Modi Works Magic on Silicon Valley!!

Honorable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi visited United States of America from Sept 26-30. This was his second high profile visit to the US after becoming PM of India. Last year he mesmerized New York & Washington DC with his wave generating speech at Madison Square. This year Silicon Valley experienced the magic of Modiji. Many world leaders gathered in New York for UNGA meet during the same week but no leader generated the headlines in America like Modiji. Modiji even seems to have succeeded in eclipsing China's premier Xi Jinping's state visit to the US.

Why Modi chose to make a splash in Silicon Valley? If you look at history; no Indian PM has visited Silicon Valley for past four decades. The last Indian PM visiting Silicon Valley was India's first PM hon Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Most of India's visiting political leaders often chose the corridors of New York or Washington DC. But this is where a tech savvy leader like Modi stands taller from his predecessors. He understands the power of knowledge economy. He was also playing largely to his supportive techy community of the wild west. He understands Silicon Valley and her leaders can provide shot in the arm for his Digital India, Make in India, Design in India themes. And he got thumping cheer from the region silencing his critics at home and abroad.

Why was there such a great interest in Modi in the valley? They saw in him strong, decisive, tech savvy & charismatic leader who would deliver on the dream vision. Democratic India is in some ways similar to US when it comes to freedom of speech, strong judiciary, vibrant media and burgeoning middle class. With its 1.25-billion people they see huge market ready to absorb tech companies products. The facebook's, Microsoft's and Qualcomm's of worlds can not afford to miss India boat. They all want piece of the action. They find India more attractive & safe to do Business than China. Since Modiji's Govt taking oath in Delhi 15 months back; the India brand is at an all time high with the world slowly regaining faith in India.
Talking about the techies who packed the 18,000 seat SAP center arena in San Jose, they cheered to their leader with thunderous applause. That noise was so loud that whole world got attention of it. Their leader mesmerized the crowd in same reciprocity. No political leader in recent past, globally has matched Modi's masterful performance.


Why Indian diaspora abroad and in India love their leader Modiji so much? Indian diaspora abroad always wanted to see strong India flying high in world order. And Modi is exactly delivering on this unfulfilled desire of NRI/PIO community. When was the last time we heard of thousands attending an Indian politician's rally abroad? They see Indian brand shining now in numero uno position in the world. India has surpassed all countries including China and the US in 1st half of 2015 as preferred Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) destination of the world.
Indians in India also see India's brand going higher abroad and they believe this PM will bring promised change, development, jobs back in India.

Innovation is a state of mind and modiji wants to bring that state of mind to India. He is wooing technology companies to help him transform India into a truly developed country which can provide moral strength & leadership to the 21st century world.

Sneak Peek into Qualcomm Technologies

Qualcomm's been developing some cool technology. It feels so nice to be part of the team working on cutting edge designs & enabling next generation mobility solutions. Here are some nice videos giving a peek into advanced technologies. This year alone Qualcomm has powerd more than 700 devices including featured phones, smartphones, personal TV devices & smartbooks. You may not know that the phone you use everyday has qualcomm chip inside as its brains. Starting next year (Q2 2010) you will see slew of smartbooks (aka netbooks) in electronic retail shops like best-buy with Qualcomm Inside snapdragon platform.

Below video is of qualcomm's high end graphics chip which uses advanced nano-meter CMOS technology. Multimedia at Qualcomm is the key priority for us. Me & my team have been developing some of the hi-definition driver display Intellectual Property (IP), 12 MP+ camera IP & HDMI video capability.


Meet the smartbook from Qualcomm -- It uses 1.2GHz applications processor, integrated GPS, bluetooth, wi-fi connectivity, mobile broadband, rich multimedia, no external fans as it dissipates miniscule power, lasts 10+ hrs of high end multimedia video watch time, so no need to charge your battery even for a transatlantic flight. It's called a snapdragon platform.


Qualcomm Partner Success Stories
INQ mobile


Verizon Wireless


Qualcomm's FloTV Personal TV Device: Mobile TV with integrated speakers, sub-2sec channel change time, capability to switch to incoming calls for phones enabled by Media-Flo technology


Qualcomm's Gobi 3G embedded multiband, multimode wireless chipsets; Enabling true mobility around the globe


Qualcomm's mirasol display technology-- Truly MEMS based reflective technology, consumes 70% less power compared to traditional LCD display technology means less frequent battery charging, doesn't need refresh of the screen unless there is a change in the content, no need to shadow your display with hands in bright sunlight, color quality is like natural true colors

9 C's of Leadership by Lee Iacocca

I was reading a book 'Where have all the leaders gone?' by legendary ex-ford/chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca in which he explains essential ingredients of a leader. He coins it as 9 c's of leadership. Here is what he says.

