すみだのはなび-Sumida Fireworks show

The slacker blogger is back :-)



Yesterday, In a quest to quench my thirst for exploring Tokyo, I went down to the Sumida River in Asakusa. The Hanabi (fireworks) season usually begins around this time of the year and the Sumida firework show is by far the biggest and oldest.

Legend has it the first firework began as early as 1733! Wow..thats pretty old!
Legend also has it some 20,000 fireworks are blasted. Not sure about this though, the crackers were blasting non stop for over an hour and at the end of the show, i had a bad neck pain :(
The one thing that strikes you almost immediately in Asakusa they were so many people!

About 100,000 easily! And that's a lot of people for a fireworks show. My expectations soared when i saw the crowd but i was slightly let down by the show.Only slightly though. I mean, if the same kind of crackers were burst for over an hour,one tends to get distracted rather easily.
But with a lot of cute Kimono-clad Japanese girls around, there was much to keep me occupied.

Overall i enjoyed the show per se.

Some photos here...

The crowd in the station...Totally Jam packed!



This is what i meant by "cute-Kimono clad-Japanese-girls".




A part of 100,000 strong crowd ! Notice how people are sitting on the road. The trick is finding a a good spot for the view. It was crazy humid and beers were guzzled down as fast as they came.





And finally let the show begin..........!



The colours were vibrant.





So, with my thirst for exploration quenched, we returned back sweating and dripping :)

Addiction to Change!

One of the manager I had worked with in my earlier project was going on
to become a CIO in a different country.

Today was his farewell day speech.

He moved from Singapore to Japan and after 10 years of working and managing large teams(Pretty successfully and mind you, he is not fluent in japanese!) in Japan, he will be moving to Dubai as the CIO.
Looking back at his career, he acknowledged that there has been tremendous growth but it has come at a cost. The cost is "change".

"I am Addicted to Change" was his way of putting it.

Makes perfect sense! If you are in your comfort zone for a long period of time, you reach a point where things stand still.

Moving out of the comfort zone and quickly adapting to change would be the key and addiction to this will guarantee you tremendous growth!

Awesome!

Things that made me say...Wow :-)

Finally managed to get out of Tokyo last weekend!

We headed to Nikko World heritage shrines and also to see its splendid natural and scenic beauty..
Anyways this post is not about "things to do at Nikko" or "what to see" at Nikko..i am sure there are better resources out there.
This is more about my fascination of the Japanese sense of service which never ceases to amaze.
I mean every shop you go in Japan, you are always greeted by the "irashaimase" or the "ohayo Gozaimasu"and when you get out of the store the arigatoos follow from all the salesmen.Even if you don't pick up anything ie. :-). I have not come across this kind of hospitality in any big shops in India .

To illustrate, we all started on the Saturday morning and had to take a train from a place called Asakusa at 10.29 AM. However as luck would have it we took a train to Akasaka instead of Asakausa( I know..How lame!! ) and by the time we realized our folly,we were almost sure about missing the train...so finally we ended up going to Asakusa and we had just about 2 mins to get on the train, by which time we had to buy the tickets, figure out the platform and pick up the Nikko passes.Well, a 1 hr wait for the next train was staring at us..But nope!

We reached the Nikko Sightseeing service centre, told them about our predicament, half-expecting a blank NO, but guess what..the helpful rep immediately dialed a few numbers, gave us our tickets, and took us to the compartment through a interior shorter route..So thanks to this amazing sense of service, we were happily on the train..the rest as they say is history:-)

Awesome isn't it?

On a similar note, i saw a Korean restaurent which had used the power of "word-of-mouth" to great effect..Check out this picture..Ask a user for his/her review, take a snap..and put it out for the world to see..hmm..well i almost stepped in..if only i was a little bit more adventurous.

