Computing on Cloud 9

I happened to run into two live events on a technology topic this week. The topic is Cloud Computing, something that promises to stop companies from worrying about technology infrastructure and scaling it up. The first event involved an Amazon guy who made a strong pitch to IT Services companies to help them take this trend to their customers. The second event (held today) was a technology barcamp at Hyderabad. Two guys from Google talked about the Google App Engine (GAE), but I was more impressed by an unassuming entrepreneur who demoed Amazon Web Services (AWS) in action. Unfortunately his map making product is likely to be eclipsed by Google's Map Maker even before it hits the market. But he showed how AWS was far more flexible and powerful than GAE.

This trend is particularly relevant in Indian context as it has a potential create vast economies of scale in computing thereby making Information Technology accessible at low price points. IT adoption in India is at a world class level in the big corporates, but SMEs have not embraced it yet due to price and maintenance issues. Cloud Comupting could free up all of that and jumpstart the productivity of the Indian economy.

Chiru throws a party

Popular Telugu film star Chiranjeevi launched a political party with fanfare this month. Motives are to do-good and 'clean up' the much system. He claims former President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam as his inspiration among others. What remains to be seen is if his coterie of family and friends will help him in his or will they help themselves. People though seem willing to give him a chance.

This throws the political equations in the state of AP awry and no one knows who will win the elections next year. But having another strong regional party will definitely help the state; just see how Tamilnadu manages the federal setup no matter who is in power on either side.

Recovery and Run

The Sunday run took its toll on me as i ran without any water or an eat! The weather was not very cool either. Even after i got home, breakfast and refill were not on my mind. So the next four days I spent recovering from sore muscles and finally this morning went to Indira Park for a 6 km run. I am deliberately keeping my pace slow (it is anyway fairly slow) to avoid injury.

Rahul Varghese wrote a very nice article "Wake up call from Beijing" exhorting Indians to take up more running. See it here. I like his missionary zeal which was on display ten days ago at the Hyd Marathon.

Mangalampally Balamurali Live!

Last night i had a wonderful opportunity to listen to the legendary Mangalampally live at the Ravindra Bharati auditorium. I am not big into Carnatic music - cannot make out the nuances of ragas but can somewhat understand the language (mostly Telugu) and the devotion (Bhakti) that makes a composition. As a child, i grew up listening mostly to MS Subbulakhmi and Balamurali on the gramaphone record though i had no schooling in any form of music. My favourites composers are the famous Tyagaraja, Annamayya, Shyama Sastri and Ramadasu. Balamurali sang from the works of all of the above and more! The legend sang the famous 'Endaro Mahanubhavulu' upfront and later 'Paluke Bangaramayena' - two of my big time favourites!

At the beginning of the program, he was magnanimous enough to call Dr C Narayana Reddy as his manasika guru, one who inspired to him start writing compositions himself. He was also gracious enough to respond to the audience's requests. S Janaki requested 'Devi Brova Samayam Idhe' and he responded 'Idhena?' as if she herself was the 'Devi', before singing it. This somewhat contradicted a notion that he is a pompous artist; I found no traces of that yesterday.

My first run with "Hyderabad Runners"

Today i had an opportunity to run with the Hyd Runners group at KBR park. We did the inner loop (4km) first and then the outer loop (6km). The much more experienced runners (several had multiple marathons under their belt) were gracious enough to let me run along with them though i am still a rookie. Rajesh egged me on and pulled me through the inner loop of 4kms. They then took off for the outer loop and i followed, miserable most of the time but determined to finish. The outer loop was almost 6 kms and had several steep ups and downs (some were just steps with no trail). I was surprised to see a very beautiful lake hidden inside the park, from one of the peaks in the outer trail. Was happy to eventually finish in 1 hour 09 minutes.

Apple Mac gaining

Last week, I ran into two fairly successful professors who came from the US to Mysore to teach a course. What was common between them that they both used Apple Macbooks. That is not enough to make a trend per se, but I believe there is more to it than just coincidence.

The ipod has been setting scorching sales records and now it looks like Apple is also gaining on the computer sales front. Check this out to see that Apple is very strong on the retail sales front; Windows continues dominate OEM and institutional sales but Apple is approaching a critical mass. The Apple Mac ads have been a rage and now Microsoft is forced to counter them in a big way and has signed up Seinfeld himself for that!

Apple iStores have made their appearance in India - there is one in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - giving Indians a closer look at the sex appeal of an Apple Macbook Air, to pick just one product. Apple also made a big launch yesterday of the iPhone tying up with Airtel and Vodafone - two large telcos in India.

"It's not about the bike!"

One of the few books I have managed to finish rapidly in the recent past, is Lance Armstrong's autobiography "It's not about the bike". A hugely inspiring book - Lance makes no bones about how he grew up, raced, became a world champion, faced cancer, beat cancer, came back to win the Tour de France and became a father. I will soon cite some key snippets that impressed me the most. Lance's Texan style of writing is open, in the face yet friendly, and very transparent.

Would strongly recommend this book to anyone especially those Indian athletes now looking to beat the world post Beijing Olympics with London as the target.

Hyderabad Runners organise a great Marathon

The Hyderabad Runners group, led by the resourceful Rajesh Vetcha, organised a marathon run last week, in association with the Hyderabad 10k foundation. I got to do a bit of '"squirrel's service" (ఉడుత భక్తి) as a volunteer in the UOH leg of the race (a squirrel had deposited grains of sand when Lord Rama was building a bridge over the sea to Lanka).

The event pulled together about 600 runners from all over the world and included the Grey Hound contingent from AP Police too. A very well organized run that drew appreciation from one and all. Hoping for more such events in Hyd and I look forward to run in them in addition to cheering from the sidelines.