Journeys and steps … little steps ... together

It is pretty ironical that I am starting this series of posts during a train journey. The Indian Railways has remarkable ability to inspire thoughts. I realized that most of my earlier posts have also started during a train journey, like this one.

But this time it is different; it is different because this time the post is not about me. It is not about my emotions and experience. It is about people who have influenced my most recent journey, the journey I am currently on, the journey of our startup … ’this post about our team at XAMCHECK’.

Today the news of our first round of venture investment was shared in the public domain. It is one of the small ‘steps’ in this long journey. For Naveen (cofounder) and me it was a usual day at work and we were doing some meetings, hiring talks with some great folks, planning for meetings in Bangalore, working on the product samples, figuring out some issues at banks. What we totally missed was the undercurrent energy and excitement which was there in the team. By the end of the day we were speaking with people and got a sense of it. And after getting on this train, we started getting calls and messages; facebook posts and all the excitement was felt.

For me personally it was not a big day initially, as the news was known internally for a while now and we are already deeply engrossed with the work. All it meant it to me was more responsibility, more balance, more expectations from everywhere and I am trying to figure out how I can stretch my boundaries and try to live to everyone’s expectation. And during all this, when the news was shared in the public domain, people start sharing their emotions. Sensing that energy affected my emotions which went from, feeling weird to humbling to overwhelming and I ended up writing this post.

This post is about acknowledging the stories of the people who bet their lives and careers. This post is about the stories of the people who have made XAMCHECK their identity. The story is about the leadership which often goes unacknowledged. (watch – Derek Sivers ). The story is about our team, which gives XAMCHECK its identity.

XAMCHECK (www.xamcheck.com) is a school exam and personalized learning input company which was incubated in the mother company Policy Innovations. Policy Innovations (www.policyinnovations.in) is an education consulting and impact evaluation company. Before I begin the stories I would like to mention a few names who built the mother company. Gautam Bastian and Sudarshan Gopalan were co-founders with Naveen and I and they still play a role of great friend, mentor and emotional support to Naveen and I. First two members, Sandhya and Aditi, were amazing colleague, friends and mirrors to the founding team. Third member Palash was a bundle of energy who walked with us in all sort of highs and lows with equal ease. And a few other members who came and gone but helped us to build Policy Innovations.

So finally I get to introduce the team I am writing this post about. Following are the core members of the team who displayed amazing leadership and I will be writing about them. I am listing them and will be writing about them in the order of their joining the team –

1. Saraswati
2. Karunya
3. Sailaja
4. Aditya
5. Pankaj
6. Nitya
7. Anuradha
8. Santosh

And then there are many more who have recently join and about to join and will be part of the team in a few months. But what leadership these first few members have displayed and how they stood together against all odds is very very humbling for me personally. I wish that all entrepreneurs can get to work with such amazing people early in the startup journey!

Posts to follow soon…

Varun

Main Chor Hoon !!!

[In response and “partial” support to “Lok Pal Bill” campaign by “India Against Corruption campaign” (http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/), fast by Sri Anna Hazare and article “Mera Neta Chor Hai” (http://www.chetanbhagat.com/2011/04/mera-neta-chor-hai/) by Chetan Bhagat]

Since the day I came to know about the “Lok Pal Bill” campaign and Fast by Anna Hazare, I was planning to pen down my thoughts…but it was the article by Chetan Bhagat "Mera Neta Chor Hai" which was the tipping point…so now at 1:30am I am starting to write!!!

1. So following is what I support/believe –

1.1.India should be against corruption, so should be any civilized society…being corrupt is animal instinct and should be curbed for proper functioning of civil society
1.2.A mass campaign, which is people based – Best way to raise any issue in the democratic setup, using freedom of expression
1.3.Questioning the system – Healthy sign of a good democracy, unless difficult questions are raised society wont progress
1.4.Changing the law – Policies should reflect the demand of common man

2.And what I don’t support / believe in –

2.1.Changing a law won’t solve the problem; we can debate endlessly that it’ll benefit to curb corruption but when the “mantra” of corruption is to bypass rules / law, then how can making a new law can be an efficient solution!!
2.2.The approach of US vs THEM, we the ‘honest’ people fighting against the ‘super corrupt’ politician…as if there is a ‘factory’ where ‘these’ politicians are manufactured…and mind you, the factory must be having excellent quality control measures as all of our politician are very efficient in being corrupt…
2.3.The question raised by Mr Chetan Bhagat – “they won’t make the laws that checks their power”…if you are saying that it means you don’t believe in the “idea of democracy” and “power of vote”…and if you say that ok it is one of the better system but it doesn’t work, then I would ask whom to blame - Corrupt politician or the people who vote for money or don’t vote at all?

3. So if I don’t support it fully, then how would I do it (if I had balls to start such a mass campaign)

3.1.I would start a campaign called “MAIN CHOR HOON”…I’ll write it on my hand and when people will ask –


3.1.1. I’ll tell, The last time a paid a bribe was in a train to get a birth when I was travelling unreserved…
3.1.2. I’ll tell, I feel ashamed of myself that I contributed to the corruption…
3.1.3. I’ll tell, I’ll ‘try my best’ to not indulge in the act of paying or receiving a bribe…
3.1.4. I’ll tell, I’ll ‘try my best’ to protest if an act of bribe happens in front me…
3.1.5. I’ll tell, I know when “I” point a finger at someone, four fingers are pointed towards “me”…each time I criticize someone, I’ll also look at myself !!
3.1.6. I’ll tell, If I won’t pay the bribe, who’ll take it? Imagine in a railway coach, if none of us pay bribe to TTE !! But that will be uncomfortable!!! But if I can’t suffer the discomfort can I really question others??
3.1.7. I’ll tell, The factory producing corrupt politician is “OUR SOCIETY”(Refer to point 2.2)…its We who teach kids to be “smart” by paying bribe and pass save money in electricity…get ticket in train…bribe policeman for not wearing helmet…these are the “Quality Control” procedures which make sure all our politicians are super corrupt…

To summarize we can’t be only demanding our “rights” and be irresponsible at the same time…We are hearing too much about rights but very few are talking about self responsibility……I dream of balance…I dream of ‘responsible people’ ‘demanding their rights’…Anna is one of them, and I support him for that…but are WE???

A visit to KGP…

Background
Few days back I was chatting with Bafna and we were discussing the scope of Agri-businesses in our country and how lots of opportunities exist on the ground and very few technically skilled people are working on ground. We were planning how we can collaborate and work together. Then discussion shifted quickly why people from the department (Agricultural & Food Engineering) are not willing to work in this field. True to my nature of living in the moment, I co-created a group on FB – “AgFE Students’s Union” after that heated debate on how and what can be done together to attract more people to this sector from the department. We also discussed if we can go to the department and talk to students about this.