Orkut Google Map mashups..err messups

Hey have you seen the new Orkut-google maps mashups? It basically pulls out your friends
list and shows their locations on the google earth map. Neat.
Except, seems like the orkut team has got its geography terribly wrong.
Check out the screenshot below. My friend who very much is in India is shown as being in Canada. (?) Also none of the other friends in India are shown. I do suspect my friend(trupti) wouldn't have any issues about this:-) She likes Canada.



Although i think it is still in its early stages-don't see it for all friends, i would have thought a company as big and as smart as Google would have ironed out these before going live. No? Well i am in no capacity to beat their quality analysts..but hey i am the end user, the customer...and as the saying goes, the customer is always right :-)

Jinshen!!!

14.46, June 02. Place: Japanese class.

Just when i was starting to begin my countdown for end of class, i felt it. It began with a gentle rocking and an immediate jolt. My sensei gave out a small squeak while my classmates woke up from their mid-day siesta. The sudden jolt lasted for about a second, which gave way to more rocking..an ironical indication of putting someone to sleep....
Japan met confirms it. A magnitude of 4.6 on the richter scale. Although this is the third time i have experienced it, cant help but think how small and negligible we are compared to nature.

Btw, heard from local folks that japanese homes can withstand upto 7 on the richter scale.
So no worries! All safe and sound here!

Karth lives on............

Bangalore traffic woes remedy?

After a lot of craziness-good craziness ie. i am back to the blogosphere finally!


Yesterday in TOI(Check out the epaper version www.epaper.timesofindia.com) there was an ad from the traffic police department about fulfilling 4 out of the 10 promises made by them.

Pretty novel ideas-the BTIS traffic management system and the easy auto ones.
As soon as i saw the ad, i went over to the website http://www.btis.in/.
This website gives details on the traffic status all across Bangalore and driving directions can be sms'ed to your cellphone.
Although it is a very novel concept, i don't think it is of any great use other than its novelty factor.

Say, if i have to go to electronic city, irrespective of the traffic delays, i don't have a choice but to go on hosur road.(atleast now). It is also a no-brainer that during peak hours there will be jams on 90% of the roads.

I think the need of the hour is to figure out a way to smoothen traffic rather than giving the aam aadmi the "traffic control room" status. More often than not it is the general indiscipline among drivers that causes a traffic jam. While we drive, we have a sense of urgency which we carry about. This leads to people driving on the wrong side of the lane, driving over footpaths(yeah!), skipping signals, zero pedestrian respect, haphazard parking and so on....

Here in Tokyo, most roads are narrower than in Bangalore, but there are few very simple guidelines which make driving a breeze.
Like for e.g.. Every T-junction or intersection will have pillars fixed with mirrors. this helps the driver to exactly see what is on the other corner. So no banging bumpers!

All stop lines for vehicles stopping at signals are placed much before the intersection. This helps in easy turning for the vehicles coming from the other side. Of course, no one ever skips signals. At least I haven't seen anyone.

Back in Bangalore, if you are waiting at a stop signal and there are no pedestrians crossing or no vehicles approaching, folks will happily drive on. If you want to be the rule fearing person, you have no choice but to go deaf thanks to the blaring horns.

Simple things like this do not cost a lot and easy to implement rather than having hi-fi gadgets(blackberries for policemen!?), traffic status or building a loop flyover for 10 years.

Looks like Mr. Kumaraswamy is in a hurry to show some quick wins and this is the way he can do it!

Have Fun with Dumpr!

Break from Crickeet! :-)

If you are looking for some fun with your Photos, here is a great mashup!
Check out www.dumpr.net.
Nowhere else will you get your photos on the museum !!
Voila am famous!!




You could also play around with creating jigsaw puzzles, reflections, paper sketches..and much more!

And also..make some amazing circles:-)



Cool!

ICC world cup SWOT analysis:WI vs Australia

India, Dead and Buried. Pakistan, Thrashed out.

While India's and Pakistan's exit has filtered out the causal fans, cricket purists will no longer have to wait for some lip smacking dose of their favourite game.

Here comes the Super 8. Here begins the World cup.

