Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, well-known humour writer, has a way with words. I am reading his book, "A Walk in the Woods", where he describes his LONG walk up the Appalachian Trail- around 200 miles long. You might imagine that this would be a big bore, but he makes it very engaging. Why anyone would attempt such a walk is a question worth considering. As Bill puts it, you are for a while in a world without any meetings, engagements, things to do (except walking, of course), and I might add, without any expectations of other people to weigh you down. I also saw this movie about the motorcycle wanderings of Che Guevara through South America, and it has a similar spirit. The generally idealised 'world cruise' concept probably stems from the same desire- to do nothing for a longish period of time. Was it the same idea as Sanyas, or Vanaprastha, that our ancient texts talk about? Could be.

It's here!

My autobiography is finally out. Titled My Experiments with Half-truths, it's available from http://pothi.com/pothi/book/
rajendra-nargundkar-my-experiments-half-truths which is an online POD publisher, who makes it easy to publish your own book. I found out about it a month ago, and my book is already for sale online. I recommend it for motivated budding authors who are not looking to become a best-selling author (though you may still end up being one), but mainly write for a small audience of your own friends, or relatives, batchmates etc. No hassles of chasing a publisher, fighting duels with editors, and no mandatory order of 300 or 500 copies! Just format your own stuff, design a cover page, submit it, and voila! You have a book. It's called Print-on-demand or POD, so it's printed and delivered against an order. I really think it's a great concept. I wrote the book for fun, and to consolidate my experiences of student life and life as a prof. Hope there are some people out there who will read it.

An update (Aug 2012): The book is now also available through Flipkart, India's most successful online retailer of books and various other things. So that's two new technologies that have helped me, an unknown author of this type of non-fiction).

Books

I am reading two books currently. 'Choice' by Eliyahu Goldratt is an exploration of his theories which he made popular in his earlier books. Essentially, the power of common sense, or logical thinking applied to business or life problems, is what he explores. Written as a dialogue between his daughter and himself, it seems quite a good read- I am about halfway through it. The second one I am simultaneously reading is "Sand in my bra and other misadeventures". This is an edited book of hilarious travel stories by various women writers. One describes how a lady had to walk with a bag of groceries in one of the middle east (gulf) countries, crossing a road, cars and a group of men, while trying to balance a loose pair of underwear to prevent it from slipping to the ground. Another hilarious story is of a woman visiting a Thai nightclub with its own 'special' stuff. The book is fun, and nicely written, though the authors are diverse.

Another book I read recently is "Surely you are joking, Mr. Feynman" , about a scientist who was a normal, but curious kid, and his days as a college student at MIT, his 'presentation' to an audience full of nobel laureates including Einstein, and other interesting tidbits.

An interesting week

Last week was interesting. First, I got to golf on a miniature chip-and-putt golf course at a college in Salem. It is easy to make it, takes a little more than a lawn in a frontyard (large frontyard). It can be a great pastime, for those into the game. Saves you the expense and time of going to a snobbish course. I also attended a business promotion meeting of Netherlands investment authority in a city hotel. Looks like equations are really changing from colonial times. Now Europe wants India to invest in their countries. This gave us a chance to look at academic collaborations with Netherlands based business schools. Our b-school already has two such collaborations for student exchange etc. with two different European schools-in Germany and France.

The New Year

2009 has been hectic so far, what with a tour of some six cities in the North and three in the south within about 15 days. This was to interview students for admission to our b- school. Very interesting to interact with young guys and girls across towns, sampling the local flavours of food and culture. The highlight was a kite-flying experience on the rooftop of a Jaipur hotel. Udaipur was also a place worth looking around in, with its serene palaces and lakes.

The headlines on TV look almost surreal and disconnected, when one takes off to visit various places. Why we can't discuss anything better than one or two sick happenings for three or four days in a row is something only TV news editors can answer-or maybe they can't!

Anyway, we have more news channels and hours than we need. As with everything else? Choosing between 100 channels of trash is only occasionally interesting. Thank god for something like the sports channels or the handful of comedy shows. They are so refreshing.

The Rain Capital

Is Bangalore the rain capital of India? In times of shrinking resources, real and the share prices variety, rain is the one thing that seems plentiful. Bangalore seems more like Cherrapunji, known for the highest rainfall in India. The good thing is it keeps the city clean and dust-free, the bad thing is the flooding of already terrible roads. Planning a trip to Goa for the Diwali holiday; hope I don't get "rained-in", because the beaches aren't much fun in pouring rain. Good to sit down and watch it with some feni alongside, maybe.

The holiday mood is somewhat infectious, and everyone, students, professors and salesmen, seem to be caught in up in it. Saw the X files movie the other day, and seems like an OK one, though nothing great. Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny are fine actors and lookers, and keep the interest alive.

Conferencing in Amsterdam

Had a four day visit to Amsterdam in Oct. first week for a conference where I presented a paper. Travelling outside India after a long time, I found our airports have improved visibly- at least the Bangalore one has, in terms of time taken to clear passengers while coming back. I remember long lines at Mumbai on my earlier trips many years ago. Amsterdam is a pleasure to be in, because of a permanent party atmosphere. Unlike the U.S., you see a lot a people outdooors, on bikes and in the buses and trams. It is a pictureque place, well-laid out and very, very liberal in attitude towards minor vices. English is widely understood, so it is not a problem to move around.

I took long tram rides across the city, and the names of places like Slotermeerlaan (where I stayed), Bos en Lommerplein, Voorburgwal, all sound like familiar territory now. Prices in restaurants were sky high, but I managed to eat a lot of burgers and save! One of the highlights was a walk in the Vondel Park, a large area with waterbodies, and a lot of cyclists, joggers and walkers-even in 10 degrees Centigrade weather. Another was a Spanish dinner at the Paella, which is also the name of a dish- a sort of seafood Pulao, with fish, prawns and squid etc. The average Hollander is tall and fair and good-looking, and fun-loving, at least from the viewpoint of a visitor like me.

The conference had a small yet diverse collection of people from Turkey, Lithuania, Sweden, India, and the US, besides Netherlands. My presentation on the use of CRM for major stakeholders in Business schools was pretty well received.