the weblog of sriram varadarajan.

Have you ever tried catching a pigeon by hand? I haven’t....

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:53:00 +0530

Have you ever tried catching a pigeon by hand? I haven’t. For some reason, I wouldn’t even try. Logic tells me that it’s not possible. Pigeons are way too quick for us humans. But this kid would just not give up. He tried for a good 20 minutes, before being dragged away by his father.

How long did you try chasing something before giving up? Did someone convince you that it’s not possible or force you to stop trying? Was that someone you? Did you give the kid a chance to prove you wrong?

Photos taken outside the Tate Museum, London.

The 70-20-10 Rule.

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:45:20 +0530

While surfing through Johnathan Mann’s A-Song-a-Day collection, I came across this rather interesting graph which he calls the 70-20-10 Rule. He argues that on an average, 70% of all his songs would turn out to be mediocre, 20% of them bad and 10% would be the good ones. If he wrote one song a day instead of one per week, the number of good songs that he would write in his lifetime would increase substantially.

Sounds logical. And if you love doing something, by doing more of it regularly -

You’ll simply get better at it.
You’ll be spending more amount of your time doing what you love.
You’ll be creating more art than ever before!

Meanwhile, here are a couple of videos from the good category - How is the world different? & I wanna know everyone.

Row D - Seat 278

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:20:00 +0530

When I was 10 years old, Leander Paes won the singles bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics - the first individual medal for India since Dadasaheb Jadhav’s win in 1952. 14 years later, it was awesome to see this man do his magic at the Center Court - he was playing as hard as ever before and every time the game seemed to slip away from him, he hit back. And that’s the pattern you can find throughout his tennis career. Respect.

For 5 quids, this was probably one of the best deals ever. If you happen to queue up for the Wimbledon Championships (awesome festive xp!), your strategy should be to watch the Men’s Finals from the Henman Hill and get a resale ticket for the Mixed Doubles.

Great cities are not known for their buildings & monuments...

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 04:51:00 +0530

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

Great cities are not known for their buildings & monuments alone, but for the unique cultural identity that they build for themselves over many decades. As a tourist, if you asked me about Mumbai, it would be very difficult for me to list out 5 places that could make you feel the magic that Mumbai is! You have to live life like a normal Mumbaikar - take the morning local train to work, pick up a random conversation with a random co-passenger, share a vadapav at that roadside stall outside your college or an idli sambar at Mani’s Cafe, go on a weekend trek to Matheran when it rains, witness ganesh visarjan or participate in community dandiya events, watch a play at prithvi, read BT every morning, discuss a T20 match at work - All simple, disconnected events that add up to this experience called Mumbai. A photo in front of the Gateway or Marine Drive can merely help you cross out one of the to-dos suggested in your travel guide. Paris isn’t just about the Eiffel tower or Louvre; it’s about the romance, art & renaissance visible today in many different ways.

I’m trying to discover London this summer. I love the tube rides, the long walks, the football games in a local pub, the chivalrous Brit habit of saying Sorry & Thank you atleast a hundred times every day, the street art and ofcourse, the architecture & museums. I feel like I’m discovering more of London, the culture rather than London, the city.

Meanwhile, it’s interesting to think about the cities that we are building today. Dubai, Singapore, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Al-khobar - The central theme has been malls & shopping, multiplexes, multi-cuisine restaurants, commercial complexes and apartments for nuclear families. Would any of these cities evolve into a great city and develop a unique culture for itself? Or would they be industrial carbon copies of one another? What is the ecosystem needed for a city to organically grow a culture of its own? Does the state and the institutions therein matter, or do people unknowingly create a culture over time?

Kaun Kiska Bhagwan.

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:14:00 +0530

After haggling with 3 cab drivers, I thought the days of paying a cab by the meter were long gone. This realization comes as a shock to any true Mumbaikar. You can always find us bragging about our cab drivers & autowalas, especially when we are held at ransom by the ones in Bengaluru & Chennai. Seeing my plight, a cab driver in his late 50s walked up to me and asked for the departure time of my flight. I said - 7:30. He took a quick glance at his watch and said - Chalo Saheb, der ho rahi hai. I get into the cab, still unsure if this guy was going to charge me by the meter or if all the bargaining was pointless. Either ways, I did have a flight to catch and I was running late.

