I think ... (Tarun Chandel's thoughts)

Being online is an addiction and I am suffering from it

2008-07-21T08:01:00.006+05:30

I am addicted to my computer. I realized this after staying away from my computer for the whole of last week. It was tough; the idea was to stay away from my laptop, not checking my blog, my email, chat, twitter or any other site. I had to use my work computer but I chose not to use the browser for personal surfing. It was very hard to control my urges but I somehow pulled myself together.

Staying away from my computer, I realized how much extra time I have in life and how many other things I can do. I have piled up a huge list of books to read. I have also setup one of my walls for "off computer" thinking and planning. I will be using pics of the wall in coming days on my blogs. Oh yes you read it right, blogs. I have been working on my Business Analysis Blog for a while, a blog about something I do for living. If someone is interested in being a Business Analyst or knowing what I do in my day job please check my Business Analysis Blog.

While staying offline I also realized that I have been ignoring my health for a long time and following a very unhealthy lifestyle. I have decided to lead a healthy life from now on. This is going to be the toughest challenge, as I need to be disciplined in a lot of areas. I have setup a blog for healthy living, a place where I will be keeping a log of activities that I do for leading a healthy life.

Just like after fasting we realize that the aim of having a mouth is not to keep eating and also that not eating for a while will not kill us, similarly after staying offline I realized that having a computer doesn't mean that I spent all my life here and staying offline is not going to kill me. Though I will maintain multiple blogs yet I am going to spend much less time on my computer or online. I am going to be fairly active on my Business Analysis Blog and also on the Healthy Living Blog. On this blog I will be making fewer posts mostly once a week.

I just checked my email inbox, I had 107 mails and most of them were unnecessary notifications or announcements. I now wonder how I was spending majority of my time in checking my mails? Going offline happens to be the best thing that I have done, now I somehow feel that I can be more active online yet spend a lot less time online and on my computer. Hopefully I will be able to follow my plans. Wish me luck; I need it to pull out of this addiction.

Tarun Chandel
Back Online

Going offline

2008-07-13T20:02:00.002+05:30

Staying away from my computer I realized how much time I waste on it. The more time I spend on it, the more it gives me a false feeling of doing something meaningful. It feels more like an addiction and I hate being controlled by urges. I am going offline for a week to start with, in a quest to stay away from my computer. Wish me luck for the same. I had things to say and ideas to share but, I think they can wait.

Tarun Chandel
Trying to gain back the control

Leave a Trail Behind: Tarun's Thoughts on an Early Morning

2008-06-30T07:43:00.001+05:30

Walking on the wet sand of the seashore, leaving behind a trail of steps thinking that others would know the path I took. Reaching a destination was never the target; to keep walking was always the motto. The sound of a returning wave has always given me an illusion of absolute silence. An illusion that lasts just for a few seconds till the next wave comes with its own music. The sand under my heels feels so good, I try to hold the sand with my toes but it slips. The harder I try the faster it vanishes. I choose to move on, may be that's the message the sand wants to give me. Nothing lasts forever no matter how much you want it to; as I turn back the trail of my footsteps is gone. May be nature wants everyone to explore and design their own trails? I see some lights at a distance, the more I walk the farther they get; may be someone wants me to change my direction. I see a fisherman trying to pull his boat through the silver waters. It's early morning and maybe he wants to see if the last night got him any catch. A boat full of fish or no fish at all; In any case he will be back-tomorrow morning. A thick moist breeze from the sea hits me, I look up and there are clouds in the sky. The warm morning has just got a gift of cool winds and the dark sky. The sea seems to be enjoying this and the waves dance with extra energy. I choose to walk a bit longer but now I maintain distance from the waves. Again, I can see the trail of my footsteps; I grin, as if I have outsmarted the waves. The birds are flying high in an attempt to touch the dark sky. The church bells are audible but only if you listen carefully. I close my eyes and spread my hands; I can feel the drops of water on my face. The heaven has opened its doors, as if it is responding to my stretched arms, as if it is looking at me and following my trail. Soon it starts pouring; the smell of freshly wet sand brings back the nostalgic memories. I walk away from the shore all wet and as I look back the trail of my footsteps is washed away...

Tarun Chandel
Keep Walking, Keep Thinking, keep Blogging

Open Letter to Chetan Bhagat

2008-06-25T19:57:00.003+05:30

Hi Chetan

I don't write book reviews but you are special as One night at the Call Center was the first book that I finished in one day. Before that I always thought books were supposed to be read over a complete year.

I am going to compare The 3 Mistakes of My Life with the earlier books of yours (Five Point Someone and One Night at the Call Center) on three parameters.

Comic Sense: Chetan I like you for your style of writing, the way you make those sarcastic comments on everything in life. 3MOML is nothing in comparison to FPS or ONACC, I still use dialogs of Bakshi at my workplace (believe me) or FPS's while with my classmates. 3MOML has no such lines and for the first half of the book I hardly found anything amusing, while last two books were hilarious especially the first half.

Understanding of Girls: Chetan I feel you did not express relationship with girls properly in the first two books. I mean somehow all the stories with girls seemed superficial to read. In 3MOML you have expressed it really well. Not only it feels far more real also, you are at your funny best when writing about the relationship with a girl.

Climax of the story: In ONACC the climax was too much over the top and FPS ends just like that. 3MOML you have penned the best climax according to your own standards. The story is stronger than the other two and you have complemented it really well with a fine ending.

Overall it seems you have worked on your weak areas but you have compromised a lot on your style of writing. This book is not Chetan Bhagat funny and that is a big let down. Somehow I feel that you are more interested in writing movie stories than books. You wrote FPS just as a book and that's why it is your best work till date. In ONACC you were clearly writing a movie story and went too much overboard, still the book was really funny. In 3MOML you are clearly worried about writing a better movie story and you succeed at that but, somewhere I missed my favourite writer.

