Books I read recently

After a long gap of about 3 years I have resumed being regular with some of my favorite hobbies. My pass-time activities include reading, doing physical exercises and attending to calls for help from folks outside of my immediate circle of family and friends. In this weeks' note let me write about three good books I read recently.

As my wife likes to describe, I am a "serious aadmi"! No, not at all an "aam aadmi" in that sense! That is because I hardly watch TV or read books just for fun. I tend more to read thought provoking books. Also, when it comes to selecting books to read and movies to watch I am not an early adopter. Confessed! I always go by reviews and recommendations. Thus, when my friend (and ex-boss) Raghu Dwarakanath recommended "Game Indians Play" a book authored by another Raghu, Prof. Raghunathan, I picked it up from the Landmark store the next week and began reading. What a reading it was!

"Game Indians Play - why are we the way we are" is not a very fat book. It has about 200+ pages and the author's sense of humor makes it both an enjoyable as well as an enlightening book. Using the well researched theories such as the Game Theory and Behavioral Economics, Prof. Raghunathan analyses the unique social behaviors of us, Indians. I tend to completely agree with his analysis that the root of our social ills and failed systems is our (read Indians') defect-defect behavior driven by ultra short term selfish profit motives. I strongly recommend every lettered-Indian reads this book. I do not want to write more on the book itself lest I loot your pleasure of reading the book cover-to-cover. Go pick it up and the book will make your weekend a memorable one. Let me know once you have read it and we can have a discussion.

The next book I read last week is a Kannada book, "bichchida jOLige" (from an alms seeker's bag). This is an auto-biography by Dr. S.J. Nagalotimath (aka Sadashiv Jambaiah Nagalotimath or in short "SaJaNa"). Briefly, Dr. Sajana was born in a remote village in northern Karnataka to poor and uneducated parents. From such a humble start, Sadashiv raises to become a world renowned pathologist. His life story made me cry and grieve many times during the course of the book while it being highly inspiring all the while. Dr. Sajana was famous for many of his innovations as well as inventions. He was a born leader and always stood up for what was right. Never once did he compromise on what he truly believed as right. Upon reading the book I learnt how valuable the role of a pathologist is in the field of medicines. For instance, he pioneered techniques like "sedimentation cytology" to detect cancer in a couple of hours. He showed for the first time in the world that leprosy could be detected using blood samples. Then he built the first pathology museum in Belgaum, Karnataka. So on and so forth. Look here for a quick view of the list of papers and books written by this renowned pathologist. Those who can read Kannada must consider reading this highly inspiring book. Do not miss this book.

The third book I read is also a Kannada book. It is a book from a series of 13 books brought out by the government of Karnataka on the occasion of the birth centenary of Dr. D.V. Gundappa (aka DVG). The title of the book is "gyaapaka chitrashaale" (memory's art gallery). It is a collection of many articles DVG wrote to portrait some of the most famous personalities of his time. Many interesting personalities and their lives have been narrated by DVG in his inimitable style. You get to know about many dewan's of Mysore (chief secretary of the princely state), peasants from his village near Kolar in Karnataka, musicians, philosophers, philanthropists, businessmen, statesmen, politicians, writers, and others that Dr. DVG came in close contacts with during his 6 decade long public life. An absolutely amazing and highly enriching book. The entire series, titled "DVG kriti shreNi" (The complete works of DVG) itself is a collector's item, available from Government bookshops at a deeply discounted price. Go check them out!

Happy reading!

Global slowdown and doing IT/ITES in India : an analysis

During February of this year my brother Kusha Basavapatna asked me about how the global slowdown would impact the IT industry in India. Remember, it was in February. Then the BSE sensex was still at 18,000+ level, Indian inflation was lower than 5% and crude oil was below $100 a barrel. However, the sub-prime crisis had begun to show its ill effects on both US and global economies. The exchange rate between INR and USD was at approximately Rs.40 to a dollar.

The following was my answer/analysis provided to Kusha in Feb. Reproducing it here with updates as the analysis has largely turned out be correct. Updates are at the end of each line item inserted within parentheses.

