I am sitting on a bench facing the small patch of land by the river. On my right there are two others who are Japanese and another European man. On the bench facing the river there are couple of other Japanese and an Indian talking to a European lady about languages. There were more people on the three benches that formed a small gallery. In front of us a man wrapped in white clothes and clean shaven head walks to the fire, stops and drops few herbs into it. The near by man, a doms, handed over a long bamboo stick and the man wrapped in white clothes took it and touches something hollow three times. I could hear the thud sound thrice. As he handed over the bamboo and walked away, muscles on my face tightened, I didn’t blink. I looked at the man sitting next to me, he didn’t blink either and I could see that his face muscles are tightened just like mine & the fire nearby is reflected in his eyes. Suddenly dogs started howling, it got louder and become so loud that for a moment I thought its pre-recorded sounds played in a loud speaker. But it wasn’t it. It died out just like it started.

Harischandra Ghat, Banaras, 2012 April 29.

There are few more fires burning by Ganges and the care takers are reshuffling the wood to help the fire. They use the long bamboo sticks and moved around woods using two smaller bamboo sticks as if they are tongs. A small boy of perhaps 3 years of age is playing nearby, perhaps he is the younger brother of the boy who is looking after the fire. Power came back and the area is now lightened up with the sodium vapour lamps. I could see men sitting little far from the fires and a new set of people arrived soothing the loud silence with “Ram nam satya hai” and went closer to the river. There were hardly any women around. I am sitting facing a small building and I knew that there are more benches on the other side of it. I started walking there, still looking at the fires. I walked past a small shop selling some sort powders, perhaps sandal wood, earthen pots to collect the ashes and heaps of wood for the fire. Few kids were playing cricket with a small piece of wood and they are confused as the ball just gone missing. I was about to sit on one of the benches next to an old man and a sadhu that someone came hassling and settled there. I sat down on the floor next to the bench. There is yet another small construction – a small temple and a Trishul with a small fire burning next to it. In front me a dog is sharing the rugs with a sadhu who is busy powdering something with a stone. There were just a handful dogs and all were merrily wandering around apart from the one which is leisurely on the rugs.

The old man sitting on the bench in front me turned around and asked “boat ?” and I said something in Hindi and now the man asks in Hindi, “Nau chahiye kya ?” I said, “nahi bhayya” and he leaves me alone. I sat there just being myself and still wondering where am I or rather what am I. It was peaceful and my thoughts about on going business meetings vanished, the outcomes didn’t bothered anymore. I thought about the day passed where I was thinking about a project proposal, it was funny, holed up in the most ancient city on the planet and thinking about a project where objectives were not clear, the past months, past years, the years that gone by which has placed me here, the times when I had to stop every three steps to the straps of the sandal back to now when I carry the most expensive and sophisticated gadgets available. About thousands people whom I have met over the years, many with whom there is no contact anymore. Well, what’s there in balance sheet now ? Nothing very impressive but I knew it didn’t matter. The so called cheap chappal which lasts for 3 steps or the gadget which drains every three hours, everything is pretty much the same. The profitability of a life cannot be measured in what is left behind for one leaves few memories in the hearts of others to fade away. There is nothing else. Nothing else matters. A sadhu turned around and looked at me, I tried to smile at him, he didn’t respond at all. He stands up walks to the temple, walks around a bit and settles back to his place on the bench. A family arrives and they wants to go for a boat ride to see the Ganga Aarathi.

The same place earlier in the day:

The idea of starting a boat ride from a place which puts ‘the end’ amuses me and I followed them to the Ganges. Few boatmen approaches them and they started bargain with them. The fire beside them casted dancing shadows on the men and women.

Another boat man approaches me, unsure of my origin, he talks to me in some foreign language which I don’t understand, I ask him “aap kaham sai hai?” .. “Hum tho Banarasi hai” he replies. We talk about the boats, who owns the boats etc and I told him that I am trying to be with myself for now, he looks into my eyes, we both understands each other and he walks away. A medium sized beetle falls on the floor, split of a second a small dog rushes and savours it. Might be a lucky one to die here !

On far right lights from the buildings reflected in the still waters of Ganges the breeze fills me with the remains of the fire. The family does a profitable bargain and sails away towards Dashashwamedh Ghat.

