan The Terrible, Timur of Samarkhand and even Joseph Stalin.

I think there is only a (மயிரிழை) thin line between Industriousness and Greed. But I certainly cannot understand it. I could be an example too - except that I cannot have possibly put someone out of business (but may have 'snatched' someone's job). Before, I was doing something and assuming that I was industrious, I gathered more intel and doing the same 'something' better and may be faster.

I think I am still industrious and I know there is only a thin line between Industrious and Greed!

When does this bright shiny lustrous Industriousness become glittery lusty lascivious greed? Will it be hard to figure, I know not!

For Sathya :-) | Buddy I applaud your sacrifice

2011-04-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

God! Please make me not want to do a PhD in the future..Please! Please let me not quit my job and do something crazy!! I can only do it once and I already have!!!


The work here is actually not proportional to the grades - from what I remember. Never! Courtesy - PhD Comics (here:-))	PS: Sathya is a PhD student but that does not matter!

Butterfly effect of SR Raja | :( | Indian Corruption - Level - Max!

2011-02-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

Chaos theory is a very interesting postulate, or I would say ‘axiom’ as it does not require proof.

The concept is simple – in a very complex system – with so many variables and parameters that define the equilibrium, un-equilibrium or status-quo of the system – with so many dependencies with other smaller, if not more atleast equally complex systems, a change, how much ever trivial it is, will have what is called the Butterfly effect.

Butterfly effect is a metaphor to explain the significant effect of a trivial change in the value of a variable in the complex system. I think it is true otherwise as well. A significant change in value of variable of the system will have ripple effect that will penetrate to as much as the capillaries of the human body.

India is a very complex system. I don’t know a way to properly quantify the complexity I am talking about. Status-quo of India, or any country for that matter, is defined by the following parameters.

Population
Import / Export
Unemployment ratio
Status of health / Epidemics
Monsoon

Pardon me; I have just listed a few.

Rs. 1,60,000 Crores . It looks obnoxious when I expand it.

1,60,000 x 1,00,00,000 = Rs. 16,00,00,00,00,000.

Are you kidding me? This is the estimated loss for the Indian Government because of the 2G spectrum scam.

Numbers from our Fiscal Bugdet:

	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Gross Revenue	530427	565735	622397	1,60,000 Crores seem to cover the deficit!
Expenditures	680521	709373	750884	1,60,000 Crores seem to cover the deficit!

India has never had a Zero-Zero budget. It is always deficit. The deficit for the past few years were 150948, 143653, 133287 crores.

The scam apparently can cover the whole budget deficit for the year 2008 – 09. What a waste of everything Mr.Raja.

India has 130 Crore people. 1,30,00,00,000 people. Rs.16,00,00,00,00,000. Do the math. That is Rs.16,000 a head.

26.1% of Indian Population is below poverty line. 16000 will help them live happily for an year! Let us not bother about ~75% of population above the poverty line.Considering just these 'below-poverty-line-people' alone, that is take the 16K x 3 from the above-poverty-line people to below-poverty-line-people. i.e. 16,000 x 4 approximately.

That is Rs.64,000 approximately. And the threshold of poverty line is Rs.45,000. India would have none under poverty line for the year 2009 - 2010. This is so maddening. I have never really wanted to be rich. Even if I want to become rich through the wrong means, which is not possible. But hypothetically, let us say I am vice enough to misappropriate funds, I would say 5 Crore rupees will be all I would be able to steal. Because that is enough! Rs. 5,00,00,000 is enough!

Why would anyone want so much money? It seems beyond greed, deceit and every vice in the world.

SR Raja is now the Butterfly effect (in the negative sense) of the whole country!

This will manifest in the bad roads which will result in accidents - in environmentally unclean power plants - in IITs and Anna Universities which will not have enough funds for research - in insufficiently staffed schools - in bad rations - in anything and everything bad - these are the capillaries of India. If the capillaries clog, the human body cannot survive.

Really, wondering what is beyond all the vice in the world,

Vikram.

Bug in Facebook?!

2010-12-03T23:28:00.000-08:00

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Login into Facebook
2. Your wall should have a million videos (mostly worthless, a few good). Play one of them.
3. Let it play to the end or pause it
4. Now click on one of the million photos posted in your wall
5. The video starts playing automatically and when you close the photo, you will see the video still running

What is most surprising is, I am observing this for the past few days - for atleast 5 times.

I cannot categorize this into some feature, for no one would want a paused video to play in the background when he/she is looking at pics. Especially when pics and video are so disjointed.

Facebook has a bug!

As of 10/12/2010,

---------- NO UPDATES PROVIDED BY FACEBOOK YET! ------------
---------- THE BUG IS STILL AT LARGE ---------------------------------

Somewhere in Jan 2nd Week, the issue was fixed! Good job FB!
---------- FIXED & CLOSED ----------------------------------------------
Closed! Around mid December.

∞

2010-12-03T00:50:00.000-08:00

The infinity sign is called a Lemniscate - Real Fact #818

Courtesy - Snapple (bottle cap)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemniscate

Is man inefficient inherently | 2

2010-10-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

Almost all the products that are meant for a single use are not designed for single use. Are they designed for two uses? Probably for 5 - 10 uses. Medical equipments excluded.

I am talking about simple things like - napkins, use and throw paper cups, spoons and forks, etc., etc., etc.
Improvisation is an over-rated and over used word in case of man. A certain silicon valley company uses bio-degradable spoons and forks in its cafeteria. Good! They call it improvisation and it indeed is.

But what I am not able to understand is, why not use the metal spoons and forks which are washable, STERILIZABLE and more importantly - reusable and they will exist for ever. One time investment for life time. Life time of earth. If a spoon breaks or gathers rust, it can be melted and remade into the same fork or spoon or whatever - for another eternity of life of earth, almost!

Why invest so much on researching how to use potato starch to make degradable spoons and forks. May be it just gives us thrill. A simpler solution could have been using clean, sterilized spoons and forks!

Another important thing, though they are use and throw stuff, by virtue of the physical properties of the substance, they actually can stand a second use. But no one will use it the second time - acceptable hygiene related reasons!

Is there anyway that using metal spoons and forks is more expensive, not just for cafeterias - consider it in totality. Consider the natural resources that go into the use and throw fork. The labor, effluents of the machines, etc. I don't think so. Even when the breakage is included it will still be less than the total cost of buying-using-throwing-away-and-buying cycles for other alternative sources for multiple number of times.

This applies for almost every use and throw product. And these trivial unimportant use-and-throw things are made from precious trees, burning precious liquid gold or black gold!

Use and throw products, except for certain conditions, is definitely not SUSTAINABLE. I have no clue what made man like this. What assurance does a potato-starch made forks give us as opposed to metal forks? Just One thing ! Potato starch forks are clean and unused and hence we feel a little safe. Not to mention, our saliva is a powerful solvent and it takes a part of these spoons and forks as we put it in our mouths. God knows if they are really non malignant. The point is, the solution to our fear is not Potato starch forks and spoons - it is clean spoons and forks. Sterilization is a very simple effective technique of cleaning things. All you have to do is soak the things in HOT water. The hotter, the better!