Then after 4-5 days of this, when we were attempting a “note” to kick of some discussion, we got the news of Prakriti (www.prkt.in), which is techno-managerial innovation camp. This is all student effort to increase space for innovation in Agricultural and Food Engineering sector, a 3day camp where student come from across the country. This was based on “Ankur”, another techno-managerial fest (Conducted March ’06), which we (Me, Kaushik Malpani & Sudu) conceived about 5 year back after our internship with ITC Ltd. So I and Bafna decided that lets go there and take this opportunity to motivate students. And we booked the tickets. We worked a bit on what we are going to speak to students, we had doubts on whether to speak to professors or not, but we didn’t think too much about it. Unfortunately Bafna had to cancel his trip due to unavoidable circumstances and I was not sure whether it’ll be good idea or not to go alone as I knew very few students there.

After my Motorcycle bharat darshan, one of the important learning was “if you want change, you need to work with youth”. Now this was an opportunity to do something with youth and understand the process of motivation. Amidst the confusion of whether or not to go, I thought if I can’t work with my juniors in college whom else I’ll be able to motivate. Keeping this challenge in front of me, I decided to leave for Kharagpur. I met Mahe, Rajat & Asish in Bangalore itself to discuss the idea, got a few ideas from them and they assured they can give sometime to work with juniors. I also called Malu & Sudu and told what I am planning to do, I got their support as well. With all these thoughts I left for KGP on 31st night.

KGP !!!

Reached KGP on 2nd morning, it was nice to be on world’s longest platform once again. Took some pics, and realized that there are lifts on each platform now for disables. Apart from that, the subway which connects station entry to main platform is totally renovated and looked nice. Took a rickshaw to campus so that I can view what’s up with KGP and take some pics also. It took about 30 mins and the “same old views” to reach Technology guest house. New outside the campus was construction of flyover to avoid two railway crossings. Inside the campus it was as some construction competition of Civil Engineering is going on, lots of new constructions have come up and many more in process.

After freshening up spoke to some of the E-Cell guys, went to RDC (Rural Development Centre). Met the Head of RDC, Prof. Bhadauria and also met Prof. Mandal, who works on developing technical solutions for village problems. They are doing some good work in villages around kgp. And then I encountered 44 degree centigrade at 80%+ RH and no rickshaw to rescue which can take me from RDC to Tech Guest House. KGPians can imagine how pleasant that walk would have been. Anyway after a good lunch I started for the inauguration for Prakriti at Kalidasa Auditorium at Vikramshila Complex. A nice brief half an hour ceremony, highlight was Prof. R Singh (Head, AgFE) using lines from Gulzaar – “Aadmi bulbula hai” (Human is a bubble) on never say die spirit of human being. Once the ceremony was over, starting meeting professors, it was very heartening to see that they were equally excited to see me there as I was. Generally all of us feel that Profs are some creatures who derive pleasure from troubling students and their heart is made of stone. But once you graduate and move out, the relation become very cool and same creatures look very peaceful!!! Anyway I definitely felt good after meeting Profs and can’t comment whether this happens to everybody or not.

Anyway after this Profs left and next event – “quiz” started. This is something which always gives me feeling of “not my cup of tea”, and true to my feeling it proved to be NOT my cup of tea. Anyway meanwhile I informed juniors that I would like to speak to them and please inform everybody. The event longer that I expected (may be because I was not enjoying it :P) and once finished I wired my netbook to the projector and started speaking to students. I am trying to reproduce the speech in first person for the benefit of juniors who missed it and of course it won’t be the exactly same!!!

http://journeyofvarun.blogspot.com/2010/04/talk-with-students-of-agfe-2nd-april-10.html

Please wait for another write up shortly on what happened on 3rd April, this will contain –
1. Discussion with students on curriculum chage.
2. Discussion with E-Cell team
3. My participation in the event “Symposium” on the topic – “Relationship between academia and industry”
4. Session on Agri-Entrpreneurship
5. Discussion with Professors – How to work jointly for improving things
6. Yo Patel !!! – My hall, my old room and GC…

Talk with students of AgFE, 2nd April '10

Following is the talk which I had with students of AgFE on 2nd April '10 during Prakriti (www.prkt.in) This of-course is not the exact version, but I have tried to do the justice. You may look at the end of the post for the messages I had for the students if you are not interested in reading the whole blog.

Talk had two parts, one my story and second on what I had to say. Please read as per your interest...

The talk –

“My name is Varun and I am 2006 batch B.Tech in Agricultural and Food Engineering (AgFE). I am here to talk about my story and talk you on what we can collectively do. I would first like to talk about my individual story to make a few points and then would like to speak about what I want to do.

MY STORY

I always wanted to do Entrepreneurship, even before getting into IIT, but had no clue on what to do or what subject to take. My father suggested me to take AgFE, based on his I idea on how Agri and Food are evergreen markets and future presents lots of scope in the food processing. Although I was getting civil and other “lower” branch, which going by “market” way I should have preferred, yet I got into AgFE.

After coming here, Profs told – “If you can’t marry the girl you love, love the girl you marry” and seniors told us to slog hard to get a department change (DepC). Everybody wanted us to leave the department. But I didn’t really pay much attention, thinking I should stick to the original discussion. After end of the first year I had a CGPA of 8.47, which made me eligible for a DepC. I would have got Industrial /Energy etc. and all my friends were pushing me to submit the form, but I didn’t. This was NOT from the conviction on the department or on Agri & Food sector, but was more of let’s see what happens (kind of childish in retrospect)

Up-to the end of second year things went “normal” and this thought of AgFE being a useless department was catching up with most of my batch-mates. Things change for two of us, me and Kaushik Malpani, in the beginning of third year when our seniors told us that in this course called “Agricultural Machinery” taken by Prof. EV Thomas one can’t get a grade better than “B” (8/10). Both of us thought this is impossible, one can always get an “Ex” (10/10) if enough effort is made. And we did that, worked hard for that course, did all assignments and could get an Ex at the end of the semester. Again in sixth sem, we got an opportunity of internship with ITC. Since then things moved very rapidly and we went out, saw scope of AgFE and were all excited. On our way back, in the train me, Malpani & Sudu were very sure that there is a huge gap and something needs to be done, and that’s where ankur was germinated. (Please refer my old blogpost on conceptualization of ankur - http://varunflyinghigh.blogspot.com/2005/09/and-ankur-was-germinated.html)

Then you all know about “ankur”. We conceptualized it, and we could conduct it. It was as tough process you guys are going through. We all went through highs and lows of planning, sponsorship, support etc. but in the end it all went well. (Please refer to my old blogpost which I wrote after completion of Ankur - http://varunflyinghigh.blogspot.com/2006/03/ho-gaya.html)

But the point I am trying to make here, it was not important what we did. The important thing was to NOT believe all the negativity which was there in the system and do what you feel like.