Tarun Chandel
A fan of your funny style of writing!

ISB Hyderabad Diary

2008-06-23T09:19:00.002+05:30

The beautiful blue sky. Just as the sun was getting ready to shine through the day, sky turned into a beautiful blue painting. I have never seen sky this blue and this beautiful. Great start for an amazing trip ahead.

The long winding road covered with trees on either side of it and a beautiful sky on top of it.

There he was waiting at the corner of that path.

ISB looking awesome.

Empowering the nation to reach for the sky

ISB happens to be the dream institute for many. It was ranked among the top 20 Business Schools all around the world, ahead of Kellogg School of Management. Feels good that an Indian School is getting such appreciation around the world.

Each and every corner of this campus is really well crafted.

The design of the floor from the roof top.

Aerial view of the ISB campus and Gachibowli around area. Gachibowli is a fast growing area with campuses of big IT majors like Capgemini, Infosys, Microsoft, Wipro and others. There are many more under construction. Though the place is awesome but it is far away from the Hyderabad city and very far away from the new Hyderabad International Airport, around 46kms (thank God the place doesn't have Mumbai traffic).

ISB campus gets even more beautiful at night. Glowing with lights all around the campus.

I don't really remember when I last saw a peacock moving around freely. May be when I was a kid on my way to school there used be few. But that was long time back. Our national bird and surely one of the most beautiful bird is something that we don't get to see much in our life. ISB is one such lucky place that is a residence of this species. I tried to spot a peacock but could not find for a long time and when I was least expecting it I saw a bunch of them crossing the road. It was a really amazing moment but they were gone by the time I could take my camera out. Peacock is a very shy bird and keeps distance with humans. I took shelter under a tree and waited with my camera to click one good snap. Though I got to witness peacock dance but could manage only this decent shot.

The hills in Hyderabad are very different from what I have seen. The rocks are lying all around the city in all unthinkable positions. The more you look at them, the more you wonder how are they defying the gravity? One thing that comes to mind immediately after looking at these stones is, who put them like this? Looks like someone has taken a lot of time to design all these for you to stare in amazement.

Sitting at the roof top and staring at the beautiful scenic campus my eyes were trying hard to capture every inch of it. The soft touch of breeze was caressing my soul and the sound of silence made my senses go crazy.

Tarun Chandel
Travel, it changes you.

Nashik Life

2008-06-21T09:11:00.011+05:30

The dreams may well be far far away, someplace where I have never been before. But there is something that tells me from deep down inside me that they are reality somewhere. I don't know for sure whether to go there or not, but I was told that if I followed this path I will be there someday. This path merges with the horizon somewhere ahead, atleast that is what I can see. I have no one with me but my dreams, I am not sure what the destination is going to be like, still I want to move on as I believe that the journey is the reward!!!

The old market with old buildings. The business here still runs in the traditional ways, though sometimes I missed the ease of things that places like Mumbai and Delhi offer but it was really fun to move around in this market. The people were very friendly and as the place is small everyone knew each other. The treatment to an outsider is still that of a guest and that is something I learned from this trip.

As I moved through Nashik, I found a lot of classic traditional buildings and at the same time this town is fast gearing up for modernization.

Beautiful old villas can be seen at regular intervals. The human being in me tells me that I should live a life in such a place. The Business Analyst in me is telling me that the reality market is going to hot up in this place; all these Villas are going to make way for either big malls or high rises (something similar to Pune). Nashik sure has some really beautiful Villas with big and spacious living space and even bigger gardens around the place. If you want to live a lavish life at such a villa and have beautiful surroundings you should be in Nashik. You can get a Villa for less than what you will pay for an apartment in Mumbai.

Nashik is not just about traditional and old buildings. It is moving towards modernization that we all tend to measure with presence of malls and multiplexes. Nashik has its own share of these, just like any other place.

The best part about the life in Nashik is that you can get to live near, next or in the farms. There are plenty of lush green farms all around Nashik. It not only adds to the beauty of the place but also is a source of fresh air and fresh vegetables.

The greenery all around Nashik is something that I miss badly in Mumbai.

The wind in Nashik is really amazing. A cool breeze always keeps flowing across the place. May be the reason again is green fields all around. The one thing that I have started appreciating the most after moving to Mumbai is wind. There are very few days in Mumbai that can be categorized as pleasant and it gets even more difficult after a visit to beautiful places like Nashik that are hardly at any distance from Mumbai.

The burning desire. The trip to Nashik made me think a lot about what I am missing by staying in Mumbai. The sense of completeness of life is one thing that Nashik offers and the other is the healthy surroundings with excellent weather. Mumbai can never match all that...

The grilled chicken and it was delicious. I think the chicken and food overall (including vegetables) were far better tasting there.

Life in Nashik is just as beautiful, pure and pious as droplets of early morning dew on the petals of flower, something that cannot be expressed in words you need to experience it.

Tarun Chandel
Journey is the reward

Pune Thoughts...

2008-06-11T10:36:00.003+05:30

Pune has always been special. Staying outside Pune has made realize this even more. Last weekend I was in Pune and somehow, this trip was a lot different than my previous visits. This trip got me thinking about Pune a lot more than ever before.

May be someday I will be there...

On my way to Pune:

The clouds are descending to meet the mountains, makes me feel as if the sky is within reach. Just want to run to the top of that hill and feel the clouds on my face. I have already done that 8 times if I do it again I will be on cloud number nine.

A view of the expressway through my window . The rains add the distortion but it still is beautiful.

