Useless Stuff

bhuvan & riya.com

2009-08-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

I got news about two different projects in last 12 hours.

1) Bhuvan by ISRO
India's ISRO has launched a new tool named Bhuvan, it zooms in to satellite images upto 2 meters resolution. Also helps you know about natural resource in area like water etc. I am trying since last night to get a glimpse of it(Servers overloaded after launch, I guess whole India is on it). This project will be as prudent as India's railway booking website http://www.indianrail.gov.in/ . Powerful & extremely useful.

2) Riya.com
Got email from founder of Riya, Munjal Shah, about riya.com shutting down. I remember following all happenings at this startup as if it was my own company. It was all inspiring to read Munjal's blog. riya team has moved on to new project Like.com and they are doing good. I do not like like.com as much as riya.com, because I personally do not identify with it. However if munjal starts blogging again, I will buy some gift for my wife on this website.

Economics of Mumbai Attacks

2008-12-04T22:54:00.000-08:00

I was small kid playing Cricket, one sweeping shot with bat in my hand and ball smashed next building glass window. Me & my friends ran away from there. Owner never knew who broke the glass window. He guessed it was some kid from next building.

Owner called glassier and probably paid 500 rupees to fix that glass window. Glassier made 500 rupees that day and he was happy. Owner lost 500 rupees. While owner was mad & busy fixing window, he decided to order food from nearby restaurant(no time to cook). He missed his daily evening walk and visit to temple that evening.

What would have happened to that 500 rupees if glass was not broken?

* May be owner wanted to buy some toys and clothes for his kids.
* May be if that money was part of his savings, he wanted to just keep it saved somewhere [may be under carpet or bank account]

This is important economics lesson. I tried relating it to Mumbai attacks. Terrorists comes and attacks Mumbai. They leave a strong proof that it was fixed by Pakistan. Indians get angry. US comes to India's help.

If now India goes on war with Pakistan. War begins. War ends. Lot of life lost and tremendous material loss. There is lot of man made disaster and India spends lot of saved money on recovering from it. While India is busy recovering(like the owner fixing glass window) China supplies all finished good[please don't buy tainted baby milk products]

India goes on war.
India spends.
China gets to manufacture and supply.
US based companies in China gets to sell stuff.

Cycle of Economics begin.

[above stuff was my imaginary analysis except for the glass window which I really broke when I was kid]

walking to temple

2008-03-10T00:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday[Sunday March 9 2008] I walked from my home to Fremont hindu temple.

route: 'Fremont hub' to 'Fremont Temple'
means: walking
distance: 3.5 miles [~ 5.6 km]
time: 55 minutes
purpose: hobby
whats next: plan to continue same route for next few Sundays and then plan some bigger trip[may be fremont-to-livermore temple ~ 22 miles].

No oil/gas was burnt in any way whatsoever during the making of this trip.

Wind energy; forest land aquisition; carbon credit;

2007-12-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday I was on some remote mountain , near sangli, ~150 kilometers south of Pune city, on National Highway 4. These mountain ranges where all covered by wind mills, belonging to several companies, mostly suzlon, vesta and enercon.

These companies install/develop wind mills for anyone who wants to buy it, or rather invest money. Cost of simplest wind mill starts ~4 crores [1 million]. These companies keep many windmill for them self.

I was out with one senior engineer working with enercon and kept asking him many questions about economics of wind energy and related activities. He has been working for wind energy companies for last 10 years.

He has supervised actual installations of wind mills and has done liasioning [formal paperwork] of certifying carbon credits for wind energy produced. At this point of time he takes care of land acquisition for his company.

He looks for two different types of lands, one which can be actually used for installing newer wind mills and other land is for forestation. He explained me that for every piece of land which gets used for wind mills, company has to submit replacement land and handover to forest department.[I am not sure if thats the only intention, there are chances that these companies claim carbon credits for all forest land they buy] Cost of acre land in forest region was around 25000 Indian rupees[~500 bucks].

Later I told him how American entrepreneurs are taking benefits of carbon credits. I know of one Professor from berkley university who has come up with genetically modified rice seeds, he has a deal with farmers in Indonesia, who use these seeds for cultivation. These crops emit less carbon than the usual ones, he collects carbon credits for it. Another story where a Texas based company throws a kind of green algae in middle of sea, these living plants absorb carbon from atmosphere and this company claims carbon credits.

Athithi devo bhavo !?

2007-12-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

I am at home[Mumbai, India] since last 4 days. Before taking connecting flight from london heathrow I called my mom and told her that I am skipping all meals[except coffee] in last 7 hours of my London-Mumbai flight and will have food only after reaching home. She kept bhakri and shaak ready. [shaak is what we call any vegetable-cooked-curry in Gujarati]. I have loved bhakri cooked by mom ever since I was born.

Reched Home, sat down to have food, it was full of oil and spices. I did let go my calorie filtration for a day and had everything. It felt like I was eating some good meal after 18 long months.

