Over the past few years, Pune has seen the opening of an array of fine new hotels, restaurants, casual dining options, bars and fast-food joints. These include iconic international chains like the Hard Rock Cafe. Fine dining restaurants like Stone Water Grill(which also has a fabulous lounge bar). A historic heritage hotel – Fort Jadhavgadh. There are the usual international fast food favorites in McDonalds, Subway, etc. And then there are my personal favorites in my local Deccan Gymkhana neighborhood like the Deccan Rendezvous.
But an important piece was missing…a micro-brewery. Why a micro-brewery in this list? And what is a micro-brewery…you might ask!
A micro-brewery is a place where beer is brewed the old fashioned way. The way it is supposed to be brewed. The way it’s supposed to taste – Fresh, free of synthetic additives, and flavorful. In a micro-brewery, beer is brewed onsite in small batch quantities, unlike large commercial breweries. Micro-breweries are quite popular in the U.S. and Europe. Successful pioneering micro-breweries like Gordon Bierschstarted in Palo Alto, California 20 years back and now have multiple locations all over the U.S. But this concept is virtually unheard of in India.
Four years back, two ex-IIM entrepreneurs Suketu and Prateek decided to change that. They are well on their way towards creating something special. Their first creation is ‘Doolally’ – Pune’s first micro-brewery (as well one of India’s pioneers in this area), which opened earlier this month. Along this long and interesting entrepreneurial journey, they were also joined by Oliver, a German ‘Brew-Meister’ (The Beer Specialist). Incidentally, Suketu is originally from Nashik (a city about 200 km north of Pune), which is also home to one of India’s premier wineries – Sula Wines. Maybe there’s something in the waters of Godavari there that creates and nurtures these entrepreneurs like Suketu and Rajiv Samant!
Weird name – ‘Doolally’, you might think… but I guess it’s very apt. Doolally is derived from the name ‘Deolali’ – a small army cantonment near Nashik that dates back to the British Raj. It literally means ‘going insane’! British soldiers used to be stationed in Deolali (often for months) as a staging point before returning back to England. Here they didn’t have any active tasks and some used to go crazy of boredom and the summer heat. Well…coincidently, Doolally is located fairly close to the Pune Cantonment Area. From the point of view of those early 20th century British soldiers – I guess wrong cantonment and wrong century!
Doolally is located in the fabulous new Corinthian Boutique Hotelnear NIBM Road, Kondhwa. They have done a great job on the decor. The lighting, the bar stools and the wood panels/floors set the perfect ambience. As you enter you see the huge stainless steel vats where the beer is made. You are greeted by the bar upfront with huge taps serving the different varieties of fresh brew. Presently they are brewing Premium Lager, Dark, Wheat, Rye and a Cider (not technically a beer (tastes more like aerated wine) - but on tap for the occasional rare non beer drinker amongst the patrons). They plan to add more varieties in future. My favorite is the Dark – which has a hint of bitter malt/chocolate like flavor. The Wheat is great as well. But don’t take my word for it – you need to find out which one’s your favorite! You can try out the different samples before deciding on your order. Pints and Pitchers are available.
Doolally - Handcrafted Beer On Tap
The food menu is a little limited and primarily consists of snacks such as wraps and sandwiches. We understand that plans are afoot to extend this menu and introduce more conventional bar snacks such as Chicken Wings, Nachos, Chips, etc. On a side note – the Greek & Mediterranean restaurant ‘Salsa’ located right besides Doolally serves an excellent multi-cuisine menu. The Greek food we had there was probably the best in Pune. The Corinthian Hotel & Club complex presents a great location on top of a small hillock. The outdoor sitting of Doolally is also nice and Pune’s perfect weather, especially at this time of the year, is an added bonus.
My only initial reluctance in going to Doolally was the distance. Yes, in the minds of many Punekars, Kondhwa/NIBM Road area is virtually a different city, tucked away in the remote South-East corner. I myself ventured there for the first time in over a decade. However, now I realize that it is not that bad. At a distance of about 14 km from Deccan Gymkhana and only 7 km from M.G. Road – it will take you anywhere between 30 min – 1 hour, depending on traffic. Aundh, Baner residents have a slightly longer drive, but I am sure it will be worth it.
Doolally also plans to have live music on certain weekends. Check with them regarding the exact dates and artists. While Doolally is a perfect place to hangout with friends, it can also be a nice place for entertaining corporate guests, and for team events. One important note – do check if there’s a ‘Dry Day’, before you head over there – else you might be disappointed.
Some closing comments – Drink responsibly and enjoy! Don’t drink and drive. Have a designated driver.
It is impressive to see the world’s biggest democracy participate in the complex electoral process. For all the inefficiencies,red-tape and corruption that the Indian Government Bureaucracy is riddled with, the Election Process seems (in comparison) to be refreshingly better and different. The statistics for the process themselves are mind-boggling. Millions of voters (even for a state election…), thousands of polling stations, thousands of candidates … and yet, the whole machinery seems to perform with near clock work precision. Yes, there are a few irregularities, but statistically, they are much smaller than any other process of a similar magnitude.
Just watching those part-time workers (many of them school teachers) systematically process voters at the polling booths make one wonder…if only you could see this efficiency at any other government office! Clearly, full-time government workers don’t even come close.
Maybe we should get the Election Commission to run some other Government Departments! At least for a few days. We might just be pleasantly surprised to see how quickly applications get processed, permits getting approved, refunds getting sorted out, licenses getting issued, etc.
Why does the Election Process run so much better? I wonder why. Maybe it’s because this is one process where the politicians stay away (Literally – they are supposed to be a few hundred feet away from the polling stations during the voting process)
Some years back, Election Commissioner Seshan showed how he could use the ‘real’ power of this office, provided to it by the constitution. That was probably an important event, and even today plays a role in shaping the role of the Election Commission.
Recently, I had a wonderful opportunity to visit the Netherlands. It’s interesting how you have an image in your mind about a place, a country - and then you see it for yourself for the first time. In my case, I can now say that I was fairly close.
Netherlands has its series of attractions and icons: some extremely famous, and others not so much. In this brief blog, I will make an attempt to highlight some that caught my attention during this brief stay. I really enjoyed my time and look forward to making another trip.
Food – Global Cuisine and Dutch Classics
Netherlands is not exactly known for food, but I had a great culinary experience. I guess Ham & Cheese Sandwich is to Holland, what Fish & Chips is to Britain. I loved the great variety of breads,sliced meats and cheeses. Dutch pancakes were also quite terrific - different and a lot better than what you get in America.
