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When I think of how societies were formed, I can imagine human beings trying to stay together in harmony for survival, fulfillment of partnership, exchanging ideas etc. At some point, when we stopped surviving and started thriving (or plundering) on the earth, we took all of this for granted, elevating the purpose of the group to match human intellect. Now that diverse set of human beings started living together, they established frameworks to define the normal. It was told that these rules are for the greater good and if we are all to live together, we will need to abide them. Sounds great, right? A set of people forming their own theories of what is normal for a majority of the population, thereby ensuring that those who did not fit into that could be easily branded different, outcasts, outlaws, take your pick. As with any knowledge bank, these frameworks went through various revisions thanks to people interpreting them differently and as of 2019, we have quite a lot of the...

Walt Mossberg, one of the most celebrated technology journalists signed off with an article on how the computer would eventually disappear . While he has been accused of many things, including being a huge supporter of Apple and Steve Jobs, you have to agree with him on how technology will eventually disappear and become a natural fit in our lives. It was not that long ago that we first bought a desktop for our home. With little knowledge on how to install an operating system or even connect a peripheral, we had handed over complete responsibility to some store, hoping for good support when required. Computers were a big deal back then even without the internet. I still remember times when I would be scared to even switch it on. Software to simply burn a CD of your favorite tracks was hard to find if by any chance you lost the original drives supplied in the box, you get the flow. Nothing was simple and everyone was scared that something would eventually make our INR 25,000/- invest...

Ok, so this was a long time in the making.  One of the suggestions I got to keep fit was to start running everyday, or at least 4 times a week. It did not necessarily mean I had to torture myself or even blame myself for skipping a day or two. The idea behind it was to inculcate a sense of discipline that a gym would probably fail to since going to a specific place to be in shape gets boring after a while (probably). Running takes away the certainty from the equation which means there is always something new to look forward to.  Research has time and again showed us that we think a lot better when we are on the move. This explains why some of the greatest minds always took long walks while introspecting or just walking their peers through their ideas. To be honest, none of this made any sense in the beginning. A typical couch potato, I would refuse to step out for a breath of fresh air instead, utilising the time to re-watch some Dragonball Z, which could definitely have waite...

One of the simpler things that keep me going are good conversations. There are times when I get a high before calling it a day, should I have had something great (subjective of course) to discuss with my friends, family or acquaintances. Of late, many such conversations with some amazing people are eventually drifting to a more materialistic approach where success is being quantified in terms of ability to afford luxuries, or at times necessities. It appears as if the capital rich companies have successfully eliminated our ancestral ideas of saving up, or fighting for a cause, or controlling the impulse to spend on something that one might not need in a next few weeks. An exploratory research would help understand that the younger landscape of India is not ashamed or afraid of being in debt for a significant part of their youth; in pursuit of that experience, those amazing stories to share with friends - instantly or at a later phase in life. All this and a lot more ideas (mostl...

As someone who is curious about success stories, I laud Apple for their comeback in the computing world with the iPhone. Before you dismiss the article as a fanboy Writeup, my two cents would be to give it a read. This is a vague follow up to my previous post on how Blackberry and Nokia let me down with promI sing starts, but unsustainable ideas.  Without doubt, the iPhone is one of Apple's greatest achievements.  Most credit their marketing efforts to lure customers into buying them, making it a major source of revenue with iPads slowly declining in demand and iPods turning to legacy devices exclusively for fans or kids who cannot be handed over an iPhone. But this article shows how great marketing can only succeed with a great product and unified vision of a company.  While the Mac continues to innovate in it’s own space, there is little to no doubt that with the advent of Windows 10, the PC market is going to boom in the coming years and Microsoft’s reinvigorated focus...

With information overload and proliferation of choice in the last few years - in developed and developing economies, businesses are working round the clock to ensure you part ways with that hard earned buck at the end of every month. Advancement in mobile ads has left no medium of interaction untouched, making it hard to avoid some brand shouting it's existence and how it's products could potentially improve your life.  Residing in a place far away from the centre of a city teaches you how important those 'materialistic' experiences are. Believe me, studying in a campus which is not quite accessible and has little to no luxuries can get to you more often than you think. The need for instant gratification makes you use that app on your phone to either call a cab or buy something that you might not really need. The following story is one where I personally understood the importance of holding my impulse and avoiding swiping away my card without hesitation. As w...

There is something about the year end that triggers a lot of emotions (although this is being published in 2016, just tell yourself you had a great 2015 and move on). Facebook even let's you put together your moments in a nice video, although considering the alter ego nature of social media, they tend to showcase the highs more than the lows. From resolutions to their realizations, there is quite a lot that pictures cannot convey. With that in mind, let me try and first thank everyone who's been a great part of my life this year, both new and old. 2015 was one of those highlight years where I spent in college, completed a super stressful internship and towards the fag end of the year, met a lot of old pals that I had missed during my stay away from Bangalore. The year started with classes, classes, a few more classes and then some, before taking me on a journey throughout Karnataka where I got to meet people from various walks of life, learnt to live out of a suitcase, give ...

