lets be the change

Understanding the Why?

2010-07-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Simon Sinek on his video at TED.com, I was curious to know how many of you can answer this question - why? Take this poll when you have a minute.

Do you know what is that you do at work, how you do your work and why you do your work?

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/94340/hkaqn

Knowledge Transfer in AEC firms - a practical solution?

2010-07-03T11:25:00.000-07:00

As turnover is increasing due to the current economy within the AEC firms, what is happening to knowledge transfer?

Effects of today's economy:

Highly paid senior people are replaced by young, inexperienced people (mostly contract employees) - do you not agree?
Morale goes down, inspiration lacks and learning stops - do you not agree?

Practical Solution - just a thought:

I read in an article a couple of years ago on how a Texas corporation identified the need for transferring knowledge between generations and this solution is based on this corporation's idea. Here you go!

Step 1: In your organization, request all you senior executives (ex. office leaders) to conduct a peer review on what best practice or knowledge that a particular seasoned employee possesses and rate that knowledge's importance to company's mission on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being very important.

Step 2: Conduct a survey among the seasoned colleagues, asking them to rate their retirement year on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being they plan to retire very soon.

Step 3: Now multiply both the ratings and on a scale of 1 to 25, the knowledge possessed by a seasoned employee of score above 20 is very critical knowledge that the company cannot afford to lose. Losing the knowledge could be either because of retirement or unavoidable cut downs.

Step 4: Find a like minded younger employee and verify with him/her of his/her future goals and pair him/her up with this seasoned professional as a mentor-protégé relationship.

Step 5: To sustain this knowledge within the company, such paired-up teams could be assigned to develop tools or techniques to capture this knowledge and share it with the rest of the company!

Results:
Knowledge transfer happens, morale increase because employees feel that they are valued, ability to develop bench strength during the tough times like this increases and will prove beneficial when high times start in the near future!

This is just a thought, what do you folks think?
Thanks
Prem

Why India?

2009-07-05T00:47:00.000-07:00

If you believe in solving world problems.... you may start in India... there's plenty of reason why India - says Nandan Nilekani - Indian Bill Gates...
http://www.ted.com/talks/nandan_nilekani_s_ideas_for_india_s_future.html
Nandan has become my new hero! He has left his company that he started - Infosys - to join the Indian govenrment in creating the first Social Security Number equivalent to all of 1 billion Indians... Man what a challenge that is!
Hope to join this force one day!

Zero INFO Footprint: PRINT me not! FILE me not! SHARE me yes! MOBILE me yes!

2009-06-25T23:19:00.000-07:00

I read somewhere that a file size of 100 Mega Bytes is equal to _____ Tons of CO2 emissions. Man, thats a stretch. To play devils advocate, lets see the global impact of information. It is obvious that information doesn't flow freely - it needs infrastructure like, hardware, space, cables, security, ofcourse money and so forth... so companies always look for a smaller info footprint. But how could organizational practices reduce info footprint?

The next time you recieve an email or other electronic information ask yourself is this information GREEN? So, What the heck is a GREEN information? Its a far stretch but lets explore for fun....

How many of you have or have seen email signatures with "please think twice before printing this email" or some version of this message? Ok! a lot of you. I used to as well. But what's the point? By saving that one print we may attempt to save a paper but the real culprit is in the nature of flow of information in our lives.

Ok! I am mostly talking about professional information flow which dwarfs the personal information flow in memory size. As we all know, information say a doc or pdf flows through the organization network via emails and gets stored multiple times in multiple servers.

So you may say, a centralized server and emails with no attachments but links would work in reducing the network clutter. But the problem is not only information in form of documents but also in form of emails.

Even though you could overcome the network clutter and duplication by centralized servers and organizational policies for linking in lieu of attaching docs, the information regarding such documents' existance and/or usefulness for the organization is burried in an email.

So what I am talking about is nothing new.... Many software companies like Microsoft have pioneered in this area and developed many brilliant software applications like Sharepoint to enable peer to peer information flow within and outside organization thus acting as one single repository of information.

But what I think completes the circle and really makes such information GREEN is its accessibility. How often have you printed a document with 20 pages just to take it to a meeting? Everyday right?

Taking information with you via a laptop allows you to readily access such information and avoids printing. Netbooks is today's new invention and I believe they will allow for a company to have a smaller INFO footprint and much more greener information flow.

I have one of these first generation netbooks and I simply can't be without it. Along with the netbook, I purchased this software called OneNote that allows me to take quick notes and track research for multiple projects all in my Netbook. So far in my 6 months of use with netbook and onenote, I have successfully avoided filing 6 projects and all extra-curricular activities...

