The Thoughts...

What's going in CEO or MD or Business Owner's mind?

2009-12-09T16:42:00.006+05:30

Before we talk on optimizing business, I think that its apt to talk about what is going in CEO or MD or Business Owner's mind? What do they want? Are they interested in any of these frameworks? What outputs they wish to achieve for their organization?

Below, I am trying to list some of the parameters (list below is not exhaustive but indicative) which they might like to measure, track and improve for their organization:

Profits (YoY, QoQ)
Revenue (YoY, QoQ)
Customer Satisfaction (YoY, QoQ)
How many new products or its variants launched and market response?
No of new customers added or retained
Attrition or ability to retain best talent or employee satisfaction
Best Recruits or Ability to attract best talent or how industry perceives us?
Awards or recognitions in the industry
% of market share compared to competition
There are more depending on nature of organization

If top management wishes to address above parameters than what approach should they adopt? or which framework should they deploy? Should they invest in circle of principles? If yes, how? How much?

We will discuss more on approaches and their mapping to business critical parameters in next discussions.

Note: We encourage you to participate in this blog and add your comments on what parameters interests CEOs/MDs/business owners? and Which approach do you prefer to address them?

More later,
Regards,
Hariprakash,
http://opcord.com

Circle of Principles for Business Optimization

2009-12-06T12:56:00.012+05:30

We all know that to grow our business and to sustain the growth over time, we need to keep improving some of the business variables, like, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, revenue (top line) and profitability (bottom line) etc.

To achieve business variables, business need to execute and deliver products and projects successfully and address parameters, like, On time Delivery, deliver expected functionality, Product Quality, Within Budget and Organization becomes stronger or product is a hit.

To achieve above listed parameters, we have adopted some principles to optimize business, referred as, "Circle of Principles" which are:

Quality over time
Mentors than Managers
Innovation over compliance
Team spirit than individual excellence
Leading Indicators over lagging indicators
Lean documentation over comprehensiveness
Measure goodness of creations than defects
Face to face interactions than emails
Coordination over competition
Automation than Manual
Facts than intuitions

We will explain each one of these principles in our next articles.

Regards,
Hari
http://opcord.com

About a concept "OpCord"

2009-12-06T12:40:00.005+05:30

Earlier, I had published about my journey to entrepreneurship and now, we are making an attempt to explain the concept "OpCord" which we have brought in the market

OpCord means Optimizing with Coordination.

OpCord is a concept which understands that each organization has multiple factors / constraints which affect their output. It believes that one can only optimize when there are numerous factors instead of maximizing on any one parameter. Here, we are listing some of the outputs which organizations are usually interested in:

Organizational Success Parameters

Customer Satisfaction
Employee Satisfaction
Revenue (Top Line)
Profitability (Bottom Line)

Product / Project Success Parameters

On time Delivery
Delivers expected functionality
Product Quality
Within Budget
Organization becomes stronger or product is a hit

Once we wish to achieve many mutually exclusive outputs, we no more can work in silos. Let's say, we would like to maximize productivity but it is important that we do not loose focus from product quality while looking at only productivity. Some times, developer develops one functionality in hurry and is not able to grasp that one small mistake (or bug) today might affect whole product and in turn, whole company in future. At times, we consider only a few outputs in mind and face the brunt at later stage.

Let's focus on optimization of various outputs rather maximization of one of the output precisely because of reasons mentioned above. It is good idea to keep customer delighted all the time but burning employees at the same time, might not keep customer delighted for long time. We need to understand the importance of trade-offs and that one does not get everything every time. It is of utmost importance that we decide trade-offs in the beginning, understand our constraints and achieve most optimized outputs.

Second, most important point, we miss some times is the coordination. A few organizations fail in integration while each and every individual or team or division or dept is doing their best. Organizations are not able to integrate well due to either rivalry, lack of transparency, lack of bigger picture, lack of accountability, lack of coordination, lack of trust etc.

Organizations need high degree of coordination among team members, business analysts, designers, developers, testers, managers to ensure the smooth and best delivery of products. No matter, how great the process is or how great the technology is, we might miss on hitting the road just because of lack of coordination among various horizontals, verticals, domains, divisions etc. Hence, it is very important that we coordinate well.

That's the reason, we thought of optimizing with coordination for organizations and self. Let's opcord and be happy.

Regards,
Hariprakash Agrawal (Hari)
http://opcord.com

Points to consider on journey to Entrepreneurship

2009-10-13T11:31:00.002+05:30

From long time, I had this dream of becoming entrepreneur and at last, I could realize it last month, Jun'2009. I knew that this is going to be a tough job as I am new to entrepreneurship but I realized that it is not really that tough if you enjoy what you work and you work for what you believe in.