I must admit, I was hooked to Prison Break for a while. Though it ended badly, a few bits will always stick with me. One of the baddies of the series, Theodore Bagwell surely has his share of fans for both right and wrong reasons. There is one particular scene where he is trying to score a woman by telling her how no one enjoys a meal anymore. That how it's now a luxury to sit down with a bottle of wine, have a good conversation or some quiet time. Those initial few lines that I mentioned made a lot of sense the other day at a stationery store where I spotted lot of cheap ball pens and roller pens displayed prominently while the fountain pens were conveniently tucked away into some shelves. Since I had to hang around the store for a while, I initiated a conversation with the owner. Once done with the pleasantries, I eagerly popped up the question of why fountain pens were treated like third cousins. From what I remembered, teachers mandated them since ball pens and roller...

A couple of years ago, Blackberry was quite relevant in the world of technology. Boys in suits swore by it and flaunting BBM was cool. By then Apple had made a dent in the mobile world with the iPhone, but companies like Nokia and Blackberry soldiered on with a loyal fanbase. I'm not denying my love for Nokia here, but BB was never my thing. When Apple took the wraps off the iPad in 2010, no one believed it had any future, dismissing it as a blown up iPod Touch. Five years since and it's definitely not true. The compeition of course did not stand back doing nothing, instead tried to take the iPad head on with designs that were not appealing or operating systems that lacked the utility of a tablet. Despite all this, I bought myself a Blackberry Playbook during a fire sale and was very pleased with my decision. I immediately dismissed the iPad as an expensive piece of metal that Apple as usual wants me to burn all my savings on. Guess we all love hating Apple at some level ...

As a child, I was scared was monsters, dinosaurs, big teeth, big claws, the lot. To an extent, I still am and have no qualms in admitting it. Bloodshed scares me; heck I can't even get through 'Child's Play' or 'Omen' without getting scared, forget mature and established horror genre. By far, the most horrifying experience of Jurrasic Park for me was when the raptors were fed in their holding. The whole idea of a tangled cow being lowered as bait and then rising - all broken and covered in blood shook me up for weeks. Let's not even get to the T-Rex right now. A decade and some later, I decided to see how such a great piece of work could be bettered. Considering how CG has evolved over time, I expected to be scared to death, but strangely, there wasn't much of it. In fact, I appreciated the movie for it's storyline where a fair amount of emphsis has been laid on how business people can easily dismiss a living animal as an 'asset'. Charac...

I recently heard a song by John Mayer where he says he seems to have done everything, yet feels incomplete, the finishing phrase - 'Maybe it's just a quarter life crisis'. It got me thinking, is there something like this at all? Or in this world where everything seems to be hyped and discussed at length by those who seem to have ample amount of time, is this phrase too just a sham? Well, after some pondering, I'm still not convinced. Its a little wierd when you think that 45 is mid-life but 25 is quarter life. I mean, shouldn't 22-23 be quarter life in that case? Or, shouldn't 50 be mid-life? I'm no one to advocate or popularize beliefs, so let me follow the norm this time and say that 25 is quarter-life. Coming to the next question - is there a crisis at all? Well, the short answer is no. Let me try and explain. Quarter life flew by me a year and some ago, but it only seems like yesterday that I even graduated from college. Those memories are so f...

Ideally, I would want to drive a bespoke Ferrari around a race track designed to suit my needs, probably on the lines of what the Dutch billionaire Ascari has built. A combination of some of the best chicanes, corners and a long straight where I can take the car to it's absolute limit. After setting a blistering lap time, I would want to enjoy a nice Tiramisu (in keeping with the Italian theme) from a personal chef and consult my trainer to burn out the damage done by all the calories gained.  When I think about this, it appears extremely materialistic at first. That I am ignoring the world's problems and thinking about myself and myself alone. A racetrack would mean cutting down of trees and relocation of many of the less fortunate. Not to mention all the fuel, wasted food etc., However, this is exactly the kind of life that company's try to portray in one's mind. That the next purchase will ensure attention, exclusivity and announce your arrival to the world...

Someone once told that instead of going by hearsay, we must experience life to its fullest. That there is a certain joy in knowing things first hand than trying to put on our thinking caps to paint a picture of the narration. Sure, we probably will not get to do everything that we come by, but there are these innate desires that you simply want to achieve no matter what. You hear stories, life experiences saying that most of it is over rated and that a normal life is all we crave for, but there is something that pushes you to say 'I have to do this myself'. Let's say one of your friends drives a Ferrari some time or you see Jeremy Clarkson singing it's songs of praise; there is always proof in the pudding, isn't there? Wouldn't you want to get your hands on that Ferrari some time despite knowing you can't use it in the city, probably not afford the insurance or rob a bank to get a new set of tires, but defying all logic, you want one. While great minds...