So even though it is a far stretch, imagine if an entire organization runs on mobile platforms (ofcourse supplementing your desktop production machines) with immediate access to information.... then thats when the organization can use all their time to creativity as opposed to data mining! Happy sharing green info!

Prem's Global Warming Belief Index

2008-06-29T17:05:00.001-07:00

Wow! Its been a while since my last post!

Anyways, this subject fueled me to write my thoughts on it!

I just watched a movie - THE LAST WINTER - an interesting thriller based on the current hot political topic of allowing oil exploration in the Artic! In simple terms, the message from the movie is - Stop lavishly using up earth's resources and if not earth reacts in unimaginable ways to defend itself - just like a species would do!

Its not your usual sci-fi, its probably one of the intelligent scientific thrillers that I have seen that is about a situation as current as it can be.

Anyways, I sometimes wonder how movies shed either a very different perspective on a certain subject or reinforce an existing perspective. In this particular instance, it got me thinking how do people perceive about global warming and where do I stand amongst all!

I thought, well let me try to map people based on their belief on global warming!

(((WARNING: This is strictly a mental exercise - the views expressed here are completely mine and does not reflect the views of any organizations or corporations I am affiliated with!)))

Obviously there are two extremes to begin with.

A. Pro extremist

- the ones who are hard core environmentalist: lobbying, researching, campaigning to save from the harmful effects of global warming

Z. Con extremist

- the ones who are hard core anti-environmentalist: lobbying, researching, campaigning to stop the pro extremists from taking over! (just so there is balance:-))

In between the extremes, I think lies the vast majority of this world and that's who I am interested in talking about!

I believe at the mid range between the two extreme lies the biggest chunk of the human population - THE DON'T CARES!!

In my mind "The Don't Cares" can be vastly categorized as follows:

J. The ignorant don't cares

- the ones who are unaware of what's going on around
(children or aged who are roughly around 35% of world population are prime examples)
- the ones who really don't care to connect the dots who are already overwhelmed by their lives!
(people below or near poverty line who are roughly around 12% of the world are prime examples)

S. The conscious don't cares

- the ones who are at least partially aware of such a phenomenon but really think that there's nothing that they can do!
(the regular 8-5 job goers who are typically the non-voters are prime examples)

Between the mid-range and the Pro extremists lie some interesting mix of folks:

E. The wants but cants

- the ones who are well to moderately aware of the situation and really want to do something because they believe in it but can't because they don't know what to do!
(the regular 8-5 job goers who are typically the real voters are prime examples)

D. The doers!

- the ones who are very well aware of the situation because they believe in it and do really know that they can partake and are the ones that are doing something!
- they too have a range in terms of what they are doing to stop global warming depending upon their means and measures to take part!
(the professionals who are in one way or other affecting the planet seriously just by the nature of their jobs are prime examples)

The other side of the spectrum also has some interesting mix I think!

Between the mid-range and the Con extremists, people could be categorized as follows:

V. the affected disbelievers

- the ones who are really getting affected by the harmful effects of global warming but still don't believe in it!
(People in power; people implementing power and people protecting power are prime examples)

X. the affected blamers

- the ones who are again really getting affected by the harmful effects of global warming in one way or the other (when you throw in economic freedom due to the pursuit of oil etc...) but instead blame other causes for the effects!
(Radicalists, extremists and terrorists are prime examples)

I got some stats off the web (don't worry - trusted sources, either way this is just a thought experiment) and pulled a chart for your viewing pleasure!

OK now is the real question??? Where do I stand?

I tend to think myself as part of the doers!! OK as far as what I do to stop global warming - that so calls for another post - stay tuned!

But how about you??? Think for a while before you categorize yourself into PREM's Global Warming Belief Index

E2K - - is this a reality?

2007-12-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

In Thomas Friedman's words E2K stands "for all the energy programming and monitoring that thousands of global companies are going to be undertaking in the early 21st century to either become carbon neutral or far more energy efficient than they are today. India is poised to get a lot of this work."

As Indian IT companies are begining to scratch the surface of this wave, what is the Indian Government doing?

This energy / global warming crisis is not just a problem for the developed nations but for every oil dependent nation in the world. (Although only time can tell how well the Brazil's ethanol experiment will form the solution for such oil independency).

But change is in the air!!!!

About one-sixth of the world's population is begining to face a new energy code.

Yes! for the first time in India's history there is a national energy rating system for buildings. Apart from the LEED-India movement, this energy movement from the energy and resource institute of India (TERI) is about to bring a whole lot of change in the Indian Construction industry.