I do not remember when first time, I thought of becoming entrepreneur, may be, it is in blood as I belong to a community known as "Baniya" in India. Baniya means business person. I am a calculated risk taker and I do take risks after doing my home work with whatsoever little I know. The day, I entered in IIT-KGP, I knew that one day, I can realize this dream and it took 10 years to have that courage, confidence, financial stability, family support (in fact, strong support from family), goodwill among friends (even those persons who are yet to become friends), some level of network and most important recession, which brought me out of comfort zone. Sometimes, you feel like flowing with life especially when life is smooth but than one day, you are in mid of the river and find that one storm has arrived from nowhere and you need to take prompt action to sail and reach to destination safe and sound. Recession has had similar impact on me.

What might make the difference is your preparation on your dream. How far one goes, depends on how strong the foundation is. Entrepreneurship is a creative process and I learnt a few steps from many individuals and I could take care of some of them. Below mentioned points might help a few other entrepreneurs as well.

1. Understand your finances
Only few can undermine the importance of money especially when you are about to take a new journey. One must calculate the current savings and how long can one survive. In my opinion, do not count on your properties, immovable assets at this point because those will be useful if you hit rock bottom for some reason. In normal scenarios, I could foresee that I can survive for about an year even if I do not have any profit from new venture (Pls note that I do depend on my spouse's income which is very very big support). Me and my wife sat together and understood our savings and inflows and we collectively thought of a few cost cutting measures, like, delay paint for our flat, no major expenses, cuts on outings, reduce lavish lunches/dinners/parties etc and we felt that we can pay our EMIs, we need not to trouble our parents (and extended family) and more important that we need not to borrow.

2. Ensure family support
There is an old saying that hope for best, prepare for worst. Life looks good when everything is going good but in bad times, it is the family who provides moral, emotional, and financial support. This is key to start business as one will have rough patches on the journey (like Indian roads:)) and that time, if someone is around, life does not look that bad.

3. Develop competence
One need to be thorough in the area one wishes to enter unless you have huge money and you can hire experts in that area. One also should learn a bit of company law, equity, finance, HR, legal areas etc to not to be cheated by others. Network can help you in reaching to key stakeholders but its your competence, confidence which will convert it in a deal. In simple words, do not miss a single opportunity to learn. Just be open to any kind of learning.

4. Nurture your friend base
I am realizing that most of the tasks get done due to the relationship one share with his/her friends instead of logic behind the task. Sometimes, we argue a lot about a particular task with a person but if we share great rapport with the person, the argument reduces. One's friends are their business managers in the beginning when one can not invest much money in marketing. At times, one's reach in market is directly proportional to the friends one has in the beginning. Needless to mention, do help your friends in need, share life with them and one might get unbound, limitless opportunities.

5. Build your network
Who can dare to deny importance of network in coalition days? Do attend most of the business events (like, startup fairs etc), attend trainings, Alma mater, from very beginning. Nobody can predict that which relation may help you in getting some assignments. Do initiate/ involve in community service projects as it might help in building goodwill and some good friends.

6. Understand customer base
Synonym to business is customers. Do some amount of research on what industry segment one wish to enter, what problems one is trying to solve, who can be potential customers etc. Have a discussion with few potential customers to understand their challenges, pain areas and wish lists. It might help you in refining your approach.

7. Prepare business plan
Enough is written on need of business plan and one can do google to know enough on this topic. Point is that one need to keep end in mind, have a clear vision & mission statement and a plan to achieve them. Planning is like setting strong foundation and validating your thoughts with industry veterans. It is indeed even more important if one is looking for investments.

8. Business vs Service
Each business addresses some or other need of society hence it does have a social linkage. Society at large must feel benefited with that business. The degree of benefit may vary. New company must highlight that how do they plan to create more value to society. Define the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) or in minimal words, explain your unique offerings or value to society.

When one does business than always have your interests in mind and be clear on that. In other words, service is done with more involvement of heart while business is done with more involvement of mind hence have a clear distinction between these. In nutshell, no space for intuitions, collect as many as facts possible before the jump.

9. Plan distribution of equity
If you have many partners and investors than must plan equity carefully. One of the major factor of loosing trust can be this. Choose your partners carefully with whom you share trust. It does not matter that how long you have been knowing them but it does matter that what is the general perception of the each individual. Building competence is easier at times than building trust.