Saheb, the world is all about money now and there isn’t any kindness left. I nodded my head in agreement. With one hand on the steering, one eye on the road & another on me, he begins to narrate a story from his past… a truly remarkable story!

Back in 1991, when the cab driver was a lot younger, he used to drive his taxi in & around Churchgate. Once, while he was waiting outside the railway station, he spotted this well-dressed young fellow, walking up and down the street, looking a bit tensed. He called out to him and asked him where he wanted to go. The young man named a place that was 15 minutes away, but added that he had no money. He had forgotten his wallet back home and as luck would have it, he had a job interview that was to start in 10 minutes. The taxi driver immediately tells him to get into the cab and drives him to the place. Just when the young man was about to get off the cab, the cabbie asks him - Saheb, paise nahi hai tho interview ke baad aap ghar kaise jaoge? The young man returns a smile and the cab driver pulls out a 50 rupee note from his pocket and hands it to him saying - Agli baar milenge tho de dena.

Fast-forward. 6 years later, in 1997, while the cabbie was waiting at the Churchgate station, a group of 3 got into his cab. After dropping 2 of them at their homes, the third guy, who’s face looked familiar, asked the cabbie to take him to a residential complex in Andheri. On reaching Andheri, the guy asked him to wait in the parking lot. A few minutes later, an old lady walks towards him with her hands folded and asks him to come with her. The taxi driver was, as expected, confused and he had no clue why she was calling him home. It turns out that the lady was the mother of the guy he had helped, 6 years earlier. The young man had managed to get the job and now, had become the Manager of that company.

The old lady, as a gesture of gratitude, wanted to serve him food. When he was about to leave, she gave him a box of sweets & an envelope. She said - Idhar ise mat kholo, yeh tumhare bachon ke liye hai. On reaching home, he found Rs. 11, 111 neatly stacked inside the envelope, with a hand-written letter. Being illiterate, he gives the letter to his daughter and asks her to read it. She reads it and says - Baba, aap ise padoge tho zaroor rone lag jaoge. Bahut pyaari chitti hai. He was a father of 7 girls and was leading a very tough life back then. This money helped him raise his children.

Fast forward to 2010. Mr. Iyer (the young man) always makes it a point to call him when he needs a cab to go to the airport. Mr. Iyer has attended the wedding of all his daughters.

Saheb, yeh kahaani mein isliye kehta hoon ki aap samjhe is duniya mein kya chamatkar hote hain. Kaun kiska bhagwan ban jaata hai. Zindagi tho zindadilon ki hai. Ab dekhiye, kabhi tho aap yeh kahaani ke baare mein sochenge, tho mujhe yaad karenge.

I just sat there speechless. This is perhaps the story that you would want to tell your kids before you put them to sleep. Or perhaps, this is the story you would want to tell yourself time and again. Imagine how it would be if you can genuinely care for people around you. It makes you believe in human relationships, all over again.

Still Alive.

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 04:21:00 +0530

A cloud gathers, the rain falls, men live; the cloud disperses without rain, and men and animals die. In the deserts of southern Arabia there is no rhythm of the seasons, no rise and fall of sap, but empty wastes where only the changing temperature marks the passage of the year.

It takes a while to appreciate Thesiger’s notes on the Arabian desert. It’s so true.

Over time, the desert teaches you to respect & accept nature for what it is - without any protest, anger or remorse. You don’t really have a choice. Listening to people and their harsh life stories makes you cringe, yet you find them smiling. You learn to smile as well. You begin to believe that there is a god looking out for them and that he looks after you.

Conversations, as such, become fewer; emotions subdued. Words become more precious. Your stories don’t really matter. Blogs begin to die.

—

P.S. I had to make a choice today - Pay 19 bucks or give up on this domain. I decided to hold on for some more time!

My home for another 3-4 months - The Wireline truck.

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:40:35 +0530

My home for another 3-4 months - The Wireline truck.

Getting set for another long drive!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:35:53 +0530

Getting set for another long drive!