Apart from the traditional Dutch food, what struck me was the wide variety of eclectic global cuisine that was available in Amsterdam and other smaller towns. I expected to see a lot of Indonesian restaurants in central Amsterdam, but was really surprised to see a huge number of Indian restaurants there as well! There were Chinese, Middle-Eastern, Turkish, Argentinean and many other cuisines represented.
In Europe, they serve great coffee. Even in a small town cafe, the Cappuccino was perfect. I guess this might be a problem for Starbucks to expand here.
Our hotel ‘The Golden Tulip – Lisse’ located in a small suburb Lisse, about 30 km from Amsterdam, also had a famous 100-year-old restaurant ‘De Nachtegaal’ that served a variety of different dishes, ranging from Dutch Pancakes, to Italian Pastas and Thai Sateys.
Bicycles
Bikes are one thing a first time visitor to Holland would expect; but the sheer numbers are astounding! Just look at the massive multi-storeyed bicycle-only parking lot next to the Amsterdam Central Train Station. Even in a small town like Lisse, you would see a swarm of bikes during the morning and evening rush hour. The riders include school kids from primary to high school, office goers, retirees, and from every other section of the society.
Dedicated bike lanes definitely help and are clearly essential. Hotels (especially in suburbs) have bicycles available on rent. I was able to enjoy a nice 1 hour bike ride through Tulip country (No Tulips this time of the year!).
Given the amount of bike riding the Dutch do, I wouldn’t be surprised if their overall health ranks much better than most other countries in the world.
Windmills
Windmills are probably the first thing that would come to mind when one thinks of Holland. They are not as omnipresent as one would think, but still you would see quite a few, especially in small towns. Many are not in a working state anymore, and a few have been converted into restaurants, galleries, etc. We had a nice dinner at one such restaurant ‘ d’Oude Molen ‘ (translates as: ‘The Old Mill) in a small town of Nieuw-Vennep.
On expressway A4 leading south from Amsterdam towards Rotterdam, you do see some interesting contrasts of old windmills standing shoulder to shoulder with their modern airplane propellor like counterparts.
The Hague
Few cities carry such weight and seriousness in their name, as ‘The Hague’ (translated from ‘Den Haag’). But then this is a fairly unique place. The capital of the Netherlands, and the seat of many important international organizations – such as the International Criminal Court.
I didn’t spend too much time there, but did drive around a bit. The palace (I only saw it from outside) is very impressive. The beach boulevard near the palace is a very popular place for tourists and locals. A large number of casual beach restaurants are a big attraction. I had a good lunch at Waterreus.
This beach had an interesting historical photograph, prominently framed there. It showed the same view (with a lighthouse in the background – it is still there…) from 1944, with all the German fortifications – in preparation for defence against an Allied Landing.
Given its capital and international diplomatic hub status, The Hague has a lot of dignitaries visiting and living there. While driving by some apartments, I noticed an interesting parking sign – ‘This Parking Spot Is Reserved For The Ambassador Of Guatamala’! I am not sure if they have similar reserved parking for every country’s ambassador (guess they should!) – it’s just that I saw only one such sign!
Heineken
Another extremely popular Dutch export is Heineken. I noticed that in Netherlands – many restaurants just serve one kind of beer: Draft Heineken. They have a nice museum in Central Amsterdam called ‘Heineken Experience’. I have been to the Miller Brewery Museum in Milwaukee (many years back) and found this to be a better experience.
Dikes
If there’s one type of structure all Dutch people need to be eternally thankful towards, it’s a ‘Dike’ (also referred to as ‘Dyke’ or ‘Levee’). These earthen structures protect the low-lying areas from raging sea waters. A large percentage of Holland is actually below sea-level (One data-point suggests that it is 27%). Schipol International Airport in Amsterdam is the lowest (11 feet below MSL (mean sea level) ) international airport in the world. For the past many centuries, the Dutch have been reclaiming land from the North Sea.
Canals
Given the geography of Netherlands, canals are a very popular means of transportation. Like any modern European country, a vast network of expressways crisscross the land, but Canals continue to maintain their unique identity. These canals lead to many ‘opening bridges’ on roads and local highways. Inside Amsterdam, the canals create a complex network of transportation routes. A common legend about these canals in Central Amsterdam goes like this – most canals were originally 3 meter deep, but presently, their usable depth is only 2 meters. Reason? The huge number of old bicycles that have been thrown in there over, the past century
Tulip Country
Tulips are another classic attraction in Holland. I think this is especially the case amongst Indians – thanks to Bollwood. If one song caught the imagination of the Bollywood audience in the 1980s and created an everlasting impression of Tulips country – its ‘Dekha Ek Khaab …’ from Silsila (imdb link), staring Amitabh Bacchan and Rekha.
Tulips In Bloom (Image Credit: Wikipedia)
Our hotel in Lisse was right in the middle of Tulip country. It was surrounded by vast Tulip fields and bike trails that run through them. Only problem was that we were at absolute right place, but not at the right time . Tulip season is in April-May. All we saw were mostly ploughed fields and small sections of some other flowers that grow during this time of the year.
Central Amsterdam
Central Amsterdam is beautiful. Canals, small streets, bicycle paths and footpaths blend in and coexist together. Old buildings (some over 400 year old) line these canals and streets. The Grand Central Railway Station building is quite imposing. Many refer to Amsterdam as a ‘walking city’. It’s not difficult to see why. The sheer number of people we saw in Central Amsterdam was huge. Yes, it was a weekend and the weather was nice – but still we heard from locals that this kind of crowd is not abnormal. If you think Manhattan is crowded, you should see this place! Clearly comparable with some of the crowded cities in India!
The central part of Amsterdam has many tourist attractions – Shopping, Museums, The Famous Red-Light District Area, Canal Rides,..to name a few. I got an opportunity to see the Van Gogh Museum. I am not much of an art lover so its best that I don’t attempt to describe any of his famous works! Rembrandt Museum is also close by in the Museum District.
I can recommend 3 good ways to checkout Central Amsterdam – I tried all of them. A canal cruise is a must as it takes you around the complex network of waterways around the city and gives you a nice close-up view of some of the great historical buildings. It was interesting to learn how all those old buildings are built on a 40 (or 60) wooden pillars foundation. Due to some structural problems that have arisen over the years (I must say the construction is good – since many have been around for 3 or more centuries!), a few buildings are tilted. (See the above photo of the famous ‘Tilting House’).
If you have extra time on hand, and the weather is good – walking is probably the best way to see the city. The third way is less exciting, but the most efficient. Just buy a 7 Euros daypass (I bought it at the Central Station Tourist Office – but I am sure it must be available elsewhere) and you can roam around Amsterdam on any of the Trams and Busses.