10. Unique identity of company (Logo, name, website etc)
For some reason, I do not see parents naming their son / daughter with very old names , like, mine. There is lot in name and its important that we understand it. If one wish to create its own brand, do not copy some already published name, like lets refrain from naming your company Petsi in line of Pepsi. It might not give impression of creativity. Name of company should reflect your line of business.

Logo is something which should reflect theme of the company. It can be a simple line if one can explain rationale or theme behind it. It should generate curiosity among onlookers and they should ask you that why did you do it this way.

Website is one's identity in faceless world. It is never complete and one will always find scope of improvement. Have a basic website ready to launch as early as possible. With so many open source frameworks (content management system, like, Joomla) available, it is very easy to build website with minimal technical knowledge.

Not sure, where this journey will take me but I just thought of putting my thoughts and one may provide his/her feedback that does it look enough or am I missing any important point.

Bye for now..
Hariprakash Agrawal (Hari)
http://opcord.com - Optimizing Coordinates with Coordination

Some revolutionary ideas...

2009-07-25T19:09:00.002+05:30

Are you looking for ideas? Being an entrepreneur, I have been thinking of ideas from long time and I have a few age-old ideas which I do not know how to make them feasible but I am sure if they get realized, it will be a revolution bigger than internet or computer. Is there anyone who can take up the challenge? Here they are:

1. Hindu Lord Hanuman used to become as small as and as big as he wants any time. How? My one uncle explained me one day that like we have 3 states of matter, solid, liquid and gas and we all understand that in solid, molecules are quite nearer than liquid and gas. Similarly, can we design something for body where we can increase or decrease distance among molecules without affecting functions of various organs or may be, we can increase or decrease the size of molecules. If we can even increase/decrease size of molecules by 1 mm, whole body might be quite big. If we can do these, we might accomplish that. Can we do this?

2. Hindu Gods or angels can fly without need of any machine, like, aeroplane etc. How? We all know birds can fly but what do they do differently which we human are not able to do. We human have already learnt technique of swimming without putting any machine on/in our body hence I am sure we can also fly some day. Is it just weight or do we need wings or what our Gods are doing differently which we are not able to understand. Lets invest in this, we might get a way of flying. We might resolve issue of traffic although air traffic will increase.

3. Hindu Gods can vanish from one place and appear somewhere else in a split of second. How? ever thought on that. May be, they travel at the speed of light and our human eyes cannot notice that and we see suddenly, the God has disappeared and the God appears somewhere else instantly. Can we human being travel at the speed of light?

4. Many movies have been made on how can we become invisible and do whatever we want even in a crowded place and still nobody notices us. Is it a solution or watch or something else, which we apply on our body and we can disappear and do funny acts. One can also choose to punish all terrorists or bribe-takers or bad politicians etc but if everyone becomes invisible than can an invisible person see another invisible person. If not than we have another idea to work upon that how can one invisible person see another invisible person or how can someone else make an invisible person visible?

5. Hindu Gods and many saints can cure/heal a human being just by their touch or by providing some fruit or ash or something else and receiver gets cured or can generate a new life. How? Does the Gods and Saints radiate some kind of rays from their hands or body which heals/cures us? or do they have some kind of lotion on their hand and when they touch, we get cured? Can we work on this and cure crores of people including me.

Lets not laugh on above ideas as they might shape the future and someone might make them reality. I think that these many ideas are enough to rock the world or universe or do you have some more ideas which at any point of time has already been discussed but still we could not accomplish or enlighten me if someone in some part of the world has already progressed a lot or working on these ideas. So entrepreneurs, start working and lets have even better gadgets. We still have miles to go....

More later,
Hariprakash Agrawal (Hari),
http://opcord.com - Optimizing Business Variables with Coordination
http://vicharpravah.com - An initiative to make common man aware of their potentials and responsibilities

Voter Registration Camp @ Suncity

2009-01-27T16:09:00.005+05:30

Here is another opportunity to do your bit being common man. One of the fundamental rights being citizen of a country is to exercise vote and choosing representatives in democratic way. What we choose today will decide what we get in future. Please get your voting rights at the place where you stay or plan to exercise vote. JaagoRe is one of such rare initiative which enables citizens of India to get their vote registered. This article provides you some useful information on how to register your vote using JaagoRe.

This article has been shifted to website http://vicharpravah.com (Let thoughts flow...) under link http://vicharpravah.com/index.php/power-of-common-man/3-erdaicate-evil/3-voter-registration-camp-suncity.html

To conclude, I must say that it is very good initiative, I got to learn a lot and wishing to spread this as much as possible.

