What does it matter, if you are an Apple!!

With Apple now valued more than Microsoft, that is, with it's market capitalization having crossed that of Microsoft - does it really matter for Apple that the US economy is slow or recovering???

Thus, if you are a good business, does it really matter that the economy of the country is not that great.  I don't think it does!!!

Apple started its turnaround in 1997, when the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. That was the time when Steve Jobs was brought in to steer the company. The dot com bust happened three years later and the US economy went into a tailspin ever since and worsened during the financial crisis of 2008. Yet, through all that time, Apple continued to innovate and churn out great products and considerably increased its profits and shareholder value.

With $40 billion in revenues and climbing and a product set that could fit on a student's desk and all of it mostly organic growth, Apple is a marvel in business turnarounds.

A toast to the i-Age!!

Agar Firdaus Baroohe Zaminast, Hameenasto Hameenasto Hameenast

Yes, if there is a heaven on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here - in Kashmir, India.

Heaven otherwise, is a state of mind which can be found in your own home, car, workplace and elsewhere if you so desire and develop it.  Ask an enlightened Tibetan or a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who carry heaven with them in every breath and every step they take - anywhere on the planet.

Just visited Kashmir.  Kashmir is very much under-developed compared to other tourist spots which has helped in retaining its rustic charm.  The natural beauty of Kashmir has to be seen and experienced to be believed and felt.  Experience Kashmir with your *being* not with your mind. 

There is something about the mountains that is magnificent, thrilling, awe-inspiring and peaceful - all at the same time.  One experiences a sense of calm amidst the mountains. 

Some of my memorable moments of the Kashmir trip are -

Shikara ride on Dal lake

The Shikara ride on Dal lake in Srinagar takes you back to different time.  One of the best times of the day to take a Shikara ride is late evening just after it gets dark.  The lake is quiet and peaceful at this time, with the houseboat lights flickering in the distance.  All you hear is the sound of the oar slicing the waters.  If you are lucky enough, be with someone you love while enjoying the cool evening breeze and the quietude of the lake.

Sonmarg

Even before arriving at Sonmarg, the car ride to Sonmarg on the Srinagar-Leh road is so beautiful, alongside snow-capped mountains and the Indus river flowing by.  The flowing river all along the drive is gorgeous with crystal clear ice water.  Take a stopover and experience the beautiful flowing river.

Sonmarg is a "golden meadow" at a height of 2700 meters surrounded by snow capped mountains all around.  It's an incredible feeling to stand in the Sonmarg valley surrounded by magnificent snow covered mountains all around, the sun shining through them and the gigantic shadows that the mountains beget. 

Reminded me of the Sundance Resort in Utah in the US which I visited once.  And I realized why in the world is it called "Sundance".  When you are sitting in the valley surrounded by the mountains, you can see the sun play hide and seek amidst the mountain peaks and hence once gets a feeling of sun "dancing" amidst the mountains.  Utah is another beautiful place to experience the calm and serenity of the mountains.  One stands in awe at such wondrous creation of nature.  I was humbled and grateful at the same time - humbled at the magnificence of nature, grateful that I was experiencing it.

At Sonmarg, for a while, I just sat cross legged on the lawns with my eyes closed and my face towards the heavens above, soaking in the sun.  A pure meditative experience.

Gulmarg

In Gulmarg, took the Gandola cable car ride to Khilanmarg which is at the height of 13,200 feet.  The snow here is over four feet deep.  The whole area is a deep blanket of snow to walk and explore.  But the worst thing is people have littered the place with plastic and glass bottles and snacks wrappers and such.  So one has to be careful walking around in the snow.  It's a pity we never learn to respect and maintain our own environment even when it is a part of our paradise.  At this height and with the limited accessibility, cleaning this place is not going to be easy.

Pahalgam

Pahalgam is peaceful, wonderfully peaceful.  

So, what say you??  Want to pay a visit to the heavens...

Khuda Hafiz!!

A day in Chandigarh!!

Recently went on an overnight office trip to Chandigarh on February 26, 2010. The purpose of the trip was to conduct interviews at the Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh and recruit fresh graduate students for our company.