1. Yes, it certainly could. I expect the following happening in general, in Bangalore, during the next 2 quarters (March-Aug 08).
2. Quantum of pay increment during focal will be less, compared to last year. Days of 20%, 40% raises are gone. Even without factoring the global slowdown aspect, the cost of doing IT in India has been growing steadily both in USD and INR terms. The ratio was something like 1:5 in late nineties, and after 10 years it is now 1:2.5 (in general, across the board). So, if the rate of cost escalation were to be left alone, there wouldn't be any cost advantage for companies in US and UK to outsource their work to India. (TOI reported recently that the avg pay increase among IT companies in Bangalore was at 12% during the last focal)
3. Companies will do stringent "performance management" this year, than previous years. Although companies have always had a model performance management system consisting of doing annual appraisals and doing performance improvement plans (PIP) for the bottom 10% of low performing employees, given the hardship of hiring enough numbers the low performers were "allowed to sail thru". However, the compared to last years the companies could use the annual focal/appraisal times to identify and walk out the bottom 10%. Bad performers will have it tougher now. (We see that companies like TCS, and others have shown the door to poor performers during the last 2 quarters)
4. People going to the USA on H1B work visas will have even tougher times. People who applied for a fresh H1B in April 2007, got their Visa stamped sometime in Nov/Dec 2007. They will start arriving in the US during this quarter (Q1). Now, the US is going slow and the hiring is not very hot in the SFO bay area (silicon valley). As a result there would be less number of contractual positions created. This might discourage people from applying for new H1B when the season for fresh H1 begins on April 1, 2008. On the positive side, the 65,000 quota might last longer as during last year the quota was consumed within a few hours on the day of opening! (This year, we saw less number of people leaving their stable jobs in India to chase their US dreams. Those who resigned to reach the US - or even the UK - on a work visa did that without having firm job offers in hand. I know of a couple of people who are still searching for a stable job after some 3 months after landing in the US. So there is data to show that H1B visas caused less attrition in Bangalore this year compared to yesteryear's.)
5. If all of the above factors work out be insufficient, and if the large companies, especially the top5 : TCS, Satyam, Infosys, Wipro and HCL, were to report even one bad quarter with a small loss instead of a huge profit then all hell will break lose! (This too has begun to happen. INFY, TCS and others have reported "challenging" quarters, and have lowered their projects on revenue and hiring for the rest of the year and beyond.)
6. Lastly, the start-up and small/niche companies will find it very hard get continued funding. Companies that are on VC money now will need to watch out; and, their employees too!
   

The macro economic factors have dramatically changed since February '08. The sensex has lost 40% of its valuation during the last 6 months. The inflation is at 12%, and the oil is at $135+ today. People are being subject to rice rationing in the US as the country is not getting enough rice to import! Sub-prime crisis is not over either with some of the largest financial institutions writing off huge quantum of money as bad debt. And, there are elections round the corner both in the US and in India during the next 2-3 quarters. Sum it all, and the picture that emerges is not rosy!

Now the natural sequel is, how to use all these macro economic clues in making decisions at the micro level? Should one demand a higher hike, or change job to get that promotion? Or, buy that new flat? Well, as outlined above I expect the situation to remain "bearish", to use an investor's lingo, for some time to come. In a bearish market individual investors are advised to stay invested for a longer term benefit. There is no point going short. The same principle should apply to the bearish job market too! Shouldn't it? So, isn't staying invested in the current job a wiser decision? I guess so.

Let me know your comments.

Pet Peeve : Love those meetings!

Next time you hear your boss saying he has just too many meetings to attend volunteer some help. Tell him that you would attend some of those meetings on his behalf. What?!! Don't you have enough meetings to attend already? Then why invite trouble by volunteering to attend some of your boss's too? Sounds ludicrous. Does it?

In the software engineering side of the IT industry I am part of, every kind of task other than pure engineering types is considered a overhead. Attending meetings? Stupid, such a waste of time. I am sure the situation in other industries will be no different. Some people seem to have taken a wow to not talk about meetings without taking the "stupid" word!

We all know the standard 'S' curved product life cycle. Have you ever stopped to think what makes the graph develop into an 'S' shape? What are those points that are joined to form the chart? Different phases of a project, did someone say? Okay, then, what is the mechanism that is working behind the scenes and deciding on the phase of the project and hence turn of the graph? Meetings, I would hasten to add.

You are an engineer and until last week you were heavily involved in experimenting a product concept and building a demo. Beside working on the POC itself you had a number of meetings to attend to sell your feasibility study. Then the focus shifted to the core team. You heard today that it was time to build the full fledged product. In all probability you were not involved in the core team meeting. Should you feel happy that someone sympathised with you by not insisting you to attend another of those stupid meetings? I would say no. Because, the S curve finished charting the 'C' portion without your participation. As the project progresses further you might have even fewer meetings to attend. Bad. Bad for you.

Let's face it, it is in meetings where key decisions happen. The 'S' curve for a product/project is nothing but a string of such key decision points over time plotted on a graph. How many of those meetings do you get to attend? Only a few? Bad. Many of them? Good! You grow from making decisions on engineering problems to deciding on product life cycle and business problems. The number of meetings you have to attend in a week is also a rude measure of your position in the organization. Simply put, your career grows in meetings, and through meetings. So, love those meetings. Meetings grow you; take them seriously.