As a result of this, the brain-powered IT industry in India is begining to understand not only the global need for such energy measures but also the local need. It is going to be a WIN-WIN for everybody - a nice boost for the booming construction industry in India.

It's ironic that my dad predicted such boom roughly eleven years ago.

Once I got out of high school, following the mob, I started preparing for entrance exams to get into engineering schools (after realizing rather lately that the entrance exams for architecture schools had already been conducted - - this is where I think... awareness is important... in future every school should have a "career corner" where they can expose the kids to the wide range of opportunities India could offer them... anyways for now this is added to my list of ideas to implement in India :-)).

Indian education system favors caste based allocations to access to education. What does this mean? The assumption being the lower castes are socially challenged to access and means to education compared to their higher caste counterparts. So the government (atleast my state cleverly did this a long time ago - - many states are now going through this huge caste challenge!) reserves certain allocations based on caste. For one to be qualified to get into a good school for education, his/her educational merits (high scores in test etc) is only considered second to their caste heirarchy. So me being in the so called Forward Caste (even though I was from an average Inidan middle class...) am required to score really high in all my exams to get into a decent school and study what I like to study.

Guess what! I some how managed to do that! Pumped up... since I could not get into architecture school, I was good at computers and India then was getting ready to solve the world's Y2K problem -- I was motivated to get into an engineering degree focused on computer science. I got into a decent school for my engineering after a wait for few months. Only during your second year in engineering one decides which specialization he/she will opt for! I was hoping to get into Computer Science. Then came the reality!!

I started slowly hearing that since me being a Forward Caste student will not be able to pursue Computer science and will only be able to pursue the lowest in preference - - CIVIL ENGINEERING. I was rather hopeless. Understanding my state of despair, my dad did some research... again this was 11 years ago... and he predicted that by the time I graduate India will be in need of Infrastructure. He started feeding me news after news on this subject... I slowly started adapting to the notion that CIVIL Engineering is my future and boldly opted for CIVIL Engineering at the end of the first year for all my three preference choices.

Begining of the second year, to my surprise I came to know, that my scores where enough to garner Computer science. Nonetheless, I was focused to learning on how to shape India's future infrastructure! I am glad now that I followed my dad's instincts!

Anyways long story short.... Indian infrastructure boom is a reality and so is the E2K wave!

Lets learn to surf this new wave!

KISS your complicated solution goodbye!!

2007-11-27T06:55:00.000-08:00

Is there a simplified approach to achieve a balanced sustainable decision?

I believe everything is simple and we as humans love to make it as complicated as we can so that it will sound cool!

If I can ask the following three questions everytime I make a decision whether it is life or work related... then I think my decision will have some sustainable base!!

1. Can I reduce the need as much as possible?
2. Can I capture what is available for free?
3. Can I restore/ reclaim/ regenerate/ reuse more with what is available?

Let's apply this on to something and see if it works.

Say I am trying to find a solution to achieve water efficiency in my project.

1. Can I reduce the need for water use? - I guess I can! - multi-use of a space reducing the need for more water use; waterless urinals etc.

2. Can I capture freely available rain water? - I guess I can! - a simple diversion of rain water from the roof to the landscape!! or an extravagant rain water harvesting system - it is law in my home state Tamilnadu, India to divert roof water to an underground cistern and let it percolate to the underground water table... how tough is that to do? we all know we have water scarcity! all we need to do is to care!

3. Can I reclaim the used water for something else? - I guess I can! - Tamilnadu just did - restore the underground water table by reusing the collected rain water; we can reuse water used in the building as grey water for landscape!

You see this works... through this process atleast I would have thought about how to save water even if I couldn't implement any of these on my projects... which is the next big step!!!

Try it on some of your decisions... it could be as simple as how big of an opening should I have on my west wall to have the much desired view through that opening??

food for thought!

P.S: KISS :- "Keep it Simple, Stupid!"

How do you see sustainability as a concept?... Is it socialism or capitalism or socio-capitalism??

2007-11-18T12:45:00.001-08:00

I ran into this following link about "global mindshift"...

http://www.globalcommunity.org/flash/wombat.shtml

it is pretty cute but precise in telling the story...

sustainability is say if we call it... providing equality in terms of resource availability and resource accessability and resource usability... then what does it fall under?? capitalism / socialism???

one may say neither.. and I tend to agree with that... but what is it then?

one may ask... why bother to define??? I may say... well it certainly is the new world order now... (if you dont agree with that... please watch TV or browse the internet) the world is getting connected more and more than ever... think of the open-source era and think of blogs like this for heaven sake... you cannot deny the fact that this has something to do with the new perspective on mother earth...