And finally some quirks
We found the Dutch people to be warm and friendly.
However, didn’t have a great experience when asking for directions On atleast 2 occasions, we were confidently sent on a wrong detour (that resulted in us driving around for over 1 hour..) to reach our hotel, that was just a few km away. And English was not the problem!
I know its typical European to have shops close in the evening, and remain closed on Sundays. But this still takes getting used to, if you are coming from U.S. or India. I always wonder what the locals do if there’s any emergency shopping need.
Amsterdam Grand Central Station has a Tourist Information Office. I got there at 10:30am, only to find a huge line outside. Turns out that this place only opens at 11am. There were many irritated tourists from all over the world here.
And a few closing comments
Netherlands is a great place to visit. Being a small country neighbouring U.K. and Germany – it has influences from both. English is more prevalent here compared to many other continental European Countries. It is also home to some leading multi-national companies such as Phillips, Royal-Dutch Shell, Unilever, ABN Amro,ING, etc.
I spent most of time in and around Amsterdam. I am sure the other cities like Rotterdam, Eindhoven will have their own sets of nice attractions. Netherlands is a great confluence of history and nature. Nice, green modern cities. Beautiful, quaint small towns. The landscape changes significantly as one drives East from Amsterdam towards the German Border. I didn’t get a chance to visit the Northern Netherlands – home of the famous Dutch Cheese. Well, something for my next trip!
There are many more differences than just seeing cars cruise-by at 250 km/hr!
On continental Europe, they drive on the same side of the road as the United States. But the similarities really taper off from there! Recently, I had my first opportunity to drive in Europe, and it was a great experience. In this blog, I will highlight the contrasts between the two systems that are separated by much more than the Atlantic Ocean.
Readers who have extensive driving experience on both sides of the pond are welcome to add their own insights. For readers who haven’t driven in Europe, this article will be (hopefully!) an interesting guide, and an invitation to checkout this experience on your next trip. Note – my experiences are based on driving in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
Unless you are lucky enough to get a ‘company car’ in Europe – renting a car might be your best (and only) option. Car renting in Europe is quite expensive. But you can always look for bargains. Like in the U.S., renting a car in a suburb or a small town is significantly cheaper than renting at an Airport or in city center (‘zentrum’ or ‘centrum’ – as they call ‘downtown’). A manual transmission car is much cheaper than an automatic. A US driving license and a credit-card is typically all you need to rent, but many rental companies will also ask for your Passport as an ID Proof.
1. Where are the Pickup Trucks and SUVs?
The first thing you might notice is the near complete absence of pickup trucks! The SUVs are also significantly fewer in number. You will find a lot of station wagons. Clearly, the ‘drive’ towards reducing demand for oil, starts with vehicle ’size’!
At first impression, the driving discipline definitely feels like it’s a notch higher than that in the U.S. Drivers seem to be more considerate when allowing lane changes, merge-ins, etc. Similarly, the fast lane is strictly used only for passing.
3. Smaller cars
You feel like the entire class of automobiles got shrunk down by 1 or 2 sizes. The American compact car is a standard in Europe, an American medium sized car is a large car, and so on. Some of the cars are outright tiny – and smaller in size than the recently launched ‘Tata Nano’. On a related note (and quite interestingly, I may add..) – Toyota Prius was more common on European Roads than other iconic Toyota cars.
4. Better maintained cars
In general the cars seemed better maintained than in the US. Not sure if this is driven by necessity (wintery weather conditions, etc.) or by stricter enforcement (regular certification requirements).
5. Manual Transmission & Diesel Engines
These are again novelties to most American drivers. Both are quite popular given that they deliver better efficiencies (ultimately expressed as a lower cost per km) than the automatic transmission and gasoline counterparts.
6. Sheer variety of cars
My belief of U.S. being the global leader in variety of cars got corrected. The sheer variety of cars in Europe is huge! And the number of configurations available for a given model is also extensive. E.g. – Manual/Automatic, Gasoline (Benzin) / Diesel, etc. In addition to all the major global brands you commonly see in the U.S., there are quite a few other brands as well.
7. Speed limits
Contrary to prevailing belief amongst many – they do have strict speed limits on European highways. Even in Germany – 120 kmph (roughly equal-to 75 mph) is common on most highways, but they change to 100 kmph, 80 kmph, etc. based on road/traffic conditions. Many speed limits are ‘dynamic’ – they are indicated by electronic signs and change depending on the external conditions and time of the day. The adherence to the speed limits is fairly decent. There are only certain sections of Autobahns (away from urban centers) in Germany that have no speed limits.
8. Where are the cops?
In my 4 days of extensive driving, I swear I just saw one police car on the highway! That too was at a site of an accident. And yet, the speed limits enforcement and compliance is quite high. I guess they use cameras and technology a lot more in Europe, for traffic rules enforcement. If you are caught speeding, the ticket is mailed to you – complete with your picture driving the car, as proof.
9. 18 Wheelers
The 18 Wheelers are similar to what you would see in the US. Though, you see significantly fewer on the road. I guess there could be two primary reasons: 1. Europeans consume less stuff. Less stuff = Less Volume & Weight to ship! 2. They use a lot of rail transportation.
10. ‘Seamless Borders’
Crossing from one country to the other in the Schengen Region is as seamless as crossing state boundaries in the U.S. or in India. Typically, there are just 1 or 2 signs welcoming you to that country and some changes in speed limits. That’s pretty much it – Plus the roads signs change from one language you cannot understand to a different one that you cannot understand either But the graphical signs are self-explanatory.
11. Round-Abouts/Yield
When driving on city roads - a ’round-about’ circle is something that might confuse an American driver! It’s a different system of yielding – instead of a 4 way stop-sign.
12. Various kinds of ‘entities’ on the city roads
I can understand why Americans sometime dread driving in European cities! In addition to the tiny roads – you have bicycles, pedestrians and trams to deal with! Amsterdam also has a few human powered bicycle taxis (And I thought Kolkatta was the only big city in the world to have them!).
For me personally (and others who regularly drive on Indian roads) I guess this ‘diverse traffic’ is not that bad
13. Bicycles lanes
Bicycles are omnipresent in Holland. They are also quite popular in other countries as well. On most city roads, bicycles have separate dedicated lanes. It’s quite interesting to see a few folks ‘bike’ from their home to a rail station – ‘fold’ their bikes (yes, some bikes literally fold in half – and can be stowed away easily..) board the train to the city, disembark and again ride to their office building!
Motorcycles are also more common, and they ‘optimize’ lane usage at traffic lights or in traffic jams by moving forward by the side of stuck 4 wheelers (the way they always do in India ) . Initially I thought they were breaking the rules – but then it seemed like it was a ’standard’ procedure.