After graduating, I worked with ITC Limited at Guntur (in Andhra Pradesh) for three and half years with their spices business. Worked with supply chain, projects, production, quality etc. Enjoyed my work there, but this feel of doing something on my own was bugging me. In December 2008, I attended PAN IIT (Please refere http://www.paniit2008.org/) Got an opportunity to meet a lot of people and people suggested that if you are interested in Entrepreneurship, why don’t you look into the issue at the ground. Supply chain was an area of interest of mine. I started looking what are the ground level issues of supply chain, how can I make a contribution towards improving supply chain of community. Health-care looked attractive to me as an opportunity to work with healthcare supply-chain. Again started meeting a people and tried to explore what can be done. After sometime I realized that it is impossible to get ideas sitting in the office and hence decided to quit the job. After quitting the job, I planned to relocate to Lucknow (my native place) and work with my father for some time in his NGO (which works on promotion of traditional health care system) to get an idea on ground level issue.

I had I bike in Guntur, and I thought why not drive to Lucknow instead of sending it through transport. Then my father suggested that if you have decided to come on a motorcycle, then at lease go see some of the interesting projects on the way. This gave me the idea of a motorcycle journey and which developed to a five month plan when I realized this “commitment free” phase I’ll never get in my life again. I travelled across the country, drove around 10,000 km and another 10,000 km on public transport, saw 100+ social innovation projects. Few of the photos below will make summarize the effort. Find out more about my journey in my facebook profile (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=app_2347471856&id=664895538)







Currently I am trying to reflect on the process of journey by means of making a report. This will help me to absorb the individual experiences which I had. And currently I am flexible with my future plans and not much worried about what I am really going to do.

Now, WHAT I WANT TO SAY –

Today I have come here in Kharagpur to talk to you about what really is the disconnect between the expectations and the department. I am not here to tell you to leave your job / career to undertake entrepreneurship. Just go back to the moment when we cracked JEE, there was a sense of achievement that accompanies us. We all worked hard to get there and feel great to see our roll no. on the list. Across the India students of science background studied Physics, Chemistry & Maths in class 12th and we never questioned whether Physics was better or Chemistry. But interestingly from the day we start preparing for counseling, we are told that CompSci is better than Elec, which is better than Mech. and so on. When we see everybody do that we believe it to be true.
(see more on this argument on my blog - http://journeyofvarun.blogspot.com/2010/04/response-to-iits-factory-and-copycat.html)

And then we get AgFE, about which very few people know (although it is one of the oldest department). Everyone who meets us before coming to Kgp vaguely talks about the scope in Agri and that how this is the field to be in right now, and how Food is the industry that can never slump, because everyone needs to eat, right? There are talks of government aid in Agriculture, the manpower, the social generation that is about to take over the country. And on the contrary, every IITian bhaiyya that we talk to has just one thing to say: DepC! Work hard and get into the “upper” departments. By the time we’re in Kgp, we’re positively confused whether this department is good or not! We’re nevertheless happy that we’re IITians now.

This euphoria lasts exactly two minutes; or in other words, the time it takes for us to enter the department and talk to the first professor. From day 1 our heads are crammed with the forsakenness of this department, and we start believing right from our first year, that if the profs thinks so too, it must be true. A Department that we don’t even know the ABC of, we’ve already started hating, and a paltry few are dedicated enough to move up, but most of us stay behind for good. Only to curse the department with every waking breath we take and secretly wish we hadn’t even chosen to appear for JEE. Some of we work hard to achieve some sense of semblance.

Earlier the buzz word was IT, now it is Finance because even Consultancies do not wish to take us. Another few of us might stick around and do something worthwhile in the department, but even they think they’d have achieved more if they were in another department. Stay or Go; IT, Finance or Dep; MBA or MS- PhD, students of this department have one thing in common – they hate the Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering.

Now I come to the point which I am trying to make, I am just trying to say don’t believe others of they say you are not good or what you are doing is not good. They may have their perceptions / issues / reasons but let them keep it to themselves. You guys are capable enough to find out for yourself, you have four years to do it. No hurry. And believe me this is not the problem of the AgFE but of most of the engineering branches as core sector cannot match the IT / Finance / Consultancy on salary. At the end of your four years you may still conclude that there is no point in sticking to the AgFE, but then you would not get feeling like, “If I would I have studied better, today I could have pushed for the department jobs” etc.

Again I am not trying to say leave those high paying IT / Finance jobs. I am saying even if you have interest and conviction on the dept jobs, still go ahead and join those high paying jobs to get your stability in career. But say if after 2-4 years you don’t feel like continuing with that, you’ll have options and opportunities in AgFE. And if you are still interested in IT, then work on IT tools for agriculture, innovative supply chain solutions and what not. Similiarly if you are working in finance, you can work on financing models for small scale and farming industry, work on tools for better cash flow managements. These are top of the mind examples and opportunities are endless. So I am putting stress on the fact that you people explore what are the opportunities in the sector.

Now a bit on what is different now!!!
When we were students nobody came to us and told us what can be done. Today I come here and I have spoken to my friends also about what can be done. People are positive about giving their time for things in the department and now its up to you people to do something. Issues will also be there in any system but its upon us how we handle them. Whatever happens in the department happens when people reach in fourth year and need a job. Everybody want to write to companies and hope that something magical will happen. If I run a company and you come to me suddenly one day to ask for a job I’ll say who are you? And then you’ll tell all the stories about the department, about which you yourself are not convinced, and I’ll ask you to get lost “politely”. Then you’ll say lets change the curriculum, to suit the industry requirement. But is setting a curriculum that random process? What about people who want to pursue research, what about people who want to entrepreneurship? Why course should be modified to cater to industry?
My point is things don’t happen in such random way. So I request you to get together and do something, we are there to help you.

What can be done !!!
The mechanism we propose is as follows: We propose to form different awareness groups in the department under an independent body or under AES as central body. The groups will be one for each of the following:
1. Students interested in further studies (MBA and MS-PhD groups can be subdivided)
2. Students interested in getting a job
3. Students interested in entrepreneurship
Each of this group will involve students and concerned alumni in the said field. There should be in place a mentorship program that would involve juniors getting the proper guidance from seniors, and the seniors in turn looking to interact with the outside world through their alumni mentors. These groups will be under the purview of a higher group (either AES or independent body) that directs the communications and policies of these groups while administering the proper guidelines. Each student can be a part of any number of these groups, or not at all! Professors may get involved as volunteers.

