A very effective networking method

I was invited to join a team of people for morning breakfast. That group meets often and has fun parties every month. This is a club called the Laughter Club in Jayanagar, Bangalore. This club has many branches around India and the world. Main goal of this club is to laugh! You might have seen people laughing without any reason in the park every morning. Next time, just think that it is one of these Laughter Clubs. Good thing is - there is no membership. There is no politics of President or Secretary or elections. They have a leader who teaches them basic physical fitness exercises and also breathing exercises. You might deduce that this club is for the old :). Be it!

Now, coming to my understanding of this Club! Getting acquainted with these people is very helpful. People here are from various walks of life - some a retired officials in the Govt., some are in business, few a in art/theater/music, few politicians too! Getting involved in this club will create good contacts with these type of people. We never know whom we might need for any help.

These people have very high contacts - It traces down to their son, grandson, etc. For these people, there is no need of web contacts or email. All they manage is by phone and personal relationship. I appreciate their way of understanding and helping nature.

I didn't mention the breakfast fun - See pictures here and that will explain the rest :0

How will it be to meet old friends?

After returning from US, I am having a great time meeting old friends. The first day I went to my office here, I saw another IT company building next to mine. I just went in and asked at the reception, "Is HS here in this office?" That HS was my high school friend and last I had met him was a decade ago. May be 5 years ago, I had heard that he works for that ABC company. Not to my surprise, HS was still working for ABC and I met him immediately.

Today, I got one email from my very old friend, HB, that he was getting married. Last I had met him was 15 years ago. Email ID was the biggest contact information we had. In his email, there was no phone number to reach him. I replied to his email asking for his phone number. Within minutes, I got it. Very soon, we talked over phone! His cousin, PB, again my school friend, works for a company whose office is located in front of our building. I took PB's number and called him to come to reception counter. It was a big surprise for him to see me after 17 years!

Coming to 'what we talk?' - Same usual topics for our age - 'are you 1,2 or 3?' From there, it goes to 'where were you these many years?'. I don't forget to ask about our old friend. Discussion on that goes a long way with no less than 20 names coming in; "Where is he? What is she doing? Oh, is he doing business? etc... etc"

Few unfortunate things to know - Demise of some of our teachers.

Corridor to hot seat

Corridor to hot seat(s) - picture of a corridor in our office.

Experiment with the moon

Tried to take moon's picture.
Observations: My camera is a very normal camera to do such experiements!

P & T - Ayyanar College of music

Purandara and Thyagaraja Aradhana was organized by Ayyanar College of music this week. All 5 days, from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, there was music program by kids, students and reputed musicians. I did my bit of singing on Saturday by singing 'mArubalka..' in Sriranjani.

I was really impressed with performances of kids. Few kids sang really well which shows how good their guru-s have trained. On Friday, 5 kids performed on the mridangam - Interesting thing to note was that each mridangam was tuned to one note of Mohana - 'sa' , 'ri', 'ga', 'pa' and 'dha'. All kids were in the age of 7-10.

Sunday's program started with 'oonchya vritthi' - a procession by reciting songs. Later, there was felicitation to 3 artists. Pancharatna recital was the main part of the day. More than 600 people, including artists and music lovers joined the group singing. Lunch was served to all after this.

It was my first Aaradhana program in India since 2002. I loved every bit of it. Meeting many artists after a long time was a good treat. Also, I was introduced to few new/upcoming budding talent. Not to forget the blessings of all the elder musicians!

Ayyanar College of music really did a wonderful work in bringing in all the support and co-operation of music lovers and musicians. Vid. Anoor Dattathreya Sharma and Vid. Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma, the pillars of Ayyanar college, are instrumental in carrying the mantle of their musician father, Late Vid. Anoor Ramakrishna.

Mysore-Bangalore Highway (Part 2)

Flowers on the median

Good road!

Mysore-Bangalore Highway

Toll booth near Bangalore (they have not started collecting toll)

Road is really good!

I liked colorful flowers on the median!

This is Mysore! The sitting place is used during Mysore Dasara Parade.

Pick a pair - Mahjongg Solitaire

This picture reminds me of Mahjongg Solitaire, a game where we pick 2 similar tiles from the group.

Planning future

"Where do you see yourself 5 years down the lane?" - This is such a typical question in any interview that answers are well prepared.

Last week, I asked my cafe friend (the one who maintains vending machine) the same question. I asked him, "what do you plan to do 5 years from now?" Usually, when I head for morning 10am coffee, I talk to this guy for couple of minutes. Topics range from Politics to movies. Without much hesitation, I asked him this as I wanted to have an idea how people plan their career.

What did he answer? This is what he had to say - "What sir? You are asking me such a question! We guys are paid some Rs. 5000 and we struggle to make a living out of it. I am yet to settle in life. I don't know what I want to do. All I can think is stay in the present job where I may get promotion and earn little more then."

Does his answer has something to take for everyone? I think so. Everyone must have goals to achieve, else, there is no motivation to earn. Most people, in every walk of life, have the usual idea of earning some percent more than what they earned 5 years ago. If not earning, they want to save/invest money for their family, for their future, etc. This seems to be a very basic principle in life which most follow knowingly or unknowingly.

Bottomline - Everybody has the right to dream!