P kunhikrishnan climbs some steps more.

at home in Koramangala, Bangalore.

In Alliance University, Bangalore

Our 1986 batchmate and college mate from Govt College of Engg, Trivandrum,  P. Kunhikrishnan, Project Director PSLV, Mission Director Mangalyaan and Deputy Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) Trivandrum has been appointed as Director Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikotta.

A big congrats kunhi !!

Some pictures were taken during his talk at Alliance uty Bangalore in Nov 2014.

News item ..

George..

Bottom of the pyramid - a great concept..

The book by prof C K Prahalad and hammel " Competing for the Future" is great !

http://www.economist.com/node/3104498/print?Story_ID=3104498

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/ict4b/Fortune-BoP.pdf

ge..

Jobin. laurels at Deloitte ..

Good recognition for Jobin from Deloitte ..

It was a great feeling when Jobin brought home these awards from office for being a very vibrant sports person, artist and good worker at Deloitte US India at Bangalore. 

Besides being the captain of the Deloitte Bangalore Basketball team and member of Table tennis and cricket teams, Jobin took great interest in the cultural programme where he rendered some good western nos and helped co-ordinate the first "A Capella" in Deloitte history ..

Workwise, he enjoys the work and so it has to be but the best !

Deloitte, being a very professional company and the number one of the consulting world, the HR and motivational practices are indeed the best in the field anywhere in the world.

Jack ma's pearls of wisdom !!

Jack Ma, the down-to-earth e-tailer ..

Jack Ma is the Messiah of modern day e-tailing. 

From being a school teacher in english to be one of the greatest names in e-retailing of the modern world is indeed a great and envious journey. Having the vision, grit and determination to start www.alibaba.com from scratch and make it the world's largest e-retailer, three times the revenues of Amazon and Ebay combined, Jack is a global name everyone takes note of !!

Jack's famous quotes, simple, original and  thoughtful. These are great resources to entrepreneurs : (credits www.yourstory.com)

Here is a Wall Street Journal writeup on Alibaba ..

1. You need the right people with you, not the best people

The best people cost you loads of money and their contributions can be limited. Keep the right people with you !!

2. We’re never in lack of money. We lack people with dreams, (people) who can die for those dreams

Brings the reality of dreams driving humanity forward.

3. I call myself a blind man riding on a blind tiger

Go to places where fate take you !

4. Never ever compete on prices, instead compete on services and innovation.

Competing on prices is a thing of the past. How can you give more value to the customer by way of service and innovative features, uses etc. is what matters ..

5. Instead of learning from other people’s success, learn from their mistakes. Most of the people who fail share common reasons(to fail) whereas success can be attributed to various different kinds of reasons

Successes bring only the wow factor, failures are what drives us forward and see they do not recur at least in our case.

6. Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine

Be positive, there is always a silver lining behind every dark cloud.

7. Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world.

Young people are the future and hope of the world. Small guys are the people who can grow big. Plant the right seeds in them.

8. I try to make myself happy because I know that if I’m not happy, my colleagues are not happy and my shareholders are not happy and my customers are not happy.

If I am unhappy how can I ensure my customers are happy ? 

9. If you’ve never tried, how will you ever know if there’s any chance

Very true .. 

10. If you don’t give up, you still have a chance. Giving up is the greatest failure.

Keep trying till you succeed ..

11. I don’t want people (in China) to have deep pockets but shallow minds.

Be ready to embrace new thought and culture.

12. You never know how much can you do in your life

Be positive of the infinite possibilities of the hum,an mind.

13. You never know that the things you’re doing are that meaningful to society.

Keep doing, one day the society will thank you for that.

14. You’ve to make consumers smart. An e-commerce portal doesn’t sell a product at cheaper rates, instead an offline shop sells it at a costlier prices.

Add value for the customer..!

15. You’ve got to make your team have value, innovation, and vision.

Let value and innovation be the guiding lights of your actions !

16. When you are small, you have to be very focused and rely on your brain, not your strength.

Agility and shar responses are what matter. Try to be small at all time.. Size brings lethargy.

17. Today, making money is very simple. But making sustainable money while being responsible to the society and improving the world is very difficult.

Be a responsible citizen taking care of your fellow beings and society is important.

18. If we are a good team and know what we want to do, one of us can defeat ten of them.

Being focused and purposeful is the key to success.

19. A leader should have higher grit and tenacity, and be able to endure what the employees can’t.

Leadership is all about how long one is able to hold on in times of adversities.

20.  No matter how tough the chase is, you should always have the dream you saw on the first day. It’ll keep you motivated and rescue you (from any weak thoughts).

Stay focused and don't entertain negative thoughts ....

21. You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die.

Learn but never ape.

22. It doesn’t matter if I failed. At least I passed the concept on to others. Even if I don’t succeed, someone will succeed.

Do not be short sighted !

