I've almost literally stopped blogging. I wouldn't be justified in saying I couldn't find the time. So, I'll just admit I got lazy and settled for micro-blogging and social networking instead. If you're known me for a while and if you've noticed the number of times the word 'I' appears in the above lines, you'll know I haven't changed much! 

The last 6-8 months have been a Pandora's box of sorts, what with all kinds of things happening on the personal and the professional fronts. They've led me to see almost everything and everyone in a completely different way. 

First, the thing that has struck me the most has been the influence that the security of having money brings onto the enthusiasm with which we approach anything. Let me admit things. I've had it relatively easy in life. I've always gotten whatever I needed. Not wanted, but needed. Never before have I seen such stark differences between people's wants and their needs. All the talents that people have, all their skills and their experience suddenly cuddle into a ball and harden up when there is a threat to their normal lifestyle. Almost as if life was entirely transactional. 

Now, I'm no thinker myself. Neither do I have a lot of experience having life the tough way. But I think I would put up my toughest fight when faced with a threat to my existence. And, that I would roll up all my skills and attempt to use them in the best way to save myself. The idea of acquiring and/or possessing skills would be utterly defeated if they wouldn't come to your help when you're in an appropriate situation! This indirectly extends to defeat the whole purpose of education. 

Second, the so-called 'smart' folks always keep advising on quitting at the right time. But the validity of that theory is highly restricted. It's often very easy to give up and move on. It's sometimes even fashionable to move on. But how many times have we stopped to notice the guys that didn't quit and move on? There's every chance that they're living a life that's far more prosperous than the guys that quit and moved on. The ROI of not quitting or giving up is that, ten years later, people would still respect you genuinely. Even if they've made more money than you ever could. Even if they've reached heights you never thought of.

If you persist hard enough, not-giving-up can be as easy as giving up! Or maybe even easier! So, roll up your sleeves, get out there and put up your toughest fight, every single day. 

Yours Occasionally,

uleadin

Sandeep called me on the evening of June 28th 2011 to tell me that a bunch of bloggers are meeting up and asked me if I could join in.

It's been a fairly long while since I caught up with the gang. So, I was naturally excited about meeting up again. Then, he added that we would be meeting up at Tuscana & Kryptos on Chamier's Road because, Vipin (the man behind the restaurant brands) was keen on hosting the meetup. Needless to say, that kinda added to the excitement. I'd never been to the restaurant and was happy to give it a shot along with a known gang of friends. 

I walked into Tuscana and saw Sandeep & Aarti waiting there already. Ram joined us soon after, followed by Neha (of Tuscana). Vipin, himself, joined us and we sat down to begin the luncheon. 

Having known Vipin on the social media space, it was a nice experience for me getting to meet him in person. I think Aarti would agree too! I've heard so much about this printing-entrepreneur-turned-restauranteur from Benny. 

I'm no foodie but I love hanging out with friends. I'm rarely the guy who chooses which restaurant to meet up at. I'm the guy that turns up for the meeting on time, everytime! So, yes, I wouldn't be able to review the delicate intricacies of the food. 

The dining experience is, by far, one of the most perfect ones I've been through. When care is taken to get the finest of details right, it certainly shows. And, it very well did. Although it wouldn't be fair to make a comparison, I liked the overall dining experience at Tuscana more than at Little Italy. I didn't have the same food in both places. So, this applies ONLY to the experience. I think there's a greater sense of perfection and care associated with Tuscana than most other restaurants I've visited in the past. 

The conversations about Vipin's trip to China, the Marans, the interview experiences etc made the meetup a lot more enjoyable. Ram and I tried to take a look at the menu, understand the ingredients and basically guess which delicacy on our table was what. I wouldn't say we got them all right but we did get most of them right, by fluke!

Tuscana's thin-crust pizzas were a first for me. I don't even remember when I last ordered pizza. And, btw, this is nothing like the so-called pizzas that're sold at Pizza Hut and Pizza Corner! Tuscana's pizzas taste far more authentic. I hope I don't get mugged for making such a comparison, in the first place!

