Ghumakkad crosses 25000 mark

Ghumakkad is Three

Am delighted to share that your buddy Ghumakkad’s blog is going to be three-years old!

It was 25^th May 2012 when this blog was created primarily to share pictures taken while travelling. We had just returned from Bhutan and the first story titled ‘Exploring Bhutan Part-1: The Team’ was posted in this blog (Link: Bhutan Part-1). It has so far been read by 120 people. Initially the blog had a ‘closed’ setting with very limited readership/viewership. Later, we opened it for public viewing/reading in the larger spirit of sharing.

I feel humbled that in these three years, the blog has been read more than 25,000 times. For an on-line forum, this is not a big number. But considering that it is not a commercial venture, it signifies your liking, support and encouragement. In fact, last 5,000 views came in just three months! Special thanks are due to each one of you.

It was only in Feb 2015 when we crossed the 20,000 milestone. The link: Ghumakkad Hits 20,000

Most-read Story

The story on BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus posted on 30^th Sept 2014 has been read by 1229 people so far. The only other story to have crossed the 1,000 readers’ mark is also connected with my alma-mater. It was a curtain raiser of our book ‘BITS of Success’ and posted on 18^th Dec 2013. An earlier story on BITS Dubai Campus in Jul 2012 has had 450+ viewers so far. Mind you this blog does not promote BITS Pilani or any other institution for that matter!

Just in case you missed browsing these ‘most-read’ posts, you can click the links below.

BITS Pilani Hyderabad- The Campus that Rocks  

BITS of Success- A Curtain Raiser 

BITS Dubai- Another Oasis

Talking of institutions, a story of my experiences at IBS Hyderabad as a Prof posted on Teacher’s Day 2012,  has had 440+ views so far. The link:

Harsh@IBS- Journey of a different kind 

Another recent story (March 2015) which has been read by 650+ people showcases two real life yoga enthusiasts who came together for life! If you haven’t read the post yet, please click the link below:

Learn Yoga and find the right life partner 

How human beings value their memories and friends was proven when a story of a Naval Reunion of buddies after 40 years, received 500+ views. See the link below if you wish to re-live the moment:

Naval Reunion at Valsura Jamnagar 

The readers of this blog are diverse in terms of age, gender, nationality, occupation, education etc and in turn they have welcomed and supported diversity in the blog posts. See some of the posts which have had more than 350 readers each, in diverse fields such as:

Wildlife/Nature:

Rescuing an injured Bat (July 2012): Bat story- click here

The ‘Big Five’ Live from Africa (August 2014): Africa Live- Click here 

Lessons from Life

Life is like a Switch (May 2013): Life and switch

Life Begins at Sixty (July 2014): Life@60- Click here

Thrill of a 10K Run (March 2014): 10K Run- click here

Travel

Changing Face of Jaipur (April 2014): Pink City is Changing

Obituary

Khushwant Singh (March 2014): The Pen has Dried

It has been an exciting journey. All this would not have been possible without your continued support and encouragement. Many people have contributed to the growth of Ghumakkad’s blog. But one person who gave her time, ideas and constant encouragement is Mrs Trixie Asirvatham, a media professional from Bangalore. Special thanks Trixie.

As Ben Sweetland said “Success is a journey, not a destination”, Ghumakkad marches on and will continue to share the journey with friends like you.

Thanks for browsing.

   -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/9^th May 2015

BITS of Success goes for Reprint

We are happy to share that "BITS of Success"-- our book on BITSian entrepreneurs and other achievers has gone for reprint!

How was this possible? Because you-- the readers of Ghumakkad's blog have hit 1000+ unique page views of both the stories related to the book.

Released in Jan 2014 in the Golden Jubilee Year of BITS Pilani, it has real life stories of 50 BITSians who have excelled not only as entrepreneurs but also as adventurers (like skiing to both the North and South Pole besides climbing Mt Everest)! 