SWOT time for the big match of the Super 8 today! Hosts West Indies clash with Defending champs Australia!

West Indies

Strengths: Lara loves Aussies. Lara Loves Antigua. The likes of Shaun Tait and Bracken shouldn't give any sleepless nights to Lara. If he along with Chanderpaul, Gayle and Sarwan get going, i definitely see them giving the Aussies a run for thier money.
And talking of run, expect good young legs on the field from the Windies.

Weaknesses: Well, WI will surely not depend on their bowling to get them out of the dumps. Also Gayle has not been scoring for sometime and is surely a cause for concern.

Opportunities: WI have beaten Aussies in the past(remember the DLF and Champion trophy?) Australians come to Antigua from St. Kitts and the conditions there was totally different from here. If Australians go with the flow they had in St. kitts, they could be down the dumps.

Threats: Entire Australian team!

Australia:

Strengths: I would say the Aussie batting is definitely better off than its bowling attack with Lee and Warne out. It is their biggest strength and the one which they have not failed to use to its potential. Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Symmonds...Bowler's nightmare!

Weaknesses: Except for a tad inconsistency in bowling, its one mean winning machine,

Opportunities: Gayle's low form and thier own current form!

Threats: Not much teeth in the WI attack to be a threat to the Aussies. Lara is the only man who can stand up to be counted as a threat. Home conditions for the West Indies and big crowd support.

Karth Inc predicts: Its gonna be yet another win for the Aussies. If the West Indies do win, it will be the 3rd biggest upset of this cup!

ICC world cup SWOT analysis:India Vs Srilanka

Cricket is not a matter of life and death, its just a silly old game for christ's sake!!!

The Killing of Bob Woolmer does'nt say so.

Our own coach, Greg Chappel's motivation talk to the boys would be something along this line "Please win today guys..You ain't want me dead right? "

OK..Lets head straight to SWOT Analysis for THE big match.

Srilanka:

Strength: Many! 2 perfect wins, a team with some great hitters in Jayasuriya and Sangakkara, awesome bowling options in Vaas and Murali and everyone brimming with belief.
You cant ask for more!

Weakness: Experience. This is pressure situation at its very best! Even though Srilanka are through to their next round, they would be at a great psychological advantage at the super 8 if they lose this. They have not been challenged in the World cup yet so this will set up the stage for them.

Threats: Indian batting will hit them hard. IF and i stress IF the Indian batters can recreate the magic of taunton or the Bermuda bash, Srilanka will be swept away.

Opportunities: Plenty! And i say this because, the Indian bowling has looked very meek this series and Kumble's record against Srilanka doesnt look great(Not sure if he will play though). Srilanka can easily steal 20+ runs if they target some old legs and weak hands. Murali's terrific record against the Indian top order can be handy too.

India:

Strength: Batting, Batting and Batting. Anyone who knows remotely about cricket can vouch for that. A team fully loaded with batsmen who can on thier day can tear any bowling apart. Yes that includes Vaas and Murali.

Weaknesses: Top 3 would be Fielding, Bowling and Consistency! I was watching the SA vs Netherlands match the other day and the south African's fielding was in a different league altogether. Compare this to our team, well, we better be good enough to hit 20-30 more runs to factor this in. Also don't think our bowling has enough teeth to take 11 wickets unless the Srilankans think otherwise.

Threats: Jayasuriya's hitting at the top, Sangakarra and Jayawardene's stability in the middle, Vaas and Murali's tricks with the ball.

Opportunity: If India chases and chases well,there is no question our batters can see us through big totals. I am counting on a Indian chase!


Karth Inc predicts: All reasoning and logic says Srilanka have a definite edge...hey but so did we did have an upper hand against bangladeshis..So did pak against Ireland.
I so hate this cliche, can't help but say it...Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainity...my heart says..Jeethega bhai Jeethega...Hindustan Jeethega!!

