Musings

Week 5 – Coronavirus

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April 6

Monday
Was happy to start the week. Let me confess – I am a workaholic. Any time I take a vacation ( I hardly take one or two max in a year ) – I feel restless, count the days I can get back to the routine – where I sit in front of my mac. 
Yesterday (Sunday) I was a bit edgy. Post lunch we saw Uri – there was a good dose of patriotism but somehow the outlook of the world has changed. The virus does not differentiate between a Pakistani or an Indian. We are all in this together. Wish humans realise this and we put all our energies in fighting the virus for now, and later after winning the war – instead of going back to our old ( current ) ways – focus on space exploration or making this world a better place – less pollution, more greenery, more movies and art and literature and take humanity up a notch.
So come Monday, I dived right into work and was happy to start the week.
Tuesday

This is my routine : Morning I kept alarm at 4:45 AM. Open my phone to check Server statistics. Its a routine I have for the last 11 years – before going to sleep and moment I wake up – I check for this email which ADDA sends. Subject is ADDA Says hi. First line is Lub Dub. Followed by the queue lengths ( should be zero else some process has gone zombie ) and server statistics ( load and other vital information ). This email comes every 15 minutes. If I don’t see the email – then many things could have gone wrong. I have to login to figure out things. 
Then I do the ablution, brush, wash my legs hands and face and go light Diya in our home Temple. 

They say lighting Diya during Brahma Muharram is really impactful. Brahma Muharram is around 3:30 AM. The time I light the Diya is around 5:15 AM – its close to Brahma Muharram. Early morning mind is clear and devoid of any clutter – so praying at this time is good.
Next I go back to our bedroom and lay out the yoga mat and do Bhutta Shuddi – a cleansing process of all the 5 elements.
Then I pick up the yoga mat and mosquito bat and go to the terrace.
Here for the next 30-40 minutes or so I do Angamardhana
Post Angamardhana – I do Shambhavi Maha Mudhra which is another 20-30 minutes.
Post Shambhavi – I do Shanmukhi Mudhra. 

I could not find the video from Isha – which is where I learnt. 
By the time I open my eyes its bright day light. Thank the Sky and the Sun and get back home.
I pick up my affirmation book and write 2 of my affirmations – 15 times each.
Then I start my day with Filter Coffee and Online newspaper on Magzter.
Wednesday,Thursday

It was tough 2 days. I have to attend meetings, plus have a long list of to-dos which I have to strike off. Also have to meet my committed deadlines. I end up working, even after my dinner. 
Could be exhaustion – Thursday evening I think I drank water from the Clay pot. Even before dinner time I felt my throat go sore. The hypochondriac in me woke up with a start. 
Today Prithvi’s dry run starts. 

From Monday his classes are to start in Zoom. 

Friday was off for all of us.
I had planned to work on Friday. But I ended up binge watching Panchatyat – on Amazon Prime. Also managed to complete Neal Stepheon’s Fall, or Dodge in Hell.

Neal Stephenson’s books grinds you down. You need to be a masochist kind of book lover to read his books. I was in a daze after finishing it – didn’t feel like reading any other book. 
After someone dies, the brain is scanned and uploaded into the bit verse. The 2nd half of the book is entirely in this bit verse. Processes create processes ( Adam and Eve ) and these processes descendants go on a quest. A separate blog post is needed to talk about this book. 
I think the 3 off days I got was a good rejuvenation.
By Sunday mid-day the cold mild feverish feeling was gone. It was just plain exhaustion and body was forcing me to take a break. No more bragging of being a workaholic. 
Lesson to self – should take 1.5 days on the weekend. Will work half days on Saturdays. 
Musings

