It has been three years at MapmyIndia (www.mapmyindia.com) and it has been one helluva ride. Have helped the company enter the GPS navigation marketplace, involved in large mapping surveys, starting vehicle tracking and other related enterprise services, last but not the least, the kids are loving it.
I am all well settled in Bombay (again Mumbai for old timers), trying to learn Marathi (something I should have picked up when I was much younger), and have started enjoying the small pleasures of life in the neighborhood.
The little one has turned 5 and now debates about cricket with me, and the baby girl is growing up to be one cute brat (she loves to cry for everything, as she knows it works). Wife is working hard and is pushing for a new venture with her friend, called Treasure Books (www.treasurebooks.in), a quaint bookshop and activity center for small kids in Khar area (near Fab India off Linking Road). Hence all in all, life is hectic and fun.
I just went to Crawford market and checked out some interesting shops, which is something one should explore on a nice working day away from the headaches of office (btw suggestion to all, get rid of the blackberry and you will find life is more meaningful and interesting), check mails once a day or something like that.
Anyways, have to get back to some work, enjoy the posts, adios.
Shiva
Showing posts with label mapmyindia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mapmyindia. Show all posts
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Bombay Monsoons
Well here I am sitting on the computer on a lazy sunday afternoon. Had gone for a movie (Ice Age 3) with the kids, it was a pretty good movie, kids loved it. It is gently raining outside and after a long time I am really enjoying the day without any committments, no emails, no phone calls, no parties etc. Life should be like this.
So what all have I been up to, for starters, went and saw the complete Entourage Seasons (not sure how many of you have seen it), it comes on HBO and is really good. Have re-started listening to ColdPlay, i.e. getting new music and am reading Dale Carnegie / Warren Buffett / Nandan Nilekani.
Over the past 3 months, I have again involved myself into the Mapmyindia GPS navigators sales and have been actively pushing the sales of our new products along with my colleagues, I can actually see the market coming around and it is nice to see the hardwork paying off. Things I had done 2 years ago is now paying off and we are actually in market making mode.
Outside of sales, I am going to start core engineering i.e. learn how to work and repair cars, have also started programming (coding) for the kicks of it. Over-all in a sweet spot of life.
This past weekend, I went to Pune and loved the city, it is small and kinda sweet, unlike the big bad metropolitan Bombay/Mumbai where I live. Family is doing well. Kids have started soccer, dancing, chess etc.
More till later,
Namaste,
Shiva
So what all have I been up to, for starters, went and saw the complete Entourage Seasons (not sure how many of you have seen it), it comes on HBO and is really good. Have re-started listening to ColdPlay, i.e. getting new music and am reading Dale Carnegie / Warren Buffett / Nandan Nilekani.
Over the past 3 months, I have again involved myself into the Mapmyindia GPS navigators sales and have been actively pushing the sales of our new products along with my colleagues, I can actually see the market coming around and it is nice to see the hardwork paying off. Things I had done 2 years ago is now paying off and we are actually in market making mode.
Outside of sales, I am going to start core engineering i.e. learn how to work and repair cars, have also started programming (coding) for the kicks of it. Over-all in a sweet spot of life.
This past weekend, I went to Pune and loved the city, it is small and kinda sweet, unlike the big bad metropolitan Bombay/Mumbai where I live. Family is doing well. Kids have started soccer, dancing, chess etc.
More till later,
Namaste,
Shiva
Sunday, May 31, 2009
So I have moved again, this time to the eastern and new up coming area of Mumbai. Hopefully this will be a move where I will stay here for a while, but then never say never. This place reminds me of our place in Newport Pavonia, Jersey City, where used to live on the 22nd floor for a year. This place is similar only i get to see Nava Sheva port instead of downtown Manhattan. This area is fairly under developed part of Bombay and right now I am in the process of finding different places from where I can order food (have found Indian Chinese and Mughalai).
