We were looking for a place to relax away from work. After some consultation and research on the web I finally decided to go to a resort in coorg (near Madikeri)....it’s called Orange County.
Orange County is 35 kms from Madikeri city, 245 kms from Bangalore and 100 Kms from Mysore. To reach there from Bangalore take Mysore Highway - Ramnagaram - Maddur - Mandya - Srirangapatna (4 Kms from town turn Right towards Elivala) - Elivala - Hunsur - Periyapatna (1/2 km after town turn left towards Siddapura) - 3 kms before Siddapura town, turn right for Orange County, Coorg. Orange County is bordered by the river Cauvery, this 300 acre working plantation resort which gives you the most luxurious stay in the deep forests and the mystic mountains. It is called “spirit of the land”.
There is an Orange County office in Bangalore on Museum road. I went to enquire about the tariff’s and facilities at the resort. The first step into the office gave me an idea of the treatment we would receive at the resort. The hospitality and care they took all the time I was in the office was appreciable. The unique office space made from bamboo and the ambience did not give me a second chance to think of anything else. I went into the office for a final enquiry, but ended up paying the complete package amount and booking a Private Pool Villa at the resort :-). But I was still bit worried about the treatment and value for money we would get at the resort.
Finally the day came and we started our journey by taxi. We left early morning 6AM from our home and reached the resort at 11:30AM. The shortest route is bit complicated but for our luck our driver had visited the resort earlier. If you take the right way you will find the directions to the resort all the way from Srirangapatna (100kms).
The moment we entered the resort we felt the warmth from the cleanliness. We got a sweet surprise when we got down from our Taxi…A grand welcome for the newlywed couples in the way of a band with a nadaswaram group performing exclusively for us. Then the Aarathi welcome from the reception counter. We were seated and were given coffee till the formalities were over. Then they gave a complimentary gift packs containing a T-shirt for each, a local made coffee powder, an umbrella. After the coffee they asked us to leave all our baggage at the reception and took us to our villa on a Buggie (An electric car similar to the one used buy Golfers). This is one way to show the eco-friendliness.
The lady guided us to the villa and opened the door. The aroma surrounding the villa was so pleasant that it made us dizzy and made all the stress of the 250 Km journey vanish. It was the aroma of the lemon grass surrounding the villa. The lady explained all about the villa and the details of the TV, Coffee Maker, Swimming Pool and everything so patiently while making us seated. They literally made us feel King and Queen. As she left the room we were still enjoying the pleasant aroma around us. The whole villa is in 3500 Sq Area including the swimming pool. The perfection in building the villa to a minute detail is simply amazing. Everything that you can see in the villa is made out to perfection. The use of teak wood, the use of bamboos, the tables, chair all in traditional style. On the other hand we have modern coffee maker, fridge, 32” Flat screen TV with digital channels, The Jacuzzi attached to the swimming pool, the bath room attached with a garden ….everything was skillfully done. That’s when we decided that it’s every penny worth.
The resort is spread across 32 acres of lush green forest with tall trees perched with herbs and spice plants all around and perfectly laid roads and pathways to move around. There is a lake within the resort with boating facility. You get the aroma of medicinal & spice plants all around the resort. There are many activities to join in the resort..like the Spice tour , bird watching, boating and safari. We did not opt for any because of the schedule in the early morning. Every day the resort arranges some games and activities at an open ground. We attended a kodagu (local tribes) dance and we played some indoor games. They also made all the couples play a game of hat exchange …..It was fun. The only other activity we did was a walk to the Cauvery river banks ….as the river had swollen there was no coracle rides.
The most attractive part of the resort is the cleanliness. You will feel the freshness all the time. Then again your villa will be kept so clean that you never like to go out at all. Every day the villa is cleaned and all the items are replaced like the fruits, dry fruits, cookies. All these items are of the best quality and taste is the best you can imagine. Especially the fruits are exotic and really fresh and sweet. Then they give packs of roasted cashews everyday and they are just superb.
Every resort employee at the resort is friendly and will wish you “Namaskara” with a smile every time you meet them around the resort. For sure it’s not a namesake smile but a heartfelt one.
The resort has some 48 rooms for stay. There are 4 types County cottage, Luxury tent, Private Pool Villa and Presidential suite. We stayed at Private Pool Villa which had a huge living space and a bed room with a swimming pool. County cottage is a cheaper version with a single living space. Luxury tent give an experience of living in a camp which has no TV. Presidential suites are for complete family stay.
