Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?

Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. The answer is: None of the above. The winner is Nokia, whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cellphones.

The reason is that cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling standalone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all.

Try this. Who runs the biggest music business in India? The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel earns more than music companies do by selling albums.

Airtel is not in the music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscriber base in India. That sort of a competitor is difficult to detect and even more difficult to beat. By the time you have identified him, he has already gone past you. But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel’s parent) are breathing easy, you couldn’t be further from the truth.

Nokia has reportedly acknowledged that it missed the smart-phone bus. It admits that Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android can make life difficult for it in the future. But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you? If these illustrations mean anything, it is that there is a bigger game unfolding. It is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails.

The “Mahabharat” (the great Indian epic battle) in this context is: “What is tomorrow’s personal digital device?” And, a related question: “Who is my competitor?”

In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways for international flights in India? Singapore Airlines? Indian Airlines? Maybe, but there is a more interesting answer: The videoconferencing services of Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.

Senior information technology executives in India and abroad were compelled by their headquarters to use videoconferencing to keep travel costs in check. Of course, there could be a rebound in travel. But to think that the airlines will be back to their previous business post-recession is something I would not bet on. In the short term, yes. In the long term, it is a resounding no.

Remember, if there is one place where Newton’s law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware, where prices consistently fall. Between 1977 and 1991, prices of the now-dead VCR crashed to one third of their original levels in India. PC prices also dropped. If this trend repeats itself, then videoconferencing prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then.

India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly different. So were the icons. The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag. The film gods were the Khans (Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan etc). That was when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50-over cricket.

Then came the Indian Premier League and the two markets collapsed into one. IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs, reducing the game to the length of a three-hour movie. Cricket became a competitor to film. Desperate multiplex owners requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls to hang on to the audience. If the IPL were to become the mainstay of cricket, films would have to sequence their releases so as to not clash with IPL matches. As far as the audience is concerned, both are a three-hour “tamasha” (entertainment). Cricket season might push films out of the market.

Look at the products that vanished from India in the last 20 years. When did you last see a black and white movie? When did you last use a fountain pen? When did you last type on a typewriter? The answer for all the above is “I don’t remember!”

One final illustration. Some 20 years ago, what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning? An alarm clock, that monster of mechanical springs. It had to be physically wound up every day. It made so much noise that it woke you — and the rest of the colony. What do we use today? Cellphones. An entire category of clocks practically disappeared without warning.

The boss of an IT company once said something interesting about the animal called competition. He said “Have breakfast …or…. be breakfast”! That sums it up rather neatly.

For more information on Dr. Y. L. R. Moorthi - http://www.iimb.ernet.in/user/150

I received a mail from one of my friends. People like him are an inspiration for all. His determination to succeed even when faced with physical disabilities is praiseworthy. Simply amazing!

Naga Naresh Karutura has just passed out of IIT Madras in Computer Science and has joined Google in Bangalore.

You may ask, what’s so special about this 21-year-old when there are hundreds of students passing out from various IITs and joining big companies like Google?

Naresh is special. His parents are illiterate. He has no legs and moves around in his powered wheel chair. (In fact, when I could not locate his lab, he told me over the mobile phone, ‘I will come and pick you up’. And in no time, he was there to guide me)

Ever smiling, optimistic and full of spirit; that is Naresh. He says, “God has always been planning things for me. That is why I feel I am lucky.”

Read why Naresh feels he is lucky.

Childhood in a village

I spent the first seven years of my life in Teeparru, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, on the banks of the river Godavari. My father Prasad was a lorry driver and my mother Kumari, a house wife. Though they were illiterate, my parents instilled in me and my elder sister (Sirisha) the importance of studying.

Looking back, one thing that surprises me now is the way my father taught me when I was in the 1st and 2nd standards. My father would ask me questions from the text book, and I would answer them. At that time, I didn’t know he could not read or write but to make me happy, he helped me in my studies!

Another memory that doesn’t go away is the floods in the village and how I was carried on top of a buffalo by my uncle. I also remember plucking fruits from a tree that was full of thorns.

I used to be very naughty, running around and playing all the time with my friends.. I used to get a lot of scolding for disturbing the elders who slept in the afternoon. The moment they started scolding, I would run away to the fields!

I also remember finishing my school work fast in class and sleeping on the teacher’s lap!

January 11, 1993, the fateful day

On the January 11, 1993 when we had the sankranti holidays, my mother took my sister and me to a nearby village for a family function. From there we were to go with our grandmother to our native place. But my grandmother did not come there. As there were no buses that day, my mother took a lift in my father’s friend’s lorry. As there were many people in the lorry, he made me sit next to him, close to the door.

It was my fault; I fiddled with the door latch and it opened wide throwing me out. As I fell, my legs got cut by the iron rods protruding from the lorry. Nothing happened to me except scratches on my legs.

The accident had happened just in front of a big private hospital but they refused to treat me saying it was an accident case. Then a police constable who was passing by took us to a government hospital.