14. Gas Stations
The first time you pull into a Gas Station – be prepared for a sticker shock! Gasoline is currently priced around 1.40 Euros/liter. At the present exchange rate, that roughly translates to USD 7.60/Gallon. Diesel is a little cheaper at around 1.05 Euros/liter (USD 5.80/Gallon). Add to this the price of a comparable car is approximately twice as much in the U.S. – and you will understand why driving is so expensive in Europe!
At Gas Stations in Europe you can literally fill ‘Gas’ ..LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas), that is . Note in Germany and the Netherlands, they refer to Gasoline as ‘Benzin’. Instead of 3 varieties of gasoline and 1 variety of diesel – at European filling stations, you will typically find 2 varieties of gasoline, 2 varieties of diesel and LPG. Initially, I was confused to note the significantly higher octane rating numbers in Europe. However, that is apparently because of slightly different standards. (For more information, checkout: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating )
Reliance on Diesel and LPG is part of the drive towards reducing cost / km. LPG is significantly cheaper than Gasoline. Diesel typically yields a much better fuel efficieny in terms of km / liter.
15. Use of GPS and other electronic gadgets
The use of GPS based navigation has increased significantly over the past few years (as it has, in the U.S.) and old fashioned ‘paper’ map based navigation is a dying art. I however had to use this ‘old’ and tried and tested art form – since my cheap rental didn’t have a GPS.
Similarly, I understand that hands-free mobiles are mandatory – hence most cars have an integrated Bluetooth mobile integration with the car’s sound system.
In general, I also observed that for a similar model – an European car would typically have many other smaller gizmos – tire pressure monitoring, range calculators, etc.
Many of my professional and social contacts are already using Twitter, and yet many more are still not fully aware of it. I am writing this brief article to introduce this great new medium to those who are not on board. If you are already familiar with Twitter, but are not actively using it – please, get onboard….you are missing out on a lot! If you are already a regular Twitter user, that’s great! Feel free to skip this article.
Just 6 months back, if someone had mentioned ‘Twitter’ outside the confines of some Silicon Valley coffee shops and offices, chances are they would have received a blank stare. Further more, many ‘techies’ who understood the concept would have dismissed it as another one of those Web 2.0 websites. How much difference 6 months can make! Today people from all walks of life are entering the ‘Twitter-o-sphere’! Twitter already has more than 6 Million users.
Initially, these new users start off with a few tentative steps to test the water. Like any new communication medium, there is some acclimatization (learning) curve. However, in Twitter this is typically very short. Many Celebrities, Politicians, CEOs, Authors, Business Gurus have started ‘tweeting’ (sending messages via Twitter). When geeky words and phrases such as ‘Google It’ and ‘Reboot’ enter out lexicon, that’s a clear signal of mainstream adoption of the technology. ‘Tweeting’ is almost there!
Almost all major news organizations (TV/Print Media/Blogs) are also leveraging this new medium. President Barack Obama used Twitter quite effectively in his election campaign; and in this week’s State of The Union Address Session, it was reported that a congressman was sending live updates of the President’s speech on Twitter.
Twitter is as fundamental a medium as ‘Email’. You can use it the way you want it. Unlike a social networking site, or a professional networking site – it doesn’t compartmentalize the user into a specific domain. Like email, you can use twitter for catching up with friends, for personal networking, for business connections, for marketing, for following news & sports, etc.
Twitter user base is growing exponentially and has started rivaling some of the most popular sites on the web. As the number of users grows, so does the reach and the types in which it used. Whether it was the Mumbai Terror Attacks or the Hudson River emergency landing of a passenger airliner, breaking news was being actively disbursed via Twitter, before any of the conventional media. One primary reason for this popularity is Twitter’s cornerstone design of limiting message length to 140 characters (something that can be sent through a SMS protocol on cell phones). This forces the user to write brief and crisp messages, and enables readers to focus on the real topic quickly.
So what exactly is Twitter? And how does one start using it? Instead of re-inventing the wheel, I am simply going to point the reader to a great overview article & presentation “Why you should be on Twitter – and how best to use it” that was compiled by Navin Kabra, the founder of PuneTech. After going through this presentation, I hope that you can start ‘tweeting’ soon! My twitter id is ‘aparanjape’ – look forward to connecting with you there!
Feels like an eternity since the 2000 Dotcom Era! Especially given that everyone’s now talking about the present global financial crisis.
We all have short memories, and the present crisis often times leads us to forget other crises from the past. And yet, I still see many tech companies and startups (especially here in India) repeat those same mistakes from 1999-2000, a decade later. There are many people who have talked about this topic, and I still feel that some points are not being adequately covered.
As someone who lived through this entire crazy era, I wanted to add my views on this. Here are 21 lessons that I would like to highlight.
2. Revenues and operating profits are extremely important! Be conservative in ways in which you invest cash.
3. Control costs at all levels. If your office starts resembling a kitchen pantry or a stationery supply room, then there’s something wrong!
4. Travel – only when you absolutely have to! There are enough technology enablers to reduce travel substantially. Leverage them to their fullest.
5. Do not think about ‘VC Funding’ or even ‘Angel Funding’ from day-1. On the same note, don’t focus on valuations, unless and until you are actually raising external funding!
6. While it’s important for a startup to be ‘passionate’ about their business, their idea – make sure that this ‘passion’ is pointed in the right direction. ‘Passion without direction’ can be more dangerous than a slow steady calculated approach.
7. Remember, not every crazy idea that a new startup thinks of, is genuinely novel and path-breaking. Chances are high that many of these so called ‘master-strokes’ are ideas that were rejected by more mature companies after an objective analysis.
8. Advertising alone is not a sufficient revenue channel for internet based business models.
9. You should be able to explain your idea in clear and simple terms; without using any ‘buzz words’.
10. Pure-play B2C Services online models seldom succeed. Often times, a strong offline component is also essential.
11. Software quality is very important – scalability, reliability, and end-user experience are extremely crucial metrics.
12. Focus on your core domain - don’t chase each and every hot new opportunity area.
13. Remember, technology is simply a means to an end, and not and end by itself. Focus on the problem to be solved, and not the ‘cool technology’!
14. B2B models cannot rule and control the value-chain! They are merely facilitators.
15. B2B models offering ‘SaaS’ services should focus on the business value of that service, and not simply ‘fancy software and deployment architectures’.
16. Don’t overdo perks such as freebies, parties, gimmicks, etc in order to ‘motivate’ and ‘retain’ employees. Ultimately, more mundane things like the founder’s vision and personal leadership skills are more important. Cash and stock ownership are important as well!