- Hariprakash

About Khata Registration/Transfer

2009-01-27T12:30:00.003+05:30

Few of us might feel that being a common man, we cannot do anything against corruption, but here is a small opportunity to fight against corruption. One can also get useful information on Khata Registration. Kudos to a team which worked together and achieved Khata Registration at Bangalore where bribe takers (I don't call them officials because it is a reputed word for honest officers) are blooming. The team involved few Suncityites, Vidyasagar, Harshad, Sanjeev Suman, Renjith Chitharanajan and Dayanand (FYI, Suncity Apartments has >1150 flats near Sarjapur Junction, Bangalore) who struggled/fought for 4 months to get their khata registration while it should not take more than 1 month provided we have officials. Lets get to the topic.

This article has been shifted to website http://vicharpravah.com (Let thoughts flow...) under link http://vicharpravah.com/index.php/power-of-common-man/3-erdaicate-evil/5-about-khata-registration-transfer.html

References:

http://www.bmponline.org/egov-property/khatha-services.shtml

Typical template for filing RTI to seek information on status of Khata Registration

Typical template for filing RTI to seek information on documents required for Khata Registration

- Hariprakash
(On behalf of the above mentioned team and special thanks to Vidyasagar for writing above steps)

Travelogue: Bangalore to Goa in Car

2008-12-31T15:30:00.016+05:30

From some time, I had been thinking of driving to Goa and I could do this on 23-Dec-08. Before this, I had gone by car from Bangalore to Chikmagalur, Bangalore to Bijapur, Bangalore to Mysore (2 trips), Bangalore to Sivanasamudram hence I had some prior experience of long journey which I could use it in this trip.

This was my 4th trip to Goa (and my wife’s 3rd trip, first trip was our honeymoon in Goa) and I had learnt few things by now. I am fond of beaches and had seen many beaches of Goa and missed Arambol beach in all earlier trips which I wanted to visit in this trip. I also wanted to see scenic beauty of Karnataka, Konkan route, Karwar, Jog Falls, Ghats hence did some search on internet and decided on different forward / return routes. Pls check the links which were very useful in Reference Links section below. I specially liked the information provided by Mr. Abhijit Roy, Mr. Ramesh, and Mr. Suraj, and many others in the link # 1. Do read info in these links in addition to this travelogue.

We booked resorts near Benaulim beach in south Goa (near Margao) and we also requested my wife's real brother and her 2 cousins (all bachelors) to come along with us which they agreed immediately. So we were 5 adults (me, my wife, my 2 brothers-in-law and 1 sister-in-law) with my 3 year old son who was most excited about this trip. Although all involved parents were worried but we explained them about our preparations and at last, they agreed.

Everyone gathered at my flat in Suncity (near Sarjapur junction) on 22-Dec night as we planned to start in the early morning, say, between 3 AM and 4 AM. We had all preparations done on previous day/weekend. Pls check section “Points to remember in self driven long journey”. We could complete most of the points mentioned in this link.

We woke up at 2 AM and everyone got ready within an hour or so and we started loading our car with all necessary items. We started from Bangalore on 23-12-08 at 3:50 AM in my Santro AT and briefly chanted mantras of lord Ganesha and Shiva for our safe and sweet journey which they ensured to our satisfaction.

23-Dec-08, Forward route

Bangalore (near Sarjapur junction, 3:50 AM, 0 km) – NH4 – Tumkur (5:20 AM, 75 km) – Sira – Hiriyur – Chitradurga (7:30 AM, 198 km) – Davangere – Ranibennur – Haveri (11:30 AM, 335 km) – Bankapur – Hubli (12:30 PM, 405 km) – NH4 – Dharwad (12:45 PM, 425 km) – SH34 – Alnavar (1:30 PM, 455 km) – SH93 – Bedi (475 km) – Khanapur (2 PM, 495 km) – NH4A – Londa (515 km) – Anmod (2:50 PM, 540 km) – Molem (560 km) – Ponda (3:30 PM, 585 km) – Margao (4 PM, 605 km) – Resort near Benaulim Beach (4:10 PM, 610 km)

It was good that we started early as we could avoid heavy traffic within Bangalore and due to metro train and over-bridges work, many places are congested. We reached Tumkur at 5:30 AM (take care of few diversions due to road repairing work) and Chitradurga at 7:30 AM. Roads till Chitradurga is very good and one can drive at >100 Kms due to user fee roads.