Orange County has 3 restaurants to choose from…The Granary, The Plantain Leaf and The Pepper Corn. The Granary severs in buffet style while others are service based and need prior appointments. After a short nap on day one we went for lunch at Granary. The ambience and the warm welcome we got made us feel at home. We had never seen such a variety of food at one place …right from starters to desserts. The menu was familiar but the taste was the best we ever had.
Then we took rest till evening and booked the night’s dinner at pepper corn another specialty restaurant at the resort. We had another sweet surprise from the resort in the way of a chocolate cake with “Happy Married Life” written on it. The cake was great and made our stay more special. Once it got dark the stay in resort seems to be like we are in no man’s land and the only company we have is the insects which make the creaking noise. At 8:30 we went to the restaurant where we found very limited menu but all were unique. We ordered some sizzler, curry and rotis and ended with a dessert….also we had a complimentary wine for us.
The next day we had a nice breakfast at the granary …once again a simple idly wada seemed so special. We had upma, dosas and many more items to select. We spent the rest of the day leisurely and I had cool swim for an hour after a grand lunch once again. We reserved a dinner at another specialty restaurant “Plantain Leaf”. Our experience at plantain leaf was special. All plates and utensils used for serving here are made from copper and look completely traditional and authentic to the core. The food was great and the live music from two traditionally dressed musicians was soothing.
The next day was the last day at the resort and we asked one of the employee (she actually looks after the coffee lounge at the resort and makes excellent coffee) to help my wife wear saari in traditional coorg style. My wife looked absolutely stunning in that style.
We checked out from the resort with warm farewell and we left the resort with lots of memories to cherish.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
The Indian IT industry
Courtesy: Another Blogger.
It's a topic that has been often debated - that India's tech industry is a lot like the Chinese manufacturing phenomenon - Low cost, reasonable quality, minimal innovation. I was an employee of a huge IT company in India and in two years developed certain opinions and concerns about the direction of India 's IT revolution.
Here's how Indian IT companies operate (Infy, TCS, wipro and the second string such as mastek, satyam, patni etc). Hire engineers in bulk, never mind that they are not computer scientists or electrical engineers - if they can write a few lines of code in C/C++ and are academically decent, they're hired . After all, they dont need brilliant engineers - just people who will do as they are told and reasonably intelligent enough to get the client's work done, and bullshit their way out of it if they don't. They'll rarely make CAD software for Electrical engineering or mechanical engineering. Instead they will develop "end to end solutions" for banking, finance, inventory management, website development, etc. By develop I mean code, not design - there is a huge difference between the two, something which I will touch upon shortly. One important thing to note is that the HR in most IT companies dont give a damn about individual interests. They will put you wherever they need someone to slog for them . I've had one HR person tell me that they will put me in a project where they get maximum money, regar d less if I am interested or not. And they wonder why so many people leave!!!
What is the nature of the work? At least 70% of the international projects in most indian IT companies is maintenence - i.e someone else has already developed an application.. All you need to do is add more features/change behaviour as per client's request . Then there's production support, which is worse. It is almost call-center work - ensure that the application runs normally and if it fails, get it up and running ASAP. Take calls from the client, update on the status. In a sense, like a car mechanic - I didnt get an engineering degree to be a car mechanic - I got it to design the car! Finally, if you are lucky you get development - write code.. But then, writing code is easy - it is like manufacturing a car. What is not, is designing a system that works efficiently. Typically, foreign clients get the design done by the likes of Accenture, IBM, etc. The designs are then sent to desi companies, who actually do the coding at a cost much cheaper than IBM or accenture. Thus, all we do is donkey work. It is not technology - it is programming. Technology is a new idea, paradigm or design - programming is implementing that design. Thus, most of the people in IT waste their engineering degrees, doing mundane programming, until they are made project managers - after which they spend their lives approving timesheets, conducting appraisals and sucking up to the client . Wait a second - shouldnt an experienced IT professional be doing advanced stuff and leave the bullshitting to MBAs?
Why is it so hard for desi companies to do design? The've not tried hard enough (yet) to get into this space. They just dont have the competence to get the job done. Desi companies are amazing at procedure oriented projects - if there is a procedure in place telling us what to do, we can do it. They dont have the experience (and therefore the brand equity) to attract IT consulting projects. Consulting is largely a reputation driven business. In order to build such a reputation, desi companies need to hire high-flying consulants - they dont come cheap. Even after all this, there is no guarantee of results! (Lately, Infy is trying to get into this space, I'm told, so good luck to them. I dont think TCS is though :-)) How many software products come out of Indian cos? IFlex is the only company to have a product successful worldwide. Making products is expensive and again, there is no guarantee of success - why risk it when services give me an assured income?
