Hi venkat2 – long time!

I am on a social media detox diet – has been a week since I bothered logging into Facebook or Twitter. I rely on good old newspaper for news and ask people around me what is going on in the world.

And during this week I realised – how the art of blogging is dead. Couple of weeks back I was researching on a trip to Pondicherry – and all travelogues were from 2013 or before. No one is blogging their experience any more – which is sad.

People are sharing on their Facebook page – that too just the photos – and get likes and the posts are lost. And the world cannot see it – this is lost for ever.

I can go to Team BHP or the thousand travel sites – but nothing can beat reading a blog post – no pesky ads or distractions – just the author and me.

Back to the topic – so I have made a resolution to revive my blogging. While my personal blog is still active ( http://kvrlogs.blogspot.in ) – this blog has been dormant for quite a while. Not any more – will be writing on my 2nd journey here – the one that feeds me – which has entered the 9th year.

Yes, I am still slogging like I was in year 1. I still earn lot less than what I made when I quit ThoughtWorks. My lifestyle is still the same. Loving the startup life even more.

But a lot wiser to how I was on running the company, building the product, handling angry customers, competition, hiring, firing, figuring out the time waster vendor/VC/partners… so on and on.

Till next time.

Ta.

Well thats my mind right now! Have deviated from the path the last few months – inspite of knowing the beautiful serene feeling I could be enjoying now – my mind is agitated and is all over the place, plotting many an evil plot, vengeful, hurt – messy.

My mind is similar to the parable of the boiling frog. It does not know it is slowly sinking into a mess and does not jump out.

Time to jump out of this rut.

Here is my interview of my mind.

Are you happy?

Nope. 

Why you are not happy?

I don’t know.

Are you happy at work and home?

Yes absolutely. At work – did I tell you I work on 2 large monitors now – one of the developers is on a long vacation and I have borrowed his. The apps are coming out good and some of the complex things we were doing all have been stabilised. 

At home – have a beautiful dog to cuddle anytime I want. P got into a bout of sickness + injury – and is back to his usual self. Also had procured Kindle – and have an unlimited supply of books. 

Then what is bothering you?

I want more. Like I want to go on a solo trip on my bike. I have been working constantly without a break for the last 6 months or so. Want to do something I have never done before.

But isn’t it dangerous?

Yes. Sitting at home I can contract dengue and die. Going around the layout on my bike, a water tank tractor can plough through me. Anything can happen any time – why stop from enjoying a long ride. 

So, why don’t you just do it?

The powers who love me aren’t letting me to go on this. I had made all arrangements for any eventuality – getting a dog tag with phone numbers printed, installed and tested apps to transmit my location ( perhaps this scared the people around me ). 

So that is frustrating you?

Yes.

So what are you going to do about it?

Going to reboot my life – yes lot of things are riding on me – so I cannot go riding on epic adventures. yet. 

Like?

Going to embark on an adventure of my mind – go deep. 

How?

Going on a Social Media diet. No more FB, Twitter. 
Going to crunch umpteen books. My target for 2016 is 52. I have completed 24 books till now.
Going to restart daily Sudarshan Kriya by waking up at 5:00 AM.
Going to pick one game ( Horizon chase – World Tour ) and complete all levels.
Going to break the 30 min barrier for 5k, 1 hour for 10k and  2 hour for half marathon. 

And this will make you happy once again?

Yes. I hope so. 

What if it does not make you happy?

Will buy an iPhone 7 then. Hehe 🙂

Today while running I was listening to a Chinese Science Fiction ( The Dark Forest ), translated to English, and recorded as an Audio book in a Studio in some corner of the world, that I downloaded from  Audible over airwaves using Cellular 4G – from a server in US or Singapore – to my iPhone.

And as I listened through my head phones, almost at the exact quality it was recorded, the phone was tracking my run with the help of  Geo Synchronous Satellites far up in the sky orbiting earth – I was wondering – man how lucky I am.

This is like living in a Future I couldn’t have imagined 30 years back.

Humans have progressed from Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Medieval, Industrial to the current Information Age.

I can’t place if we are in the middle or just at the threshold of Information Era.

We were slowly cruising in the Information Age – from Mainframes to Laptops to mobile phones and having incremental improvements in every field.

Out of the blue, Steve Jobs, went ahead and revealed iPhone – 10 years back – and was a turning point in the Human History.