Alternatives are needed when we dont have a solution in hand. If we have a solution in hand and we prefer the alternatives, we should not call it improvisation. We are depleting the resources of our planet.
I urge my readers to forsake these plastic use-and-throw stuff and use the conventional tools which are the highly reusable and shall stand for a lifetime.

Vikram.

D.R.E.A.M.S | :--)

2010-09-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

I can't insist how important it is to achieve the dreams we have. I dont know about you but this is very important to me. I dont have a lot. Very few actually. I am not sure if it is typical. But it, to me, sounds as a good collection. It is such an oxymoron for I have never really dreamed of these literally.

We can name it differently - ambition, longing, etc. But 'Dream' sounds so nice to miss!

Very important: I am already on the path. I have already achieved a couple of them. I have, a considerable life tiem to achieve the remaining. Now I am comfortable that I will definitely achieve the remaining in my life time.

Well, here they are

1. Living alone in a STUDIO. Specifically a studio. I dont know why it is STUDIO and not a PENTHOUSE. When the dreams are a little less extravagent, it becomes easier to achieve. But I promise, I really did not think of anything else
2. Buy a near-to-professional camera. Oh yes. I have My_Newest_Source_Of_Joy achieved that.
3. A medium-weight, probably, a 800 - 1500 cc cruiser. Like the this. I am far away from this. Actually, I have put it aside for the next few months.
4. A SONY MUSIC SYSTEM - specifically SONY and only a MUSIC SYSTEM. The one, that will occupy half of your house - yes - that is the one!
5. An MP3 player - Oh, this one I achieved long time before and now I have hers! I love it!
6. A stolen-bike-ride (like Wordsworth's Stolen Boat Ride - A brilliant ride on the scenic CA1 or anything beautiful for that matter. Coldplay playing in my ears - The wind whistling in my ears - My long hair obeying the speed; settling to sticking to my head rather than fighting the wind - and the Cruiser- Ofcourse, the cruiser!
7.Go to The Netherlands - Amsterdam with her and to the brilliant garden (or whatever it is. You know what I am talking about) and sing the Daffodils from beneath a tree.

And all these are atleast 5 years old. None of them is new!

I think I have forgotten a couple of them. May be I have not. This list shall be updated soon if any strikes me as the forgotten Dreams.

- Vikram.

Weigh your own words | Reflection | :-(

2010-08-24T02:40:00.000-07:00

There are certain things that we generally do and do not. For instance: I don't talk about the personal life of people who are in public life; which is perfectly fine. But there are certain other things which I am interested in but I cannot say it out. So, I mask that part of me and keep doing it. By doing this I have my integrity and face intact. I find it difficult to do it; nevertheless I do. Because to me, I know the truth and I know it is not good.

Saying that you do or you don't (do those things) is a very easy thing that I see people do it so fluently. So easy that they forget after a while.

I think I do it too, not for the sheer attention I get at the moment or the impression I give, but for the certain people I care. This makes life different because, to preserve my integrity and hence my sanity, I have to remember these self created fallacies - which is very difficult to keep track of if the list grows and grows and grows. I have seen people fall repeatedly. At times for lies they need not have said; for trivial things which do not bring them enough good; for things which are not worth.

So what makes people impulsive to these things? Are these worth it? Just wondering!

'The Grandma' | Full Moon | Zhumell Aurora 70 | :-)

2010-08-24T01:51:00.000-07:00

Solitude always has its wicked way with me....
....never leaves me alone!

Solitude is always summed up by melancholy, imagination, ambition, longing and these are different to me. So I am, logically speaking, never alone.

I am not alone now. This time, it is the imagination. Moon has been a great source of imagination and hence solitude to me. There has been times when I 'went' to the moon to be alone. A very passive companion. Though she follows me all around with the grandma and the stove in which she cooks 'Uzhundhu Vadai' (Click me to see who I am), she doesn't speak, doesn't share her feelings with me, etc. She is PASSIVE.

Talking about 'the grandma', 'the grandma' is the reason behind many brilliant Indians of the current time. She has always been the reason why (and how) kids in India ate. 'The grandma' is the classical fictitious character that many many mothers used to feed their children; especially on Full Moon Days. And today is one such day and I am thinking of my mother.

If not for 'the grandma', I don't know what might have had happened!

Talking about 'the grandma' again, it did not take me long to figure out that 'the grandma' is fictitious; for my mother also taught me bits and pieces about moon - like it is the earth's satellite, no-life-there, no-atmosphere-there, etc. And today, I literally saw the various lakes (I prefer lakes to craters) on the surface of moon, with the Lake of Tranquility - the largest, making the body of 'the grandma' and there was a head lake, leg like lake and a stove like lake too.

All using our Zhumell Aurora 70 telescope. Oh my yesterday is made today; for it is 2 AM in the morning :-)

Sleep!
Vikram.

My newest source of Joy | :-) :-D

2010-08-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

I got a new camera with a cool lens set. The camera is a Canon DSLR - T2i EOS 550D / T2i EOS Kiss / T2i EOS Rebel. It is a little odd to see that the same model is called EOS Kiss in Japan and EOS 550D Rebel in Europe and EOS T2i in the US.
Anyways, about the lens, the following are a few ;p - nay kidding, but I have 7 lens now

1. 50 mm macro lens from Canon
2. 50 - 135 Image stabilizer lens from Canon
3. 500 mm long range Image Stabilizer lens from Canon
4. 650 - 1300 telephoto lens from Zeikos
5. 500 mm reflector lens that can be added to any of the first three lens
6. 58 mm telephoto lens for any of the first three
7. 58 mm 2X wide angle lens for panoramic shots.

It is now a new source of joy for me for the ennui is all gone and I look forward to every weekend. Especially the following two (first and second week(end)s of Aug 2010) for I am going to have good company too. :-) Can't wait!

I know what you are thinking. I am purposefully keeping it to the last.

It is expensive; Don't ask me how much. But it is d*** expensive.

But I know it is worth it. Happy.
- V

PS: Just in case you are over-curious. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140418129644&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Is man inefficient inherently? | :-I

2010-08-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

A very few observations proved me that man is getting more and more inefficient with advancements and establishments. The more primitive people are, the more efficient they seem.

My observations are nothing great. These are the ones I use and do everyday. To point one,

I use the public transport system that is probably transporting 10 - 50 people every morning while it is designed for 250 to 300 people. As of now, I have never seen a bus in SF area that carries as many people it is designed to carry.

I see the other lot using cars - cars designed to carry 4 but transporting just 1, or maximum 2.
I don't see a reason why we don't have cars, as opposed to less safe bikes, that are designed for one person - so that it is more fuel efficient, consume less metal, paint, processing and also produce less scrap, CO2, CO, SO2, etc. Not to mention the fact that the efficiency of an internal powerful engine is 40% or less and the more powerful they are the less efficient they become.
The cars vary from Mini Cooper to Hummer; wide variety of power range, pickup, etc.
While I feel the necessity for powerful cars is very minimal, it cannot be denied that for a person traveling in plain road for a maximum of 10 - 15 miles, the power of Toyota Camry is surplus in orders of 10 if not more.