The most defining moment from the meetup that I have carried home would be Tuscana's approach to handling internal and external customers. I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that some of Chennai's restaurants actually care to listen to their customers! 

Yours Skeptically,

uleadin

I've been running around a little in the last few weeks trying to organize the 'Weekend Media Workout' series of talks. 

The first one went off fine on March 26th. The second one is scheduled for today. 

The first one was for a generic audience. The second one is for a more focused audience. 

The first one was more of a conversation. The second one is more of a workshop. 

The first one featured a new-age World music band called Yodhakaa. The second one features a veteran wildlife film-maker, Shekar Dattatri. 

Today's session is going to be about 'Incorporating Sound for Wildlife Films' and is intended for final-year media students at the undergraduate level. The topic itself is a little delicate and isn't often dealt with in an academic environment. The inadequate availability of experts in this exact trade also contributes to the delicacy of the topic! 

So, we thought we'd do our little to address this little inherent deficiency by inviting Shekar to talk about it. One good look at his profile would tell you that he's one of the best people out there to handle a topic like this. Being the extremely generous person that he is, he was immediately excited about the session and even gave us a lot of suggestions to improve the overall experience of the participants during the session.

We're happy to be hosting Shekar at our premises and we're happy to be addressing little deficiencies like this through our approach to academics. 

If you're a registered participant, please be sure to turn up at "4th Floor, Jayalakshmi Estates, Haddows Road, Chennai" by 6 15 PM. We would be closing our doors at 6 30 PM after which nobody would be allowed to enter. 

I'll post information and pictures about the session in the coming days. 

Yours Clumsily,

uleadin

I'd taken a resolution to write one blog post a day, starting with yesterday. But then, resolutions are meant to be broken. Keeping with that age old tradition of taking a resolution and giving up the first day itself, I've managed to skip yesterday's post. 

I have a couple of things to talk about, for today. All you idealists, please skip the next 2 paragraphs. The first of the two things would be how people manage to fake excitement and jubilance just like that. The who's who at the top of India's bureaucracy would've surely known the result of yesterday's Ind vs Pak game right after India got into the semi-finals. There was no way India could lose to Pakistan in a World Cup, in India, and get knocked out of the tournament while Pakistan stayed on to play in the Final match in Mumbai itself! 

Now, having known the result already, I was pretty surprised by the seeming-genuineness of the excitement on the faces of people like Sharad Pawar, Shashank Manohar, Niranjan Shah, Sonia & Rahul, Manmohan and Gilani (to name a few). I'd love to learn how they do it so I could pretend to look surprised when I win some new account or when I lose an existing account.

But honestly, Mannenna, Vehppenna, Velakkenna; Pakistan thothu ponaa yenakkennaa!

The second thing is about a new 'artisan-driven India-specific marketplace portal' called Shopo. They've been creating a bit of stir with the 'teaser' video et al. Yesterday, they've launched a photo contest on social media through this video. All you photographer dudes, dig up your archives and see if you can send in some appropriate pictures you would've clicked! At a time when everyone's jumping into the 'group-buying-portal' bandwagon, here comes a little startup that's completely new to the Indian cyber-space. Oh, and, this isn't a sponsored post or anything! I'm just writing because I know the lady behind the idea!

Yours Clumsily,

uleadin

This post is heavily inspired by Boss and Laks. Over the last few evenings, I've been catching up on some reading at home. No particular genre as such. No particular topic as well. Social Media, Crime, Marketing, Climate Change, Cricket, History etc. 

Somehow, all of those, in addition to some conversations I've had lately, have kicked off a little urge inside my head to make a conscious attempt at some serious writing. 

As a small warm-up, I'm going to try and write one blog post a day for the next few days. I'll try my best to make sure the posts aren't about trivial and cliche'd things. Do read them and put in your comments. Let me see if this goes farther than my previous attempts!

Yours clumsily, 

uleadin

I must admit that the frequency of my blogging has come down drastically in the last few months. I'd probably owe it to a shift in the way I use the Internet on a daily basis. Having said that, I have also been waiting for something substantial to happen for me to write a post. 

