obviousness!

(when in answering mode)

A theory is a theory, if it remains a theory!

If you cannot think of it, you cannot think of it!

Its true, because it is true!

If you think you can, you can!

If you do not know, you do not know!

It is not done, if it is not done!

You cannot say no, if you cannot say no!

I do like it, if i like it!

I mean it because I do mean it!

oh! it is something else, absolutely something else!

Its unbelievable, I cant believe this!

Okay! will see you when I see you!

Lets catch up when we catch up!

You are a volunteer, if you say you are a volunteer!

The more I go into nature, the more I go into nature!

continues...


Srik

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Healthcare innovation

I participated in the open forum discussion on 'healthcare innovation models' organized by Innovation Alchemy at the Idiom DREAM:IN Centre in Indiranagar on 22nd July at 4.30 pm. Basically it was a platform to interact with the entrepreneurs who have developed innovative models in the healthcare sector. There were three presentations organized for the day and the entrepreneurs were all set with their content. 

NationWide:

It was a brilliant presentation from the founding team - Dr. Shantanu Rahman and Dr. Satish Jeevannanavar. First time I had heard about them was from one of the doctors I met during my bus journey a few months ago. It was a very interesting concept that caught my attention. NationWide is an initiative by a team of Indian doctors that are attempting to bring the 'Family Physician' or a 'Community doctor' model back into homes and neighborhoods.It was interesting to hear their story and the way they worked on the idea. And ofcourse it was triggered out of the fact that there is a huge demand at the ignored 'Bottom of the Pyramid'. But as of now they are looking for establishing themselves in the urban system, gain some credibility and then scale across to the grass roots. They also share the fact that Primary Healthcare is a much neglected sector in India and see a great need for accessible and affordable  facilities in cities. Although, if it was not their pricing model that was promising; but their intention to bring in the traditional 'Family physician'  back into the system. Right now they have 5 centres in the city (what they call it as hubs), each handling a volume of 12000-15000 population. Every main centre has 5 sub centres and 4-5 GPs run the show. Their one more strength is that they are planning to have all the patient records online. Online Medical History record reduces the time a GP has to go through the physical records when a patient visits them and also it will be very easily manageable. Like, once I register with them and undergo the initial check up and formalities, the record will be updated and will be accessible to me anytime with a secure password access. More information can be read on their site. 

My only concern was that all such innovations are happening and getting concentrated in the tier-1 cities. And where there is a huge need and gap, there is none. Even though they say that initially they want to establish themselves and become self sustainable (like what all others do), there is a huge poverty in thinking towards the grass root level. And those who are working at the grass roots are really very few and are struggling to fill the gap. Innovations at that level is the need of the hour. 

Anyway, since there is a need for such innovations in primary healthcare even in the cities, I will wish them good luck to establish themselves well and succeed in this entrepreneurial journey. I am very certain that they will do well and consider helping the real BOP. 

Please visit their website here: NationWideDocs

mDhil: 

This was one of the finest presentations I've seen. Nandu Madhava, the founder of mDhil is a University of Texas, Austin [BBA] and Harvard Graduate [MBA], a TED India 2009 fellow and has volunteered with the Peace Corps [a brilliant successful initiative during the period of John F. Kennedy]  as a translator in health clinics.

mDhil provides basic healthcare information to the Indian consumer via text messaging, mobile web browser, and interactive digital content. It may sound simple but the need for such initiatives is huge. Health education plays a very important role and is being ignored by the wide majority of the people. Any initiative with respect to Health education will be accepted and will be sure enough to be a success. They have partnered with many mobile service providers like Airtel, Reliance etc and even partnered with huge pharmaceutical companies like Biocon. One can subscribe to their services through their mobile phones, they can ask questions, watch out videos on any health topic, they can learn about healthy food habits and more good stuff. They are actively promoting themselves on all the social networking sites like facebook and twitter. 

In the future, Nandu hopes to leverage on the 3G technology and wants to reach to as many people as he can. Launched in 2009, they have already got the initial success of 150,000 paid users subscribing through SMS. Their website is full of information and they own the complete content. They create the content on their own with a lot of good doctors on board and they also ensure accuracy of the information. 

When we questioned Nandu on leveraging the available information and providing the service across the rural areas in various regional languages, he said he will surely go for it. He said he is really looking forward to have all such services once the 3G takes over completely. It is absolutely a great venture and I really hope and wish Nandu and his team to do well. 

Please visit their interesting website here: mDhil

Idiom: Dream In

Its one of the finest auditoriums' i've seen in Bengaluru. And the owner/founder of the Idiom consulting Sonia presented to us on design in innovation. Since there was not much of time left, she had to wrap up the presentation very quickly. But the last video that she played grabbed our attention to all the brilliant stuff they are doing. 