Take a look at on-line links below:

BITS of Success- A Curtain Raiser 

Sneak Preview of BITS of Success

This is a humble tribute of three alumni of BITS to their alma-mater. In true BITSian spirit, the proceeds from the sale of this book go to BITS Alumni Association and not to the authors.
We feel privileged to have done our bit for this great institution.

Thanks for your support.

- Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Kinnera Murthy and Any Khendry
  23rd Aug 2014

BITS of Success gets featured in The Economic Times

_________________ BITS of Success in ET, 16th May 2014 _______________

Hi Friends of Ghumakkad,

We are happy to share that our book 'BITS of Success' has been featured in The Economic Times.

Extract of the story which appeared in today's ET is given below.
________________________________________________

BITS Pilani: College that connects the creators of Hotmail, MapmyIndia, Onida

By PTI | 16 May, 2014, 09.18AM IST

NEW DELHI: They all graduated from BITS Pilani as did Maharashtra Chief Prithviraj Chavan, founder of SQL Star International LtdBSE 3.85 % Ashok Kumar Agarwal and filmmaker Mani Shankar.

A new book, "BITS of Success: Inspiring Stories of BITS Pilani Alumni," by the institute's alumni Harsh Bhargava, Kinnera Murthy and Anu Khendry takes the reader through the journeys of 50 individuals who realised their dreams through perseverance and determination, be it as entrepreneurs, techno .. 

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/et-cetera/bits-pilani-college-that-connects-the-creators-of-hotmail-mapmyindia-onida/articleshow/35189848.cms

_____________________________________________________ 

Those of you missed the earlier preview, here are the links:

http://ghumakkadhb.blogspot.in/2014/01/bits-of-success-is-released.html 

and 

http://ghumakkadhb.blogspot.in/2013/12/bits-of-success.html

As we had announced earlier, entire royalty from the book has been pledged by us to BITSAA, Hyderabad.

Thanks for your support and happy reading.

---- Harsh the Ghumakkad with Kinnera Murthy and Anu Khendry

Secunderabad/ 16th May 2014

____________________________________________________________________________ 

BITS of Success is Released

____________ The Book 'BITS of Success' is Out ______________

Dear Reader,

Thanks for browsing Ghumakkad’s blog.

Further to our last post giving a preview of our book “BITS of Success” (http://ghumakkadhb.blogspot.in/2013/12/bits-of-success.html  ) , we are happy to share with you that the book has since been released. Here is a picture.

The book was released by Dr BN Jain, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani on 3^rd Jan 2014 during BITSAA Global Meet at Hyderabad campus of BITS.

Forewords

Here is an excerpt from the Foreword written by Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor BITS Pilani and Chairman Aditya Birla Group.

“The book ‘BITS of Success’, captures admirably, how this great institution has spawned and shaped generations of leaders in India and globally.  An eclectic tapestry, this volume presents – the passion of 50 BITSians, their success drivers, their deep hunger for meaning and the lessons learnt in the journey of life!”

Here is another excerpt from the Foreword written by Dr K Kasturirangan, Former Chairman ISRO and Member Planning Commission, Govt of India: “The heart-warming stories of its alumni who have made a mark in the world through their contributions in myriad fields should make any Indian proud of this glorious institution.”

Highlights

Here are few highlights of the book.

• ·         It features 50 achievers over last 50 years of BITS
• ·         12 out of 13 Distinguished Alumnus Awardees who consented, are featured in the book. Balance 38 were selected from the nominations.
• ·         Number of alumni achievers featured in the book from the first three decades of 1950s, 60s and 70s, and the next three decades of 1980s, 1990s and 2000s are almost evenly distributed i.e. 56% : 44%. Younger alumni have also made a mark in their professional life.
• ·         Out of 50 achievers the book has:
• o   36 Entrepreneurs i.e. 72%
• o   6 Social Entrepreneurs
• o   Five Researchers and Academicians
• o   Two from the world of Art and Media
• o   And the only adventurer who has skied to both North and South Pole besides climbing Mount Everest
• ·         Only three out of 50 are women
• ·         One alumnus graduated through WILP route – i.e. Work Integrated Learning Program
• ·         More than 80% chose to set up their ventures in India
• ·         Sadly two of the alumni are no more—namely Mr Ramesh Grover of 1971 and Ms Shanti Vaidyanathan Sharma of 1978. We are grateful to their families for being present at the book release.