When Steve Jobs said that there was room for a third device between a laptop and a smartphone, I was not in complete agreement. While I used my desktop for carrying out most of the important work and browsed the internet or watched some videos on my phone, there was no compelling reason to buy a tablet. After a while though, thanks to my employer's generosity and some impluse online shoppoing, I got hands on an iPad Mini. The moment I started using it, my reaction was that of convenience. I enjoyed the iPad with it's plethora of apps and games to an extent that I thought I could make do without a laptop for my college. Turns out, those days are still quite some time away. So, using a tablet as a standalone device for computing is fine in advertisements or when companies showcase perfect scenarios where you have ample connectivity. However, in the real world, we demand a lot more from our devices, especially once we term our personal computers. So far, despite pairin...

Every time an Apple product is launched or showcased, far too much attention is drawn in terms of press coverage, sometimes both good and bad. However trivial the upgrade or insane an idea, the Jobs era somehow had that drama and sense of occasion at the keynotes. While I have not been to any of them in person, it's easy to see what a single person can do to influence an organization no matter what it's workforce strength is or believes in. Enough has been said about him by some of the best writers; his concept of reality distortion field, inability to accept mediocrity, relentless pursuit of perfection etc., Imagine, the guy wanted perfectly printed circuit boards inside a machine that would never be opened.   With such an approach, Jobs always ensured that Apple was a company that followed it's own norms. A company that was famous for secrecy and known for great leaps in design and engineering.   While it's not fair to expect great leaders very often...

So, a student again. After a brief stint of corporate life and enjoying the niceties it had to offer, I am back to living on a relatively small budget every month. Things seem a little simpler when all the superfluous is taken away for sure. All I need are three meals a day and the occasional ice cream or conversation with someone to keep up the spirit. For a while now, I've come across people saying there is a difference between a house and a home. A home is something you make out of a house etc., Well, this is just after about two weeks of life at a hostel which I never thought would become my idea of a 'home'. After scratching my head quite a bit, I asked myself, 'What is home?'.   One, it's a place where you have your loved ones surrounding you. The next and more important feeling is that of familiarity. The sense that you just know where the phone charger is even at 1 in the night and you're drowsy after a long day. The intuition that ...

One of the best stories I've heard so far goes like this. In an island of great prosperity, there once lived a group of people who were self sufficient. While the elders went fishing in the morning or worked in fields, children went to school and in the evening, they would gather to talk about the day, celebrate their food, play, sing and dance. It was a harmonious environment that the so called 'modern' world would die to achieve. One day, a bunch of people in suits arrive in a bid to promote their business in this hugely prosperous land. The pitch goes like this - Instead of just fishing enough for your family, why don't you try to catch more and export them, make a ton of money, build a great port, send your children to schools around the world and put yourselves on the map? The locals go - Ok, so what next? To this, our man in the Armani cut suit says - After doing all this, sell all your boats, leave behind all the unnecessary things you bought when you w...

Visiting a premium bike showroom is a rewarding experience in itself. You get to see so many of the grown ups gleefully posing on bikes, eager to get their hands on machines they could not own previously for various reasons ranging from nascent biking culture in India up to putting the family first and buying a car. After witnessing these reactions at Tusker Harley-Davidson here in Bangalore, I came back with mixed opinions.  For the sake of convenience, I decided to break down this write up into separate sections, so here we go. As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated.  Design, Build and Ergonomics Around the world, Harleys are known for their quintessential cruiser or muscle bike styling. While they are pin ups for boys of all ages, the 750 somehow does not cut it. Sure the tank is quite large and the tail section exudes a sense of modern design flair, but you get the impression that the designers had their hands tied, with a clear briefing to come up w...

The last few years have been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. While I would prefer my bike to explore what this vast and beautiful country has to offer, I do understand that after repeated accidents, it's better to at least travel rather than curl up and hope for a quick recovery. In my previous travelogue I thought I was less than adventurous considering that I had the luxury of a roof, air conditioning and some gadgetry to get me around the western ghats. This time around, I was pampered to the maximum as I flew all the way to Mumbai, sat in very uneventful taxi rides and reached the comfort of home with little to no stress. However, learning comes to those who go looking for it and I guess we can always find something we can ponder over, rather than whine about missing how we get there. It all started when one of my cousins decided to come down to India via Mumbai. We thought we could all catch up there instead of roaming around familiar places in Bangalore. Not that t...

A quick glance at my phone told me that I was 38 minutes away from home; mostly because of traffic on the infamous outer ring road. To give you some idea, my commute from office to home is around 20 minutes considering I sometimes end up in rush hour, while in others I'm saved from the ever so angry fellow commuters. A side story to this is that I never really wanted to rely on technology so much. I was always grumbling at companies who treat our privacy as a means of making money through location based advertising or the general paranoia that others know where I am with little or no effort. While it's possible to track down every active cell phone no matter how basic, the degree to which I wanted to protect my location was a lot higher. A few years down the road, I have thrown caution to the wind and activated GPS antennas on all my devices; so Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook or who ever is related to them at any level can know where I am. Whether you subscribe to that ...