Jakarta

Jakarta or Jaya Karta as it was known and before that as Sunda Pura, is a bustling busy city. Like the last time I visited Singapore, I had to spend a weekend in the region, before continuing the work schedule on Monday.

Saipan Stopover

In June of this year I had the opportunity to stopover at Saipan.  Never heard of this place before and it turns out it is American territory.  An American city in Asia – closest to Japan – imagine that.  A tropical paradise three hours from Japan, Hong Kong and Korea.  Couple of hours from Philipines.  I got to Saipan via Guam another American territory, bit south of Saipan.   Guam had a direct flight from Bali. I was very curious as to why Guam would have a direct Continental flight from Bali, so during my meeting with Lt. Governor Cruz I brought that up.  The answer was the soldiers at the base in Guam need some time off and they went to Bali to relax.  It makes sense, although I still wonder isn’t Guam a tropical paradise as well.  I guess the soldiers need a change of scenery from time to time.  I just got an email that this flight has been eliminated to save costs.

Bali – the land of Gods

Balidwipa as it was known in ancient history is an amazing place.  I was scheduled to visit Guam and Saipan the following week and Singapore, while a great place to visit, was not my first choice to stay on for the weekend.  I decided to visit Bali and as it turned out a classmate who lived in Indonesia and spoke bahasa agreed to be my tourguide.  I had read that Bali island has a majority (93%) Hindu population and was curious.  The airport was like any other developing country until you notice the tiny flourishes on the furniture and the roof.

Moot Corp at UT Austin

Another year judging at the MOOT Corp in Austin.  Every year the business plans get better. This year we had to judge some very interesting companies.  One of them, Schooltipline, provided a way for kids to anonymously tip their school to potential threats using facebook and other tools that they are familiar rather than the phone.  Who would have thought that phone would be antiquated within 50 years.    There were kids from Sweden who

Texas Big 12 Business Plan Competition

This year,after a gap of couple of years, I was a judge at the Texas Big 12 Business plan competition. The purpose is to bring out the innovation in the Big 12 schools and encourage the grads there to commercialize their discoveries and inventions.

The Train From Mayiladuthurai – Part I

It was shortly after 1947. A rust colored train chugged out of the Sholapur railway station towards Bombay. Pulled by a steam engine draped in soot it sped slowly through the changing landscape. The arid brown landscape after Raichur had transformed into a hilly verdant one. A fortyish man sat in the first class compartment accompanied by a young boy. He had taken the train from Mayiladuthurai the previous day and changed trains in Chennai. As the train made a turn – he

The Meaning of the Diya

On a chilly dark November day in Chandani Chowk, with storm clouds gathering from the west, a serene looking man was dragged out of an iron cage and shoved on to a platform. Just as he bowed his head in prayer, he was beheaded. A terrible storm broke out as he lay on the ground. Earlier Guru Tegh Bahadur watched as Bhai Mati Das preferred to be slowly sawn in to two halves rather than accept the offer of riches to convert to a religion not of that land. He watched as Bhai Sati Das was boiled alive in a cauldron of oil and hacked to pieces. He watched as Bhai Dayal Das was wrapped in cotton and roasted alive in flames. Guru Tegh Bahadur had offered himself to save the right of Kashmiri Pandits to practice their religion.

Protected: The Vain Old Man Who Stole A Little Girl’s Diwali

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Do you like your phone?

How often have you heard someone ask you – just after you pulled out your Treo or Blackberry or any other PDA phone. “Do you like your phone? I am thinking of getting one of these..” I have a Treo and have carried a blackberry in the recent past. If I go back far enough, I have carried a

Place Shifting – not the U-Haul kind

(First published two years ago)

My 3yr old son walked into my study hearing the radio. He looked at the computer monitor with a puzzled expression and said “that’s not the picture, that’s your email”. He kept scanning the room – I realized that he was looking for a TV picture to match Garrison Keilor’s voice. He was born in the