Aarathi at Dashashwamedh Ghat:

A profitable bargain ! What’s profit ? The traditional wisdom defines it as sums in a P & L statement. What’s mine ? Numbers from few complicated excel spreadsheets appeared in memory, not so bad they were. A small, glittering cloth fluttered in front me. The orange coloured cloths are available in the shops where they sell powders and earth pots, this is the same cloth left behind by someone, I felt quite uncomfortable about the double meaning, the pun, a balance sheet here.

Few men and women are sitting near are me silently staring into the fire infront of them. For a moment I had the urge to throw away the bag, the shirt I had which is already half unbuttoned to survive the heat. I stood up, picked up my bag and camera and started walking. I was feeling peaceful, a sense of satisfaction. As I was strolling yet another sadhu started into my eyes, an intense, piercing look and he made sure his eyes are locked with mine by slowly moving his expressionless face still working on powdering the dry leaves of salvation in his hands. I didn’t blink, kept on the stare and smiled at him. I walked past the scales where they measure the profitability of life, groups of men, dogs, cows, people on the benches near the fires, children playing by the fire. I knew I will have to return, because this is where we all belong, I knew that this is very easy to sell a ferrai and become a monk but thats being incompetent, I still need to fill the cells of my balance sheet which exists in the souls of the people around me and become a monk owning a ferrai or more.

Scales weighing wood, the final profitability calculator:

Epilogue

I sat down after crossing few more ghats and went back to the hotel room after a while. Later I went back to Delhi, finished of yet another meeting, lost the project for which I was there. But the journey adds a whole new dimension to life and a better understanding of everything around us. I am thankful to my folks @ Agileblaze, my family, friends, people who made these journeys possible & to the almighty to help me walk the path of enlightenment and teaching what really matters. I am back home, busy filling my balance sheet.

Yesterday, the Christmas day I had gone out to get few vegetables which we had missed out during the shopping. Everywhere the discussion was about Indian Prime minister meeting with the head of a province / state to discuss about a dam which is supposed to collapse any moment killing millions of people.

For the uninitiated: Mullapperiyar is masonary gravity dam which 100+ year old, built during the British rule and it helps millions of people in Tamilnadu to earn their lively hood. The farmers in around 4 – 5 districts depends on this water to grow vegetable which feeds among other people, lots of people in the 100% consumer oriented, white colar job preferring, well informed and literate masses the neighboring state Kerala. The dam under dispute is made of largely mud and is situated in a tectonically sensitive region prone to tremors. The dam may collapse in 10 – 15 years if there are no natural calamities and there is a probabilityof causing the biggest tragedy known to humans. In the long term it will make another set of people who is using the same water to grow agriculture products will be perished. This makes the scenario a tough one to solve. The information overload created by social media, the trend following masses of Kerala is under a mass hysteria.

The main stream media shows only what people needs and no-expert opinion or condition of other dam etc are not considered and from young to old, everyone in Kerala believes the dam will break any moment and the neighboring state and some of the forces is using the occasion to gather some attention. Its interesting to note that the Kerala side is ready to build a new dam, somehow they believe that earth quakes will not happen during the period and are open to share water with neighboring state. The other side claims that the dam made of mud will withstand more water and claims that there will not be earthquakes.

Now from a logical point of view, I have no opinions or I am not biased. As far as I am considered, all the dams should be destroyed, all the nuclear plants must be destroyed and no plastics should be used etc etc. A long term solution without impacting both the sides seems to be a solution – which is not about building a new dam or decommissioning the existing one but reducing the water level and then both the sides sitting together around a table and discussing the matters the natural way. Yes, what is happening now is manglish speaking, sorry manglish spitting VJs and radio jockies are celebrating this as a Facebook revolution and this very post has a heading to attract some organic keyword based search from search engines.

Now, back to the photo and Christmas New year celebrations. People tend to believe its their last time to celebrate and not leaving any opportunity to celebrate. Years back I remember it was lot more difficult to educate and bring people together to fight against causes. Now its lot more easier. The only trouble is no-one seems to be bothered about real causes. Say Aadhaar aka UID project of India which is about slaving people for their entire life time and probably even after death if their bodies are not burned. In a land of poets and generations of people who never bothered about death or pain but only about freedom and fought for it this is indeed a strange phenomenon.

