Unfortunately, this does not work well in the real world, I mean in a broad sense outside of professional work. Ownership is binary – you own something or you dont. Owning means going all the way no matter what to make something successful. When you have co-ownership it is not 50% ownership, it means multiple people each having 100% ownership in my opinion. Is that not why we say ‘sum of the parts is greater than the whole’.

Even in a small startup, each person can do any role and should be willing to do any role. The reason people are hired is not because someone is filling a hole / area that no one knows about or no one can do. it is simply because 1 or 2 ppl do not have the resources [time primarily], so bringing someone as a BOL makes them the owner from a process perspective to take that task to completion. but everyone in the startup from a mindset perspective should have the same ownership.

Another example, when buying properties with a friend or relative, it may be called ‘co-ownership’ but it is actually 2 “full” owners for 1 property. Which technically means that both of them will work that much harder for the property to return 200%.

So friends, whatever be a task, small or big take complete ownership – it provides a better feeling on fruition. In Tamil they say – “vachcha kudumi saracha mottai’

Anyways, not to digress, think about this for a minute. Most of us are very good at triaging things, re-prioritizing items, choosing to neglect some while focusing on others and finishing things on schedule, at “work place related” stuff. I repeat at “work place related’ activities.

We are usually very good at doing things that impact us and things that we control really well. when I provide advice to someone at work, and the person chooses to ignore it, I cannot do much. I choose to be care about the few that I share thoughts but don’t thrust it down at all. Not because I dont care, but realize that people have their own thought process and making people do the “right” thing is subjective. Managers at work work a lot on this because they have a commitment to do this. one of my managers mentioned once “your success is your success and your failure is mine”. I would like to agree with the latter , jokes apart think that people have clear streamlined vested interests making them effective at work place.

The place where I struggle is when I bring the same thought process to personal relationships. I try to think deeply when a near-and-dear one is seeking advice or going through a problem. I try to look at the item, the various causes, etc. For example, assume you know someone who is not happy with their job and is seeking a position change. Then you start asking the person, why he is not happy? What makes him happy? has he looked elsewhere? has he built a resume`? has he sent it out? etc you get the point. when you here the answer ‘nay’ to most of them, then the whole commentary is rubbish to me. once you know u want something, then you have to figure out the path, have a schedule and just make it happen. or give up on the “want”. Simple, is it not? In most situations, I find that in personal relationships be it close friends, parents, brother, wife, etc this thought process does not help at all . I find it difficult to ignore and move-on treating it like the “buddy at work who u cannot help” because of the personal bond. It gets really mind sapping, since the mindset for most of us is ‘your problem is my problem’. when you have a family business and u “envision” the logical well thought out roadmap both for the business and the folks running it, and the model does not execute there is mental strain too.

The more I think about it, people are people be it workplace or personal relationships. IMO, everyone needs to treat things the same way and choose to include and neglect things that make sense. End of the day, each of us is one person and need to triage accordingly. This is absolutely tough to practise but a mindset that will serve us well in the long run. Like how one book quoted “you dont control all things that happen around you; however u can control your reaction to it”.

here is another pivot, doing the right thing is very subjective. Intropecting, I think that some things are “right”, maybe the vision for a small business or how ppl should work together BUT the other person thinks i am wrong. Very natural , everyone thinks that they are right. in my case, the logical streamlined arguments might be “right” but they are right for me; they absolutely dont work for the other person and probably will never work for them. I am “dumb” to think it will work for them and to assume that the others are “dumber” than me. end of the day, each person has his own wiring in the head, how they react and do things. You can help people with nudging but people wont react unless they truly believe that you are saying the right thing. Maybe people managers at work understand this facet, today i dont. all this makes it all the more reason why I need to apply the same triage bar for all personal activities similar to that of work.

So my friends when u see “dumb and dumber” scenarios, become wise and triage. I am trying to.. maybe some day there will be a book “the Monk who sold his BMW”

take it easy

Interestingly this came up when I was talking to a buddy who was going over his outside work life and I began to wonder.. Uptil the next weekend, NFL was taking up a chunk of sundays and seinfeld on weekdays. but other than that, I dont know.

Do you ever think about this?

One of the biggest goals for this timeoff was to spend quality time with my parents, help ramp up this business so that they are not overwhelmed when I leave back to the US next month.

I am now at the last phase of my timeoff, about 3 more weeks. Truth be said, I have made very little progress but it has been good.

So why am I telling you all this stuff? I need help in creating more business opportunities and leads. I need help in hiring a super business development & marketing person who can pitch our services to companies (part time might also work)

If you know the head of HR in some company or a school principal or a college HOD or a relative studying in a college or any other channel you think could help, please pass on the info. I am currently offering FREE pilot program (eg: will run for 2 weeks) for corporates and educational institutes, FREE 1 class for students.

www.sriharicareers.com will go live by Nov 10th. You can see the office address, directions, phone number and we will have a portal for students to get useful information.