It was a great show and brilliantly organized by Parvathi Menon and her Innovation Alchemy team. Will look forward to more such forums. They were actually live streaming the whole show. Good stuff!

Srik

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today

party over last night
dance is still on...
today is a new song

last evening was red
so as this morning...
clouds are smiling

the rain has stopped
but the feel hasn't...
wet breeze says it all

its a riot of colors
leaves me in blue...
and I see it new

it gives me a start
to free my heart...
i continue the hmm

Srik

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wide-eyed beauties from Kannur

Here are some panoramic shots from my recent trip to Kannur district in Kerala.  Photographs are captured on 9th, 10th and 11th of July 2011. 

Serene Perumbadi Lake seen near Makuta on the way to Kannur via Virajpet. 

Beautiful water stream seen on the way to Kannur just after crossing the Perumbadi Lake near Makuta

The Moppila Bay Fishing Harbor seen from the St. Angelo Fort on the Arabian sea shore, Kannur 

Blue evening colors of Muzhappilangad Drive-in beach in Kannur. The only drive in beach in Kerala. 

Sunset at Muzhappilangad beach

A colorful evening at Muzhappilangad beach. Many folks were playing football on the beach.

View at the Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary, North-east of Kannur district. 

A view of Valapattanam river from Parassinikkadavu Bridge, near the Muthappan temple.

© 2011, Srikanth Parthasarathy

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ahead of me

cluttered weekends
uncertain targets
adhoc plans
lengthy 'to-do's
demanding events
awful talks
new challenges
high-tuned arguments
random ideas
misplaced experiments
last-minute goof ups
perfect disagreements
'oh! shits' and 'holy-cows'
skipped family functions
bunked social meet-ups
discontinued reading
unanswered phone calls
confusing schedules
'too-bad's and 'very-mean's
lazy emergencies
known misunderstandings
I'm-not-well reasoning
forceful tolerances
wishful ignorance

and the list goes on...

Srik

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Auto Driver's India

It was funny. Today, because of a friend I had to take an auto rickshaw to come back home in the night. Anyway, it was completely worth my hesitation to get into an auto. When I got into the auto, the driver was calm and did not speak much. Once we started moving he turned out to be a driving comedian. And the comedy aspect is not because he cracked jokes, but because of his speaking style. He was not drunk. It was absolutely very good Kannada and at times a surprisingly good English. I was just nodding my head and at times make 'ha-ha' 'he-he' sounds to make sure he is in flow. It was a 20 min journey and here are some of the interesting eye-opening observations he made:

~~

Saar- in India, people have become so foolish saar. They are not worried about all the 'nidhi' [meaning treasure] they have secretly sent outside the country and deposited in Swiss bank. They are worried about how to find such treasures in temples and exploit it more. Can you believe it saar, they are now spoiling the temples in  Kerala [in English]?

Is there any news about the money they have secretly deposited out side India? no! why? because they want to exploit more and fall for themselves and their greed. 

Other countries struggle hard to constantly pull back their citizens in good shape saar. But in India people seem to force everyone into a dumping ground. And people listen to them saar. 

~~

Corruption - why is it that only Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev wants to fight against it saar? why cant others do such stuff? I think people do not even know how to make a revolution these days. I am a patriot saar. I do not know how I got it in me. But I read a lot [in English] saar!

~~

In India there was literally no poison saar. Even if it was there it was there only in Snakes. Now it is in each and every human being saar. I do not know what to say. 

~~

There is money for every beggar and every person in India with Indian government saar. They do not know how to distribute it properly. The major problem is taxation. [in English]

I know who pays the tax and who dont pay the tax saar. All these people who have more money and the businessmen are the culprits saar. [He made some calculations and all which I could not follow properly. But the highlight was that he was very knowledgeable] 

~~

Our ex-chief minister HDK challenges CBI to prove him a thief. So does it mean, only if CBI says he agrees that he is a thief. What kind of a joker he is saar. And CBI has to make that statement for him to believe his own noble deed.

These days Farmers are also becoming bad saar. All because of our ex-prime minister Devegowda. They will listen to whatever he says and they end up digging their own grave. 

~~

Some lady from Italy came and conquered India saar. Everything is in her hands now. 

You know how bad SM Krishna saar? most of the corruption cases in the past got generated from him only. It has reached till Sonia Gandhi. You won't believe it. [in English].

In Mandya people call her as our 'Sose' [ meaning Daughter in Law]. I tell them, first they call her 'Sose' and then they call her 'soole'. 