And, now, that substantial something has kinda happened. 

For those of you that don't know, I handle a bit of Sales & Marketing for a company called Access Atlantech Edutainment (AAT). Again, for those of you that haven't heard of it, AAT is one of India's largest media education companies. It's the company that also happens to run SAE's (School of Audio Engineering) courses in India.

For a company that's been powering the technical side of India's creative industries for almost a decade, my company has not been very vocal about itself and its credentials. Atleast, not as much as it deserves to be! But again, maybe that's what defines the company: doing what it does best without making much noise. 

Having said that, I've been noticing the absence (or inadequate presence) of some concerted effort towards evangelizing thought leadership in the 'Media & Entertainment' vertical amongst the next generation. I'm sure each professional does his/her little bit to evangelize his/her specific medium but what I'm talking about here is one uniform voice. 

I managed to bounce this thought off some friends and folks at office. And, we've come up with, what we believe as, our little push in this direction. We're calling it the 'Weekend Media Workout'. 

The idea is very simple. We're getting together some nice people from Film, TV, Radio, Print, Web, Music etc to talk to school and undergraduate college students about some specific thoughts pertaining to their respective media of practice and some general words about the opportunities available in their respective media. 

Through this initiative, we aim to give professionals a platform to inspire the next generation of enthusiasts with their thought leadership. We're also aiming to create a difference in the way the next generation would approach the creative trade. 

The initiative kick starts on March 26th 2011 at 6 30 PM. The first session is a Koffee-With-Karan style conversation with one of Chennai's hottest new bands, Yodhakaa. The event is free but prior registration is mandatory. Registrations are open here. (http://wmw-one.doattend.com/)

Oh, and, all the sessions are slated to happen at our premises in Jayalakshmi Estates on Haddows Road, Chennai. The registration page above has a map as well. 

Do call me on 9884673544 if you'd need any clarifications. Alternatively, you can email me: prashanth@accessatlantech.com. 

This is a week-on-week activity with a very interesting set of speakers lined up! We've also planned a few workshops. So, keep watching this space for more information!

That's it for now. More, later!

Cheers,

uleadin

After a lazy, short night trip yesterday, the tee-vee was super duper boring. With Robert Pattinson and LOTR being screened on the New Year's night, it could only get more boring. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I had dozed off without even realizing it. 

One single lingering thought. Whoooah, 10 years just flew by in the two-thousands! That was fast! I still remember (a little vaguely) how I was still in 8th standard at the beginning of the last decade! Many might argue that I still look like an 8th std kid. Dudes, please understand that if I'm 23 now and I look like I'm 13, I would've looked younger than 9-10 when I was 13!

I was still in Sir M Venkata Subba Rao school. I still tend to think I would've loved to continue there. I even used to argue to my mother that if I had graduated from that school, I would've scored much higher in 12th std. In hindsight, I'm realizing how only a very little component of all the success I've gotten in life can be attributed to my so-called academic merit/proficiency! But, yes, I would've had much more fun had I continued there. That, I can say with good certainty. 

Moving to Asan Memorial was a completely interesting experience. Unlike many other kids (whose dads had to run all around the country as part of their jobs) at the time, I had the privilege of staying put in Chennai and really didn't have to look at a change of school! So, changing over to another school meant a new experience, the nature of which was still uncertain!

To be very honest, I didn't like Asan Memorial at all for the first 3 weeks. Yes, it might sound like a little kid complaining about pre-school. But, that's how it was. Then I kinda got into the groove in class. Made quite a few friends. Got some marks. Had some crushes. All that. The usual I-finally-settled-comfortably-in-the-new-school thing. 

Then came exams, exams, exams and more exams. Yours Truly jumped across the tenth standard boards with some score in the lower 80s. Given how my parents are, they didn't even care to tell me how the neighbor's kid had performed. I'm guessing they respected my effort and understood that I did what I could do. Big time matured dudes, they are. 