1. A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the 'Yes, sir' crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place. If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care.

2. A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know, think outside the box. Leadership is all about managing change -- whether you're leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative. You adapt.

3. A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I'm not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I'm talking about facing reality and telling the truth. Even if the truth is painful you need to say it as is without fear.

4. A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, 'If you want to test a man's character, give him power.'

5. A leader must have COURAGE. I'm talking about balls. (That even goes for female leaders.) Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk isn't courage. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk.

6. To be a leader you've got to have CONVICTION -- a fire in your belly. You've got to have passion. You've got to really want to get something done.

7. A leader should have CHARISMA. I'm not talking about being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him. That's my definition of charisma.

8. A leader has to be COMPETENT. That seems obvious, doesn't it? You've got to know what you're doing. More important than that, you've got to surround yourself with people who know what they're doing.

9. You can't be a leader if you don't have COMMON SENSE. In essence you can't even dream of being ahead of the pack if you don't have commonsense and can't distinguish between a bull shit & vanilla drop

THE BIGGEST C IS CRISIS. Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis.

Lee Iacocca goes on saying these are guiding principles which you must apply to every situation. Where does 'CHANGE' stand in the above C's. Looks like Barack Obama has most of the above C's and has intelligently used 'CHANGE' as well to lead this 2008 US Presidential election. Does talking about 'CHANGE' make you a leader? That's for you to decide.

Kedar Shinde, The Rising Marathi Film Director

Marathi Cinema has witnessed Golden Era in its 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s when great actors and directors like V Shantaram, Bhalji Pendharkar, Acharya Atre, G.D. Madgulkar, Dada Kondke, Ashok Saraf & Laxmikant Berde to name a few contributed in its creation. Marathi Cinema had its own place in Maharashtra & especially in villages of Maharashtra. With no dearth of creativity & a staunch support by Maharashtra Govt, this theatre made its mark at the national level. Then came late 90s where the theatre started seeing its debacle with no production of quality marathi films, marathi songs & overall lackluster in its own youth about marathi. The proximity to Hindi Cinema (Bollywood) made things worst. Bollywood started encroaching on the identity of marathi cinema. But in recent few years things have been changing. The theatre has produced not only nationally acclaimed movies but many more commercially successful movies. Marathi Television is also getting vibrant once again & providing stage to thousands of artist throughout Maharashtra. One person has been strikingly noticeable in this revived marthi theatre, Kedar Shinde. He has been producing, directing, writing some blockbuster marathi movies. Some of his hit movies are "Aga Bai Arechha", "Yanda Kartavya Ahe", "Majha Navra Tujhi Bayako", "Mukkam Post London", Bakula Namdev Ghotale", "Galgale Nighale". He has been masterfully depicting the marathi life & its subtleties. Even the comedy is so genuine and at times throwing light on the plight of our social life. When people see images resonating with their life & inner anguish about societal degeneration the movie naturally gets overwhelming response. He has tapped that intelligently & is coming up with even more brand new productions. In his movie Aga Bai Arechha, he has so artfully utilized the devotional prayer of God durga (Aarti); "Duge Durgat Bhari". I haven't seen the use of aarti to effectively show the excitement amongst women in any marathi movie. I am sure Kedar Shinde will continue to provide much needed entertainment to marathi people. The theatre has enormous influence on its followers and should be used to eliminate corrupt mentality for econmic & social well-being of all Maharashtrians. Great Job done so far..... Here are some exciting links to his work.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hZrmH0RDSY (Hillarious Marathi Ballad) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL9r5tq3ksk (Man Udhan Varyache, Beautiful song from his film Aga Bai Arechha) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-ySIO0W5Vs (Durge Durgat Bhari, Another nice song from Aga Bai Arechha) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H7Ou1IQaA4 (Malhar Varri, Aga Bai Arechha)