First I underwent an operation as my small intestine got twisted. The doctors also bandaged my legs. I was there for a week. When the doctors found that gangrene had developed and it had reached up to my knees, they asked my father to take me to a district hospital. There, the doctors scolded my parents a lot for neglecting the wounds and allowing the gangrene to develop. But what could my ignorant parents do?

In no time, both my legs were amputated up to the hips.

I remember waking up and asking my mother, where are my legs? I also remember that my mother cried when I asked the question. I was in the hospital for three months.

Life without legs

I don’t think my life changed dramatically after I lost both my legs. Because all at home were doting on me, I was enjoying all the attention rather than pitying myself. I was happy that I got a lot of fruits and biscuits.

‘I never wallowed in self-pity’
July 28, 2008

The day I reached my village, my house was flooded with curious people; all of them wanted to know how a boy without legs looked. But I was not bothered; I was happy to see so many of them coming to see me, especially my friends!
All my friends saw to it that I was part of all the games they played; they carried me everywhere.

God’s hand

I believe in God. I believe in destiny. I feel he plans everything for you. If not for the accident, we would not have moved from the village to Tanuku, a town. There I joined a missionary school, and my father built a house next to the school. Till the tenth standard, I studied in that school.

If I had continued in Teeparu, I may not have studied after the 10th. I may have started working as a farmer or someone like that after my studies. I am sure God had other plans for me.

My sister, my friend

When the school was about to reopen, my parents moved from Teeparu to Tanuku, a town, and admitted both of us in a Missionary school. They decided to put my sister also in the same class though she is two years older. They thought she could take care of me if both of us were in the same class. My sister never complained.

She would be there for everything. Many of my friends used to tell me, you are so lucky to have such a loving sister. There are many who do not care for their siblings.

She carried me in the school for a few years and after a while, my friends took over the task. When I got the tricycle, my sister used to push me around in the school.

My life, I would say, was normal, as everyone treated me like a normal kid. I never wallowed in self-pity. I was a happy boy and competed with others to be on top and the others also looked at me as a competitor.

Inspiration

I was inspired by two people when in school; my Maths teacher Pramod Lal who encouraged me to participate in various local talent tests, and a brilliant boy called Chowdhary, who was my senior.

When I came to know that he had joined Gowtham Junior College to prepare for IIT-JEE, it became my dream too. I was school first in 10th scoring 542/600.

Because I topped in the state exams, Gowtham Junior College waived the fee for me. Pramod Sir’s recommendation also helped. The fee was around Rs 50,000 per year, which my parents could never afford.

Moving to a residential school

Living in a residential school was a big change for me because till then my life centred around home and school and I had my parents and sister to take care of all my needs. It was the first time that I was interacting with society. It took one year for me to adjust to the new life.

There, my inspiration was a boy called K K S Bhaskar who was in the top 10 in IIT-JEE exams. He used to come to our school to encourage us. Though my parents didn’t know anything about Gowtham Junior School or IIT, they always saw to it that I was encouraged in whatever I wanted to do.. If the results were good, they would praise me to the skies and if bad, they would try to see something good in that. They did not want me to feel bad.

They are such wonderful supportive parents.

Life at IIT- Madras

Though my overall rank in the IIT-JEE was not that great (992), I was 4th in the physically handicapped category. So, I joined IIT, Madras to study Computer Science.

Here, my role model was Karthik who was also my senior in school. I looked up to him during my years at IIT- Madras.

He had asked for attached bathrooms for those with special needs before I came here itself. So, when I came here, the room had attached bath. He used to help me and guide me a lot when I was here.

I evolved as a person in these four years, both academically and personally. It has been a great experience studying here. The people I was interacting with were so brilliant that I felt privileged to sit along with them in the class. Just by speaking to my lab mates, I gained a lot..

‘There are more good people in society than bad ones’

July 28, 2008

Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to Prof Pandurangan and all my lab mates; all were simply great. I was sent to Boston along with four others for our internship by Prof Pandurangan. It was a great experience.

Joining Google R&D

I did not want to pursue PhD as I wanted my parents to take rest now.

Morgan Stanley selected me first but I preferred Google because I wanted to work in pure computer science, algorithms and game theory.

I am lucky

Do you know why I say I am lucky?

I get help from total strangers without me asking for it. Once after my second year at IIT, I with some of my friends was travelling in a train for a conference. We met a kind gentleman called Sundar in the train, and he has been taking care of my hostel fees from then on.

I have to mention about Jaipur foot. I had Jaipur foot when I was in 3rd standard. After two years, I stopped using them. As I had almost no stems on my legs, it was very tough to tie them to the body. I found walking with Jaipur foot very, very slow. Sitting also was a problem. I found my tricycle faster because I am one guy who wants to do things faster.

One great thing about the hospital is, they don’t think their role ends by just fixing the Jaipur foot; they arrange for livelihood for all. They asked me what help I needed from them. I told them at that time, if I got into an IIT, I needed financial help from them. So, from the day I joined IIT, Madras, my fees were taken care of by them. So, my education at the IIT was never a burden on my parents and they could take care of my sister’s Nursing studies.

