Slogan for next wave of technologies!

"OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people!"

Coming from India, I truly beleived in this slogan since my childhoold and it has always fascinated me how we can apply this principle of democracy to our current fast paced internet world and now I am amazed to actually see how this will form the basis of next generation internet technologies.

Internet sure has come a long way since it's birth and many advanced technologies made it close to impossible to even think of a day without internet. We definetely are moving away quickly from a generation where companies decided what they wanted people to know to a time where companies have just begun to understand what people may want to know and how companies could provide that information to those people. Simply said, the now mantra is to provide the right information to the right people at the right time!

However, technologies like chat, video sharing, blogging, social networking are bringing more people closer not just to stay in touch w/ friends and family but actually being able to distribute the content seamlessly with each other and even w/ people whom they have probably never met in their life. Here I find it very critical to underline the thread of human connections and how these connections are shaping the information that is relevant to them and to others with whom they'd like to share.

I think it will be premature to think that companies will now only be platforms for the user generated content. It is definetely to be seen how and when all these dots come together if companies could let a couch potato who blogged on Joanne Rowling, enjoy a TV commercial on Harry Potter book and actually let him order and pay for a copy of the book via his cell phone...What do you think? :)

In any case, I am just excited than ever to see internet companies attempting to understand the fact that future lies to enable build, retain and foster these relationships OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people :)

Am back...

I am back again!! Back to blogging, back to San Jose, back to same old routine :) Did you ever feel very excited to get a change from the routine but when you actually are out there, you miss home? I did, and my story below will tell you why :)

Not very long ago it all began in a 'lighthouse', 10-12 of us brainstorming/white boarding while more cans of Talking Rain popped open. We were on a mission - goal to revolutionalize our products. Well, the actual product details are hardly the point of this discussion, but just to give you a gist of one of the decisions made that day, I ended up on a flight to Europe, thus began my journey!

My first stop over was at Berlin, Germany. This city welcomes you with its warm and friendly people, touches you with its history, amazes you with its buildings, saddens you with its real stories, teases you with its night life, satisfies you with its tasty food and in short this is a city that surely wins your heart!! It won mine :) Here are my highlights:
1. Berliners are sooper friendly!!
2. Driving on Auto Bahn is crazzyyyyyyy!! Also, loved the walks from Karl-Lieb(Karl-Liebknecht-Str) onto Unter den Linden onto Kaiser Damm
3. Floating Beer - can you ask more?
4. Fashion lives on Ku' Damm!!
5. Alexander Platz/ Potsdamer Platz - name it, every piece of Berlin is filled with history, real stories...

Danke Shun Berlin, for making my trip memorable for a life time!!!
Checkout more pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23849442@N00/sets/

After a fun filled week at Berlin, I flew to the most romantic city, des La Paris :o) Come back soon to experience Paris my way and to learn how i missed home!!

What do I want...

Any guess?? well, I got none... surely, this has been one thought on my head for few days now, I scratch my head again but as usual i got no where with the chain of thoughts...

• When I was a teen, I wanted Richard Gere
• I wanted to become sooper famous by 22
• I want to become a global manager and roam around the world discussing high profile strategies (like when Phoebe from Friends becomes a Merill Lynch consultant)
• I want to own a 'small car' (SLK 55 is small - no?)
• I want to be the coolest mom ever (dont get any clues here)
• Before that I want to jump off a plane (No silly, Sky diving i meant)
• I want to form/work fulltime for a NGO group
• I want to own a farm house when I retire, farms till my eyes can reach (at that age, it wont be too far)

yadi yadi yada....you know how mind works!

Now, the other side of the head dictates just hard core reality and practical possibilities, the one that says, "Honey, lets get real here...Richard Gere??" Some of these things i realized are still possible, yet there is a silver fine line between what I want and what I can get...Anyways, who really knows what one wants, ye?

While you ponder on your wishes, I'd say for now i want a piece of that yummmmy rum soaked tiramasu from Buca Di Beppo! :)

...and hey, thanks for hanging around sooo long! :)

Journey that never ends...