Each of these group will work as team to identify development, issues, opportunities in each of these areas and will identify gaps in the departments which needs to be worked upon. It is always easy to make radical statements like change the curriculum, change the system but I strongly believe that is not the answers. Each of these groups will work towards analyzing the issues and come up with well thought, discussed and very specific recommendations. I am sure nobody will say no to this, and alumni will work with the department to see these ideas are implemented. We’ll call industry experts / Research experts / Entrepreneurs throughout the years (and not only in final year when we want jobs!! ) and then work constructively towards improvement. This process will create opportunities for internship, projects which will give good insights to students regarding the actual scope of the department.

Here I would like to make a point – “I would be most happy if you people don’t follow the model I proposed. It’ll be better if you can come up with a model of your own”. What I am trying to say, this is not the only way of doing things. Important is to do something.

Why I am here today !!!

Before closing I want to tell you that why I came here today. Lot of people may think, this is department sentiments or old Ankur sentiments which brought me here. But I would like to ask a question – “If some of you start a venture tomorrow, who is likely to join you?” I am sure apart from your friend and family nobody would like to take a risk in the new venture. People who either believe in the idea or believe in you only will join. Now think that if you want to get real good talented people, from where you can get them? It’s the rapport you build in the department, which will help you to get more of your juniors to join you !! So I have come here today to talk to you all thinking some of you can join me / work together in future. Also it gives me more opportunity to get small projects done in the department is students wish to get associated with me. And this is what seniors will gain by engaging with you all.
I would also like to clarify this is not an ad-hoc response to Prakriti for me to visit the campus. Me and Suvrat bafna already started working on how to engage with the department, even before getting any news of Prakriti. We created a Facebook community call “IIT KGP AgFE Students' Union” for working with students. We called this a “Union” because we strongly believe that things can be improved only by coming together. So this visit was always on the card. Prakriti provides a good opportunity, and hence I am here today.

This concludes on what I wanted to say, I’ll just quickly summarize what I wanted to say.

Summary

1. You need not play all the smart moves in life and need not be lucky all the time, but things will fall in place if you believe “I Can”.
2. Never believe anybody, try out yourself. Nothing is Impossible.
3. AgFE has tremendous opportunity, its for you to find out.
4. You need not sacrifice your lucrative career options of IT /Finance. What I am asking you is to keep your eyes open for the opportunities in AgFE sector. If anytime you want to do something different, you’ll have opportunity. You may actually find opportunities where you can use your experience in IT / Finance in AgFE.
5. All you need to do is come together and actively do something, as seniors we are ready to help you. Engage with Research groups, Industry, Entrepreneurs on regular basis. Doesn’t matter what you do and how you do it.
6. There is my personal benefit also to come here to get good future work partners and resources to get the small projects done.

That’s it from my side. I’ll be happy to take questions.

Social Entrepreneurship vs Socially Aware Entrepreneurship

This is edited chat between me and Rachit Nagalia. We were having discussion on my previous blog post...

http://journeyofvarun.blogspot.com/2010/04/response-to-iits-factory-and-copycat.html

nagalia: dude

me: yups...

just saw ur note...

nagalia: note ??

me: response...on my blog...

nagalia: oh that one

me: well written...

urs is a pure capitalism approach...

nagalia: well... and urs is not

me: urs is better than mine...

in current context...

nagalia: well....dunno better or not

I mean.... trying to improve things is great

but some things take care of themselves....with time

baaki tum lage raho

me: I feel it’s more of complimentary argument...

]rather than contradictory...

]because even I said that nothing wrong in pursuing risks free life..

nagalia: dude...

nobody can say that what u said was wrong

maybe not even the IIT profs....if they were to read it

me: I know :D

nagalia: but aajkal pple are in the 3 idiots mode

isliye all this is coming up....

even in 3 idiots...they did show chatur to have done very well....

me: exactly....thats my point...

even I am saying that...

u can’t stop people pursuing security...

but if you want creativity...

keep on trying for it...don’t blame the system...

nagalia: dude

I got ur point

I agree with it

nagalia: no point debating wid me

me: :D

I think we agree with each other...

nagalia: dude....blaming the system is all pple have...most of the times

and its not their fault....

me: which is not the best thing to do...

nagalia: they haven’t seen a system which encourages you to do something....

"different"

me: yaar role of system is limited...

in terms of college system...

nagalia: haan I agree

but if u have a cousin in US

or u have a loser from school....who fled India and joined some random US college...and is doing much better than u...

all u can do is blame the system

or maybe flee to the US yourself

me: yups...

but even that system will crash...

nothing works on long term...

and my point is…once you go a bit up and see the whole socio-economic system...then you can realize where the actual prob. lies...

nagalia: now thats where I don't agree with u....

I mean....it obviously wont last for ever

and even in the current state it is helped by 'good" people migrating to US from all over the world

me: see the point is...crash doesnt mean an overnight change...

what happens is a change in system...brings a new value set...

which makes current "efficient" system...into an inefficient one...

then system readjusts itself...

nagalia: well...

it will take time

me: so if you say wat happen in US is exactly wat will happen in India...

it wont...

nagalia: but I assume u will keep trying...

me: I’ll give u an example...

see in the case of agriculture...

capitalist argument is people from agri. need to move out from farm sector to industry sector...

once people move out then only productivity and efficiency will improve...

and this can’t be challenge if u analyze this using economic model only...

u need to see the social model also...

in India...agri has become a 3rd grade profession...and nobody wants to stick to it...

so if only fools are left with agri...and all good ppl migrate to industry....

then it wont solve the problem...

nagalia: I get this...

but I dont get the relevance

me: so I am saying...

u may give US example...

but it wont be applicable exactly...

nagalia: abe I am not saying thats what needs to happen or will happen

I am saying....

there is no harm in admitting we are lagging behind in terms of economy

and other societal factors

me: u r saying when enough opportunities are there that security is not an issue...creativity will come...

nagalia: ya

me: but the prob is if the basics are not right...

it wont come...

nagalia: dude....

thats the whole point...

only “then” the basics will change

me: but imagine same agri thing happen here also..

people who are interested in creativity are not in the system...

then who brings the change in the system??

nagalia: dude...everybody is interested in leaving their jobs and starting something new

but they need security

me: dude even people with enough security are not pushing for that...

nagalia: if this year a top company...

lets say this year ITC tells the grads it has hired

go out and do what u want...

start a venture..

if required we will help u connect with pple who can fund you

if u have a good idea

me: ya...

nagalia: and if u fail....lets say by the end of 3 years

this job is here for u to come and take it

else u can join now

how many pple do u think will take up the offer of going out to look

me: point is that wont happen...

nagalia: dude..

first answer the question

me: u know the answer...

nagalia: exactly..

thats what a developed economy says

me: but my point is this wont happen...

nagalia: go out there....do what u want

if u fail....we have a job for u

it will happen

when there are 10 ITCs

it will happen

it may not be exactly how it happened in US

me: and I just trying to tell u “only” security wont change anything...

me: u tell why u r into job??

nagalia: firstly I dont have an idea....which is worth "leaving" the job for

me: exactly....

from where that idea will come??

nagalia: dude....

if I knew that I get this job back...