Its been 4 days i am in Mumbai and most amazing thing about this trip so far has been food. I have been out with friends, had fish. My mom has tried cooking almost everything[vegetarian] I wished for. My aunty made vada pav, she knows my style, that even if i love vada-pav, i am going to have max 2 or 3, hence very nicely I get 3 vadas and optional pav and green chatni in a tiffin box, delivered at my place.

Another aunty calls me for morning tea and then she surprises me with Kadak-pav.[In india bread is often called Pav and kadak in hindi means hard]. I was regular customer of irani restaurants around bombay, while i was in Mumbai. If you have not tried, do it now, goto Irani restaurant, early morning. [my favourite one is off sv road near shivaji park]. Ask for maska-pav and tea. Pav should be kadak-pav. There are few things which are unique to bombay lifestyle, I believe this item is one of them.

After living in california at a strecth for 18 months, I have got into habit of watching for calories. Any food item I see now first thing i try calculate is calories. I dont talk abt it, here in mumbai to anyone, because they will laugh over it, calling me typical desi trying to act like NRI. but anyways, calorie watch is all in my mind.

Last evening i understood some intersting point about Indian culture and felt that why its not applicable anymore. In India we have a phrase "Athithi Devo Bhavo", I love this phrase and practise it everytime with best capacity.

Here in India this phrase needs some repair work. I visit some relative and they make me eat lot of food. I love what they do and I love food they bring in front of me. But everyone here in mumbai beleives that love is expressed only through food, if they make you eat one additional thing, they have passed more love and respect. During olden days, people use to walk 5-6 kilometers or more before they reached someone's house. And these people were hardworking people and they use to be hungry. "Athithi devo bhavo" was perfectly applicable here. You were suppose to provide lot of good and rich food to your guest. However this practice is not correct anymore. Nowdays people are already stuffed with food, and then they take cab or auto-rickshaw and get down right in front of your apartment gate :) They come to your house, and there is no need of lot of food. Overeating kills!.

I am not complaining about anything here, but just expressing something i came across. I love everyone in mumbai. They have no idea, how a cooked delicious dish feels like million dollars to a bachelor who lives in USA. I cook, its healthy but not very delicious. Having those ready made rotis from bharat bazaar store feels like nightmare after you have tasted hot fresh rotis at home in India.[Ahh..I dont want to have those rotis again :( ]
Life is easy for now. By the time i will get completely reed of my calorie watch game, my 4 weeks holidays will be all over and I will be back to california.

Top 8 mistakes I recollect from my flying

2007-09-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

While entering Livermore airspace for landing called livermore tower frequency and said.."Napa Tower this is cessna niner seven two tango alpha"...tower replied..."niner seven two tango alpha this is livermore tower not napa"

While entering bay area from North.instead of calling Norcal over 120.9 i tuned into 121.9 and said "Norcal this is cessna niner seven two tango alpha"...frequncy replied back.."this oakland ground not norcal"

didnt note that livermore airport is at 500 ft elevation, hence delta airspace goes upto 2500 + 500 = 3000 ft. I started descending into its airspace entered 3000 ft, without taking clearance from airport.

was about to make one very bad landing, was 10-15 knots faster than required speed and didnt flare for long time. if i had continued 2-3 seconds more in same configuration, I would have damaged aircraft.

came almost on oakland downwind without calling tower and taking clearance for landing.

during pre-solo phase checkride my examiner took off/away power from engine and tried simulating engine failure, we were at 4500 ft. i went thru emergency landing checklist & executed most of the steps. made a big mistake in selecting emergency landing field..i decided to make landing on a golf course below me. i shud have tried for concord airport, just 6 miles away. wrong choice of emergency landing field. i came down to 800 feet then full throtle and started climbing.

most memorable mistake:
I was holding short runway 27 right at oakland. one jet was on final to land. i called tower "oakland tower cessna niner seven two tango alpha holding short runway 27 right ready for takeoff"....tower replied "972ta hold short runway two seven right"..i replied "27 right cleared for take-off"..as soon as i said that "pilot inside jet which was about to land" and tower controller freaked out on radio ;) i was told to just keep waiting, and replied wrongly saying alright i am taking runway for take off :) . before making any movement i apologiesed and said tht i am going to hold short.

castleman disease and flight stories

2007-09-08T23:48:00.000-07:00

My father passed away on may 16th 1995 due to rare cancer/disorder named Castleman Disease. Last night for some reason I tried looking for info on this disease and it seems even today medical science has no solution/treatment for it.

I was speaking to my mom in mumbai to update her with my flight stories. I usually tell her things with reference to locations around mumbai. I have started flying outside bay area for which i told her thht now i have started taking aircraft from santacruz airport and i kind of fly upto New bombay and come back all by myself. And this month I am goign to fly cross-country flight which would be as good as flying from mumbai to ahmedabad or kolhapur and come back. on the way i need to land at 3 different airports.