We had poets who wrote, slavery is unacceptable but death is. Have we forgotten ? The irony is complete when another set of people are promoting anarchy in the name of freedom and even using the father or nation for media campaigns. Right now media teams will be getting ready for the 4th season of Lokpal and finding stories supporting and against Anna Hazzare. There are nuclear reactors being built in the neighboring regions which will again make all of us live a dangerous life, probably eating mutated fish, with bulged bellies or long ears and we may not die. We will not die in a immediate flood but suffer, we will have mutated children looking like aliens in hollywood movies. Yet we prefer to live like zombies ?

Or are we just zombies who lost the ability to use common sense and educational background to choose between right and wrong ?

Anyways, I have my post with enough keywords, I will get lot of clicks just like some main stream news papers who has landing pages filled with the proper keywords. Give me my hits, help me make money. I wish I had a FM station & a TV station or two also !!

On a different note, the Idukki dam is about to complete its 50 year life span and we have to start a facebook page and start campigning to build a new one right away. (And thus, I got one more keyword – Idukki. Hurray!!!)

Wishing a Happy New Year and its us who paints our lives happy or miserable and no one can help you do that.

Avani, Our friend Suresh’s seven year daughter is suffering from an illness called Medullo Blastoma (highly malignant Brain Tumor). She had undergone a surgery in Baby Memorial Hospital, Calicut, Kerala. She has to be taken to HCG hospital, Bangalore for further diagnosis and treatment within next few days. The financial requirements for the further treatment is estimated at 4 – 5 Lakh Indian Rupees (10,000 USD) & we are trying to help in emergency. As its difficult to raise such a large sum immediately, we are requesting help from the community.

We have opened an account for the solely for the purpose and requesting everyone to contribute whatever little you can.

Hareesh who is Aavani’s neighbor can be reached at  +919656223338 for more information about Avani or Visit – http://helpaavani.blogspot.com​ where we will post updates.

Requesting everyone to help and share the news among your immedeate friends. If you are working in a office may be something like collecting from your friends and depositing to the account will help out.

If you think you help the little violinist, here is further details:

Account Name :    Aavani Suresh treatment Fund
Bank & Branch :   State bank of India, Calicut Govt medical College Branch
Savings Account Number : 318 6628 2581
IFSC Code : SBIN0002206
Swift Code : SBININBB392

Detailed information:

Aavani Suresh, 7 year old girl child, was having a history of vomiting and consulted paediatrician (Dr Rosely Kurian, Near Presentation School, Chevayur, Calicut). The child was also having mild fever. The paediatrician prescribed antibiotic, and paracetamol and the vomiting subsided during the course of medicine. Two days after the completion of the course of medicine, the vomiting in the morning started again. The paediatrician found some problem and advised Mr Suresh (Father of Aavani) that an ENT consultation is required for the child. Mr Suresh took the child to Baby Memorial Hospital, Calicut and consulted Dr Gopakumar(ENT specialist, Baby memorial Hospital). Dr Gopakumar also found out that the child is having balancing problem when closing her eyes and recommended to do MRI scan of brain.

They have done MRI plain and MRI with Medicine. In MRI scan, the radiologist reported likewise “possibly Ependymoma, differential diagnosis includes Medullo Blastoma”. The MRI result was shocking. There was a
large tumour of 3 cm diameter in the fourth ventricle of the brain near the brain stem. After seeing the MRI, Dr Gopakumar recommended to meet Neurosurgeon Dr Shivakumar(Baby memorial Hospital) for further
treatment.

Dr Shivakumar told that this is a case of Medullo Blastoma and needs surgical removal. Better to do it as early as possible because the tumour is growing rapidly and it is obstructing the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in
the brain. He also told Mr Suresh that he could go for a second opinion with any other neurosurgeon of his choice. Mr Suresh met two neuro specialists and they also told him that there is no option other than surgical removal of the tumour. Mr Suresh met Dr Shivakumar to discuss about chances of complication, cost of surgery etc. Dr Shivakumar told that there are so many complications in every neurosurgery, but there is no other option. The surgery will take about eight hours and the approximate cost will be around ninety thousand rupees. He also told that, after the surgery, the tumour cells have to be sent for a Biopsy to see whether the cells are malignant (cancerous) or not.

