Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2014 will be a special year for many

I wish 2014 to be a special year for many and my hunch is it will be.

2013 for some reason, has been a challenging year not only for me, but for many of my near and dear ones; also to some of my friends of friends. When such a challenge comes, I only see the benefit, that we will all come better off with the experience. I remember the write-up by Clayton Christensen about how to measure life. Please do read this article. (Click here).

I had 4 clear objectives for 2013. 2 of those have been accomplished, other 2 are in-progress. These are not monetary goals and hence not some thing that can be easily quantified. However the accomplished goals are going to deliver through my rest of my life. With that the case, I am signing off 2013 in a strong state of play.

So why I think 2014 will be special to many?

I admire Aandal  for many reasons. An 7-8th Century Woman mystic who occupies a special place in Hinduism and will always be remembered at the end of every year. A lot of Hindu followers in South India, sing her poems during the month of Margazhi. (December - January).

I grew up in Neyveli in quite a religious context with every morning of this season spent in Krishnan Temple. A special memory that forms part of this season goes back to days when i was about 10 or 11 years old. The cook of this temple fell sick and I was called for help to cook Pongal under his guidance and that also became the starting point of my culinary skills. It was a daunting task given the fact the amount of pongal that need to be prepared and also that it was for public consumption. It may have been under the chef's instruction, but preparing in open fire with very minimal prior experience was a huge ask. I still remember the excitement and nervousness when I was called in for the service. I really don't know till date, why I was woken up at around 3:15 AM and summoned for cooking.

Anyway, this season is always remembered with Aandal and to her paeans. I may not be religious today, but I am a lot more spiritual then i ever was and I owe it to her a lot. When people talk about the plight of Woman in India, I think of Aandal and Maitreyi. Once in India, these two women reached the heights that cannot be described. Also, it allows us to reflect on the society's maturity those days.


Aandal is one among the 12 highly acclaimed poets of Hindu tradition. This is unfathomable feat. Also one of the paeans proclaims that her 30 songs is actually the essence of Vedas and in fact anyone who hasn't read these 30 verses are said to be a burden to earth and its existence. If indeed the society was male-dominated those days, then this achievement gains a lot more respect.

Many have written about her 30 songs (known as Thiruppaavai); I am keen to present my interpretation but will reserve it for another day.
As a gist,
the first 5 stanzas describe the 5 earthly elements and its impact,
the next 10 stanzas attempt to wake up the human spirit to recognize,
the next 1 is to open up the heavenly gates for change,
the following 5 stanzas is to wake up the Godliness,
the next 7 stanzas portrays different abilities of Gods
and the last 2 establishes the Oneness.

The tradition is every one of these stanzas are associated with a day in Hindu Calendar. 2013 ends with the 16 stanzas that attempt to wake up the human spirits and the rest 14 will play out in 2014 January. Today 31st Dec coincides the 16th stanza and it is about her request to open the heavenly portal (metaphorical portal for change). It is hard to miss the symbol as the new year dawns to this change. It is a great coincidence and hence my hunch that 2014 will be a great year for betterment. (btw can one actually explain the reason for hunch?)

So I wish a happy new year 2014 and let this year usher welcome changes to you and all leading to fulfillment. In Aandal's words Let us all be together and happy(கூடி இருந்து குளிர்ந்தேலோர் ); Let the light be with all of us. (எங்கும் திருவருள் பெற்று இன்புறுவர்)

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Missus and her friends suddenly turned religious?

Back in India, month of Margazhi is an auspicious time and is dedicated to Godliness. Especially in the yester years, girls wake up early in the morning and do rangoli etc.

This afternoon the missus, her friends and their friends were discussing on the phone about an early morning program. I heard them saying - we should get up early in the morning, quickly bathe, dress-up and be ready for queuing up. They also chatted about their pre-marriage times during Margazhi that it was habitual and used to wake up early during Margazhi, bathe in spite of the cold weather (!) and hence this should help for the next day activity. Hmm I thought what happened to these women? Has the Margazhi month finally made an impact on these women that they have suddenly become so pious...

One of them talked about the fact that crowd and queues can be challenging, that husbands take care of the kids. I got a bit queasy... OMG how am I going to manage a 2 and 6 year old the next day morning. I just nodded uneasily without clues.

Then they started talking that it is once in a year activity and benefits the whole family. So they indeed should go early in the morning.  Hmm the women must be keen to participate in the religious activity and seek blessings for the whole family; if so, then I should take care of the kids.

The next topic was that I should probably make the food, so they can come back around 11 have a brunch and head back. Wow I thought, these women are indeed trying their best, may be catching up the missed opportunities for the whole year and earnestly making efforts to touch-base to their religious side. If this is the case, then somehow I should manage the kids and cook as well. Now they are talking about waking about 4AM or 5AM... They even talked about the point that if they over-slept then may be can queue up after 11 as the crowds would have tamed.