I come across people now and then who ask me what will I do once I get pilot license. I give different answers depending upon what that person is upto.

latest useless stuff

2007-07-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

I have been using internet since 1997. Reflecting back on last 10 years I understand i have shifted from one type of website to other.

around 1997-1999, I was a big fan of Ecommerce websites. I recollect I use read magazines and note list of urls on paper which i wanted to visit once i go to cybercafe. These websites wanted to sell everything on internet. I had heard story of how one guy bought customised jet aircraft online. There was another guy who locked himself inside room and ordered complete house item without going outside.

2000 onwards i had picked up web designing. i made many websites on geocities for free. while devolping i understood how to optimise images for faster loading of pages.

2001 was bad, i did all odd jobs, no one gave developers job, so i teamed up with 2 friends and started making software product. eventually all 3 of us got better jobs and our product never got executed.

2003 onwards I started hearing about ask.com & google.com . I recollect reading story of how Desi founder of junglee.com was negotiating with yahoo to sell a company named "google". junglee.com was acquired for few 100 million in dotcom boom, google.com was just coming up, juglee.com founder was friend to google founder. yahoo thought 1 billion dollar was too much for search/google so turned off the deal.

2005, yahoo stopped using google search and decided to do search by themself.

till 2006 it was all about search. gmail came and taught everyone that dont organise just search. no one wants to organise things on internet, everyone wants to search.

where do i spend time on internet today ?
youtube & orkut .

i find good clips on youtube and forward them to all friends on orkut. all my friends think i am casually spending time to watch videos, have fun and later spam everyone on orkut list. However i let myself use youtube & orkut but carefully keep watching my behaviour like a third person. i have come across many points/features/ideas which are right now missing in world of online video and social networking, but non of them are god enough to start a project.

theres no way users are going to see video the way they do today. i keep myslef 3 years in future and imagine how better video and social networking would be.

between have you heard of my aviation theme park project, targeted to be completed by 2010, its going to be 25 mile radial area in nevada, where you can come down, get trained for 2-3 hours and then fly single engine aircraft, everything for 250 dollars. the night i got this project idea, i woke up at 2am and started making paper planes till 5 in morning.

Hawking Paradox

2007-03-27T17:01:00.001-07:00

If u happened to watch Documentary on "Hawkings Paradox" or have read book "A Brief History of Time" you will understand wht I have to say here.

"Hawking Paradox" is information destruction theory proposed by scientitst Stephen Hawkings. It tries to explain that when information/substance gets absorbed inside Black Hole, information is destroyed in this universe and gets created in simmilar universe somewhere else. i.e there are several simmilar universe all around the place.

No scientisit or scientific evidence agrees with what Stephen has said.

I am big fan of Stephen Hawkings and I believe him for following reason.
1) Physic explains how this world works, but doesnt explain how world was formed
2) hawkings theory has certain aspect which matches with indian scriptures
3) hawkings doesnt think the way we do, he has different vision and can see things in different dimensions, which we can never understand.

Yesterday while in train I spent few minutes thinking over it.
Below are my thoughts:
1) Let time be represented by railway tracks.
i.e Station A is past, Station B is present and Station C is future.
2) Everything we see around including human beings are Passenger in this train.
3) Each compartment of this train is independent universe.

Now let say I am sitting inside compartment number 4 . And get a call from one friend who is inside compartment 3. I get up from my seat, start walking towards connecting door, open the door, and get inside compartment 3.

There was a 12 months old baby sitting on the lap of her mother, close to door, she saw me getting inside door and then I was out of sight. This baby thinks I got absorbed inside door and all information is lost.

Does it matter for me if I change my compartment ???
Not really, because all compartments and moving togather in one direction. So it doesnt matter if I travell to compartment 3 or compartment 2.

When I change my compartment I do change my timing, i.e I do travel in future or past.

Now to make problem more complex, add few more assumptions.
1) Each compartment is identitical i.e same people are sitting inside all the compartment.
2) You have no idea which direction train is moving.
It really needs a different dimension to realise something like this. I am sure stephen knows it correctly. We can just assume things for now.

My train passed "oakland Airport" station, and I got another thought. Is it possible that in one of my practice flight I did "take off" in this universe and then some black hole sucked bay area inside it, then by time I landed back in oakland, I was in different universe.

Have you ever experienced "Dejavu". Dejavu means the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously. You never know it might be part of "Hawking Paradox".

google vs harshad mehta

2007-03-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

came across some explanation about why would google buy youtube and thought of comparing it to harshad mehta strategy.

youtube already had lot of companies(almost all media) ready to sue them for copyright on content for big time. still google buys youtube for large 1.6 billion dollars(all stocks).

hashad mehta kept buying & holding certain companies even though he had signals that there where certain group of people who are all set and trying to bring them down for personal interest.

if youtube was not bought by google and had broke to pieces by all media companies, the no. 2 video website on internet[myspace.com] wud become no.1 . myspace belongs to fox. fox is media company. google looses hold on content type "video"

if harshad mehta had stopped buying & holding stocks the big players where ready to start the crash, which eventually makes harshad mehta loose his value of holdings.

google has best lawyers working and almost all media company have now filed law suit against them, have you heard of viacom asking for decent 1 billion dollars. time will tell how google resolves the issue.

harshad mehta had bad time. crash was forced by few greedy people. and reporters started publicising missing bank money. he lost his funds and became failure in chain reaction.

google operates in usa market

harshad mehta operated in indian market.

my startup airlines

2007-03-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

people who are close to me, know that, You have to talk to me every month to find out my next new million dollar business plan as entrepreneur :)

I was talking to my close friend "Tarun Lalan" few days back, he is heading towards most important event of his life. He is getting married tomorrow in India.