I wud leave now and explore for sometime

me: unless social environment helps you to think in a diff way...

ideas wont come...

in lack of idea...security wont help...

nagalia: one of my friend in US, she realised she was interested in learning japanese

and now thats what she is gonna do

can u imagine me....leaving IIT to go and learn japanese

??

it is not about "the idea"

me: yaar wahan pe social condition is different...

nagalia: it is about being able to pursue what u want

it is about being able to find out what u want

once u are doing what u want....ideas will come

me: yeh batao why social entrepreneurship is catching popularity here and not in US...

nagalia: because u dont know about the initiatives in US

there are plenty

dude...

me: because the basic needs of ppl is taken care by Govt....

if there are plenty....Yunus mohhamad wont be the biggest expert...

nagalia: which is all beside the point

me: this is not beyond point...

point is you cant rule out social dynamics...

nagalia: my simple point is....my own example

if there wasnt pressure on me to go to IIT

i wud've had 18 years of my life to explore what i really wanted to do

u need to understand....

that children these days are under a lot of pressure

me: dude my point is social is as important as economical..

u r saying its only economical...

i am understanding that what u r saying is one of the two things....

and i am in full agreement with that...

but I cant accept that it is the only thing...

nagalia: i am not saying its the only thing

but i feel things will fall in line

me: say if some X party wins election..

and brings some crazy populist economic schemes and screw up the economic growth??

so the thing is things can go wrong...

similarly u can’t guarantee that “only” economical change will necessarily lead to the change we are looking for...

nagalia: i am not guaranteeing anything

me: some big social unrest happens in the country....like internal frictions by extremists group....ethinicity & religion based riots...

may actually really change the social fabric...

ur point is "if economic growth stays on the correct path....then u feel rest of the things will fall in line"

nagalia: yes....

me: i am saying "even if economic growth stays on the correct path....if other correct steps are not take, things wont fall in line"

nagalia: but I am not saying...."I guarantee it will fall in line"

me: I am telling what you need to do to guarantee it....

or trying to explore...

as I said, what I am proposing is based on the limited knowledge of mine...

nagalia: dude...

nobody can guarantee

me:but u "need" to work towards it...

u r saying...karo to accha hai...

nahi karoge to bhi shayad things will fall in line...

nagalia: i am not a big fan of social entrepreneurship...

i mean I know its important...in our current scenario

but its not something which will resolve anything in the long run

me: neither am I... hence I wont be doing it...

I feel it is a useless thing in the current scenario...

nagalia: nahi....it is important

me: its a half cooked response to the social needs...

which will NOT bring the change which it is attempting

because social entrepreneurs don’t understand social issues

nagalia: but my views are pretty capitalist

i belive it is a "suboptimal" use of resources

me: even mine are...

because thats what the current value of the system is...

so if u want to bring the positive change...

u need to Optimize the resources....

nagalia: exactly...

tell people the language of money...

"but" along with that....

so i agree with ur views to as far as "socially aware" capitalism...as long as bankers keep getting paid nicely

me: exaclty...

I am saying capitalists need to understand society...

work capitalist...

even I will...

but understand how it is impacting the society....and how can u bring the change u want "positively" using this....

and dont sit and say..."i feel it'll bring the change"

nagalia: well....i will surely discuss with u when i do anything...which may bring a change

me: that is the different between social entrepreneurship and "socially aware" (as u quoted) entrepreneurship..

nagalia: hmmm

me: .first is an ad-hoc response to the social issues....

nagalia: and second is a long term solution

me: second is planned response to the social issues...

it may not solve...but it'll create that environment which you are talking...

Response to "The IITs – Factory and the Copycat Problem"

This blog is in the response of the article "The IITs – Factory and the Copycat Problem" http://www.pluggd.in/iit-entrance-exam-or-jee-factory-297/

Disclaimer: I realized only after writing this article that officially Schol. Ave. doesn't endorse this article, which is a sensible thing...But since they posted it, I hope they'll take references to the Schol. Ave. in a good spirit...idea is to bring a positive change and not to criticize Schol.Ave. And I do look forward for Schol.Ave. articles.

No offense to the writer, but after reading the article I feel like reading a third grade populist news paper article, which has been written taking some ideas from the movie "3 idiots" to encourage a mass level cribbing...when I was expecting a quality analysis of the situation (the issues / problems raised are very valid....this is why people will cheer the author)….

Now I myself am not a good writer, (and hence I didnt try to be in Schol ave.) but I expect some quality thinking and writing from the schol. ave. people (that’s why look forward for Schol. Ave. articles), otherwise it'll also become like the IITs of current times and people will be writing articles about how useless and non-creative "schol. ave." has become…

I’ll try to give my analysis of the issue, which we all are trying to address and we all are really concerned about….

IITs….the problem and the solution

IITs were setup by Govt of India to provide technical leadership in the country. It produced good engineers which did really well in all spheres of life. They joined PSUs and led them to excellence, some of them went for teaching, higher education, research. Whether India or abroad, they really did well and the brand was created. Till the time our dear PM Manmohan Singh (Then FM) brought liberalization for India, I feel things were running more or less OK. Post liberalization, unprecedented growth in the Indian industry was observed and it also brought IT bubble which brought lucrative jobs for IITian in India and abroad. IITians really played a role (people may differ on the extent of impact, hence I won’t quantify). And this was the source of the problem. Before I get into explaining the problem, I just want to clarify that I am not against industrialization / capitalism but all I am trying to say that like any other system this also creates some new equilibrium, which if not understood can be destructive (as we are seeing with IITs or infact with all leading academic institutions)

When all of us were studying in class 12th this problem started, but we never realized. Remember how all “good” students would opt for Maths after class 10th, next lot will take Bio, then next lot will take Commerce and the so called “useless” of the batch will have no options but to take Arts in some useless college. No good school will offer arts for class 12th. You may quote exceptions but I think we are dealing this issue in general (so please restrict yourself to give any comments which deals with exceptions…but remember that these exceptions only will ask question against the system and they are the hope if things have to improve).