I really felt glad that the missus, her friends have suddenly turned a new leaf and planning to participate in the religious events. I said to myself that the next day must be Vaikunta Ekadesi. So I rushed to check the calendars if it was vaikunta ekadesi - the annual 11th day festival when the heavenly portal opens up and people are blessed. But no it is not ekadesi? So where are they all planning to queue-up?

Apparently Boxing Day sale! Aaha withouth realising this, I promised to cook and take care of kids as well. Worse, the wallet is going to go for a toss! 

Monday, December 02, 2013

Mangalyaan - India's Pride, World's Envy; MAVEN - US be accused of extravagance!

Many a views of have been written about India's space mission to Mars. In Astrology this is the planet that symbolises Ambition & Competition and also known to be the God of Wars. India has successfully launched its first mission towards Mars - Everyone knows that it is THE cheapest amongst all Mars missions but I observed that many media outlets haven't highlighted the important subtle fact that an opportunity to launch Mars missions only occur every 2 years. So If India's ISRO had missed this window, it would have had to wait till Jan 2016.

This needs to be seen in  the context, that the project was approved in Aug 2012 (though studies started in 2010), the team had to work hard to a successful launch by 2013 November -  In a record time, the satellite was designed, produced and put to launch, and remember the team need to work out communication aspects etc (for long range comms) in parallel. (for IT folks, I don't need to mention project success rates, especially if it is the first time!) Though India had already done quite a few space missions, this one falls entirely in a different spectrum. Instead of discussing all the pros & cons about India, I look at it in a different perspective.

Undoubtedly the ISRO team should be appreciated, acknowledged and awarded accolades (a lot of 'a's) - Those guys have really aced it. Request not to view it as an Indian mission, but in a non-partisan way, if a team has achieved a success that has got no parallel, in a true sportsmanship spirit, that team needs to be felicitated and they deserve it.

I would like to close my eyes and think for a minute, if life in earth is really endangered- would I/you travel for an year on a space-craft to go to Mars (assuming we set habitable camp in Mars)? I think the answer is Yes of course. Hopefully that situation never arises. But hey with the way things are going one day having a back-up is necessary. A company might be a start-up and/or really short-cashed, but still they would have definitely built a level of redundancy - now I know where I am going with this, but let me park this thought here, as that line of argument has no end to it (as the redundancy requirement is actually hypothetical, unless someone proves Mars can be inhabited)

But this blog is about a different perspective. So I really want to go back to my previous thought - as ISRO team built Mangalyaan, so did NASA build MAVEN in parallel. However Mangalyaan project's cost was 10% of MAVEN's - The ISRO team, sort of a first timer (as far as Mars mission is concerned) built it in 15 months, at 10% cost of a similar project - If you can't call this an achievement, what else would you felicitate? It has been successful up until now and is in its last but second lap towards Mars - Forget poverty and other clichéd arguments  - This team has done something that needs to be commended! So let us set aside those arguments and let us just give them a round of applause. But why do i keep talking about this team's efforts? What is my truly different perspective here?

A lot of articles and blogs have taken different sides on poverty and India's extravagance in building a Mars mission. So I did something different. I compared USA's GDP, Unemployment, Financial spend for NASA in 1950's. The picture looked bleak and comparable to what India is/was. In a way, one could say that India is like the 1960's US. So what US was doing in 1960, India has achieved a similar feat in 2013. Here my base case is the failed Apollo 13 mission (as James Lovell put it - a successful failure), even though Mangalyaan is still successfully continuing its journey. (Fingers crossed)

The flip-side and alternate perspective that I would like to finally present is that recently USA's financial situation has been a lot worse (obviously) but has spent approx $670M on MAVEN - So, shouldn't the media turn its 'guns' (i.e. the criticism) towards US for wasting the money instead of bailing out its economy? In fact one can argue that US has already been successful in its mission, so why not pause it until its deeply troubled economy starts its way up? I think it is a valid poser to US and media should turn the heat on MAVEN's needs. But instead what does the media do? questions India on its Mars mission...

I can now safely say this, even if the mission gets into a muddle after this point, the world will recognise(!) it as a success. In fact I was waiting for Dec 1st and then put my thoughts, because I wanted to make sure the mission successfully kicked off to Mars from earth's orbit.

For a first-timer to jump 200,000 kms and continue to jump a million kms a day, this is extraordinary. I am sure it will fire up many many young growing minds in India and set a new direction akin to the 1980's/1990's IT Industry led growth. It is truly a small step (and may be an unnecessary) as far as the world is concerned, but a GIANT LEAP for India and its fellow nationals. At least that is the feeling I get from my social media interactions.

On a lighter note: Ha, another outsourcing industry and revenue stream for India! May be, Mangalyaan will become the Nano-car in the space travel:)

Alt. Perspective 1: Kudos to the team for its extra-ordinary achievements, you will fire up the imaginations of many as well as set up benchmarks for performance (This is the different perspective) for other space missions across the world. US,EU, China's Space Project Directors, now you have a target! Watch it you will be measured on these criteria from here on. No pressure!

Alt. Perspective 2: US be accused of extravagance on MAVEN.

Good night!