Here is an overview that you could use:

Srihari Career Services – MissionImparting world class training helping individuals maximize their potential and fulfill their dreams.
- Hire and Develop best of the breed trainers to deliver world class content using software tools
- Deliver “Industry ready” candidates to corporate world
- Global presence, participation from the US

Our target customers
- Educational institutes such as schools and colleges
Coaching students and enhancing educational experience
Help in career counseling and placements
- Corporate: Training employees on Spoken English, communication skills and soft skills
Accent training for specific domain
Interview screening and hiring
- Professionals
In-job training for furthering career growth
Professionals moving abroad for jobs
- Students
Fresh graduates looking for getting a job
Graduates looking for higher studies abroad

Course Offerings
Spoken English (Levels F, A, B, C)
Corporates “Hire and Train”
Personality development
Interviewing tips
Call Center Training
IELTS training

Why are we unique?
* Evaluate student’s current level and then suggest programs to achieve his or her goals
* Good mix of theory, lab & “live” experiences delivered using software tools
* Additional software tools for pronunciation, reducing MTI, improving listening skills
* Certification from US universities
* Industry connection for placement opportunities

Resources
Phone – 4307 2827, 4307 2828
Address: 101 Arcot Road, Virugambakkam
Email: sriharicareers@gmail.com
SMS: 98401 87520
Visit www.sriharicareers.com

Thanks for reading and helping in any ways you can.

The trip logistics was planned in a google doc (which still has a couple of more places before my vacation ends). We researched a bunch of online locations and did some estimations. I did not want to take these so-called packages which costed around 20K

http://www.uniquekerala.com/timedistance.htm

http://www.hotelskerala.com/talltrees/index.htm

http://www.indiahotelreview.com/buy-kerala-vacation-26/5-night-6-days-31.htm

Some folks suggested going to temples but I claimed this was a pure vacation thingy and no temples (that leg starts next week for a set of pilgrimage spots)

So finally this is what we did:

Oct 13th Monday 9 PM Allepy express 2nd class AC train ticket Price = Rs.2200 for 2 ppl

Oct 14th Tuesday 11 AM. Reached Allepey.

The plan was to take the rental boat and go around. You know what .. that day was a ‘hartal’ aka strike in allepey. All shops, boating was closed. We went to a temple that day , not sure if it was butterfly effect or the gods being angry that this was a “vacation” trip. Dasavatharam style message for me.. the temple was great, kerala temples have that divinity which i dont see elsewhere.

Stayed at a relative place in Allepey.. one aspect of going there was to meet them. Good people, great hosts

Oct 15th Wed 9 AM.

We quickly re-adjusted plans and dropped Kumarakom. We rented a boat for 3 hrs at Rs.750 instead of taking a house boat. My dear friends.. you need to think about this. Why rent a house boat at 4.5K per day for non-AC and 7.5K for an AC room when you really sleep from 9 PM to 7 AM in 1 location. Thats what I thought… but for people who are actually going to be in a hotel this works well, you get accomodation, lunch, dinner and breakfast and sight seeing as 1 package. but again I was happy with the Rs.750

We took a local bus to Ernakulum and then a bus from there to Chithrapuram, 10 kms from Munnar. We left Allepey at 1PM adn reached Ernakulum at around 2.30 PM. The bus fare per person was Rs.67 for travelling about 60 kms. Then we took the next bus to Chithrapuram at 3 PM. One small problem, this was the bloody local bus which stopped at every place and millions of people got into the bus at each stop. the smart fool that I am, I had sat on the side which was supposedly for ladies and had to get up (the chivalrous kind that I am) and was in the middle of the gumbal. I was thinking about why i made this trip because the driver was a crazy !@#$ who was slamming the brakes so hard every 2 mins. I was creating theories on “Middle class mentality” (more on this on a separate blog). but finally after paravoor, the traffic melted. i got my seat back… yay yay yay. Then we went to adimali and we are talking to the conductor confirming location about chithrapuram.. the bloke knows only malayalam and I have no clue if he is asking me to get down at adimali or if this bus will indeed go to chithrapuram. Luckily I catch hold of the resort manager who promises to stop the bus in front of the resort Go INDIA!! We reach the resort at 8 PM and crash.

