Scaling- Making of "Adai"

Dosa-Adai and Scaling Today i invited my colleagues and there family to Dinner(Adai). Still now i have maximum prepared for 3 persons and today it will be double; That means i have to scale twice in everything i cook. So i said to myself it is In Project terms simply doubling and more, the risks are time management and the ingredients quantities. So i started preparing the Batter, usually i don for 2 people(One quantity for dinner and the other for lunch), so now made it three times.I soaked in water the Rice and the dal and Started the preparing the Sambar. Making Sambar was not straight forward like Adai, most of the quantities i normally do by trial and error when i prepare, so now it is a bigger challenge as the size is increased. So i took a more slower and cautious approach while adding the ingredients. (When scaling for the first time- need more attention) The the timing problem- it really took more time than i have initially planned( but here also i don't have correct measurement of how much time i normally take). I finished successfully preparing. But then i felt that the quantity may not be sufficient and so i made some more Sambar again. I also at temped Chatni for these many people first time. All of this was a Success as my colleagues enjoyed the dinner. scaling at this level it self shows so many Process improvements areas!

Aalst Carnival- Spectacular and Colorful

Aalst Carnival- Spectacular and Colorful It was on 22nd of Feb and when i reached the station, I can already hear and see the sound and sight of big wagons with lot of Dolls, Men in different costumes. The whole city is geared up. The organisation of this Carnival is - There are around 70 wagons or groups which will start in one place and as a procession pass through different streets. The crowd will be on the side roads, enjoying and cheering. It was rich and i can see lot of practice has gone into this making. Each wagon or groups were organised around a theme, there were many themes about Fortis bank, there were themes about fire squads, scouts and there were 2 or 3 themes from India- Bollywood, Hare Rama and Kamasutra. There were Interesting themes like restaurants,market. There were themes in which a bar tender will be serving beer. Brilliant, colorful and well organised. Some of the wagons were huge and large mechanisms, with people in swings, this is as if they were moving a small giant wheel or swinging machines. As the day becomes to fade, they came with full of lights in the wagons and also in their dresses. When the last wagon passed me and as I start waking towards the Station, I already saw men and machine started cleaning the place.

Movie - Technocalyps

Last Week I saw this Movie -Technocalyps. It deals with how technology is going to change our life's, more.. change us as human beings it self's. It talks about the genome project,AI and the space research which is converging and going to bring something dramatically different. And more they predict this to happen by 2030 to 2040. Will the Homo sapiens become extinct? Human beings will evolve into something better than them(why should evolution stop at humans?) If we are half human and Half machine, who are we?

Federer and Nadal

Australian Open final they meet again.Federer is going for his 14th Grand slam title and he is playing the best opponent in the World. In the first Set after a break it looked like Fed had a upper hand, but as always Nadal comes back breaking again and takes the Set. Federer equals by taking the second one. They are equally poised at 5-5, and dues... two official reviews first favouring Nadal and then Fed. Ad - Nadal and the a cross court, dues.. wow! What a match this , as always , each point is a title point, and they gives thier best. Does the result matters! Both are winners here.

Ada Ada Adai!

One of the Great learning for me in 2008 is cooking. Before coming to Brussels, i have planned a little bit expecting that i cannot survive without self cooking. I slowly started cooking, rice, sambar , rasam and some curries. After my parents visit, i learned to prepare Adai. Previously my view on Adai was, it is difficult to make - but now i feel it is so simple; I make almost every week. Preparation of Batter. Equla portion of Rice and all other grams; Example for 1 cup of Rice, 1 cup of all other grams combined(i use, urdi dal, door dal,"passi paruppu", "kadalai paruppu". Soak in water for 2 to 4 hrs . Grid with salt, red chilli powder, little hing. The Batter is Ready, we can eat with Jaggery or prepare some chutney.

Appolo 13 - Great Learning

Appolo 13 - The Successful Failure The perfect oxymoron.What a team effort;I recently saw the movie and i was so inspired, i wanted to find out more on Net, When i searched i come across this article from IEEE.This is white paper which details the account. http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/apr05/2697 The whole episode teaches so much- training, leadership, innovativeness, dedication. It should be part of every engineering curriculam.
Leadership- Though "Flight" did not deliver the phrase "Failure is not an Option", what he said to his team exactly reflected this and inspired the team so much. Innovativeness - How many disconnected items the team came up with a solution to do Co2 filter. So much to learn from this episode.

Snow ,Snow and Winter

I am experiencing the first coldest winter, the temperature dropped to -15.

That is almost 50 degree difference from my comfortable temperature.

It started to snow the begging of this week and the snow froze and still seens in all parts of Brussels now.

What i experience at an altitude of 3000 meters in Switzerland, i am experiencing daily, near my office, on the way to office.Walking on Ice paltforms(Should be careful)

Some times it to good to see the snow but it also feels very cold..

This is a test for me to adapt and I am doing good.