The setting sun & the rising moon on either side of the...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:29:03 +0530

The setting sun & the rising moon on either side of the Arabian desert sky.

My Auroville Days

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:23:44 +0530

A road-trip against global warming.

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:39:20 +0530

“Why this mad, insane plan to travel across India in a caravan of solar electric cars and jatropha trucks with solar music, art, dance and a potent message for climate solutions? Well … the world needs crazy ideas to change things, because the conventional way of thinking is not working anymore.”

- Yes, they could. So they did. by Thomas Friedman in the NY Times

"It doesn’t matter what people tell you. It doesn’t matter what they might say. Sometimes you have to..."

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:15:10 +0530

“It doesn’t matter what people tell you. It doesn’t matter what they might say. Sometimes you have to leave home. Sometimes, running away means you’re headed in the exact right direction.”

- Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic) (via thresca) (via myownmelt) (via onherway)

Going to school is fun.

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:09:00 +0530

Couple of months back, I had blogged this. Yet another idea that could end up being a mere blogpost! But then, to see the folks at GTS work on such ideas to motivate kids to attend school, is simply awe-inspiring.

Success stories of educated women that inspire girls to go to school.

Hardships of a boy going to a school get transformed into an experience of joy, learning and discovery for the other kids.

3 Questions.

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:36:12 +0530

Gaurav Mishra raises 3 pertinent questions on using social media for social change -

How valuable is online activism without offline action?
What are the conditions under which online activism leads to offline action?
In general, how does one reduce the gap between online activism and offline action?

While our Fellows are getting geared up to launch campaigns to support change at the grassroots and use social media as a tool, they must answer these 3 questions to be able to achieve what they set out to do.

Snapshots from my Dream Run.

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:59:00 +0530

Belgian Herge: By believing in his dreams, a man turns them into reality.

A special thanks to all those who supported my run at the Mumbai Marathon and gave their 2 cents towards the cause.

And thanks Sonali, Claire, Kalpana, Anju, Will & Co. for making it a whole lot of fun!

Dream On.

ROTFL.

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:25:19 +0530

Seth: So, what's the GP, RA?"
Ryan: I have no idea what you just said.
Seth:"Game plan, Ryan Atwood
Ryan: You're just using initials now?"
Seth: Yeah, it saves time.
Ryan: Well not if you have to translate.
Seth: GP.
Ryan: Game plan?
Seth: Good point

The other side.

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:15:48 +0530

Well, what if there are no openings come this May—literally none. No job postings. No on campus interviews. No job fairs. This isn’t a fantasy. It’s happening right now. Even the companies that are showing up to job fairs aren’t hiring—they’re just there for branding. Let’s not even talk about the number of people getting laid off everyday. You know what that makes all these students, and everyone else out there in the job market…

…besides screwed?

Entrepreneurs.

— In this economy, we’re all entrepreneurs | from This is going to be BIG! - Comments on New York Tech Community, Startups, Venture Capital and Career Education (via fred-wilson) (via robot-heart)

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:56:04 +0530

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

- Anne Frank (via buttonjar) (via angad)

Running for a cause.

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:15:00 +0530

A day to go for the Mumbai Marathon.

I’m all excited to be running. And more importantly, to be running for a cause that I truly believe in.

Founded in 1999, Dream-a-Dream provides children from vulnerable backgrounds with non-traditional educational opportunities designed to allow them to explore, innovate and build important life skills. These life skills are fundamental to child/youth development and to the successful transition into adulthood. Dream-a-dream reaches out to over 1,000 vulnerable children in Bangalore with the support of nearly 700 volunteers.

I got a chance to interact with Vishal Talreja during the Orientation Program of Grassroutes. It was really inspiring and heart-warming to hear him talk about how his team brings cheer to hundreds of children.

Let’s give our 2 cents to spread the joy. Now. Every rupee raised will go towards helping a child realize his dream.

Dream-a-Dream Football Program

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, but we forget that he is someone today.

Dream job.

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:22:53 +0530

It really can’t get better than this.

But then, I don’t know how to dive, snorkel & sail. Damn!