23. Intelligent people need a fool to lead them. When the team’s all a bunch of scientists, it is best to have a peasant lead the way. His way of thinking is different. It’s easier to win if you have people seeing things from different perspectives

Variety and heterogeneity matters.

24. If the customer loves you, the government will have to love you

After all govt is for the people. The govt cannot stop you ..

25. Never ever do business with the government. Be in love with them, never marry them

You know the real scoundrels..

26. When we have money, we start making mistakes.

Aim to serve, not make money !

27. We should never finish a 20 year program in two year.

Haste brings waste ..

28. It’s very difficult to know the outside world, but you know yourself. You know your need and what you want. If I know myself better, I can change myself to meet the outside world.

Understand your self first ..

29. We appreciate yesterday, but we’re looking for a better tomorrow.

Future holds the promise..

30. Without internet, there would have been no Jack Ma, and no Alibaba or Taobao.

It is the new media to take the world forward ..

31. Life is so short, so beautiful. Don’t be so serious about work. Enjoy the lives.

Take a break at times..

32. Opportunity lies in the place where the complaints are.

Never consider complaints are a pain, they are the real blessings for improvement.

ge..

From St. Josephs to Harvard .. an inspiring journey ..

This small piece of writing is to introduce my sister Mrs. Alice Vaidyan. Couldn't resist writing this blog as an appreciation for her hard work, perseverance and never-give-up attitude.

Alice G Vaidyan, who in spite of having a hectic family life and an equally tough professional life to balance, three kids to look after (now grownup), has struggled through lot of hardships in her professional career. Being confident and hard working, she is about to reach the pinnacle of her professional career and academic pursuits, I feel very proud of her accomplishments. Had it not been for our loving and demanding parents who let us pursue perfection, all these would not have materialised at all, and they are also alive to see all this.

Great grit and determination ..

Right from schooldays, Alice was an all-rounder  excelling in quizzes, debates. elocution, sports and leadership, besides doing very well in academics, in short, bubbling with energy all the time ! The passion with which she used to effortlessly carry out the assignments handed out to her even from younger days, was actually a motivation for all of us. After securing the 19 th rank at her std X Kerala state exams (SSLC), she like everybody else was interested in pursuing a professional career in medicine. She almost made it after her 2 nd PUC to medical school but for a slight delay on an intervention by court into an injustice handed out to her, even after being seventh on merit list she was denied admission. Reservations were ruling the day !  Though the High court wanted her to give up a year she decided against accepting this mediocre judgement and forsaked a medical career. At St Josephs Irinjalakuda, Trichur, Kerala she joined for BSc in Chemistry. Alice was very popular in college and became the College Union Chairman besides topping all quizzes and debates throughout the state.

Continuing her post graduate studies from St Berchmans College Chenganachery, Kerala, doing her MA (English), she topped her class and was one of the three first classes in Kerala University.

Speaking at a Lloyd's event in London 

She was selected after professional exams to join as an Officer trainee in the New India Assurance Co. Ltd, one of the subsidiaries of General Insurance Corp of India in 1983. After training in Mumbai she joined the Trivandrum office and served there till marriage in 1986 to an Officer from State Bank of India, MG Vaidyan who had just returned to India after an overseas posting in Los Angeles, US. Continuing her streak of excellence, in the very first year Alice completed the Licentiate exams of the Indian Insurance Institute, second year the Associateship exams and the third year, the Fellowship exams with an All India first rank.

During this time the couple moved to Ahmedabad, Cochin, Mumbai etc while Dr Vaidyan continued his climb up the corporate ladder in SBI seeing him go to places like Ahmedabad, Trivandrum, Chennai, Johannesburg and Mumbai. Their two elder daughters and younger son all got educated in good schools around and took interest in fine arts, music, playing piano, violin etc and excelled in them. They are now well placed in life with good jobs and looking for more challenges.

Continuing her journey up the corporate ladder saw Alice working as Regional manager and then moving to the parent General Insurance Corp from New India Assurance company as General Manager and Chief Financial Officer of GIC.

In the midst of all this challenge and tension, she unwinds herself by playing the violin and piano with great finesse and ease. Globe trotting for the past ten years, she has much more to conquer, I'm sure she will !

GIC nominated her to do the Executive Education Programme in Harvard Business School on "Strategy and Leadership" during May 2015. On her return she is getting ready to take a top assignment in General Insurance Corp of India at Mumbai. 

Her resume' on the Global Bloomberg Executive listing as CFO of GIC Corp of India.

A youtube video where she talks of GIC Reinsurance (GIC Re) emerging as one of the top players in the global reinsurance market.

Alice talking on India becoming Asia's reinsurance hub ..

Wishing her all the best in her life pursuits and may she continue to do well in her life and for the country (my b-i-law Dr Vaidyan is presently the Dy. Managing Director of State Bank of India based in Mumbai).