17. Take the ‘experts and analysts predictions’ of new and emerging technology and market areas with a pinch of salt. Do your own research.
18. Do not listen to those media experts who proclaim- ‘This time, its different!’ It usually isn’t. The fundamental laws of business (like the fundamental laws of science) don’t change!
19. Unless you are sitting on some path-breaking algorithm or something like that, don’t be over-secretive about your idea. Remember, it’s your execution that is going to count more than your idea. Being over-secretive is counter-productive from the point of view of getting good upfront validation and feedback.
20. Remember, sales & delivery go hand-in-hand. Ignoring one side, while excelling at the other one doesn’t help you succeed.
21. First, validate your new breakthrough ideas with your existing customers - before going to the market.
I had the misfortune of suffering from an extended illness in America and experienced firsthand the many problems and issues with the American HealthCare system. In this brief article, I will try to list some of the major ones that I can recollect from my personal experience (See list below – points are in no particular order).
Please note that I still believe that the American HealthCare system is amongst the best in the world; especially when it comes to treating really tough medical conditions, and performing complicated surgical procedures and emergency medical services. It still retains some of the best doctors and other medical talent in the world.
My issues are more systemic and process related. In the end, one would expect a little more from world’s most advanced and expensive healthcare industry! Note these are my personal observations – whether some of these points can be generalized further needs more data points from other patients and consumers of this healthcare system.
1. Cost of HealthCare Insurance – The cost of healthcare has undergone a major increase over the last decade. The increasing insurance premiums have forced many private sector companies (that offer health insurance to their employees) to increasingly pass on a bigger chunk of these costs to the employee. This increase has been significantly more than the rate of inflation, and has resulted in no perceptible change in the service quality.
2. High costs for the un-insured, and the under-insured – This issue is extremely critical and has already been discussed ad nauseum in every media outlet, by numerous experts.
3. Insurance Claims Processing – Even for patients that have some of the best insurance coverage, the process of settling claims is far from perfect. Discrepancies and errors are common. In certain cases, interpretation of ‘what’s covered vs. what’s not’ is not clear. The 3-way communication across, Doctor’s Office – Insurance Company – Patient, further adds to the process complexity and mismatches. I personally had to deal with many of these claims related issues. To resolve these, often times you end up spending hours on the phone with the insurance company.
4. Impact of ‘medico-legal issues related complications’ on behavior? – I am not a legal expert and cannot pass explicit judgments here, but sometimes one gets a feeling that the entire medical staff’s (not just the Doctors, but also the Nurses and other support personnel) interactions with a patient are biased by a ’medico-legal’ angle. Most answers are very generic, vague and filled with ‘disclaimers’. I understand that this is a big issue, but it is a bad trend if it affects the medical staff and patient communication. This communication channel needs to be one of those most ‘open’ ones!
5. Accessibility of a doctor – Most doctors work during the regular office hours and are not available on evenings and weekends. Hence seeing a doctor often times results in a forced half-day vacation during weekdays for many patients. Evenings and weekends are out of bounds and if you are in urgent need to see a doctor, in most cases an Emergency Room is your only option.
6. Difficulty in getting to a specialist – Often times it’s very difficult to schedule an appointment with a specialist. Many are booked out weeks into the future. And if you can’t see them right away, and are in some serious trouble, the standard answer that you might get is ‘Go to an Emergency Room!’
7. Difficulty in asking any simple follow-up questions to a doctor – If you have the most mundane follow-up question, it is still very difficult to directly ask your doctor. Even if you call during office hours, your call is routed to a nurse who often has no background about your particular case (except for some case-papers). Typically, the nurse is very busy and answers a simple – ‘I will get back to you’. If you call outside office hours, then your best bet is an answering service! I agree that many times it is not feasible for a busy doctor to directly talk to the patient. But some intermediate solution needs to be worked out. After all, I think that the most expensive healthcare system in the world should have at least some ‘personal touch’.
8. Information Technology in Healthcare – I get the impression that the Healthcare industry hasn’t leveraged IT to the fullest extent as compared to many other industry sectors. This can be seen in hospitals as well as in doctor clinics. From basic things like Electronic Medical Records (also referred to as Electronic Health Records), to a better integrated hospital management system (across billing, insurance, clinics and service providers) a lot of improvement is needed. Even today, there’s hardly any electronic data interchange of a patients reports, health records and doctor’s notes across practices and hospitals.
I have had to fill in volumes of paperwork every time I went to see a new doctor. Why can’t there be some automation of a patient’s insurance records and medical history? Why does a new patient have to arrive at a new doctor ‘15 min early’ to fill out reams of paperwork, many times when he is not in a mental/physical condition to be dealing with this? A patient has to maintain an increasingly heavier load of files, and paper documents, and make it accessible to any new doctor that he might be seeing.
9. Difficulty in Scheduling Simple Procedures – Even simple diagnostic procedures (e.g. Ultra-Sound, Endscopy, etc.) can sometimes take days or even weeks to schedule. I don’t really know why this happens. Is this merely a scheduling problem or a supply scarcity of resources?
10. Newer patented drugs are regularly being introduced and are prescribed in many cases. Not sure if the incremental benefit that some of these provide over the existing older (and still under patent) or off patent/generic drugs can be weighed against their exorbitant costs. I am not an expert and cannot make this judgment, but do think that this is something that needs to be researched further. Again – since the US consumer is supposedly the ‘richest in the world’ he has to pay the highest (in most cases) for the patented drugs compared to other developed countries. This is another issue that has been a big point of contention, with lot of discussions in the media.
I recently made a long road trip from Pune to Goa, a distance of nearly 500 km (320 miles) in around 7 hours. The scenic route has a combination of nice 4 laned highways and beautiful winding mountain roads that descend down to the sea coast. The average highway speeds were comparable with the US average 60mph. I was driving a nice car - with ABS, multiple airbags, climate control, powerful engine, and great suspension & handling.
So what’s so great and special about this? Young readers in India, as well as the readers in the US will not understand my sheer joy in driving in these conditions with these ‘basic’ features! You folks have been taking the roads and the car features for guaranteed, for way to long. To appreciate my experience, you will have to step back to India in the early 1980s. (A rough analogy might the pre-freeways US roads in the 1950s…).