We halted briefly at Chitradurga and than started for Haveri via Ranibennur, road is good till Ranibennur with few bad patches. At Haveri, we wanted to take a diversion to Sirsi to pass through Devimane Ghats but we missed it hence we changed our route and went till Hubli. Roads from Ranibennur till Dharwad is very good and one can drive at >100 Kms speed. We reached by-pass to Dharwad at about 1:00 PM.

We did not enter in Dharwad instead took route to Belgaum (Belagavi) and after about 3-4 kms, we got one over-bridge. We took left turn below the bridge and saw a signboard which read 185 Kms to Panaji. This route took us to Alnawar.

I recollected that many bloggers and travelers had not advised for this route and found that road between Dharwad – Alnawar – Londa – Anmod is not good at all especially between Londa and Anmod, it is worst. When we reached Alnawar, we asked for directions and were advised to take turn towards Bedi and than go to Khanapur and take NH4A towards Ponda. We followed this advice and got it re-confirmed with available maps with us. Road till Khanapur is excellent and we traveled 40 Kms in only 30 min. 2 Kms before Khanapur, we found one left turn which goes to Londa. The milestones read Panaji 115 kms.

From here, till Londa, road is good. At Londa, turn right to Anmod. Londa to Anmod is good for about 10 kms and next 10 Kms are nightmare. There is no road, only ditches, go very slow, sometimes you wonder that from where we should take the car out of this ditch. We had to reverse the car in few instances and think for a while and take best possible ditch to avoid damage to car. I could successfully manage this stretch in about 30-40 mins. Do not panic as after this, road is good till Margao or Panaji.

Anmod to Molem is almost 19 kms of ghat road through forests. Excellent scenic beauty as you pass through Ghats, steep inclines / declines, sharp curves, etc. Check for vehicles coming from opposite direction.

From Molem, asked for directions to Ponda than we moved towards Margao and ultimately reached our resort near Benaulim beach at 4:10 PM (total journey in 12 hours 20 minutes).

24-Dec-08: Benaulim, Colva, Calangute beaches; Water sports (about 90 Kms)

We thought of having morning walk at Benaulim beach which went little long and after having breakfast, we returned to our resort at 11 AM. We started at 12:30 PM for Colva beach and stayed there for about an hour. After that, we went to Calangute beach which was quite crowded and has all kinds of water sports, like, Para-sailing, Para-gliding, boating, banana ride, motor boat etc. We all bathed in sea water for sometime. We did boating with full family and my relatives were planning to take banana ride as they had seen it in Roadies on MTV.

Experience with Banana ride
My wife stayed with kid and rest 4 of us went ahead for banana ride. Banana shaped boat is driven by another motor boat, you sit on the top of it and a life guard goes with you in the boat. Banana ride was really a thrill as they take you in the sea and ask you to leave the banana shaped boat and you are almost alone for some time in sea water. Nobody knew swimming hence it added to thrill factor. We were given life jackets and sat on banana ride. I was unaware of the fact that we have to leave banana shaped boat when they turn boat by 180 degree. I left it little late and landed myself in trouble. I went little farther from boat and also drank some too salty sea water. I was in real trouble for few seconds under sea water and when I came up due to life jacket, I found that boat was almost 5-6 meters far from me. As I do not know swimming, I felt it impossible to reach there. I saw my 1 brother-in-law and sister-in-law also struggling while one brother-in-law had sat back on banana ride. I somehow caught the boat side and slowly climbed up on the boat. My sister-in-law found it even harder to get boarded on banana ride and 2 of us had to lift her to banana boat. At last, everyone boarded again banana shaped boat and we went back to shore. We remembered these moments through out the trip and I think that I will remember it forever. Overall, it was good experience.

We took our lunch + dinner (together) at 5:30 PM and left Calangute beach at 6:45 PM for our resort and reached resort at 8:30 PM due to traffic and unknown roads. We could see 3 beaches and had some memorable experiences.

25-Dec-08 (Christmas day): Arambol, Vagator, Anjuna and Baga beaches; Chapora fort (DCH fort), Mapusa city (about 170 kms)

Arambol Beach
On 25-Dec, we started early at 9 AM for Arambol beach and it was almost 80 km from our resort and it took 2:15 hours to reach Arambol. It was worth spending this much time in travel. Arambol is a beautiful beach with few people mostly foreigners. The slope of beach is very less hence you can go little far in the sea. Waves are very calm hence it’s quite safe with 3 year old baby. We all did bathing for more than an hour and sat in one of the shack, had lunch and enjoyed the sun & sea. This beach is very clean, calm and no water sports hence less crowded. If one wants to be with nature in peace, must visit this beach. We started from Arambol at 2:15 PM and asked for directions to Chapora fort.