Week 4 – Coronavirus

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Link to Week 3

March 30
Monday
Right now at home we are not thinking of Coronavirus. How do we manage Dengue is in top of our mind.
Achu had severe pain in his thighs and calf muscle. He did not sleep properly in the night. I had woken up at 1:00 am to give him his mid-night dose. One of the tablets is to be given every 6 hours.  
Post lunch, I take Achu for the 2nd blood test, and platelet count has dropped to 77k. Before doing the test, we met the doctor and she says if it falls below 80k you get admitted.
This spooks me. This clinic in our layout has been there for more than 10+ years, but does not have a good reputation. I think they are pulling a fast one?
I go to the Chemist I typically get medicine from for some practical advise.
She tells, till the platelet count drops below 25k you are fine. Do not get admitted. Just water and pomegranate juice. That’s all is needed for treating Dengue.And even if you are getting admitted, go to a bigger hospital. Not this clinic.
I go around the layout and find another lab and we give blood for testing. Around 6pm the result comes – while I am in the middle of the dusk standup – I drop out of the standup because the result says 110k platelets. 
I am totally confused now. How can this big a difference exist?
After lot of deliberation we decide to stick to the first one. What matters now is to see if the platelet reduction is stemmed. Doesn’t really matter on the numbers. Continue monitoring and if Achu stops taking fluids in – then things are serious. Then get him admitted. 
On another note – I see a conspiracy theory video. Beijing and Shanghai had hardly 500 coronavirus cases. Their stock market did not plummet like every other stock market in the world. Chinese investment firms are still strong flush with cash. They have started acquiring businesses in Australia which are going bankrupt.
In India lot of Startup’s are funded by Chinese VCs. Now Chinese VC firms will get more active and will take over as the American and Indian VCs might tighten their belts. Is it East India all over again? Future history books will talk about this phase.
I am not happy with my productivity. First half went in planning the cash flow situation. We got insurance for all our employees, their kids and spouse. Then had some contingency discussion. Then fixed a few escalated support issues. My todo list keeps growing – not being able to churn out stuff at the usual pace I do.
Over the weekend ADDA app new UI gets released in iOS and Android. I had promised my team to take them out for lunch if we release by Feb end. A month delayed but it has come out really well. 



Tuesday

Achu’s condition isn’t improving. He still has pain and his headache is still persisting. He has fitfull sleep and is taking Tremdol – a pain killer.
We go for his test and the count is now dropped to 69k
This is during our standup. Sufi came for cuddles. Today morning her mom fed Pedigree and she didn’t like it. She only finished 1/4th of it – which is very unusual of Sufi. She will always wipe her food bowl clean..Typically she is always at the foot of her mummy – and even when she goes to the bathroom she will be waiting outside. 

Prithvi learns music for Hum and Strum – a very good music school. They are now giving classes online. That’s his piano Sir. We are all adapting quite fast. This could be the norm going forward. 
Wednesday

We do a test and result comes as 57k. We are now worried. The doctor had advised to get admitted the moment the count falls below 80k.
Achu’s dad also wants us to admit him – who is stuck in Coimbatore and is feeling helpless. We debate internally a lot – getting admitted in a good hospital is out of question. There are barricades at the nearby junction and we cannot leave the layout. We will have to get an ambulance and how will we shuttle between home and the hospital. We can get admitted in the same clinic  which is there in the layout – but I don’t have faith they will do a good job. Already I am a little suspicious of them – what if they extend the say or administer unnecessary medicines just to make some money.
We decide to step up a notch Achu’s treatment. Achu sleeps most of the time and misses drinking water or juice. I set alarm on Amma’s phone every half an hour from 7:30 AM to night 8:00 PM. From tomorrow the new drill begins.
Today is April 1 = peak billing day. The monthly, quarterly, half yearly and yearly bills get generated today. It is like Black Friday for ADDA – and the load goes through the roof. All the new sign ups over the last few months are all starting their billing today. The load goes through the roof – users signing in to look at the bills, the Covid discussions, users making payments – I sit glued to the screen – turning off some services, adding more servers.
Thursday

I get this message that Google’s Neighbourly is shutting down. What a time to shut down – this is the time when they could have been of some use. Perhaps they had planned it all along, or the entire team which worked on Neighbourly might have got laid off ( I am certain it was in India – because this was launched only in Mumbia and Bangalore )


Achu’s drill begins. San takes the day off to focus on making juice and also waking up Achu to drink water or juice. Around 3PM, I pack my laptop, and change of clothes for Achu and I – and we go out for the testing ritual. Before we go to the clinic, we go to the 2nd clinic where we tested ( and they gave better numbers ).
Count is 54k. The 2nd clinic gave a number of 100k. The rate of drop has slowed. Achu also feels much better. Pain has gone away and today he walked by himself without any support. We all are confident.
We come back home. And decide to continue the practise of water or juice every 30 minutes. 