Surprise awaited me at IIT

After my first year, when I went home, two things happened here at the Institute without my knowledge.

I got a letter from my department that they had arranged a lift and ramps at the department for me. It also said that if I came a bit early and checked whether it met with my requirements, it would be good.

Second surprise was, the Dean, Prof Idichandy and the Students General Secretary, Prasad had located a place that sold powered wheel chairs. The cost was Rs 55,000. What they did was, they did not buy the wheel chair; they gave me the money so that the wheel chair belonged to me and not the institute.

My life changed after that. I felt free and independent.

That’s why I say I am lucky. God has planned things for me and takes care of me at every step.

The world is full of good people

I also feel if you are motivated and show some initiative, people around you will always help you. I also feel there are more good people in society than bad ones. I want all those who read this to feel that if Naresh can achieve something in life, you can too.

I was awestruck when I read about an auto driver in Chennai who was tech savvy! Meet Samson the Auto Driver! Surely I will make it a point to meet him on my next trip to Chennai! It is indeed something very innovative and kewl. Just imagine… he has his own website! www.TukTastic.com …FunTastic!

Please do email him when you get time – samson@tuktastic.com

Here is an extract written by Priyadarshini Paitandy for The Hindu

Ka-ching! Ah, the sweet sound of the auto meter. Something that’s as rare as wearing pullovers in Chennai. What’s even rarer is riding around town with an auto driver, who has a website of his own. That’s Samson for you, a cheerful 38-year-old auto driver, with around 18 years of experience and tuktastic.com to his credit. “My clients from all over the world tell me I am probably the only auto driver in Asia with a website,” he beams.

Parked opposite the Taj Coromandel hotel, Samson has become the hot favourite of tourists, especially those who stay at the hotel. “Even before some of my customers land in Chennai, they call me or send me an email with details about their stay here and book me for those days,” he explains. His website has obviously helped him build contacts. Even before the website happened, Samson had an email id.

A Japanese tourist was so impressed with him that for the entire month that she stayed in the city, she couldn’t think of anybody but Samson to take her around. “M’am used to check her emails. I wanted an id too. So she created one for me. It was of great help and I made it a point to check my mails twice a week,” he says.

One day, as he sat at an Internet centre, checking his mails, he stumbled upon an online ad about websites. Being an enterprising person, he decided to have one too. Yet another satisfied customer, Chris Pug, a crew member from British Airways created the site for him as a token of gratitude for his excellent service. Tuktuk, Tuktaxi and many suggestions later, Samson was finally satisfied with Tuktastic. “It sounds like fantastic, an attribute to my auto and service, so this had to be the fitting title,” he smiles.

Simply surf

Tuktastic.com is an interesting website with an introduction to Samson, and links to places to eat, drink, shop, a link that allows one to advertise on his auto and a page dedicated to his auto buddies who step in when a big group of people want to travel. The best thing about them is they are ‘tourist- friendly autos,’ and won’t fleece you. For example, a ride to Mammallapuram and back in Samson’s auto will cost you Rs.700. Of course, you won’t have the comforts of an AC. And as Samson says on his website, “It may seem a long way in a tuk-tuk but there is nothing better than cruising down the open roads out of town with the warm breeze on your face.”

So why aren’t other autos tourist-friendly as well? Samson shrugs. Then with a smile adds, “Let’s not discuss meters.” But I am persistent. He relents. “Very often after dropping a customer, autos aren’t allowed to wait at a spot. Chances are that he may not find a sawari and will have to drive around. Fuel is expensive, there are other expenditures and we get paid on a per day basis…,” he explains.

Few of his friends land up there showing him recently clicked photographs and asking for his opinion. Clearly he seems to be a hit with them too. And why not? Especially when he has created email ids for them on his laptop. That’s right! “A Dutch client was very happy with me and gifted me the laptop.” And Samson is not just net-savvy, he even talks about Facebook and Twitter, has an id in Orkut and a fairly good command over English. “Conversing with my foreign clients has helped a great deal in improving my language. I only studied till Standard VII, you know? I bought myself a dictionary to learn more words,” he adds.

As we talk he tells me his aim is not to just eat, drink, make merry and die. He wants to do something more. He believes if given a sponsor he can find a way of making vehicles run on water. I raise an eyebrow and he notices it through his rear-view mirror. “It’s possible I can try,” he says nonchalantly. His mobile phone beeps again. “Hello sir! Yes, I will come in 20 minutes,” he tells the caller. Yet another client awaiting his service.

So I stop my questions, sit back and bid goodbye to the worries of haggling, as Samson drops me at my destination.

I have changed schools more than five times and was not an active student. Very quiet, shy and always out of trouble. This was good at that time for me. True for others too. But looking back now I am wondering if it was worth. Should I have made more effort at school to be recognised, more noticeable and should I have at least taken an extra effort making friends or at least knowing all my classmates.

