Simple pleasures of having your coffee hot: Some ideas

I'm all for having my coffee or tea extra-hot. Its a disappointment every time, when it quickly loses temperature in the space of a few minutes. And I hate it to finish off the beverage cold or at best, lukewarm.

I am the kind who usually runs back to the oven to reheat my tea when its half done. To confess, there are times I've ended up reheating the same tea a couple of times, before actually finishing it.

This has made me wonder whether there aren't any elegant solutions in the form of a custom, improvised coffee mug.

Googling got me some options. A popular one was the insulated coffee mug, which doesn't really solve the problem.

Thermos insulated mug

Then, there were the reheatable mugs that could be plugged into a power socket or even through a car charger. A bit messy and certainly not one you'd want lying around your table.

Stainless steel coffee mug from Alibaba

I was looking for a combination of a mug -cum- thermo flask that retains heat best, one which comes with a reheat option without those ugly props.

Concept by Green Lama and Design HMI LLC

And, I landed on this page which seemed to offer quite an elegant solution. This kickstarter campaign had originally been launched with some issues, and then relaunched to completion.

Product launched by Green Lama on Kickstarter

With this campaign getting closed, the product doesn't seem to be in the market yet, but with limited availability on their home site.

Looks like I'll have to wait some time until I can have a steaming cup of coffee, all the way to the end!

Autobiography of a Yogi

I had just completed reading Autobiography of a Yogi. Its a fascinating read, packed with abundant learnings, so much so that you'll have to re-read it many times over to absorb it all.

Swami Yogananda has truly established a bridge not just between East and West which is the stated overarching purpose, but the book transcends several dual worlds with ease - yogic mysticism vs science, ancient vs modern worlds, ascetic life vs materialistic pleasures. The writing style alternates between light stories, spiritual messages & heavy stuff on self-realization. As with most philosophical stuff, one can conveniently absorb whatever they can at the moment and skip onto other portions.

The book chronicles the life of 4 yogis at available levels of detail, and also talks briefly about several other saints. Interestingly, you get to hear not just a capsule of their teachings, but also get a first hand account of their lives, including their innate flaws in formative years and how they were reformed by their gurus. Understanding the human compulsions of yogis, their emotions and attachments to loved ones (though subtle and fleeting), makes this all the more relatable to rest of us, ordinary mortals.

This book fills an important void, because the real yogis have always been mystic, secretive and hence their ideals and life accounts have been largely lost on the general population. In an age where there is rampant misinformation & misuse of spirituality with an overflow of charlatans, its truly a remarkable attempt that someone has gone into great detail to demystify, explain the science behind what is perceived as magic and make it all relatable.

Some important takeaways for me from the book were:

• Influence of a guru in shaping one's life
• Importance of yoga - that magic can happen through simple control & regulation of one's breath
• Listening to our inner call by understanding the higher purpose - and that you don't have to necessarily give it all up and live in a Himalayan cave (though thats an attractive proposition!)

No wonder the book is listed amongst the 100 best spiritual books of the 20th century, and is highly treasured by several renown individuals, including Steve Jobs.

Goodbye 2016 and Hello 2017

Its time to reflect back on the past year and set some broad goals for the one just begun. By comparing notes with a similar post I made around the same time last year,  here is my reflection:

• 1. Done a decent job with execution by sticking to things planned at the start of the year.

• 2. Spent time learning new things, primarily around data, analytics, design and technology. Feeds through feedly and other modes of reading I had setup for myself have proven to be effective. Though I couldn't hit my Goodreads challenge of 20 books, I think the learning has been good, and some of this catchup can be done in 2017.

• 3. Maintained the rhythm of writing through the past year with 4 blog posts every month. There is an increasing intent to find time to write more and on varied interests, and hopefully that would happen this year, including the impending migration out of Blogger.

• 4. I had called out self-organization and house-keeping stuff as areas to focus on. There has been some progress here and I've recently started logging my daily time to understand this better. With close to a 3 weeks of data, time-logs are proving to be quite helpful in this area and I intend to continue this for atleast a few months.

• 5. Travel & Movies had taken a slight back-seat in the past year, and this is one such instance where the balancing act needs to improve.

Here's to a Happy, Healthy and Spirited 2017 for all!!