Chapora Fort, Mapusa City
Chapora fort is also known as DCH fort after 'Dil Chahta Hai' movie was shot here. A single road from Mapusa city goes to Chapora fort. We had to ask for directions many times as we did not want to waste time by going in wrong direction. We reached Chapora fort at 3:10 PM and me and my wife thought of staying down after seeing the steep incline but we lifted our spirits and went uphill. My 3 year old son “Saatwik” came with us without asking for “Godi” (he calls it Godi whenever he is tired and wants to be picked and rested in our arms which makes our climbing more difficult). We went up to the place where DCH scenes were shot and saw very beautiful scenic beauty from top. We did some photography which we were already doing all the way. One can see Chapora River dropping in the sea from the top which is amazing. Also one can see Morjim, Chapora and Vagator beaches from different directions of the fort which makes it another memorable experience. We left Chapora fort at 4:15 PM as we had to see other 3 famous beaches.

Vagator, Anjuna and Baga beaches
We reached Vagator beach in about 15 min and saw it from the top. We did not have the time to go down and play with sea water; also we had already played with water at Arambol for quite long. The sun was on its way to set and going to fall in the seawater (sunset as described by my son). We stayed for about 20 min and moved to Anjuna beach. Anjuna beach is quite rocky (rocky terrain instead of plain sand) hence we stayed again at top and sun had come more near to sea. Ladies did some shopping and we had sugarcane juice as it was hot even at this time. We left Anjuna beach in about 20 min and went to Baga beach. We reached Baga beach in another half an hour or less and ultimately we dropped the sun in seawater. We did some photography with sunset. Baga beach was very crowded with Indian tourists and local population probably because it was Christmas day. Baga beach also has all kinds of water sports. We had already done water sports at Calangute hence we did not look forward to it. We started from Baga at about 6:45 PM and came back to resort at about 9:15 PM after having dinner break on the way.

26-Dec-08: Benaulim (Dolphin ride), Tattoos, Panaji, Miramar, Dona Paula, Cruise (about 80 Kms)

Dolphin ride
We missed dolphin ride at Calangute and Colva beaches on our first day as one can see Dolphins in the morning only (say before 11:00 AM). Hence we thought of watching dolphins at Benaulim early morning. We went to Benaulim beach at about 8:30 AM by car to save time and negotiated for dolphin ride. Boat took us little deep in the sea where 4-5 dolphins were playing. One needs to keep looking continuously in all directions as dolphins make sudden appearances. We were lucky to see dolphins and followed them for some time. Many other boats had tourists and all were making noise hence might be, dolphins were scared and were not coming out regularly. We could see 4 or 5 jumps of dolphins, one had to be very sharp and alert with camera to capture jumping dolphins. Fisherman told us that usually baby dolphins take more jumps than adult dolphins, may be, because kids are more playful than adults. We were in the sea for about 30 min watching dolphins.

Tattoos
Every one of us was very excited with tattoos and almost each and every foreigner had tattoos on different parts of body and few Indians also had them. This raised the curiosity level of everyone and same time, one vendor came with various options of tattoos. My wife and other relatives negotiated with him for mass discount and I think that they got good deal while I sat comfortably in one of the shacks (restaurants on beaches), under the umbrella on the wooden beach chairs, ordered for breakfast and watched sea waves. Each one of them chose their design and tattoo person carefully crafted them. It took about an hour to craft tattoos on their arms (including my son who is still showing his tattoo) and we all took breakfast. We left Benaulim at about 1:30 PM.

Panaji, Miramar and Dona Paula beaches
At 2:15 PM, we left for Panaji and made few rounds in Panaji and drove along Miramar beach to go to Dona Paula. We did not feel like getting down to visit Miramar beach as it was looking similar. We did some purchasing at Dona Paula beach and purchased few T-Shirts, shorts, Capri’s etc. Dona Paula has a good view of sea from constructed tower like building. At this place, two of Goa's famous rivers meet the Arabian Sea and from top of the building one can have a fine view of the Marmagao Harbor. We also purchased Cashewnuts from one of the wholesale shop near Dona Paula beach and its size and taste is really good. We left Dona Paula at 4:30 PM and went for Cruise.