Tarun is perhaps most intelligent friend i ever had. his life, talk, walk everything revolves around IF Then Else conditions. Although few times i have conveyed him that it sucks to use so much intelligence all the time, life is easy and at times should be kept simple.

tarun is finishing his MBA from IIM Lucknow this year and had job has onsite[USA] business developer with top Indian software house. he spoke to me day before this interview and said that there where only 4-5 candidates eligible for this interview and everyone other than him are from IIT. He went about telling me how challenging its going to be.

I was cool. I told him, Tarunbhai I have absolute confidence that you are going to get through, I have complete idea of how well you can do things. Just let the day pass, and you will be winner.

He got the job.

I was speaking to him 2 weeks back and came to know that he is going to Lakswadeep for Honeymoon.

We both where so glad talking about it.

He went on explaining why he chose Lakshadweep over kerala or mauritius..

While talking all this on international call, i came up with my next business plan, which i went ahead shared with tarun...

"tarun how about this....,
find out some small island near Lakshadweep, we will lease it from tourism department, then i will raise funding to buy one Ambhipian Aircraft(aircarft which can land on water or land) 40-50 people capacity, then I take off every weekend from sea near JUHU beach, and land in water near island, we can sell this 2 days adventure package for 5000 rupees per person, do you think you can handle economics for this"...

we both laughed over whole business plan, but i was glad that i came up with this innovative aviation company idea. may be if vijay mallya will read this, he will start this venture.

Anyways tarun was in his world of marriage and we ended our call with lot of greetings.

Nice landing ! Captain Mekhiya !

2007-03-09T10:55:00.000-08:00

I have been working to get Private Pilot License for last few months. I had target to go solo (start flying all alone) in feb last week and give a checkride (final exam where you fly with US gov. appointed Examiner from Federal aviation), howeevr everything got delayed bcos of bad weather & rain in feb. I am suppose to fly VFR(visual flight rules), these are set of regulations/rules imposed because of weather conditions. low cloud layers or bumpy wind or any weather unusual conditions cancels vfr flying.

but anyways i am back on track and now shooting for April.

i am waiting to get that small piece paper called "License" in my hand, which will read

"Pilot Nitin Mekhiya"

my instructor was telling today that "its really wonderful to be a Pilot, I walk inside a store with some doctor. other guy says, I am a doctor and I say : I am a pilot, and you know people just look at me"

I agree with him absolutely.

In last 2-3 months I had many similar experiences.

I take Bart(bay Area rapid Transit) Trains from Fremont to San Francisco. And I read my books/notes for my Private Pilot exam. As soon as someone sitting close to me notices something related to aviation, they go ahead and ask abt it..

someone: hey what are u working on ?
me: oh you know i am working to become Pilot!
someone: oh wow! really !
me: yap!
someone: you know i always wanted to learn how to fly ?
me: ok.
someone: isn't it scary to do landings ?
...

and talking goes on.

I have met many Desi who end up getting so excited that they give and take mobile number and say that they want to keep in touch :)

its fun when you start experiencing the charisma around you.

This is one of landings at Oakland international Airport

i was discussing this my instructor and told him that although i come across people who love and get excited to talk about aviation, i personally don't feel that way.

He explained that I don't feel any excited bcos I am working on it, I am going through lot of challenges, I have to do lot of reading, get up 4 in morning to reach airport at 6, fly 6.30-7.30 and then reach office at 9. While flying I am completely engrossed with all check lists & procedure, theres is no moment when i realize that WOW effect!!!
its all hard work & learning involvement.

its like when i was learning riding bike, i wasnt excited, i was worried about handling it and that continued till i actually mastered it and then riding was all pleasure most of the time..

Today was great day for me, cos i was able to do good landings and go one step further.

My instructor asked me to change the touch down point. When Pilot does landing, he is suppose to fix a target point at the start of runway, where numbers are written.

today i was asked to come close to runway and continue to fly parallel to runway and touchdown at different points. It was amazing experience and i was glad that i was able to do it after 2-3 landings.

1) the usual landing with keeing numbers as target and do touchdown on numbers.

2) & 3) these are shifted touchdown points which i was able to hit and do landing. You come close to runway and continue flying parallel to it and idle throttle (reduce power) just enough when you are exactly at your touchdown point. i have no idea how exactly i do it, its lot of adjustments of power, speed pitch and vision.

I did one amazing touchdown and my instructor said

"Nice landing! Captain Mekhiya!"

I smiled and said "roger" (roger means "all-right" in aviation)

I know Wikipedia works!

2007-02-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

I have started several pages on wikipedia and seen them growing.