[ Stay low Jobs haters – Google’s Android did not look anything close to what iOS was. The day iPhone was released, head of Google’s Android project called his team on a Nokia phone ( or might have been Blackberry ) and told – scrap everything we are doing – we have to start over. And Nokia, Blackberry were just cruising filling up their coffers with incremental upgrades ]

Having portable computing power, with ability to communicate real time with anyone in the world – not just audio but pictures and video – has shrunk this world like never before.

Then Twitter got a new lease of life after it got into a Smartphone. Any event happening anywhere in the world is now just a tweet away. A Tsunami, a plane crash, Federer saving a Match Point, Messi missing the penalty – need not wait for the next day’s newspaper – it is right there for anyone in the world to read without a single second delay – they just need a Smart Phone with an internet connection. Meerkat and Periscope – lets anyone become a live TV reporter – unedited footage as and when it happens.

Then Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, ( damn I use all 3 – you Mark Z ) all these tools brought all of us closer and removed the physical distances between people.

Isn’t it amazing!

And you can summon a car with your watch. Google Car, Tesla – are making self driving main stream.

Perhaps in another 10 years – we will all be chauffeured by software. Who would have thought 10 years back – we will all be carrying a super computer in our pockets.

We are truly lucky to be living in the future!

This is my translation of Avalum Naanum by Madhan Karky for the movie Acham Yenbathu Madamaiyada. Yet another masterpiece by AR Rahman – the music goes to the background letting the  lyrics shine.

The movie name means – Fear is foolishness a phrase from a famous old tamil song by Kannadasan. The director of this movie – Gautam Menon, a Malayalee, names all his movie names with beautiful tamil phrases – and hard to pronounce too at times!

Vinnaithaani Varuvaaya ( Will you cross the sky to come to me )
Vaaranam Aaiyram ( 1000 Elephants )
Veetaiyaadu Vilayaadu ( Hunt and Play )
Pachaikili Muthucharam ( Green Parrot and Pearl Necklace )

The song is full of comparisons for She and I. Sounds beautiful if you understand even a little bit of Tamil.

Avalum Naanum
Amuthum Thamizhum
Avalum Naanum
Alaiyum Kadalum

She and I
Amrit and Tamil [ Tamil is as sweet as Amrit – the oldest comparison for Worlds oldest language ]
She and I
Waves and Sea

Avalum Naanum
Thavamum Arulum
Avalum Naanum
Vaerum Maramum

She and I
Penance and Boon
She and I
Root and Tree

Aalum Nizhalum
Asaivum Nadippum
Aniyum Panivum
Avalum Naanum

Banyan and  Shade
Action and Acting
Soldiers and Obedience
She and I

Avaiyum Thunivum
Uzhaippum Thazhaippum
Avalum Naanum
Alithalum Pugazhum

Meeting among Intellectuals and Boldness
Hard work and Tiredness
She and I
Donate and Appreciation [ This is a very weak translation – not having the impact ]

Meenum Punalum
Vinnum Virivum
Vetpum Thotramum
Velum Koorum

She and I
Amrit and Tamil

Dad was lying on the terrace, at peace watching the stars. The sky was the typical red because of the city lights diffusing into the sky. The clouds that night were moving very fast. There was a star – might be a planet – overhead, and this was giving an illusion that it was moving.

The son and dad debated whether it is a plane or a planet. Then the son ran away.

He had to go play with Sufi. Yes, Sufi 2.0 has joined their lives once again after 6 months [ Sufi 1.0 ]

Sufi was on her night stroll on the terrace. The mom had her on a leash and newspaper in the other hand – running behind the energy ball – as Sufi finds the perfect place to pee and poo – after her night dinner.

Sufi came back to smell Dad lying on the terrace, putting her wet muzzle on his face and hands and feet and went away to explore the terrace.

Life for a moment is perfect once again. Might melt away someday, but for now will just enjoy these moments and live in the present – how this Sufi lives moment to moment – and the family is learning this from her.

Thank you God. Not angry with you anymore.

I was wrongly made to believe that we humans are superior and we have conquered this planet and we have dominion on the lesser animal species. We told lies to ourselves, oh we have the 6th sense which animals don’t have. They just have the instinct – to procreate and survive. They do not have wishes or taste or wants or love. Put them in a cage, they will just sit there eating their food.

How grossly wrong was I / we are.

Animals are not just human, but more than human. In fact I don’t think we should measure animals in the human yardstick. We have pillaged this planet and extinguished beautiful creations of God. We humans are not good.

Animals are better than Humans.

Animals are kinder than Humans.

They do not destroy the environment. They enrich it.  They kill, but only for their survival – not for pleasure.

I am sick of our race.

You might wonder – why this sudden outrage Venkat?