Kids are growing up really so fast and time flies. The older one is 4.5 years and the younger one is 2.5 years. The boy has taught himself how to watch movies on the DVD (still do not have cable at this house) and is good at arts and crafts. He enjoys to paint. The little one follows her brother and wants to everything that big bro does.
On the professional front, MapmyIndia is doing well, we have moved into a new office in Delhi and are quite growing. Have raised another round of funding from existing investors and Qualcomm Ventures. Work is interesting and over the past 2 odd years, have learned quite a bit how to sell in India. It is an artwork. My personal professional network has become quite significant as maps are licensed to folks from all walks of life.
Exercise and gym etc are all history and have given up on that, so putting on tonnes of weight. Dont see that changing in the near future. Travelling has reduced but it will resume next month, when the rains hit Bombay.
More later,
Adious,
Shiva
Kids are growing up really so fast and time flies. The older one is 4.5 years and the younger one is 2.5 years. The boy has taught himself how to watch movies on the DVD (still do not have cable at this house) and is good at arts and crafts. He enjoys to paint. The little one follows her brother and wants to everything that big bro does.
On the professional front, MapmyIndia is doing well, we have moved into a new office in Delhi and are quite growing. Have raised another round of funding from existing investors and Qualcomm Ventures. Work is interesting and over the past 2 odd years, have learned quite a bit how to sell in India. It is an artwork. My personal professional network has become quite significant as maps are licensed to folks from all walks of life.
Exercise and gym etc are all history and have given up on that, so putting on tonnes of weight. Dont see that changing in the near future. Travelling has reduced but it will resume next month, when the rains hit Bombay.
More later,
Adious,
Shiva
Thursday, January 29, 2009
2 years hence
It has been 2 years since I moved back to India and it has been a journey, have shifted houses, cities, office locations but it has been well worth it. As someone says life is a journey.
MapmyIndia, where I spend most of my waking hours is growing by leaps and bounds and in general the atmosphere around mapping/gps/navigation etc is doing extremely well. Marketplace is coming around.
Kids have grown up, the little boy has started speaking Bambiya Hindi - local flavour of bombay-hindi, little girl goes a quaint playschool in Mumbai and adjusting well.
This past new years we went to Matheran (a little hill station near bombay around 2 hour drive), where you have to drive upto a point and then leave your car ( you need to go horse back or walk), no cars allowed into the town (one of a kind in India). Kids had a ball of a time, and it is so dirt cheap (the entire trip cost only Rs5,000/- around 100USD) for a family of 4 four with a baby sitter (eating/loding etc all), nothing can be cheaper than that.
This past weekend we went to Sariska, a tiger forest reserve near Alwar (Rajasthan - 3 hour drive from Delhi). It was a great reserver but all the tigers have been killed, some months ago, government introduced 2 tigers hoping to rejuvenate the population. This was my first experience to a national park in India, and I must say it is really cool, should do more of these.
On a personal basis I have put on lots of weight and have become really lazy, as there are servants and helpers for all sorts of things and one does not have to even lift a finger (bed tea is served on a daily basis and i have not ironed my clothes in 2 years). Yes India is irritating at times, specially traffic (it SUCKS!!), if someone has to live in India, his/her commute time should be not more than 20 minutes. All in all, it is fun and I look forward to travelling more around India, now that my kids are a little bigger.
Namaste till next time,
Shiva
MapmyIndia, where I spend most of my waking hours is growing by leaps and bounds and in general the atmosphere around mapping/gps/navigation etc is doing extremely well. Marketplace is coming around.
Kids have grown up, the little boy has started speaking Bambiya Hindi - local flavour of bombay-hindi, little girl goes a quaint playschool in Mumbai and adjusting well.
This past new years we went to Matheran (a little hill station near bombay around 2 hour drive), where you have to drive upto a point and then leave your car ( you need to go horse back or walk), no cars allowed into the town (one of a kind in India). Kids had a ball of a time, and it is so dirt cheap (the entire trip cost only Rs5,000/- around 100USD) for a family of 4 four with a baby sitter (eating/loding etc all), nothing can be cheaper than that.