Another simple reason is people in less developed reasons use motor cycles more. Travel in reasonable speeds and hence are safer.

And this is just one example. I can point out a million other reasons. Why do we answer our necessity with luxury? Why cant we keep it simple? Had we not made all these establishments, we might be having a better answer for our progeny about the place they are going to live in.

By all means, I think a new research series finding out the precise need of everyday consumption and define a safe order of magnitude to make sure that the admissible error will not result in not fulfilling the need. Our agonizing paranoia to answer safety with extravagance is going to give our progeny a less resourceful world. That is not fair!

Just a thought.

Snow is a phenomenon | ^-^

2010-08-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

When I had my orientation at the OIE - in CMU during my initial days in the university, I was advised to not get shocked by the OPEN culture of the US. I was shocked not by that, but by the speaker when she said, 'Please don't have wrong ideas about American women; for they will not sleep with anyone and everyone they meet'. Anyways, that was something that I really felt bad about. But the orientation did not discuss much about an important thing - the thing that made my day(s).

The orientation didn't inform about snow.

It was on one fine day when days were the longest, when the days were 17 hours long and you had the sun at 9 PM in the NIGHT. In Tamil, the equivalent of NIGHT is Iravu (இரவு) - which means Dark. But there is a reason why there are different words - 'Dark' and 'Night' in English (and it is Dark (K)night together) for they are not the same. It was a night when the deep night is bright with no signs of darkness. Like there is going to be an eternity of sun light and the produce of the world is doubling every second - once for the day and the other for the night.

I was in the intersection of 5th Avenue and North Craig Street in Pittsburgh at 8 30 PM in the yet to be dark Night; when fine star shaped thin flakes of cool white things started almost floating in the air, for their descent was too slow to call it a fall and though too slow, a fall to call them suspended. My over-sized black snow jacket was at home but I was happy that it was. I was wearing a sweat shirt which i got rid of and felt the teeny tiny white things disappear over me as if I am their most powerful absorbent. They did not even leave a mark. The evaporation was instant and cool feeling was heavenly. Wait a min, it was not evaporation - they just sublimed.

While I tried to get look the source of the snow - the heavens with my lower jaw dropped to the floor, I am sure there must have been a few who must of have thought, 'Ah! New kid in the block. Hope he knows it always turns ugly'. It was not just a event or a happening. It had a phenomenal effect on me. I am writing about what I saw 7 months ago. And I know it will still leave a phenomenal effect on me when I see it again.

The SEI building reflected the snow with a mild neglect but I took a broader OPEN-MINDED look to see snow patching up all the imperfections of the city. All the pot holes, the little air cracks in the buildings; And in a few hours, I saw the city in its purest form. I can never forget that.

- Vikram.

The Bth just wont die | :-(

2010-06-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

I ended up feeling so guilty. Never like before. I started wondering, where did all the restlessness go. I am a CMU grad for heaven's sake. Well, I am not flattering myself by saying that. But, "Damn you CMU" (it rhymes)- I am so used to not sleeping for 8 hours or so used to 3 - 4 hours sleep; and now, I stare at the big vacant dark like I am going to swallow it with my eyes. All through the night. Well, almost!

Why do I feel guilty?

To list a few of the cruel things I did over the past few nights,
1. Seeing 5 episodes of Prison break - back to back!
and a movie
and few videos and
and then go read Wordsworth
and then go read Aganaanooru (an ancient Tamil literature)
and then try hard not to sleep - like it is a sin.
2. Pointless browsing for 3 hours
3. Finished a whole packet of bbq potato chips (OMG!)
4. Creating a catalog of all the nonsense I have done
5. Half-solving-problems
and coding them for few hours
and letting them be
5. Read worthless blogs
and taking time to comment them
6. Using hands instead of Dish washer -
I remember once asking my roomie,
'Why don't they just wash themselves - Such a waste of time!'

...What else and what not!

It is like killing - over and over again. Time. Just keeps coming; even though you kill her over time, over and over again. Like torturing someone. Someone Dead! Someone who is like a pheonix. Or better and faster! Someone who doesn't give you a break. Only for you to torture and kill.

I wonder if it is me who is torturing time or time, torturing me. Saying 'The SOB just wont die'.

I have been so used to time crunch and a little deal of free time is driving me nuts. I am devising a strategy to not let me 'just be' and tackle her and bring her down.

- Pleading guilty and innocence. Both.

Everything is Beautiful | :-) | Ecstasy

2010-06-14T04:05:00.001-07:00

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder – definitely, our ancestors knew to put difficult things in a compact, butter-smooth, seems-easy way. What they are actually coming to say is that, beauty is relative and that it pretty much depends on the person(s) rather and need not be the truth. As Socrates defined GOOD – ‘What that is good is not the same for another’.

Hmmm... Interesting! But then is beauty really relative? Is there a good looking baby or a not-a-good looking baby or one baby is more beautiful than another? Is love not universally accepted to be beautiful? Something as trivial as a neatly arranged room or something very sublime (that it is unstable) like world peace – aren’t these beautiful? War is ugly, invariably. Right? If something is universal, then how could it be relative too?

For argument sake, yes, you can argue otherwise. But otherwise, not. (God, I twisted it bad)

So, is beauty relative? No, beauty is truth. And hence is absolute!
I have always wondered why do we complicate our life by categorize things based on a relative beauty. What does it bring to the table? More than good, I have seen it bring a lot of pain and hatred in the world.

It is hard but true, that all the vice in the world, color, creed, etc. started because beauty has been the yard stick. Beauty is skin deep – but skin has been beauty forever. For a rational species like us, beauty should have been next to nothing if not nothing. But it is just the opposite.

For every other trivial ones, beauty is nothing, if not next to nothing. This ill defined beauty, other than copulation, has no other purpose. It just makes our perpetuation easier. Period.

I find beauty everywhere. Simple example - I am in an airport right now and I saw a woman whisper something to her man; he moved a little closer to her. She placed her head on his shoulder and went to sleep like she was charmed. I was struggling with a supposedly comfortable neck pillow for quite some time now.

I saw a pregnant woman pass by; and another woman with her son (probably 3 years old); a couple with 4 kids, running around them like earth circling the sun; Beautiful.

A small girl probably around 5, dropped her chocolate mocha and ‘oops’ed so cutely that neither her parents, nor anyone around could have gotten annoyed even if they had tried hard. It was raining slightly forming long streaks of glass beads on the glass windows. They seemed to have so much discipline – as if size, shape and distance between those glass streaks conformed to an Engineer’s specification. See, Random is rare ;P. Anyways, they are Beautiful.

I don’t know what is not beautiful. Frankly, I don’t. Everything is beautiful; Except for betrayal and war.

- Vikram

மனம் குளிர ஒரு மழை | :-)

2010-05-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

மனம் குளிர ஒரு மழை.

இரண்டு வருடங்களுக்கு முன்பு நடந்த ஒரு மழை. நான் நனைந்த; மறக்க முடியாத மழை. வெயில் கால மழை.
பழையதை எழுதுவதில் ஒரு மகிழ்ச்சி.