I dont want to get political here in my blog by any means... but.. as in terms of sheer concept... I remember once talking to a colleague of mine about sharing knowledge and growing as a team...

and I was looked at as a socialist... coz growing as a team is not captalist...

one may ask... is sustainability about sharing knowledge... in a big picture sense I say yes... so one can make informed decisions that may be helpful to the planet we live...

socialism is a broad and age old concept... this one-ness that we try to describe and achieve in this new world order... could this be called the new socio-capitalism....

even though socialism and capitalism as concepts are mainly associated with economy... these terms have been loosely associated through out history with ways of life...

in my littlest expreince and exposure if I attempt to define this term - socio-capitalism... here it is.... in lamest terms...

SOCIO-CAPITALISM: "what ever we do should work for and benefit the mass and yet the individual should be able to reap his / her personal benefits based on his / her efforts"

I know I sound like a politician... but if you think about it... everyone who believes in this one-ness as I do will encounter somebody in their path who doesn't believe in this.. how do we explain???

food for thought!!

Meet my hero...

2007-10-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

Speaking of the Big Picture... its great timing that my hero happened to give a speech at Scottsdale's 10th annual Green Building Expo.

Ed Mazria - my hero... I won't be surprised if Ed is honored by a Nobel Peace Prize in about a few years when more climate change initiatives around the globe occur ... he has made that big of an impact - an architect who has spent his entire life and still working hard to make his dream of a better, safer and environmentaly sound world - a reality!!

Here is a link to his latest study and this presentation topic - Nation Under Siege

I took the liberty to voice record his speech digitally and I will be more than happy to share it with anybody interested - just send me an email. This is a 1hr 40 min audio clip of his entire speech on October 5th, 2007 at Scottsdale, AZ. This presentation includes, introductory speech from the Mayor of Scottsdale, followed by Mayor of Tempe and finally a few Q&A after Ed's speech.

I don't think Ed will sue me for copyright distribution of this speech... because spreading the word is the most sustainable thing anybody could do - bringing awareness...

Here are some highlights:
(Disclaimer - the following includes excerpts from Ed's speech and some of my own thoughts to augument his notions...)

- Currently CO2 levels are at 385 parts per million
- Projected to reach 450 ppm by 2035
- By then it might be too late to reverse the effects - a point of no-return might happen
- Ok.. seriously what the heck will happen if the globe's CO2 level reaches 450 ppm?
- Predictions are based on historical data dating back centuries...
- The earth had such levels reached some 125,000 years ago... ya! thats right... so long long ago...
- Based on carbon dating and other known methods and measures to mankind... when such levels reached, half the species in the world vanished due to rising sea levels and change in eco systems etc...

- So you might ask... how does that affect me and my house in Phoenix, AZ
- Go to the internet and search for New Orleans Diaspora - displacement of 200 to 300 thousand people due to hurricane Katrina... this is just because one part of ocean near New Orleans got upset with climate change and blew the fuse...

- Such a discplacement causes several problems to the un-prepared country (even the mighty US) from rescuing the survived... to providing them safe and secure place temporarily and eventually permenantly... to building a new safe and secure place for them to return... to creating safe and secure lives for the ones that doesnt want to return... the list goes on...

- Imagine such a displacement of lives, economy, culture... and then multiply this effect by several cities around the globe and now add the fact that not all countries have the means and resources like the US... HAVOC RIGHT??? that's what might happen if we let the CO2 levels rise to 450 ppm...

- Again... this is science based on data and conventional prediction / projection methods accepted as reasonable world wide from not so biased institutions like NASA, NOAA and so... the left and right in any country can blow this situation upto what ever scale they like for their political advantages...

- So weaving through the plethora of biased and non-biased information is completely upto you readers!!

- I strongly believe in this and also believe that I could do something to help the situation... as explained at the later part of this highlight!!

- Ok now.. what is causing all these!!