I take an early morning flight from Mumbai and land at the Chandigarh airport at about 12:20 pm on that Friday afternoon and as I step out of the plane, down the steps and on to the tarmac (Chandigarh has a small airport and they don't have airport gates) - was the weather something?!! It was crisp, sunny 22 degrees and it felt just so very wonderful!!

We get into an Innova and head out to The Taj, Chandigarh. As we are driving to the hotel, I notice the beautiful city - the wide roads, the trees lining and arching the roads, the lean traffic. Yogesh from my team who is a native of Chandigarh, is explaining about the sectors and the general layout of the city. We were passing through one of the sectors and I notice some of the most beautiful, sprawling bungalows I have ever seen.

We reach The Taj, dump the luggage in the room and head down to the restaurant for the lunch buffet. Hmm... indulge in some delicious, sinful pastries ("What the heck", I somehow convince myself , "I am not going to be eating at Taj everyday"). Done with the lunch, hop into an Innova and head to the Punjab Engineering College (PEC).

We reach the college around 2:30 PM. We are greeted by the student representatives and settle in a cosy air-conditioned room with sofas and wide arm-chairs, that is allocated to us. From there, it's a short company presentation and then the interviews begin.

It felt good to be meeting students who are on the verge of finishing their college life and are on the brink of starting their professional life - the work jungle. One could sense in them that respite of having finished the four gruelling years, and at the same time, the excitement of getting into the "real world".

The students we met were understandably nervous, but still handled the interview with a dose of confidence and composure. Students were given analytical problems and it was interesting to see how differently students handled these questions -- some would take a pen and a paper and go through a maze of calculations, some would do it in a flash (like they have answered these questions many times over).

While most students knew the subject material well, they fumbled when it came to general knowledge. Having said that, most students had participated in some kind of extra-curricular activities in the college, things like dramatics, sports, editorial board of college magazines and newspaper etc. One student had done multiple motor-cycle rides to Manali.

Students liked discussing movies (3 Idiots was a rage at that time and did come up in few interviews -- like "which character did you like?", "Rancho", "why Rancho?")

So all in all, I was happy to see the youth of India ready to take on the challenges of the new world. They are doing the best they can with the facilities that are provided by our educational system. Indian education today as before is still very heavy on theory (even in a discipline like engineering). I have seen the US educational system - the labs, the workshops, the practical experience that students get over there during their college days is phenomenal. We have a lot to catch up in that aspect. Part of the story is that US Colleges are well funded by private companies as well as government (Internet came out of DARPA Department of Defence funding) and that makes a lot of difference in the quality of education that they provide.

Coming back to Chandigarh, we finished with the interviewing by around 8:00 PM. Seemed like a long day, with the early morning flight from Mumbai and all. So on return to the hotel, when someone in the group suggested we head out to the Taj bar, boy were we excited?!! I went up to the room, dumped my suit, got into casuals and before I knew I was at the bar along with Karthik and Gaurav and some live music playing in the background. Later the rest of the group join in and we all settle into cosy sofas in the bar and indulge in some gupshup (that's casual chat in Hindi).

But hold on!! If you think that's the end of the story, it isn't -- the best was yet to come. By the time we were done with the drinks, the Taj restaurant had closed for the day.  Karthik suggested that we head out to a Dhaba (a roadside eatery) for dinner. So at 11:30 PM in the night, we (Gaurav, Ganesh, Vinod, Vishal and myself) get into an Innova. Gosh, I can't even describe how good it felt to have the car windows rolled down and the cool breeze of the February Chandigarh night grazing my face!! (graciously the guys let me take the front seat...)

We reach a very "busy dhaba" about 20 minutes away. At 12:00 in the night, the dhaba was filled with Punjabis, Sardarjis and us Mumbaikars. The food we had was unbelievable!!! We had Amritsari Kulcha and Dal Makhani, some Paneer dish and a few other things and Goodness Gracious!! it was an incredible experience - to have such fabulous food, in an open atmosphere, the aromas, on that cool night -- all I can say is you have to experience it to believe it!!

All in all, it was a day to remember.

Thank You, Karthik. Thank You, Gaurav and all the rest for making this such a wonderful lifetime experience.