Mr Suresh and his friends gave consent for Neurosurgical removal of the tumour and the surgery was done on 20th July 2011 by Dr Shivakumar at Baby memorial Hospital, Calicut. The surgery was successfully completed without much complications and the sample of the tumour was sent for Biopsy. Dr Shivakumar told that the surgery was successful and the biopsy report will come in a week’s time. On 26th, the biopsy report came with a very sad news that the tumour cells are highly malignant and suggested craniospinal radiation. Dr Shivakumar told that the child requires radiation therapy after fifteen days (usually it takes about 15 days for the brain to stabilise after the surgery). Dr Shivakumar also suggested that it is better to go to a paediatric oncology specialised centre with latest equipments which helps to reduce the after effects of radiation.

As per the suggestion from some of the well experienced nuclear medicine specialists who deal with radiation therapy, we decided to go to HCG oncology centre, Bangalore, for further treatment. (Hospital website: http://www.hcgoncology.com/). This hospital is selected because of their very latest equipments and highly experienced team in paediatric radiation oncology. We have already submitted all relevant medical documents to the Doctor’s panel at HCG oncology hospital and we are waiting for their reply in order to get admitted. As per the initial discussion they informed us that the average treatment cost will be around 5 lakhs. We are expecting the admission in the hospital within two to four days for further treatment.

Update: 4th August, 2011

Aavani has left to Bangalore with her parents in a car from Calicut via Palakkad-Selam-Hosur & few friends are trying to arrange accommodation in Bangalore. She will reach Bangalore tomorrow morning.

Aavani about to leave for Bangalore ...

Things were so bad that around that April (2010) I ran into serious sleeping trouble, I didn’t sleep for 8 days & the doctor told me – after giving a look as if he is talking to an alien – that you can come out of it yourself, it will be tough but that’s the better solution than he prescribing medicines – which I will not take anyways. I had to attend a wedding in north east and planned a 2 week vacation which I thought will help me to come out of the situation – it helped. I carried a book with me as I wanted to read it again. When I read it the first time, it didn’t much sense but this time after being in the shoes of an entrepreneur for nearly 2 years, it made sense.

At the lower Gompa, Bomdilla, Arunachal Pradesh

No, Its not a cliche story. I didn’t sit there and read much and there was no revelation (Other than the long discussion which few young monks started with me on religions, Bilekuppe etc). I came back home, started working again and forgot about the book. Weeks later, I started reading it again and I came across a section where the author was mentioning about hard work and the amount of time in hours per week the most successful businessmen dedicate . This was the first time I had thought about such thing like number of work hours in a week. I calculated the amount of time I spend – the previous week it was roughly 116 hours, this week its already 80+ hours and I was scared to think beyond these 2 weeks. There was something seriously wrong and this is when I  thinking about scaling up my team and started analysing how I spend time.

Being a startup means everyone has to multi-task and sometimes do the jobs which no one else will do. (Like how I used to clean the sole wash basin in our old office) So there was no point about stop doing multi-tasking. It was about make the best of the available resources. Soon I realized that the core problem was my worked spanned across marketing, execution, project planning, talking to clients from technical to finance matters to occasional chit chat. The first action item was to make the business development and market straight and we were searching for business development resources. By June end we had the business development team ready and they started putting together missing parts of the puzzle.

Now I had time to focus on my technical workforce and I was preaching agile methodologies and SCRUM for sometime then. But there were missing pieces and soon understood the key is to empower your team, let them own projects at the same time allowing marginal errors & more than anything trust their capabilities 100%

I started giving developers and lead developers more freedom to innovate, involved them client communications more than ever and started paring up senior engineers and the business development team. I have been applying, my method of learning from practice with little guidance. I strongly believed, inherently people are good enough to learn and not to commit errors which will cause catastrophe. In the mean time SCRUM meetings were introduced for every team from business development to HR. Initially it required some serious efforts to keep things going but now after nearly 6 months with SCRUM, we are looking good.

Another important idea implemented is Huddle – an internal social network which is meant to improve communication and knowledge sharing. Though we were small in size, because of the shift timings often communication between different teams were not happening and I wanted a platform for knowledge sharing which can be later used for coordinating activities from CSR initiatives to birthday celebrations or promoting art and culture within the staff. Huddle is in the nascent stages now, but hoping this to grow and become an integral part of the organization soon.  (The name Huddle is carefully chosen to go well with the Agile practices we are following)

Now, after nearly 6 months of sole focus on developing the organization from within, we have started feeling the differences. Finally, after some serious struggle and hard work we have different functional parts of the organization running nearly smoothly. Few things we plan for future is to give more and more focus on communication, improve technical skills my continuous knowledge sharing sessions etc.