One of them was Mahuva , thats my father's native place i.e my father was born in Mahuva (he left for Mumbai at early age of 15-16). 2 of my uncles[father's brother] still live in Mahuva.

Today, after a while when I checked Mahuva page on wikipedia, it has grown with lot of information.

My uncle's house is next to Morari Bapu's House. Morari Bapu is highly respected and popular for Discourses on Ram Katha and other scriptures.

My father passed away in May 1995, just before this, he had visited Mahuva to listen to Ram Katha.

Enterprising Cousin Piyush

2007-01-26T13:49:00.000-08:00

Piyush(17 yrs.) is my aunt's (mother's sister) son, lives close to my place in Mumbai.
He has always been enterprising like I use to be..

When he was 10-12 years old, he got a Bicycle, which he stared giving to all other boys for a ride.

Deal was, one small ride, in return of a Pen.

In 6 months time, he had collected more than 1000 pens.
No one in family knew where he got these pens from until one day he got in to fight with 4-5 boys and coincidentally, I happen to pass by. I saved him from beatings.
Every business has some risks and sometimes you fall into situation :) But if you are right, someone will come to help you.

next thing he has tried is becoming Mobile repairer. Everyone was surprised to know that he wants to become cell phone mechanic, but anyways, we both discussed things, and he had promising revenue estimates(He was 15 then). I agreed to sponsor his venture partially. He did some work for a while.

2 years back, i finally asked him to look into Animation work. He is the finest artist/painter I know personally(inherits this quality from his father).

we had cool discussion and he decided to get into animation course.

recently he mailed me...

hi,
nitin bhai

after a long time i m sending u a mail sorry 4 that and how r u? how's life going? i m fine here. This is a porsche boxter made fully by me, in colour i'll send u later. Now a days i m working hard. I spend whole day in classes only

His mail reminded me of my childhood ventures...
I remember, when I was 6 years old, all alone, I had used 3 volt motor and bulb to make small mixture grinder, using Topaz shaving blade :)

I was by my own, no one with me, I decided to plug whole set up into my house power socket, everything blew off, and I had a strong electric shock for 4-5 seconds. It was a big lesson. I still remember that shock, it has helped me to remain adventurous with my enterprising ideas..

Some of the things, i had made while I was under 10, miniature electric washing machine, trolley traveling a rope 10 feet long, steam boat, electric game for matching words to picture, working electric plant for recycling paper and make greeting cards, robot, tried but failed making a flying model of aircraft.

And trust me all this was kind of self financed** and without any one to teach. There was one watch repair shop close by where I had observed and learned the fundamental, that connect positive negative of anything (motor, bulb) to battery and it works!!!

**my meaning with self financed is, I never asked money from my parents to buy any motors or bulbs or wires, i use to save some money for my candies(called chocolates in India) and use to bargain with one Junk shop. i use to visit this Junk shop daily to find out if he had got any new toy in junk. These junk toys always had some kind of motor or bulb inside.

Anjoy!!!

2006-12-03T15:23:00.001-08:00

Why do i like spiderman
* he has his regular day job
* he becomes spiderman in night
* he likes to help people
* he is one man army
* he works on web

whats am i upto!!!???$$$###

2006-11-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

Its been while I have stopped doing coding for my personal startup.(Although I call startup, I have actually not registered any co. There are 3 web projects running and growing on internet, but they are all without proven business model).

I take help from 3 friends/engineers from mumbai for my personal projects. All 3 are doing day job and helping me for very nominal incentive.

No. 1 ) is very hard working
No. 2 ) is very good at research & and is very good risk manager
No. 3 ) is good at delivering results

Its my dream to make it possible for all 3 of them to buy a Nice costly 3 bedroom aprt. in Mumbai.

Recently I was talking to No.2 team member, and I said,

"after doing evaluation from one guruji, one of our project has got to evaluation of 10,000 USD in 4 months time"

then i went further saying, "10,000 USD is around 4.5 lacs indian rupees. Thats around price for one Balcony inside 3 bedroom Apt. Alright so we have got to the value of one balcony(in 4 months), which is good enough for 3 people to work hard, after day job and reach upto level where its become possible to buy 3 bedroom apt. for each one in next 2-3 years"

pictures from cockpit

2006-08-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

homeless...not any more...

2006-07-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

"I learned about the strength you can get from a close family life. I learned to keep going, even in bad times. I learned not to despair, even when my world was falling apart. I learned that there are no free lunches. And I learned the value of hard work." Lee Iacocca

finally I have a homepage, www.mekhiya.com

some dilbert

2006-05-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

$3 million a year

2006-04-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

whenever i get stuck with my aspirations & dont see things mvoing, there are few things i do. One of them is to read Paul Grahams essays. heres a small piece of his writing:

Here is a brief sketch of the economic proposition. If you're a good hacker in your mid twenties, you can get a job paying about $80,000 per year. So on average such a hacker must be able to do at least $80,000 worth of work per year for the company just to break even. You could probably work twice as many hours as a corporate employee, and if you focus you can probably get three times as much done in an hour. You should get another multiple of two, at least, by eliminating the drag of the pointy-haired middle manager who would be your boss in a big company. Then there is one more multiple: how much smarter are you than your job description expects you to be? Suppose another multiple of three. Combine all these multipliers, and I'm claiming you could be 36 times more productive than you're expected to be in a random corporate job. If a fairly good hacker is worth $80,000 a year at a big company, then a smart hacker working very hard without any corporate bullshit to slow him down should be able to do work worth about $3 million a year.

