Photo shoot @ Lalbagh

Last weekend, I went along with Sengu (from Photo Enthusiasts club) to Lal Bagh for experimenting some landscape and macro shots. We reached Lal Bagh around 06 AM and it was bustling with those morning walkers. We spent about 2 hours capturing different shots and it was very satisfying experience to be doing what you like at a place that is so refreshing :-)

Check out photos @ Lal Bagh, Bangalore

Yoga Guru - BKS Iyengar

Yogena cittasya padena vacam malam  sarirasya ca vaidyakena yopakarottam  pravaram muninam patanjalim  pranajaliranato'smi abahu purusakaram  sankha cakrasi dharinamsahasra sirasam  svetam pranamami patanjalim.

Let us bow before the noblest of sages Patanjali, who gave yoga for serenity and sanctity of mind, grammar for clarity and purity of speech and medicine for perfection of health. Let us prostrate before Patanjali, an incarnation of Adisesa, whose upper body has a human form, whose arms hold a conch and a disc, and who is crowned by a thousand-headed cobra.

This is the prayer at the beginning of every class in the morning yoga session at Nirguna Mandir, Koramangala. Those 4 months of yoga practice during 2009 under the teachers who trained under Yoga master BKS Iyengar were some beautiful experience. The monthly fee for the class was Rs.800 and they provided all the props such as wooden blocks,bed sheets,pillows,chair,rope and belt etc The dedication of the yoga teachers towards the students in the class were very inspiring and reflected the values inculcated by the guru in all his disciples. We were fortunate to meet Yoga Guru BKS Iyengar once at the residence of Shri.Arun of Prashant Yogashraya center at Jayanagar during September 2009. This man who was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world by Time Magazine was so simple and down-to-earth during his interactions with yoga teachers and students in the room.

He had dedicated his entire life to make Yoga accessible for everyone and while his body may have departed this earth but his teachings and the seminal phenomenon that he had created make him truly immortal.

Independence Day Celebration @ Singasandra Government School

This Independence Day, we joined the celebration at Singasandra Government School, close to our apartment and it was great experience for Eesha witnessing the flag hoisting ceremony.I looked forward to this event to capture some moments with my Nikon DSLR and here are some snaps.


Usually, I had to chase people to experiement with the camera. Here, things were in my favor. School children displayed great curiosity and enjoyed posing for the pictures. I think we will go back to that school once.

Telcos vs Facebook,WhatsApp :-(

Last month, Facebook seized the attention of entire business community across the world by announcing its intention to buy messaging service WhatsApp for a staggering amount of $19 Billion. It is an astonishing figure for a company that is five year old with 55 employees and that translates into about $345 million per employee in terms of deal valuation. There have been many views as usual by different media entities about whether this is right price to pay and what next etc All this aside, we must note that WhatsApp has shown explosive subscriber growth compared to even Facebook and Twitter.
Being part of telecommunications infrastructure industry, I can't help but share the feelings with telco operators who usually resent and whine about these so called over-the-top (OTT) players like Facebook,WhatsApp,Skype etc who walk away with gold pot whereas the telcos are working 24X7 to ensure the services are up and alive. At the same time, I feel that it won't change much for telcos because these two players are very different. Telcos are bound by geography,country specific regulatory frameworks and other such constraints that make the whole business as one with strong entry barriers. In a way, this naturally protects telcos from new entrants competing for the market share. On the other hand, OTT players sit on top of the infrastructure and they benefit from the so called Net Neutrality principle. In that sense, OTT players have far less entry barriers when it comes to creating something new applications and delivering them. Telcos also need these OTT players for the fact that these OTT applications are key drivers of data growth which in turn provides impetus for the telcos to invest in network expansion and improve their business.
Considering the fact that Facebook paid WhatsApp such an amount primarily to gain access to the huge subscriber base that WhatsApp is holding, the simple question pops up. Telcos too have access to subcribers and Why not telcos monetize that? I think this is still happening to some extent but not like the way Google or Facebook does. For example, AT&T provides the 'aggregated' info about the subscribers and their key usage to some enterprise customers. However, this doesn't reveal the privacy of single individual subcriber.

Looking at the Indian telecom landscape and the massive amount paid by Indian operators in recent spectrum auctions, it will be interesting to watch how telcos are going to recover these investments in the near future.

Visited Akshaya Kalpa Organic Dairy @ Tiptur

Because our Nandini milk vendor didn't turn up one day, I was rushing to nearby bakery to get some milk around 7:50AM. Thats when I came across one guy near my apartment entrance carrying an thermal insulated box. Upon enquiring, I was delighted to hear that he has been delivering so called 'organic' milk to some residents at our apartment. It was first time that I heard about organic milk and that too delivered to our doorstep.