To summarize, the lessons learned are:

There should be a balance between how much business you do and how well you are able to collaborate with your own team. Its very difficult to find the balance but its essential for scaling up.  The more we collaborate its better for scaling up as everyone learns in the process and becomes ready for the challenges. One should never forget to look back to our own team in the struggle to grow and scale up. The employees first policy may not be 100% correct, but keeping balance between how we spend time between employees and clients is important. I think, we were probably few months late in starting the initiatives, but we have done it atlast and now waiting for the positive results which we are confident of.

Yes, Collaborating the agile way is method to succeed and scaling up.

Its so happening that we are putting all our might after fine tuning an e-commerce portal we are working on but now we are facing page load time issue, and on a dead-end on the SEM platform we are developing for a client due to technical glitches from the APIs of the 2 search engines competing for second position & the third project from our first client – angel – need more resources. At the same time our cloud IaaS team is starting to work on couple of exciting assignments. To make things worse we are on an aggressive marketing mode which is bringing in new enquirers every-other day which needs a lot of attention.

What we do ?

Before things getting into such a situation, we had a discussion. We wanted to win new projects & increase revenue stream, hire new people & achieve the dream of becoming a 100 member team providing the best in the class solutions by 2011. But, wait. I thought about the angel who got hooked with us more than an year ago and waited for us to increase capacity, the other client who sang happy birthday for me from other side of planet earth over a cranky phone connection we had then, and various other things happening around us.

During the discussion I had  2 examples in mind which is given below.

We have a place where they sell chicken dishes which resembles  Arabian dishes. The outlet is in a prime spot on the highway, there is enough parking space, its near a college with may be 2000 students etc. I used to go there occasionally as they used to open till mid night when I finally find myself thinking about dinner. Besides all the good things like a prime location and all other favorable conditions, they never had customers. The quality of the food was bad, the customer service and focus was not existing. I still keep going as I had no choice and the last I went was few months back when they kept me waiting for nearly ten minutes just to collect the bill.

I can’t really write about the second case, but its something like this. The provider is a monopoly and nearly everyone uses them. But whenever people need proactive service, they choose a new generation alternative. So people keep two service providers and the old provider is slowly loosing business and it will be loose its business in few years and the restaurant in case one will be closed in few months.

I sounded bit affirmative than usual in the discussion and finally decided that we will not be spending even a second of attention on new clients unless the existing requirements are met. The existing clients have not only made us what we are now but they trust their future with us. We are 100% confident that we will deliver our best & come out of this. Let this post act as a record.

I send a mail to the angel to hear his opinion on resource allocation & ended it as follows:

You are an angel for us & angels/existing-clients gets the best attention than new clients !

everything else will follow.

Ok, The trip to Agastyakoodam happened long ago, before  any of this happened. The world was still flat then and the date was 29th Jan 2010. We were at the base camp and made plans to start bit early the next day. I was was sure that not going to work and slept peacefully inside my sleeping bag. We woke up around 6:30 AM, got our breakfast packed and after few cups of tea started our trek to the peak nearly 8 O’ clock.

to be or not be ? (photo removed )

From the base camp the peak looked challenging and we were aware that the climate dramatically changes at the top. But today it seems its a pleasant day and we will not face much difficulty. I had all geared up and assortment of stuff including lenses, additional battery and first aid kit packed inside a photographer’s jacket and a wind sheeter to protect all this from rain and few plastic covers.

sun rays playing hide and seek

The initial trek was easy but seemed to be a terrain where we find elephants a lot which was bit scary. But the possibility of seeing a pigmi elephant was nice too

dare to conquer - swami thiruvadikal enjoying the view

Once we were out of thick forest the steep climbs started and mist started arriving from nowhere. Four of us had visited the peak earlier and they started explaining about their earlier journey and how they crossed a dangerous stream which is just ahead of us.

mist starts appearing

The atmosphere started getting colder and windy. Mist was coming with the wind and the wind was strong enough that we started feeling it agiainst us. I found it was a good decision to leave the camera bag behind.

mist starts flooding with the wind. We can see it spreading in this photo. In ten minutes we were immersed in it.

the stream which 3 of our team had crossed with much difficulty during their previous expedition. I must It was a real dangerous attempt from their side. Something which others should not try at home.

edge

its a good idea to be careful here. Travels give us a time to contemplate about life. It sometimes leaves us with nothing to hold on to. All that can take us forward is how carefully we plan our next step.