To bring you upto speed, let me sketch a typical driving trip in India, a quarter century back. Sit back and enjoy the ride…if you can
Our family’s car of choice (not that there was any choice during those days…only Fiats and Ambassadors were available. The new phenomenon ‘Maruti’ was just around the corner) was the Fiat 1100, sporting a ‘powerful’ 47 HP engine with a 4 speed (non-synchromesh) gearbox. It was made by Premier Automobiles; but was rarely referred to by its official name, ‘Premier Padmini’. Visitors might still see a few of these cars upon landing at Mumbai Airport – some of these vehicles still serve as the ‘yellow & black’ taxis.
In those days, a Fiat was the standard car…the Ambassador, a big ‘luxury’ car! Note – any ‘car’ in general was not for the masses, and there was no talk about a Nano. The real ‘people’s car’ was the bicycle! Even a 2 wheeler in those days was expensive and tough to buy. (Some people might remember those times when it took 10 years to get a Bajaj Scooter..).
A road trip was an ‘event’…an adventure. Someone has said ‘It is the journey that is more important than the destination’. How true! I will not bore with you all the details; rather let me just highlight the ‘high-points’ of a typical road trip from that ‘era’. In my preferred style, I will highlight 10 points:
1. Before you set-off, there were a series of ‘checks’ that may have rivalled a ‘pre-flight’ checklist of an aircraft. There was the car radiator that needed constant filling up. Same with the car batteries water level. And the engine oil level check. Infact, opening the front hood was an extremely common occurence.
2. Talking about car batteries – they were as reliable as the cars in those days…needless to say ‘Dhakka Start’ (people pushing the car to get it started) was common.
3. Refueling in the city was a must – there were no guarantees about any highway side fuel stops.
Once you were off, the only positive thing compared to the present, was the traffic – It was orders of magnitude lower than you would encounter today.
4. 6 people would be comfortably seated in the car: 3 in the front, and 3 in the back. Yes, this car had ‘bench’ seats in the front. The carrier on the roof of the car was packed with all kinds of stuff. (I vividly remember a Kokan trip where we had sets of those ‘old style’ Mango Crates tied down on the top..!)
5. Flat tires were extremely common…cannot remember a single long trip where we didn’t have a tire ‘puncture’. We all were quite adept at changing the spare tire (’stepney’ as it was called in those days..). This was followed by a stop at a small town ‘tire-walla’ to get the tire fixed. Oh..in those days, tires had tubes in them. (I am assuming that the reader knows that majority of the cars today have tubeless tires…if you are not one of them, then ignore this para all together )
6. Frequent mechanical breakdowns were common as well…and these too for ‘new’ and ‘well maintained’ cars. You were lucky if it was a case of a simple over-heating … in this case you simply poured more water into the radiator, let it ‘blow some steam and cool down’, and then drive on. If it was more serious, then the only option in most cases was to hitch a ride with a passing-by truck/bus to the nearest town…find a mechanic, and bring him back to the car. The saving grace was that these cars were ‘easy’ to repair and after a few hours - you could move on! Oh..and the only ‘phone’ we knew those days was that big black box like device with a round dial on top of it, that made an irritating ringing sound (when it used to work). Today’s cellphone would have looked straight out of Star Trek in those days.
7. Ofcourse the cars were luxurious…well relatively speaking Airconditioning was unheard off. The standard cooling solution consisted of those innovative ‘triangular split’ windows that diverted wind into the passenger cabin. And there was no music-system either. Music (if any) was (as they say in the web 2.0 world today) ‘user-generated’. The background score was typically provided by the cacophony of the engine and suspension rattling.
Did I mention that the Fiat 1100 had no power steering, no power-brakes? But driving with all those aids is for wimps… right
8. The lack of airconditioning created interesting problems during rainy weather. The front wind shield glass used to get fogged rightaway, with the condensate. The only option to get rid of that moisture was to have the ‘co-pilot’ constantly and skillfully wipe-off the wind shield, without distracting the driver.
9. There were no highway side McDonalds or Food Malls in those days. There were some good restaurants or more appropriately ‘food shacks’ (Tapris) along the way. Some people will vividly remember that Khopoli favorite on the old Mumbai-Pune Highway, ‘Ramakant’ – famous for their ‘Batata Vadas’.
10. If you were driving off the highway on the country roads, the experience used to be even more interesting. A car was a rare sight in rural India in those days. We felt ‘important’ Like a VIP motorcade driving by! Proper tar roads were often times non-existent. The car used to leave a huge storm of dust..literally throwing it into the onlookers’ eyes. I am sure those villagers must have been cursing us ‘city folks’.
After all this adventure when you finally made it to your destination, there was this immense satisfaction about a ‘big achievement’. The driver used to really earn his ’stripes’ those days…and so did the car… Since for all its short comings and problems it was a great way to travel!
‘Its one small step for man…one giant leap for mankind’ – yes, most of us have heard this line. It is quite possibly one of the most famous quotations of the 20th century. But how many of us really understand the epic foundation, the mammoth base, the stupendous structure that enabled this ‘small step’? And I am not just talking about the physical structure of the incredible Saturn V rocket!
The Apollo Program, which reached its zenith with that memorable line from Neil Armstrong, was in my humble view – the greatest technological achievement of the 20th Century. July 20th, 1969 was not only NASA’s finest hour; it was mankind’s finest hour. If technology & technology driven progress are the cornerstones of the past century, no other success represents it better!
Today, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of this historic event. It’s an opportunity to pause and admire. It’s an opportunity to wonder and think back in awe. It’s an opportunity to understand. It’s an opportunity to learn. As a student of science and technology, the Apollo Program fascinates me no end, even today. In this blog, I will make an attempt to recollect the incredible facts and stories about this program. But numbers don’t tell the whole story. The sheer circumstances under which these successes were achieved are mind boggling and simple factoids won’t do justice.
Its one thing to set impossible goals, and its another to actually achieve those…and achieve them, they did… With a year to spare!
It all started with that John F. Kennedy speech to the Congress in the 1961 (And followed by the famous ‘We choose to go the moon…’ speech at Rice University). Or maybe the moon race started a little before that – following the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union. Post World War II, America and Soviet Union entered into a massive space race, armed with some important spoils from Nazi Germany. The German rocket program was quite extensive, and it had successfully built and deployed the V1 and V2 rockets. Much bigger plans were on the anvil, but the course of the war prevented them from being materialized. Apparently, in 1945 the Germans had devised designs for a rocket (specifically, a ballistic missile) that could reach the American shores.
The Russians captured the German rocket base at Peenemünde, but the lead scientist Wernher von Braun escaped and surrendered to the Americans, along with a small team of scientists.
Allow me a slight digression here, but I cannot help but draw an interesting parallel to the Indian mythological epic, ‘The Mahabharat’. Before the Kaurav – Pandav war, Arjun and Duryodhan approached Krishna for his support. Turns out that Duryodhan (Kauravs) got Krishna’s entire army and infrastructure; and Arjun (Pandavs) got lord Krishna himself; unarmed.