Now after school and college, working and trying to remember my friends has been quite difficult. I was born when the telephone was still a luxury and the internet unknown. We did not have the technology we have today. Today kids are already born into the future. Before giving a name, people check if there is a domain available. There is an email ID created. The addresses no longer are the house ones but rather the email addresses! Quite often I wonder where this would all go to. The world is never full of surprises! Just when we think this is the invention of the century, there comes another.

Back to the point. Basically I am not a people guy as mentioned earlier, so getting people to know me was unimaginable. People can be with me for 2 years and still not recognise me! Names are an issue. If I can’t remember the faces what about the name? No way!

Laidlaw Memorial School/St. George's, Ketti 643215

Fortunately Facebook has helped immensely in tracing a few friends. I have around 6 from St. George’s Homes. But none are active. Seems all are old school and not willing to use the latest in technology. Facebook has brought lost friends together. In the Us and many countries our school association has grown strong, thanks to all the Social Networking websites like Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn etc. This community has become so strong as to have an immense helping hand to those who need help. People seeking new jobs, relocation, finding spouses, getting school admission, etc.

Facebook – Laidlaw Memorial School – http://www.facebook.com/Group
Laidlaw Memorial School Fan Page – http://www.facebook.com/FanPage
Old Georgian Website – http://www.oldgeorgians.com/

If anyone does belong/studied in St. George’s Homes, Ketti, please register here. Friends you thought were lost will be there.

Here is how you can try to find someone.
1. Try to google him/her. Use search terms along with names, like name, where he studied, worked etc. Chances are he would be linked somewhere.
2. Check your Friends friend list in Facebook etc. Many a times you will find a lot there.
3. Register in your school/college Alumni website.
4. Make youself searchable. ie. Put as many contact details as possible in Social Networking websites, so that your name pops up when searched in Google , Bing, Yahoo etc.
5. Create Blogs or websites with your details. Blogs help a lot. Write about you school, college or place of work, so that people searching for that find your Blog.

These are some of the ways you can get in touch. There would be many more better ways. The point is to get in touch with lost friends.

St. Michael’s Academy, Chennai – http://www.facebook.com/Group 1
St. Michael’s Academy, Chennai – http://www.facebook.com/Group 2

If you have come here and looking for lost friends, write about it in the comments. Maybe someone will see it and contact you.

All the best. Happy searching!

Toastmasters International, Division-B, District-79, in association with Dubai Men’s College Toastmasters Chapter are pleased to invite you to an exciting journey of learning.

Special Presentations by Mark Hunter, 2009 World Champion of Public Speaking!

Mark Hunter

Mark Hunter is the current World Champion of Public Speaking. He won this title at the Toastmasters International Convention held in Connecticut (USA) in August 2009. Mark comes from Brisbane, Australia. A Toastmaster since 1994, he was five times Australian Champion before becoming the World Champion. Passionate about Toastmasters, he firmly believes in the organization’s capacity to provide personal and professional development.

Mark is a school principal and owns a business as life and executive coach. He trains organizational leaders in the science of coaching for performance development. He presents keynotes, workshops and educational sessions for organizations at home and abroad.

Mark had an accident in 1975, and has since used a wheelchair. He was the first primary school teacher in a wheel chair in Queensland, and is the only school principal in Australia using a wheelchair. He is a strong advocate for people with a disability. He has persisted when times were tough, and persevered when those around him would have him do otherwise. He is both an optimist and a risk taker. He has traveled the world, is passionate about life and lives it accordingly. He is excited about coming to the UAE to meet with hundreds of Toastmasters.

The Sessions

Session 1: “The Mark of a Champion!” Nov 20, 2009 (Friday),
Time: 3 pm – 6 pm

In his presentation Mark will share his journey as a Toastmaster and journey to being the World Champion of Public Speaking. He will discuss those elements of a speech, which he believes make a real difference for an audience and present the speech that won him the World Championship.

Charges: AED 50/- per person (Toastmasters and Guests)
Venue : Dubai Men’s College (Main Auditorium), Academic City, Dubai

Session 2: “Tomatoes, an Apple, and a Coconut” on Nov 21, 2009 (Saturday) – (From a Good Speech to a Great Speech) Time: 7:30 pm – 9:45pm

In this workshop for Toastmasters, Mark will analyze and deliver the speech with which he won the World Championship of Public Speaking, at the International Convention in Connecticut (USA) in August this year. He will speak on having a winning attitude, the use of humor, cohesion in writing, writing for milestones, being authentic, and maximizing who you are. With contest preparation going on full swing, Mark will give fresh insight on content selection and development, hints for writing, and what to do just before beginning your presentation. There will be opportunity for discussion and Q&A.