Role of Global Indians in Rising India

Certainly India is the most successful country since the rise of globalization 3.0 era which has flattened the world nobody ever imagined. No other country has been able to match the ascendancy of India. Even the nation's founders could not have imagined the prospects of the wealthier & more fulfilling life that awaits in her destiny. The founder's were right in sowing the seeds of high quality education system in the fibre of the country which helped create world class Engineering & Management Institutes. But the socialist environment shackled the dreams of those bright engineers once they graduated from these institutes. For many it was a nightmare to find jobs. Very few managed to escape to the western countries & most lamented on the docks of Bombay & Calcutta. Then came 1991, when India opened her economy. That gave its citizens the chance to fulfill their dreams. Thousands flew to the US, Europe & many more places around the world. Some policy makers started complaining that we are having a brain drain. In a way they were right, the subsidized education made possible by the Indian tax payers' money was not helping India, rather its benefits were exploited by foreign companies. But in capitalist world everything is free flowing and there will be time when those same NRIs will start giving back to the nation. That's precisely what is happening. Once called brain drain now is called brain gain. I came to the US (as many of my friends) to pursue my advanced engineering education. The quality & intellectual rigour of my engineering education in India provided a strong preparation for the discipline required by the US school. India's economy & the global economy would need the very sharpest thinking of the "best & the brightest". Those skills would be required in engineering, high technology, finance, health care and management. Indians who live abroad today have a greater role to play to strengthen India and help all Indians become the very best they can possibly be. Indian diaspora abroad is a powerful resource for building the strong nation. India's global citizens who are equipped with advanced education and higher skills have a pivotal role to play in nation building. As India's economic growth continues there will be time when the socially advantaged class of people like us will have to uplift poverty stricken masses & integrate them in main society. If those poor people can not enjoy the success of this rapid wealth generation we will all fail The only realistic response to such chronic poverty and civic disorganization is to pursue policies & paths that will help create jobs and generate wealth and then to devise ways to distribute that wealth throughout society. For that India needs 5 Sonys, 5 Intels , 5 Samsungs of its own. There should be sensible public private partnership & the process of reforms should not only continue, but should happen with more bold steps taken in opening the economy. Inventions & innovations happen only in capital free markets. Indians living oversea are today contributing to create stronger companies and institutions abroad which can then do business with India based partners. Indians are thus taking part, at home & abroad, in a healthy phase of globalization which can enrich both developing nations & the already wealthy developed ones. Both global & home based Indians, enjoying the success in the global economy, will soon be positioned to reap full measures of benefits from their talent, creativity and enterprise. With this new found prosperity comes new responsibility to help build stronger India. By committing ourselves to that goal would help lifting India into the leadership ranks among prosperous nations.

Verizon's open network move

Last week Verizon wireless declared that it will open its network for any compatible device starting sometime next year. Verizon hasn't published the exact nature about this openness but in general this is a great move by the US carrier. In Europe & Asia carriers already allow their customers to choose compatible devices from variety of handset makers & have custom made applications running on those devices. It's like choosing your own computer & plugging it to the Internet with any applications running on it. Though in the US; there are 2 camps of wireless technologies. One running on CDMA & the second on GSM. Among the dominant US carriers Sprint & Verizon use CDMA while AT&T uses GSM technology. So only CDMA devices will be able to operate on Verizon network. In Europe & Asia, GSM being the dominant technology you can roam in those countries by just changing the SIM card. But as 3G (3rd Generation) & 4G (4th Generation) technologies evolve it's not about voice anymore, but its also about data. One of the main advantages of 3G networks is mobile broadband so you can bring desktop experience on your cellphone. There are already GHz application processors going into cell phones & your cell phones are becoming your mobile computers rendering voice, Internet surfing, productivity applications, Mobile TV, gaming & mobile wallet experiences to us. There is convergence of GSM & CDMA technologies for 3G & 4G (called WCDMA & LTE respectively), which means 4G devices working on Verizon network will also work on Vodafone Europe network & on Bharti Airtel India network delivering seamless roaming experience around the world. Google has already unleashed its open source Android platform for cell phones. The combined pressure of Goggle & Verizon will further foster open source software & hardware development for wireless standards. This would ignite the new wave of innovation & allow anyone to build a phone in their basement, put some new apps on it & get it out on the network. There are some roadblocks in the short term. Currently the wholesale price of a cell phone sold to the carriers is around $220, it could cost an end user around $300. The carrier subsidises the device for you to give it free but in turn gets you to sign a 2-year contract. I guess consumers will continue to sign the contract for sometime in order to get free phones but this picture would change once low cost attractive handsets appear in the market, just as it happens in India. In general its a win-win situation for everyone in this domain & off course for us consumers..

