of contests and blogging

Lately I have been blogging only for the purpose of participating in contests. Somewhere I feel guilty about it and wish I could write for the pure joy of writing. Why should a prize motivate me to write and not just the joy of writing?
On one of my favourite blogger community - Indiblogger, I see an entire ecosystem of bloggers creating content on a daily basis. How I envy them. Recently there has been another spate of contests covering topics as disparate as from red oils to idea caravans to de-odorizers to the recent one - platinum love bands.
The last one has quite a few minds getting excited and they would have started letting their creative juices flow. I find myself battling my writer's block but hope my writing skills will soon resurface to allow me to participate in this particular contest.
So, I can win a prize that I can gift someone.
Now isn't that for a good cause.

a tale of two smells, one memory and parallel worlds

6.45 pm - It's been a long day at office. Weary, hungry, thirsty and tired I get my legs to cooperate and complete the last 100 m home. From my bus stop of course. It had been raining for the better part of the week and the place was swarming with insects. As I reached the lobby of my building, the dim fluctuating source of light was attracting a swarm of insects. Small and large. What struck me was the peculiar smell emanating from seemingly flightless fat little bugs. Looking at them, they should not be able to fly at all. The smell was awful. A monsoon conspiracy to make my life more miserable, I say. Protecting my nose with a porous palm, I sprinted to the elevator, to escape this smelly onslaught. On the way up to the top floor, the smell reminded me of childhood. The same smell, coming from the same insects, triggered a memory. While the smell itself was awful the memory was sweet. A memory of playful days, of abundant mischief, of carelessness, free from the tyranny of responsibility. The odor of the monsoons then was distinct, unlike modern times. The odor of the insects though repungent marked the arrival of bhuttas, paper boats, vicks and floods.

6.45 pm - The ORions were the messenger boys responsible for passing information to the OBermeister. They belonged to another world. A parallel world named Sensurion. The ORions were bored having no challenges ahead. The ship in which they travelled had been overworked and in urgent need of fuel. As the ship proceeded to cover the final 100 leapoids, things changed. Warning bells started breaking the silence. Dark Odor's forces seemed to be up to some mischief.

Lord Dark Odor usually planned his assaults during the period when it rained the most. His principal weapons were bubble shaped ships, black in colour that made you wonder how they could fly at all. The bubble shaped ships were flown by equally disgusting beings - Stinkroids. As the assault begins, the Stinkroids released a mysterious chemical into the air. When the material reached the ship, it was tackled by the ORions who sent information about it to the OBermeister who in turn sent a report to the High Command - the Cerebrum. In the process of sending information to the Cerebrum, the Generals from the Tribe of Glomeruli - the Glomerulians play an important role in screening the signals. In this particular instance the Cerebrum's response was one of dichotomy. On one hand the machine responded by blocking the passage of the chemicals released by the Stinkroids, while on the other hand it also released CoJ's (Chemicals of Joy). Mysterious are the ways of the Cerebrum indeed!

6.50 pm - The smile on my face did not vanish. It did look silly. But childhood memories have a way of having this effect on you. The door opened and I was greeted by the most pleasant mix of aromas. The aromas, formed by tightly intertwined wisps of flavours, came from a mixture of olives, mozzarella, freshly baked bread, tomato puree, oregano. It was heady, it was awesome. I shouted with delight 'we're making pizzas tonight - the Italian way!'. Making pizzas in the house is one of those special occassions when all of us pitch in. Some cut the mushrooms, some spread the tomato puree on the dough, while others spread the onions and the olives. And, the lazier ones like me take delight in the aroma and help in handling the oven.

This turned out to be the second time I went back to childhood. The same ritual that we religiously orchestrated in our childhood once again enacted. In person. With anticipated joy I took the first bites into the freshly baked pizza. A pizza that would put the likes of popular pizza chains to shame. I wonder why they do not understand that the toppings go in the oven with the pizza and need to be cooked. That's what gives you that heady aroma. It's the perfect cocktail for the olfactory senses. Together with the taste it gives, this elixir for the senses is by far the best thing that ever happened in my life. After gorging on several mouthful slices, I take a break. Satisfied. Feeling relished. My senses fully gratified. An evening spent reliving my childhood.

