In the last few years, America has lost out when it comes to its image in the eyes of the world, has it not? After election 2008 however, we might have to have a slight rethink on Uncle Sam’s land. In which other western country would it be possible for a person of African descent to come out and become President? Election 2008 has been a tribute to the millions of Americans out there - they have shown the way to the rest of the world, once again, one may argue.
We all know, and see how divided the world really is. If religion does not create a divide, it is race and if thats not it, its region. Some say that Obama is such a great orator that McCain just stood no chance. But then, that is the beauty is it not - that the better man was able to win? Is this then the turning point in the history of man? A predominantly white nation saw that here was a man who has in his blood, both the Christian and Muslim religions, both African and White race, a father from the East and a mother from the West. But then, they ignored that, and voted for the man who could inspire them. I salute you America, and only hope that the world follows in your footsteps.

I had conditioned myself to believe that the easiest way for an author to captivate the imagination of a reader is to write about romance. Romantic love is a strong strong emotion, and that part of us begs for attention. But then, along came Eliade!
Mircea Eliade is a renowned Romanian philosopher - and a man whose spirit of adventure is unparalleled (except maybe for that guy who tried to swim across the Atlantic!). Eliade decided to leave his cushy but not-so-exotic life in France to visit India in the 1930’s. But its not just that - the philosopher and leader in the man decided to call the bluff on the belief of his circle of colleagues and acquaintances about the racial inferiority of the Indians. He then commits the ultimate trespass - he falls in love with a Bengali girl.
Eliade describes is his singularly beautiful and simple style, how he first feels a certain curiosity about Maitriyi - a girl whose depth of character and brilliance shone through even when she was seventeen. This curiosity gradually turns to admiration - so much so that he starts learning Bengali from her and taking to Hinduism. He falls headlong into love with the girl, to the extent that his life in Calcutta is about Maitreyi, and nothing else. This love for her translates into a love for India, and Eliade discovers India in a way every foreigner would dream to. Infact, I’d venture to say that by the end of his stay, he had an insight into India that can hardly be paralleled by most Indians.
Maitreyi felt as deeply for Eliade too, after a long journey of getting to know each other and their cultures. In one their first few meetings, she asks Eliade, “Europe must be a very cold place. That is why all of you are so white”. In a tragic and wrenching turn of events though, their love could not be sealed by marriage because of the conservatism of the 1930’s.
Maitreyi Devi is now a renowned Bengali writer, and forty years later, she wrote her version of the story in “It does not die”. They also met in Chicago in the 70’s, and after reading the book, you cannot but help wishing in a childish way that the old spark re-ignited itself there. And, what the hell, I am going to read her book, and more in this genre.. afterall, they will feed the emotion that begs the most for attention!

Mridula, am proud of your initiative..

Here is an excerpt from my sister’s first editorial for the TAF:

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the first issue of The TAF Newsletter.

“There’s enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed”, goes a popular tagline to protect Mother Earth from the ravages of the rapacious man. The plunder is unabated, but there are glimpses of hope here and there. It is agreed without a trace of doubt that any matter concerning the environment affects us all – rich or poor, young or old.

Awareness about environmental issues has increased considerably, but not enough to provoke retaliation when there is a breach in the eco code. I would like to cite an example here. Each one of the commuters of the Mumbai local trains has lost their belongings at one time or the other and when a miscreant is caught red-handed, there is such an uproar that it provokes instant revolt from the angry passengers. In my personal view, similar should be the reaction of people when a co-inhabitant of this Planet Earth does anything even as innocuous as littering. These apparently innocuous acts lead up to major concerns.

To this end, we at TAF should strive and I’m sure our efforts will make a difference!

To find out more about TAF, go to their website at Tiger Action Force

(Authored with the help of one of my favourite authors - my mom, Renuka)

“Your permanent address in this column, Sir”, pointed the official at Heathrow. I smiled. I am all of twenty seven and travel a lot. What made me smile was an incident that took place a good seven years ago.

We were on a holiday at Nagaon, a tiny coastal hamlet in Maharashtra. It is idyllic, my parents, my kid, sister and I on a holiday to this picturesque temple town.In the evening, we were taking a stroll along the beach but sauntered off far into a fisherman’s cove. The place was quaint, shabby little huts, fowl smelling fish nets and fish that were put out to dry. Some hens ran about and a few kids played under a tree.

As we sauntered on, we saw a sinewy old man outside his hut. He smiled at us and invited us for a chat. We were very curious and excited and had many questions for him. He took us along the beach to show us his fishing boat. It was a beauty. It was fitted with a kerosene stove and a huge can for fresh water. Soon night fell and we returned to our host.