Then came class eleven. We had to switch classes and all, because of the commerce-computers-biology thing. Had to get used to a partly new class. But I think that wasn't the difficult part. I think the problem was with my immaturity, temper and the pressure to perform. I now realize I might have given some junta a lot of irritation. But in hindsight, all the ensuing events have shaped me in a way, today. Class eleven was largely a breeze. Culturals, practicals, 6 subjects, culturals, computer lab, programming, culturals etc.  The so-called 'common exam' flew by without even making a dent on any of us! 

Then came class 12. The first ever time in life when I faced a lot of latent pressure to perform. My parents were worried about how I would get into engineering. But they never told me a thing. But then, it kinda showed on their faces at times. That's OK, I guess. Atleast they went through the panic without passing it onto me. I worked pretty hard. I don't know your definition of 'working hard'. But, according to mine, I worked really hard. Went to multiple tuitions, studied daily, wrote down on white boards, dining tables, glass cupboards et al with temporary markers. It was a nice boot-camp. Finally, ended up crossing class twelve with a score in the lower 90s. I still think I could've done a little better but who cares. It was good enough to get me into engineering! That's how years 2000 to 2004 went.

I'm wondering if there could be a reunion of my school makkal. One for VSR and another for Asan. Let's see if 2011 brings something forward on that front. 

Wait, the story isn't even half done. More later.

Yours Skeptically,

uleadin

I write to you now when I'm on an emotional high. There are times when you do thing very confidently because you love them a lot. Yet, there is an inner question that pops up once in a while. The random thought that questions you about your judgement towards taking up something other than the usual. 

Going with the crowd has its advantages in terms of extremely easy peace of mind. Going on a tangential path, on the other hand, has a completely different kind of gratification. Trying to express the gratification in the mere words of any language would not do full justification at all. It is beyond money. It is beyond fame. It is beyond pride. It is called 'acceptance'. It's a very simple thing. But it is best left unwritten about. It is best felt when experienced. 

Now, on the same emotional high, I'd like to talk about something that I've had as a dream for quite a long time. Over the last two years (or so), I've had multiple chances to meet some amazing people. I understand that I've written enough and more about such experiences in previous posts on this blog. As a result of meeting such people and having gotten (& still getting!) a lot of wisdom from them, I have realized what a difference it makes to go through such a 'process', if I may use that word. 

However, I also have to admit that several other people, who were either as capable as I am/was or who were much better than me, haven't had many such opportunities in life. As Bill Gates would say, there is definitely an inequity here. It would be thoroughly unjustifiable for me to go ahead in life pretending that I didn't even notice the inequity. And, I don't think it would be right for me to say I'm in no position to try and level the inequity as much as possible. 

Having said all that, I also realize that there is only so much that a 23-yr-old can do to bring about change. It is an inclusive & iterative process. It is going to solicit the involvement of several other people as well. But what I wish to be is the catalyst or the trigger. 

The idea is very simple. If I can bring (say) 5 people with a particular set of qualities (that have come naturally), is there a way we can sit together and reform them into people that the big brands would love to work with? There is a clear difference between what people are told in a classroom and what people are _asked_ to do in a corporate environment. Is there a way we could equip these individuals with what it takes for them to be unbiased, practical, sensible, decisive and hardworking corporate citizens? Would we, as a society or a fraternity, be able to give these individuals the opportunities and the wisdom they need to grow in terms of personality?

As of this very moment, my personal capability to pull off something as powerful as this stands convincing but not complete. I am trying to start small by trying to identify a handful of people with promising marketing capabilities and am trying to also identify the right mentors to help them grow in life. At some point, I really hope it would be a rewarding experience for everyone involved, at some level or the other. And, at the end of the day, if I am able to see the change that I helped create, I am now firmly convinced that there can be no greater gratification in life for me. 

If you are interested in being a part of this at some level, please do contact me. I would be glad to work with you in facilitating some tangible social change. 

Hopefully, more later. 