Rain drops keep falling on my window. Though I can hardly see anything outside as the dark clouds have covered the whole area, but there is enough going on my window glass.

Cloud covered hills, beautiful green valley aren't these people staying in an absolutely heavenly place?

I sat on the road, I jumped on the road, I kicked the road and at last I got tired and asked the road; how can I reach my destination? The road smiled and said, just walk with me I will take you there.

Pune Beautiful Pune

I was sitting at one of the nicest spot in Pune, it had a beautiful panoramic view of the Pune City. The usual sweet drizzle of Pune was on. The beauty of Pune rain is that, it rarely pours and it rarely stops. The rain keeps floating in the air and that makes the whole amazingly beautiful.

Staring at the distant clouds I thought, may be they also love Pune. That's why once they come here they want to stay for the maximum time, so instead of pouring all the water they spend time hovering over the city and then just become part of the air.

Sitting there I thought, I am like those cloud. Visiting for a short time but just don't want to leave and trying to soak as much as possible in the short time. There, I had the difference between me and clouds. While I was trying to soak as much of Pune as possible, the clouds were giving to Pune as much as possible and in process they become part of Pune. I think, I should be like those clouds...

What the hell I was just thinking?? May be because, I was sitting there for along time. Then I decided to move from that corner to the opposite corner ...

The green Pune, may it stays the same forever! Isn't that a lovely sky over a beautiful city?

Pune city is on an expansion plan... I am sure soon the hills will disappear. Can you spot the massive construction just on the right of the hill?

Pune has changed:

A lot of new malls have opened in Pune and many more are under construction. The city has geared up to the challenges of more people coming in, with lot more houses, wider roads and sleek flyovers.

I got to visit the MG road at night and I was pleasantly surprised to see people enjoying the walking plaza. I remeber my last visit to MG road was on the first day of the walking plaza. Authorities had announced that no vehicles will be allowed on MG Road and all the shops went on a strike. That day only a handful of people were on that road. This time I got a feeling that whole of Pune was there.

Change takes time, thought that comes to mind after being on the walking plaza. The shopkeepers who were against the idea now actually wait for the walking plaza, as the sales are all time high. It is one of the most effective ways to save them from the malls that are surely eating a huge chunk of their customers. It took them time to understand this and now they have embraced this change.

There were road shows, cultural shows and children enjoying the evening out. Isn't that how one should spend a nice weekend evening? I had dinner with Rohit, Jamaal Raazi and his wife Sana Raazi (they make a lovely couple and I think the most techie couple I have ever met).

CYG 2008 (Commonwealth Youth Games 2008)

I got to visit the office of CYG2008, thanks to Rohit who is Director of technology there. They have a very vibrant office and it's buzzing with people all the time. It was a great feeling to see these people working so hard, to make the games possible. Jamal, Sana and Rohit are in the same team there and they work on Saturday as well as on Sunday. They later told me that it has been a while since they got a weekend off and the in coming days things are bound to get even more hectic. I never knew that so much goes behind pulling the games together.

Meeting Symbi buddies

It is always a pleasure to catch up with my classmates from SCIT. Got a chance t0 catch up with Varun Joshi, Saurabh Lokhande and Sudhanshu Sohoni (non symbi friend). They forced me to write about them on my blog, guys I have done this. So now can I move on to the next thing??? (Just kidding, it was really fun to catch up with you and remembering the good old days of Symbiosis life.) We had a very nice lunch at All Stir Fry, special thanks to Saurabh for that. I think I should also thank Mythili, Varun's wife, for letting Varun meet us... I think I should stop now else Varun may get in some trouble.

Pune Dream

That's what Pune is - some natural beauty, some modernization, some growth, some friends, some culture and a lots of memories. May be someday I would come back to Pune and not on just another visit. I was reading the brochure of the IT BT Conference that is going to take place next week and it had a line, Pune has faced a reverse brain drain. Got me thinking... may be someday I will be there...

Tarun Chandel
Pune and I

Business Analysis Guest Lecture at Symbiosis, SICSR

2008-06-09T22:16:00.002+05:30

Yesterday I was in Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research, SICSR Pune for a Guest Lecture on Business Analysis. It was a great experience meeting all the students, dressed in their formal attire on a Sunday evening. The session was very interactive thanks to highly interactive students of SICSR. They were always ready with answers if I asked any questions, they were ready to think and improvise when I asked them to dig deeper on any clue, they were keen to ask many questions and they were enthusiastic to take part in the class activities that I conducted during the session. Please keep these qualities for the lifetime, they will help you to become even better.

Visit to Symbiosis

It is always pleasure to interact with members of Symbiosis Family and it leads to a different kind of satisfaction. Thank you for having me there and sparing time for my session on a Sunday evening. I wish all of you good luck and a great future ahead.

Tarun Chandel
Business Analyst

Bloggers Lunch Pune

2008-06-07T22:40:00.010+05:30

The beautiful city of Pune makes me wonder why am I not staying there? Everytime I visit that place I find more reasons to love it. This time there were 15 more reasons, the 15 amazing bloggers I met at the Bloggers Lunch Pune. I knew I had to be in Pune this weekend so, I called up Rohit and asked him if we can meet over lunch and rest of the bloggers friends as well. The geek that he is, put up a wiki and set the scene. We decided that we should not spam whole of pune but tell about the lunch only to close friends and the bloggers that we met at the last meet. Priyank arranged the venue and we were all set.

The lunch was good and the high point was meeting everyone. Among them were some of the best bloggers of Pune. Though I got bit late, but was there on time for the lunch (gave another chance to Rohit for saying "Tarun is never late for the lunch").

Lets follow the rest of the events in the pics. As they say picture is worth thousand words and I have added few more.