We would like to mention that there are countless other achievers who could not be included in the book as they did not want to be in the limelight. We salute them as well.

List of Achievers (In chronological order of the year of graduation from BITS) 

1. D Balasubramanian (LV Prasad Eye Institute) Eyeing success in vivo, in situ! 1

2. Ashok Kumar Agarwal (Former Chairman SQL Star International) Driven by curiosity 5

3. Gulu Mirchandani (Co-Founder Onida brand) Neighbor’s Envy, Owner’s Pride 9

4. Prithviraj Chavan (Chief Minister Maharashtra) A technocrat chief minister 11

5. Krishna Saraswat (Professor Stanford University) Attuning academic research to the needs of the industry 13

6. Bhagwati P Agrawal (Founder Sustainable Innovations) Championing innovations for people 17

7. Kishore Rajvanshy (Founder Fleet Management Ltd Hong Kong) Quality brings growth 21

8. Surendra Pal (Former Program Dorector, Satellite Navigation Program) Reaching out to the unknown 25

9. Babasaheb Neelkanth Kalyani (CMD Bharat Forge) Forging ties globally but firmly founded in India 29

10. B C Jain (Chairman Ankur Scientific) Enlightening lives 33

11. Chandralekha Bhaskar (Co-Founder Bhaskar Power Group) Generating power 37

12. Jinesh C Jain (Chairman Texplas India) One man, many dreams—and many more to fulfil! 41

13. Ramesh D Grover (Founder and Late Chairman CMS Group) An exemplary model of leadership 45

14. Surya P Sethi (Former Chief Investment Officer IFC) Heavy hitting pioneer 49

15. Narendra Ahuja (Director IT Research Academy) Innovative research through societal sensitivity 53

16. Rakesh Verma (Founder MapMyIndia) Business is like running a marathon! 57

17. C P Talesara (Founder Pyrotech Electronics) Raising the bar of success 61

18. Prem Jain (Former Senior VP Cisco) An entrepreneur and an executive 65

19. Shirish Chinoy (Co-Founder Electronics Devices) A true entrepreneur never sleeps 69

20. Vinod K Agarwal (Founder LogicVision and Applied Solar Technologies) Your dreams make you what you are 73

21. Pankaj Patel (Exec VP Cisco) Networking into success 77

22. Shanti Vaidyanathan Sharma (Late Hindustani Classical Vocalist)  A musical journey 81

23. Vijay Chandru (Founder Starnd Life Sciences) Innovating technology for life sciences 83

24. Vijay Kumar Kedia (Founder Kedia Rain Water Harvesting) No one can stop you 87

25. Mani Shankar (Film maker and Creative Director) Let the facts speak the story 91

26. Sunit Rikhi (VP Intel) Happiness is a decision 95

27. Rajesh Hukku (Former Chairman I-Flex Solutions) Dream big and persevere 99

28. S P Kothari (Dy Dean, Sloan School of Management MIT) Success hinges on teamwork 103

29. Sunil Nanda (Founder ThinkIt Technologies and Pilani Resource Centre) Ten thousand hours 107

30. Vivek Paul (Former Vice-Chairman Wipro) Reinvent yourself 111

31. Chandni Sahgal (Former Head MTV India) Thriving on uncertainty 115

32. Manoj Gaur (CEO and MD Jaiprakash Associates) No dream too big 119

33. Raju Reddy (Founder and Former Chairman Sierra Atlantic) Live your values 121

34. R Parthasarathy (Founder CADD Centre) Align your dreams to solving problems 125

35. Manoj Saxena (Founder Exterprise and Webify Inc) Your focus determines your reality 129