பெரிதாய் ஒன்றும் நடக்கவில்லை. பாத்து நிமிடம் தான். 'சோ'வென்று ....என்று பத்து நிமிடம் பெய்தது.

மோட்டார் பைக்கில் சென்று கொண்டிருந்தேன். சுர்ரென்று வலி - முகத்தில், கைகளில்.
திடீரென்று. பளிச்சென்று. மழை.
ஒவ்வொரு துளியும் மிக நேர்த்தியாய்..பெரிதாய் சிறிதாய்..ஆனால் நேர்த்தியாய் இருந்தது.

முழு உலகுக்கும் வண்ணம் மேல் அதே வண்ணம் பூசியது. எதுவும் சுத்தம். எதிலும் சுத்தம். சென்னைக்கு மிக முக்கியமான இல்லாத ஒன்று.

ஒரு மாதம் ஒரு முறையாவது பெய்ய வேண்டும். மனிதன் நல்லறிவு பெறுவது போன்றது அது; சென்னை முழுவதும் சுத்தம். அழகு.

சென்னையோடு சேர்ந்து நானும் குழிர்ந்து போனேன். குழந்தைகளுக்கும் மகிழ்ச்சி. பெற்றோர் ஒருபுறம் இழுக்க முயல, மழை நீரில் வழுக்கிக்கொண்டும் திமிரிக்கொண்டும், மறுபுறம் ஓடிச்செல்லும் குழந்தைகளை பார்க்க மிக மிக அழகாய் இருந்தது.

மழை காலம் என்றாலே என்கிறிந்தோ வந்து விடுகிறது குதூகலம். மகளிர் மக்கள் தங்கள் முந்தானை முடிவுகளை கழுத்து வழி சுற்றி தலை மேல் கொடையை கொண்டு ஓடுவதையும் பார்த்தேன்.

வந்த வேகத்தில் சென்ற மழை, மேகங்களின் விளையாடோ!! ஆட்டிவைப்பதும் அடக்கிவைப்பதும் நாங்கள் தான் உங்களுக்கு சொல்லிதந்தோம் என்று நினைவூட்டுவது போல் இருந்தது.

நான் ஆடவும் இல்லை ; அடங்கவும் இல்லை. நனைந்த வேகத்தில் காய்ந்தேன்! மகிழ்ச்சி!

விக்ரம். :-)

Random is rare | :-|

2010-05-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

Today, a very funny but intriguing thing happened. I heard my friend complain about the potato curry being over cooked which indeed was. But he did not stop with that but added "This chef has a mind of his own ( which is quite acceptable ). He is very random. I am not eating here again...EVER."

Oh, don't worry. He will be there promptly at 12:26 PM tomorrow for his over cooked lunch. Else he will have to die of partial starvation. A cereal-breakfast and no-or-an-impromptu-dinner wont be sufficient. That much I know for sure.

The funny thing is when I started to think about it and decided to write a post.

What really caught my attention is the word "Random". I totally did not care about his cribbing. To really relish what is random, I tried to look around the random things. At the outset a lot of stuff appeared random.. People talking different random languages. A couple of guys were giving High5. I could see small dust particles in the sharp ray of sun light. But they all looked random when considered individually and not collectively. When all the dust particles..hmm take all the molecules in unit volume and measure the entropy. It is constant and equal for all the molecules. Then what is random here. Take 10 bunch of people and let them in the same situation. Their working pattern is also same. In a group of 10 people selected 'random'ly..no arbitrarily rather..you can find the normal pattern of 2 leaders (who will always fight among each other), 2 thinker, 4 workers, 2 others. It is never different. The same applies to everything.

I think, we say that something is random if we don't know why it acted so. The chef could have bumped into a problem (a particular ingredient is missing or is available in less quantity which requires discussion of another problem altogether).

Something when dropped from a height falls the same way anywhere and everywhere. There are parameters that define the differences. The random() method is driven by a principle which makes it an oxymoron in itself. I will try to understand 'random' better and discuss more on it.

- Retiring with a headache.

Godlike | :-)

2010-05-04T14:15:00.001-07:00

G O D L I K E !

I closed my eyes and let the moment pass.

I closed my eyes and let go off the control

I closed my eyes to feel everything

I closed my eyes to stop feeling everything

I closed my eyes to see everything. Everything.

West hillsdale blvd, unlike the East hillsdale blvd stands by the name. It goes all the way to the top of the San Mateo hill. What started as a pleasant interlude ended with me panting for oxygen; my lungs refusing to take anymore, I forgot about everything and sat down in the side path beneath a tree. My aluminum bodied cycle became so heavy that I felt like dragging a square log of truck taken from the huge sequoia. To put it in different words, I felt like climbing a wall - so thick and tall that the only way to pass is to bring it down. Every turn let to another. The most tortuous thing I have ever seen. After 2 hours which lasted for an eternity, I reached my destination. The most beautiful thing I had seen in a long time (after Pitt; when in SFO)

There was nothing more. Everything ended there. There was a wise old tree to my left and nothing ahead. That was the end. Not a dead end. But the end of W Hillsdale Blvd and the start of a new road (whose name I don't know).

I relished the horizon and saw the land and the sky trying to swallow each other. Nothing ahead; but a huge trough! That was when I realized what was before me and made a silly proposition to myself. Sanctioned it immediately. Smiled. All that was left now is what I will say looked like an eternity of free fall. I started my descend.

For 5 whole minutes. 2 miles. Never uttered anything sensible. But uttered a lot and believe me it made sense – yaaaaaaaaaaaaahooooooooooooooooo! And then I closed my eyes, let go of the handle, spread my hands wide and flew. And flew and flew. To the blue skies. Tasted the water in the pure form; in a form it is before it reaches the Earth. Felt how nice it is To be God! - to live in the heavens ( ;-) ).

For three minutes. I lived another life. Lived outside my body. Felt like God. Yes, felt like God!

- Freewill

Smell of Freedom | :-)

2010-04-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

Before I start dwelling into the 'SMELL' of freedom, let me say what 'FREEDOM' is to me. I am not talking about the political, global, economical, social status of being 'free' but the simplistic feeling of being 'free' - meaning, the capability to perform one's own whims and fancies. Well, there is a little chance of misconception here. The incapability to perform doesn't mean one is not free. For example, I fancy getting a Honda C50 (http://www.powersportstv.com/models/Suzuki-Boulevard/2007-Suzuki-Boulevard-C50.html) but I do not have the capacity to now; but I feel perfectly free now! In fact, to put it in clear terms, it is not just one's capacity, but the goodness of everyone around to let you do what you like.

Remember, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” - Gandhiji
"You can swing your walking stick. But it should not hit another man's nose" - Churchill (I think)

Note that people will never let you do what they think might affect them. If you or your 'everyone around' is unreasonable, then your freedom gets messed up.

So, my definition and meaning of 'Freedom' satisfies the underlying assumption.

You and your 'everyone around' are reasonable (which to my rational mind is very unlikely)

Now what?

