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Category: General

  • Final Sign-Off From Infostretch House!

    Final Sign-Off From Infostretch House!

    Final Sign-Off From Infostretch House!

    Infostretch House: The Glass Round Building On Rajpath Rangoli Road Is A Landmark Of Ahmedabad. 

    After Calling It Our Home For More Than A Decade, We Finally Say Goodbye To The Lovely Workplace. Emotional Day For Infoneers – Especially Ones Who Were Involved From Day One – People Like Me, Ayush, Kalpana, Vipul & Others Have Been Involved In The Making Of This Awesome Office – A House That We Literally Built Together!

    Infostretch House Created Memories Of Lifetime – We Laughed, We Danced, We Fought, We Cried, We Celebrated, We Grew! It Ignited Turning Points & Unleashed Our Growth – As We Emerge Bigger & Stronger As Apexon! 

    Apexon Moves To A Bigger, Better & Shinier Office In Ahmedabad – Watch Out For The New Address & Pics! 

    Sharing Some Pics Of The Last Working Day (July 28) & Some Pics Of The Nostalgic Journey. Interestingly, One Of My Cabins Is Now A Forensic Lab 

  • Sushri Dhirubahan Patel: A Divine Soul!

    Sushri Dhirubahan Patel: A Divine Soul!

    Sushri Dhirubahen Patel : A compassionate soul who spread love, warmth, positivity and sunshine.

    A literary legend, film writer, play writer, a Gandhian, translator, Gujaratilexicon and Bhagwadgomandal’s inspirational advisor, Gujarati Sahitya Parishad president, Gujarat Vishwakosh Trust’s key figure – she had many identities and she excelled in her role. Ketan Mehta’s famous Bhavni Bhavai was based on her book. She has created a rich body of Gujarati work and won several awards including Sahitya Academy Award. Dhirubahen Patel’s demise is a big loss for the Gujarat and Gujarati world.

    I was one of the lucky ones to be blessed by her divine company. Gujaratilexicon was instrumental in our introductions in Bombay and we worked on several projects. Her energy, her drive and her commitment to ensure a successful outcome for our projects was inspirational. Dhirubahen launched our landmark project Gujaratilexicon with her blessings in Jan 2006. The next work Digital Bhagwadogmandal was executed in a record 11 months and Dhirubahen launched it in Jan 2009. I fondly remember the interactions in Bombay, at her Santacruz home and trips to Rati Kaka’s house and our home.

    Over the years, we developed a strong bond and I and Komal were amazed by her briliance as well as simplicty. We relished her stories and anecdotes from her rich life – her interaction with Mahatma Gandhi, interesting events, interactions with film directors. Her wise counsel, warm interactions, maternal affection and pure unlimited love is something that I will miss forever. Komal and Dhirubahen spent a lot of time together recently and we cherish these moments.

    My final interaction with her was equally enlightening, She asked us to avoid serious talks. We agreed for quick QnA.

    What’s the fist thing you want to work on?

    Premium Gujarati Magazine

    What’s happiness?

    Living life thoroughly – Maximize every moment!

    What’s purpose of the life?

    Shrikhand (She loved it – A foodie at heart!)

    Do you believe in heaven?

    Heaven is here. Hell is here.

    Dhirubahen Patel – A life lived well. A life to celebrate. A spiritual soul.

    Dhuribahen – Rest in peace! Om Shanti Om Shanti Om Shanti

    #dhirubahenpatel#dhiurbahen#bhavnibhavai#gujarati#obituary

  • Gratitude – Travel In Corona Virus Times!

    Gratitude – Travel In Corona Virus Times!

    hank You!

    Thank you everyone for all the love and care!

    The constant flood of messages and calls make me realise how truly blessed I am! 

    With each passing day, anxiety of near and dear ones increased as new updates were being received about the Coronavirus. The logical mind had to acknowledge the love and care of concerned hearts. 

    During my travel these days, have seen lot of worried faces with hopes and prayers in the hearts. Airports and heavily crowded train stations have been sparsely populated. My flights had lots of empty seats. 

    I am back at my home after curtailing the business trip and reached India just in time before new restrictions are being imposed. The trip was productive as I met my major objectives barring a few. But these are not the usual times to ruminate RoI when Coronavirus is becoming a Brobdingnagian threat. 

    The last 10-12 days have been an educational experience for the world as a whole as we fight the battles of fear and ignorance amidst a rising Coronavirus threat! My heart goes for local traders and tourism dependent people – they are not insured against the vagaries of men and nature.

    The good old hygiene habits are back in fashion! And rightly so!