36. Ramesh Ramanathan (Founder Janagraha) Seize this moment 133

37. Diaz Nesamoney (Founder Informatica, Celequest and Jivox Inc) Luck is not a strategy 137

38. Suresh Kabra (Founder Clk2C.com) Two false starts and success! 141

39. Sabeer Bhatia (Founder Hotmail) A good entrepreneur never gives up 145

40. Sanjay Anand (Founder Microsoft India Development Centre) If your heart is dissatisfied, walk away 147

41. Sanjay Anand (Founder CMP Institute) Jumping in with both feet 151

42. Ajay Chaturvedi (Founder HarVa) Empowering people economically 155

43. Shashikant Khandelwal (Co-Founder The Find Inc) Sky is the limit 159

44. Kartik Hosanagar (Co-Founder Yodle Inc and Professor, Wharton School) Seek your own path 163

45. Sarathbabu Elumalai (Founder Foodking) Entrepreneurship is like a Japanese Bamboo Tree 167

46. Suhail Kassim (World Bank) Promoting tolerance and compassion in the world 171

47. Raj Kumar (Polar Skier, Submariner and Mountaineer) Skiing to the Poles 175

48. Kavikrut (Founder Mobile Medics) Wake up to a mission everyday 179

49. Mayur Patnala (Founder Nirmaan) A dreamer with a cause 183

50. Srikumar Murthy (Co-Founder, National Social Entrepreneurship Forum)  Give it a shot 187

____________________________________________________

Acknowledgements

We owe this book to the collective effort of so many people:

• ·         Firstly, all the alumni who nominated their fellow alumni
• ·         All the achievers featured in the book for sharing their life stories in a tight time frame.
• ·         The selection panel for working against time
• ·         Mrs Indira Susheel Kumar- for her unmatched line drawings which are on the book cover as well as the stage backdrop as also her editorial support
• ·         Mrs Bhashwati, Mrs Shyamola Khanna, Mr J Ramamoorthy and Mr N Raghuveer for editorial and research support
• ·         Mr Deepak Manchanda and Mr Vinay Prasad for their story on BITS and pictures respectively
• ·         Mr Rohit Koul, Ms Sherin Kurien and Mr Rahul Sengupta for web support
• ·         Mr Jatin Chuglani for suggesting the title. Thanks are also due to more than 500 alumni who voted for this title on-line! Jatin you rock buddy!
• ·         BITSAA Hyderabad team led by Dr Ashok Agarwal and Mr Sanjay Khendry for making this happen
• ·         And lastly, the entire team at the Universities Press led by Mr Madhu Reddy deserve special mention for doing a splendid job!

Book Review

Book reviews have started appearing in the media. Reader may browse the link for one of the book reviews: http://epaper.thehansindia.com/PUBLICATIONS/THEHANSINDIA/THI/2014/01/05/ArticleHtmls/BITS-of-Success-05012014143046.shtml?Mode=1

The review in The Hans India (5^th Jan 2014) says that “The book is about passion, dreaming and the ability to realise the dreams.”

On behalf of my co-authors Kinnera, Anu and myself, we would like to thank BITSAA Hyderabad for giving us this opportunity. As we said earlier, as a humble gesture from our side, we have pledged the entire royalty from the sale of this book to BITSAA Hyderabad.

We hope you enjoy reading the book. We look forward to your feedback on mail ID bitsofsuccess@gmail.com.

Thank you all.

