Yarcha gumba, make 450’000 Rs in a week

We have six security guards in the layout. All of them are from Nepal. Yesterday two of them asked leave for two month. I was surprised as it would be very cold and snowing in their place now. While checking with them one of them told me that he is going to collect insects. I got curious. Gave a bit of talk and asked him about the insect.

He told me that there is an insect found in the grass in this season which they would go and collect. This is sold in the market for high price. One Kg of this insect is sold for 100'000 India rupees. He said that it is not allowed to bring in to India, as it has got high price in India. He continued saying that these insects are not killed if found alive. It head is broken and found between the grass.

He continued to say many stories about this insect which attracted my interest to know what it is. Asked a few people but, none of them had idea on any such insect. I thought that the guy might have been saying something. But why should he be saying something?? Let me google it. I searched with all the names which he told me, but did not find any thing. It is also that the accent in which they speak pronounce some other word for some other. I continued searching to find this interesting information about Yarcha. Caterpillar fungi are the result of a parasitic relationship between the fungus and the larva of the ghost moth genus Thitarodes, several species of which live on the Tibetan Plateau (Tibet, Qinghai, West-Sichuan, SW-Gansu & NW Yunnan, all in China, and the Himalayas India, Nepal, Bhutan). The fungus germinates in living organisms (in some cases the larvae), kills and mummifies the insect, and then the fungus grows from the body of the insect.

Ophiocordyceps sinensis is known in the West as a medicinal mushroom and its use has a long history in Traditional Chinese medicine as well as Traditional Tibetan medicine. The hand-collected fungus-caterpillar combination is valued by herbalists and as a status symbol;[3] it is used as an aphrodisiac and treatment for ailments such as fatigue and cancer, although such use is mainly based on traditional Chinese medicine, anecdote, and a limited amount of research. Clinical trials have not established its efficacy.

The fungus is a medicinal mushroom which is highly prized by practitioners of Tibetan medicine, Chinese medicine and traditional Folk medicines, in which it is used as an aphrodisiac and as a treatment for a variety of ailments from fatigue to cancer. It is regarded as having an excellent balance of yin and yang as it is apparently both animal and vegetable (though it is in actuality not vegetable, but fungi). Assays have found that Ophiocordyceps species produce many pharmacologically active substances. They are now cultivated on an industrial scale for their medicinal value. However, no one succeeded so far growing the larva cum mushroom artificially. All artificial products are derived from mycellium grown on grains or in liquids.

Read more about this in Ophiocordyceps sinensis in Wikipedia

A great evening in Logica

I depend on some one or the other to reach a bus stop in the evenings as there is no bus in this route after 5:30 in the evening. Sometimes I get lucky enough to be picked up by some of those people who stay near to my home. Yesterday it was the same. I got a call from Rajesh Jampana. Rajesh's house is near to my home. He works late in office most of the days. Whenever he leaves by six he checks with me if I wanted to join him. I reached him, near the gate where he was waiting for me. When I got into the vehicle, I got a call from Raghavaraju (Raju) one of my teammate. He said his tire got punctured in the parking and would need some help, if I am not in an urgent. I told Rajesh that I would take time and asked him to carry on by himself. I called Srinivas Shanmugam (Srini), our teammate, who normally drops me in a bus stop in his bike to wait for me. Srini was already in the parking with Raju.

I know how would Raju be feeling inside when he saw the tire of his car flattened when he wanted to go back home after a whole days work. It was the front tire which got flattened. We did not want to pull the car out because it might spoil the tube. There was only a small gap between the cars. We got the tools and were installing the Jacky. I was fixing the Jacky liver sitting in between the cars.

"Come on you can bring a little front and do it…". I heard a voice from my back. It was a very familiar voice. The voice sounded as if it came from a speaker. Or is it that I have heard this voice through a speaker many times which made me feel that it is from a speaker. My second conclusion was right. It is because I have heard this voice through speakers many times. I turned back to see Abhay Gupte, CEO of India standing with the HR Director Pramod Fernandes. "Nothing would happen if you bring it a few feets ahead", Abhay completed the sentence. Since I have already screwed Jacky I sat down to loosen it, so that Raju can take it a little forward. As there was not much space in between the cars, I was struggling to rotate the liver.