'Freedom' is hence the state, when an individual's actions cover an area whose diameter doesn't encroach if not just overlap anyone else's and everyone around let the individual on his/her own.
The point I am trying to make is that everyone's freedom overlaps with everyone else. So, live and let live.

Ok, now rather than distressing myself and reader, let me quickly go to the subject.

Freedom isn't a thing. It is merely a feeling; surreal! But then why do we always say and read from texts about 'smelling / breathing the free air'. Does the nose have to do with freedom?

Lot actually! To me, freedom is something I smelt in the first chutney that I prepared myself (oh ya, I can cook) with great enthu and patience, then dropped it on the floor, picked (and wiped) it from the floor and found it finger-licking-good; in my white T-shirt which smelt jasmine - I washed it with my hand - not a washing machine; in the sambar that I prepared and am proud of; the bicycle I pedal to office; the plastic smell of the debit card; the blueberry muffin; the cold wind that always sneaks in to my apartment and irritate me; in the worn-out shoes (yes it stinks); in my camera; in my father's voice (oh ya, he has started respecting me..so much!) in my favorite 'Foot long | over roasted chick breast sub | with Mayonnaise and sweet onion sauce | with onion, cucumber and lettuce ' from SubWay...and so on.

Freedom is what I smell in the wind that whiffs through my hair when I ride through the slope of the Saratoga Drive on my cycle at an amazing 30 miles / hr and momentarily close my eyes and enjoy everything in the world

Freedom is what I smelt in my "sighs and successes" - a sign of relief, if not satisfaction of something more significant, at many many moments in my life when I overcome / solve a hurdle and move ahead.

Smell of freedom! I think it is a very fine fascinating metaphor in English.

:-| Just settle down!

2010-04-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to see the amount of calculation the brain does (or at times doesn't do) to take a decision. I am also amazed to see how at times mind overrides the brain. Trust me, Brain and Mind are very much like objects in OOP. The problem is the inheritance is runtime ( unlike OOP ). I called so many apartments; almost finalized on one; went there to find out that my brain likes it but my mind didn't. Frankly, I would have normally gone with the brain. But this time, my mind overrode it! For the first time, my mind really dominated my brain. For the first time, my brain was inherited and was overridden by my mind :-| (Straight face).

My brain so very rigorously argued about selecting the more expensive, more serene, more mind-liked (not like-minded) place and dumped the place it liked the most. And have almost convinced me about it.

Now, that is really enough. I really wish to get the original hierarchy back. Brain in control rather than my mind.

I think I just settled to the mind-liked place. :-| (Straight face)

:- ( I like this slump

2010-04-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

My stare irritated quite some people. They thought I was staring at them. But I wasn't. In fact, I was not looking at anything. Not at the people, not the road that was on the other side of the window, not the window, not at the sign boards reading 'Park Place', 'Organic Frozen Yogurt' or 'Look at my face' written on the skinny girl's shirt, not at her face, not at the tulips or the daffodils, not the mountains or the horizon beyond, not the minute dust particles moving in unison and in random trying to use the potential energy of the atmosphere whose source I don't know; I was not looking at anything. There is the blue sky, pink flowers, a beautiful Indian woman looking at me - her free hair flying beautifully in the wind, the lovely Latin coffee-maker; Everything here is to look. I can look at everything. I just don't want to. Don't even want to try. I like this slump; until you come. Normally I swallow everything beautiful through my eyes and assimilate them into words. Normally I become eclectic to things beautiful around me. Normally I feel excited at the very least, if not happy. But now, I look at nothing. I long though! I long!

I miss you!

Ice skating | Balance | Thrill

2010-03-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

The world has something new in store for us everyday. Some are expected, some assumed. But there are the third kind called 'surprising / shocking' - like falling in love, getting the unexpected good-job, loss of a healthy family member, an accident, serendipity, etc. The result of this new 'news' is often predictable. Either happiness or sorrow be it temporary or permanent. We don't think twice. It is implicit, spontaneous and we don't look for loop holes to be otherwise. The feeling is direct and right on our face. Even if it is shocking or surprising, it is surprisingly good or quite shockingly sad, disgusting, whatever.

But I underwent the new ineffable feeling when I tried something new and the world had something to say about the newness; it was about balance. Loss of balance to be precise. For the first time in my conscious life, I could not stand on my legs. I was not only surprised about not being able to stand but also about not being able to do anything about it. Ice skating. I didn't know what to feel about it. I was not happy or sad. It was a new kind of surprise; that my brain could not decipher until I got the hang of it. It is about striving hard to keep hold of your life, keep the steering wheel to yourself, be the sailor, driver, engine, propeller of your life; And the deliberate try to lose it. It is amazing in itself. How could one try to do both at the same time. My brain should have been confused.

It is amazing; when I get to think about it for the third time, I remember the familiar feeling of Coldplay (my favorite band) + my motorbike. I was over speeding at a 120 kms/hr in my 99 cc motor bike (which in Indian standards is a good speed). That was my first 120. A weird feeling again inexpressible but vivid and contradicting. It should have been the left brain - the intelligent part that was asking me go slower and the other part - the stupid one - which feels so much wanted the speed and guess what I was listening to the right brain. And then I lost control - a bit; Managed to stay on the bike but that was not fun; but not bad either. It was so inexpressible and it happened in a split second.

The thrill of speed, bet, losing balance, orgasm are things which I think no one can directly correlate to happiness / sorrow. Whatever it is, we only ache for it more. So addictive. So thrilling. I can never forget the experience. I don't know if I will cherish it but I will never forget it. I will talk about it once and more.

Skating - A complex (is it?) art of losing balance and not control at the same time. Ineffable, inexpressible! Man knows to keep his life on and running..All the time in one way or the other ;-).

Vikram.

Inspiration, Poetry and Me!

2010-03-13T10:48:00.001-08:00

Have you wondered what you are really good at and that will you ever be able to find that? I have and still do sometimes. It is a great mystery and misery together. If you find that you are good at something, you pursue too much on that and if you don't know your trump-card, you have to keep trying until you find it out. If not for the point that I think I have found out one good thing about myself which is 'poetry', this para has no relevance to what is below. This is just a thread in the stream of thoughts. I thought (again?) this shouldn't be missed. Documentation (mostly insufficient) is an occupational hazard in my case.

I started poetry quite early in my life and quite on my own. I didn't derive my inspiration from the existing works of great poets - Valluvan, Wordsworth, Frost, Shakespeare, Vairamuthu,etc. My initial inspirations were from my unique experiences with nature - especially rain and storm - pretty much all nature poets start with Rain; I did too :-). I underwent the feelings as it is as much as it could. I have never written while having those 'spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings'. I could never even try or dream of trying. It is too much to bear. But I wish I try writing and feeling the inspiration at the same time.

More often, the inspiration is the feeling of loss / expectation / smug-ness rather than the feeling of undergoing the misery / pain / happiness, etc.. There is a beautiful melodrama about these feelings. It is not the moment they are bothered about but the anxiety / result of such situations. I derive a whole bunch of feelings other than the inspiration - melancholy, ecstasy, confusion to name a few. I think I write more out of expectation / anxiety more than anything else.