Charges: AED 50/- per person (Toastmasters and Guests)
Venue : Al-Futtaim Training Centre, Rashidiya, Dubai.
(Limited Seats: Only 100 – First Come First Serve Basis)

Kindly pre-register with your Club by November 15, 2009! Pls contact any of the following persons;

Imran Akhlaq (Dubai), Mob: +971 50 5145919, Email: imran@amg.ae

Dhananjayan / DJ (Dubai), Mob: +971 55 8163071, Email: dhananjayan.munirathinam@gmail.com

Pesan Kumar (Sharjah & NE), Mob: +971 50 4539244, Email: pesankumar@gmail.com

Salim Sayyid (Abudhabi / Al Ain), Mob: +971 50 6612486, Email: salim.sayyid@ali-sons.com

Omana Kallarakkal (Abudhabi / Al Ain), Mob: +971 50 6119747, Email: omana@adma.ae

Read more about Mark Hunter in Toastmasters.org

Mark Hunter’s winning speech

A Sink Full of Green Tomatoes
MARK HUNTER M.Ed. Admin., B.Ed., ATM., Cert. Coach.

Literature is literally littered with lively legends. Amongst them rides Don Quixote – the Man of La Mancha. An idealistic knight who fought for the rights of others and dared to dream the impossible dream.

Mr chairman, ladies and gentlemen, while I dare not sing that song for fear it could be your nightmare, I like many of us here have dreamed impossible dreams. But to make one of my dreams even remotely reachable, I had to learn an extraordinary lesson, perhaps a lesson for us all.

At the age of 22 an accident changed my view of the world completely. Before the accident, I saw the world from an invincible 6 feet high, now I see it from the height of the consummate navel gazer.

In my new position, short and seated and recycled, I soon faced discrimination in work and life, so I became a modern day Don Quixote fighting for the rights of those with a disability. Many, many times , I would don the armour of righteousness, mount my trusty grey horse Eeeha! (work with me here), raise my lance, and charge into hell for my heavenly cause, dreaming of a world where discrimination no longer existed.

But at other times, I would retreat, exhausted and just want to be invisible.

For many years as I championed this cause, I faced this problem: “Do I want to fit in, or do I want to stand up, stand out and stand fast for who and what I am; do I want to be same or different?

I became consumed by this dilemma and desperate for an answer. I turned to books, coaches, meditation, you name it – I did it, I even searched in the bottom of a few bottles of scotch – I eventually found my answer where many of our life’s most important questions are answered.

My Grandmother’s kitchen was filled with the aroma of freshly cooked bread, and the quiet rhythmic chopping of vegetables was the only sound to be heard. On the bench, gleaming upturned jars were begging to be filled with her world famous tomato relish – well I thought it was world famous – my grandfather, Poppy, always said it could be used as paint stripper. I too would laugh at his mischief. Nana, in all her wisdom and with all her love, would merely smile.

A splash was followed by her silent invitation to look in the water filled sink. A wildly bright red apple had accidentally tumbled in, and was bobbing amongst a dozen green tomatoes. Nana said, “Mark, look in the sink. What do you want to be?” I looked at my choice – to be the one apple or one of many tomatoes- and I remembered thinking…

Who looks at fruit and veges and becomes philosophical?

So how did I answer grandmother?

As I watched her, I finally understood her wisdom. “Nana”, I said. She stopped, turned, and waited. “Nana, I want to be the water.

She turned back to her work, and I am sure I heard her smile.

She knew I had found my answer. That you can’t change the world by charging around like an idealistic knight. You change it from here, by being the water. You see water embraces everything completely. It does not differentiate young from old, black from white, tall from navel gazer. It simply encompasses all.

And what is this water if is not a unique definition of love. A definition reflected in Deepak Chopra’s work, where he writes ‘for love to be real it has to flow out and around that which is loved’. This water is liquid love. When I am the water, no, when we are the water, the need to fight the good fight no longer exists. The need to work out whether we are the same or different no longer exists. When we love with the intimacy of water, difference doesn’t exist.

It’s what this liquid love does. What happened in that kitchen allowed me to replace the passion of youth with the wisdom of my grandmother and so with my new understanding I began to change my world from in here

Ladies and Gentlemen: In an ordinary kitchen, I learnt an extra-ordinary lesson. One which enabled me to take off my armor and get off this horse – not literally. I learnt from my grandmother that it doesn’t matter how we are different. It’s how we love that matters. So this morning, I offer you her wisdom. In a sink full of green tomatoes and one wildly red apple, there is so much, so very much to be gained from being the water.

A few days back I received an invite for Google Wave from my friend Lijeesh. I’m not sure how he remembered me with only 10 invites he had to distribute! Anyway thanks man.

After reading many articles and seeing so many videos on Google Wave, like everyone, I wanted to get a chance to use it. I nearly forgot about it. It is a really cool application or whatever you want to call it. Like in the videos, everything seems so easy and after a few times we become experts. I think people like us have become lazy by the day. With this tool it becomes worse! We will never leave this application. Everything is ‘Drag and Drop’.

Every mail is centralised and all you have to do is to add people to your previous conversation. You can edit any part. Add photos, documents. Share the same documents with others without attaching them again and again for each person you send it. I’m not sure how BCC works here! This is testing time and I guess most of the features will be incorporated soon.

According to Google, ‘ Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.’