Last 5 photos were taken in 10 minutes and the place was suddenly misty and we couldn’t see anything beyond 5 meters or so now. We started climbing up decided to have our break fast near Ponkalappara.

mist everywhere

After the steep climb we reached a clearing. The place had suddenly became extremely cold and wet. If the same climate is going to continue it is going to difficult to climb the remaining path and that was not a pleasant thought at all.

mist, windchill

We sat down near a small stream for breakfast. I had poori with me and some had uppumaavu. By the time the whole place was covered with mist and all that was remaining now was rain. It looked like we must expect heavy rain any moment now. The sudden change in climate was very strange and quite unexpected.

breakfast time.

The climate soon started getting better. Yea, as I was told a 100 times this place is different !

One life. We all have a life to leave marks behind. Here is how someone to choose to leave a mark behind. This was created by someone so that whoever climbs the mighty mountain remembers him. (there is no myth behind this. its very recent - modern)

Man is always keen to worship what he doesn’t understand. It seems a recent example will be film stars whom we don’t understand. We build temples for them when we find it difficult to understand how a feeble man can fight hundreds and cause “Neo Effect” on bullets. The earthly mark in the previous photo may became a similar one in next 100 years.

if we don't understand, we will worship. If we understand we will destroy. We are humans.

where the mystery forest starts

The climate had become normal again and the visibility was good too. We started climbing up through a narrow slippery stream. The terrain again looked promising but I never expected it will make me realize that being alive is such a great thing and life is so beautiful.

Part1 is here: Trekking to Agasthyakoodam day one

Note: Agasthyakoodam is also called as Agasthyarkoodam

The area is kept clean and well preserved by the forest department and the EDC – In  a land where government departments functioning the way it is supposed to be is quite unheard of, this is something we must appreciate. The officials were friendly and I could drag them to a small talk about my sleeping bag which is quite small compared to the ones they use.

As per our plan the journey ends at Athirumala which is 17 kms from the base camp at Bonacud. And most of it is through dense forest and atleast 5 kms of the path is difficult terrain. And with a bag weighing too much with equipments it was not fun. From the camp at Athirumala its 6 kms to the Agastyakoodam peak. And we plan to climb the peak on the second day. I must say that splitting the journey to 3 days was an excellent idea as we got ample time to enjoy the wilderness.

enroute Agastyakoodam

swami 'thirivadikal' enroute Agastyakoodam

This part of western ghats is called the “abode of biodiversity”. The green virgin forest filled with herbal plants gives one the impression that we are in a huge herbal  garden. The Agastyakoodam is related with Buddhism and to the wise man Agastya who formulated grammar  to Tamil and he is believed to be an Ayurvedic expert too.

cauliflorous tree enroute Agastyakoodam

cauliflorous tree - closeup

strong winds are a peculiarity of the area. Here we can see the grass dancing in the wind. But this is nothing compared to the wind at the peak.

Oh yea, we were a team of seven backpackers. see them below:

backpackers

in harmony with nature ?

we had our lunch here. Under a sky that looked like this.

the camp at attayaar. The difficult terrain starts here. The board that says Athirumala was kept here and in one of the next photos we can see it being carried to the final camp.

The terrain that followed Attayar was bit difficult but compensated by breath taking landscape.

the path ahead - less traveled, difficult and beautiful

the Athirumala board which traveled with us

landscape between attayar and athirumala - one can even see the historic dust on my lens. Well, I am going to clean every piece of equipment this time. All has years of dust on them and water inside. Yea, my D80 still works fine with all the water and dust. My next cameras will be Nikon too. I don't need reviews anymore on brand wars.

a variety of Thulasi found in the area. This is just a sample from the mysterious collection of herbs starting from Arogyapacha, Vathamparathi etc

The above photo is taken from an area of where the forest is thick and dark. We can find small holes in the rocks along the path which was used to grind herbs. The area also has peculiar stones which looks like remains of some ancient life forms.

fossils ?

Passerby has left turmeric powder on it and it turned yellow now.

The final camp at the bottom of the peak follows this dense forest area and we got the majestic view of the peak from here.

the first glance of Agastyakoodam

We reached the final camp around 4 PM. We were tired but not really exhausted because we were walking at an average speed. Soon after tea and a leisurely bath at the nearby stream we came back and settled at the camp. And we were all set for the climb early morning next day. And the destination was a 1886 meter, heritage mountain with its lush  green herbal garden and myths.