Dollar Slide Continues

Currently US is the biggest exporter of inflation. Countries affected most are China & India. Both shining in BPO, IT & low cost manufacturing domains. Their phenomenal growth is partly due to the substantial low wage labor & high talent pool which attracts these countries as the ideal destination for moving businesses & doing business. As dollar drops they fear falling export & slowing economy. The low cost advantage is getting diluted. If you see from the US point of view it does want to see dollar falling gradually (though nobody is officially humming about it). That's why you don't see Federal Reserve intervening to control the dollar price. It increases US export & helps reduce its high trade deficit. It has its negatives of oil prices going high & in turn hurting the economy. But US knows that OPEC won't like to kill its golden goose & oil prices will have correction in the near term from its current high of $100/barrel. China & India are already making their efforts to control their currency valuations against US Dollar as they find no help from the US Fed. China's central bank, People's bank of China have already pumped in billions of Yuan in chines market to control the amount of the US Dollar in the market. Chinese have been on tight rope in balancing the currency valuation Vs the unwanted effect of rising inflation in the country. China's communist govt knows that growth is pivotal for the nation as any drop in growth would go against it & will have thousands of unemployed workers on the street. China has to maintain the min 8+% economic growth. So far China has been successfull as you can see china's currency to appraise against dollar by only 2% compared to Euro & Canadian dollar rise of more than 40% Take the case of India. Indian central bank, The Reserve Bank of India, has so far spent $3.5bn to control rupees strength against dollar, but still has not been able to control its rise. The rupee has gained almost 20% against US dollar. As an investor the what can we do to hedge against falling dollar? There are many options. Invest in gold (historically as US dollar goes down gold goes up, so true paper currency has no value compared to precious metal), Invest some percentage of your US Dollar savings in Australian or Euro currency. You can also invest in US funds with focus on overseas market as those funds will outperform the S&P and DJ Index, but in this case any gain in the portfolio will be eroded by the further fall in US dollar. Its a chicken & egg as long as you are fully invested in US Dollars. It would be interesting to see how far this slide goes.....

Crazy Inventions -- Churn Baby Churn

Some of the cool, crazy inventions I came across the web....Though crazy I certainly see Curve Jumping (Guy Kawasaki way of innovation).....If you would like to share your crazy ideas or the ones you recently came across please don't hesitate to send me an e-mail...

Solar Cigarette Lighter

Portable Office Tie

concealed shoe case......

My view is the best view.......

shower to shower.....

sardi se pareshan....head-on roll :-)

convenient portable butter stick ...now available at your neighbourhood post office :-)

Khetan noodle fan :-)

State of Immigration In The States...

Recently there was an announcement by America's toy behemoth, Toy's R Us, that they will award a US bond certificate of $25,000 to the 1st american baby born in 2007. Toy's R Us indeed finds the winner in baby girl, Yuki Lin, born on the stroke of the mid-night on New Year at New York downtown hospital. Yuki Lin, an american chinese baby girl wins the sweepstakes. But here comes the twist. Toys R Us finds that the mother of Yuki Lin is not an american resident. The fineprints of the sweepstakes mention (really in fine prints) that the parents must be US residents. Baby Yuki is deprived of her winning & gets $100 in gift certificate with basket of flowers. The grand prize goes to the runner up who is born 19 seconds after Yuki. Now you keep wondering despite being American Citizen why is Yuki deprived of her winning status? Isn't that money going to help her in her education? Is it fare to judge her by her mother's legal status? Welcome to the world of immigration! We have so many barriers, boundaries, lines of control between nations that world peace is a fantacy now. Every human being deserves the opportunity to earn his bread & make a better life for his family. There are 12 million illegal immigrants in the US right now. Why are they there? Not to wage a war but to win the bread for their family. They help keep the prices low by providing low wage services. A father from mexico is desparately trying to cross the border & enter US because he wants to provide better education to his kids. In 1870s chinese immigrants built rail-roads in americas. Then came the chinese exclusion act to omit them from citizenship act. Same thing happened with Japanese & Phillipinos. They were used & when came the time to reward them, give them benefits, immigration monster woke up, they got excluded. All these immigrants have a common dream. To make better life for them & their families. Is that a crime? Will they have a happy end to their story?