Yours (definitely not so) Skeptically (this time!),

uleadin

I'm just back from an amazing evening spent with two people I look up to (the most). I've heard, just like most of you, of one terribly cliche'd quote (that belongs to Eleanor Roosevelt and goes like this) "Small minds discuss people. Average minds discuss events. Great minds discuss ideas." 

It was such a stark realization for me, looking in hindsight, that I've been through all those phases in life within the last couple of years! Fortunately, I spent more time on the overlap between the second and third phases. Nonetheless, I've believed that it would be impossible for one to remain in a state and realize its relative unimportance. Today onwards, I think all three of us (myself and the two other people I spent the evening with) would have enough reason to believe in the same. 

There is a certain transition that has to occur, for almost any person, from the first state to the second and then to the third. For most people, however, such a transitional pattern becomes unidentifiable. I would tend to agree that a certain degree of luck, a certain degree of judgement, a big fat intuition and a lot of blind trust (here and there) play their respective parts in taking you forward from one state to another.  

On the other hand, however, there are some very great minds I know that can't talk anything other than ideas. I myself happened to be one such great mind. Now, I'm trying my best to attain an equilibrium. Coming up with ideas by dreaming big is one thing. Being able to translate ideas into successful execution in real life is a totally different thing. I've grown up to learn that a really successful entrepreneur has hit the right balance between the two. 

Of course, ideas are important. But so are people, processes and resources. The delicate trade-off involving all these entities is the really elusive stuff. The stuff that's really worth searching for. Forever, and ever. And, ever. 

Have you tried looking?

More later.

Yours Skeptically,

uleadin

I've been going through a pretty tough clash of priorities in life over the last few weeks. It's kinda had me wondering how I got here. If you know me well, you'd be surprised I haven't yet given up trying!

A very handy conversation with Tweety got me thinking about 'How I got here'. The last two years have been a wild roller-coaster ride. It's been raining diversity. Ideas, people, activities, fun, hard-work, laziness, failure, success, arrogance, irritation, compassion, indifference and many many more things. 

Another conversation with Iyengar helped me understand my transition from absolutely zero focus to some focus in life. I just realized the subtle differences between Prashanth Krishnaswami, the student-freelancer, and Prashanth Krishnaswami, the employee-intrapreneur. Although I'd broadly attribute most such changes to one single man who's given me wings at the right time in life, I'd also have to attribute some of those changes to lady luck and to my amazing friends. 

Yet, as Sameer has always been telling me, most things that come free are often not of much use. So, in a sense, I'm glad to say that all of the transition has come at some cost or the other. Sometimes at the cost of a few relationships. Sometimes at the cost of some effort. Sometimes at the cost of a lot of time. And, sometimes at the cost of all of them put together. In hindsight, I'm able to absorb all of that and say 'it was all for a reason'. But, undoubtedly, it was all pretty tough at the time.

As God would say, it's impossible to be sure now if something would turn out right or not, but it's certainly possible to connect the dots looking backwards. In that sense, in hindsight, everything that has happened to me so far has happened for a particular reason. The cascading effect and the overall serendipity (that I've been so abundantly gifted with) have been nothing short of 'overwhelmingly pleasant'. 

At this very moment, it looks like I've found my trip in life, finally! But these last 2 months of 'alternative contractual obligations' are making me feel like I'm waiting in an infinitely long queue for a train ticket. Also, the act of putting 6 days of time into a collective obligation and the other one day of time into a passionate endeavor is getting to become too tricky for me to juggle. 

Nonetheless, there are two broad things I've largely upheld for the last few years. One, I've only done things that I felt good about. It has involved giving up quite a few opportunities that some folks might consider golden. Yes, I didn't take these decisions knowing fully well about their consequences. But that's the point! That's where I went with intuition and have had enough good luck to last till now!

And, two: I've been trying to live a life of zero regrets. It's certainly easier said than done. But the focus towards zero regrets at-least puts you on the path towards trusting your intuition more and reducing your regrets. 

Now, in fact, it has come to a point where, even if my luck runs out, I would still end up trusting my intuition.

More later.

Yours Skeptically,

uleadin