Hotel stay per night = Rs.2000

Oct 16th, Thursday 10 AM

We asked for a cab to go around Munnar. Apparently the cost was Rs.1500 and i agreed. The hotel manager decided to drive in his own car and take us around (I thought did I pay too much… fast track charged Rs.10 per km and has the crazy 4hr 40kms Rs.400 and 8hr 80kms Rs.800 packages and decided this should be ok). Anyways the dude was an ex-army bloke about 40 yrs who had been at Kargil and entertained us with some stories. we saw a bunch of interesting places .. the usual suspects in Munnar – Mattupetty, Devikulam, Pothumedu, Kannan Devan & Tata Tea estates. we could not see the Nyayamakad waterfalls since there was an accident a couple of days back where someone slipped and died. Enroute we saw an elephant on the road and had a mini ride on the road. Subha did not like it initially but got convinced eventually. We spent Rs.500 in feeding the elephant with pineapples and corn (ride included). We did some shopping and kicked up interesting wooden trays and interesting hand work

We did about 100 kms of travel and settled for the day and returned to the hotel around 6 PM.

Oct 17th, Friday 10 AM

We took the car from Chithrapuram to Thekkady and decided to use the same car for sight seeing in Thekkady. The car was Rs.2200. I was watching Sehwag bat and did not want to leave at 10 AM but then Subha was not too keen to watch cricket in Chithrapuram . The drive was good but not sure why it was in the top 10 in the country. I guess seeing stuff in the NW has really set the bar high for us. we reached the hotel in Thekkady around 1.30 PM. We stayed at the Lake Queen Resort and took a non AC deluxe room at Rs.1300 per day. Good choice! NO need for AC in Thekkady and there was a super view from the hotel room window. The hotel was in Kumily junction which is the TN Kerala border, so everyone knows Tamil.

Lake Queen Hotel, Thekkady, India
Address: Thekkady Junction, Kumily 685509, Thekkady, Kerala

Phone: 04869-222084, 222086. 09447000077 -Spoke to the guy called Shiva

AC- 2100 + tax,Non AC 1600+tax, normal 1300+tax

The areas around Thekkady, Kumily was simply great … it was raining but had the ideal hill station feel. I wanted to see the Periyar Tiger reserve in Thekkady and so we had lunch, freshened up and drove around in the car for a little while. i was in no mood for the plantations sight seeing. So we went to the jungle checkpost, paid the car and sent it away. The entry cost for the reserve was Rs.25 per person and Rs.50 for the car. If you are a foreigner then the cost is Rs. 300. There was a separate cost for still camera and video camera. we paid Rs.150 for the boat ride per person so that we get to sit on the bigger open boat on the top. The lake had some stunning views, some of the very best I have ever seen and believe me, I have seen some ones in oregon and California road trip which I thought were hard to beat. The boat ride was about 2 hrs and I have never hard any luck with sighting animals on these “safari” kind of trips. We saw some deer from the boat 100 yards away, a couple of elephants 200-300 yards away and thats it. I was disappointed and was hoping I can see a tiger , big hopes. The ride finished around 5.30 PM and we headed back to the hotel in auto rickshaw (Rs.50). If you have additional time, I recommend you stay 1 day at the Lake palace resort which is in the middle of the lake and I believe it will be a great experience. The tariff is around 3.5K per day

Oct 18th, saturday 12 PM

we checked out of the hotel at 12 PM, left our bags in the lobby office and walked through the junction road. we went to the wax museum which had 6 statues, we were the only ones in the museum and I was chatting with the person who created the statues. Each statue costs 6 lakhs and takes 16 months, each day 12 hrs of effort !! Then we went to the elephant ride area and I paid Rs.300 and took the ride within the plantation – checkout photos on facebook. We did a little shopping and picked up some bags. After lunch, we decided to head to the Kumily bus stop to catch a bus to Madurai.

We saw Kumily Soorya, an agent who was mentioning about the real estate condition in Thekkady. well I started the conversation on this topic anyways and he was suggesting to invest at least 5-7 lakhs in cardamom plantations. apparently 1 acre is 2.5 lakhs and generates about 1000 kilos of cardomom. At the minimum, the cost is Rs.600 per kilo ==> 6 lakhs per year. Even if total maintenance cost and labour is 3 lakhs, then profit is 3 lakhs which means you recover the profit. Good to hear. How many times ahve we seen these figures on paper which dont translate in real life. but still I am kicked because I like the area – will I buy an estate? I doubt it.. maybe not the right time now. if you are enthu, let me know.. will connect you with Kumily Soorya

We picked the 5 PM bus, the first 30 mins was very interesting.. curvy roads, vehicles blaring their horns and the bus driver was carefully wheeling the vehicle in those conditions. (I have a video taping of how close the roads were and a near accident ).

we reached Madurai bus terminus around 9 PM, and headed off to Madurai junction (train station) to catch the Ananthapuri express which leaves 11 PM in the night. We got into our AC II class cabin and crashed. Price of tickets = 1586 for 2 people.