Abhay came and sat next to me on his legs and tried to show me how to do it easier. He took the liver from me and started rotating it. He then handed it over to me and I continued the work. To make all of us comfortable he then told us how he had to change the tire in the middle of a forest and that too in the night. I saw Pramod an old rallyiest watching us. I asked Pramod if he was going through his old memories of Rally days, Pramod said that he never in his life had to change a tire. Both of them stood there for some more time watching us. When they understood that we guys know what we are doing they left. Before leaving, Abhay came back to me and said, "Well the minimum time I have ever taken to change a tire is three minutes". This was a motivation factor for me to do it faster. We changed the tire. Srni and I said bye to Raju and left. Srini dropped me in a bus stop.

Abhay just changed the evening in to a so exciting one. It was so simple for him to change the mood of we people who were stressed. The greatness of a person is the simplicity he carries. I do not know, at least not heard of any CEO who has helped his employees changing a flat tire. His last minute comment of his record speed in changing the tire not just made me make the complete thing in a sporty way but also made me surprised to see a man who has checked the time even for changing the tire. When time becomes so important and when you start respecting the time, the rest of all the things follow. I remember that some were I have read that it is this which was also one of the reasons for Steve Jobs to become what he had become.

Great Parents Club Proved its Greatness

There is something great about the great parents club (GPC). This was clear when we all saw the crowd of one hundred plus people in the visitors dining room for the last GPC meet. The word great in the name of the club is added by Prabodh Sirur who said if you are aiming to make a great club the name itself should say that. This Logo is designed by Ravikant Rahul Pandey who made the objective of the club visible to the world by a simple and very meaningful logo. The most difficult part is administrating and continuously bringing the club to the next level to reach the expectations of the members. A great salute to Mukesh Rijhwani and Yash Save who took up the challenge to administrate the club. Mukesh was already doing similar things in the company. He is one of the few fathers in the company who have raised the concern of having the importance of paternity leave in the company.

Coming back to the event, Preetha Bhat made the event so exiting and made it so lively. I think each parent in the room would have agreed to what she had said or would also agree that she was doing all those talking for all the people in the room. The room was full of energy and parents were turning in to children. It was the feeling of owning a status of a proud father/mother which made all those people to actively participate in the meet. Everyone in the room had something or the other to say or to take away for their children. Inspired from the event I thought of adding one column in my blog "Model Child of the Week" where I would be publishing the pictures of children if some parent is interested in publishing. I would also add some of the comments of the GPC members who have send their comments. I would also thank Syntillations SIG to make such a wonderful event happen. People were so proud to be part of the event. And also so proud in wearing the t-shirt which had pictures of their child printed on it.

It was one of my objectives to when I became Special Interest Group Administrator of Syntillations in 2010 to make personalized clubs for people in Logica. This is when the importance of a parents club struck my mind and worked on making it. Talked to many people and nothing was actually happening. I would also thank Nandakumar Kirupanandam (Nandu), who gave me all support in making the clubs. This is when Prabodh Sirur came up with his initiative of making videos of children. The idea was that parents have got to spend time with children and prepare them to present about some subject. This made me talk to him and got some ideas from him. It is then he said the name needs to be great parents club and not just parents club. Even after that, the club was not getting formed in to a shape. This is when I remembered a person who went all the ways up to make Logica India understand about the importance of having Paternity leave option in India. This is none other than our favorite Mukesh Rijhwani. Once talking to him there was no stop. He was so exited in taking up this challenge. And the one great parent I know personally was Yash Save. Both of them made up a pack. When these two people took up the challenge of bringing up this club, there was no turning back. But there is nothing.

Any club becomes great by the people who manage the club and the way it is managed making it the way expected of much above expected by the members of the club. And of course the members of the club are the one who make it truly great. I wish the club a great success ahead.