Waiting for my morning standup to begin. Sufi is still with me – she is angry with her mom still? 

Night the kids sleep outside in the room. Sufi goes and lies down whenever the beds are laid. She owns this place.

Friday


We now have a kid preparing for NEET. And 3 Working from home. And 1 kid who has to entertain himself – all locked up in one house! We need more than Social Distancing so all of us can work / study / play without disturbing one another.
Morning we rearrange the tables a bit and as the mom works, the boy watches movies on a 15 year old iMac which still works! 

Afternoon we go for Achu’s blood test. He is quite confident now and even has a bet that his count will go up by 1000.

Results come – it is 58k. We are all much relieved. It was quite a stressful week – with server load, and managing a dengue patient. Phoo!

Sufi is now back to being the tail of her mummy. 
Evening we have a 2nd Team Lead’s meeting – to catch up on what all the teams are doing and strategize.

My zoom background is the filter coffee photo I took in Saravana Bhavan, Kanchipuram ( Week 0 )

Saturday


I redo my setup with double monitors. Psych! 

San goes shopping and we air the stuff. She gets all “sweet stuff”. 

Achu’s test result comes – 88k. We are officially out of Dengue now.
I work on Saturday too – and by evening I am mentally drained. A tough week comes to an end! 
Musings

Week 3 – Coronavirus

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Week 3 – March 23rd

Chaos begins.

Karnataka Govt by mistake or by plan – leaks the list of 15,000 passengers who had travelled via International Airport. Immediately everyone starts searching for their Apartment name in the list.
2 from our Apartment Complex are found. And fun starts.
A stinker message is posted in the forum – there are 2 people and they did not disclose. This is not right. One of them is coming to the terrace to do yoga in the mornings. That apartment’s other members are seen going out. Their maid and cook have gone and worked. Their garbage is being put out.This is wrong. Take it seriously. This is big. Blah blah blah. 
The association washes its hands off – they did not disclose to us.
I had to step in to put the records straight. Because one of the 2 apartments in the list – one of us was ours. San had returned from Dubai on March 13th. That time they did not tell anything about quarantine. But she thankfully decided to do a self quarantine. Our apartment is on the top floor and terrace is right above us. She climbed the stairs to the terrace and did the yoga there – around 5:00 to 5:30 am. She did not take lift ( obviously – lift service does not run to terrace ), and she did not touch any railings. But perception was set as if she was roaming around – these forum posts are dangerous I tell you! Not posting the not-too-kind messages that started going around. But here was my response. 

Morning when San woke up I told her that what was happening in ADDA forum. Read it out to her. She then corrected me on one thing – the Covid task force – she had created it. And the Association members were part of it and they knew very well! Anyway – I didn’t bother to add these 2 facts. [ Here is the account from San’s perspective – from her blog ]
People are being treated like his for a healthy quarantine. What happens when someone in our apartment gets contracted with the virus? 
And our Apartment complex is one of the most gentler and peaceful places. Can’t imagine what is happening in other places. Scary indeed.
My mother who is locked in is getting angry. San – some of her daughter in law genes still work – sensed her uneasiness and said she has to go out. She loves getting groceries and veggies – we have stopped her for almost 2 weeks now and you have to take her.
Around 3PM I take her out. Make her wear a mask and give strict instruction not to touch anything. The entire layout is deserted. Only the grocery shop was open. And there were lot of people inside. Anyway we go in and most of the stuff is gone.
We wanted idly rice and it had a hole and it was leaking. Did not pick it – don’t know if the hole was created by a rat or something. There was no more idly rice. Picked couple of Maggi packets. And soup packets. We have 3 kids at home and 3 adults. Got some snacks. Kids had asked for Bounce chocolate – but only 5 star and Kitkat was there. San wanted to eat cake – only the cupcakes were there. I pay with Google pay. The shopkeeper says – I wont give discount. If I pay with card he gives apparently. I wanted to be touchless. Others were still using cards or even cash. Only few were using Google pay or BHIM.
We then went to the Veggie shop outside the grocery shop. Some 20 people were there inside. I asked my mother to stay outside and picked up stuff and billed it. 
Dropped the stuff in the car. I keep an alcohol based sanitizer in it and we both rubbed it clean. But that teeny weeny virus could still be sticking in any of the packets – or could have been in the shopping cart where the bags were kept. If it has to come it will come and hit us – there is no escaping. 