Cruise
We were told that cruise starts at 6 PM and there are many kinds of cruise, like Casino Pride (500 Rs per person), Paradise (150 Rs/Person), Swastik (150 Rs/Person) and after little thinking, we choose Swastik although felt that Paradise might have been better. Swastik stands on other side of Mandovi River and one Govt sponsored boat takes you on other side free of cost hence we took that. It was nice experience on this boat as one can have their bikes, scooters, cars, jeeps, etc boarded on this boat to cross the Mandovi River. We were quite early hence could take front seats on the top of the Cruise. Cruise had about 200 people and started at about 6:05 PM and took us for one round in the river. Cruise had dance programs performed by Goan artistes and special dance songs for kids, couples, bachelors. Cruise also had facility to have snacks, disco theques etc. My son danced a lot and it was difficult to bring him down from the stage. I and my wife joined the couple dance and my other relatives joined bachelor dance sequences. It was a nice experience.

We started back to our resort at 7:30 PM, had dinner on the way and reached at 9:30 PM in our rooms. We were quite tired but had to start packing because we wanted to start early on 27-Dec so that we can visit Palolem beach (my favorite), Karwar, Devimane Ghats and Jog falls. As usual drivers (me and my brother-in-law slept early) but we could not wake up before 4:45 AM and at last, could start only at 6:30 AM from our resort.

27-Dec-08, Return Route

Margao (6:30 AM, 0 km) – NH17 – Palolem beach (or Cancona, 8 AM, 40 Kms) – Karwar (10:30 AM, 82 Kms) – Ankola – NH17 – Mirjan (1:30 PM, 140 Kms) – SH2 – Sirsi (Devimane Ghats, 2 PM, 200 Kms)) – SH93 – Siddapura – Jog Falls (3:30 PM, 260 Kms) – NH206 – Talguppa – Sagar – Shivamogga (6:10 PM, 355 Kms) – Bhadravati – Tarikere – Birur – Arsikere (10:15 PM, 475 Kms) – Tiptur – NH206 – Tumkur (12:00 AM, 560 Kms) – NH4 – Nelmangala – Bangalore (Suncity Apts, Near Sarjapur Junction; 1:30 AM, 640 Kms)

As mentioned earlier, we planned to visit Konkan way and Palolem beach is my favorite hence we first went to Palolem beach as we couldn’t see it while coming as we missed the turn to Sirsi from Haveri.

Palolem Beach, Karwar
This is one of the beautiful beaches surrounded by small hills and coconut trees. Beach is very clean, tidy, less slope and less crowded. It has huts/cottages on the side of beach where one can be with the sea always.

We stayed here for more than an hour or so and took a walk in the sea water and did some photography. Than, we left for Karwar and it was a pleasure to drive next to sea. On the way, we saw Kali Bridge where Kali River meets the sea. It is another wonderful sight and we halted there for some photography. We reached Karwar at 10:30 AM and visited Rabindranath Tagore beach for few minutes. After watching Goa beaches, you do not seem to like other beaches much.

Devimane Ghats, Brunch, Road condition
It was getting late for breakfast and we searched for good restaurant but we could not get it till Ankola and even that also did not have many options as we were in the middle of breakfast and lunch. We halted for about an hour and asked for directions to Sirsi. Till Mirjan, you are on and off with sea and once you go towards Sirsi, you are in the Devimane Ghats, dense forest, and the best scenic beauty nature can offer you. Journey became more pleasurable than thoughts to reach the destination. We drove slowly till Sirsi until we realized that we are really getting late. Meanwhile, we did a quick poll on whether we want to visit Jog Falls or not and answer was Yes as you do not come such distance very often. We turned to Siddapura from Sirsi and got petrol filled in Siddapura and moved to Jog Falls.

Roads till Siddapura are quite good and one finds few bad patches between Ankola and Mirjan. After Siddapura, the roads are under construction and its kind of OK roads till Jog Falls. We reached jog falls at 3:30 PM and stayed there for about 30 min as we wanted to reach home before midnight.

Jog Falls
Jog Falls, created by the Sharavathi River falling from a height of 253 meters (829 ft) is the highest plunge waterfall in India. Mighty jog falls have 4 or 5 major falls adjacent to each other. Falls are named Rani, Rocket, Raja, Roarer and Mandovi. At this time, the water was very less and falls were quite thin but still the sight was memorable. There were quite good number of people who had come to see mighty jog falls.

From jog falls till Shimoga, roads are very good and we wanted to reach Shimoga in daylight which we could. Roads are under construction in Shimoga hence we had take diversion and came back to Bangalore route.