This will become an addiction soon for many. You can play games with your friends in live time. You can see his moves as and when he moves it! Also true for typing. Every letter you type can be seen by all the users connected to the conversation instantly. And all can type simultaneously and can be seen on the screen. There are so many gadgets available and many more in development by users. You can voice chat with all friends thus having a conversation at the same time posting images, documents etc… live. Right now the users are low or at least my contact list is small so I still haven’t fully used it.

I think a lot of organisations would ban or block this application. Reasons being, this application is an in integration of so many other applications like email, chat, voip, social networking, games etc. There are more chances of it being abused in organisations than suing it. Google Wave in Dubai will surely pick up soon. In India with so many fans, Google Wave will be a hit.

If used properly this certainly is the new WAVE of change in all our communications! Well done Google. Well done Google Wave team.

You can read more about Google Wave here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave and http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html

Yesterday I visited the Gitex Technology Week expo in Dubai. In all the years I have been attending the event, which is held in the World Trade Centre in Dubai, have always been a good experience. First of all getting to the venue would be very difficult with the traffic coming from all emirates into the venue. Parking was an issue. The Trade Centre is located in Sheikh Zayed Road, one of the most busiest roads in Dubai and the centre of business. So traffic even on normal days is more compared to others. Getting a parking takes more time than visiting all the stalls twice! Finally getting out and going home unimaginable!

GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK

This time around, thanks to the recession, getting to the venue and parking was a breeze. Parked in less than 15 minutes (usually around an hour)! Luckily my cousin Saboor brought along a couple of free passes. It costs 40 dirhams for a ticket to enter.

The exhibits here were GITEX Business Solutions, GULFCOMMS, MEFX 2009, Consumer Electronics and Global Conference. The GITEX Shopper is held in the Airport Expo in Dubai. The first thing that struck me was the crowd, or was there one? Most of the people looked like exhibitors. My guess is that apart from the local residents, we didn’t have many visitors from outside.

There were many exhibitors as usual, but nothing much exciting at all. Nothing new to showcase from them. Same technology repacked several times and marketed. It is more of exhibitors trying hard to push their stuff through to the consumers. The big corporates trying to showcase their services as usual.

Some of the interesting exhibits that caught my eye.

The Chinese seemed to dominate the market. Nearly all the products seemed to be Chinese even though they were exhibited by other countries!

CruizCore MSID – is a motion capture and input device used for entertainment applications. http://www.cruizcore.com/e_index.html. It is as small as a coin and has features similar to that of a Wii.It was used in a game in this exhibit. It was used for a game similar to that of a Wii. It had a dongle attached to a laptop which had the game installed and the game was played similar to a Wii. Nice. I don’t need an expensive Wii now. I can get something for the same effect at a much lower cost. Applications will soon enter into this category.

Another interesting product was the Charston Intelligent Teacher. It is a product on which a book is kept (books provided by the same company). Then using a pointing device, information on the page is pointed at and the respective line/work is recited. The most exciting part was that there is also a Quran provided. Using this product we can learn how to recite properly and also compare our voice (which can be recorded with this device) with the voice of any of the reciters provided. It also costs only USD 200. Not bad actually. For more details pleas visit http://www.charston.com.

The number of mobiles entering is the market is huge, especially from China. Chinese mobiles come in all the top brand models including Nokia and even the iPhone! A lot devices for reciting the Quran like mobiles and mp4 devices are there.

There was also a laser machine in one of the exhibits. I had my name etched on my mobile! Cool! Just typed my name, put my mobile under the laser and pressed Enter – voila in a few seconds my name!

Freebies was down to a minimum! Sad! Overall this was an effort to try to revive the market and the economy.  Even though everyone seemed positive, the energy was not there and people are still vary. We should always stay positive and think of the better times ahead. Well done Dubai.

Official website – http://www.gitex.com/

Very few of us are selfless. No matter how much we have, we are not satisfied. We need more. And more. Even though we see suffering, hunger, pain etc we purposely ignore them and continue with our mundane tasks. We don’t even Smile! We are so self-centered with our own work and family that we cease to acknowledge that there is a world outside us that exists! We are ignorant of the fact that there are thousands of people who don’t even have the minimum bare necessities and even die of hunger. I am one of them. I hope you are not.

Very few of us are selfless. No matter how much we have, we are not satisfied. We need more. And more. Even though we see suffering, hunger, pain etc we purposely ignore them and continue with our mundane tasks. We don’t even Smile! We are so self-centered with our own work and family that we cease to acknowledge that there is a world outside us that exists! We are ignorant of the fact that there are thousands of people who don’t even have the minimum bare necessities and even die of hunger. I am one of them. I hope you are not.

This interesting article by A Ganesh Nadar of Madurai tells us a different story. A story of how a young man discarded his job to help the homeless, mentally ill and others in need in Madurai. The story of N Krishnan.  Read on and let it change our mindset and make us better humans.

