Category Miscellaneous

Ever since I had gone birding at Sundarban, I had been wanting and waiting to do it again. I had been brooding over this for a while and I finally bit the bullet – I purchased a Canon 400 mm f/5.6 lens to pair with my 2013 Canon EOS 70D to photograph birds and wildlife. I already had the excellent Zeiss Terra ED 10×42 binoculars for observing birds and wildlife. The recent lens purchase made the itch to go birding even more persistent. So when the Christmas holiday arrived, it presented a perfect opportunity to visit the Okhla Bird Sanctuary in Noida. It is a good time of the year to visit the sanctuary as it is usually teeming with winter migrants at this time of the year. I requested the company of a friend and a fellow nature enthusiast who graciously agreed...

The recent cold blooded murder of Cecil, the lion, by an American big game hunter has sparked outrage across the world and has taken the social media by storm. The hunter (I prefer to call him murderous coward) has also stated that big game hunting is an activity that he loves and practises “responsibly”.This statement brings to the fore the mindset of a culture that has eradicated most of its wildlife and biodiversity in its quest to pursue “development” and material benefits.

While the social media outrage does show that this mindset is abhorred by the majority even in the west now, it is too little too late. The forests of North America and Europe may once have had a dazzling array of wildlife but  many of the erstwhile  residents of those habitats are now gone forever...

When one talks about a civilization’s ability to influence and attract other cultures,one name is a constant through out all recorded history . That name is India. I refer to India as a civilization as the soft power (Soft power is a concept developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University to describe the ability to attract and co-opt rather than coerce, use force or give money as a means of persuasion) exerted by our culture and traditions predates the concept of the Indian nation state.

In this era of globalization and instant connectivity, few aspects of the Indian story come rushing to the mind.

Cinema and Television

The glitzy song and dance sequences of Indian cinema have enthralled audiences all over the world...

So the Aam Aadmi Party is at it again. The only difference being, now, they are in power! Aam Aadmi Party was born out of Anna’s anti corruption movement with the promise that they were taking the plunge to cleanse the system from within. It seems, however, that their singular agenda is to turn governance and administration into agitation and gimmicks. When they should be looking at ways to reform the delivery of public services to the people of Delhi, they are using the media glare on them to launch a shadow campaign for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Soon after assuming power, they took steps to fulfill their electoral promises and garnered well deserved praise for not forgetting their promises to the people of Delhi after the elections...

It’s that time of the year again. Winter chill has set in and the infamous North Indian fog has already started delaying flights and trains. Christmas festivities have just concluded and I am sitting in my office cube trying to pen this post before it becomes pointless to do so. The spirits are high and most of my colleagues are on vacation. Somehow, sitting in a sparsely populated office doesn’t seem so bad. I am experiencing a sense of freedom and privacy, that I have seldom felt at work. For some magical reason, I am not feeling disappointed at coming to work on the last day of the year. I am sure, I will be home in time to ring in 2014 with my folks at home.

2013, like most years and life itself, was a mix of both good and bad for me...

Working professionals seem to be a disenchanted lot when it comes to motivation at their work places. Some sectors like the software industry have very high attrition rates and recession and market saturation do not seem to be able to put a stop to the exodus. In my six years as a professional , I have realized that the following are the most pervasive causes of dissatisfaction with their employers:

• Lack of growth opportunities
• Job insecurity
• Inadequate financial rewards ( read poor or no hikes and bonuses)
• Mundane work environment

I must admit I have experienced frustration caused by all the factors listed above at one time or another. The situation gets aggravated when switching jobs is not a very convenient option...

A few days back I shot  an email off to Nokia CEO Stephen Elop trying to explain how I, a long time, loyal and mostly happy customer, feel about the seeming lack of support for those of us who chose Nokia when it launched devices on the Windows Phone 7.x platform. I am a happy owner of a Nokia Lumia 800, but off late it has seemed that Nokia’s enthusiasm for the older platform has been on the wane especially when it comes to app support. New apps have been consistently coming to the Nokia collection but few of them target the older platform. Some of these are apps which can easily be supported on the older platform. An example is the Nokia Video Upload app...

Before you start thinking that I have gone bonkers by looking at the title of the post, let me furnish some background information. I just saw an Amul advertisement on tv. It somehow managed to connect with me to such an extent that it made me think about Amul means to me.

At the end of the ad, there is some scrolling text that says something about how crores of Indian use Amul products everyday and more importantly how it has led to financial independence for 30 lakh women across 15000 villages. It ends with “Thanks to a cooperative movement called Amul”. This is the phrase that really got my attention. Amul is not just a company or a brand. Its a movement and that too a home grown one. Instinctively I was tripping down the memory lane...