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Itinerary - Weekend getaway to Adyal!

  Day Time Activity Day 1 – Saturday 7:00am Start  from Nagpur for  Adyal  via  Bhandara   8:30 – 9:00am Freshen-up   9:00am Arrive at the  ancient Hanuman temple  in  Adyal  for darshan   9:30am Lakeside ( takyachi  paal) Leisurely  breakfast  ( Tarri , poha, tea/coffee)   10:00am – 12:30pm Visit  Gosekhurd  dam for photos around a huge waterbody   1:00pm – 2:00pm Return to  Adyal  for  lunch  ( Bhakari ,  bharit ,  thecha  etc.)   2:00pm – 3:00pm Rest or play at the bazaar ground   3:00pm – 6:00pm Visit  Rawanwadi  for boating in the picturesque lake   6:30pm Return to  Adyal  for aarti   7:30pm Lakeside  Dinner  ( Kadhi , khichadi,  thecha  etc.) Day 2 - Sunday 9:00am Lakeside Leisurely  breakfast  (Upma, sambar, tea/coffee)   10:00am – 1:00pm Visit  bauddha  stupa  and  Ganesh temple  and historical  Pauni  fort   1:00pm – 2:00pm Lunch at some restaurant at  Pauni   2:00pm – 6:00pm Jungle safari  at  Pauni   Karhandla  wildlife sanctuary   6:30pm Return to  Adyal  for shopping in 
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How faith can fund primary education in India!

India is a country where temples have golden roofs while schools in rural areas have roofs leaking! Recently I went on a small pilgrimage with family, to Hindu holy towns of Haridwar, Mathura and Vrindavan. One aspect that was strikingly visible was the greed of priests for money citing various reasons and promising welfare for our family, kids and ourselves. At a few temples we visited, they were requesting for donations in the name of God or Goddess! From the time you reach the vicinity of a temple, people selling material for worship and then temples requesting donations and priests requesting donations in exchange of blessings, or for helping you perform ‘pooja’ to please Gods, is a common sight across various popular temples in India. The amount offered at some extremely popular temples runs into hundreds of crores (10 million) annually. Daily collections in all Indian temples may be a few hundred crores! Some of the temples use this money for some welfare activities thou
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Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
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Déjà vu! – Dil to Techy hai!

When I completed my PG diploma in computer programming in 1995, the Internet was emerging and Java programming language was just launched. I had an intense urge to learn Java programming which brought me to Mumbai then. I wanted to develop software that worked on the web, using Java technology. I got into IT industry and now I run Harrier information systems, an offshore IT services company.  Today, after almost 23 years, I have that déjà vu feeling! With so many exciting new technologies emerging, I want to go back to school to learn some of these technologies to help ourselves and our clients by developing cutting edge solutions leveraging these technologies. These include... SMAC-G, a combination of Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud computing and GIS; MEAN/CEAN – MongoDB/Cassandra, Express.js, Angular.js and Node.js stack; artificial intelligence, Blockchains, Internet of things, Cyber defense, and Solar energy! I am sure, I may have missed some other promis
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Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
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I am grateful to my parents for teaching me the following …

A meeting yesterday got me thinking about value systems we all have. I think the most important thing that separates individuals is their value system, leading to their thought process about what is right or wrong. Major part of the value system is developed during childhood by observing parents, and from their teachings. I am so grateful to my parents for having given us siblings following values. 1.      Joy of reading – my father is a voracious reader. We get about 8 newspapers at home daily. Aa a child, I saw him reading many books in Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi and English. He made sure we had enough books available for us to dive into. That developed the interest for reading classy stuff for us children. I think, this is the best legacy my father has given us and we are trying to pass it on to the next generation of our family. 2.     Whatever you do, do it openly – if you can’t openly do something, avoid it by all means. This ensures good night’s sleep for us as a famil
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Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
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Digital, Global and Available!

Some of this may sound repetitive but is increasingly relevant with each passing day. Considering the way, the Internet is evolving and engulfing various aspects of life, soon we may have one gigantic network, and any screen for all of the following, and more… ·        Information (the Web) ·        Communication (phone, email, chat, instant messaging - Whatsapp) ·        Entertainment and media (Videos, TV, Movies, Media, Social Media) ·        Education (information and knowledge as text, images, video and audio) ·        Commerce (Catalogs, Banking, payments) ·        Maps and Navigation (GIS, GPS, Uber and Ola) ·        Tourism and hospitality (Trip Advisor, Yelp, AirBnB!) ·        Healthcare (Telemedicine) ·        eGovernance ·        Devices (Mobile, Cars, and the Internet of Things – Networld!) ·        … and the list is growing … all this intertwined, hosted & operated from innumerable computers spread across the globe (cloud) that we
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Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra 440001, India
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USA Trip Apr-May 2016

After a month in the USA across 9 states, 5 major cities and travel through various media except the space; below are some learnings/observations. 1.        Nothing much changes if your phone is not reachable for a whole month without international roaming This realization is a big liberating factor for me, who always thought I must always be reachable to family, customers, colleagues and friends. But, if you inform them that you won’t be reachable on phone for instant talk while being reachable on other channels like email and Whatsapp, most didn’t bother us and some contacted on data channels after failed attempts to call. This encourages me to take a 10 day Vipassana course with no contact with external world!      2.        If you can avoid media, distractions and clutter, there is enough time for everything we want to do It was surprising to see how much time one has if there are no distractions. Another motivating factor to pursue what one wants to do, by avoi
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Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra 440001, India
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Translating Phrases

We know dictionaries and thesaurus tell us synonyms. How do you find synonyms for phrases in different languages? Here is my attempt to translate some of those with my limited knowledge of a few languages. जिसकी लाठि, उसकी भैंस = Might is Right मेरा क्या? = What is in it for me? अंत भला तो सब भला = All is well that ends well! जिंदगी और मौत का सवाल = To be or not to be; that's the question! उथळ पाण्याला खळखळाट फार = empty vessels make more noise दिसतं तसं नसतं, म्हणुन जग फसतं = Looks are deceptive! नाचता येईना, म्हणे अंगण वाकडे = नाच न जाने, आंगन टेढा दुरुन डोंगर साजरे= दुर के ढोल सुहावने  अंधो मे काना राजा = वासरात लंगडी गाय વેહલા સુવે, વેહલા ઉઠે વીર, બળ, બુધ્ધી, ને ધન વધે, સુખમા રહે શરીર = Early to bed, Early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise बुंद, बुंद से सागर बनता है = थेंबे, थेंबे तळे साचे = કાકરે કાકરે પાળ બંધાય
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