Even though sometimes I feel that she should have entered the medical profession very early in life, the boldness with which she set aside that choice to start it afresh, was never a mistake, but a bold step. She has achieved much more, than anyone of her age and intellect would have gained in a country like India. She has in addition influenced society and is an inspiration to all of us ..

ge..

Operation Anantha ..

Why is Operation Anantha so important not only for Trivandrum but for the whole state of Kerala and India ?

Encroachments are a curse of society. It is carried out over many years by the influential who have the right contacts in govt and bureaucracy and would like to make an easy buck.

Water bodies are an essential part of a society plans to use water for development and survival lest the water table goes down as has happened in th city of Bangalore.

Disaster Management Act has been revoked for the first time in the history of India in Trivandrum to tackle the floods in East Fort and to remove encroachments. Hopefully the same act will be replicated all over the state by the state administration to see that the state is cleared of all illegal encroachments,

Kerala once again has shown to the world that it is a pioneer in everything it undertakes, its people are very forward looking, its administration is first class. Hope it remains that way.

ge..

India economic history through the ages ..

India's economic might over the ages .. ..

The pic shows how global country / region wise GDP was distributed from 1 AD to 2008 AD.

The orange coloured country will once again lead the world in 35 years after losing out for about 300 years . (Thanks to Industrial revolution and European colonization) .. be patient !!

Ge..

Jack Ma's 10 rules for success..

From a very ordinary school teacher in China to china's richest man and the West' most acceptable face in China, Jack Ma's story has been one of perseverance, rejection and passion.

Jack Ma, the father of modern high volume reliable e-tailing..

When he claims that his riches belong to the society, he is just a custodian, even though at present he is the 18 th richest  man on planet earth at a personal worth of $29 billion, it says, here is a person much different from the others. 

CEO of alibaba.com, the world's biggest e-retailer, three times the nearest competitor Amazon, Jack Ma has a very interesting story for the youngsters of the world.

He has at present about 48% of his staff women and 35% of his top management staff women. He says that women care more for others by nature and this is what he wants his employees also to do, care for the customer. 

Jack places first priority on the customer, next on the employee and third on the share holder. The share holder he feels is very dicey and will desert the company at the drop of a hat.

1. Jack's 2015 interview at the World Economic Forum at Davos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BKaDCda_0

2. Jack Ma's 10 rules for success..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e_mqibZc-Q

3. Jack Ma believes that ideas and technology can change the world as given in this Chinese address (with English sub-titles) he gave at Stanford in 2014. He is very thankful to the internet and Silicon Valley for giving the opportunity for him to experiment and excel..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euxJhgYZXL8

One great thing about Jack Ma is his approach to the riches he has amassed. He says that the billions the society has given him is with him only as its custodian.  One day he intends to give it all up and go back to teaching in school, his very first profession !

george..

Deepface, Facebook and YOU !!

Facebook will soon be able to identify you from any pic soon (with a deadly accuracy of 97%!!) ... The "Deepface algorithm" - AI system Facebook uses already has the data of billions on its database.

Thank you Zuckerberg for playing havoc with our identity and killing our privacy !!

http://news.sciencemag.org/social-sciences/2015/02/facebook-will-soon-be-able-id-you-any-photo

70 years after end of WW-II..

An eventful day which shaped world history..

70 years to this day in1945, the second world war came to an end after Nazi Germany surrendered, 10 days earlier Hitler committed suicide.

In a war where 60 million lives were lost Russia lost the most, 26 million .. Victory Day, most for the Russians .. Victory in Europe 8 may.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Day_%289_May%29

Ge..

Milk processing issues ..

The issues involved I shall point out here.

1. Collection logistics of milk from collection centres

2. Trsnportation of milk to centralised / regional processing plants

3. Homogenisation and Pasteurisation of milk

4. Different sku and demands

5. Matching demand and capacity

6. Packing and distribution of milk packets

7. Demand and capacity for milk auxilliary products like peda, flavoured milk, curd etc..

8. Right pricing mechanism to motivate demand

9. Ensuring the milk is preserved without perishing in the right ambient temp throughout collection, transportation, processing, packing and distribution stages

10. Maintaining quality of raw milk, processed milk and processed sweets

11. Reverse logistics of handling low quality milk products

12. Inv mgmt of sugar, spices, flavours etc

13. Maintenance of machines, milk tankers, trucks etc

14. Suitable remuneration of milk farmers to ensure regular supply

15. Right technical parameters of quality milk like fat content etc..

16. Size of storage and processing facilities etc..

Ge..

Slipped disc free advice ..

The 10 year veteran in "slipped / herniated disc" - myself, with newcomer George Varghese (Vigi), Plant Engg Mgr Apollo, at his kalamassery house. I am giving free medical advice.

Vigi was bedridden for a week. now back at work.

Ge..