Business Model Tips

2006-04-18T06:36:00.000-07:00

The executives shared the trials and tribulations of getting the business model right along with tips on what they have learned through experience.

-Innovate in one or two areas
When you start a business, look at what you do the same and what you do differently. In order to be successful, you want to do a lot of things the same way. You only want to innovate in a few key areas.

-Focus on the business basics
Ultimately businesses are simple: who will buy, what is the margin, can you protect the business from competitors. The CEO must identify the key successful factor - in social networking the key question was 'Will people invite others to join?'.

-Make the tough call
Different times call for different actions. A CEO must recognize points of inflection and morph, though it is difficult to make the call to leave a business and start something new.

-Change is normal
There are relatively few tech companies that still have business models that are the same as when the VCs were pitched.

-Test the model
The best way to test the business model is spending time with customers. They have the answers and it is much better than spending time in front of a white board.

"Project AIR" : bootstrapping

2006-02-27T08:22:00.000-08:00

plan of action:
1) getting incorporated(register a llc company) in USA.
2) got a btifull domain name for website.
3) getting old boxes to run linux & convert them to servers.
4) plan to make a prototype & ask friends to test it.
5) file patent rights for startegy thru most economic attorney.
6) make it featurefull & raise some seed/ inital angel money.
7) expose it further.
8) repeat 6 & 7

pros:
1) company grows only thru users, not just bcos we got some big investors & started recruiting people.
2) go smooth, play safe, and keep it flexible.
3) no business plan to stick too. No ROI to meet. No exit plan to dream of.
4) no waiting for approval from Mr. Investor.
5) nothing to loose & whole world to win.
6) do all this while your regualr job is on.

cons:
1) working like crazy to get things done. Stuff like Linux with mail servers & other few open packages & hosting it on home cable internet is full of pain. Dedicated hosting is out of question at this point of time.
2) do all this while your regualr job is on.

What is "Project Air", all about:
It is a stupid Simple idea, which is not as per current trend. Trying to do something exactly oposite of what world is moving towards.

Our chances:
1) may be we get burnOut completely
2) may be we change this world.

side effects:
slept 7 out of last 48 hours. Nilesh & Raj found me talking in sleep abt some server. So work was ON even while I was sleeping. Messed up with my notebook, had to format it.

help needed:
if you have any kind of experience on Linux, pls get in touch. if you are in NY/Nj area & have boxes to trash, pls. mail the configuration.

Coming soon:
picture of those old boxes (first servers) connected to my home cable internet using no static ip.

change for good

2006-01-31T20:10:00.000-08:00

The Statue of Liberty faces outward toward the nations. She holds aloft the torch of freedom, the flame of hope, the principle of equality for all people, the promise of the future. She holds this torch high in the daytime and during the night as well. She shines her light in the midst of darkness. Her strength is in her right arm and her right arm carries the strength of God. She represents hope to the hopeless, welcome to the poor and the meek. She faces outward toward the ocean; her lamp, a beacon on stormy seas. Behind and within her is the will of God, saying through her: "Welcome, my beloved children. Welcome to the Golden Door."
Life is too short to waste ON FAILURES. Change the organisation or change the organisation
(Martin Fowler)

If I come up with something that is of great value to 2-3 people, then it is very likely that it will also be of value to 90 million people
(Sabeer Bhatia)

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
(steve jobs)

--- with this blog, I decide to earliest pack my bags & move to silicon valley.

Sad news

2006-01-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

Its very tough to believe that someone who was closest for more than 10 years is not any more in your life. Its a mix of (pain & farewell) feeling.

Alright, I am talking abt my, very own, Moustache.

Yap, Its out of my life. It took just 5 seconds to eliminate, which was part of my identity for last 10-12 years.

Change
Moustache gone.

Technology
Gillete ready to shave

Purpose
Meeting investors & venture capitalist, who dont get interested in investing on idea of someone who has moustache. It reminds them of some terrorist.

Conducted Poll across 10 people.
7 said : "Nitin, you look absolute & ultimate wierd"
2 Said : "wierd, but now theres no going back"
1 said : "not that I want to hurt you, hence no comments"

coming soon
my first picture without Moustache with Statue of Liberty in background.

hitu & janu

2006-01-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

These are my niece Hitaishi (5) & Janvi (3) (Hitu Janu), they live in pune with their parents and they understand that USA is on the other side of planet earth hence when India has day, Nitin mama in America has night.

Rang de Basanti !!!