Coming back to Von Braun, the reason why I am mentioning him here is because he went onto to become the lead for the massive Saturn series rockets program.
But Saturn V and Apollo 11 didn’t happen overnight. There were many other stepping stones, which started with America’s first space launch in 1958 of the satellite Explorer I…., first manned launch in 1961 (John Sheppard was the first to make a sub-orbital flight, and John Glenn (who later on went to become a senator, and also the oldest man to travel in space in the space shuttle in 1998, at the age of 77) did the first full orbit around the earth.…and through a series of Gemini series missions. The Apollo program was conceived back in 1961 towards achieving Kennedy’s goal.
Before we take a look at the Apollo Program, let’s briefly understand the overall components of the Saturn V rocket and the Apollo spacecraft.
Saturn V rocket and the Apollo spacecraft
The Saturn V was a multi-stage (3 stage) rocket with the Apollo Spacecraft payload on the top. Some of the earlier Apollo missions were based on the Saturn 1B rocket, which essentially was a smaller version of the Saturn V. The Saturn V was designed to deliver a the spacecraft payload consisting of: Command Module (Columbia), Service Module and Lunar Module (Eagle) – into the lunar orbit.
The 1st stage stood 138 ft tall and was powered by Kerosene and Liquid Oxygen. The 1st stage reached a height of nearly 45 miles, and achieved a speed of nearly 2 km/sec. The 2nd stage stood 81.7 ft tall and was powered by Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen. The 2nd stage reached a height of 110 miles, and achieved a speed of nearly 7 km/sec. The 3rd stage stood 58.7 ft tall and was powered by Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen. The 3rd stage got the Apollo Spacecraft into an earth orbit. It was also fired again (to reach 11 km/sec – the escape velocity of earth) to push the Spacecraft out of the earth orbit, into a course towards the moon.
The Command Module, ‘Columbia’ orbited was the ‘mother ship’ of the Apollo Spacecraft. Armstrong and Aldrin transferred over to the Lunar Module ‘Eagle’, while Collins stayed in the lunar orbit. The Service Module was attached to the Command Module and contained support systems and propulsion systems for the return journey to the earth. The Lunar Module, ‘Eagle’ descended towards the moon, with rocket thrusters to slowdown and control the approach.
From the tragedy of Apollo 1 to great success of Apollo 10
The Apollo Program started with a disaster. Apollo 1 capsule caught fire during a test on the launch pad and the three astronauts burned to death. Amongst them was Edward White, the first American to do a Space-Walk. This was the first loss of life suffered by the American Space Program, and was a huge blow. It resulted in a lot of rethinking and introspection by NASA.
There were some major revisions in the plan, and the program went on. The earlier Apollo missions completed a series of tests of the different components and the sub-systems. These included the earlier generation Saturn 1 and Saturn 1B rockets, the Saturn V rocket, the Command Module, the Service Module and the Lunar Module (NOTE – I will not go into details of the complete design…readers who are interested can…). The initial series of launches (Apollo 2 – Apollo 6) were unmanned missions.
Apollo 7 lifted off on Oct 11, 1967 and was a confidence building mission. The 3 man crew went into a low earth orbit and tested various systems of the lunar and the command modules. Testing of the maneuverability of the Lunar Module in the weightlessness of space was very important.
Apollo 8 was the first flight to head to the vicinity of the moon. It was also the first manned flight of the awe-inspiring Saturn V rocket. The crew of Apollo 8 included command module pilot Jim Lowell, who was later the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13. Apollo 8 provided the first views of the other side of the moon.
Apollo 9 carried out first lunar orbit and manned testing of the lunar module Apollo 10 carried out the lunar module descent to within 50,000 feet from the surface of the moon. The stage was now set for Apollo 11.
Apollo 11 – ‘The Eagle Has Landed’
Apollo 11 blasted off in space on July 16, 1969. After 4 days, on July 20, 1969, the Lunar Module started its descent onto the surface of the moon.
‘Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle Has Landed’. Land successfully, it did! But it was over 4 km off-course. It was running low on fuel and had only 30 sec of spare fuel left to land.
It took the Armstrong and Aldrin a few hours to check and secure all the systems, until Armstrong could set foot on the moon.
The Apollo 11 astronauts setup various instruments and the American flag on the moon. Various lunar rock samples were collected. Future Apollo missions also carried a motorized rover that could take the astronauts over a longer distance to explore the moon surface.
During liftoff, the landing stage of the Eagle (with its empty fuel tank) was left on the moon, to save weight. The ascent engine powered Eagle back into the lunar orbit and docked it back again with the command module. Armstrong and Aldrin got back into the Command Module, and then jettisoned the lunar module. The Command-Service Module (CSM) then fired its return engine to set them back on a trajectory towards earth.
On July 24th, the Command Module Capsule splashed down in the Pacific mission to mark the completion of this most historic mission.
Why was it such a great achievement?
As I write this, I look at the progress that has happened in the space program since the last Apollo nearly 40 years ago. Just this past week, NASA was struggling to launch the Space Shuttle in midst of some weather problems. Agreed that there were major budget cuts in the American Space Program post Apollo, but still the achievements of the past 4 decades leave a lot to desire, in comparison to the Gold Standards set in the 1960s. Note – I am not taking anything away from the 100 + Space Shuttle missions and International Space Station.
Can you imagine running the entire Apollo 11 flight computer on something less powerful than your cell phone’s chip? Well, ran they did! Today, the gadgets all around us are equipped with microprocessors – from a music system, to a washing machine. From a camera, to a car. But remember, Intel’s first microprocessor, the 4 bit 4004 didn’t make its debut until 1971! So just think of this – such a complex space mission was executed with electronic components that was less powerful than your microwave oven!
Think of the gargantuan Saturn V rocket that moved from concept to design to manufacture to successful prototyping and execution, in under a decade! The first American and Soviet rockets that went into space in the late 1950s were tiny (barely 50 ft, with a capacity to put a 50 kg satellite in earth orbit) and extremely unsophisticated compared to the Saturn V (standing 363 ft tall, could put payloads in excess of 100 Tons in earth orbit) that first flew in 1968.
Rockets Comparison - From V2 to Saturn V
Realize that a rocket is a very a complex system and contains hundreds of sub-systems and millions of parts. There’s propulsion, guidance, communication, telemetry, navigation – just to name a few major ones. And there are backups…backups for almost every system. And backups for backups!