I ponder philosphically at the contrasting experiences. The smell of the insects and the smell of the pizza. Opposites in character, but having the same consequence. Triggering fond memories. It was as if I had flown through a worm hole and landed in my home 25 years ago. I could see friends, with whom I played now scattered continents across. I could hear the excitement in my friends voices when I told them what was cooking at home. Plans immediately crystallized in thin air, a scrabble tournament it is! I smiled inward, the evening looking promising.

6.50 pm - The ORions relax. The Cerebrum's remedial actions against the attack of the Stinkroids work. As the CoJ's have a soothing effect on the ship, the OBermeister readies itself for possible assaults. One can never be sure of the enemy. Especially, of the likes of Lord Dark Odor. As the ship reaches its destination, everyone in the ship is alerted by a strange mixture sent by Aromanians. The Aromanians live in flowers and foods and have a peculiar quality in them. They are able to turn the most weakened ship and transform it into a state of energy. The Aromanians are a very diverse lot. Each has a unique character. And when they dance together in unison, each dance transforms into a unique experience. It is said that the each Aromanian dance has a lifetime of an instance. The ORions and the OBermeister are overjoyed in sending this information to the Cerebrum. The Cerebrum, this time is not caught in dichotomy. The signal is clear. Release the Chemicals of Joy. The release is triggered both by the nature of the Aromanian chemicals but also by their association in the past. It is a time to celebrate. A victory for the Senses having overcome the ordeal of dealing with Lord Dark Odor and the Stinkroids.

11.00 pm - What a night! So said Simon and Garfunkel in their famous Central Park Live concert. A feeling echoed by my soul after devouring 3 full pizzas. The aromas still tingling my nose through their dance of ecstasy. The downside of it however was that I could not sleep. My mind refused to let go of the delicious emotions coming as periodic tides. There has to be a way to sleep. Lavender, I mutter to myself. Lavender has a soothing and calming effect on the senses. Maybe that would work. Opening the cupboard I spy upon a freshly packed deodorizer from Ambi Pur (see http://www.facebook.com/AmbiPurIndia). Coincidentally it was a Lavender. I decided to give it a try and sprayed randomly through the house and a generous amount in my bedroom. Within moments the dancing aromas vanished and I felt a peaceful tranquility settling upon myself. Slowly I slipped into a deep slumber taking along with me memories of a memorable evening.

11.00 pm - The overworked ORions were getting tired. The dance of the Aromanians though pleasing, required a lot of stamina. Not many could keep up with it. And so was the case now. If only there could be some respite so that they could rest. The Cerebrum had also started taking actions and directed the ship to explore how it could dock and refuel itself. Within moments the solution appeared in the form of a shield. Like policemen managing a crowd in a concert, the Aromatii whose role was to reign in the Aromanians when they went out of control, sprang into action. Peacefully they asked the Aromanians to call it a night, thanking them for their help in overcoming the effects of the Stinkroids. As the Aromanians dispersed, the ship docked into the resting station, to begin refuelling itself. Refuellling for new challenges, new adventures, to explore new worlds, to boldly go where no Ship has gone before.

Next day as I sat for my breakfast, I wondered at the events of the evening before. I pondered how could two opposite smells evoke the same memories. Which got me thinking, how the hell does my nose work? I had of course read about about other animals having more acute senses of smell e.g. the bloodhounds. I had also read about how one person's perception of a smell differed with anothers. For example while my friend got ecstatic when shopping at the fish market, I on the other hand had a difficult time surviving there. So there has to be a context established somewhere, sometime in the process. It is a learning process. Then there are those fragrances that all humans love. The fragrance of flowers. Lavender, rose, mogra. Which means there is complex chemistry involved here. The chemistry or physiology, neurology and psychology of the sense of smell. Wow, I say to myself, I need to satisfy myself on how this works, or rather what we understand today of how it works.