2006-01-19T12:54:00.000-08:00

Alright so Friday, Jan-27-2005, I get to see much awaited Aamir khan's movie...
Rang De Basanti

Is any one at all excited about it ???
I know! I am !

Heading straight after work to Loews Theater at Time Square, New York city.

The Indus Entrepreneurs

2006-01-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

Started attending TIE (the indus entrepreneurs) events in tri-State area. TIE members in New York city are mostly from Finance background.

They either wrk for Banks or Equity market or some other finance Institution. Was not able to find anyone who had web startup.

Events in TIE-SV (silicon valley events are meant for startups). Thinking of switching my job to Silicon valley area.

Hansa & 2 kids vist New York

2006-01-14T03:05:00.000-08:00

My cousin Hansa was in New york city with her two kids: bhavika & Jignesh. They are in Wichita Kansas since last 10 years.

Thanks to hema, they stayed all five days at her palce, located right in front of Central Park. Convenient for us to catch City Tour buses & subways to reach different places in city.

Its always fun to take some friend or close one to New york city for city view. Everytime u get to explore the city. I believe this is one of the best city in the world. It doesnt make me miss my Mumbai (India).

Every morning I have to rush to catch Train, and once you are in train, usually u dont get Place to sit. Usual Indian style. Once u r out of train, its all mad world. people are running & heading for some direction. Everyone with sense of purpose & duty. I like that kind of culture.

Macy's Thanksgiving day parade

2006-01-14T02:56:00.000-08:00

Had been to Macy's Thanks giving parade in New York city. Parade actually stems from European tradition.

In the 1920's many of Macy's department store employees were first-generation immigrants. Proud of their new American heritage, they wanted to celebrate the American holiday with the type of festival they loved in Europe.

The employees marched from 145 Street down to 34th Street dressed as clowns, cowboys, knights and sheiks. There were floats, professional bands and 25 live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a true New York experience that is magical for both children and adults.

2005-03-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

Satellite image of Manhattan (New York city seen from satellite after 9/11 attack). Smoke still rising from WTC.

NewYork

2005-02-27T13:38:00.000-08:00

Nowadays I am in New Jersey.
Had been to NewYork for weekend.

Culture of Execution - Narayan Murthy

2004-12-31T04:17:00.000-08:00

Few days back I read Interview of Narayan Murthy in Mumbai Times.He was for a short visit in Mumbai.
He said that "Indians dont have culture of Execution.I use to live in santacruz 15 years back.And at that time Milan Subway use to get choked up with water during rains.Last year when I came to Mumbai , I saw the same condition.

After reading this I realized that even I am having agreat amount of this same syndrome : "Lack of Culture of Executuion"
I had decided long time back that I want to go for Microsoft Certification,but for no reason i have not yet done any.

After reading Narayan Murthy's Interview , I got little serious to think about it.Soon I will finsih my MCAD papers hopefully.

Famous Siddhu quotes!

2004-09-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

A collection of famous "quotqble quotes" by Navjot Singh (the Indian Cricketeer)

That ball went so high it could have got an air hostess down with it.
There is light at the end of the tunnel for India, but it's that of an incoming train which will run them over.
Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald.
This quote was made after Ganguly called Dravid for a run and midway sent him back and Dravid was runout in the third test against the West Indies at Barbados."Ganguly has thrown a drowning man both ends of the rope."
Sri Lankan score is running like an Indian taxi meter.
Statistics are like miniskirts, they reveal more than what they hide.
Wickets are like wives - you never know which way they will turn!
He is like Indian three-wheeler which will suck a lot of diesel but cannot go beyond 30!
The Indians are going to beat the Kiwis! Let me tell you, my friend, that the Kiwi is the only bird in the whole world which does not have wings!
As uncomfortable as a bum on a porcupine.
The ball whizzes past like a bumble bee and the Indians are in the sea.
The Indians are finding the gaps like a pin in a haystack.
The pitch is as dead as a dodo.
Deep Dasgupta is as confused as a child is in a topless bar!
The way Indian wickets are falling reminds of the cycle stand >at Rajendra Talkies in Patiala..one falls and everything else falls!
Indian team without Sachin is like giving a Kiss without a Squeeze.
You cannot make Omlets without breaking the eggs.
Deep Dasgupta is not a Wicket Keeper, he is a goal keeper. He must be given a free transfer to Manchester United.
He will fight a rattlesnake and give it the first two bites too.
One, who doesn't throw the dice, can never expect to score a six.
This quote was made after Eddie Nichols, the third umpire, ruled Shivnarine Chanderpaul 'NOT OUT' in the second test at Port of Spain, T&T. "Eddie Nichols is a man who cannot find his own buttocks with his two hands."
Anybody can pilot a ship when the sea is calm.
Nobody travels on the road to success without a puncture or two.
You got to choose between tightening your belt or losing your pants.
The cat with gloves catches no mice.
Age has been perfect fire extinguisher for flaming youth.
You may have a heart of gold, but so does a hard-boiled egg.
He is like a one-legged man in a bum kicking competition.
The third umpires should be changed as often as nappies and for the same reason.

mekhiya[at]gmail.com

2004-09-12T03:14:00.000-07:00

Finally got a GMAIL Account.
mekhiya[at]gmail.com

GMail is in Beta so not every one is able to create Account.
Its only through invitation you get it.