That also explains why I have not been writing in the last six to eight months of the past year (Did I play with words here?!). Now-a-days, I see spring peeping once and more. It is here! There shall be breeze, life, flowers, so much to look; so much to expect; so much to enjoy. No wonder I am writing. I am writing. :-)

Vikram.

Tracking Risks : Not just for software but for any risky activity ;-)

2010-03-11T22:33:00.000-08:00

(Please dont bother about the diagram above; For certain reasons, I will say it doesnt make sense to me; I have place this diagram just to allure readers)

People who have nothing to do with software please shun off! No no, please hold on. Risks are specific to the domain but tracking risks is very generic. Tracking risks is very important not for just software development, but also for a lot of activities - planning trips, cooking (no one likes bad food. And again, bad could be with respect to the taste or the amount of oil, trans-fats, etc), preparing for examinations, immigrating to a foreign nation, etc. etc. etc!

The whole point of tracking risks is to ensure that we are not destroying success based on 'being adventurous' and that we are taking calculated track-able mitigate-able risks. When there is a way to assert ourselves as to where we are and how we are doing, why not do it?

This blog doesn't discuss about identifying risks. I think that in itself could be a good blog topic. Anyways, this blog discusses about tracking risks effectively for Software projects ( and other projects in life).

The prerequisite for effective risk tracking mechanism is a plan. This blog assumes the presence of a project plan that has clearly defined activities ( and the tasks in each of those activities ).

The moment a risk is identified, the risk parameters namely
1. Probability of risk turning into a problem
2. Impact if the risk turns into a problem,
3. Time span required for the risk to materialize into problem
4. List of sources of risks
have to be associated to it. Any complex mechanism for grading / measuring / quantifying the parameters can be used. What that is important is the current status of the risk.

One method of expressing the risk parameters is by using bands namely HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW.
They can also be expressed as RED, YELLOW, GREEN respectively to show the rating.

Let us assume that a risk associated with Project, say,
"4 out of the 5 developers lack solid work experience with Struts (condition or premise),
1. so training which consumes x amount of effort is needed (consequence - AKA the actual risk)
2. so the quality of the code developed might suffer and hence more effort might be required for rework"
has
HIGH probability
HIGH impact
LOW time for materialization and the sources of these risks can be easily identified by brainstorming.

The best way to track risks is task-based-tracking. Generally, to handle the risks, the mitigation strategies are defined. This is where the problem is. The mitigation strategies and the risk ratings are so disjoint that tracking the status of the risks become tedious.

The simplest and the most effective way to connect the risks, their statuses and mitigation strategies is by mapping the mitigation strategies to certain task(s) and adding the tasks to the plan. Now, the project team gets some visibility of when the risks can be reviewed - ie 'when the tasks are done'. So,when task(s) associated to a risk is (are) completed, the status of the risk at that situation is analyzed and the ratings for Probability, Impact, time for materialization are given again. Along with these, the sources of the risk can be identified if any. Effective mitigation strategies remove the source of risk and brings down the ratings of the risk parameters.

Another good advantage of this technique is that the project team doesn't have to deal with all the risks at the same time. Also, by isolating the risks, the dependencies between can be easily brought out and addressed. It is better to identify the tasks associated to the mitigation strategy of a risk right before planning so that these tasks can be added to the plan; otherwise the plan might have to be changed / updated / modified to reflect the mitigation strategies which of course is very very tedius.

An important thing to be noted here is that this technique is not boxed to Software projects. This technique can be used for any project / activity that involve risks ;-).

That is it for now. Hope this helps.

Vikram.

Pit-stop least count | Not for cars for humans

2010-03-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

"I will be there in 2 mins" - People say this for the 10th time after they are 20 minutes late

"Wake me up after five minutes please" - People say when you wake them for the fifth time.

"It will take 2 minutes to cook" - Maagi, the most famous noodle (Indianized) company's tag line

Well these small insignificant ( actually not!! ) time spans mentioned above are what I call Pit Stop time. None of the others in the world other than the F1 Pit Stop | Engineering teams can do a task in the estimated time.

No one has ever gotten up after 'five minutes' as they estimate; neither have I seen people keeping up their "I will be there in 2 mins" and you can never cook Maagi noodles in 2 minutes

So, just to insist, none of the above and countless other similar things don't take the claimed amount of time. Ever!

For the simple reason that we favorably ignore a couple of important factors.

1. Logistics - Time taken for moving stuff, moving yourself, moving others, walking, running, opening the door, closing the door, starting your car, bike, etc. Everything consumes time. Not an infinitesimally small time; but a measurable considerable amount of time. Some amount of time that is not too much or less. But a viable, spendable time ( I stole this from The God of Small Things - Viable die-able age ). Making note of these is significant for effective time management.

Trust me! These are observations I have made in my own life and the logistics time is indeed Viable spendable time.

2. Pauses - This is a favorite of mine that I do this so often. Start filing a piece of iron and then realize that you don't have a slide rule; going to office without house keys / car keys; same when coming back from office; forgetting to add salt to an Indian cuisine ( ah haan..cannot forgive this! ); forgetting the spectacles; forgetting books, pens, especially erasers, sharpeners, etc; It is not that we are going to forget doing them at all but we spend 2 * logistics time for this that it becomes so very viable spendable time. I can list count less examples like this.

But these problems can be easily addressed. I have adopted some simple steps that I had taken from some seriously good people ( meaning, not like me). Randy Pausche's time management lecture ( my favorite ) and effort-tracking template being the primary ones in them. You don't have to keep using it for ever. But when you use it for a considerable amount of time - 4 weeks, you will know if you are a 'logistics' person or a 'pauses' person.

The most significant thing about the effort-tracking template is the least count of splitting the time. 5 minutes is too less a time interval to be called a viable track-able time interval and 30 minutes is too long. Randy splits (he still lives in a lot of his students' /admirers' hearts) his day into x workable hours, each of them split into 4 chunks of 15 minutes each.

If we remember and estimate work in a way that it spans across 15 minutes chucks and not less than that, we will not only avoid wronging our own commitments to others but also might end up finishing work on time if not early! :-).

Try it and let me know.
Link to the excel time management template - http://www.scribd.com/doc/2519302/Time-Log-Sheet-in-Excel ;
Link to the time management lecture - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0

- Vikram

Factiousness and Indians! We go together always!

2010-03-03T19:19:00.000-08:00

To all those who are making FB, Orkut, etc factious

but especially to the person who had asked this question (in bold) in FB

I am really intrigued by the question you had asked in Community_XXX UNION - apparently there is a community for a community in Facebook. Had it been someone else whom I have no idea about, I would not have bothered. But since it is you, A WELL EDUCATED, KNOWLEDGEABLE, SUPPOSEDLY RESPONSIBLE youth of the modern India I am writing to you on behalf a lot of people.

XXX - place holder for the 'community' name (especially the top three sects in Hinduism). Replace it with whatever you want. It will work.

Your question: What type of XXX are you and who's your gotra?