Ever tried to compare physics with chemistry with Maths?? You may have liking for the one over the other but you wouldn’t find anybody quoting Maths is a better subject than Physics. Now extend the same logic to Science, Commerce and Art. And then extend the same logic for CS to EC to EE to Mech to Chem to Aero to Meta to Mining to…..I think the problem lies in this thinking which is building up. Although this thinking is not illogical, it is simply based on the fact that better the job opportunity, better the security in life and what is wrong if people are attempting security. This new equilibrium was formed by the industrialization post liberalization.

Problem with this thinking is people dumped creativity over security and if that is happening from class tenth to class 12th and extends your choosing subject in the IITs, then how can you expect people to talk creativity in the institute. Always remember that systems are not important, people are. And if people are brought in an environment where security is given preference to creativity, whatever system you propose (curriculum, freedom, relevant projects…etc…etc..) students will re-align them to choose option which will help them to have a secure future or students will be interested in the activities which give them direct profit (add to CV). So if people are really interested that WE the best minds of the country come up with some of the creative stuff, we need to break the mindset and not break the structure.

Now again a clarification, I am not trying to say one system (or the system which are proposed) is not better than the other. You may find some temporary / minor improvement in the situation but you’ll never achieve your dream. And, again, this should not stop you from working towards better structure, but please somebody has to look into the base of the problem also.

So, that’s why I say the three idiot theory of changing the system will not bring the change we are looking for. To bring the outcome we need to work towards changing people and this is my basic argument.

Now I wanted to get into analyzing the Schol. Ave. article but that is not the objective and I have great respect for Schol. Ave. If people are sensible enough they will understand.

Now let’s get into creativity, towards solution of these problems. The solution I am proposing is not the only and comprehensive solution, this is best to my ability and understanding. People are encouraged to add to this or provide alternatives. But solution should be towards breaking the mindset. Lot of people work towards structural changes, which is important but I am not interested in that.

As I said before the change will be brought by the people who are exceptions and they don’t accept to believe what is told to them. And we enough such people, people who are entrepreneurs, social-entrpreneurs, researchers, teachers etc. Anybody who has said NO to the so called main stream of JOB -> MBA -> Job and settle down is an exception. Now if change has to brought about these people need to come back to institute and speak to the students about the alternatives. We have enough examples who joined lucrative jobs and left that to explore other “creative” options. When these people come back and motivate students to exhibit creativity, surely bulk of people will realize that there are options and creativity has a value. This is when you’ll find creative coming back in the system. This is the basic argument, logic can be extended to create avenues to motivate students. In IITKGP, E-Cell and Schol. Ave. are such avenues which promote students to think beyond regular options.

Some cautions – Motive is not to promote everybody for entrepreneurship or do “crazy” (Not mainstream) stuff and if everybody starts doing that, even that will creativity. Idea is to make people realize that there are other ways of doing things and then let people who want security choose security and people who love to take risk take risk. Once people will realize this creativity will start coming back into day-to-day student activity.

I hope this write-up helps at least one person to think differently.

Varun

Agricultural & Food Engineer, 2006

IIT KGP

(varunkumar.83@gmail.com)

Please read my blog and checkout my facebook profile to find out more about the “crazy” stuff I am upto these days.

Day 2 & Day 3

Process of blogging –

This phase of the journey has been really tight…was always running short of time and trying to cover more distance…some minor issues with planning and some other with the fact that I had to reach to Wardha by 16^th as I had to get back to Lucknow (my hometown) for the festival of Diwali…Hence the process which took the beating was blogging…every evening I would pick up my netbook but would just go to sleep…

Today I am blogging in the train from Wardha to Lucknow and trying to catch up to the schedule of blogging…now back to the blog…(16^th Oct 09)

Day 2: Better than day 0 & 1 [Place(s): Hyderabad, Travel: 45 km, Date: 10^th Oct ‘09]

Was feeling tired in the morning and pain was still there…not to mention bike was still an issue…but wanted to catch up with things fast to make up the delay…Fr. John, Sanghmitra called me to the office of NDWM (National Domestic Worker Movement)…there I met Sr. Lissy and her team of empowered women…I explained what journey I am doing and then tried to understand the work…basically they were working the development and rights of domestic workers and unorganized labours in Andhra Pradesh…very dedicated team and very large reach…few of the good works included education of children of such people who otherwise will just roam around in the day, and empowering women by teaching them how to handle their financial matters…

Had my first “community interaction” there…found it difficult to interact and lead the discussion…other problem was the language…I can speak and understand telugu…but like English movies, when people speak very fast in their own accent it becomes difficult sometimes…anyway Sr. Lissy to rescue, she helped in forming the question by taking what I was trying to say…probably group themselves was even bigger help as they spoke very confidently and shared their experiences and issues very openly…I could get a overall picture of the community…

In Andhra Pradesh, there are three major schemes which are run in the health sector. One is 108 – Ambulance, 104 – Mobile Clinic and Insurance for the people living below poverty line (BPL)…all of them were used by the people and corruption overall was low…even in preparation of white card (for BPL families) delay used to happen but not much of corruption / exploitation…but again no white cards for the displaced labourers…other important issue in terms of the access to health, private system is faster and more effective in general but makes money by writing large numbers of test to be done / drugs to be taken…whereas government system is slow with some minor corruptions like paying bribe to peon to enter in the line…but were generally correct in diagnostic and consultation…between these two bad systems, people preferred private whenever they can afford…regarding the mobile they all understand and use it…after I floated the idea of using mobile for information regarding their basic needs, they felt it can be useful, but not much thoughts…session ended with some nice photographs with the team and the reinforcement of learning that people understand quality service and are willing to pay for it if they are ‘able’ to…

After this first session, where I did a miserable job during the discussion…I had lunch with Fr. John and heard his story…then came back to Sudu’s place to take some rest and started again at around 5…now the objective was to get the bike repaired before meeting to Vd. Jaikrishna (who was also supposed to tie me up with the flood relief team)…tried with two local mechanics thinking they will do it fast but they simply refuse to do it stating they are busy…they wanted me to come next morning…after almost giving up the thought of getting it repaired, I saw a Hero Honda showroom…some good sense prevailed at that moment and I went inside…the fellow took time but repaired the thing properly…worst part to know that issue was with carburetor cleaning…which was supposed to be done during the last servicing (Did that on 1^st Oct at Guntut company showroom)…this really pissed me off as this was an avoidable things and I told that guy at least thousand time that please do the servicing properly as I am going on a long trip…anyway another feather in the cap of Guntur customer service…

After getting it done reached Vd. Jaikrishna’s place at Safilguda and had dinner with him and understood his work as practicing ayurvedic doctor…he told me about his customer and diseases profile and other market dynamics…He connected me to Mr. Anilingappa ji of Seva Bharati who was leading the flood relief work in south Mahboobnagar district and next day trip to Mahboobnagar was fixed…although option of train was available, I thought taking the bike there was a good idea as local travel will not be issue…this I did after checking out the distance of Mahboobnagar from Hyderbad (which was about 120 km)…came back to Sudu’s place and went to sleep after a better day apart from another bike repair experience….

