India

I am largely techie guy. In the sense, I can rarely understand what it is to be a non-technical person. Let me explain that a bit. I cannot fathom why some people cannot see how a certain idea or logic could be written as software. While here I am, trying to see the world around me as though someone wrote down code to make it work the way it does. I guess people are just wired differently. I have more recently come to terms with this fact and that some people are just better at other things than visualizing software. Its perhaps the same way that some people are visually challenged or aurally challenged (is that correct?). And I continue to remain indifferent to this difference. ...

The International Airport in Chennai (MAA) is a statement. But before you start assuming its cultural significance, let me quickly say this: I don’t know how to frame the statement itself, but I’ll attempt to elaborate my understanding. As someone interested in UX and wanting to improve UX every here and there – no I haven’t improved UX anywhere yet – I cannot help but notice this about the MAA airport. The departure happens from the new terminal. This building has constructionally stabilized and withstood Vardah, so I guess its a safe place now. And since its a new building, they have incorporated a slightly better queueing system for immigration. Nothing great here and of course, there is a tonne to improve. The arrival happens in the older terminal. The arrival immigration hall is probably half as big as the new terminal itself and yet, it is the most time consuming and unorganized aspect of the entire “arrival” process. Baggage should have taken the spot, but immigration wins hands down. ...

The sector that really needs better marketing folks is the real estate sector. At least the residential real estate market in India and to some extent in Singapore also. Today someone from India wanted me to buy a house in Bangalore. Apparently I could do that with just a 7lac payment and then rest upon possession. I had a couple of problems with the call: It was made at a completely inappropriate time. I dunno if there is a way to say what is a more appropriate time, but it maybe polite to ask after you make the call. Assuming that picking up means am idle is a tad incorrect. And keep your opening line simple and clear. Maybe I have an answer as soon as I know what you call for. Or maybe after you tell me the city you are talking about? Do some research please – I have never, all my life so far, searched for even rental spaces in Bangalore. I have never written on any of social networks that I’d like to settle down in Bangalore. Not even once. Thinking about it, I don’t think I even talk about Bangalore unless I have to mention something about my cousins there. But then, I have never had to mention them on any social network. Oh yes, many of my friends are in Bangalore. But please check my interaction levels with each one of them. No. I am not going to Bangalore. And I don’t intend to own real estate in places I don’t want to go. Don’t tell me you don’t have this data. I didn’t give you my number in the first place. Remember? I made the mistake of attending a real estate fair about two years ago. I thought – now that I am an NRI, maybe I could suddenly afford all the houses in India. I got my answer about 10 minutes into the fair. I never went back again. There have been 6 or 7 fairs since. And my absence is each one of them should tell you something – either I already picked something or I am not interested. What part of my absence don’t you guys understand? Even in the sole fair that I attended, I only visited stalls that had properties in Chennai and Coimbatore. Neither of these places are a 2 hour drive from Bangalore. Not yet, at least. And please stop advertising and marketing the fact that your properties are very close to international airports. Let’s look at this a little closely Nobody goes to work in an aeroplane in India. Unless they were pilots. Nobody goes to work in the airport unless they are staff or security. No, I don’t have my own aircraft. And please think about the number of people who picked your property that have their own aircrafts. I don’t intend to buy one any soon either. And I might even consider proximity to domestic airports – but international airports just beat me. I don’t want to own a property that I stay in for a few days a month. I am better off staying in a hotel. And I don’t see how I could rent my property to pilots, airport staff or security. Given how bad most airlines are doing, this doesn’t seem very exciting. It doesn’t help either that the property is very close to engineering colleges. For what it is worth, I don’t have a kid yet. And when I have one, it is very likely I don’t want him in Engineering. Oh, the engineering colleges that are near your property are neither Anna University nor IIT. Even if my kid decides to study engineering, I won’t pay up unless he/she studies in an IIT or a Anna University. Of course, there is a very good likelihood that the obscure college near your property does better research than both these places combined. I don’t mind regretting my decisions in that case. And all this is at least 19-20 years into the future. Maybe the college would close down by then. Or maybe they would be a different state or a different enrollment examination? So don’t bother selling something so distant in the future. The only thing that matters is the proximity to a healthcare facility. One with good doctors and good equipment. Rest else fall flat. And yet, only a few can claim this. For singapore only – While most of the above are not applicable to Singapore, they do claim proximity to MRT. Once I saw a property ad that was just 30mins from a very prominent interchange. I was stunned given its pricing. But then you need to think again. 30 mins from that interchange could potentially take me anywhere on the island. And that is quite bad for your marketing 🙂 Wake up guys. Already the market is volatile and stressed. Bad marketing on top of this cannot do much good. Or at least, leave me out of your loop. ...