We reached Chennai at 8 AM on Sunday morning.

Wow, what a trip!

I wish honking becomes a commodity … ie you get to sound horn for 10 times or maximum of 60 seconds in a 1 hr driving experience. After this the horn should be disabled for 30 mins — wow that will be something, is it not? I wish we build roads with lanes such that the lane width is equal to the width of the car or bike and has barricades on each side. I wish we have 3 story fly overs instead of one .. come on politicians, that is triple the profit you can make on the tar, stones usage . I realized some of this while training choclate and sox, my cousin sister’s puppies.. animals need to be trained differently than humans and pitifully thats a large chunk of our driving population.

Cheap labour and the most painful experience… I signed up for Big TV from reliance. people promised to come at 12 PM and then after 50 phone calls from myself ended up at 4 PM. hey, comcast does give a 4 hr window (reminds me of the seinfeld episode) but then they turn up and get the job done. In this case, 2 clowns turn up and finish the dish installation but dont activate the connection. They promise to send another clown the next day to do it and no one comes.. it is apparently a holiday. “bloody fools, you just had to tell me that “, was my reply to them. I am not really hard pressed to watch this… india pounded by aussies on day 1,2 is no great treat. But wanna watch sehwag blasting his way through.

Anyway, not to digress Big TV experience has been a shame and I sent an email to them:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Ramasubramanian Ramani <ramasubramanian.ramani@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Subject: Big TV experience
To: info@bigtv.co.in

Hello:

I bought BigTV because it is backed by the Reliance brand and regret doing it. I have not had the chance to look at the quality of the telecast yet and thats the problem. Someone called me yesterday and asked me to wait at 12 PM and I waited till 4 PM when 2 people came in and installed the dish in our terrace and brought the wire to the TV. But the ACTIVATION was not done.

I am waiting for the next person to come and activate the setup. This is horrible experience. Maybe you people don’t care as well but I have to bring it your notice and if required all the way to your chairman. A company such as Reliance having a global presence cannot operate in this crappy manner – you have to be the model company for customer service for others to emulate. In my case, all that is required is to tell me a time when someone will come and install it. if they cannot keep that time, all that is required is a phone call so that I can do my work instead of sitting at home for 4 hrs.

If you dont listen to customers like us, I guarantee you will only be Big TV in name and not in your operations and business. we run a business and know the importance of customer service, even though we are much much smaller than you.

Regards

Rama

Valasaravakkam, Chennai

–
http://smartfool.wordpress.com/

I dont think they care but then my dear friends, I have to vent all these experiences somewhere..

Inspite of all this, I am loving it here in chennai, feel free in mind, body and soul. Working for my dad and spending time with him has been great. So I would suggest you do the same, 3 mons unpaid is not bad after all, time is limited.

Enjoy.

Well I read books pretty rarely and like books that give a kick.. a good feel that lets impacts your thinking, aspect that are actionable and reproduceable or ones that really give you a KICK / jolt requiring you to take stock of your life and make changes. I pick books or content usually when I am travelling during the long flights and sometime make some progress.

The latest one I have started is this book called “The Greatness Guide” and I am beginning to like it. Even though it has 100+ chapters, the chapters are 2 pages each. There is no context that needs to be carried over from chapter to chapter and I can read at my own pace.

Check it out when you get a chance…..

My leave of absence has started as I write – taking 9 weeks off from work and spending time with family should do a world of good for all of us.

I have been thinking about the time off for a while. Life has been a mad rush .. high school à college à masters in the US à getting that first job à switching jobs after with a weekend break, man that’s crazy. So taking this time off helps firstly to slow down the pace, re-charge and think about things. 

The trigger to do it now was personal, getting my parents setup in Chennai in a manner that will help them make the regular US trips is definitely priority one. Secondly, it lets me work with my dad on our business ventures and help to ramp it up and learn the way things work in India. Thirdly, hoping to do some travel within India, go see interesting places and have unique experiences in this trip. It is also a wonderful opportunity to catch up with some old buddies and know things that they are upto.

If you have any recommendations on things I should do, I am all ears, after all I do have 9 weeks J

The announcement to board the flight happens … there is a mad rush of people flocking to the gate. Then slowly the line builds both in the X and Y axis. The bus picks up the folks and gets us close to the aircraft, everyone wants to rush out as-if the airplane has space for 20 ppl only. I find my seat, take the set of magazines bought from the airport stall, leave them on the seat and take a minute to attend to nature’s call.

I return and the magazines are gone. The airhostess tries asking the cleaning staff, looks around and the magazines are GONE. Not sure if one of my co-passengers happily picked it up.

That was when my inner voice came on and said “Welcome to India” J

So if you have an India trip during the NFL season, stop freakin start slingin