Day 3: Crazzy day…lots of learning and lots of driving…[Place(s): Hyderabad & Mahboobnagar, Travel: 475km, Date:11^th Oct ‘09]

I knew before sleeping that it is going to be a special experience with the flood relief process…my mom was worried as post flood disease outbreaks are common…but I said don’t worry as I shall be with the expert relief team and things will be fine…as a part of additional caution I said that I would properly cover my wounds woth bandage…so got up around 7 and pushed off around 7:45…plan was to reach some place called Beechupally at about 10 AM and then park the bike there and go to relief area, come back by 3:30 – 4:00 and drive back to Hyderabad…total expected distance to cover was somewhere 225 – 250 km…

Stopped after driving around 80 km with a great driving experience on 4 lane NH7 for the breakfast…asked the restaurant guy how far is Beechupally and I got shock of the life…he said another 100 km…it took me no time to understand what miscommunication happened…the place is in Mahbubnagar district but is far from the Mahboobnagar town and what I checked on the map was the distance of the town…now I had a decision to make, as going ahead would mean that I would not be able to come back on the same day delaying the program of following day and going back would mean 160 km of useless driving…knowing that there are some arrangements to stay at the base camp and the fact that objective is to get these experience, I took a call that I would go ahead…I called up Mr. Anilingappa and told him that I would be a bit a late, he said come down and assured that he’ll attach me to some team or the other…

Started from the restaurant after stuffing myself as much as I could, as it was informed that there’ll be no food or water available in the area…I also bought some biscuit packets and water bottle…only good factor till now was the road…great driving experience and knowing that I was late, I started cruising at 3 figure speed…covered balance 100 km in about 1 and half hours and reached the base camp at Beechupally at about 11 AM…Beechupally is a village near which a bridge is there on River Krishna…seeing the river I though the flood affected area must be real closed…but that thought prevailed only for few minutes…after reaching I called the team and came to know they just started and wanted me to come another 20 km from the base camp…now I realized that part II of the plan of going to the area on the flood relief team’s vehicle is also gone for a six and shall be driving all through the day on my bike on flood damaged roads…with these mixed feelings of frustration (of poor planning, and distance kept on increasing) and excitement (of driving whole day) I started…started only to realize that 20 km was actually 28.8 km and that too that road was blocked because of the CM’s visit…again called up the team they said come down another 10km where they are stuck in traffic jam…after driving about 220 km (already !!!) I met the team and Mr. Anilingappa joined me on the bike and we were leading the team now…We took a left turn just before the bridge on Tungbhadra River, which got damaged during the flood and I could see the Karnool town from this side of the river…

***Continuing the blogging from the train…(17^th Oct 09)

The Flood Experience: the flood experience was on the expected lines…the damage to the roads, villages and other infrastructure was as one can imagine…the water level next to the river rose as high as 20 ft and even the electricity poles were washed off…watered entered the villages on 2^nd Oct afternoon and villages were informed earlier about this by local government officials, hence no damage to the life in that area…but the level of water was so high that there was a huge damage to the property…water receded on the 3^rd / 4^th and then the relief work started…

I reached the place after a week after the water went down…but still water was there in the low areas…all the kaccha roads (mud roads) were not in the shape to support any kind of transport…but huge team of government was on ground trying to set right the infrastructure in place…they were using gravels and sand to temporary make the roads in a condition to support transport…people were still trying to clear their houses and set their places even after a week of the flood…over and above this misery there was very bad smell which was obvious due to the water logging…no clear sign of mosquitoes (may be because it was day time) and no news of any disease outbreaks…most of the relief workers were using nose mask…that was mostly for smell and to prevent them from diseases…as I came directly to the area, couldn’t get a mask…

We just went passed the area slowly to reach the target area of food distribution…I was worried about the bike as it was really taking a toll and over and above there was a big risk of a puncture, for which I was not prepared (in case of puncture, only option would have been to carry the bike on one of the relief trucks)…but there was no other choice so I kept moving…then I saw huge pile of clothes thrown on the road…on enquiry I came to know that people are not accepting the old clothes distribute by the relief team…after detailed enquiry came to know that people in the area were economically well off…land next to river in productive and they are well connected to markets…and generally the clothes contributed by the people for the relief work are really not in a very good condition to use…and once people start throwing it on the roads, even those who really need them would not pick it up to keep their social esteem…now this was a very tricky situation because social pressure is denying access to a help which is needed and available…it really shows the importance of considering social factors while planning any activity with the community…

On our way to the target area, many group of people tried to stop the vehicle for the relief material, but we had to make our way through the whole situation…After sometime we stopped for distribution of food material which the team was carrying…they had breads and water pouches to distribute…as soon as the jeep stopped a crowed surrounded the jeep and tried to pull the material forcibly…people told me this a common thing during flood relief operation when people try to loot the vehicles carrying the relief material…but I was quite amazed the way relief team handled the whole situation…they convinced them to make a proper queue and distribution started…the good thing was line was intact until the distribution was completed, because if you allow to break the line, people will try to re-enter and the whole thing converts to a big chaos…but the whole thing finished properly and after distributing the breads and water pouches to about 50-60 people we started for the next location…but discipline is really really important to carry out the relief operations…

Reaching next place was really difficult as we went to a very remote village named Gannavaram…road were horrible, couldn’t judge what was the impact of flood and what was their original condition but it took nice toll on my back…after riding for about half an hour we reached their and joined another team of relief workers…this distribution was happening in the center of a village, where damage occurred only to the low lying areas…but the discipline was amazing and I noticed one more unusual thing…everybody was carrying their ration cards…I enquired about the same and came to know that relief team had already visited the areas before and identified the families which were affected…only such identified families were supposed to get the relief material…truly speaking I didn’t expect such a level of planning and professionalism…one the line was formed and distribution started, it took not more than 15 minutes to distribute food to 100-125 people…it is an experience in itself to see such a process carried out in such a peaceful manner…I came to know that most of the government trucks are looted and most of the NGO distribution happen peacefully…in fact a government team came to Seva Bharti team requesting their assistance in distributing the material, which the gladly accepted…this is because NGO people reach out to the people in advance and try to connect to them, plan the operation with the community seniors and for government people it’s only a process to achieve a target of x number of packets…exceptions may be there but this is the overall story…but people recognize this and I witnessed it happening…then we moved to other part of the village and distribution continued…I also tried to find out the extent of damage to the standing crops, but couldn’t get much details on that…crops grown in that area are paddy and some other cash crops…