I find this an oft-returning thought to me. I completely believe in assuming responsibility to what happens with my life. And truly, my career and life so far is a reflection of conscious decisions I have taken thus far in my journey. But every time I look back, I clearly see the mistakes I make. Some of these mistakes are fairly disastrous. I sometimes wonder I shouldn’t have joined IIT. I always knew I wanted to be on my own. IIT was not a logical step in that direction – as in – not a step aimed to directly equip me for this. IIT was a dream and I pursued it. But should I have pursued that dream in lieu of a losing a bigger dream? ...

Our house has a weird problem. There are 4 air con units in the three room house and some aircons are so close to each other that if you need to turn one ON without turning the others ON, you will need to defy the laws of physics, and sometimes even the laws of quantum mechanics and/or law of conservation of energy. Usually we end up switching one air con ON and then take a trip around the house to see what else got turned ON and then turn them OFF using our own algorithms. ...

Last weekend I had a very bad tooth ache. Clove oil wouldn’t work. And it got so bad that I actually went to a dentist. Oh! And getting a dentist appointment in Singapore is next to impossible – I guess every one is fixing their teeth at all times. After quite a few failed attempts, the wife managed to land an appointment in one clinic. Dental treatments in Singapore are a luxury. It has a reputation for being overly expensive. Maybe people are mostly getting their tooth to look good than fixing aches or root-canals. And usually dental treatments are not covered by group medical policies or insurances. ...

I was in Chennai last week. I had to go out someplace and I had hired a cab since I am not very keen in driving in Chennai any more. It was a 40 minute drive one way and it was a pretty hot day. The cabbie was the only relief all along the drive although both my wife and my mom found him a tad too annoying. The man was naturally gifted at talking. He spoke a naturally funny dialect of tamil. And he picked up topics from the road. Every street name, car, building, office space that we cross, he had something to quip. Some where just a rant or a while, but a lot many were just good humor. It is clear that he doesn’t mind. That’s like the best stand up comedy show I have been in – not that I have been in a lot. I listen to them a lot. ...

There was a talk show where one of the participants mentioned this: “In order to be unique, I decided to have long hair. I pick my attire and vehicle based on the occasion …” and some more along those lines. I think this is quite sad. I don’t think uniqueness has anything to do with appearance, although unique people tend to have a strong sense of style : one way or the other. A person would need to be unique in who they are, in what they bring to the society, in how they act or behave in a situation and not by how they look. Looking unique won’t take you very far if it does not get sufficiently supplemented by other facets. It might get the door to open, but it won’t get you a seat! ...

Vaidy took about 6 hrs off his schedule to talk to us. And I feel extremely honored that he did that for me. I have a lot of lessons from him, some for the two of us put together. It is my job, now, to put it in perspective and apply what I could. Quite important! I couldn’t catch up with a lot of people though. I guess I underestimated the work involved in organizing a wedding. Some people I really wished to have caught up with include Balaji, Ramaseshan Sir, Nallen, Bala amongst others. We couldn’t spend much time with Noni’ parents either. Although they understand, it really counts as bad planning on our side. ...

Kuti got married last month. So I went to India to be present as the brother and to help organize the last minute stuff. The wedding itself went very well with a few WTF instances. The couple is very happy. And that is all really counts. I am going to write a multi-part account of my 3.5 week long trip. That is the number of things that I’d like archived for the rest of my life. But this post is about the most important realization that dawned on me – I might not be ready to go back to India in the near term. ...