N Krishnan feeds a mentally ill person on a Madurai street

‘I don’t feed beggars. They can look after themselves. The mentally ill won’t ask anyone for food or money,’ says N Krishnan who has been feeding them thrice a day for the past seven years.

N Krishnan feeds 400 mentally ill people on the streets of Madurai three times a day, every day, all 365 days of the year.

The 28 year old has been doing this for seven years via a charity called the Akshaya Trust.

A look into the kitchen reveals a spotlessly clean room. Sparkling vessels stacked neatly, groceries and provisions all lined up in rows — rice, dal, vegetables, spices — all of the best quality. One would think this was the kitchen of a five star hotel.

Maybe Krishnan achieves that effect because he was once a chef at a five star hotel in Bengaluru.

“Today’s lunch is curd rice, with homemade pickle, please taste it,” he says, serving me on a plate made of dried leaves.

The food is excellent.

“I change the menu for different days of the week. They will get bored if I serve the same food every day,” he says with an enthusiastic and infectious smile.

Krishnan feeds 400 mentally ill people every day

Krishnan cooks breakfast, lunch and dinner with the help of two cooks. He takes it himself to his wards on the street each day.

“I don’t feed beggars. They can look after themselves. The mentally ill won’t ask anyone for food or money. They don’t move around much too. I find them in the same place every day.”

That morning he put the food in a large vessel, the pickle in a smaller one and loaded it into a Maruti van donated by a Madurai philanthropist.

Ten minutes later we stopped near a man lying on the ground by a high wall. Krishnan put the food next to him. The man refused to even look at it, but grabbed the water bottle and drank eagerly. “He will eat the food later, looks like he was very thirsty,” said Krishnan.

At the next stop, he laid the dry leaf-plate and served the food. He then scooped some food and started feeding the mentally ill man himself. After two morsels, the man started eating on his own.

We then crossed a crowded traffic signal and stopped the vehicle. On seeing Krishnan, four individuals moved slowly towards the Maruti van. They stood out in the crowd with their dirty, tattered clothes and unshaven beards.

They knew this Maruti van meant food. But they did not hurry, knowing that Krishnan would wait for them.

Krishnan served them under a tree and carried water for them. “They are not aware enough to get their own water,” he explained.

And thus we went around the city till the Akshaya patra was empty. Of course, it would be full again for dinner later in the day.

Krishnan often feeds them with his hands

A ritual for the past 7 years

As we returned, a startling fact hit me. Not a single mentally challenged person had thanked Krishnan. They did not even smile or acknowledge him. Still Krishnan carried on in a world where most of us get offended if someone doesn’t say thank you, sometimes even for doing our jobs.

The food costs Rs 8,000 a day, but that doesn’t worry him. “I have donors for 22 days. The remaining days, I manage myself. I am sure I will get donors for that too, people who can afford it are generally generous, particularly when they know that their hard earned money is actually going to the poor. That is why I maintain my accounts correctly and scrupulously.”

He then pulled out a bill from the cabinet and showed it to me. It was a bill for groceries he had bought seven years ago. “This bill has sentimental value. It is the first one after I started Akshaya.”

The economic slowdown has resulted in a drop in the number of donors. Earlier, they sustained meals for 25 days.

Software giants Infosys and TCS were so impressed with his work that they donated three acres of land to him in Madurai. Krishnan hopes to build a home for his wards there. He has built the basement for a woman’s block which will house 80 inmates, but work has currently halted due to a lack of funds.

Preparing food

It began with five idlis

This, however, is not the sum of his good deeds. Krishnan also performs the funerals of unclaimed bodies in Madurai. He collects the body, bathes it and gives it a decent burial or cremation as the need may be.

He gets calls, both from the municipal corporation and general hospital for the funerals.

He recalls with a little prompting how one day he saw a mentally ill man eating his excreta. He rushed to the nearest restaurant and bought the man five idlis. The man ate voraciously, and then smiled at him.. The smile made Krishnan want to do it again and again.

Krishnan has not married and wonders if anyone would want to marry a man who spends his days cooking food for others. He is firm that his life partner has to agree to this kind of life..

His parents were initially shocked, but are now very supportive of their son. They advise him about the cuisine and also about how he can streamline the process.

One wonders why he left his job in a five star hotel to bury the dead and feed the mentally ill. To this he just smiles and says, “I like doing it.”

Complete contact details

Akshaya’s Helping in H.E.L.P. Trust
9, West 1st Main Street,
Doak Nagar Extension,
Madurai – 625 010. India

Ph: +91(0)452 4353439/2587104

Cell:+91 98433 19933

E mail : ramdost@sancharnet.in

www.akshayatrust.org

An unexpected stop at a famous destination for idli fanatics. We went to Triplicane to do some last minute shopping for Eid. Once we were done with it, my wife, another obsessive Idli consumer, asked if we could have something to eat – Idlis maybe? Luckily we were on Triplicane High Road, home to the famous Ratna Cafe, famous for its vegetarian food especially the delicious idli and sambar. This road is also renowned for another hangout with the locals – the Murugan Idli Shop.