3 news items in succession triggered this in me. 2 Beautiful Lions shot dead because a guy tried to commit suicide by jumping into their habitat in a zoo. A Beautiful Gorilla shot dead to protect a kid that fell into its cage. In China right now as we speak for a festival millions of beautiful lovable dogs are being slaughtered for meat.

And the daily carnage that is happening all over the world – millions of Chickens, Turkey, Cows, kind goats, baby goats, gentle Buffaloes, camels, Sharks, billions of fishes and crabs  – all being slaughtered in cold blood – some with bare hands, most by automated machines – not to satiate our hunger for our survival, but for feeding our sensory buds.  Recently saw a day or two hatched chickens being put into this horrible machine, and red minced meat was coming out on the other side. ( Will not share these videos here ).

I am sick of the lies being peddled – oh you need Protein – as if our humble Daal does not have enough. I am sick of the torture these beautiful animals have to go through daily to be beefed up and finally killed in an instant mechanically. Thousands languish in cages ( oh no cannot be millions – as we have destroyed them all ).

I am feeling helpless and angry and sad.

Anyway – here are a few videos I saw where animals act unlike humans.. but with love. It is what God intended.

I will keep adding to the videos here.. whenever I come across.. reminder to myself that we don’t know anything of these lovely neighbours who co-inhabit this planet – and will respect them,  love them, and wonder at them.

The wife told everyone – “Midlife Crisis” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were sitting in the balcony on a cool Bangalore morning – all 3 of them. The kid, Mom and Dad.

They had just lost their lovely puppy Sufi – to a canine virus – the previous night. She had entered their life just a week back.

The dad who hadn’t cried that night before was sobbing. The kid had got over it – weeping uncontrollably on that fateful night along with his mother – perhaps the first time he ever cried for a living being.

The kid made jokes to cheer his dad.

It has been 3 months. The dad still misses Sufi a lot. He gets sad when he remembers Sufi and along with him makes the kid sad. They both sit and mourn and curse God.

Life.

Don’t read this book – “Speaker for the Dead” by Orson Scott Card,  if you haven’t read – Ender’s Game – which I highly recommend. This is my brief review from my 2014 Books Roundup.

“Brilliant Book. If you dig Science Fictions you should definitely read this. After Dune by Frank Hebert – this book captured my imagination and kept me in Enders World for the period I was reading this book.  A movie based on this book also came out in November but I missed it. “


After reading Red Rising I was looking for another Science Fiction and I picked up the 2nd part of Enders Game – and little did I expect what is in store for me.

It is unlike any science fiction I have ever read. There is the usual fancy aliens, starship travel and relativity ageing ( our Ender turns 3000 years old in this book ) – but I was hit with a very human angle.

How is to love animals as if they are human?

Now how it is to love aliens as human? This book addresses this in a beautiful way through Ender.  Living beings are classified into Framling, Raman and Varelse.  Varelse are the lowest.. and the aliens are like animals. Framling are humans. Raman is somewhere in-between .

Ender is now the Speaker for the dead. He can be called from any part of the galaxy to speak about a dead person – laying out the facts and telling the truth – bringing peace to the family.

There are 3 key parts in the book  – which are masterpieces in themselves.

In one scene Ender descends on to a widow’s family – which is totally fractured because of the now dead Marco – the abusive family head on whom Ender is to speak of – and ill-mannered kids who hate Ender – and how Ender turns them around one kid at a time.

Another scene Ender, who is the Speaker for the dead – Speaks of the Widow’s husband – laying out all the facts, and brings honour to the dead man and saves the Widow in the process from her misery by exposing the fact that she is an adulteress, yet making her look like a Goddess.

Final scene – towards the end – when Ender creates a treaty with the aliens – simply brilliant.

I hope they do not make a movie out of this and spoil this. But this book is too good to be left untouched by Hollywood.

Now there is the 3rd part – Xenocide – I briefly read on Goodreads about this. The reviews are really funny and discouraging – it seems one needs an iron will to read it – as author rambles a lot apparently.

And found a xkcd cartoon too on Xenocide.

Hmm.. for the time being leaving Xenocide on the table. I will build my mental courage and attack this one.

One has to be totally Irrational to own a Royal Enfield bike. If you are those Rational types – who just require a vehicle to go to from A to B with the minimal fuss – I strongly recommend buying a Japanese Bike.

Also close this tab you are reading in your browser, quit the browser, close your laptop, switch off the fan and light, get out of the house, go find a lake or park, sit on the park bench and think Rational Thoughts. 