Let’s take a few examples. Telemetry deals with streaming hundreds of data parameters from the spacecraft back to Mission Control in Houston, 200,000 miles away. This data had to be interpreted, analyzed (through a combination of automated and manual processes) and acted on, around the clock.
Propulsion system of the rocket engines provides the necessary thrust. The Saturn V’s 1st stage had 5 F1 Engines generating the kind of power, most probably not generated in any machine since then! I will not bore you with many numbers, but here’s a simple comparison. The main engines of Saturn V generated enough power, equivalent to about 150 Giga Watts. That is about the entire installed electric power generation capacity of India! Or about 2.5 times the power generated in Texas, USA. Or about 80 times the power generated by one of the largest hydro-electric plants in North America – The Hoover Dam. Just the fuel pumps of these engines consumed power equivalent to that needed by the City of Pune!
To get a sense of the complexity of internals of the command module and the lunar modules, I would just recommend watching that Hollywood classic – Apollo 13 (Which incidentally happens to be my most favorite movie). A typical automobile has a few thousand parts. The Apollo command, service and lunar modules had over a million.
Navigation and Guidance are extremely challenging tasks for any space mission. Extremely small errors can take the rocket on a wrong trajectory which could mean completely missing the target (The Moon) or come crashing down and burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere on the return.
I will go back to the Apollo 13 mission for a minute. Sometimes failures highlight the successes of a project more than anything else. Imagine doing near real-time analysis, diagnosis, generating remote workarounds and implementing repair 200,000 miles in space! But the Apollo Program was designed to handle these scenarios. Coming back to Apollo 13, one NASA personnel put it quite nicely – ‘It (Apollo 13) was NASA’s most successful failure!’
And I haven’t discussed the manufacturing and assembly challenges at all. Building a 3000 Ton machine is no easy job. Building one that will fly at speeds of 2 km/sec is another. Note – the final stage of Saturn V, which powered the Apollo Spacecraft towards the moon, did eventually approach the earth escape velocity of 11 km /sec.
Massive fuel tanks had to be designed that could withstand extreme pressures and temperatures, and fabricated in pieces and then assembled. Just to highlight one example here, consider the scale of the fuel consumption of the Saturn V main engines. To generate the kind of power mentioned earlier, you need lot of fuel! The first stage of Saturn V consumed Kerosene (as the propellant) and Liquid Oxygen. It gobbled up around 15 Tons of Kerosene / sec! Just think of the complex high-power pumps and piping needed to feed this kind of fuel into the engines, to generate that massive power!
The Lunar Module was the most complex of the machines and was assembled in a special plant. Specialized Heat Shields that can withstand temperatures over 3000 F on reentry had to be tested and built.
Lastly, I would like to highlight the program management aspects of this effort. We routinely see major engineering projects dragging for years. Here was a project of this startling magnitude, moving from conception to execution stage in less than 10 years!
There were so many historic firsts in this project…in the areas of size, scale, complexity and ingenuity. But ultimately these facts don’t tell the whole story. I guess the ultimate greatness of Apollo 11 was how it captivated an entire generation!
Honestly, I don’t have the exact answer. Only time will tell whether we, the citizens of Pune (and India) over-reacted, or should have done a lot more. All we have right now are statistics, data-points, examples from other regions of the world, and expert advisories to look at and learn from.
In this article, I am listing out the various relevant factoids, observations and information resources that I have stumbled upon over the past few days. I will let the readers draw their own conclusions.
What is painfully clear though is that we don’t have enough data, and we often don’t rely on credible sources of information. In absence of data and facts, the common population is always swayed by ‘headlines’ and ‘sound bites’ – Sadly, this is true even in the 21st century. Thanks to the latest technology, data can be accessed easily; yet this same technology can also help in spreading rumors a lot faster as well.
Here are some factoids and observations:
1. According to WHO and other estimates, there are nearly 1 Billion cases of normal flu (influenza) each year. Around 3-5 Million of these are severe and 300,000 – 500,000 of these result in deaths.
Statistically speaking (based on a simple extrapolation that India’s population is apprx 1/5 of World Population) that translates to 200 M cases, 600,000 – 1 M severe cases, and 60,000 – 100,000 deaths.
For a city of Pune, that translates to 500 deaths/year or 10 deaths/week.
All these are huge numbers. And yet, until a few weeks back, we hardly even thought about ‘influenza’ as something serious!
2. On a related topic – Pollution levels in Pune and in all major Indian cities are at very dangerous levels. Yet very few perceived the need to wear masks over all these years. Do we know the statistics of upper respiratory problems in major Indian cities?
3. According to WHO (World Health Organization), the recommended mask to protect against H1N1 infections is the one that meets the N95 standard. Yet, these constitute a miniscule amount of the ones being worn around in Pune. The others don’t really offer any significant help. For a complete list of Do’s and Don’ts regarding masks – please refer to the next section.
4. Commonsense tells us that it is better to wear masks in crowded places; but they are not very critical when walking or driving on uncrowded, open roads. Yet, what we are seeing around in Pune is quite the opposite. It is also amazing to see so many people wearing masks that are covering their mouths, but not their noses?!
5. Last year, over 200 riders lost their lives in 2-Wheeler Accidents in Pune – many of these deaths could have been prevented had the riders been wearing helmets. Yet I see so many people on Pune roads today wearing masks but not helmets!
6. According to what I have read thus far, the H1N1 strain is not significantly more virulent than the traditional influenza virus. The prescribed treatments are also very similar to normal flu.
7. Most individuals who get infected with H1N1 will get back to normal in a few days (similar to the normal flu). This is not a virus like HIV that an individual will carry with him / her for the rest of their lives!
8. Apparently, a vast percentage (by some accounts, up to 90%) of the Indian population tests +ve on the skin test for TB (Tuberculosis). Majority of these tests yield a –ve result on a follow-up (and more reliable) X-Ray test. Disease causing germs (viruses and bacteria) are present everywhere – in most of the cases, the immune system should be able to take care of them! It is only when the immune system becomes weak (in case of old age, young children, patients suffering from certain chronic ailments, etc.) do these germs present any significant danger.
2. Comprehensive Flue Related Information from US Dept of Health & Human Services and CDC (Center for Disease Control) www.flu.govhttp://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
Today, I complete one year in blogosphere. It has been an interesting and fulfilling journey with over 50 Posts and over 400 Comments. Many thanks to everyone who provided feedback and support! I realize that my list of topics is extremely diverse; and it was great to get inputs for all of them.
Over this past week, I spent some time thinking about the 10 articles I liked the most. It was a hard choice, but this is what I came up with.
As always, your overall thoughts and comments are most welcome – as I continue with the musings of a global citizen.
But the graphical signs are self-explanatory.