Meetu, Sumit and Prasoon.

Jasleen and Bhavya

The bunch of bloggers at the lunch for bloggers.

Rest of the pics

It was pleasure to meet Rohit (partner in this crime like most other), Priyank (arranged for the venue and lunch, always enthusiastic about implementing the ideas), Meetu (great movie reviewer and always fun to talk to... Meetu remember that you have promised me a tea for the next time), Bhavya (great girl, loves to do a lot of things. Got to know that she is an excellent driver just like most other girls :)), Sumit (the best photographer and loves sharing his wisdom with others for example remove the lens cover before shooting.), Prasoon (got to meet him for the first time, nice guy), Sachin (met him for the first time but sounded like a very resourceful guy. If you are looking to go out for lunch or dinner contact him he can book a place for you anywhere is Pune), Pramila (met her first at the blogcamp pune last year she was with Purplenova then, now she is with ITVidya. Always a pleasure to meet her.), Harsha (this dude is amazing, walked for 40 mins to come to the meet not only talks but lives a green life. This was probably our last meeting in Pune as he will be leaving Pune soon.), Krishna (met him for the first time, nice guy), Amit (he is a php pro. It is always a pleasure to meet him), Ramana (one of the latest person to join the blogging bandwagon. Very enthusiastic and keen to learn, wish you good luck for your blog journey sir), Jasleen (works for Great foundation) , Krity (is the one who designed the blogcamp mumbai style logo, she is always ready to help us with designs. Very nice girl.) and Isha (met her for the first time, she is Krity's sister). Looking forward to more such fun meetings.

For rest of the pics please visit my picasa album.
Visit Priyank's blog for details about the meet.
If you missed this meet and want to be part of such meets in future or if you are a Pune blogger then you can join the Pune Bloggers Google Group.

Updates:
Another good coverage of the meet at Bhavya's Blog.
Pune Mirror of Times Group, covered the Bloggers meet :

Special thanks to my friend Deepak Patil for this picture.

Tarun Chandel
Blogging, Eating and Meeting

A movie, bloggers meet and a nice evening

2008-06-06T02:02:00.004+05:30

I am just coming back from Eros Cinema in Mumbai where I went for a bloggers special preview screening of "21", a movie from the Sony Pictures. Yes you read it right, this was a special screening for the bloggers. 21 is a good movie do watch it if you get a chance.

If you are smart then why aren't you rich? May be that's what those six students thought. 21 is based on a true story of six MIT students. Ben Campbell, Jim Sturgess, is a super smart guy with perfect GPA of 4 and dreams of getting in the Harvard Medical School but needs a scholarship badly. Micky Rosa, Kavin Spacey, a Linear Equation professor discovers the talent of his smartest student and puts it to use, that will make them rich. Then unfolds a series of events that make them see the highest of high followed by lowest of low. I don't want to spoil your fun by revealing the story any further. The plot of the movie keeps you gripped to your seats almost all the time. The slapstick humor is appropriately timed. The biggest plus is the background music which keeps you close to the action. The story flows very nicely and at no time you feel that it is too fast or dragging slowly. Jim Sturgess looks like a fresh college student and pulls all his scenes very effectively. Kevin Spacey is a pro and that shows as he plays part with ease. Laurence Fishburne has grown too bulky and looks bit odd but that may be because of his morpheus image, otherwise he played his character well. The movie is worth your time and money.

After the movie we headed for Cafe Mondegar in Kolaba and had a good time there. Got to catch up with Ideasmithy, Gaurav, Melody, Sakshi, Kanishka, Avantika, Vivek and a bunch of other fellow bloggers. It was a nice evening out. While returning back we stopped in Matunga for a Mango Sunday (amazing ice creme). By the time I reached home it was midnight and it was raining like crazy. Though I have a pair of wet shoes in my living room still it feels nice to have the rains in Mumbai.

A special thanks to Moksh for arranging a special screening of movie for the bloggers. I think this is an important step towards bloggers getting same treatment as main stream media. In India, I feel, there is still a huge gap between the rights of media (read main stream media) and bloggers. A change in attitude is must and for any change a catalyst is needed and Moksh has acted as that catalyst, incidentally he calls himself a Social Media Catalyst. I hope that more such initiatives will be taken up by others as well.

Tarun Chandel
Blogging, all the matters and more

Sky is getting dark again ...

2008-06-04T23:16:00.001+05:30

Good to see some dark clouds in the sky. The beautiful rainy season is about to come.

Tarun Chandel
Waiting for the rains...

Grand final it was

2008-06-02T01:51:00.004+05:30

Awesome sounds just like another word when I think back about the IPL final. Everything was amazing and great about the whole event. The DY Patil stadium, in Nerul Navi Mumbai, to start with is exceptionally beautiful and comfortable. It is very spacious and well planned to handle huge load of spectators. The lush green outfield, the beautiful lighting and well managed public services made the experience of IPL final even better. Coming back to the event, believe me you had to be there to witness one of the biggest extravaganza on a cricket field. The amazing performances by some of the known names in bollywood, the acrobatic performers from around the world and a very well executed laser show were all great treat for eyes. The money spent on ticket was all but recovered even before the coin was tossed.

There were a lot of other things worth witnessing than just the cricket, like the landing of a helicopter or a perfect parachute landing in the ground; all awesome and amazing. The cricket was not a let down either. I was hoping that the final should not turn a dud just like the semi finals and it did not. The match was decided on the last ball and that says it all.