—

Now – my dear Irrational Friends, Royal Enfield Friends ( if you are a RE fan you will not be reading my blog – but riding your bike now – but if you are reading this then your bike is in the workshop – for which I am sorry ) and future Royal Enfield riders.. Hello and a warm welcome to the Irrational world we all live.

You – Rational Thought guy – out of my blog. Why are you still reading my post?

Anyway – back to my advise column. The title – if you have landed here because of a Google Search – it is because I know a thing or two about Search Engine Optimisation ( SEO ). You cannot take a print out of this post, stick it in your garage / parking lot and expect to follow instructions. Sorry for having mislead you to this post. This post is me ranting while my bike is in the workshop.

Now if you are already having a RE bike, or planning to purchase a RE bike – first – buy a 2nd hand Honda bike. Trust me. You will need this. This is a very wise Rational thing to do.

My RE bike is a 2013 Thunderbird, 500 CC bought 2nd hand in 2014.

One fine day – the beast refused to start. Tried the Kick a few times. Still it will not start. Shake it left, shake it right. It will not start. Tap the tank. Touch the spark plug. Wiggle it a bit. Touch the wires. Kick. It will not start.

So I had to take the reliable Honda Unicorn bike – which by the way has crossed 10 years of life – and go around hunting for a Mechanic. This is Use #1.

Next the mechanic will say bring the beast to my shop. You cannot push this thing. It weighs a ton or so – ( around 200 kg don’t worry.. we bloggers / writers exaggerate a lot ). Then he will send his boy who will ride the reliable Honda bike to your right, while you sit on the dead beast, and the boy with his left leg will push the silencer.

And your ruffian bike will just quietly glide on the roads – without a single ounce of shame. This is Use #2 for the Honda.

This bike ( all REs made after 2010 or so I think ) has an EFI – Electronic Fuel Injector. The mechanic says it is gone. Has to be replaced. Had it been a Carburettor such a problem would have never come.

Next the mechanic will try to confuse you saying Carburettors are good and EFI is stupid technology. He will change it to Carburettor and then the bike can run without any trouble. I get back home to do my own research – since I cannot call anyone in my network of pot belly friends who all either drive cars or use an Uber / Ola.

I come to realise that EFI is actually pretty good technology – the same technology used in cars and fancy bikes – it regulates the ratio of air and fuel, based on the gear,throttle,temperature,whether Maama is nearby or not – and injects a good optimum mixture into the engine – giving a good spiffy response and at any altitude or time of the day. That is why we see so many REs on Himalayas – these things are tested over there. As a geek love this.

Carburettors on the other hand – is old technology. Just filters air and pumps it into the engine with no wizardary like EFI. The bike after conversion loses 1BHP and gives a little better mileage as he claimed. However, the bike has to be cooled intermittently on long rides – as these are air cooled bikes and the efficiency goes down as it cannot suck enough air when engine is super hot. Advantage is all mechanics know how to fix this ( actually nothing goes wrong in this ). EFI when it goes wrong has to be replaced – gulp – and it costs as much as a 2nd hand 10 year old Honda bike.

So I grudgingly decide to replace the EFI – and promise not to let this happen again. All I have to do is to keep the bike’s fuel level above 4 Litres always. If it goes down it hurts the EFI – and I have done it quite a number of times. No one told me this. Should have networked more damn.

I had to go now and buy the Fuel Pump. In Bangalore I had to go to JC road, right next to SBI there is a small road that takes you to Fixwell Genuine Royal Enfield Spare parts shop. The owner had parked his Harley Davidson outside the shop – what a beauty. I inwardly think – oh – so this is how you get to buy a Harley – by selling RE parts to poor souls like me. Btw – Use #4 for the Honda bike.

So – here is where I am. The Fuel pump is being fit right now – hope it starts.

Owning a RE bike is a lot of responsibility. My irrational brain made me buy this bike. However I have to be rational and take good care of this. Like having a 2nd bike – a reliable one to assist in emergencies like this, having half a tank of petrol in the bike all the time, servicing it regularly ( which I did btw ) and ride this beast on a daily basis and not let it sit in the garage for long periods of time – then it becomes a costly sofa as the wife keeps telling whenever she sees it lying there refusing to start.

Now – waiting for the call from mechanic to go pick the beast ( will take a bus this time ).

Update : 

The mechanic called me and said bike is starting fine. Went and picked it.  Yesterday couldn’t ride it. Today morning it gave a scare when I was taking the wife to work – it refused to start. Switched off and on – and it started. Phoo. Close one.

Finishing off this post with a quote from The World’s fastest Indian movie :