Murugan Idli Shop

The Murugan Idli Shop has it’s origins in the temple city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. It has been there in Madurai for more than 15 years and only recently about a year back was it launched in Chennai. Apart form Idlis, they have other mouth watering dishes too like dosai, vada, ghee and sweet pongal etc.

We decided to go there because for a long time we always wanted to go but couldn’t find the time. So we went in. It was a very clean restaurant and was crowded. On entering, the wonderful smell of sambar filled our nostrils. Wow! Heavenly! Nothing beats a South Indian Sambar, right? We sat next to the window facing the road, the red neon lights full on our faces. The waiter came and placed banana leaves instead of plates. Then another came and put two chutneys and went. Both looked the same under the neon lights! Then another waiter came and we asked for the idlis. Within minutes, hot steaming idlis was brought along with hot sambar, coconut and peanut chutney. Within minutes all the idlis disappeared! The idlis were really soft and with the sambar and chutneys were a real treat. Yummy! Afifa enjoyed it also. The second serving also disappeared and we decided that it was enough for the night. We had to get back home. Nothing ends a good South Indian meal without a South India filter coffee.  The idlis cost 8.5 rupees a piece. Not bad.

So anyone interested in Idlis when in Chennai, just go to the Triplicane Murugan Idli Shop and have a great time. More details can be found here – MuruganIdliShop.com

Become a fan of Murugan Idli Shop on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Murugan-Idli-Shop/107040885342

Two months ago my dad tore a ligament on his right shoulder while carrying my daughter Afifa out of a car. Actually we thought he dislocated his shoulder because of a very audible ‘crack’ emanating there. He is all but 65 years young so you can imagine what pain he must be going through. Well we went to St. Isabella’s Hospital in Mylaopre in Chennai and the doctor told that he had not dislocated his shoulder but tore a ligament. He also told us that it will heal automatically in 3-4 weeks, and to just keep the hand in a sling. A month passed with no improvement. So we consulted another orthopaedic who had a curious way of treating it! Everyday for the next 2 weeks he kept twisting and turning his arm and giving ‘electric shock’! He also gave a cream to apply in the night. This treatment only added to his agony.

Finally we finally decided to give it the ultimate treatment as suggested by a lot of people. The famous “Puthur Kattu” (pronounced Puth-oor kat-tu) a bandage of sorts. Puthur is a silent Andhra village, near Tirupati, almost on the border of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It was here that this treatment originated in 1881 and is still here to treat thousands. It is treatment using herbs mixed with egg-white. More about this can be read here from The Hindu – http://www.thehindu.com/mag/2005/11/13/stories/2005111300370400.htm.

Puthur Kattu

This Clinic is located in Gopalapuram in Chennai. The doctor or specialist comes here once a week on Thursday. On Wednesday tokens are issued for 10 rupees each to patients who want this treatment. The time is mentioned on the tokens. It usually starts around 6 am on Thursday. I got the token on Wednesday and the time was for 6am on Thursday. We went there the next day at 6am. There were so many people around. The youngest was probably around 3-4 months and the oldest around 85 years! Some for the first time but most were for their 2nd or 3rd time. People with bones broken on the arms, legs, hips and elsewhere came. It was a sore sight. Couldn’t stand the pain these people seemed to go through. The young ones were crying. So were the adults! Such pain.

All the patients were put in a room and in the first 10 people were called into another room. This room consisted of 5 high white benches. Each patient occupied half of each bench. After a few patients were done with my dad’s name was called and we went in. We took the xrays we had taken previously in St.Isabella’s hospital. We told told the attender about the problem. He didn’t even need the xray. He said xrays don’t show the tear. Each bench had 2 attenders. There was only one doctor, Mr.Raju. The attender told us to buy 3 eggs and 2 metres of used cloth which was sold outside. Once bought he took the cloth and tore it into pieces and tied it around dad’s torso. Then he broke the eggs into a steel plate containing herbs. Only the egg-white was used. The we waited for the doctor to come to us. He finished with patients one by one and ‘fixed’ or ’set’ bones and let the attendants finish bandaging the patients. If there were bones to be set, bamboo sticks were cut and used for support wherever necessary.

He came to dad and we explained the problem. After feeling dad’s right shoulder he said don’t worry and it would be alright after 2 ‘kattus’. First he applied the herbal mixture with egg-white on his shoulder and then took some cotton and put that over the application. Then he applied more of this green herb on top of this. Once he was done he went on to attend to the next patient. The attendant came and finished bandaging the rest. That was it. He then asked for money and took whatever was offered. He wrote a prescription and also told us to come 2 weeks later for the next ‘kattu’. Dad says he feels less pain now than before. Maybe it does work.

Treatment for broken bones is it’s speciality. It is sort of crude and no xray is used. The doctor just runs his fingers and know which bone is broken and what need to be done. This way of treatment is really painful and crude but it seems to work because of if many fan following. Maybe they should Tweet too!

All said and done I hope dad recovers from this soon. For those who want the address, I will post as it soon.