I am sure you all would have seen the match so no point writing about the same, rather I would write some of the things that I noticed at the ground. Rajasthan Royals were a smart unit, they started their warm up early, in the daylight, and that was a very smart move as the lights were kept off for a long time due to the closing ceremony. Chennai started their warm up late and got very less time to bat and ball. Shane Watson is the best among Royals, not only while playing but also while practicing. He was out on field before everyone else and he practiced his shots, then his bowling, later did a lot of stretching and then practiced catching as well. It is important to sweat out in practice before the match, Shane Watson demonstrated that in the practice. Another thing I realized that it is not easy to play cricket in such environment. Believe me the noise level at ground was deafening while the players were getting prepared for final. How they are able to keep their mind on game is beyond me.

It was a dream come true to see my all time favorite spinners Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan in action. At the same time seeing young Indian players hitting them for sixes gave me a sense of pride.

It was a great experience, my first match at stadium and it was worth the money and efforts. The match was worth a final. The DY Patil Stadium is worth an evening. Though I was under impression that cameras were not allowed in the stadium but almost everyone had a camera in there. If I had my camera with me, I would have shown you some nice pics but then again some things are worth witnessing and experiencing.

Tarun Chandel
Sore throat, Eyes wide open and Mind in state of amazement.

Watch out for Tarun in the IPL Final

2008-06-01T00:33:00.005+05:30

No no I am not going to play in the final match of the IPL. You will be surprised to know that, I was offered to play the final, there was a hostile bid and I was offered US$1.2M by one of the teams. But before I could sign the deal my milkman rang the doorbell and I woke up. Instead of getting US$1.2M I realized I had to pay him Rs120.

Ticket for the IPL Final Match

But then I thought, this cannot be the end of my IPL dream so, I bought a ticket for the final match. I am very excited to see the match and this is the first time that I am going to watch a match in stadium, I am hoping that it turns out to be a tight match. Hopefully not something like the semi finals which were both one sided games (I feel even worse as I missed the Mumbai bloggers meet at Pinstorm). No matter who wins the final, I wish that it turns out be a close tie. Though I personally think that Rajasthan Royals have the best chances to lift the first IPL trophy but, Chennai may spring a surprise. Especially as Dhoni is a very lucky man in such situations. Anyways watch out for me in the stands.

Tarun Chandel
Cricket, IPL Final and Me

Somethings are best witnessed and experienced, but let me try

2008-05-27T20:42:00.003+05:30

It was one of the quietest place I have ever been to. The hills in the background were a thick forest with melodious birds. The musical sound of birds was to echoing in the green surrounding. Even the wind was musical, I never knew that trees were such good music creators. The sound of leaves dancing with joy was taking me to a greater high. There was so much to listen yet it was so quiet, yet there was silence. I could hear my heartbeats, I could hear myself breathing and it somehow was sounding all musical to me. This never happened before, never ever. I never knew the music that I play all the while, may be because I never really could hear all this while I was in plains. This place was quiet, it helped me to connect with myself.

The valley in front of the hills was one of the most beautiful valley I have seen. May be it was because that day, the sky was covered in misty clouds till the horizon. It was such a beautiful sight. Being at a quiet place with an amazing view in front, I sat down there and chose to gaze at the horizon and listen to the most natural music and, at the same time enjoy the silence. I am finding it hard to express in words and I think you can notice that. Somethings are best witnessed and experienced.

I must have have been sitting at the same place for hours, though it never felt like that. The moon was out to venture in the cloudy sky and it was an amazing sight. It was all so simple yet so beautiful. It felt like as if there was someone up there who had planned all this so that I could witness this beauty. The quietness of hills, the music of wind, the mistiness of surroundings, the beautiful moon lit sky, all looked so designed. May be it was just my mind that has always been designed to look at everything with suspicion. Or may be it was designed so that I can change my behavior and it worked, I guess (again suspecting ;) so it may not have worked).

It was the time when I realized that nature has so many gifts for us and we are busy chasing ... God knows what. It will be a good idea to stop someday to look around, spend sometime with yourself, cleanse your thoughts, cleanse your soul, cleanse your character and start afresh. May be we will be able to give a meaningful direction to our chase.

Tarun Chandel
Music of silence,
beauty of nature and
thoughts of a calm mind.

Capoeira Mumbai

2008-05-14T07:49:00.003+05:30

Capoeira is a traditional Brazillian dance. It is a mix of martial arts, dance and traditional Brazilian Music. I was lucky to catch a session at the St. Stanislaus High School Campus, Bandra. I was there for the Yuva Vividha Seminar. Please excuse me for the darkness in the video but these people were performing in a dark corner.

Video 1 Capoeira

The music in the video is really amazing and the energy of the group makes it even more special. This group of cool people got together and started playing some nice music. The energy of the group kept getting better, it was really amazing. Watch out for the guy in the end...

Video 2 Capoeira

In this video the group was playing bit slower but very nice music. One minute into this video you will hear me talking to Valentina (from Italy) about the history and other interesting things about Capoeira. She explains the whole thing with lot of interest and excitement. Also you can see Freeman playing in this slower version of the Capoeira.

Video 3 Capoeira

This is the last of the three video that I captured. In this one the song and music was absolutely amazing but I have not been able to capture it completely. You can find more about Capoeira on Wikipedia. If you are interested in playing Capoeira please visit the Capoeira India Blog, these guys are amazing!

Tarun Chandel
Music, Dance and Capoeira

Starting to say with photos - Tarun's Blog with Photos

2008-05-04T17:40:00.005+05:30

Though I have been taking pics for a while now but never really put them on this blog. Recently I have started to put them on my Flickr photostream and got response from my friends that, I should put them on my blog as well. As someone smart said, "always listen to your friends" so I am going to listen to my friends. Though I will post most of my pics on Flickr but once a month I will post some pics on this blog. Here are some pics:

Those of you who have seen me in last few weeks would recognize this :) I have been openly sporting my love for Mozilla for last one month or so.

