After reading lot about Bing, I tried it yesterday. Well for me ego search comes before anything else. This time I tried thej instead of Thejesh GN. Here is what Bing gives me.

The first result is correct but none of the subsequent results on page one are not related to me.

Then tried the same thing on Google. Well Google still rocks for me. It gives my blog as first results ( two thumbs up for that) and then the twitter account.

Then just out of curiosity I tried Yahoo.

Even though I did not like the order of search results. I liked the search results. Page one had lot relevant results that mattered to me.

Google will remain my default search engine and Yahoo will remain my alternate search engine. MS you need to try harder.

Note:
1. Bing was search engine number two for a day.
2. Thanks to VSR for pointing out this cool thing. I am not ashamed of vanity.

OK.. After a lot of thinking..rethinking and multiple calculations, I gifted myself an early birthday gift, a Cannondale F8. It costed a bomb but worth every paisa.

well its been a long time dream to own onw of these which came true today. As of now I am planning to cycle twice a week to office. More to come, cant type much on mobile.
Updated: on 25/May/2005
You can get more info on the bike on their site.
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Nandan talks about ideas for India’s future at TED. He talks about the ideas which made India what it is today. He talks about the ideas which are in the phase of implementation, which are in discussion and at last for the future. He also give his points why the world should worry about India. If you have not read his book Imagining India, then this is mini version of his book.

A must watch. I have tried to embed the low resolution video here. Go to TED page if you want to see high resolution version or want to download.

At one point in his talk (as well as in his book), he pushes for industrialization and urbanization. I am not against it but I would have loved if he had talked about agriculture and technologies for better and natural food production, as an idea for future.

Disclosure: I work for Infosys and Nandan is Co-Chairman of Infosys.

Jaisalmer is a beautiful city. I took sometime to go around in the city to feel the city. These are some pictures I took using my k750i mobile, mostly. This is a big post with lots of pictures. So get your big cup of coffee, Let us go for a walk.

We reached Jaisalmer early in the morning. We took a small hotel just outside the fort. This picture was taken from inside my hotel room. Read the rest of this entry »

I had a conversation with my team mate about the recent buzz word in the market upgrading yourself. The buzz word used by most of the bosses to warn the young generation mostly in connection with recession and pink slip.

Both of us were of the opinion that continuous learning (or so called upgrading) is part of culture you have grown up with. I am not just talking about the work related learning here. I am talking about learning in general.As kids we used to be very curious about the things surrounding us. We always wanted to know more about radio or pictures in TV. The motivation for learning new things was fun or simple curiosity. As we grew up the motivations changed. It was degree in college, job change or promotion when we started working. But the problem was the motivations like job, salary or promotion are not sustainable. Once you get the promotion you are free till the next season.

Simple curiosity or fun of tinkering with the stuff around never dies. Think of kid lost in toy shop. It just goes behind one after the other. Kid never loses interest because its having fun. When was the last time you learnt something new just for fun?

Ourselves to blame?
Mostly yes. Last year I started learning Spanish. My Spanish class mostly had university students, few working professionals. In the second class my Spanish teacher asked me “Are you going to get a promotion after you finish diploma?”. To her I said “yes” but in reality I just wanted to learn another language (one of my dream is to follow the path of Che in South America. Now you know the motivation…its Che). The point I wanted to make is we are mostly behind money than other things. I want to ask you again When was the last time you learnt something new just for fun?

Is it Indian education system to blame?
May be. Most of the parents have a very simple advice for their kids. If you don’t learn this you wont get good marks. If you don’t get good marks you won’t get a good job. That is where we set a wrong motivation to learn something new. Its not just parents, its teachers, professors, bosses and society. We all motivate people around us learn for money.

How about our work place/culture?
May be that too. We will wait till the recession to learn or to innovate. Its not just about the people I am talking here. I am talking about the organizations too. Organizations should also understand person who is not interested in how telephone works probably wont be interested in how internet works. So be careful when hiring the candidates. Motivation for learning is as important as learnability.

So how do we inculcate the culture of learning?
I really don’t know. I am looking forward for tips from you, my readers. All I can say is if you still have kids curiosity, You don’t have to learn anything special to beat the recession.