Adventures of Bahu Bali Part 1- Whitewater Rafting on Ayung

Adventures of Bahu Bali Part 1- Whitewater Rafting on the Ayung

Rafting on the Ayung river, near Ubud. An experience to savour, and physical exercise too- it tests you to just climb down to the river and up again. The rafting looks easy by comparison-child’s play! We had a couple of kids with their Mom and Dad on our raft, in fact.

The guide walks you down to the river after giving you a life jacket, and an oar. The walk to the scenic river-bed is quite deep, at least 300 steps down. And then, a set of instructions later, you are into the rapids. Rowing forward and backward is part of the instruction, but also some Chiki Chiki (bouncing on the seat to send the air to another part of the raft, maybe), and Boom Boom (crouching down to the bottom of the raft, to rebalance the centre of gravity, I guess) are two interesting manouvres that were practiced, and used. 

There is a stop along the way for a rest and a drink, and there are photographers who click and sell you pics of the ride also. A waterproof bag is also carried by the guide to save your camera if you are carrying one- essential!! The last time I tried rafting was on the Ocoee river in Tennessee.

Follow the instructions, and enjoy the ride- we did! Some evidence..

Making "rapid" progress in the pics above, and taking a break (below)

Prepping with the jacket (above) and walking down to the river through scenic road (starting point), below.

Fake News Generator

I propose to automate fake news generation. The FNG, or Fake News Generator, is an invention whose time has come. You simply decide on a few parameters, and the AI-based generator goes to work, generating fake news about the people, in tons of videos, Memes, print, or any other form.

For example, say I don't like a certain character in my office. I can generate fake news about his childhood, his dangerous liaisons, his secret trysts with non-veg. food while he proclaims himself a vegan, how he was involved with the Italian/Sicilian mafia, how he smoked pot when 18, and (if he was a U.S. citizen) dodged being drafted into the Army, and his being politically close to a secret group that is planning to overthrow the current government. This would ensure his downfall in no time.

The language to be used in the fake news (how unparliamentary) has to be specified by the user of this FNG. This can be sold by e-commerce companies as the best Diwali gift that one can buy for yourself..in this selfie-crazy generation, you usually buy gifts for yourself anyway. Methinks it will rock the festive season.

What Retirement Might Mean

This is a predictive look at retirement. You

-Travel less, because there may be only discretionary travel.

-Eat less, because appetite reduces with age- this is fact, not fiction.

-Talk less, because not too many listeners are around, particularly if you repeat yourself. Exception-you can talk to yourself. It's not weird, it may be the only option if you want to.

-Have an opinion about everything- with little to do, you become more opinionated, just because you have the time..particularly, about the young and the stupid!

-Become more British..I mean, talk about the weather.

-stop learning, because you are no longer sure you can use that anywhere. 

It was to prevent some of these, that there was a practice of old people in India going on a Kashi yatra, in olden times. Or vanavasa, maybe. The equivalent today could be going on a never-ending world cruise..if only someone would buy me a ticket, I'll consider retiring early..

Productivity and Managing Your Time

Some things can't be rushed. A baby has to be nurtured/incubated for around nine months in the womb. But most other things can take different amounts of time. One way to do it is to practice until you are good at something, so it takes less time. The other major thing one can try is to avoid (big) time-wasters- I mean, pick a few, if you cannot avaoid all of them, but pick those which take relatively less time.

This post is actually triggered by a question from Writabrita Ray, my recent student. She asked me how I manage to pack in so many things in my day. One way might be to sleep four hours a day (like Mr. Modi?), but I can't do that. I need my quota. But the waking hours can be distributed according to what you like to do plus what you have to.

Travel is sometimes optional, but I like to travel because it is always a new experience. I do look for opportunities to meet people during travel (again, that is optional). I have met several ex-students, colleagues and friends/relatives in my travels- in the U.S, too, and in Indian cities, and in Singapore (there's nothing like a real meeting!). It also gives me a chance to take pictures, and pick up books- I am a book store addict! For some of my own books (like Marketing Research), I have made students work-I use their cases, with credit to them. That saves me time, and gets the work done. So share the work load- in legit ways- and be more productive.

Writing, I have been doing since I was an editor of a wall magazine during my MBA, and I started off with reports on campus events ( I still have the originals, ink on paper) and reviewing films. We also wrote small pieces about our classmates for the Year Book. Blogging came naturally, and book-writing, not so naturally, as it is hard work. Hearing someone say they read it, is priceless though.

Ok, so the point is, I guess, you do more of what you like, some of what you have to, and avoid time-wasters. I control my TV time (almost nil these days), phone time (likewise), and find that I have plenty of time left to do what I really like doing! Karaoke partying is one of those. I also find social media, with its 2-way communication, more energising than TV-watching. It's also a great source of ideas, like the one for this post-and fun!

Social Media Posts With Feelings

It's confusing. I don't know whether to feel good or bad any more. Whenever I go to my favourite social medium, there are feel-good posts, on these lines.

A poor boy/girl made it to the IAS.

He conquered disease/disability/parents' insistence on careers to  achieve success.

His friends at the bachelors' party ditched him, but he found happiness in marriage.

He managed to eat a full biscuit without it breaking in a cup of tea that he'd dipped it in..



And then, there are feel-bad posts..

The world will end in a big ball of fire next Wednesday, when a meteorite/asteroid will crash into it.

The glaciers will enter your home in Chennai in 5 years..

MBA programs to close down soon, and everyone will have to keep doing whatever they are doing now.. coding for life, and so on..

Get a Good Photographer

Yes, I know the trend these days is to take selfies, but I cannot underline enough the need for you to make friends with a good photographer. It can be the difference between you looking like ............ (fill in the blank with whoever you adore) and you looking like Dino Morea (sorry, man, nothing personal).

I have now seen, just by virtue of being on the planet long enough-it's not some special skill- many people who look like celebrities or better, just because of this special friend. In fact, many celebrities would not look like themselves without their Atul Kasbekar-like photographers. Not all of us are fortunate to have great looks which look great under the gaze of any camera at any time, but getting a good photographer friend can result in great pics for all of us...I am not kidding! (The DP award winners might just agree).

A problem with selfies is that they limit your flexibility, apart from turning your image into a mirror-image. But even if you fix that, it's hard to do a few things which a good photographer can do.

I am planning to get one (just to prove that I follow my own advice)- it's never too late! Make this your half-yearly resolution.

Karaoke- An Invention I Like

For years, we have had small booklets that contained Hindi film songs (lyrics) by some category-usually, by singer. I have a couple. If you had to sing a song, you could look up the lyrics and do it.
The music would not be around.

With a karaoke mic, you have both the music and the lyrics available, and you can look at the lyrics on the monitor and sing along. Many of these are called Sing-along mics. In my view, it has democratised singing, and added life to many a party. It brings in enthusiastic participation after an initial hesitation, and I have seen lots of people totally enthused and practising their favourite songs. I have also discovered singers through this process, among close friends and others. Some pics of karaoke parties we have had- in the family, it is a regular affair..we consider ourselves The Sound of Music-wala Von Trapps.. my favourite song is Phoolon ke rang se, dil ki kalam se from Prem Pujari.

 Sadhana, Swathika Kalaivani and Akshaya look on, while Madhan sings.

 Pratyush is entertaining all of us.

 Radhika likes what she sees, and makes good use of the mic.

Long live Karaoke!