My views and questions back to you:
In the first place I didn't understand the term 'Gotra'.
But that is not going to be my question. I did some back ground research.

Gotra means lineage as provided by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotra ;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kula and apparently Manu (aka manusmrithi which is referred to in the group description) says some people ( who also constitute the fourth sect of Hindus; who also constitute more than 25% of Hindu population ) don't have Gotras. Manu is probably the source of all the troubles that India has right now and your group has a reference from that darned scripture. Amazing!

So there comes my first question.

1. Why are you so curious about knowing the Gotras of XXXs?

I don't know about you but my curiosity was increased by a huge multitude when I came to know that those who belong to the second, third and fourth sect should have to be reborn as a first-sect-person to attain the elusive 'moksha'. I can't understand and accept this principle which also is the principal point of Hinduism.

So a person invariably how good or bad, how intelligent or not, hardworking or not should have to take another grueling session called life if he is not a First-sect-community-person.

If it is a woman we are talking about then it is far more difficult - I mean life as such for an Hindu woman sucks right. ( Sati for good was banned by William Bentinck. We can pray him for moksha rather than anyone else; considering all the lives of women we have taken over time in the past and present, when they are merely infants)

Do you think this is the reason that you are curious about knowing the Gotra of a specific section of people?

Do you see the point here? There is no way that a person like me who knows the nuances of Hinduism (because of the interest in Indian history; What a dumb interest!? Out of all the histories in the world, I was interested in the Indian History!) will be inclined towards following it. Actually I am inclined otherwise. If not for my language and the art forms of my place (it is also called The Land of Temples), I would have detested it.

Well that is left to me; and you will not be interested to know that. You wish to know my Gotra if I am a XXX. Unfortunately (or is it!?) , I am not and I have to undergo one more grueling life session (or sentence) as a first sect person and I will tell you then and after that I can attain 'moksha'.

Ok, let us go to the next question.

2. Why do you need that information?

I am sure you have not specified the reason why you have requested for that piece of information. By all means, when you ask for an information from the world, the world is vested with the right to ask why?

I know that this particular question, that a Shudra (finally with all the disgust I have ever felt, I have uttered the word - the fourth sect - Shudra) cannot answer; which is the vice of all problems we are facing in the country currently; which is the reason why there is so much of political and social imbalance; which is the reason why the military of the rajputs failed to win the Persians, Afgans, etc (Second-sect-men constituted only 1/8th of the population and not all of them were interesting in dying (in a war especially));

3. Why should there be a 'XXX Union'?

I don't know if you have ever cribbed about the fact that there are lots of 'Communal' political parties in our country. Had you followed the Indian news papers by a marginal account, you would have. I have cribbed about it all the time.

But the point is those parties are started by crooked politicians to exploit the poor and needy. There is nothing I can do about it but to probably talk to people about not supporting such parties. That, I have done enough and more.

But what about young nerdy intelligent people like you and me create the 'XXX Union's and the like in facebook and orkut. What are we doing by creating factions like this? By creating a group named XXX community, aren't you essentially splitting people? You can always argue otherwise but that is the truth.

Alright, that brings me to the next question

4. Why does the community have a link to -

Muslim Extremist attack - http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=98744745396&oid=2216126034 (Very wrongly named video passing wrong information. IT IS NOT MUSLIM EXTREMIST ATTACK. IT IS A TERRORIST ATTACH. There is a lot of difference. I don't want elucidate it completely), Support Extremist organization (go to FB and search) to fight terrorism - By all means, this organziation should be having a different idea of terrorism for themselves - like 'Destroying all mosques, Eliminating Islam from India, Islam = terrorism, etc. Sounds rude and cruel right. From history I can safely assume that. And I don't think any Indian would have difficulty to identify the organization either.

In all aspects this group should be reported as Racist/blah blah blah group. But you are not only a member of it but you are discussing about a potentially sensitive issue that is not going to give you great information / good to you but had and hurt so many people in history and is still hurting people. How selfish is that?

Not just that, none of those who has replied even thought that was a bad question and that it should not be answered. You can never say 'I didn't have these in mind when I asked that question'. You are posting in a publicly viewed website. A lot of people see this and it hurts them. It hurt me.

By all means, this community is not only narcissist, but also hurting the sentiments of a lot of Indians - Muslims especially. From all those points that I have pointed and pondered, I think it is relevant and important that you think about these angles and perspectives. If you think you can argue, reply me.

You are making me change my perspective about a healthy India in the near future.
Thanks for the topic.
Vikram.

Yext and its business model

2010-02-03T14:47:00.001-08:00

There are many reasons attributed to the success of a startup. By success I mean three points.

The growth of the organization in terms of profit
The expansion of client base
Continuous improvement and release of the products / product line

It is quite implicit that along with all these, the organization should grow correspondingly in terms of the infrastructure, employees and IT. Lot of "successful" (successful is a very misleading term – explosive growth or its opposite conducive failure is actually failure. Believe it or not!) Startups fall because of the growth they attained – the enormous growth they attained in a short period of time that they could not handle it.

The unsustainable explosive growth is just "too damn beautiful and tempting" for the budding entrepreneur that he hugs her, his way to death. This blog is about a company that has gracefully dumped the damsel (also a monster) to its way to success.

Yext(an exclamation '!' at the end of the name gives more feeling to the name J) a Chelsea, New York based startup has the necessary ingredients for a healthy startup - entrepreneurially experienced CEO, very clearly defined Business model and a nice strategic position in the market.

Yext offers services to what they call is a "NICHE" but is potentially the Dark Continent of the current Internet market – Local advertising. Drag a man on the street (or in his office cubicle) to the nearest service provider of the service he is looking for. All the man on the street (or in his cubicle) needs is that he should be connected to the internet. He can search in Yext.com for 'repair shop', 'restaurant' (I don't remember but for some reason, Yext's CEO – Howard Lerman doesn't like going for a startup in that line. Oops restaurant is not a category in Yext's list of service providers), eye care hospitals, etc. Yext will give you, not just the location, route, link to the website and other accessories, but also a phone number that directly shall connect you to the Reception desk of the shop.

Yext has very carefully connected the dots from Customer to the service provider; and in the process of doing that, strategically positioned itself (or sandwiched itself) in the middle. So, without Yext, which connects the customer directly to the business, potential business opportunities are lost by the service provider. Great business model indeed!

Alright, two questions,

What does strategically positioning itself in the middle mean?

Every phone number that is given in Yext's website is Yext's proxy number for the service provider. So, essentially, every customer (or potential customer rather) who took the number from Yext.com calls Yext.com and then the call is diverted, forwarded, etc to the business center aka the service provider.

This means that if only computers can understand what people talk, the relevance, usefulness of the phone call to the service provider can be calculated. Yext has that. It has the software that can potentially transcribe every word that comes out of caller's and callee's (I can't think of a better word) mouths. A complex machine learning algorithm / relevance algorithm processes that transcribed conversation and gives Yext some relevance measure.

How does Yext make money?