By the way, TOI has its own SWOT analysis for today's clash(can't find the link). Check it out in the epaper version

p.s Tommorow is a cracker of a match! Dress rehearsal of the finals perhaps?

Gibbs does a Sobers!!

It had to happen! The minnows are minnows after all :-(

Van Bunge will never want to bowl again.

Check out this Gibbs 6 in 6!



Ohh btw did I say English are gonna make it? Well the Kiwis turned the tables over!!

ICC WCC 07:SWOT Analysis Eng Vs NZ!

Wow! Yet another big match today. Kiwis taking on the English!! Expect it to be nothing short of a blinder!

Sample this: Eng V Kiwi Matches played 58. England won 27, NZ..well 27 too! Hmm that doesn't help does it?

Lets get straight to business. SWOT time!

New Zealand

Strengths: Kiwis can bat and bat deep. Also going by their recent form(link to the Hadlee series) , looks like they can chase anything under the sun!
Jacob Oram is definitely the key player here. Vettori and Bond will play a key role as well. With the old ball, this spin-fast duo could prove lethal, more so if Bond is able to reverse it.

Weakness: Inconsistent!. Fleming needs to score if NZ want to go deep into the tournament. Kiwis are just not the same side while playing outside NZ.

Opportunities: Not so great English bowling attack if James Anderson misses play today. Collingwood might be the best In-form batsman for Eng but against the Kiwis he averages a dismal 20.8(His career average is 34 odd).

Threat:Craig McMillan might not play due to his toe injury. Andy Flintoff loves to take the wicket of Fleming which he has been doing pretty consistently.(Link here for stats)
England won the CB series playing against Aus and NZ..that will be a physcological boost.

ENGLAND

Strengths: Impact players-Flintoff, Collingwood and Pieterson. Can tear apart any attack on thier day. A very balanced side as well.

Weaknesses: hmm..Couldn't think of many. if James Anderson doesn't play and the pitch turns out conducive to seam, he will be a great miss. Also compared to Kiwis, the English doesnt seem to be very experienced lot. This could matter if the match goes down till the end of the wire.

Opportunities: Going by the Ken Vs Canada match conditions, Not to forget, Monty panesar who has a great chance of showing his skills on the big stage.

Threat: Well, Not sure if Michael Vaughan can hold up the full match due to his hamstring. Vettori will be a big pain if the condition is anywhere close to his likeness.

My prediction...Its going to be England all the way! Mind you..its not gonna be a easy one tho!

ICC WCC 07:SWOT Analysis Match#1 WI vs Pak

We are couple of hours away from the most awaited event of the year for all the cricket crazy Indians- The Ninth Edition of the ICC world Cup Cricket 2007.

Here in Japan, not surprisingly there is not even a whishper about it :-(

Being an avid follower(and of course played) of this game for the last 15 odd years, i try to present here a SWOT(Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat) analysis for all crucial World cup matches.

I hope you enjoy it!

Match 1: West Indies Vs Pakistan

West Indies

Strengths: Batting Department-Gayle, Chanderpaul and Lara of course!
Young legs on the field. Should able to save few runs.

Weakness: Bowling line up not upto the mark. Heavy reliance on Gayle, chanderpaul and Lara. Ability to collapse like 9 pins-remember the 93 all out against the Kenyans and the more recent 85 all out?

Opportunities:Home ground advantage. Crowd behind them. Weak Pakistani bowling attack.

Threats:Mohammed Yousuf - One of his best batting forms and Inzy can belt the WI's rather weak bowling attack.

PAKISTAN
Strengths: Batting definitely. Yousuf, Inzaman and Imran Nazir can belt the leather on his day.

Weakness: No Akthar, No Sami, No Razzaq. Do i need to say more?
Not that great fielding side as well. If Danish Kaneria plays, dont think he will trouble the heavily Left handed loaded WI team.

Opportunities: Capitalize on good starts. Getting a big total helps nonetheless. Not so great WI bowling attack too.

Threats: Extremely weak bowling attack. Slow legs on the field.