Turning to Google, I researched. I read articles, research papers and saw videos. The way it works is nothing short of a bioengineering marvel. Watch the 90 minute video on Scent and Sensibility from the World Science Festival. The importance of smell in our lives is immense. Smell often called the forgotten sense, plays a pivotal role in human reproduction, survival, affects human moods and behaviour, It is perhaps only in humans that the sense of smell is so strongly connected to those parts in the brain that influence emotions which is why we tend to respond so emotionally to different smells. This relationship has spawned the popular aroma therapy for stress busting. In context of this article, BBC's account on nostalgic smells, is perhaps the most relevant. I would love to quote this from this article.

Human beings tend to emphasise vision over all other senses, but our sense of smell is important enough to evoke its own form of déjà vu. Perhaps the foul and strange smells we experience today will be associated with fond memories in years to come.

---

Cast

• ORions - Olfactory Receptors
• Obermeister - Olfactory Bulb
• Glomeruli - Glomerulus
• Cerebrum - Brain
• Aromatii - Ambi Pur
• Ship - Human body

not just a house but a revolution

A frequently quoted statement by Albert Einstein establishes the foundation of all innovation that we are currently embroiled with. “"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

A different approach is crucial to solve problems of the kind described by Christian Sarkar, that result through a multitude of factors including politics, lack of governance, macroeconomics and greed. Houses are made not for the betterment of people but for making money. And sustainable housing does not mean big money. The video is hosted at ftideacaravan and was presented at TEDxGateway Mumbai.  Franklin Templeton Investments partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012.

This implies that business houses have not been able to see the opportunity at the bottom of the pyramid (described in greater detail in C. K. Prahalad's book Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid). This is slowly changing with Indian corporate houses of the likes of Tata and Godrej foraying into affordable housing. This however is nowhere close towards making houses under 300 dollars.

The 300 dollar house problem defines innovation within constraints. These constraints defined the challenges to the concept and have been discussed in detail in Vijay Govindarajan's blog at HBR. The challenges were:

• Financial
• Design
• Co Creation
• Marketing
• Performance
• Corporate
• Sustainability
• Urban

 While I will not go into details of the blog post I strongly recommend readers to read it after watching the video to get a fuller grasp of what the 300 dollar problem is all about. The problem of affordable housing and enablement for the poor is of very high significance. In today's world housing should be a basic necessity, actually not a necessity, but a right.

The third component of Roti, Kapda and Makaan.

The greater significance is due to the impact of housing on the physical social and mental health of humans. The link between sanitation, cleanliness and living conditions is obvious. What is not clearly obvious is the impact on social and mental health. These impacts include aggresiveness, depression, anxiety, vandalism (Bonnefoy, X. (2007) ‘Inadequate housing and health: an overview’, Int. J. Environment and Pollution, Vol. 30, Nos. 3/4, pp.411–429 ).

The 300 dollar house becomes a major change agent in modifying communities. Changing lives not just of people but of societies. This project has a cascading effect on public health, crime, sustainable development, economic development, human welfare etc. The benefits are too numerous to enlist them. Some studies have shown that home ownership had a marginal impact on self esteem but a stronger impact on life satisfaction (The Effects of Homeownership: on the Self-Esteem, Perceived Control and Life Satisfaction of Low-Income People, Rohe and Stegman, Journal of the American Planning Association Volume 60, Issue 2, 1994).

 Happy human beings, healthy human beings, productive human beings, secure human beings. All for just 300 dollars.

Apart from this initiative, there are other projects that have similar goals. For example the Open Source Architecture network takes the community co-innovation approach for developing sustainable solutions. Another notable effort is that of Wikihouse, which is an open source construction set allowing people to design and build their own houses. Hassan Fathy's work in Egypt for example used mud bricks instead of conventional material. However the structures have not stood the test of time and the village of Old Gourna has been steadily replaced by buildings constructed from fired bricks.