Yext charges its customers – service providers only is the relevance is beyond a particular level that is mutually agreed upon by both the parties. Win-win situation indeed!Yext charges its customers (service providers) only the first time a customer calls them through Yext number and then on, the service is free. Just imagine, if there are 100 local advertisers in a locality and 5000 people live in the locality, there are 500,000 chances of revenue for Yext. With more floating population, the chances increase. When the number is dialed by a customer, the chance that he uses the same number again is more if he was serviced right – repeat business for the customer (service provider). If this is made a subscription based model, there will be regular revenue for Yext!

The most amazing thing about Yext is their transparency about the business model they are using. It is called the 'Pay per (effective) call' – very self explanatory. How suddenly are you reminded of the 'Pay per click' model of Google? I am right away reminded of that. How it started as a disruption and ended up being the standard! Pay-per-call might become a standard too.

Another great thing about this model is that I don't find anything that could hinder the scalability of the model. The same model can be applied to bigger-than-local businesses and very-bigger-than-local businesses like chains, amalgam of individual service providers, etc.

The business model has beautifully separated the technical part from the operation and sales. The sales work on getting customers and the usual stuff. The technical team focuses on the underlying system which supports the sales by tracking, monitoring and recording the calls.

With Yext's service to men on the street being mobile, immediate, efficient, track-able and precise, people will miss Yext if they started and then stopped using it. Customers will never leave Yext if they have started once J

Yext has attained a huge but sustainable growth of achieving $20 million in sales in 3 years. I think Howard is right about making Yext a billion dollar company!

Vikram

Yet Another Scribble

2010-01-14T10:14:00.001-08:00

How long is very long? A second seems so!

Am I tired? Yes I am.

When will I sleep? It seems too far.

Threads of thoughts. They are long.

I wont stop (thinking). They wont end.

They are long!

My persistent thoughts have persisted you (in me).

Now, I am too tired to think.

And I dont care.

You are all I am about now.

Vacant and full

Complete and ineffable at the same time.

My eyes persistently wide open -

Hurting in vain longing at the doorway.

Come to me my lover.

Put me to sleep.

For I am tired but could not sleep.

Thoughts are long and they won't end.

Come to me my lover.

Put me to sleep.

One of my favorite Poems - The Elysian One | :-)

2009-08-11T09:22:00.001-07:00

Poetry - Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility.....

- William Wordsworth

Here is one of mine..

The Heavenly Drama

The ever opened eyes of evening star Venus,
Bright and immutable, pierced the merry looking his
Mighty Mars unable to stand the stare,
Was twinkling red, stood blushed down south.
Pitched a feathery kiss on her lips – The shooting star.
Sky played the dancing damsel – Curves,
Exotic and obvious, luminous in the dark
Oh Venus, her eyes mumbled a silent mutiny
With the insatiable his; boasting his weakness,
And twinkling his notoriety. Intended a move across!
Lost in the maze of senses and pranks of the heavens,
I arched and revolved pointlessly; Back and forth
Between the stare and the twinkle,
The beauty and the bliss!

-Vikram Subramanian

In the Valley by the Lake | :-| / :-) / :-(

2009-08-09T17:08:00.001-07:00

In the valley by the lake

The interruption was abrupt, too sudden a change that I stumbled.

Had it not rained, I wouldn't have liked it. This analogy applies to how I stumbled at say "My One".

Had I not looked in her eyes, the deep brown eyes, I would never have come to have the will to effortlessly be frugal to be effortless and drown in her with a frenzied constant feeling of love and madness.

This was the first involuntary proposal I made to the girl who made me so insane, proving that this post condition of losing control after falling in love indeed exists. I have never been good to someone who had done all the bad to me.
The 'blub's of the rain hitting the lake bothered the placidness to turgidity in the lake and confusion in my mind.

Here is a small scribble for "My One".

In the valley by the lake

The placid lake was just soothing me

For I had got my mind bundled into a tomfoolery willingly

That, I couldn't see the line between love, madness and insanity.

Subtle it was that the horizon dissolved into a mighty haze plaintively

The mix, so ineffable and clumsy that I bellowed into myself

'You are in love' only to convince a piece of me

With the other equal hitting me mercilessly

'You are mad' shrieking further 'and insane'.

Momentary but clear, I was slandering myself soulfully.

With an uncanny confidence to overpower and budge me,

I ran profanely, vulnerable and naked in the rain,

That I grossly complimented the feeling so inducing

And compelling myself into happiness for all I am worth.

Vikram.

மஹாநதி. Theme Music

2009-03-19T00:25:00.000-07:00

தலைவன் செய்யாத தவறுக்காக சிறையில் இருக்கிறான். தலைவி அவனைக் காணச்செல்கிறாள். அவன் கண் கலங்குகிறான். ஒரு நிமிடம் தன்னிலை மறந்து இருவரும் தன் உயிரைக் கண்டதன் விழைவால் இன்பநிலை அடைகின்றனர். அந்நிமிடம் முடிந்ததும் நிலை பெற்ற தலைவி அழுகிறாள். மணி அடிக்கிறது. தான் எடுத்துவந்த கடிதமை அவனிடம் கொடுத்துவிட்டு அந்த சப்தம் நிறைந்த இடத்தை விட்டு விலகுகிறாள்.

இதை கற்பனை செய்து இப்பாடலை (பகுதி) கேளுங்கள். அற்புதம்.

விக்ரம்.

Here is the URL for you.

http://www.liutilities.com/affcb/?id=SPmediafire&aff=4990&xat=gen

Thank you.

The Butterfly Season

2008-12-10T04:49:00.000-08:00

Spring is enchanting. Filled with traveling and activity. It took one whole hour to digest and assimilate the beauty that was before me. A bunch of shrubs full of flowers, looked like they had bathed in Auxin. Not just that... They hosted a million butterflies. All flapping their long, short, colorful, vivid, spotted, plain wings and singing their songs flied amuck in the short isthumus of florid plants.

It took me a lot of effort to finally avert my brain which was anxiously recording the scene as much as it could. That was when I came to know that a lot of things that do not fall under the normal-lot's eyes give me great pleasure, happiness and satisfaction!!!

The net resultant of that scene is this poem.

THE BUTTERFLY SEASON  
Its spring! Green and everything looked preen.
Neither the cold nor the heat to bother,  
Not a soul needed the big (ben) bell ring    
And bring `em up for their daily fodder.  
Life latent behind the lustrous long grass-   
 Flowering whithering and had never been a crass.    
Sporting the four lives of a life so trivial  
Through ova, larva, pupa to the culmination! 
 Complete with eternal meaning of survival,    
Flapping his lovely varigated petals     
Trespassing and mitigating, the earthly principal  
Went on his leisurely game, like time is eternal.     
Held tight to the ground I stared at the synthesis     
Of evidence of my incompletion; leaving me wondering  
If the time curve would reveal my metamorphosis    
And process me to an everlasting completion.    
I love butterflies!!! The real ones.

©anxiety | curiosity | thrill

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Yext and its business model

Yet Another Scribble

One of my favorite Poems - The Elysian One | :-)

In the Valley by the Lake | :-| / :-) / :-(

மஹாநதி. Theme Music

The Butterfly Season

The Bth just wont die | :-(