Btw, heard that there is a meeting this tomorrow at 8:00 AM to decide on retiring your product and releasing the current resources. Are you invited to the party ?!

Homa Farming and Aupaasana Agni

For all practical purposes this is my first blog on a specific topic. Wish me luck!

In our family traditions, fire ("agni") has a special place. Nothing auspicious can happen without the presence of fire. The ritual of worshipping fire is known as "homa". So, let me dedicate this blog to "fire" and talk about an interesting news piece I just stumbled upon : "Homa farming:
Ancient Indian farming technique picks up in mango belt" [http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=81340]

[Excerpts: Four years ago, when a Lucknow-based horticulture institute floated the idea of homa-farming, cultivators in the mango belt of Kakori and Malihabad adopted it in droves....]

One particular comment made by the author caught me thinking. Mr. Rai quotes one Mr. R.K. Pathak, principal advisor in the National Horticulture Mission, "Homa agriculture is a scientific method which lays emphasis on fumigation of the atmosphere, an important factor to keep your crop healthy and save it from ailments".

Fumigation as a keeper of plant health? This is really interesting!

Not so long ago, my native Basavapatna was also known as "veda grama" (meaning: village of the vedas. The neighboring Rudrapatna used to be known as "naada graama", a village of music. Musicians such as RK Srikanthan, RK Suryanarayana and RK Padmanabha are all from Rudrapatna). Even until the early 90's there used be many practicing vedic scholars in our village. A few of them used to follow an interesting ritual called "aupaasana agni" (meaning: worshipping fire).

Aupaasanaagni : It is a wow taken by the groom and his bride on the day of their marriage that they would keep the fire live and burning until his/her death. It is the fire that witnessed their wedding, and it is the same fire that would be used to light their funeral pyre at the end! What a wow! I know of a couple from a nearby village, Somanahalli, who were believed to have kept their aupaasana agni live for a period of over 60 years!

Keeping the fire was a simple and daily ritual. The couple would do homa with raw rice, cow dung and ghee poured into this ever burning fire at dawn. The same practice would be repeated at dusk too. White smoke and a nice aroma would fill the atmosphere for a few minutes. It was believed that the fumes from the homa would cleanse the house and its inhabitants.

Well, I started out talking about homa farming by a farmer in the northern Uttarpradesh but then why did I digress to talk about a ritual followed by a few in a southern village? What's common between the two? Fumigation - a preventive health care process of pest and disease control.

In case you know of any vedic scholar practicing "aupaasana agni" today, please let me know. I believe there are a few people in a village called Matturu near Shimoga [heard of a "samskrita graama"? Yes, it is the same Matturu]. When I am in Matturu next time, I will try and talk with someone regarding this.

agnaye swaahaa, agnaye idam na mama! [meaning: this offering is for agni; it is not mine]

Welcome & Introduction !

Dears,

Although I am not new to the fascinating world of the internet, I am however a newbie to the world of blogging. Thanks to Mr. Basant Kumar, my friend and colleague at McAfee for initiating me into the world of blogging. Here I am !

I do not know who will come and read my blogs although I invite everyone to read and comment. I do not claim to be an expert in any subject although many subjects interest me. I propose to use my blog space to write and share my opinion about many things that interest me in life.
Particularly, I plan on writing about topics such as below:

1. My own upbringing : Humbly put, I feel thrilled and often inspired by my own life story. It's been a great journey, thus far!, with so many great souls touching and shaping my personality.
2. My views on doing IT, ITES in India : It's now close to 20 years since I started my career in this richly rewarding software industry. It's been amazing to observe how once a humble "T&M (body shopping)" IT companies in India have grown to be among the top 10 IT companies in the world! Would anyone believe me if I said there was a time when software engineers in a Wipro office outnumbered the chairs available to sit on! Chairs were in short supply and we used to write our names on them and tie them to our tables to discourage others from dragging them to, say, meeting rooms! More such stories later.
3. My views on geo-politico-economic movements, as applied to #2 : As an MBA in international finance, I love number crunching and analyzing things.
4. Software manager : I have had some credible success as a manager in the software industry, especially among "captive" product development organizations in Bangalore.
5. Rural India, alternative health care, rural energy sources, non-formal education, etc: my roots are in Basavapatna, a remote village in southern Kartaka. So, my passion is village and village development
6. Volunteering, social service, Sanskrit and a bit of philosophy : my free time occupations
7. And, lastly, what am I reading these days?

With that, I request you all to visit my space when you have time. And, help me grow wiser with your input.

I end my intro page with a famous quote from the Vedas : "aano bhadraah kratavo yantu vishwatah" {let noble thoughts come to us from around the world}.

Yours,
prasanna