It was amazing to see people, most of them were not looking stressed / worried...they were hopeful and were sure that things will improve quickly…this may be a story of this area only because of the good agriculture…but I was happy to see that there were positive feelings…during all this time kids were roaming around freely, it was a gala time for them as all the parents were busy in getting the relief material for survival and of course there were school holidays…my bike and my biking gear was a attraction for them…I also had some good time with the kids…with all these feelings we headed back to the base camp…I wouldn’t say it was an eye opening experience but it is really different to see actual things happening on the ground what you expect / see on tv / read in news papers…

On the way back Mr. Anilingappa went with the other team and Mr. Baloo and Mr. Amarendra joined me on the bike…triplee...both of them were teachers in the Mahboobnagar…they gave me some insight on the planning process of the relief operation…I was happy with the discussion but was thinking if my bike could speak it would curse me…anyway, we stopped in between to meet some of Baloo’s relative and then headed back to the base camp…

Relief Planning: Base camp was setup in an Engineering college at Beechupally…a hostel was allotted to the relief team and in the ground all the material was received and repacked into the packets…we reached there at about 4:30 and went to take lunch…after taking the lunch tried to understand the planning process of the whole operation…there are actual four phases of the planning…these phases are classified based on my understanding only…

o Phase I - Rescue : This phase is all about getting out the people who are trapped in the water to a safe place or safety zone…volunteers reach immediately reach to the area and whole focus is on saving the life with whatever means available…in this phase another team woks on arranging some food material for the people and its generally cooked food which is arranged from neighboring towns…senior people arrange for a base camp and material to be arranged for the next phases…this phase is mostly unplanned and local resources are used…government also reaches to the site and try to help people for both rescue and food…

o Phase II – Survey: As soon as the water starts receding, a team of young people quickly do a comprehensive survey of the affected villages…they prepare a list of the villages, population, extent of damage etc…in many villages damage happen to some low lying parts only…in such villages they prepare a list of affected people…government also does the planning based on the number of villages and population but they don’t conduct such massive survey to assess the actual issue...Seva Bharati team claimed that this process of survey helps them to connect to people and once the credibility is establish it is much easier to control the mob during the actual distribution…

o Phase III – Immediate relief: This is the part of the operation which I witnessed…this involves getting the aid from external agencies…making food packets at the base camp (they may contain utensils also) and daily sending teams to various villages with planned number of packets…by this stage people don’t want to take cooked food and ask (not request) for raw food only…[the reasons for this was people feel cooked food is more like what beggers get and raw food (grains etc.) is like the ration and that’s their right…also raw food can be stored and cooked food is good for only a meal or two] [Reason for ask and not request was these people feel that its government’s responsibility to give them the food material and the fact that they are economically well off, requesting is like begging]..this process continues for about 15-20 days…meanwhile government has a major role to set right the infrastructure as only government works towards that…I witnessed that NH7 was fully repair and even the dividers were repaired…one side of the bridge on Tungbhadra River (next to Karnool) was repaired from one side and other side repair was in progress…also a good number of government teams were working to repair the access roads to villages…

o Phase IV – Rehabilitation: This is most neglected part by both government and NGOs, majorly because it doesn’t have any “media” value…people in our country really forget things very quickly and hence it doesn’t give good popularity to the teams working for rehabilitation for the people who lose their house during the floods…although local teams were really interested in carrying out this work but because of above mentioned reasons funds were not available…

Going back and ‘Ants’: It was almost six by the time we finished the discussion on relief process…got hold of some data prepared by the team, which showed goods worth almost Rs 1.1 Cr. Was distributed by their team alone during the operation, majority of which was food…followed by this there was a review meeting planned but then I thought why not go back now itself…although it was a crazy idea to go back as it would mean 450+ km which is insane and would be travelling in night…but then I thought if stay here I am not assured of a good sleep and would need to start real early in the morning…and because of the travelling I would feel tired again…as far as driving was concerned, I had seen the road and was comfortable on driving that four lane high way…So I took the bold decision of going back…

But then one of the most unexpected things happen…I kept the safety jacket and gloves at one corner while I had the lunch and discussion…when I wore my jacket immediately ants started biting me…I immediately took it off to realize what has happened, there were thousands of ants inside my jacket, inside gloves and on my bag….what happened was during driving there are lot of small bugs and insects come and hit the jacket to die…ants came to eat those dead insects…but this lead to major problem as jacket, gloves and bag, all three had net type cloth and ants were both inside and outside…with time not on my side cleaning up that thing was really frustrating…after 15 minutes of dedicated effort I realized that it is impossible to get rid of ants…so I started driving and hung the jacket from the handle hoping ants would fly off…after riding about 5 km I stopped to check again, still some of them were there so cleaned them manually and wore it with front zip open so that it flies off and if one or two are left they don’t bother me…after riding another 15 minutes I zipped the jacket and was hoping nothing will happen and luckily nothing happened…

Night driving – Plan for this five month journey was to never drive long distances in the night and I was driving in the night on the third day of the trip itself…Driving on a four lane high with divider is real easy as there is no traffic coming towards you…what you need to do in such case is to find a four wheeler in your speed range and just follow it…this helps you in many ways, one - it blocks the light coming from the vehicles coming towards you, two – it gives you extra light and hence better view of your side of the lane, third – it clears pedestrians and cycle riders for you…with this funda just rocked the road and covered 180 km in 2.5 hrs which included two breaks…only problem was the number of insects hitting on the visor kept going up and hence one break was to just clean the visor…anyway reached back safely to Hyderabad and called Sudu…both of us went to subway, had a nice sub and moved back to sudu’s place…shared a bit of story with him, made one or two call and crashed into the bed with following status message on the Facebook –

krrraaaazzzzyyyyy day... Drove 475 km in the day....when plan was to drive 225-250 km... Drove 50 km on the flood damaged roads.... Drove another 50 km triple to get volunteers back to the base camp... Witnessed relief work for the flood affected area near Kurnool... one of the most memorable day of my life...