This is one of those pics where I was thinking of capturing something abstract yet beautiful and I got lucky in this shot :)

Dimaag ki batti jala de

The content of my pics is fairly simple just like my blog. Do let me know what you think about the pics and should Tarun's blog have more pics? I will appreciate your views and ideas.

Tarun Chandel
Photos, Beauty and Expression

Welcome Yuva Vividha Audience

2008-05-02T18:58:00.007+05:30

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I was speaking at the Yuva Vividha Seminar at the St. Stanislaus High School Campus, Bandra, Mumbai. The aim of the seminar was to introduce children, teachers and school administrators to the world of ICT by relating it to their school studies and their environment. My session was about Writing and Creating content on the Internet and I talked about it from the bloggers perspective. It was very interesting to mentor and guide people to blogging. The session was very interactive thanks to the ever inquisitive audience.

As it was a working day, I attended the later half of the seminar. The other sessions were also very good and informative. Freeman was also present at the seminar and he talked about how we can use internet and how Google is the new university. The other session I attended was about a very interesting project named She Creates, where a bunch of people are helping poor girls to highlight their issues by creating movies. Overall the seminar was highly interactive and the sessions were very interesting, I would suggest more and more schools and institutes should have such seminars.

Thanks to Chandita of Comet Media for inviting me to the seminar and her warm hearted hospitality. I really enjoyed the whole event.

Tarun Chandel
Blogging, Passion and Interaction

Bloggers get ready for the Marathon

2008-04-18T07:53:00.004+05:30

This is a treat for the blogger in you. Blogathon is an online event where all the bloggers blog on a particular topic, daily, for a week. Blogathon is going to start on 20th of April so hurry up put on your marathon shoes or (blogathon) gloves.

Here is the list of topics:

Infrastructure: Sunday, 20th April 2008
How can we improve the traffic condition in our city?

Politics: Monday, 21st April 2008
How do we change the focus of politics from caste/religion to grassroot issues?

Entertainment: Tuesday, 22nd April 2008
Does Bollywood overshadow regional cinema in India?

Media: Wednesday, 23rd April 2008
Why are Indian news broadcast channels not as mature as their International counterparts?

Gender: Thursday, 24th April 2008
What are the challenges that society faces in accepting the concept of alternate sexuality? How can we address them?

Sport: Friday, 25th April 2008
Are ‘media’ and ‘commercial interests’ in cricket the only reason that are killing other sports in India?

Lets all blog together for a cause. For more details about the Blogathon please visit Blogathon Site.

Tarun Chandel
For the love of Blogging

I did not fall...

2008-04-14T06:20:00.003+05:30

One of those days when I am thinking about some good days in the past and let me share one post that I wrote for another blog sometime back...

It was just another day, or at least that's what I thought. I vaguely remember it was around 5 in the evening, I was lying on my bed for last two hours without moving even an inch. It was very unusual for a guy like me to be so still, but this was a different day, a day like no other in my whole life.

What was it? I think those eyes, no that smile, no it was the tinkle in her eyes, or may be it was her wet hair, I think it was all of this and much more. I had lunch with her today and I think I fell in ... No way can't be ... me ???

These thoughts were making me crazy but I liked it. It was different, as I had never thought about anyone for this long. I was not even sure what I was thinking but it was an amazing feeling. I think yes I did fall in ... or may be it was just because I was thinking about her so much. I never really had thought about any other girl for so long. I had missed three lectures. I finally got up; it's tough to move after lying motionless for more than three hours. One of my leg had gone numb and I limped to the window of my hostel room, which was facing the cafe and a lush green lawn in front of it. I saw her. She was sitting in the lawn and having tea, I was looking at her and then she turned towards me and a current ran through me. No not because of her but because my leg was getting the blood circulation back and anyways my room was quite far from the cafe and one could barely recognize anyone from there. So it might have been someone else and I was seeing her everywhere or at least I was supposed to according to so many movies, so many hit movies.

I came down from my room to the cafeteria, as I wanted to be around her. She was there in the lawn, I ordered a coffee and sat with her. She was sitting there with a bunch of other friends, and most of them were singles. So they were not going anywhere, if you are a couple then you go away from the group to spend sometime together. But since most of my classmates were single they used to hangout together. I liked this group till date, but today I wanted them to disappear. I wanted to be with her, wanted to talk to her, smile with her, gaze her, make her laugh and tell her how good I can be. I wanted her to fall for me. I wanted her to feel the same way about me as I was feeling about her.

We were sitting there for next one hour, I was unusually quiet today and as I was sitting just besides her I was not able to look at her directly. Later that evening we went for dinner in a restaurant near our campus. On our way we walked together for around 10 mins or so but it was the best walk I had in my whole life. She asked me about my family, friends and childhood. I also talked about a lot of general stuff. Suddenly her hand touched mine and I suddenly felt the current in my body again. Though it was just a gentle brush, but her hand was so soft. We reached the restaurants had dinner, while coming back she walked with other girls. We reached hostel, said good-bye and headed to our rooms.

I collapsed in my bed, I don't know for how long was I up that night, though my roommates were chatting constantly but I could not hear anything. I was in a totally different world. I don't know when I fell asleep or was I up all night, but when I opened my eyes it was 6 in the morning and it was a cloudy morning. I could still feel the touch of her hand, I was still seeing that smiling face in front of me, and I was still able to see the shine in her eyes. I was still wearing shoes, I never took them off I reminded myself. I headed out of my room, I don't know where I was going, I was not even sure what was going on with me, so I didn't care much. I headed out of campus and started running, I was not thinking anything, and I was just running. I must have jogged for around half an hour that morning. I didn't know whether it was love or not but one thing was clear it was surely going to change my life. People fall in love I think I jogged in love...