Save, Yash	excellent
Pasupuleti, Dharmaveera	It is a good event, well organised.Wonderful Idea A big thanks to organisers and SYNTILLATIONS.
Gangadhikar, Arpitha	Thank you for organizing such an event. It was great to know about different things about kids and their upbringing.
Kottur, Satish Chandra	This is the first time I attended an event related to parents. It was a great experience. Administrators and hosts have done a great job. Looking forward attending more events from GPC which would help me in being a better parent. Thanks you very much.:)
Shukla, Reena	Its interesting :)
Bommineni, MohanKumar	It was so informative and helpful to brought up my child which don't know and not following some useful tips. Thank you very much for Preetha and Latha Srinivasan, especially for Mukesh and JO for organizing such an event. I hope this will be continuing like this in future also. Regards Mohan
Guruvareddy, Poongodi	It was a great event to be part of. It's very important in this mechanical world to have forum like this to discuss and share our feelings, suggestions about our children and see that we bring up them in the right manner. We don't live in big families to get to know lot about parenting in this Era. Only way is through such events.
Verma, Vivek	Well organised event and we should be doing it every month now onwards and should include the schools feedback and any good thing any parent has adopted for betterment of kid. Big tahnks to Mukesh, Yash Jo and Preetha.
Chebrolu, Taranath	Thank you all. it's a wonderful event. But I felt fewer topics. Preetha's presentation is very impressive. Gifts are good. Thank to everyone who has contributed in this event.
Nonis, Noreen	Excellent with lot of energy. Thanks for your effort.
Kannaiyan, Indumathi	Nice to see Logica parents at one place. Thanks to GPC administrators for organizing such a memorable event. Iam sure kids will be also happy to see the goodies and their pictures in T-Shirt. Overall very good initiative.
Ramakrishna, Deepa	I just joined yesterday and some of points for the parents are new learning experience for me. I really look forward to future events to more about parents and parenting. Thanks for everything
Ghosh Dastidar, Tania (GO IN Application Management)	It was wonderful  Thanks
Noordeen, Faisal	This was the first time I am partcipating this function. It was nice  experience for me. I wanted to join all the meetings in the future if convenient. Whishing you all success and be proud to be a great parent of my child
Balan, Sheeba	I loved the way this event turned out ... Good start, wish that we have more of these sessions. Kudos to Mukhesh and the team for organizing this event. Your efforts are highly appreciated !!!
Seetharama, Rakesh	Firstly, a very big thank you for all those you were involved in organising this infomative & fun event.
Dasari, Madhu	Really a very decent and fantastic show by the GPC and we all have a good bonding now together as parents and starting to build ourselves as GREAT parents in near future. Congrats to JO and Mukesh and Yash as well for making their imagination, thoughts, time and more important patience which makes great parents in making. Wishing them Great days ahead with more activities to come. Have a wonderful days. Madhu Dasari
A-KMI-PulipatiR	Very nice to see so many parents gather to know about the group, sure people are interested to know, learn and share experience. THANK YOU
Govindan, Venkatesan	Fantastic
Pallapothu, Bala	The event was nice and the first one for the new joiners. I expect to learn lot more things on parenting being a member of this. and Thank you All.
Dabadi, Shankar	I was able to attend only part of this presentation. I was really nice to have this type of programms where we come out of work and share information and enjoy.
Annamalai, Srinivasan	Very nice event.
Mathivanan, Karthik	One of the most active and the best community this year.. Keep it rocking
Kasireddy, Vinatha	It was great and happy to be part of it as a great parent
Salim, Sulfy	A nice program and informative too. Please share the videos, ppts if the copies are available. A big thanks to the Coordinators :)
Janardhanam, Bhuvaneswari	Wonderful Idea and thanks to GPC Team.
Meyyappan, Ramanathan	It was awonderful event. I enjoyed it. It was useful
Govindan, Venkatesan	Thanks lot  to you and SYNTILLATIONS for such events
Parambil, Prakash	Jomon, Thanks for the T-shirt, certificate and the chocolates which I collected from you.
Sirur, Prabodh	Great show; Hope more and more members start networking/ contributing.
Nair, Suraj	Congrats Mukesh, came to know that the event was a grand success.
Seshagiri, Balaji	Thanks a lot for organizing these events ….
Bhuyan, Subrat	I am not in Bangalore now..But I can feel the success of GPC.
Verma, Vivek	A big thanks to you and SYNTILLATIONS for organising such events.