This entire process of innovation is something that is described by the Economist as frugal innovation. This describes a process of setting a price target for innovation, a process adopted also by Tata Motors in the development of the Nano. That such an approach is the need for the day when it comes to housing is evident from the statistics defined in this article.  To quote verbatim "In 2010 the United Nations calculated that there were about 827m people living in slums—almost as many people as were living on the planet in Engels's time—and predicted that the number might double by 2030".

Together with microfinance organizations like Kiva, and Grameen Bank, the future of affordable housing is closer to reality than ever before. The application of the frugal innovation approach changes the level of innovation and its heartening to see that the community approach illustrates the success of using the open source model towards frugal innovation too.

a sunny independence

"Damn!", I say to myself. "When will I ever get rid of these ". The vacation dissolves in front of my eyes as I stare down the random embossed patches on my forearm, appear and spread. Small islands coalescing into bigger islands. I sit inside my hut, at the margin of the inviting beach of Palolem. The hut itself is neatly anchored on solid wood columns  that protect it from collapsing against the force of the tides.  It's now been a month or so since I started getting reactions to the sun's ultraviolet. I decided to ignore it, the perennially disillussioned when it comes to allopathic medicines. I decided to take my chances and catch the bus to Goa.

"Not the best of decisions bro", I think aloud. My thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the door. "Yes, who is it"?, I ask. A cheerful face peeps into the half open door of my duplex shack.

"Hi, I'm Kyra, the girl next door", she says. Looking at her, one would hardly relate to the pun she intended. Big shining eyes, sharp features and ravenous black hair. Cheerful and so full of life. "Aren't you coming out? It's wonderful out there! And we're all planning some beach ball, so why dont you join us?" The barrage of questions stop as Kyra stares at the embossed designs on my hands. "What's wrong with you? Something you ate?", she looks enquiringly at me.
"Nah, I say, its the sun. Didn't know it could be so intense", I reply. Kyra barely listens to what I have to say and throws a yellow tube of sun screen at me. "I too had the same problems. But with this, I regained my independence. Freedom at mid-day", she says wittily. "Come, let's go and in the evening you can go see a doctor and get some medicines for the rashes". "Is she kidding me?" I wonder, then think "what the hell, I have my armour".

I eagerly squeeze the tube and rub the cream all over my face and arm. In a few minutes I'm ready to go. I see a remarkable change in me. I'm happy. Happy at the thought of being liberated from my shack. Happy at the thought that my vacation is complete again. Happy at the thought of having met Kyra and her timely solution. "Yeah, let's play ball" I say aloud to no one in particular and dash off to the white glistening sands. Newton's third law of motion springs into action and slows me down physically but not in my enthusiasm. I see an empty slot in Kyra's team. She waves at me and asks me to play centre in the volleyball match.

The match ends. We lose. But the day is full of wins. Kyra and I decide to meet for dinner in the evening and plan for the day tomorrow. I make a quick rendezvous to the doctor who remarks that its routine and quite a few people get it. The sunscreen is supported by some medicines and I'm good to go. The evening is bright with the moon out in its full glory. The white sands give a silver sheen to the night, while the dancing waters beyond distort the moon's rotundness erratically; the movements reminding the mesmerized audience that time has not come to a standstill. The evening breeze is cool, and I'm cooled further with a pina colada in my hand. Heaven indeed. To make things better, Kyra finally joins me and together, we silently appreciate Nature's symphony being played in full glory. "So, how are you feeling now?", Kyra breaks the silence, and smiles at me with an expression that can only rival Meg Ryan when she meets Harry. I am grateful and she shoo shoo's away my thanks and eagerly starts planning for tomorrow. The plan is set. We decide to rent a bike and discover Goa.

The day starts early at six. We're both up and ready to leave by seven, fully enthused at the thought of discovering the wonderful landscape that makes up this paradise. I offer to ride to which Kyra opposes. There is a debate and we agree to take turns. We take our armour out of our bags and apply the lotion. Again I revel in the liberating effect this has on me. Ready to soak up the sun. Ready to go and live. Live life, king size!