Sufi loves the lockdown the most. She goes around getting cuddles.


She watches if I am working or reading coronovirus news.


She has taken liking to this bean bag.

Amar Chitra Katha has made all their magazines free for one month. Prithvi is having the time of his life.


The new iPad Pro got released – and on the apple website there was an AR feature – we can see how the iPAD Pro looks on your table or home. We were playing with it.


Prithvi did a skull, and then made a mess off it. Here is the after picture 

Night 8 PM – Modi again addresses the nation.
Everyone is predicting lockdown. And so it is – he announces 21 day lockdown. 

This time we watch it from YouTube PM’s channel. Did not want to see Aaj Tak’s underwear Ad.

Friday,Saturday
We have a busy day. All hands for our company is planned – some 94 employees we have. All of the company is going for a pay cut – the leadership takes 30%. Desperate times, desperate measures. We have decided not to lay off anybody – but we will move people around to other teams.

Evening the call goes. Its all a bit gloomy.

Then Achu picks up high fever. Around 103. It had started after lunch time. He was complaining of headache from thursday.

First thought that came to all our minds is – is he struck by covid? We isolate him in a room, and dig out some paracetemol tablet. He complains of headache, but thankfully no cough or sore throat.

Saturday morning San installs Apollo app and they have a Q&A in it. We feed in the symptoms – it says this is not Covid but consult a doctor.

We are worried. While stepping out the security guard asks where you are going? What if we tell Doctor and they all get spooked. Already our flat has become famous ( because of San’s quarantine and the police visit to stamp her ).

We use Apollo app to get an appointment – but none are available – not even online. We call a family doctor friend and she prescribes Calpol 650 MG and asks to take lot of fluids.

We wait for 2 doses, and by late afternoon – neither the temperature or the headache is reducing for Achu.

We decide to go to Apollo at Kundalahalli. At the gate, security guard asks – I just tell flat no. and move on before he asks for what?

Apollo Kundalahalli is deserted. No doctors. We then go to Aayugs in AECS layout. Its deserted, but thankfully there is a doctor. She is in full armour. She is wearing a white glove, and a surgery glove. She is wearing a blue apron. She is fully masked and is wearing a head cap as well. It is as if she is out of a Heart Transplant surgery. Kudos to her. I should not be joking. She is at the highest risk right now of catching covid.

She advises an injection and a blood test. We get home, and the injection reduces the headache.

Around 8PM I call and they send me the report. Its Dengue Positive.

We are relieved and worried at the same time. Its not covid, but dengue.

The blood platelet count is slightly above 1.5Lakhs. We need to keep it up now. Dengue we can fight.

I have a vague fear – is this the beginning? I dont know.

Link to Week 4

Musings

Week 2 – Coronavirus

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Week 2 – March 16th

Sunday we announce everyone to work from home and not report to office. Office will still be open to come and collect anything they will need.
I go to office today and bring my stuff – Decathalon party table which I use as standing desk, my external monitor and keyboard. Also pick up San’s laptop charger. 
I take my mother and son to Star Bazaar. It is closed. Govt has ordered closure of all Malls and movie theatres. Star Bazaar does not qualify as a Mall but still they were closed. We went to Big Bazaar. It was crowded as usual. Saw lot of people wearing masks. I got a doubt, perhaps its not a good idea to bring my mother and son.
Monday, in my team half had come to office. We do the standup – some online, some physical. Around 11:30 AM I go to office to discuss a few things and also tell my team mates to not come to office from tomorrow. 

Also meet a few from Sales team – they argued cannot work from home, how can we not meet customers. Valid point – but no other choice.
Tuesday – in Tech we all meet online. Try Zoho Conference, Prime time – and then settle on Zoho meeting. It worked pretty well.
San meanwhile is still in quarantine. She gives a scare saying she is having headache. I quickly check and its not one of the symptoms of Covid. She is glued to her phone all the time – in umpteen whatsapp groups. All the news we read is also very depressing. And also overdose of facts. She loves plodding through such information overdose. It’s over use of her phone.
I ask her to stop using phone for a few hours and headache goes off. I don’t let her touch the phone for extended periods of time. Phoo – close call.
Wednesday morning I feel a bit sore in my throat. Previous night had eaten a guava. Or could be all the news I keep reading. Mind can do wonders. Damn you.
Feeling went off after a while.
Work from home is tiring. I keep getting ping after ping – from all the teams. At office also I constantly get pings – but its not this bad – I sometimes go into meetings and I cant be reached that time. Here they all know I am available and pings keep coming.