This past weekend we went to Sariska, a tiger forest reserve near Alwar (Rajasthan - 3 hour drive from Delhi). It was a great reserver but all the tigers have been killed, some months ago, government introduced 2 tigers hoping to rejuvenate the population. This was my first experience to a national park in India, and I must say it is really cool, should do more of these.
On a personal basis I have put on lots of weight and have become really lazy, as there are servants and helpers for all sorts of things and one does not have to even lift a finger (bed tea is served on a daily basis and i have not ironed my clothes in 2 years). Yes India is irritating at times, specially traffic (it SUCKS!!), if someone has to live in India, his/her commute time should be not more than 20 minutes. All in all, it is fun and I look forward to travelling more around India, now that my kids are a little bigger.
Namaste till next time,
Shiva
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Terrorism and Living in India
So what is new, I have been lazy about writing. This past few weeks have been quite eventful for India, where a small bunch of people held the area of South Bombay (Mumbai) hostage. It was a sad event and most of the news channels carried the event live on TV for 3 days (non-stop).
Well, we do not have events at this level, but in the recent past, Naxals have killed many policeman in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. There has been brutal violence in Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir/North East continues to see some sort of bombing, violence all the time. So what changed this time??
The attacks came on Rich people in one of the most coveted neighborhoods in India. I happen to part of this society and most of my friends and families are shell shocked. How could this happen?? Well wake up folks, it happens all the time, only for the 1st time it happened in your back yard. Television channels loved it as their TRP were falling and this really helped them boost viewerships.
You cannot imagine but the kind of advertising that went on through the broadcasts, heck I even got SMS from insurance companies to buy insurance when the hostage crises was going on. Another interesting thing, was that when all ended, many of the policemen on duty, picked up valuables from the dead (diamonds, earnings, watches etc). Again nothing new, happens all the time in J&K.
So what did I learn from this event, be careful and you never know when you might land up (wrong place at the wrong time). As Narshimha Rao used to say - "This too shall pass", I am sure it will if the upcoming cricket matches between India and England becomes interesting. The current Chief Minister (Leader of the state), lost his job for no fault of his, this event could have happened in any state of India, but his political detractors lost no time in getting him removed.
Indian's specially educated ones have to start voting in large numbers to swing elections (only 3% votes makes the difference between losing and winning). I urge folks who read my blog, to visit http://www.jaagore.com/main.php (Jaagore - A great initiative), to register. Please go out and vote and find the right leaders who can get India out of the mess.
Jai Hind and Jai India.
Regards,
Shiva
PS: Folks thinking about returning to India, now is a good time as US/European economy is on the verge of tanking and shutting shop. India is still hiring.
Well, we do not have events at this level, but in the recent past, Naxals have killed many policeman in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. There has been brutal violence in Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir/North East continues to see some sort of bombing, violence all the time. So what changed this time??
The attacks came on Rich people in one of the most coveted neighborhoods in India. I happen to part of this society and most of my friends and families are shell shocked. How could this happen?? Well wake up folks, it happens all the time, only for the 1st time it happened in your back yard. Television channels loved it as their TRP were falling and this really helped them boost viewerships.
You cannot imagine but the kind of advertising that went on through the broadcasts, heck I even got SMS from insurance companies to buy insurance when the hostage crises was going on. Another interesting thing, was that when all ended, many of the policemen on duty, picked up valuables from the dead (diamonds, earnings, watches etc). Again nothing new, happens all the time in J&K.
So what did I learn from this event, be careful and you never know when you might land up (wrong place at the wrong time). As Narshimha Rao used to say - "This too shall pass", I am sure it will if the upcoming cricket matches between India and England becomes interesting. The current Chief Minister (Leader of the state), lost his job for no fault of his, this event could have happened in any state of India, but his political detractors lost no time in getting him removed.