It's queer being a pillion rider to Kyra. Can she ride this thing I wonder. A single kick and the motorbike growls to life. I hop on and we're on the road in a jiffy. We decide to visit first the St Augustine church. The structure is magnificent but does not attract as much attention as the more frequented churches of Old Goa. The ruins reveal a rich architecture all set in laterite. Wandering around rooms without roofs and collapsed walls gives a strange feeling. I cant place it and neither can Kyra. Kyra walks around touching the walls, as if the textured laterite were a form of Braille telling stories of the past in minute detail. She says "Isn't this awesome. And how awesome this looks in this bright morning sunlight."  We sit on one of the laterite blocks and bask in the morning rays. Feeling free. Feeling elated. Feeling a sense of fullfillment, difficult to define.
"Come on lets go. We've got quite a lot to cover during the day", she gives me a shout. I say to her "It's my turn now, I ride". To which she slyly retorts "But what about the sun? That's not good for you". "Ha ha...nice try, but I'm covered in armour. No way am I going to miss on riding around Goa." I grab the keys  from her and we're off to catch a glimpse of the mummified remains of St Francis Xavier at the Basilica of Bom Jesus. Riding along the banks of the river and the narrow roads of old Goa, with bright yellow coloured houses fencing them is an experience beyond belief. After visiting the church and paying our respects to the Saint we proceed to Panjim and from there to Dona Paula for some water sport action. It's the middle of the day and getting quite hot. But both of us continue unabated. Least bothered by the onslaught of the sun's rays. After a few routinely planned rounds on the water scooter, we are done. Not as much fun as riding around. We both decide to go off to Miramar beach and relax through the evening with some ice cream.

Trrrring. Trrrring. I'm jolted out of my sleep. Shit. That was a freakin' dream I was having. This blogging and competitions are really getting into my head. If only there really was Kyra. Ah, wishful thinking. Those moments felt so real. It was surreal. "Who's there?" I shout. "Courier" comes  the reply. I sigh, reach for my pen and open the door. I collect the courier and see it's from Lakme. Probably the gift hamper that they promised. I open it and see my armours. I feel liberated again. In reality, for a change. This is not a dream. The mobile starts screaming slowly. That awful ringtone I set for a message alert starts shrieking "Message, message, message". I read the tide of SMS's coming to me. One says "Congrats dude, you own a Kindle!". Another says "You beat them all! Way to go!" And so on the barrage continues, some less effusive in their messages. Another interruption.

The phone rings. I say "Hello". The voice on the other end is sweet. Cheerful and full of life.
 
"Hi, this is Kyra. How about a trip to Goa again?"

the internet is fun again

The world is flat. So said Thomas Friedman, referring to the globalization of the information technology industry. He termed this flattening as Globalization 3.0. Technology today has made the world flatter for the likes of us. And spawned new worlds. Virtual communities. Virtual ecosystems. Virtual worlds. Welcome to Globalization 4.0. The new globalized social order. On the World Wide Web enabled through interconnected computer networks. Otherwise known as the Internet - the network of networks. Nowhere in his wildest imagination would Tim Berners-Lee have imagined the lasting impact his CERN project would have had on humanity. That he would have redefined the very paradigm of social interactions. Changed the very definition of Fun!

The Internet is Fun. Fun to explore. Fun to work. Fun, to have more fun!

The internet and its associated paraphernelia has evolved. From minimalistic text browsers such as Lynx to the uber super Opera, Firefox and Chrome. What has seeded this evolution? And catalyzed it further to become the behemoth of human interactions. The paraphernelia is only part of the puzzle that makes it possible. Without the Internet, and the means to transfer data your swanky Android or Apple or Windows devices are limited in possibilities. With both, the possibilities are Endless. Infinity.