- Burning of Fossil fuels contribute to these Green house gas emmissions and in-turn causing global warming - climate change
- Oil and Gas have reached their peak in terms of resource availability and usage thus far
- Oil and gas are likely to be used less in the forth coming years since they are depleting and would cost more
- So oil and gas together cannot push the world over 450 ppm within 2035 - The culprit is COAL
- Coal reserves are plenty enough for another 200 or so years based on the rate of current usage
- Every nation from US to Canada to China to India is dying to add more conventioanal coal plants within the next two decades
- Conventional coal plants are the worst when it comes to green house gas emissions
- So is there a silver bullet for this problem?
- Yes, says Ed - NO MORE CONVENTIONAL COAL
- Then what about CLEAN Coal technology - asked the audience
- Carbon Sequestration is the clean coal technology - which is essentially capturing CO2 from the coal during power generation process and dumping it else where - either under the ocean, under the earth very deep... or do something else with it...
- Ed and many scientists believe that this is still a pre-mature technology and to fully figure this out and make it commerical it might take a decade... by then if there is no law in place, any country with money will start mushrooming Coal power plants the conventional way
- The projection is, even when Clean coal technology materializes, it might not comapre in cost with conventional coal power... so what would all the coal lobbyist with trillions of dollars in their pocket would do???? hmmm never go clean coal!! - Ed didn't say that... this is me :-)

- OK.. so we take measures to stop the supply side of this big chain reaction by stopping the mushrooming of conventional coal plants... is that enough?? asks Ed...
- No... We should control the demand side...
- Of all the major sectors in the US... the building sector is the worst..
- 76% of the electricity produced in the country goes to operate buildings...

- hence... reducing the need or demand for energy from the building sector could drastically reduce the need or supply of coal power plants...

- as an architect... I feel I can do my part to help this movement!!
- But can we do that - reduce demands from the building sector?
- Is this rocket science??
- NOOOOO! Says Ed... he and several others have done it during the oil crisis in the 70's... why can't we do it now????

- With more technology than the 70's we should be able to do it... all we need is the commitment... from all the players in this game....

- many feel like unless the codes change and require a minimum reduction in energy consumption for all new and renovated buildings... nothing can change the culture and approach of design and related services...

- I agree with that!!

- Leaders like Ed are rightly doing so - making the feds to adopt such a code and then allow the states and counties to catchup in 1.5 yrs or so...

- so the urge here is to take action now... we may not have enough time as we thought we had - 10 yreas... no we might have only a few years say 6 or 7 before reach a point of no-return...

- I will keep you posted on what else I learn and how could I be a change!!

Enjoy!

Climbing Mount Sustainability

2007-09-26T00:24:00.000-07:00

Doesn't that sound cool!! Climbing Mount Sustainability... I recieved a link from a former colleague on this topic...
http://www.bigpicture.tv/videos/watch/e00da03b6

Ray Anderson of Interface Inc. explains their company's path to climbing this very difficult mount called sustainability... he talks about 7 faces to this mountain, viz., Zero-Waste; Zero-Emmissions; Energy; Materials; Transportation; Culture Shift; and Zero-footprint as the pinnacle of this mountain... it is an interesting perspective to look at the big picture!!

It is interesting to notice how the lenses through which I see this world keep changing and how it impacts my understanding... my stance... my passion.... slowly and subconsciously... speaking of sub-conscious I haven't talked about metaphysics at all.... haven't I ..... metaphysics to me is another lens through which I can look at this world... it is completely refreshing... fresh like a mint.. for those who have had a chance to get a glimpse of what this new science has been unraveling.. you will know what I am talking about....

more cool stuff to follow as I learn to change my lenses!!

The Big Picture...

2007-09-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

So.. having a desire to go back to bring a positive sustainable change in India... hmmm... I just threw in two words - sustainability - India... what does that have to do with my life???? Is it just a Desire? Passion? Just Interest? Just maximing a potential opportunity?? Just a thought... so that it will sound cool??? Personal Soul Satisfaction???? what is it??

for those of you who know me... I always want to validate and substantiate what I do - why I do... thats my mode of operation... it just should feel right to me and when I understand it... atleast I would frame my mind around the thought that I understand it... then I will pursue it... and in this case I am in the process of making sure that this is it.. it should be a wanting than just an idea...

Some of my expirements to validate this are very crazy...

I have consciously not prioritized the "small picture stuff" (as I like to call it) when it comes to sustainable living... say for instance using zillions of bottled water... styrofoam cups... not actively engaging in non-profits to offer my service etc etc... I have not prioritized to "not pursue" these currently... I take a lot of crap from my roommates for this though!!

My reasoning is... yes I understand that little drops add up to an ocean... but as much green washing as we all know is going on... I strongly feel that I need to understand the BIG PICTURE!!! what will happen... I mean seriously what really will happen if I dont use a styrofoam cup... how will it affect/effect the planet, how will it change local / global economy... than just blindly following the crowd and saying... "yep it all goes to landfill... so dont do that"... what are the implications...

hence the struggle to understand the big picture...