Indian's specially educated ones have to start voting in large numbers to swing elections (only 3% votes makes the difference between losing and winning). I urge folks who read my blog, to visit http://www.jaagore.com/main.php (Jaagore - A great initiative), to register. Please go out and vote and find the right leaders who can get India out of the mess.
Jai Hind and Jai India.
Regards,
Shiva
PS: Folks thinking about returning to India, now is a good time as US/European economy is on the verge of tanking and shutting shop. India is still hiring.
Monday, August 25, 2008
The month of August 2008
This has been a very slow month, with intermittent rains and broken roads. Heck I have barely traveled this month. India is burning in Inflation. We did great (better than before) in games, Cricket team is relegated to no where (did not watch even one match - even papers did not cover the matches in Detail), bomb blasts in various place, but on the personal front life has been slow.
I have made it a point to spend more time with family and better manage my time. I try and come home a bit early and am working from home from 10:30 to 12:30 in the night, catching up on mails etc. This is a good time as the kids are sleeping and there is no one to disturb. One thing that I still am not doing is going to the gym. Just have no enthusiasm for the same.
MapmyIndia (http://www.mapmyindia.com) is going good, we have made much progress in the enterprise world and are getting tonnes of traffic on our website. More and more people are becoming aware of the products that we have to offer. As long as we keen enhancing the products, we will keep growing in good numbers. Over-all the last 1.75 years have been rewarding, could have better managed the time, but then you move as the slowest person in your chain.
Little one is talking sentences now, the boy is learning marathi and has is keen to convince me that Bombay has gone and Mumbai has come and we should speak Marathi, which is not really a bad thing. The more the languages he learns the better. He was asking me what is Mandarin and how to understand the Olympics speeches??
We recently pest controlled our house and killed lots of cockroaches (yuck), the maid is very happy and she things her mission is accomplished (she had found the pest control folks). We have fired one of the drivers and it seems the other one is going the same way. Drivers are just so irritating in India even if you pay them high wages, they just cannot stick, not sure what to do about it.
At this point we are seeking our own place to move into (enough of renting been doing that for 3 years now). Wifey is gone beserk on the furniture and other items, I am like this too shall pass and we will get used to dirty walls :)
Anyways I am a bit tired and now think it is time to get some sleep. shall keep posting, in the meanwhile if anyone is in Bandra in Mumbai, they should try out Kakori kabab in the area, it is one of a kind and melts in your mouth.
thx,
Shiva
I have made it a point to spend more time with family and better manage my time. I try and come home a bit early and am working from home from 10:30 to 12:30 in the night, catching up on mails etc. This is a good time as the kids are sleeping and there is no one to disturb. One thing that I still am not doing is going to the gym. Just have no enthusiasm for the same.
MapmyIndia (http://www.mapmyindia.com) is going good, we have made much progress in the enterprise world and are getting tonnes of traffic on our website. More and more people are becoming aware of the products that we have to offer. As long as we keen enhancing the products, we will keep growing in good numbers. Over-all the last 1.75 years have been rewarding, could have better managed the time, but then you move as the slowest person in your chain.
Little one is talking sentences now, the boy is learning marathi and has is keen to convince me that Bombay has gone and Mumbai has come and we should speak Marathi, which is not really a bad thing. The more the languages he learns the better. He was asking me what is Mandarin and how to understand the Olympics speeches??
We recently pest controlled our house and killed lots of cockroaches (yuck), the maid is very happy and she things her mission is accomplished (she had found the pest control folks). We have fired one of the drivers and it seems the other one is going the same way. Drivers are just so irritating in India even if you pay them high wages, they just cannot stick, not sure what to do about it.
At this point we are seeking our own place to move into (enough of renting been doing that for 3 years now). Wifey is gone beserk on the furniture and other items, I am like this too shall pass and we will get used to dirty walls :)
Anyways I am a bit tired and now think it is time to get some sleep. shall keep posting, in the meanwhile if anyone is in Bandra in Mumbai, they should try out Kakori kabab in the area, it is one of a kind and melts in your mouth.
thx,
Shiva
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