-          Ghumakkad Harsh (with Kinnera and Anu)/ 9th Jan 2014/ Secunderabad India

____________________ The Book 'BITS of Success' is Released __________________________ 

BITS of Success

_________________ BITS of Success: Our next Book _____________________

In a world besieged with Facebook, LinkedIn, smartphones, WhatsApp, Kindle, iPad and the like—who reads a book? Even the cranky toddlers of today are given an iPad by their mothers to remain busy! Then, why write a book when print media is threatened with oblivion? We still chose to do it—for two reasons. Firstly our alma mater BITS Pilani celebrates its Golden Jubilee this year (1964-2014) and secondly we wanted to showcase BITS alumni achievers of this period. Further brainstorming led us to ‘BITS50@50’ signifying 50 achievers from BITS during last 50 years. Setting the target was the simpler part.

The real challenge was to identify and select 50 achievers to be included in the book. Read the book to know how was the selection done. But as it turned out, majority of the achievers took the challenging path of entrepreneurship. They all had the proverbial ‘fire in their belly’ and toiled to realise their dreams.

This book is about passion, about dreaming and about the ability to realise the dreams. It is about building teams and succeeding against all odds. It is about falling down and bouncing back. It is about humility. It is also about making a difference in the lives of others. It chronicles the inspiring stories of 50 achievers. It includes the frustrations encountered by the individuals. The achievers also share how they achieved or could not achieve the balance between their work and personal lives. But one thing which was common in all the stories—all the achievers credited BITS for being where they are. 

We were pained to exclude many other achievers for want of timely information and/or space. Few other achievers did not want to be in print/limelight. Besides the 50 achievers who are featured in this book, there are countless other BITS alumni who deserve to be showcased. 

Perhaps, the authors of the next volume during Diamond Jubilee of BITS (1964-2024) can include many more of such achievers.

We chose the social media/crowd sourcing seeking suggestions for title of the book and for selecting the best title. Within just three days of posting, more than 50 suggestions were made which were assessed on-line by more than 500 BITSians. The title ‘BITS of Success’ was an outright winner. It was suggested by Jatin Chuglani an alumnus of BITS Hyderabad campus. We thank Jatin for his creativity and spontaneity.

We are grateful to Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor BITS Pilani and Chairman Aditya Birla Group of Industries and Dr K Kasturirangan Former Chairman ISRO and Member Planning Commission for writing the Forewords.

A project of this magnitude could not have been completed without active support of so many people. We have acknowledged them in the book. Omissions if any, may please be excused.

Here is the back cover:

-         

The book will be of interest to Entrepreneurs, Business professionals, Students, Faculty, Educational Institutions, Researchers, Start-ups and anybody having a question 'How do I succeed?' Of course for BITSian readers, the book will result in reactions like 'Look he was my wingie at BITS!'

The book has been published by the Universities Press Hyderabad and has an ISBN Number: 978-81-7371-914-1. It is an initiative of BITSAA Hyderabad.

If you are coming to BITSAA Global Meet (BGM-14), you will get a free copy. If not then you may order it on-line using the link http://universitiespress.com/display.asp?categoryID=0&isbn=978-81-7371-914-1 

We wish to thank our families for believing us every time when we said ‘just coming’ and took another two hours thereafter! Here is the team in action:

Who are these crazy authors-cum-editors? 

Well, all three are BITS alumni and all of them live in Hyderabad.

Anu- an IT professional, Agile Computing expert; 

Kinnera- former Dean ASCI Hyderabad and a social activist and lastly 

Harsh- former Commodore Indian Navy, Adjunct Professor in a B-school, volunteer wellness coach and a learning-lensman! His previous books include 'Virtual Leadership'.

We would like to mention that we have pledged the royalty from this book to BITS Alumni Association Hyderabad.

Hope you enjoy reading the book as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Postscript: Those who would like a sneak-peak at the book may like to browse the next part of this picture story at http://ghumakkadhb.blogspot.in/2014/01/bits-of-success-is-released.html 

We would welcome your feedback at bitsofsuccess@gmail.com.

   - Ghumakkad Harsh with Kinnera and Anu 

Secunderabad

December 2013 

____________________ End of BITS of Success ______________________