I am reading a book called "Natural Capitalism" and I feel like I have stepped into this big picture that I am trying to understand... I will keep you folks updated on what I learn!!

Back to Sqaure One!!

2007-09-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

On the way back I arrived in Delhi early morning - it was a Sunday and my flight to Frankfurt was not until the next day morning... so thinking of touring around Delhi the whole day I jumped on the machine that was specially invented for India - AUTO RICKSHAW (commonly referred to as the Auto). It was around the 90's and super hot that early in the morning. The auto passed through the inner governmental complex and once again I felt oh! man!!! Delhi is clean...

I was going to my friend's place in a near by suburb of Delhi called Noida. Noida is one of the sleeping towns of New Delhi and I heard from my friend that several decades back the government started constructing mass housing... learning Le Corbu's mass housing in school... I was pretty excited to see how the central's mass housing deal was gonna be...

there is a bridge that connects Noida to Delhi across the river Noida... and my auto was about to cross the river... I saw in the dim light some multi-storied buildings in the far... was excited to see their architecture up close...

The auto crossed the river and there waited the shock of my life...

ONE word - shambles

Acknowledging that I am in the real India... the environment slowly started to sync in... Here's the picture...

The mass housing is divided based on income levels... UIG - upper income group has nicer flats (condos)and almost everybody here have their own cars and only few of these UIG flats as they call it existed in Noida... the rest were all in inner New Delhi...

then there is the MIGs - medium income group... thousands and thousands of people call these MIG flats their homes - my friend was one among them... most of these people own a two-wheeler and some own a car... some own air coolers (swamp coolers)... others rely on the mercy of the wind... my friend had one in their 3 bed room flat and along with him five of his room mates survived the heat through that one piece of machine that was trying its best... amidst the constant power supply interruption... then there is the water game... water is scarce in India... period!! so everyone had to plan for their turn to take bath... all these are not new to me... I have been through this all my life in India... but here comes the worst...

my friend took me to the LIGs - lower income group flats... just to give you a sense of LIG's nature - take MIG's so called luxuries and divide that by 2... that's what you get in an LIG flat... its rough... but again thousands live here and call these their homes... because this is what they can afford... in an LIG there is no running water.. you get one tank and you have to fill it up at the right time... if not you go water less for a day... (pretty sustainable huh!!) and the condition of the buildings .... lets not even go there..

but that's not the end folks... in this picture that I am trying to portray here... there is one missing piece... people with little to no income group.... this is the part that shocked... these people are the support system for the city... without them nothing will move in New Delhi.. no auto rickshaws... no buses... no clean streets... nothing... yet these people are given the least care when it comes to their daily adobe... believe it or not.. the central government had tried its best... it managed to build them houses... with just brick on brick.. with little bit of mortar in between to keep the bricks in place... no plaster or exterior/interior finish... this is what it came down to after all the money that got robbed as corruption during the process of government sanction to implementation... this is the majority of India - a striking 90+ percent... not the pretty pictures portrayed in Hollywood/bollywood movies...

and this is the place my auto driver took me through first as a shortcut to the MIG's as soon as he got off the bridge..

This shock... again this shock - noticing the richest and the poorest separated by one single bridge... all the fame and glory that I had for New Delhi on my first trip... vanished in a split second... this made a huge impact on how I started looking at India since then... on the way back to the airport - it was way early in the morning and I arranged an auto to pick me up at my friend's place and drop me at the airport... it was super hot again that early in the morning and very dusty too.. reaching the airport and getting into the air conditioned zone... was very painful to the heart... I just couldn't leave New Delhi like that.... felt like I was missing something...

On the day long flight to the US I had a conversation with a fellow passenger - an artist from the US - currently settled in Germany... talking through on my experience in Delhi... I realized how deeply I am rooted to India.. and all along the journey and even still today... I kept thinking on what could I do to improve the standard of living in India... my people deserve better!!

Social reform as a grass roots effort is becoming the next big change in India - many individuals - many non-profit organizations - all stopped relying on somebody else to fix their mess... they started taking care of their own environment... and many good things are happening...

fortunately many among my generation of youngsters who left India for studies or job, feel the same way I feel - it is our responsibility to push the country's progress one more step at the grass roots level... not just the "India is Shining" campaign for the west... I mean social reform... getting back to what India was really all about - a prosperous place that invited anybody of any origin to come take part in its centuries old cultures... a beautiful place that embraced anything foreign to it and adapted itself to the new...

a new form of democracy is shaping up in India - the capitalistic, entrepreneurial friendly democracy - a flavor brought by the west...and so strongly embraced by the current and past governments... and as many experts claim... the chances of "the next big China in the making" is very high... and hence every visionary in India being aware of that is trying to sway the direction of progress towards the peaceful democracy... and I strongly feel I should extend my arms... reach out and be part of the progressive positive change with the knowledge and passion I have been accruing...