Why do we need to get into high end IT - consulting and products? Simply because the algorithm of low cost, low margin services will run it's course in the future. As payscales rise in india and the rupee appreciating wrt the dollar, margins become more and more slim. In time, India may not be as competitive as say Brasil or Russia - the American cos will take their projects out there! U can see trends in the manufacturing sector - earlier Taiwan was the manufacturing base for American cos, then SouthKorea and then these days, China For too long have we been stuck in the procedure oriented IT services. It is time to invest in consulting and products, and take Indian IT to the next level, or else I fear we will remain stuck in this low end nonsense.
. Indian companies thus have 2 choices - identify and set shop in countries where the low cost, low margin algorithm can be applied (TCS seems to be taking this route) or enter into high end IT, which is independent of geography (Which Infy is trying) . I believe the latter is the better route - it is a high margin business and reasonably high tech. What is even better, is coming up with technology - like Java, efficient databases, advanced operating systems (Like Sun, Oracle or Microsoft). That is real tech. It's not that we can't do it. It's just that we dont want to risk it . But, nothing venture, nothing have! Desi companies' dont even do proper R&D!
Finally, a true story. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) was huge in the chip manufacturing industry, making almost 60% profit. T h ey could have got into chip design, and potentially, designed low cost chips. However, design is a risky business - what if the chip bombs? TSMC chose to stick to it's core competence - fabrication. In time, TSMC's profits have declined to 20% or so... they're still number one, but don't make as much money as they used to... Are we learning yet?
It's a topic that has been often debated - that India's tech industry is a lot like the Chinese manufacturing phenomenon - Low cost, reasonable quality, minimal innovation. I was an employee of a huge IT company in India and in two years developed certain opinions and concerns about the direction of India 's IT revolution.
Here's how Indian IT companies operate (Infy, TCS, wipro and the second string such as mastek, satyam, patni etc). Hire engineers in bulk, never mind that they are not computer scientists or electrical engineers - if they can write a few lines of code in C/C++ and are academically decent, they're hired . After all, they dont need brilliant engineers - just people who will do as they are told and reasonably intelligent enough to get the client's work done, and bullshit their way out of it if they don't. They'll rarely make CAD software for Electrical engineering or mechanical engineering. Instead they will develop "end to end solutions" for banking, finance, inventory management, website development, etc. By develop I mean code, not design - there is a huge difference between the two, something which I will touch upon shortly. One important thing to note is that the HR in most IT companies dont give a damn about individual interests. They will put you wherever they need someone to slog for them . I've had one HR person tell me that they will put me in a project where they get maximum money, regar d less if I am interested or not. And they wonder why so many people leave!!!
What is the nature of the work? At least 70% of the international projects in most indian IT companies is maintenence - i.e someone else has already developed an application.. All you need to do is add more features/change behaviour as per client's request . Then there's production support, which is worse. It is almost call-center work - ensure that the application runs normally and if it fails, get it up and running ASAP. Take calls from the client, update on the status. In a sense, like a car mechanic - I didnt get an engineering degree to be a car mechanic - I got it to design the car! Finally, if you are lucky you get development - write code.. But then, writing code is easy - it is like manufacturing a car. What is not, is designing a system that works efficiently. Typically, foreign clients get the design done by the likes of Accenture, IBM, etc. The designs are then sent to desi companies, who actually do the coding at a cost much cheaper than IBM or accenture. Thus, all we do is donkey work. It is not technology - it is programming. Technology is a new idea, paradigm or design - programming is implementing that design. Thus, most of the people in IT waste their engineering degrees, doing mundane programming, until they are made project managers - after which they spend their lives approving timesheets, conducting appraisals and sucking up to the client . Wait a second - shouldnt an experienced IT professional be doing advanced stuff and leave the bullshitting to MBAs?
Why is it so hard for desi companies to do design? The've not tried hard enough (yet) to get into this space. They just dont have the competence to get the job done. Desi companies are amazing at procedure oriented projects - if there is a procedure in place telling us what to do, we can do it. They dont have the experience (and therefore the brand equity) to attract IT consulting projects. Consulting is largely a reputation driven business. In order to build such a reputation, desi companies need to hire high-flying consulants - they dont come cheap. Even after all this, there is no guarantee of results! (Lately, Infy is trying to get into this space, I'm told, so good luck to them. I dont think TCS is though :-)) How many software products come out of Indian cos? IFlex is the only company to have a product successful worldwide. Making products is expensive and again, there is no guarantee of success - why risk it when services give me an assured income?