Tarun Chandel
Love, Life and more love...

Not just another year by the bay

2008-04-11T09:25:00.002+05:30

Two years since I came to Mumbai and it has been:
2 years of fun
2 years of hard work
2 years of sheer learning
2 years of growth
2 years of being independent
2 years of being professional
2 years of survival
2 years of madness
2 years of happiness
2 years of Capgemini
2 years of Mumbai
2 years of life...

Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

Party I love, Noise I Don't

2008-04-09T06:59:00.003+05:30

On the No Honking day, I was having coffee with one of my friend discussing, how effective the silence can be and how we as a society make a lot of noise that can be easily avoided. I don't know whether I said it wrong or what, but he did not like my idea. He singled out the instance of playing loud music during the festive season (may be because he had read my post on power of silence) and he was of feeling that it's very important for us as a society to get together and enjoy these festivals. He said the music is played out loud so that everyone gets to know that such a thing is going on and they should also join. He was also of opinion that if the majority of people are enjoying at a event they have every right to play loud music.

I am not denying that we need to come together as a society and enjoy all our festivals, that will surely make us more united. I am just saying that we should enjoy all this at a reasonable decibel level so that no one is getting affected because of it. I was recently watching Apocalypto and there is a scene in the movie where the whole group of villagers are sitting together and celebrating the good catch they had. They were playing music, they were dancing, they were enjoying and they were surely united. We can have our celebrations in similar style, keep the music to a level so that everyone at the celebration enjoys it and those who are not there are not getting bothered. May be then we will also get to hear some wise words. As for the points made by my friend that music is loud so that everyone knows about the party, foolish idea. Tell everyone about the party in advance if someone is not interested he will never come no matter how loud music you play. The later point that he made if majority at party are ok with loud music they have the right to do that. This is a rather bigger and difficult issue to tackle as this is a wrong way to think. Just because some/lot of people like it they should not compromise others comfort. This mentality has to change and we as a society need to start respecting others comforts and their personal space. I am not against getting together and having a party or celebration I love that but at the same time I would not like others to suffer because of that.

Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

ख़याल करना...

2008-04-05T23:19:00.001+05:30

ख़याल करना बहुत ज़रूरी है मिस्टर अवस्थी
इसमे इलाज की शक्ति है...
एक मरहम है जिस से दर्द मिटता है,
बच्चे को तस्सली हो जाती है की उसका कोई ख़याल करता है,
एक आध झप्पी, प्यार भरी पपपी...
ये दिखाने को की मैं ख़याल करता हूँ,
बेटा मैं तुम से प्यार करता हूँ,
अगर कोई फ़िक्र है तो मेरे पास आओ,
क्या हुआ जो तुम फिसले गलती हुई,
मैं हूँ ना...
ये दिलासा...
ख़याल करना... ख़याल करना इसी को कहते हैं न मिस्टर अवस्थी?
- तारे ज़मीन पर

तरुण चंदेल
ज़िंदगी, सीख और टेक्नोलॉजी

The Power of Blogging

2008-03-30T14:49:00.004+05:30

We walked out of the Blogcamp Hall after a session on Podcasting. One of the camper at the lunch time asked me Tarun what do you think is going to be the next big innovation in Blogging. Blogcamp was covering a lot of aspects of blogging (be it writing, podcasting, regional languages, micro blogging, video blogging etc.) and this question was very relevant in the given context. After thinking for a while I said, I don't think there is going to be any. I think we are still trying to make sense of the last big thing, blogging. The ability or the freedom to express yourself freely, it will take a generation to understand the true impact of it. We are still trying to understand the web or the effect of technology and I think its not wise to leap on when you are not sure what you are on. We all are executing the ideas that were invented long back, process of web logging started in pre dot com bust era. Yes there are a lot of innovation taking and have taken place but that is all because of the promise made by the basic platform.

The ability or the freedom to express yourself freely, it will take a generation to understand the true impact of it.

History is written by the victors, industries are known by the big companies in that space. And this mindset always makes us judge the success by the size. What is the success of blogging, number of hits, amount of money you make, ranking in technorati ??? But think about it the true power of blogging is that it has given the distribution channel to all of us small people who would have been lost. We are small but we sure have unique insights and unique ideas and using this platform we can share these with those who seek such unique things.

Think about it, 10 years ago the only way of distribution was broadcasting. The basic idea behind that was or still is, one thing fits all or to have content that majority of people like. But with this new medium we can have a narrowcast, you can make content for specific audience. The mindset is turning around. We are the people who propagate one size fits one or fits few.

There has been a lot of debate about traditional media Vs the new media. There have been a continuous tussle between the two. I think the reason is that ... or let me put it this way, people who are older than 40 - 45 years they have spend better years of their life getting to know about world and other things through TOI (newpapers) or other magazines, so most of them dismiss new media. People of my generations have spend a mixed time on getting updates through traditional and new media, so there is a tussle. We have to accept that we are part traditional and part new in our approach and in our upbringing. If you talk to youngsters and kids they hardly read newspaper or follow TV, that in the generation of broadband, online games, online streaming and they follow the world online. For them traditional media is too slow and not up to their unique taste.

Coming back to blogging as I said at the start that we all are trying to make sense out of this big phenomenon. People keep scratching this surface in their unique ways. A lot of people have found ways to make money out of this platform and they keep innovating. Innovation has not only been in the ways to make money but in the way to interpret this phenomenon and thats why we have different flavors like photo blogs, Podcasts, video blogs and latest of all micro blogs and mobile blogs.