Karth Inc Predicts: This is a toughie. Both teams which have a equally good strengths and bad weaknesses. I am going to stick my head out and say, WI should be able to win this!

Leadership lessons from The Wall

9, 17, 65, 0, 18, 11, DNB, 19, 12, 46

(Source: www.cricinfo.com)

Well, this has been the performance of Sehwag in the last 10 matches he played. An average of 21.88. Not impressive by any standards, let alone International cricket.

However put this question to Dravid, and this is what he shoots back

"It's not like I'm supporting Joe Blogs or some Ramdin or something. This is a kid who's got 300 runs, someone who has done some things in international cricket. I get asked this question, 'Okay, you are supporting Sehwag.' I wonder if it's Joe Blogs or something I'm supporting?"

Strong words from the Wall.

A very subtle but strong hint for Sehwag to pull up his socks.

We all know Dravid’s great technical ability but here he shows his leadership skills is something every aspiring leader should learn a thing or two.

I always believe as a leader, you should have immense faith in your team. Dravid, by sticking out his head and supporting him here, would have imbibed a great sense of confident in Sehwag.

With the selectors and Indians all over vouching for Sehwag’s exit, I bet it would have been tough for Dravid to shout back his support for him, but as a leader Dravid has played his cards well.

This not only gives Sehwag the much needed support, but the other team members will be queuing up to win Dravid’s confidence. This also doubles the team's unity and improves the camaraderie in the team.

Now usually one can see captains speaking for their non performing members with caution and advice, you know something like “well he is a good player, and we hope he does well” and stuff like that.

But from Sehwag’s perspective, his captain by sticking his head out and backing him up will be ten times better than a backroom one to one talk.

Hmm.I wouldn’t be surprised if Sehwag comes out with blazing performance in the World cup.

So, next time one of your team members is not performing up to the mark and if you have the confidence him/her, then shout out your confidence to the stakeholders! It really is a win-win coz if the poor guy manages to perform, your respect among everyone will soar and if he doesnt, you will still not lose the support of your teammates.

Learn Hiragana while you travel!

Japan Newbie's(Don't let the name full you!) blog project on learning japanese through Ads is one hell of an idea! I love reading billboards, Ads and posters while i travel and what better way of brushing up your Japanese when you are travelling!

The other day, i had my Hiragana test and thanks to my office schedule and my own laziness to open the book and read :-), i was pretty sure i wasn't gonna do well. But,while i was travelling, with each passing station my Hiragana was improving and by the time i reached my class, i was very sure i will not screw up the test.

So how did it happen you ask? Simple, Keep your eyes open for the station name signboards!

Like the one below for Musashi-koyama. Longer the station name, even better!

Perfection tip: In some stations, the previous station name and the next station name will also be in Hiragana(not the above one), So try and read up all three Hiragana names before the train passes that station!

It can be fun :-)

Happy Hiragana Learning!!

Customer care ain't fun:-)

Hilarious!!

Check out this video on Youtube customer care...well..Let me tell you, you can work for the best companies in the world, but if you are in customer care..Man you had it!!
Customers are always right..and they always complain:-))

The Journey....

You know, i am amazed when i see the Japanese railway system. A train arriving at 8.49 will come at 8.49 not 8.48 not 8.50. I am also awestruck when i think about what might have gone in scheduling, planning and executing this amazing system.

But hey, wait a minute! Our Indian railways is supposed to be the biggest network in the world right? But if you wonder why isnt it on par with the japanese or the english rail system-
This eye-opening documentary from NGC brings out the realism in our railway system

Some notable points from this documentary
- Each train is designed to carry 1700 passengers, but swells to 7000!! WOW!!
- You dont have to wait till the train stops to get in or get out. If you do, you are a loser!
-About 2000 people are killed in a year in Bombay attempting to get in and get out of the trains!!

End of the day, i dont care if the train is late, crowded or dirty, i only hope there is no repeat of a samjhauta express blast or the 7/11 blasts.......