Had just put this last Friday. Things got overwhelming.

Prithvi is having the time of his life. First couple of days we let him out – then we realised its a bad idea. Lockdown for him started from Wednesday. He plays this online game – Roblox – with his friends. He chats with them on whatsapp and plays some 5 – 6 hours. Evenings he starts drawing something. 
His mom has hung a thread and has started collecting his artwork.

On Saturday I setup Xbox – and stop all online games. Prithvi loves Minecraft – its purely offline. We come up with 4 to 7PM game time.

Rest of the time he listens to music, or reads comics – All Amar Chitra Katha comics are available for 1 month free.  
Prime Minister Modi announces Janatha Curfew on Sunday. It’s a brilliant idea. It might temporarily pause the spread of the virus. 7AM to 10PM. 5PM we have to make lot of noise.
Sunday we do just that. It is lot of fun at 5pm. I take out my djumbe and beat the hell out of it. I was afraid Sufi will be scared but she was fine. 

Modi addressing the nation and Aaj Tak showing a terrible Underwear Ad. Ughh.

Link to Week 3

Musings

Week 1 – Coronavirus

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Week 1 – March 9th – things started going south. Fast.

First Italy and Iran hit the roof. Case after case started piling up.
One Italian tourist was quarantined in Jaipur. Along with him the people he came in contact with. Another Indian who travelled from Italy and landed in Delhi – he went around and infected a few.
I heard murmurs of – oh this is all a conspiracy to quell the CAA protests that are happening. This virus wont come to India. Saw Whatsapp forwards of how this virus does not last in hot weather.
By Wednesday couple of cases in Karnataka got identified. In Bangalore. Rumour mills were working over time.
Someone from Dell had tested positive. Some 2606 humans have come in contact – the newspaper said. Wow – we could calculate with so much precision?!
Thursday schools in Bangalore started closing. Parents wanted schools to close without exams. I was little confused. Just last week I had started the drill of making Prithvi study. He was reading one chapter a day in History. He finds it hardest to memorise the dates, or the family lineage of the Kings.
I was relieved. Now the drill will be only in September. Phoo!
Thursday he came home with all his books. His 6th grade was over. Vacation starts now – 3 full months. Or might be more?
I get a call from one of our investors – as of tonight ( Thursday night 12 mid night ) – all international flights are going to be stopped.
San had a return booked for Friday. I called her and said you come tonight. Being Bootstrapped all the while – she tried calling the airlines to reschedule the flight. She was going for a meeting and was distracted – said will book later. Had to convince her to let the return flight go but book a new one. Also cleartrip had a message that on cancellation they will refund. Prices hadn’t soared yet. We are still waiting for the refund btw ( Mar 22 ).
She relented, and booked her for Thursday night. She would land morning 2:30 AM on Friday.
India had banned entry of all Indian borns who are now Foreign nationals. Apparently Indian Citizens would still be let in. San was fine – but now she could work on Friday – otherwise it would have gone in travel.

5 years go, same day we were in a Goa beach. I have this journaling app – Day One – which sends these this day long time ago messages. Wish could go to Goa and sit there in a beach shack right now. Hmmmm..

Meanwhile, in our tech team we kept debating whether to work from home the next day – Friday – just a trial run to see if our team can work from home.  Discussed with a few but many were against it. We were working on couple of releases and  lot of interaction was needed.
I let it go – so tomorrow, Friday we will work as usual.
Friday, I woke up at 4:00 AM and saw the message from San that she is out and is waiting. I did not want her to take the airport bus – which she typically takes or an Uber. 
During this week read a lot about Social Distancing. There were so many forwards and they clearly explained the importance of not infecting others or being infected – just by keeping away from as many people as possible.
By traveling by bus – San has the chance of risking infection – what if someone from Italy just sat before her – or if she is infected, she should not spread it in the bus.
I reached around 6AM, picked her from the curb and we reached back home. She said in airport they did a thorough screening – 2 rounds of checks – they checked her temperature and also enquired where all she has been. She had to fill a form. A week later she will get an automated IVR call to check if she has symptoms. Someone had painstakingly entered all the data – and that too accurately.
San decided to self quarantine for 2 weeks. 
Our maid and cook decided not to come. Someone advised them that if someone has travelled international the risk of them contracting the virus is higher.
My mother was a bit upset but we felt that it is practical.
Saturday we took stock of things. We discussed a lot about the power of social distancing and how it is important for all of us to act responsibly. We called for a meeting of Team Leads and we decided to announce work from home for the coming week.
Musings