It is amazing.
You can simply run search on your mail box.
never bother to delete any mails or try to organize them in folders.
Whener you need some mail , search for text and you will get the mail.
Still need to go through all the options available.

Cap gemini The Dream Company

2004-09-09T03:11:00.000-07:00

I never had Idea of how much Cap gemini is appreciated by Software proffesioanls.

I was at Hedrabad with my old Engineering friends.

They were totally 7 - 8 of them

3 in wipro
2 in Oracle
1 in Infosys
1 in Computer Science Corporation

And all of them wanted to join one dream company called "CApgemini"....

While coming back from h'Bad tauseef told me...
"Abey saale tu khali fokat rota rehta hain...teri company ka kya solid brand name hain dekh"

And I said "Ha Yaar" .

Chirkur balaji Temple

2004-09-09T03:06:00.000-07:00

I was at Hedrabad with tauseef , rajeev and other friends.
The main purpose of visit was to Pray at Chirkur Balaji temple.
Chilkur is situated on the banks of Osman Sagar which is 20-30 miles from Hyderabad Outskirts with the beautiful pictures location.This temple is small in size but competing with Tirumala Govinda in popularity.The speciality of the temple is that there is no hundi.Also there is no special queue for VIP's and all that which happens elsewhere. BELIEFS:-It is believed any devotees who goes around the temple 11 times with devotion and love his desire gets fullfill. After the desire is fulfill the devotee goes around the temple for 108 times. So, devotees visiting chilkur are advised not to get carried away by mischief mongres. and never close eyes while taking darshana. and fall flat and do namaskar's. never pay money. The richer and the poor should go in the same line for darshana.

Mountaineering Tips

2004-07-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

While climbing mountain

keep your mouth Shut and avoid breathing thru Mouth.It helps in retaining moisture within.
Walk like a baby, be prepared to roll on your every step.
keep a pace of walking such that , which you can continue for whole day.
In rainy season while climbing slippery steep rocks, use rope for protection.
Stand straight while crossing river/stream.Do not sit or bend down while walking for Support.If in Group make a chain.

While climbing down any mountain/Hill
1) loosen your Shoes to some extent.It helps to be more flexible and avoids cramps.

Astrocrazy

2004-07-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

We all came across in Weekend course on basic Astronomy conducted by mumbai University.Since then very much in touch with most of them.Astrocrazy yahoogroup acted a vital player in keeping all of us in touch.Its been almost 2.5 years by now and we have spend lot of good time.We started with Lectures by all Astronmy Experts in Mumbai,went for Night SKy Observation at various places at OutSkirts of Mumbai.We also went for treking and usual Restauranting around the city.

Most of the group memebers are students of Science.But we did had People from various background viz : we had one journalist,Diamond Merchant,Marketing Fellow,retired Scientist and many others.

One of the guy out there is worth mentioning is Sachin Pilankar.He has come up with huge collection on Astronomy Stuff in Marathi languauge.Do visit his Web Site. AvakashVedh

School Friends

2004-07-16T01:03:00.000-07:00

Talib(working for Toyo (zapanese firm))
Hemant (works for a US based Diamond merchant)
Sadik (as of now runs a franchise of ICICI Prudential)
Ramesh (might join Fire Brigade as of now doing coding on MS platform)
Amit (did his studies in Geology)

Just yesterday got a news that Amit is Joining some Big Oil company, would be working at Jodhpur at the actual Site where they drill for Oil.He always wanted to work on projects where he travells to some weird place and collect samples of various rocks and other earthly stuff.

Hemant has recently joined a Big/Rich merchant from USA and would be supporting his Diamond Business.He would be in Purchase of Diamonds in Mumbai and will travell to Europe and USa often....sounds good.

Ramesh is going to join some traning on .Net technology under Bipin joshi.

Sadik is on lookout for opprtunity where he can make a big scam and make money for his lifetime.

Talib is getting married this October, iwould be Travelling with him to Indore for his marriage.

We are meeting for some outing this sunday..some good old mountain to hike together after long time.

Something about trekking

2004-07-16T00:46:00.000-07:00

Its been since years that with every rainy season i get in to treking business.
Peth , peb, Matheran,Bhima Shanker,Chinchoti are some of the all time favourite places.

What to bring
Pack sack
Raincoat or poncho (downpours are frequent)
Boots or comfortable walking shoes Sandals,
for river crossings or around campsite Warm clothing, (a fleece or sweater)
Hat for the sun Sleeping bag Flashlight Sunscreen
Water bottle
Plastic bags for documentation, camera
and a good dose of humor

Whenever you take a halt while climbing, always follow a golden rule.
Once you start leaving the place and get back to climbing, move little distance and then see back at the halt place to check if at all you are forgetting anything out there.

Here I start.

2004-07-01T23:27:00.000-07:00

Hi
This is my first blog on bloggers.