~~

People are being called as 'Educated' not because of their quality saar, but because of their 'face'. If they are good to you, they are 'educated' [in English].

~~

TV news channels have become 'only entertainment' [in English] channels saar. They make money like crazy. And people sit and watch whatever they say on the screen and it is easy money. There is no value for 'earning money' these days saar. Money has become a joke saar [in English].

When I was a kid I did not have any sense of what money is saar. I thought money is nothing. Now I realise saar, money is everything and there is nothing else in the world. 

~~

My daughter tells me not to crib about these things at home. She says I alone cannot fight against corruption. She tells me - for that I have to do a PhD course on how to reduce corruption in India [in English]. See saar, kids are talking like this these days. Tell me what is the solution saar? [in English]

~~

When we reached and I was about to get down he said, One final thing saar [in English] - India got independence in 1947, but I will tell you saar, People are not free saar. We do not have real freedom yet! 

~~

In the end, he said, bye-bye saar! Good night, there is a lot to talk about India you see! 

~~

I got a good 'educated' feeling out of this 20 minutes auto rickshaw journey today. 

Srik

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the age of imagination

A post that moved me!

Excerpt from the article here:

We say we want children to achieve at the highest level—to be the next generation of great scientists and innovators and artists and world leaders—yet the system we’ve put in place makes it nearly impossible for each child to reach their potential. Those worst off are typically the ones whose unique skills and talents we need the most—the most creative thinkers, the natural innovators, the ones who find comfort in the discomfort of not knowing, fearless in the pursuit of their vision.

Link to the article: The educational value of creative disobedience

----

Well, I can also relate to the story very much and it is in sync with my life in many cases. While we realize the importance of the experimental learning, we still tend to think on how are we supposed to do it. There are a lot of folks around who are struggling hard to do such things. I was talking to a friend of mine today and he said he is trying his best to make his son learn the experimental attitude. In spite of the current system not supporting the current generation kids in learning what is actually 'essential'. And not to let them waste their age of imagination as it is rightly pointed in the article.

All that is required is to help them think, fail, think, fail, think, fail and the process goes on. In the process, the actual learning happens! and hopefully something gets created. 

Srik

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Amboli, in the rain

Long time ago, I used to do a lot more travels and treks. Yeah! really long time ago is what I feel now.

Anyway, It was an invitation for my friend's wedding at Hubli, gave me some hope of seeing some magic in nature. After the two day wedding, it was a blissful weekend to be accommodated in a green patch of western ghats. So, I went with my friends. 

We decided to go to Amboli, that is considered as the rain heaven of Maharashtra at an altitude of 700 meters. Well, yeah, its in Maharashtra. We stayed overnight in Belgaum on Friday and Saturday early morning we were already in the ghats of Sahyadri hills. 

The highway that connects Belgaum and the Goa is literally in the heaven. Even though I felt like travelling by bus is a loss, I just controlled my breath until we reached a place that had no visibility. The bus dropped us in the clouds and flew towards the next cloud. 

And the rains showered on us giving that feeling of comfort that I had not even experienced in my dream. After all, what is the fun of visiting Amboli without the rain? It is told that Amboli gets the incredibly high rainfall in Maharashtra (about 7 meters) and it is fun to experience the rain. And to see some of those beauties that can survive only in the rains.

We wanted to walk around the place and we were not particular about visiting any of those tourist attractions. However, Amboli waterfalls attracts every one who visits Amboli and hence we decided to go there. I always love the mist and I absolutely enjoyed my walk with those green things around me in between the white patches of clouds. Sometimes it used to get dark and at times we were lucky enough to get the clear view of the Sahyadris. 

There were numerous waterfalls on the way and it was absolutely awesome feeling to see them in full flow. One best thing that happened was that our visit to the waterfalls was on a Saturday. And not Sunday. You know what i mean!?

Another place that we visited was the Mahadevgad. This breathtaking edge is also at a distance of 3km from Amboli. There were many orchids in bloom on the way and a variety of fungi as well. I also enjoyed the wild jamun (?) that I ate on the way. 

I also had another objective during my visit. It was to use my new macro lens and experiment some shots. Unfortunately I could not use it much, but for some of these shots below. 

Amboli, is a beautiful and a worth seeing place. However, as in the other parts of the Sahaydri Hills, denudation of the forest cover and unregulated government assisted "development" (read "hotels, resorts & highways") are gradually ruining a once pristine environment. And ofcourse those criminals who come and throw their plastic here!

Experiencing the rain in Amboli made me super happy! After a scrumptious dinner followed by some nostalgic discussions at my friend Gajanan's place in Belgaum, headed back towards the concrete jungle!

More pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/srikanthap/sets/72157626994661911/

Srik

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