Week 0 – Coronavirus

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And here we are.

2020 has just begun.

Human race experiences another challenge. Nature plays its hand now. A virus has got loose from animals and is now spreading among humans.
What is your move Humans?
I will be documenting my journey through this phase of my life. I am in Week 2 as I am blogging this – looking back how Week 0 and Week 1 were. [ I am a programmer. Things start at 0 🙂 ] Not sure how Week 4 and on will be. Historians – you are going to study this phase of Human Civilization – here is the story as it happens from the view point of a Bangalore Bootstrapped Entrepreneur. 
This is my Week 0. Today is Monday, March 2, 2020.
Friday is Board meeting. San has booked tickets to go to Dubai – she has lined up few meetings. We are debating whether she has to go. She messages some UAE friends and they are saying things are fine. Things are as usual. No cases found.
We are worried, what if she lands there and she get quarantined and becomes incommunicado? Or when she gets back she gets quarantined. 
San decides to wait and watch.
Tuesday,Wednesday we keep watching the world slowly turn towards chaos. China things go from bad to worse and they lockdown Wuhan. Iran Italy names are coming in the news.
Thursday evening its decided that I will visit Chennai – to meet a few strategic customers. I decide to drive down instead of taking the train. 
I start dreaming of doing Shambhavi Maha Mudra (SMM for short ) on the beach. Few weeks back we both had learned Angamardhana – a kind of yoga – and these days in the mornings we go to the terrace around 5:00 AM and we do Angamardhana there.
Friday morning we both do Angamardhana and SMM on the terrace. On Board meetings we have to handle quite some questions ( topic for another day – perhaps a book someday ) – time ticks to lunch time and meeting is going on. San takes the investors to lunch and she sets me free. Venkat is driving to Chennai for meetings tomorrow she explains. I come home have lunch and take a nap.
Feel a bit drained, and I hit the road. Download Paula Hawkins, Girl on the Train – and get immersed in it. Forget about the virus or the board meeting.
Morning I wake up and go to Beasant Nagar beach. They are having a rally – its International day of Childhood Cancer. The beach is being cleaned and plogging is happening. 
Sat on the shore and did my SMM. Felt good.

Ploggers.

A modified tractor to take out trash. Beasant nagar was cleaner than I expected.

First meeting is at 11:00AM and it goes on till night 8:00 PM – 4 meetings. One of them, the clubhouse is locked down for 2 weeks because of Coronavirus. We sit inside the clubhouse for the meeting. I see some Koreans walking outside.
Return I had not booked any stay – continue driving towards Bangalore and before Sriperumbudur I find a roadside inn. I see the form with Chinese like characters along with English – I ask them is this Chinese – they say Korean.
Have a fitful sleep. I typically don’t go for demo meetings and I have exhausted my 2020 quota in one day!  I keep running over the meetings – wish I had said this instead of that. Introvertish brain –  always keeps overanalysing.
I try some meditation and doze off close to midnight. Wake up at 5ish and take bathe and go to Kanchipuram. It was just 45 minutes from the place I stayed.
Go to Ekambareeshwarar temple. Stand in the free Darshan line. I keep thinking – this is not good. We are standing way too close, I keep thinking – perhaps this is not a good idea. Think I stayed in a hotel where Koreans are staying. Am I going to contract the virus? 

This was a 3D painting in the hotel I stayed. The camera does not do justice to it – parts of the car are real steel tubes and its blended beautifully.

Later have breakfast at Saravana Bhavan – the first one – historic one. Reach home for lunch


I don’t know going to temples will take me to heaven, but having Saravana Bhavan Breakfast certainly will put me in heaven for some time.