Damage to car on highway in night
Once it is night, we had to manage our speed as most of the vehicles come with high beam. In fact, we also had to put our car on high beam at times due to the darkness, curvy roads and sudden potholes. Despite all these, I damaged my car as front left tyre went in a deep pothole at the speed of 70 Kms/hr. It was about 9:30 PM and we were near to Arsikere when Rim of tyre bent and car was not at all drivable. We tried to stop vehicles on highway to seek help but nobody stopped. We couldn’t figure out for first 10 min that what has happened until we carefully examined the front left tyre with all mobiles lights. Mobiles lights really helped us and gave us one more reason that why you should keep your mobiles always with you whether you have network or not. My brother-in-law took the luggage out of backside of the car; we got stepney, jack out and started changing the wheel. It took about 30 min to complete all these and thankfully with the grace of God, we were back on roads.

We drove even more slowly as we understood that we are on the highway, in the night, at unknown places, with sudden potholes, and vehicles with high beams. We stopped at Arsikere for dinner and we could manage one roadside restaurant as we were really hungry. After half an hour, we started moving towards Bangalore and wanted to reach home ASAP.

From Arsikere till Tumkur, roads are largely good and from Tumkur onwards, you are on user fee roads hence no problem at all. We found some truck traffic near Nelmangala otherwise journey was smooth. At last, we parked our car at 1:30 AM on 28-Dec-08.

Reference Links:

Link #1: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/29949-bangalore-goa-route.html

Link #2: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/28983-bangalore-goa-back-2.html

Link #3: http://maps.google.com/

Link #4: http://maps.live.com/

Link #5: http://www.coxandkings.com/live/destination/destination_goa.html

- Hariprakash

Points to remember in self driven long journey

2008-12-31T15:00:00.003+05:30

If you are planning for a self driven long journey than you may like to keep in mind these points:

Condition of car: Have petrol tank full (you do not get petrol pumps for long distance especially extra mile/premium or speed), Tyre pressure checked (including stepney), wheel balancing, water level in radiator etc
Have car papers ready, like, RC book, insurance, emission certificate, driving license etc. If you are crossing state than it will be checked on border and you might need to bribe if you do not have any such documents, also it wastes time and deteriorates mood.
First aid kit: Band-aid, Soframycin, brufane, combiflame, savlon, Eno pouches, cotton, Move spray etc

This article has been shifted to website http://vicharpravah.com (Let thoughts flow...) under link http://vicharpravah.com/index.php/useful-thoughts/13-travel/9-points-to-remember-in-self-driven-long-journey.html

- Hariprakash

Terrorism: What can we commoner do?

2008-12-07T12:48:00.020+05:30

Whole world have been affected by terrorism from quite long time and even if we are not directly hit, we are mentally evacuated and have reached to a point from where it seems difficult to understand this phenomena and tolerate it further. We need to weed out the root cause of terrorism instead only addressing symptoms, like, catching few terrorists, punishing them and forgetting it till next tragedy happens. It is not only the responsibility of few politicians, army men or bureaucrats but also the responsibility of each and every individual. It is a systemic problem and needs an active participation from everyone. Whole society must choose to grow as peaceful, loving, sacrificing society and handle the matter maturely. Wars do not eliminate terrorism; it only transfers the responsibility of terrorism to next generation. In short, we commoner need to rise up and do something about it.

The article on Terrorism have been shifted to website http://vicharpravah.com (Let thoughts flow...) under link http://vicharpravah.com/index.php/common-man.html

Welcome to the non-violent, peaceful, prosperous, loving, happy world!!!

- Hariprakash

Great Quotes

2008-12-05T11:47:00.006+05:30

Some of the great quotations which I liked and collected over time from various sources:

All the quotations have been shifted to website http://vicharpravah.com (Let thoughts flow...) under link http://vicharpravah.com/index.php/useful-thoughts/12-motivational/10-great-quotes.html

Have The Best Time,
Hariprakash

Success Sucksess...

2007-06-20T19:09:00.008+05:30

Is Success Everything? This question is bothering me for few years now and I’m not able to decide. I have talked to many individuals on this from various backgrounds and they all share different opinion. This is the very reason that I thought to write this article and seek opinions.

In my view, Success is about achieving your set expectations and celebrating it. I get this feeling that without success, life would have no meaning. Why would one live on earth if he/she doesnt want to taste success?

On the other hand, do we really need to be successful to be happy? Does success keep one in peace? When we define success, are we only talking about materialistic achievements? How come each individual have its own success level?

Many questions like above keep bothering me and I would be interested in seeking an answer or opinions. There is no right or wrong answers to these questions, but each one of us can have different point of view.

The article on 'Success Sucksess' have been shifted to website http://vicharpravah.com (Let thoughts flow...) under link http://vicharpravah.com/index.php/useful-thoughts/12-motivational/11-success-sucksess.html

Have The Best Time,
Hariprakash