Kids day-out at the Hyderabad Zoo

A trip to the Hyderabad zoo with my kids had been a long pending one. It finally happened the past weekend. Honestly, my expectations were quite low and I didn't expect to see much or savour the trip as much. General expectations aside, this was partially due to my earlier visit to the same zoo about 10 years back. That was a father-son duo trip as well, but then it was with my father. Apart from spotting a couple of rare animals, it was a largely forgettable experience.

But, I must say the zoo surprised me last week and I was converted into a 'promoter'. Thanks to improvements over time and some major renovations last year, the zoo seems to have got a major face-lift. Things were relatively better organized, the place was clean and there was a good collection of flora and fauna, and all animals seemed to be active and in the pink of health.

The King Cobra caught in its full splendour

The top attractions I found were: white tiger, royal bengal tiger, rhino, hippo, giraffe, an impressive reptile collection including the poisonous big 4, a full section of nocturnal animals including varieties of bats, owls, cats and the porcupine.

Here are some tips on planning your visit, based on my memorable visit:

• Start early: The zoo opens at 8.30 AM and your best bet is to start your visit at that time. You would easily save 2 to 3 hours which otherwise would be wasted lining up in queues for entry or the rides. Choose weekdays if possible.
• Exit early: The zoo gets really busy after 2 PM and the last few hours (until the closing time of 5.30 PM) are unbearably crowded. On an average one needs 4 to 6 hours to cover most attractions, so exiting the afternoon is advisable.
• Go green: Plastic / use-and-throw covers are banned, and rightly so. Strangely, backpacks are not allowed, so plan to carry some normal bags. However, reusable plastic containers & boxes are allowed and there are decent places to have a picnic lunch.
• Carry light: Earlier the use of personal vehicles (cars) inside the zoo was permitted. This has been stopped of late, so one has to depend on the battery car / toy train / rented-cycles to move around. So, carry light and be prepared to walk several kilometers. Of these the battery car and rented-cycles are recommended. The jungle safari is a farce, but for kids not exposed to the wild, this is the only available local alternative.
• Choose the winters: I heard nothing but complaints from people who visited zoo in the summers, fortunately our visit was in the cooler times. In Hyderabad's sweltering summer heat, the place is arid, barren with no sign of water. The animals retreat deep into the cages and catching a good glimpse becomes tough. 

So yes, the Hyderabad Zoo is worth a visit!

What are the rare ingredients of an effective manager?

When it comes to responsibility of work streams & ownership in any professional setting, I've observed three kinds of people, broadly: those who 1) manage nothing, 2) manage activities and 3) manage outcomes. Let me explain each type of person with their associated characteristics:

1) Manage nothing: This is the simplest of them all and unfortunately covers a sizeable number of the people. As the name implies, these are individuals who are not so effective at completing or tracking the assigned activity. Whether its missing some activities altogether, issues with execution, or attention to detail, the work is not completed in its entirety and a lot is left to be desired. Consequently, the desired goal is often not reached.


2) Manage activities: Most people fall into this bucket, wherein there is focus and ownership to complete the task. With discipline and rigour to accomplish the activities, they track timelines and ensure that the planned sequence and detailing of identified tasks are accomplished. While this might seem complete and sufficient, what is missing is a focus on the desired outcome and hence these people often miss the wood for the trees.

Given work dynamics, the targets are always moving and hence the means to achieve the target are fuzzy and variable at best. You might find such individuals try everything in the text book within 'defined guidelines' and come back to you wringing their hands in frustration that 'I've done my best, but this just seems to be beyond me'. This is where the third category gets cracking.


3) Manage outcomes: While these people have the discipline and focus on the constituent activities to accomplish a task, their primary focus is on the outcome as opposed to just getting the planned tasks done. Quite rightly, the end goal is considered most critical and 'any viable means to achieve the outcome' falls right within their realm.

These people hit the ground running with this single goal in mind often going beyond the text book prescriptions, whether its influencing stakeholders, buying additional time or resources, or motivating and convincing people in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. They might junk a plan & redo tasks in their entirety, as long as this is seen as a path to achieving the outcome. Convincing the people involved & getting buy-in for any drastic measures is right up their alley.



In Summary, while pure skill differentiates the first category of those who 'manage nothing' from those who 'manage activities'. Its a subtle difference of gumption and right level of ownership that differentiates the second category from those who 'manage outcomes'. As you can see, by being wedded to the end goal, as opposed to being limited by a self-imposed boundary of tasks-owned makes all the difference.

As a closing note, the above applies not just to managers and above, but pretty much across levels, including individual contributors. One could comfortably extend it off the work setting as well.