Meanwhile San had reached Dubai – things fine there, and she has got busy.
Musings

2019 Books Round Up

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Here is my own Yearly Tradition!

Every year I start my first blog post on the books I read the previous year. Here is the list from 2010, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 2018

Here are the books that journeyed with me in 2019

Science Fiction

1. Dark Age ( #5 of Red Rising Saga )
 

The first book in the series – Red Rising – I started on a solo drive to Chennai sometime in 2016. The book has a solid platform and interesting characters – everyone’s favourite Savero is missing in action in this part. Other characters are developing very well – Lyria for instance and Pax – our Hero’s son is evolving too. When I started I had forgotten the plot of Book 4 and took some time to get back to the story. And it gets better and better. There were parts where I had tears while listening. 45 hours on audible. Eagerly waiting for #6.

2. Endymion (#3 of Hyperion Cantos )

Very enjoyable read. They should make a movie of this so everyone can enjoy the story / plot. The mind game battle between the Commander and the little “messiah” girl was quite interesting.

Fiction

3. Beartown




Sometimes I watch a movie and say – this is like reading a novel. This book is the inverse – while reading it felt as if I am watching a movie.

I picked this book because I wanted some sports story – sports is the backdrop but there are some very deep character portrayals and plots. The story moves in a steady pace and culminates in a very riveting climax.

This author has a good style and has flow. Best discovery of 2019 for me.

4. A Man called Ove

After Beartown wanted to read another book from the same author – Fredrik Backman – and picked his best till date.

It started slowly, Ove trying to commit suicide, and a Persian family moves next door and how he continues being a grumpy old man but becomes the central character around the entire neighbourhood.

At times it drove me to tears – both with laughter and emotion.

This is a beautiful book – a masterpiece – in my opinion

5. The 7 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Every day – in the end Evelyn Hardcastle gets shot and killed. Every day – the narrator is born as one of the inhabitants of that castle. Whatever the narrator does – he cannot stop the murder. The same story gets unravelled from different angles. Till the narrator solves it in the end.

It’s like Agatha Christie got drunk with Sherlock Homes and solved a mystery together.

This is not for the faint of heart. It is a difficult read – but the joy is in the grind when it comes to tough books

6. Raavan 

This book was quite dark and was siding towards mild pornography. After Ram and Sita I was expecting a different portrayal of Raavan ( who is this kind misunderstood soul ) – but here Raavan is portrayed as Raavan we all know of. Not sure he did not want to take risk – or – the publishers wanted another best seller – so write how the masses would want.

Disappointed.

Work / Productivity

7. Delivering Happiness

Have heard of Zappos on its exemplary customer service. This book gives a good insight into it. Picked some good lessons.

8. Business Sutra

Was interesting in the beginning, but got boring towards the middle. He has drawn interesting parallels with Indian Mythology – not sure how much I could use or adapt.

9. Start with the Why

Highly recommend this book. It helped us spell out our company’s purpose clearly. Anyone running a startup – the sooner you read this the better it is. The “Why” forms the nucleus – everything else evolves from that

10. 12 Rules for Life : An Antidote to Chaos


The author is a Canadian Professor of Clinical Psychology. He had written this quota post ( https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-most-valuable-things-everyone-should-know/answer/Jordan-B-Peterson ) which was quite popular and the book picks 12 of these rules.

The first chapter is fantastic – why we should stand straight. After that now when I think back do not remember the 11 other rules.

However, I only remember the essence – it is about creating deep and meaningful relationships – with everyone – your spouse, your parents, your co-workers.

There is lot of references to Christianity – and I could sense some patterns

Life is a struggle – and we can make it enjoyable by playing it well.

Its not an exciting read but would recommend for the lessons it teaches.

Biography

11. Swami Vivekananda

I bought this in audible, ( even though could have returned ) and sat through it. This one is very boring – like a History book – with too many dates and facts.

I love visiting Belur Math in Kolkata and was curious about the origins. This book had all the details how Vivekananda established this place.

I was looking more for a philosophical treatise which sadly this book missed. However did pick up some interesting facts – I thought Vivekananda is from Tamil Nadu – given his popularity in this region. Apparently he was a Bengali but had developed a huge following in Tamil Nadu.

