Sanity Insanity and Moi

December 19, 2008 …

I didn’t expect to write this second part the very next day. But something really funny happened that i had to write about day 2.

After taking the session to a crowd, that enrolled itself for the advanced training, for something that they didn’t know, i was quite exhausted. Every time i finish a slide i’d ask them, “Did u guys understand that?”. They all will then have that look like Katrina Kaif just asked them out. Interestingly the only girl in the session, was trying out the student exercises and was cursing big time - “Yeh, kitna ghatiya system hai…”. With all that, i needed a break.

I decided to walk it up to the guest house. After all it was just a 15 min walk from the office. Got out to the main road and got on to a cycle rickshaw. I was told by my friend from Delhi that one of things to try out in Delhi was to take a ride in one of the cycle rickshaws. Hopped on to one of them and as i was nearing my guest house, i changed my plan.

(translation of my conversation with the rickshaw guy)

“Do you know any shopping malls near by..”

“Yes sir”

“Can you take me there?”

“Ok”

So he started peddling. On and on and on. On the way i see one Grand Mall, he didn’t stop there. Then i see a Mega Mall. he didnt stop there either. I asked him why he didn’t stop any where there? He replied that he will take me to a better place. 20 minutes into the ride i end up in a place like the BDA Complex in Bangalore and there was a big red board on top of that building and on it was written in white Arial Bold font - “DLF Shopping Mall”. Yes! he took me to a building named shopping mall. I just couldn’t stop laughing at myself. Paid the rickshaw guy and walked back to Mega Mall. All the way laughing at myself.

So if u ever end up in Delhi/Gurgaon/any NCR region, dont ask for shopping malls. Just ask for ‘malls’. I must warn you, if u cant say ‘mall’ with the ‘o’, and can only say that with an ‘a’; Oops! My advice - stay at home, Delhi is not the place for you. Or may be if you are lucky enough the mall can get you to a place full of ‘mall’.

Never ever did i expect that something that i follow as a passion would get me a chance to conduct a session at one of the best business schools in north India.

Last week-end, i flew to Delhi and on Saturday i was at BIMTECH, Greater Noida, for a session on blogging and the monetary benefits of blogging. The E-Cell of BIMTECH had contacted Mutiny for help and i took the offer.

The session was planned at 6p.m.. You really have to appreciate the guys who study at b-schools, a session at 6p.m. was nothing for them. Other colleges too were invited for the workshop and there were indeed people present at that time of the evening on a Saturday evening.

The session kicked off after a brief intro about the speaker, ahhmmmm that’s me :), and about Mutiny and of course about my friend Mayank (yes its the StudioWordpress guy!!! - http://mayankgupta.com or http://mayank.info ). Mayank was supposed to be on time and help me out with the session, but he was caught up with an emergency Snooker game-session. Well he did turn up to save me for the last 30min :).

I started off at the same grounds from where i started the blogging session at Wipro. Telling them everything that i knew about blogging, etiquette, etc etc. But there was a flaw. Most of the people who were there didn’t know how to start a blog. By ’start a blog’ i mean they didn’t know even how to get a blog at blogger. The lesson - get to know the people and the requirements before we start.

So STOP!!! Get back to the basics. Took them through the live demo of setting up a blog in Blogger. So when all was set, and everyone was on the same page, we were back to where we stopped.

Mayank was just in time as i was getting warmed up with the business side of blogging. Talked about some of the ways that i knew about making money out of blogging. Though i have to mention that i’m too lazy for a blogger that i don’t earn as much as others do, out of blogging.

The idea of a community blog was something new to them. The facts on how Mutiny has grown and maintains itself interested them.

After that it was Mayank’s turn to help everyone with the things that he knows. The way he earns his living was interesting to listen to and i’m quite sure that it would have opened up some idea for those who were listening.

The fact that interested me a lot was the volume of idea that people had for blogging. They all wanted to blog for so many reasons and they just wanted to know how.

Put together the session was one that’s one of the most memorable. I’m taking back some very valuable learnings and some ideas with me.

More pics here

Blogging Wordshop at BIMTECH

If any BIMTECH guys are reading this, i would like you to give me you feedbacks and comments too ..

(Cross-posted here)

So sad that this is happening again.

Babies’ bodies found in abandoned well

People grow up !!!

Krishashok has some interesting points at Mytiny -Men need to start getting pregnant soon

Do these people with room temperature IQs even realize that they are committing male infanticide as much as female infanticide? Here is my message to these people - “If you want to continue to try and eliminate women from the face of India, you had better do these two things first:

• Start fancying other men
• Figure out a way to get pregnant. The last time 2 men made a baby in India - Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva made Ayyappa. The guys who create the Makara Jyothi miracle annually might help figuring this one out

I met Mikè at the Blog’a'lorean’s meet. She is journalist from Germany who writes for a German site (www.ksta.de) under the name ‘missindia‘. Nice name
Here is her foto stream and you will find the some of the fotos very intriguing - salsera24’s photos

Thanks Mikè for these lovely fotos. C’est tres bon!!!

Ramohalli is a small village off the Bangalore-Mysore road and its the home to the oldest banyan tree in Asia.

A knee-jerk plan at 2 in the noon, last Sunday, found me and my roomies riding our way to Ramohalli. I already told what the place is famous for. Many sites all tell about the main attraction, kindly help yourself with all the details. But i never found a good site giving the exact road map to the place. So here it is in my own words, trust me its accurate.(Bus info)

Route/Road Details : If you are coming from the Bangalore side, after approx 5kms after Kengeri, you will find the Rajarajeshwari Dental College to your right side. Take a right to the road next to the college, keep going straight for about 6kms approx. You will find the tree for sure, you cant miss a 4 acre banyan tree. If you still have doubt, just stop by and ask “Ramohalli???”, any decent person is sure to guide you.

You wont believe that the tree is spread over 4 acres on seeing it. You will definitely spot the small temple in the center and your couples sitting everywhere. And ya, dont miss the UB Group’s goods shelter, as you take the turn from the main road to the road leading to Ramohalli.

We were a bunch of 5 guys, what are we supposed to do in the beauty and serenity of the area? Just roamed around eating the salted mangoes we bought. Loads of snaps, with guys going to the extend of posing as though in meditation, imitating Buddha’s enlightenment (we call each other Frauds in that matter). Through the branches we notice a hill far away. I went and asked a hawker if there is a way up the hill, he didnt understand hindi nor did none of us understand kannada(why dont they learn malayalam???). He intern asked us in sign language “are we looking for a booze?” Out we go!!!

On our bikes and by just pure intuition, took the road just behind the tree and drove the way up through a rocky road, till the point where we could not take out bikes any further. Parked the bikes and made the rest of the way up hill on foot. The view from the top was really amazing. If any one has seen the movie Swadesh, remember the view of a water body between two hills, it was a miniature version of that. We spent about an hour on top of the hill just enjoying the view and clicking more snaps.

The Foto Album - Expedition Ramohalli

Read it at - My First Bike Trip - Nandi Hills

And the Fotos here - Nandi Hills - [Foto]synthesis