Akshaya Kalpa Organic Dairy is the enterprise that is pioneering this venture and apparently, one of the co-founder was an IT guy who quit Wipro to venture into dairy business. While I have read this news before, I didn't know about the uniqueness of their venture - organic.

Since more than two weeks, we have been consuming organic milk and also, we tried some of their other dairy products such as paneer,curd and ghee. One convenient and appealing part of this milk is that it is recommended to be consumed raw. That means no need to boil and one less chore to worry about :-)

Last Sunday, we planned to visit their dairy located @ Tiptur in the Tumkur district. It was about 180Kms from Electronic City, Bangalore and we reached their office in Tiptur around 12:30PM. I had already spoken about our visit to Dr.GNS Reddy, founder of Akshaya Kalpa Dairy venture and he has dedicated one person to take us around the cattle farm and the dairy plant.

It was a good feeling to visit the cattle farm of one of the farmer and see the whole setup of their organic milk production set amid 5 acres. Cows are allowed to roam freely within a fenced range. Heartening to see Cows in healthy state under hygenic environment. 

Later, we visited the Dairy plant in the nearby village where we had simple yet delicious meals (free lunch :-)) and bought some fresh paneer and ghee...

Akshaya Kalpa Dairy venture is promoting the rural development by including every farmer as a micro-entrepreneur in the overall business. This is a great social initiative that deserves applause and encouragement from all sections of society, especially urban.

Akshaya Kalpa Dairy

Drive to Wayanad

It has long been on our mind to visit Wayanad and finally, we managed to make it this December. I always enjoy driving in and around the forest zone that comes after Mysore and Gundalpet. We left Bangalore around 6 AM and visited Edakkal Caves near Sultan Bathery on the way to the resort Wynberg.in located between Sultan Bathery and Kalpetta. Edakkal Caves fulfilled our enthusiasm for trekking. It was great fun to walk along with Eesha besides the constant negotiation to make her walk :-) If you are travelling with kids who wouldn't walk, you better prepare your mind to carry those extra few kilos up.
Later in the evening, we reached the resort - 100 acre coffee & spice plantation - that is apparently owned and manged by some wildlife photographer. This was the first time we visited this place and there was some apprehension about the quality of the accommodation and luckily, it was a very pleasant stay overall. After driving 280KMs and some hiking, we were totally tired and looked forward to some food and warm blankets. Next day morning, we walked around the nearby fields and motivated Eesha for some 100 metres sprint...It was a good break from pollution and noise...We enjoyed the fresh air and surrounding greenery.
As per the recommendation of our host, we drove out to Bansuri Dam and Pookootu lake. Frankly speaking, the driving around the hair pin bends and observing the local culture were more enjoyable than the dam and that lake. The boating at the lake was not very well organized. The attraction for the kids is perhaps the play area with slide,swing and merry go round etc..While Eesha played around with some new found friends, I just sat on a concrete wall without wanting to think much. When we returned to resort, I realized that it was about 100KM overall..it could have been 15-20KM less if Rekha had navigated us right...stupid GPS :-)...Though it was tiring at the end of the day, driving around the hilly terrain gives some pleasure and thrill...

Trip to Wayanad

Commuting to office by BMTC Volvo

Since I started dropping Eesha to school in the morning, I have started using BMTC Volvo bus to commute further to office (Manyata Tech Park @ Nagawara Jn,Hebbal). I'm happy and relieved!!
Actually, Manyata Embassy Business Park (MEBP) has tied up with BMTC to ply Volvo buses from Manyata campus to various routes within Bangalore and these buses covers pretty much all prominent localities. This is valid for 'all' employees working in Manyata irrespective of which company they work for. This is effective since 01-Jul-2013. To me, I have to say this couldn't have come at a more appropriate time. Since I opted out of the company transport facilities, I have been struggling to commute between office and home.
I really appreciate the efforts taken by Manyata Embassy Service Planning Limited in bringing Volvo to everyone and of course, many thanks to BMTC for running buses covering every areas.

The monthly pass is Rs.3600 and one can buy this from MEBP information center by paying cash. Additionally, this entitles the pass holder to utilize this pass for commuting in all BMTC buses (except BIAL shuttle) throughout the month. Only caveat - we need to get BMTC ID card that is available at BMTC counters @ KBS/Majestic.

I wish they continue this in the long term and more employees opt for this service instead of using their own four wheeler.