"స్వర్గాలను అన్దుకొనాలని వడిగా గుడి మెఠ్లెకేవు
సాఠి మనిషి వేదన చూస్తూ జాలి లేని శిలవైనావు
కరుణను మరిపిన్చేదా చదువు సమ్స్కారం అన్టె
గున్డె బన్ఢగా మార్చేదా సామ్ప్ఱదాయం అన్టె

నువ్వు తినే ప్రతి ఒక మెతుకు ఈ సన్ఙం పన్డిన్చిన్దే
గర్విన్చే ఈ నీ బ్రతుకు ఈ సమాజమే మలిచిన్ది
రుణం తీర్చు తరుణం వస్తే తప్పించుకు పోతున్నావా
తెప్ప తగలబెటేస్తావా యేరు దాటగానే "

Sorry for those who cannot read telugu, you may find my feeble attempt in translation below. These lines by Sirivennala SeetharamaSastry (Movie: Rudraveena), stand true to their meaning irrespective of race/religion/sex. They portray the human nature in the most simplest yet profound way...

"Pleasures you seek and attempt to please Him
I see no misfortune could melt your heart
compassion did they miss in your education
or is it the culture that turned you stone hearted?

who sow the seeds of every meal you cherish,
who made your life a success till you perish,
are you turning back when you need to share
will you burn the log that took you to shore? "

This truth of life, a journey that we embark to reach heights continues...if only we are more consciously aware of our social responsibilities, our journeys may light up many lives on the way, I say.

* May be a lighter post next time! :)

Wanna Be(e)?

A 3-year old girl wearing her favorite yellow flowery frock, a frock that hardly covers her little diapi ran around the room thinking "Thank god, we have guests over!" Her heart sinks when she hears her mommy call her from across the room...She quitely walks towards her mom thinking "its okay! make the innocent face, it always works!".

Her mom takes her into her arms and asks "Chinni, why dont you tell Vijji auntie, Rama auntie, Saraswati auntie, what you want to be when you grow up?". The girl thinks to herself if it is a trick question and with her best innocent little face, "I wanna be a Butler!" she says. Ofcourse, the room fills with a hearty laughter! Though I, the little girl (yes, me and this is a real story) didnt knew then how people can laugh at such a fancy word like 'Butler' :)

Now as we grow up, we learn more fancy words and tell ourselves:
“I want to be Aishwarya Rai!”
or “I want to be the next Bill Gates!”

or sometimes even “I want to be Britney Spears!” – okay, now that’s not true but you get the point. We as humans wish to be Heroes in real life. We love to be praised about, walk into a room full of people and turn some heads around…bottom line, we crave for attention! People, who cannot agree with me, look back into yourselves…Honey, not into your shirt!

While this craving blindfolds us, did we forget to count our blessings? Did we forget to thank for what we have in our hands? Over dosage of this craving, fancily called aspiration, can even have the adverse effects of turning a normal person into a complete pessimist, when one of such “wanna be’s” flip over.

In short, is this some kind of a bee that stung us to always aspire to Wanna be someone else that we might not even actually be?

* While you all read that again and share your thoughts or what you wanna be, let me tell you that I am really (not that Oscar- winning-artificially-real, but really ) touched to see you all patiently wait for me to get back…Huggzz to ya! :)

Still Alive...

Yesh, Yesh am still alive and thy shall return soon.......

Bajrang bali ki Jai

“Ram dhoot atulith bal dhama
Anjani putr Pavan sut namah”

He is no stranger to any Indian child. Stories of his bravery and devotion, told in many languages all over India, leaves an impression in many as a symbol of strength. I particularly was fond of episodes where he destroys the entire lanka and extends his tail to trouble the ministers in the court room of Ravana :) I felt a deja vu watching 'Hanuman' to see the images I pictured in my childhood about him on the screen. I bet I am not the only one who would feel so; it is a very well narrated desi animation, and the melodious compositions by Tapas just enhanced the experience :)
Now while we are at it, I also came across these NASA pictures of suspected Varadhi recently. Though I cannot vouch for the validity of this information, they sure are very interesting findings. Check more details at RENSE.

WASHINGTON (PTI) -- The NASA Shuttle has imaged a mysterious ancient bridge between India and Sri Lanka, as mentioned in the Ramayana. The evidence, say experts matter-of-factly, is in the Digital Image Collection.

The recently discovered bridge, currently named as Adam's Bridge and made of a chain of shoals, 30 km long, in the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka, reveals a mystery behind it.

The bridge's unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man-made. Legend as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge’s age are also almost equivalent.

What else can we say but Jai ho Hanuman-jhi! :)