Hard work pays!

After a "hard" day's work, i reached the station at 11.49 PM. Now If you are thinking, i will be greeted by a deserted platform, well, think again!
In Japan, this is what you will see!

The train station gets more and more crowded as the evening wears off. you will not be incorrect if you think most of these people are just leaving from work and of course, most of them would have started their day at 8.00 AM.

In fact, i wasn't the last guy out of office as well. I could see a few buried heads into their laptops.
Of course, it is a well documented fact that the Japanese are one of the most hard working lot in the world. Yes, the mandated working hours is still 40 hrs/week, but i am sure most of them would hit that figure by mid week.

On the surface though it is quite admirable that people here are committed and dedicated about their work.
But scratch the surface a little, you will surely notice, hard work is not directly proportional to productivity here.
Mind you,i am not in any way undermining their zeal for perfection and their commitment, but, come on, things can be done faster!
So if you ask an Indian worker to jump of a cliff and find out whats at the bottom, he will do it, break his nose and figure out he has hit a rock. Job done in 5 mins minus a nose.
Now if you have a japanese do it, he would come equipped with all sorts of equipments to figure out all details required to jump of a cliff, do some crazy impact analysis and figure out there is a rock, which weighs x grams, has been there for y years and has the capacity to break a nose.
Well you would be awed at the level of detail and the accuracy but of course you would have to wait for some time!

Get my point?

So how do you meet schedules, especially in IT where time is a luxury? Slog! Slog till the last train leaves!

So its not SMART WORK, but HARD WORK is what the Japanese office goer believes!
and looking at Japan, you can say "hard work pays!"

Proud to be an Indian!

As i write this post, i am watching a program on Japan National televison(NHK) about the amazing Indian growth story.



The program talks about the Indian education system showing snippets from primary classroom about students learning maths, the role of IITs, and more importantly the growth of IT sector in the last few years.


It shows teachers in a primary classroom teaching multiplication tables of 17, it also shows students at IITs discussing a solution to a real life problem, and of course the Infosys campus budding with its young engineers.


These programs are building the brand of NEW INDIA. Gone are the days where India bought pictures of the snake rope trick and elephants crossing roads. India now for a foreigner means IT, IIT and growth.

Well, The economist might say India is Overheating but at this moment i am just proud to be an Indian!

The "Other" Reason.

I read Rajesh Shetty's Life Beyond Code a month back. I must say it has influenced me in more than one way. The book explains in a very fluid manner, 9 different ways to distinguish oneself and how!

Hats of to you Rajesh, you can't get it more simple and effective than that!

One of the thing Rajesh explains in his book and also in his blog is the "Second reason". He says, for any activity(apart from building relationships) to do he needs a second reason, however significant or insignificant it is.

Since reading the book, i have rather unconsiously started thinking about the second reason for most of my decisions i make!
One of those decision was coming back to Tokyo. Apart from the learning you gain at work, i think 2 reasons have prompted me to come back to Square one!

One of them is to learn Japanese!. As soon as i arrived in tokyo, i signed up for the classes and have been slogging out the past 3 weeks! Must say its fun tho' tough!

So far this "other" reason has also been a catalyst for my primary reason and the effect has been great! One keeps pushing the other.

As far as the other "other" reason goes, well, thats for another day's discussion!
Well, there are some books that you read and move on and there are some books which stay with you for life..Life beyond code will stay!

Thanks Raj!

-Karth

Sorry!(Gomenasai!)

SORRY!! Yeah for all the 6 of you(or maybe 3 of you now..) who have been checking out this blog..a BIG SORRY!
Thanks to my relocation to Tokyo(yeah!) and no internet connection at home, i have not been able to write as much as i would want. But i do have a lot to say !!

Hang on people and Karth inc will be back!

Meanwhile check out this post from one of favourite blogger's- Digital Inspiration.

Must accept, This is also ONE of the reason why i want to keep this going..even though there are just 3 of you!!