Agastyakoodam aka Agastyarkoodam - the majestic peak with its lores, herbs and wonders of mother nature which makes us understand how silly we humans are.

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Taken at Kudjadri on a misty, raining evening. The caption is from Surya Binoy’s poem.

After 1 year and 3 months of quitting a cosy-big-MNC-much-loved-dream-job (removed a link from here as it creates confusion.) and just turning 28 I found myself asking the question what is this Entrepreneurship is all about ?

Is it the money ?

No !  I am broke and I can’t buy stuff  like a crazy over priced bicycle (my friend has one) or an iPod which I had bought in the past  and still using as an hard disk. I still remember paying advance for Onakkazhcha exhibition with the last pennies in my account and coming back with some 110 rupees (2.5 USD) in my wallet.

Is it the comfort and no need to much work ?

Comfort ? I haven’t gone to Bangalore PVR or gone to one of those over priced restaurants on birthday treats or even there was not much time to sleep. I used to shiver under the A/C and last year I was sweating !

Is it all the fun, glamour ?

heck ! no. I had to switch to T-shirts and Jeans because I no longer able to iron the clothes for that matter.  Fun, well, I find miss calls in mobile from various people of which few are the most cute girls one encounters in life but I’ve no way but see those calls hours late and do nothing about it.

Is it the freedom and do whatever you want to do ?

no way ! you can’t even fall sick because that is when all the world turns against you. You can’t go on a trip because that is when your client wants an immediate whatever call with you.

oh, since you have so many people working under you can work less, that it ?

well, absolutely wrong. Earlier one had a boss and only person was waiting to hear for answer, a reply or whatever. Now you end up with a lot of people waiting for replies you end up following up, working, researching thinking the whole day.

No its not money, power, glamour, less work, freedom that defines entrepreneurship. When you become an entrepreneur, you get the freedom to choose what you have to work on, you come to office and see the people sitting in there and you realize you are able to reach not just a family but the lifes of all their families, You feel happy when a client who lives on the other side of the planet which is believed to be spherical in shape asks you to take a break, pack your bags, go to the mountains or he trusts you and offers to help in a charity photography exhibition you are involved in, or someone says he had a “blink” moment when he met us and he trusts us with the most important project of  his life or you feel proud when a movie director gives you the freedom to decide on how to make the teaser for his most challenging work, or you feel really cared and loved when one of your best friends comes to your office and says you have got a nice setup and I entrust you with my upcoming  project.

What is all above means ?

Entrepreneurship is all about blood and sweat one puts to whatever one likes and in turn he becomes trust worthy, ethical, transparent and capable of delivering the most challenging tasks to the people who trusts him. He influences and changes the lifes of the people around him or her. He may have to make personal sacrifices which has long term postive impact on not just him but on the people who trusts him – the ones the world calls clients or employees.

I think now I am able to do only those things I like to do.  I remember myself telling my superior when I joined for cosy-big-MNC-much-love-dream-job that I hate GUIs and I am most comfortable with a text terminal, code but then there were times when I looked at GUIs with an already upset mind, I tried to keep the monitor upside down, looked at it, no the GUI still looked like a ugly-alien or something. Now I am no longer tormented by such things, but we get the freedom to choose what we need to work with,  its no longer a legacy technology, same old repeating stuff, one get the freedom to implement what you use to read only in slashdot and feel satisfied. Life remains the same, you have same old things which upsets you, same old stuff around you but then there is something new everyday.

If the defintion of an Entrepreneur is one who has stopped making compromises in his life and by so becomes a confident, proactive, trustworthy individual able to change the lifes of the people around him, then yes I am one.

And yea, He has the best friends one can think of. Shijil, Sai, Prince are just three of them in the list in which other names will be a bloody cool Mohan, Smevin, Jithesh, one person whom I call messenger, Alexy, Aswathy, Cibin, Lijo, Adarsh, Vikas, Shyam, Muraliyettan, Krish, Oam, Sunil, Deepa and yes the list goes on … Well yea, Entrepreneurs are not supposed to become emotional etc so I am not writing more names and how they have helped me !

Here is a capture of my desktop

environment:

flock 2.5.2, GNU/Linux Debian, Not logged in to Google, Search Preferences at default (which was use moderate filtering).

(My be everything is self explanatory ! Certain results like Orkut shows why we use internet the most.)