(Insert picture - a famous bollywood movie - Swades - meaning 'my country' in Hindi... the story is about one youngster (the hero of the movie) who leaves India for higher studies... and finds himself a comfortable career... and how his one visit to India changes his future... he applies what he learned abroad to one simple effort in an Indian village that helps many at the grass roots... that changes him.. and eventually brings him back to square one - his mother land - India!!)

Where is my soul at??

2007-08-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

OK... continuing on sustaianbility...
Beyond the Triple 'P's - People, Planet and Profit.... the search went on...

Islandwood's (seattle) leadership and sustainability program... that was this year's (2007) retreat from work... - islandwood's two cents on sustainability added that missing piece that I was looking for...

like my three P's they have their four E's...

Economy (=Profit), Environment (=Planet), Equity (=People) and Education...

So... Education could be the missing piece to the puzzle huh! so what does that mean to me??

lets dig... dig deep...

I was in India (home) this year in May (2007). I am a southie.. I have never been to northern India in all my 21 years of stay... I've always wondered how the north would look like... feel like...

In this trip... I took a lil adventure... decided to fly through New Delhi and spend a day there and take care of some paperwork for my Indian architectural licensure...

North felt warm... I mean super freaking hot and humid :-(

I know a decent level of Hindi (Indian national language - majority of the people in every state other than my home state can converse and understand Hindi... poor me!!)

With my "Hindenglish" I managed to stay at a hotel near the airport and hire a taxi for the full day I was going to spend in New Delhi... My cab-driver 'Sujit' was a nice guy... he wanted to learn english and I wanted to learn local hindi... so the entire day was fun... He took me around New Delhi... (Insert picture - India Gate - a tribute to Indian soldiers killed in Afghan wars and WW-I)

I was amazed to find New Delhi that clean and almost felt like back in the United States...
New Delhi was notorious for its air-pollution rates... a few years ago the city passed a law that all public transporation is to use CNG (compressed natural gas) as the primary fuel... in a democratic country with corruption down to the street... such laws have very little effect... but New Delhi managed to pull it... Every single taxi, public bus, auto-rickshaw... is just unbelievably hybrid with cleaner fuel than petrol and diesel..

the most shocking thing was... for evey single kilometer in the inner governmental complex... there is a recycle bin next to a trash bin on the street... for crying out loud.. on the streets!!! who will believe that this is India... But there it was... New Delhi was making the change... I was so proud of New Delhi...

My day was short... had to get back to my age old south!! Sujit - my cab driver just had a baby boy two weeks ago... I gave some extra tips and asked him to buy something for his kid... by the time his kid reaches 20... I am dreaming that India will be upside down... for the good!!... this change will then be the norm!!!

Anticipating to visit New Delhi again on the way back to the United States... I bid my farewell to the national capital New Delhi....

Little did I know, that my second visit to New Delhi will leave an indelible mark... an Indelible mark on my soul that will help me realize what and where my future could be... stay tuned!!

Sustainability? Huh?

2007-07-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

Defining sustainability has become a fashion in this new environmental era... many take a shot at what sustainability means to them... some fail miserably and some really do come up with some good perspective.... I tried my luck too...

Some where I read about architectural value and how a design brings out that...

the stars aligned and something clicked.... I have my definition of "sustainable design"

take a deep breath before you read the next line... pretty intense...

"Sustainable design is a design that seeks maximum architectural value with minimum environmental impact"

I was under the impression that this works for any industry dealing with sustainability... say I am computer manufacturer... to me a sustainable design in my industry would seek maximum value out of everything (people, products, time etc...) with minimum environmental impact...

so this works for any body... but my perspective changed... infact my perspective realigned with my inner conscious bringing that out to the surface when I ran into a book called "Natural Capitalism". Amory Lovins... man he is a genius...

Now my old definition of sustainable design might still stay valid in some respects... but it does not satisfy my inner self...

On a search I framed this....

Sustainability is something (which I am yet to find) that goes beyond the triple bottom line - POEPLE, PLANET, PROFIT

Lets take a deeper look...

Triple bottom line... what does that mean to an architect?

An architectural design needs to address how it enriches the quality of use of the designed space - it should talk to the PEOPLE who are using that space - do the people feel comfortable? invigorated? Relaxed??? or scared??