Failing spectacularly to overcome your primal fears

Fear of rejection and fear of failure are two stumbling blocks that hold one back from experimentation or even linear progression. While the fear of failure is more to do with low self-confidence and self-perceived inability, the fear of rejection is a bigger worry about the outcomes - how people might ridicule one for even making an attempt at something.

While self-help books try and coach you to improve self-esteem as a possible remedy, there are better seemingly solutions. As with most things in life, doing something repeatedly makes it look less alien and 'difficult'. Extending this further, failing sorely time and again could make you numb to these negative feelings of failure & rejection. However, wouldn't it be wise to create smaller opportunities where you could fail with impunity, rather than exhausting costlier options from your career and life events?

I recently came across this excellent Ted Talk on this topic. What better person to learn this from, than one who has systematically set himself up for failure 100 times, and has eventually made a successful career out of it!

Video URL: https://www.ted.com/talks/jia_jiang_what_i_learned_from_100_days_of_rejection

Jiang also writes about the 'Spotlight effect', which basically is a misconception that one is the centre of the universe and that everything we say and do is noticed in vivid detail by others around us. 'These fears force us to conform to others expectations, live mediocre lives and have forgettable careers.' In reality, no one has as much time, or to put it bluntly, no one really cares. Jiang also has a practical therapy of singing in the public to get over such fears!

Each person has their own set of fears, and some quirky ones at that. So, this is definitely worth taking a look at.

Learning Wilderness First Aid for emergency response

For some years now, I’ve been looking to get trained in administering First Aid. Not knowing the basics of handling injuries and attending to emergencies has been haunting me every time I step outdoors. In the last week, GHAC had organised a wilderness first aid training that not only covered regular first aid, but also had extensive coverage of wilderness scenarios and handling of outdoor exigencies. Naturally, I jumped at this opportunity. 

To make it doubly sweet, this workshop was conducted by outdoor professionals from the Hanifl centre, a part of the WoodStock school in Mussoorie, one of the oldest schools in India. During the training, I came to know that the curriculum was conceived by Aerie Backcountry Medicine, a reknown outdoor institute in the US and hence the training culminated with a WFA certification valid for 2 years.

Instructor enacting grievous injury with an impaled chest 

It was a good 3 day training attended by 20 people, most of them outdoor enthusiasts. Thankfully the curriculum wasn’t an all-classroom training, given the hazards of putting participants to sleep with the kind of topics being covered. Instead, it was modelled as a workshop with ample scenarios thrown in and participants asked to react to them first-hand using the concept being learnt. With ample variations of scenarios and unexpected surprises such as instructors showing up with life-like injuries and fake (but profusely flowing) blood, the participants were kept guessing, and hence alert. 

For instance, sample this: there was a scenario of lightning strike in outdoors where a dozen of us were enacting the role of victims - some with minor or major injuries, a few acting disoriented due to the shock and some lying lifeless (with no major asks in emoting!). Rest of the participants were designated as passers-by who had to take up the role of turning saviours and provide first-aid. The key aspects involved taking control of the situation, prioritising the victims that had to be attended to, and finally administering the appropriate first aid for each type of injury. 

Throughout the workshop, the ground rules of first-aid were repeated ample times to drill them firmly into the minds. The outdoor instruction and scenarios covered all common issues faced in treks and expeditions, including prominent ones like heat or cold injuries, altitude sickness, fractures & sprains, stings and bites. Useful tips in first-aid and evacuation were covered such as making splints and litters creatively using non-standard stuff such as trek backpacks, tarps and sleeping bags.

The training culminated with the all-important CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation), the technique of reviving people who are rendered supposedly lifeless and ‘clinically dead’. Thankfully, this is a technique repeatedly popularised in movies, but we learnt that the reel demonstrations are far from perfect. There are documented examples of rescues done right using this technique, such as this one shown from the Bondi Beach rescue where a surfer was revived after atleast 30 minutes of being considered dead. The usage of an IED (Defibrillator) was also demonstrated, and the 4-hour training on CPR involved several runs of perfecting the order and rhythm, though strangely to sync with the beats of the song ‘Another one bites the dust’ by Queen.

Overall, it was a great training and one that I’d highly recommend to everyone. Wilderness is technically defined as any place that is one hour away from medical help, and hence most places in India comfortably fall into this category. As the age old saying goes, its better to be safe than be sorry.