I was mesmerized. Imagine sailing in that humble boat with Nana. Yes, I decided to call him Nana. Wow! Cooking food on a kerosene stove in the middle of the mighty sea! We would return after catching fish in 48 hours. Lovely, lovely! Just cannot miss this opportunity. I saw no point in begging my parents, as I saw it was impossible to obtain permission for my voyage. I hated to keep my parents in the dark, but what could I do? Columbus and Magellan coaxed me. Papillon egged me on and the sea, it beckoned.

I told them I had a project to complete and headed towards the fisherman’s cove. Nana beamed and welcomed me. He was only too glad to take me along that night. To cut a long story short, let me confess the deep sea at night can be unnerving on board a handmade boat of 15-17 square feet. This when the sea was calm. When the sea got rough the following evening, I was sorry to have ventured out without my parents’ consent, they would not even know where to look for me. And then, it started pouring. Pouring out the water from the boat with cooking utensils to prevent it from sinking. I saw what it was to be “at sea”.

I tried to recall the prayers my mother had always tried to teach me-one for each occasion. It was the SOS mantra that I tried to recall…The one I knew so well. I racked my brains but could not remember a word. I knew then what the accursed Karna in Mahabharata would have felt when he could not recall at the opportune moment the mantra that could save his life!

I turned towards Nana. He was vigorously emptying the water into the sea with resolute movements. There was no sign of panic on his face. For those few moments I was one with the universe, where we all belong. There was no fear, only calm. Here I learnt my spiritual lesson which will remain with me forever—the vastness of the universe, our utter insignificance, the ephemeral nature of life, the resolve of the human spirit and its sanguine effect on me.

I scribbled my present address in the allotted column, the term “Permanent address” brings a smile to my face to this day.

No .. No Kidding, its true. The Eastern edge of the Rockies.. thats where paradise is.. about 400 kilometres north of Calgary. And to think that people have been searching for it for centuries!

Thanks to Puku (priyank.com/weblog), who introduced me to wordpress, I am able to put times new roman on LCD (The modern day equivalent of pen to paper).

The next few posts are going to be dedicated to my visit to Jasper, with my dear cousins, Theju and Ranju. For now, suffice with a couple of select photos from the trip.

A book that can revolutionize the way information is understood and presented, Visual Explanations is a master piece in the area of data visualization. A very handy book in a manager’s repertoire, it brings about the possibility that better and more clearly understood decisions will be made in an organization on the back of clarity in thinking, visualizing and presenting.

A deep analysis of the Columbia space shuttle disaster from a data representation point of view opens many doors to the inquisitive mind. It made me wonder about the numerous occasions in my professional life where I could have benefitted from such powerful and persuasive visual communications. Visual communications are highly impactful by nature, and they tend to showcase the most relevant, but a small portion of the data. This helps to emphasize most relevant pieces of data, but at the same time maintains the big picture by providing context through controlled comparisons. The entire idea behind data presentation is to quantitatively demonstrate causality.

There are some really great chapters in the book, including Images and Quantities, which deals with visual representation and mis-representation of quantity. This includes scales, and placing known objects in the picture to help the viewer understand the visual better. The smallest effective difference talks about placing the right amount of emphasis on different aspects of the image, through thickness of lines, colours and other devices which can focus attention.

“Multiple Images” talks about a series of images that brings about “forcefulness, clarity, efficiency, rhythm and balance”. While I’m sure this chapter has some great insights, I did not spend too much time on this one, probably because it’s right in the middle of the book.. and its big.

By far the most captivating part of the book is in the portion titled “Visual Confections”. These are the visual presentation of ideas through juxtaposition of images. There are some memorable examples here, and the heart of the chapter (and the book) lie in the memorable examples that Tufte brings up. Here are some.

Read this poignant story, and thought I should share it..

Now every once in a while, you find something on the net that has really hit a sweet spot. I might be looking to move close to my office in downtown Toronto into a rented place, and housingmaps.com has a fantastic solution that will help me find the apartment that has “that perfect location”. Here is a use of visualization to solve a complex business problem. So long, housing agents!

My buddy Rahul’s kept complaining that there is no real hiking place around Toronto. The usual Hiking websites were giving us information about hiking trails that were more like walks on flat tracts of land rather than a hike. And so, Google came to the rescue..
An app that attaches to Google My Maps draws contour lines, and this idea struck me when I was playing around with these different apps.
Lots of contour lines jamming together indicates steep climbs, while contour lines spaced far away from each other mean flat tracts of land. Wasaga Beach, here we come! And see how Jagged Northern Pennsylvania is….

Im making a start to this blog in an attempt to collect interesting stuff related to the use of visualization in business. It is really interesting to see what impact visualization has on innovation and efficiency on an organization, and I intend to explore this issue further. Lets go Vaarun.. we’ve got stuff to get done!