We always tend to look at big blogs and stigmatize small successes. If your blog gets 10 hits a day you will be labeled as failure. But isn't it a nice thing that you are able to share your thoughts with 10 people, 10 right people, who actually want to read what you write. That's the magic magic of blogging where you can be yourself. As the number of reader grows on your blog you tend to become generalist saying things so as to suit the masses. I think most of the bloggers here would agree that they wrote best when they wrote for themselves or for those few who cared.

This is all I had in my mind and it stayed in my mind. One tip to myself never stand up to talk unless you have sorted things out in your mind :) Life has its unique ways to make you learn!

Updated:
You can find a good coverage of Blogcamp Mumbai Style on Deep's Blog.

Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

It is your camp

2008-03-27T14:24:00.009+05:30

Barcamp Mumbai is just couple of days away. The event looks all set to be a mega hit, with 500+ registrations and 50+ topics of discussion on the wiki. The Barcamp Mumbai will be trying a threaded version of unconf, with special threads for Blogging called Blogcamp Mumbai Style, sharing ideas aptly called FireTalk and other threads on Technology, Startups and Hardware. Though barcamps are becoming very popular yet a majority of people will be attending the Barcamp for first time and here are my 2 cents for them.

What to expect at a Barcamp:

A lot of people with open mind: The coolest part of any barcamp are the people. People come to a barcamp with an open mind, they enjoy sharing their ideas and knowledge and are ready to learn a lot of new things.
Everything taking place on the run: Barcamps are unconferences and the philosophy behind such events is that everyone present at the camp takes responsibility of the camp. You can call it crowd sourcing where everyone take tasks on their own and get it done. So you will see a lot of people running around doing things literally on the run. You will notice that the agenda of the event will be decided at the start again by the campers using a whiteboard/paper wiki where they will add their names and topic on which they will conduct a session.

What to do at a Barcamp:

Attend the sessions: the primary reason to attend the barcamp should be to learn new things. Sessions are the best place to do that. The typical sessions at a barcamp are interactive in nature, they tend to be more of discussions than class room sessions. The speakers are again campers they are not invited, they come forward on their own with an idea to share.
Talk to people: the best part about a barcamp are the people taking part in the camp. Make most of it and talk to as many people as possible. Move around in the camp. I always say at the start of any camp remember the law of two feet, that is use your two feet to move to a place where you can learn or contribute.
Share knowledge: If you are at a place like barcamp please share the knowledge and you will be surprised by the amount of learning. Have discussion with other people at the camp and you can get quality feedback from a lot of good people.
Have fun: The most important thing to do at the camp is to have fun. Blog about the event, take pics, shoot videos, meet people and enjoy the whole thing.
Share contacts: Another important thing is that you should share your business cards/contacts/blog addresses with other campers before taking their leave. This will help you to get in touch with them later on.

For the Organizers:
Always stay unorganizers.

Make people comfortable with the open space: As a organizer you should make sure that people are comfortable with the idea of open space. The best barcamp happens when people are freely sharing ideas and that happens when they are interacting freely among themselves. It is very important that as an organizer you help them to break the ice, have a 3 words intro at the start, start interactions and that will make things easy for other. Keep the environment light do not through unneccessary rules at them (it will become a conf).
Do not try to control anything, rather open that to public/campers.
Let people use the platform: Barcamp is an open space event and people will like to use it in their own way. Let them use it the way they want, you should trust the campers if they will like it they will take part else they will walk away.
Have fun and enjoy: It is very easy to get stressed and be busy with useless things for the whole day. Let the event organize itself you have slogged hard to put together the event and the least you can do is to enjoy on the day of the event.

What to do post barcamp:

If you have a blog share your experience on it: It is the best way to give your feedback and also share your experience with people who were not able to attend the camp.
If you have taken pics, recorded videos, made presentations then upload those on to internet, with proper tagging so that other campers can find them.
If you exchanged business cards/contacts with other campers, drop a word to them so that you can keep the thread, that started at the camp, alive.
Add people you met onto your social network.
Share positives and negatives with the organizers. Drop them a mail, or post comments on their blogs as it will help them do a better job next time.
Whatever you learned try to read about it and if you learn something new in that area do share it in the next camp.

Buzzword buster:
Barcamp: Barcamps are open space events and they are participants only events.
Open Space: Open Space events bring a variety of people together to discuss topics that are decided by the participants.
Unconference: Also called unconf. Just another name for the Open Space events.
Campers: All the participants are called campers.
Wiki: It is a special site that can be modified by the user. Just like wikipedia.
Whiteboard: Also referred to as paper wiki or wall wiki. This is used to decide the order of activities at the camp. It is operated gain by the campers.
Blogger: One who has a blog is called a blogger.
Blogcamp: A barcamp specifically for the bloggers.
Unorganizer: One who initiates the Barcamp and brings together the campers.
Threads: Barcamp generally runs in multiple threads so as to have maximum sessions in the given time.

Always remember that Barcamps are community events, it is our event and it will be what we make it. So make sure that you do your bit for the camp as it is your camp. Looking forward to meet you all at the camp, if you see me just turn around to say Hi I will really appreciate it.

Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

हमारी भाषा ...

2008-03-24T06:08:00.001+05:30

लेकिन आज तो हमारी भाषा ही खारी हो चली है जिन सरल, सजल शब्दों की धारों से वह मीठी बनती थी, उन धारों को बिलकुल नीरस, बनावटी, पर्यावारानीय, पारिस्थितिक जैसे शब्दों से बांधा जा रह है अपनी भाषा, अपने ही आँगन में विस्थापित हो रही है, वह अपने ही आँगन में परायी बन रही है
- अनुपम मिश्र

तरुण चंदेल
ज़िंदगी, सीख और टेक्नोलॉजी