Also an architectural design should consider its impacts on mother earth - in analyzing the need for a new space (that's the most sustainable thing you could do - don't build anything new that's not needed); in choosing the materials and products - hence being kind to the PLANET...

And last but not least... architectural business is no pro bono... as much an architect dreams to create the next great wonder... he needs to make sure he can wake up after almost close to an all-nighter and be able to afford to stay in his house... so PROFIT.... but profitability is not just for the self - an architect should involve in how profitable his design could be for all the players in the team... it seldom happens.. but something to consider in future..

So is that it? If an architect listens to the clients' needs and designs a space that makes them happy, is good for the planet and profitable for everybody involved... is that it????

I just can't settle for that...

That's why I think sustainability goes beyond the triple bottom line...

Will explore and share more later..

Is NEW GREEN = the CLASSIC GREEN?

2007-07-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Yarite - stands for "Yeah right?" - is a very inquisitive fictional character

Utopian - A part of me that believes everything is possible. Based on the new science... everything is a matter of probability... and this part of me believes that I can create this probable future - with the right intention and right attitude.

Yarite: NEW GREEN? what the heck is that?

Utopian: Mother earth... since the dawn of human kind everybody loved her always... respected her for her nature/behaviour, because many of her actions were unexplainable... all respected her out of fear and love - she is the most beautiful, known to mankind... and we still do love and respect her...

but slowly mankind started working with her... making certain assumptions on how she would respond and correcting their method of predictions to increase the probablity... mankind saw many other fellow earth dwelling species bite the dust - succumb to the forces of nature - this brought the notion of protecting oneself from mother's elements... guess what... innovation... when in dire need... you can do anything to survive... thus mankind still survives... found several ways to protect itself from the elements...

Somewhere along the history of great inventions... mankind ran into OIL... boy who in the world thought that will change the face of mother earth for centuries to follow...

OIL - is an amazing resource... gave the power to protect us from not only the elements but also from our own mankind... mankind acquired many habits from other species all along his history from sharing to fighting...

With this new power and a thought that "we know how mother earth works", there came this incerdible notion that mankind can not only protect itself from the elements but also CONTROL them!!

Mankind started doing funny things from here on... mankind fought amongst itslef to prove this point... many things happened... guess what... mankind thought they could control mother earth with their developed understandings of her... but eveytime they made a move... mother earth responded differently... until now it has always been a missed target...

recently after several attempts mankind started to believe that we just have to work with her... nourish her... respect her... inturn work with ourselves.. nourish ourselves... respect ourselves...

This notion grew not out of insecurity but out of hope.. that we can be in sink with mother earth when we work with her using the tools we have accrued so far in our history... it is possible... it is possible to use her forces for the good by respecting and acknowledging that she does have a force...

This is the new wave of love on mother earth... on ourselves... and thats the tag name NEW GREEN!!

Yarite: Jeez!.. all I asked was what does NEW GREEN mean... not for a thesis!! anyway... be precise and say what the heck is CLASSIC GREEN...

Utopian: Ever since mankind thought whatever he had for himslef - was for himslef and whatever his buddy had was also for himslef... they started trading... trading possessions... then some cool dude said we have got to have some common ground for trading... they came up with "money"... the look of money has had several revisions... recently its all in green... hence the CLASSIC GREEN.

Yarite: thanks for being short... now why in the world do you think these two greens could be the same when they stand for completely opposite notions...

Utopian: NEW GREEN is all about new opportunities... mankind has found that in respecting mother earth... nourishing her... loving her... there's lot of new tools to be invented... lot of new markets - avenues to be explored... lot of CLASSIC GREEN is one of the by-products....

This is not a hypotheseis... this is happening... take GE, they have their ECO Line products, take GM, they have their new line of ethanol vehicles.... take Walmart, they fixing their moral responsibilty with GREEN buildings and it makes economical sense too... change is happening and there are lot of ways to get back in track with mother earth... and along side mankind says "hey lets make some GREEN out of this GREEN"

Yarite: Huh!! interesting... now what the heck is a GREEN Building??

Welcome

2007-06-25T23:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome!
Here's a snap shot of the myriad of thoughts that go through my little brain. This blog is intended to be a personal think tank. Here you will find some interesting experiments that I intend to practice on my personal and professional life.

Personal and professional leadership will be the gist of every experiment. Exploring the gazillions of ideas that mushroom up everyday and finding ways to sort them through is the challenge. Ultimate goal is to find an answer to the big question - what can I do to make this world a better place?

I invite you to join me in taking a different look at our world through the new lenses brought by the new science - meta physics.