12. I am Jackie Chan

I loved this one. The first movie of his I saw was Armour of the Gods ( or was it Police Story? don’t remember correctly ) and I will never miss any of his films.

His early childhood ( which was quite miserable ) and how he became a star after multiple failures – and how he recovered from a spoilt rich star – love this personality even more.

Spiritual

13. Inner Engineering by Sadhguru

Even if you don’t believe in Guru’s or God – you should read it. It questions some beliefs and shines some light on the power we Humans have – and how we are wasting it in petty things and not going for Greater Glory.

14. Mystery of Death by Swami Abhedananda

The entire book is the interpretation of conversation between Yama Dharmaraja – the God of Death – and Nachiketa – a smart young man. The more books I read on Spirituality – the mind starts seeing some patterns repeating in all these – be it Hinduism, Chirstianity, Buddhism… I am yet to read Koran or Islamic discourses – in my todo for this year.

15. The Secret of Secrets – by Osho



This is an audio compilation of Osho’s talks. His discourse derives from Tao and Buddhism. He makes controversial remarks – if one can ignore it – one can appreciate his philosophy. This is some 50+ Hours. I am half way through – I turn this on now and then. Will sail through 2020 also with this.

Comics

16. Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco

Riveting. I thought Comics was only for children, or adult children who dreamt of super heroes. Did not know this can be used effectively to portray the Croatia-Serbia conflict. How this little piece of land got cut off and how their inhabitants struggled for years. It will make one sad  and wonder why? Want to some day visit this place – hopefully it turns peaceful. Many times we read about car bombs going off or genocide happening – I really feel sad for the people going through this. The world depresses me.

Ciao.

Musings

Welcome Failure. Work towards a glorious failure

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I got this video forward on Whatsapp – by a Teacher giving advise to her kids – might be on graduation or a reunion. It was in Tamil.

Here is the gist of her talk which resonated with me.

“I wish you lot of problems. Life is not easy. I wish you failures. You might wonder how come I am wishing you failure. There is a reason.

Success does not teach you anything. Success puts you in a drunken state and you will settle for less.

Failures will keep pushing you forward.

Go after a bigger challenge. Bigger competitor.

You should fight big and fail. It is ok if you do not get the Trophy at the end but you should have fought hard.”

I totally agree with her.

If I brand myself a failure and say I keep searching for bigger and bigger battles to fail – how awesome it will be.

I have seen this from people with early success in life – the toppers from colleges.They do not take risks as they are afraid to fail. They are not ready to take a cut on their salary to work on a challenging project. Instead they are stuck at their current job – being paid well – but a boring job.

If you brand yourself as a failure, then there is no pressure in failing. This sets you free to go after risky battles.

Want to enter a territory with your product where you are going to be killed. So be it – give a fight. What if you survive?

Want to release a crazy feature which you believe will give 10x productivity – and only some customers will love, but majority might reject. So be it – build it. What if it becomes mainstream and majority would start using it?

Fight risky battles with no pressure of becoming a success. Then your focus is on fighting the battle and not the outcome. The outcome will come on how good you fight the battle – not by pressurising yourself that you want success.

It is a mind shift.

It is like a negative feedback. In control systems Negative feedback is what makes the system stable. Positive feedback makes it race and runs towards instability quickly.

Failure is like the Negative feedback. Success is like the Positive feedback.

If we can embrace failure – it is similar to negative feedback. It ensures stability. It will help us in focusing better on the problem and working on it.

If our end goal has to be success – we will not take the risks that are needed sometimes. It will put undue pressure on ourselves.

I embrace you failure.

Now I go conquer the world or might fail spectacularly.

gratitude, music

Thank you AR Rahman

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We were watching one of the live performances of Hotel California on YouTube. 


The boy was with me and we were seeing the crowd go crazy.


Being a responsible Dad have to use every opportunity to  show him the path. 


I told him, “I want you to be a great guitarist or musician and form a band like the Eagles. But on one condition.”


He asked what.


I said, “If you become a star, you are not supposed to get into drugs and commit suicide – because most musicians cannot handle the fame and fans and do stupid things.”


Pat comes the reply – “Nana, But not AR Rahman. I will be like AR Rahman.”


Thank you AR Rahman. 



Here is the life story of a speck

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