Why do we need to get into high end IT - consulting and products? Simply because the algorithm of low cost, low margin services will run it's course in the future. As payscales rise in india and the rupee appreciating wrt the dollar, margins become more and more slim. In time, India may not be as competitive as say Brasil or Russia - the American cos will take their projects out there! U can see trends in the manufacturing sector - earlier Taiwan was the manufacturing base for American cos, then SouthKorea and then these days, China For too long have we been stuck in the procedure oriented IT services. It is time to invest in consulting and products, and take Indian IT to the next level, or else I fear we will remain stuck in this low end nonsense.
. Indian companies thus have 2 choices - identify and set shop in countries where the low cost, low margin algorithm can be applied (TCS seems to be taking this route) or enter into high end IT, which is independent of geography (Which Infy is trying) . I believe the latter is the better route - it is a high margin business and reasonably high tech. What is even better, is coming up with technology - like Java, efficient databases, advanced operating systems (Like Sun, Oracle or Microsoft). That is real tech. It's not that we can't do it. It's just that we dont want to risk it . But, nothing venture, nothing have! Desi companies' dont even do proper R&D!
Finally, a true story. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) was huge in the chip manufacturing industry, making almost 60% profit. T h ey could have got into chip design, and potentially, designed low cost chips. However, design is a risky business - what if the chip bombs? TSMC chose to stick to it's core competence - fabrication. In time, TSMC's profits have declined to 20% or so... they're still number one, but don't make as much money as they used to... Are we learning yet?
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The Indian Election - As in New York Times
It is truly the greatest show on Earth, an ode to a diverse and democratic ethos, where 700 million+ of humanity vote, providing their small part in directing their ancient civilization into the future. It is no less impressive when done in a neighborhood which includes de-stabilizing and violent Pakistan, China, and Burma.
Its challenges are immense, more so probably than anywhere else, particularly in development and fending off terrorism -- but considering these challenges and its neighbors, it is even more astounding that the most diverse nation on Earth, with hundreds of languages, all religions and cultures, is not only surviving, but thriving.
The nation where Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism were born, which is the second largest Muslim nation on Earth; where Christianity has existed for 2000 years; where the oldest Jewish synagogues and Jewish communities have resided since the Romans burnt their 2nd temple; where the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile reside; where the Zorostrians from Persia have thrived since being thrown out of their ancient homeland; where Armenians and Syrians and many others have to come live; where the Paris-based OECD said was the largest economy on Earth 1500 of the last 2000 years, including the 2nd largest only 200 years ago; where 3 Muslim Presidents have been elected, where a Sikh is Prime Minister and the head of the ruling party a Catholic Italian woman, where the President is also a women, succeeding a Muslim President who as a rocket scientist was a hero in the nation; where a booming economy is lifting 40 million out of poverty each year and is expected to have the majority of its population in the middle class, already equal to the entire US population, by 2025; where its optimism and vibrancy is manifested in its movies, arts, economic growth, and voting, despite all the incredible challenges and hardships; where all the great powers are vying for influence, as it itself finds its place in the world.
Where all of this is happening, is India, and as greater than 1/10 of humanity gets ready to vote, it is an inspiration to all the World.
Its challenges are immense, more so probably than anywhere else, particularly in development and fending off terrorism -- but considering these challenges and its neighbors, it is even more astounding that the most diverse nation on Earth, with hundreds of languages, all religions and cultures, is not only surviving, but thriving.
The nation where Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism were born, which is the second largest Muslim nation on Earth; where Christianity has existed for 2000 years; where the oldest Jewish synagogues and Jewish communities have resided since the Romans burnt their 2nd temple; where the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile reside; where the Zorostrians from Persia have thrived since being thrown out of their ancient homeland; where Armenians and Syrians and many others have to come live; where the Paris-based OECD said was the largest economy on Earth 1500 of the last 2000 years, including the 2nd largest only 200 years ago; where 3 Muslim Presidents have been elected, where a Sikh is Prime Minister and the head of the ruling party a Catholic Italian woman, where the President is also a women, succeeding a Muslim President who as a rocket scientist was a hero in the nation; where a booming economy is lifting 40 million out of poverty each year and is expected to have the majority of its population in the middle class, already equal to the entire US population, by 2025; where its optimism and vibrancy is manifested in its movies, arts, economic growth, and voting, despite all the incredible challenges and hardships; where all the great powers are vying for influence, as it itself finds its place in the world.
Where all of this is happening, is India, and as greater than 1/10 of humanity gets ready to vote, it is an inspiration to all the World.
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