I remember how I interacted with my friends 10 years ago and realize how I interact with them now. It's much more enjoyable calling pals across the continent through a Skype video call from my mobile that is ideal for conferencing. See the snowfall in Canada. Live. See my pal's kids frolick. No longer do I have to struggle to capture his emotions as he relates interesting experiences on a foreign land. The emotions flow through the video call making the interaction so full of life. So full of fun. It has also been fun to reconnect with long lost friends. Searching for them using Google. Or connecting with them through Facebook. Or getting them on Facebook and sharing their photographs with others in the family. And recounting fond memories. Of childhood adventures. Of college mischiefs. The reconnect is so intense, it dissolves the time gap making it feel like yesterday.

One hour to reach office. Swiftly I reach for my Android mobile. It's time to catch up on global events and browse through all the interesting stuff happening out there. My nifty RSS reader springs into action, going on to the Internet to download rich content for me. Information. Empowered. This empowerment makes decision making more fun and less work. Information is the key that the Internet provides. At my fingertips. Whenever I want it. Yippy, I shout. An incredibly happy person as I sift through posts covering new discoveries in science and technology, the latest Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, what device to buy next. The works! That done its time to relax now to online videos. I launch one of the Ted Talks I have marked as a favorite. Tiny robots made by Vijay Kumar and his team. Robots that fly and cooperate with each other. Truly amazing.

I ponder deeply on how my life has changed, With instant news. Instant information.

At home, everyone uses the Internet in some way or the other to have fun. Either on the mobile or using the tablet. From online games to Disney's innovative Penguin Club which my kid adores and connects with other children across the world. Booking tickets online for the next movie show. Banking on the sofa. Paying bills. All done in a jiffy. Giving more time for fun. The Internet is a true productivity machine. You can do whatever, whenever at your convenience. Giving you back your precious moments of Life. To do what you could never find the time for.

It's also broken boundaries. Geographical, Cultural, Temporal. The real advantage about the Internet is the way it allows people to interact with each other, form networks, expand networks to create a larger community. A community of friends. Or, a community of like minded people that are organized around a common purpose. The purpose is varied. From social revolutions to fan followings to hobbies such as photography to conferences or workshops. The fun part is that platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ together with mobile devices take interactions to the next level. When you update your status on Twitter or Facebook, you broadcast your thoughts, reaching a very wide audience. Imagine doing that in the physical world. The Internet makes communication even more efficient. The ability of  communicating instantly makes the internet so much a fun place to work with. A truly connected world. Full of conversations.

It is now time for governments and corporations to release data. The Internet is only as good as the data it handles. With more open data sources, it is possible to merge various sources of information, to draw meaning from different associations. With open data, new theories can be verfied in real time. Why is Open data fun? Linking data sources through mashups leads to new insights, which are best illustrated in the Tim's own words. Apart from Open Data, the Internet is a great research tool for all generations. The sheer magic with which one can dig into historical, geographical, statistical and all sorts of information is truly spell bounding. With the Internet and the WWW, it was possible for Wikipedia to be born. A huge democratic encyclopedia. By the people, For the people. Of the people.

Now the World Wide Web has been around for quite a long time. It makes one wonder, what then is the future of the Internet. How will it become more fun. One possibility that stares us right into our face are devices connected to each other by a unique address. In other words the Internet of Things. You would be equally amazed to learn (as I was), that in the year 2008, the number of devices connected to the Internet exceeded the number of people. How does that matter?

Imagine.

Your washing machine, television, car, lighting being connected on to the internet. Imagine your mobile phone interacting with these devices. Controlling them like an autonomous remote control. Receiving status messages on your mobile and taking actions on them. Without your intervention. The Internet creates a smarter world when it becomes the Internet of Things. That in my opinion is the penultimate in Fun. A kind of fun we cannot imagine today. But, something that has gradually begun today. With pacemakers that inform doctors on the condition of patients. With goods that inform the supermarket where they are. With cars that update each other on traffic conditions. Real time.

The Network is the Computer. The Internet is the new Reality. The Next Revolution. That will make Life more Fun. More enjoyable with unimagined possibilities.