    The virus is indeed spreading past and affecting the older population. The advice has been given again and again – but it is what stands true!

    1. Keep washing hands
    2. Do not touch face, noise and mouth again and again. It is surprising how we underestimate this.
    3. Use Zoom meetings instead of taking flights. Flights and airports are the most dangerous places!
    4. Stay indoors, if not feeling healthy
    5. Mixed opinion on masks. Do what you feel is right.

    Finally:

    1. Prithvi no chedo ghar – The world ends at one’s own home!
    2. Do not forget to be a human being!

    Stay Safe. Be Safe.

    Image: Hanny Naibaho

  • What A Movember Rain It Was!

    What A Movember Rain It Was!

     

    All good things come to an end! And rightly so! Because then they create moments to cherish, and lessons to reflect!

    The Men’s health is a neglected topic. The challenges and demands of a modern life and workplace are colossal. Men grapple with all the curveballs of life with a smiling face – but they need a helping hand and sympathetic world around them.

    I am glad that my participation in Movember created several conversations for awareness of Men’s health and a caring world for men. I ran two marathons and got several friends to participate in Movember including Harish. I was hyper-active on social media and used every opportunity to talk about the Movember movement. I even attended a global conference in Vienna with my no-shave look and continued the conversations. The release of Bala movie and Ayushmann’s video on being a perfect gentleman seemed timely.

     

    As I look back at Movember, I cannot feel anything but happiness and satisfaction!  The month did not seem as a slow boat to China. Nor did I see an inhabitant of Bongo Bongo island in the mirror and eyes of loved ones!

    A special thanks to Geetanjali Sahni – the high priestess of follow-ups and task management. Leveraging her eternal charm, persistent reminders and unashamed threats, the poster girl of determination ensured Team Geetanjali was on track! Her fiery stare and sharp repartees evaporated our excuses. During the entire Movember, she was our Chi.

    Aparajito and I loved the time spent on creative posters and the journey as cohort of Team Geetanjali.

    Thanks to the Movember champions Krunal and Zil and entire Pahel Team for making Movember such a grand success!

    And the post cannot be complete with a Bollywood anecdote. My heart goes for Tina’s male co-actor who had to cancel shooting with her due to pain in his uterus! I cannot empathise with him but my sympathies to Twinkle Khanna.

     

     

  • Gujarati Language Event: RPC Memorial Lecture & Vishwamanav DVD Launch

    On Behalf Of GujaratiLexicon Team, We Are Pleased To Invite All Lovers Of Gujarati Language For The Twin Events:
    1. The 4th Ratilal P Chandaria Memorial Lecture by Shri Urvish Kothari on Gujarati Language
    2. Launch of Digital Version of The Vishwamanav Magazine – One Of The Heritage Magazine of Gujarati Language

    A Great Opportunity For All of Us To Meet Each Other.

    A Opportunity To Interact With Leading Gujarati Minds.

    Feb 23, 2019
    Gujarat Sahitya Parishad
    10 AM To 2 PM

    Please RSVP – Info@gujaratilexicon.com

  • Kerala Floods: God’s Own Country Needs Our Help!

    Kerala Floods: God’s Own Country Needs Our Help!

    Open Our Hearts And Wallets For Kerala!
    Every Little Help Counts!

    Donate Help, Material Or Funds! Many Options Available To Stand Up For Kerala!

    Lots of ways to help! Lots of people and organizations helping!

    Listing a few options:

    1. Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund

    The best help right now is monetary help.

    Financial assistance can be provided using the CM’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF). The donations are exempted from income tax as well as Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010.

    Donation Link: donation.cmdrf.kerala.gov.in

    You can use international or national payment option.

    2. Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund

    PM Fund:https://www.pmnrf.gov.in

    3. Goonj

    Goonj is one of the most genuine organizations that has been helping less privileged. Its founder Anshu Gupta is a Ramon Magsaysay winner. You may have seen him in KBC as well. (I know him via his brother Nishu Gupta, who is my SPJain batchmate). Genuine guys!

    You can help via them:
    https://goonj.org/rahat-old/

    4. PayTM, Amazon Etc.

    All major apps including PayTM and Amazon have donate button. (See images)

    5. Common Indians have risen up!

    Friends of my friend Sridhar have taken up the mantle of helping Kerala…And so are other Indians…if you know authentic guys, please help. See one example!

    We are putting together and organising resources for help for people in Kerala. We request your kind help in any way possible. We need volunteers for collection, transportation, Delivery and Distribution into Kerala. We are also in need of any relief material that you are able to provide us with from the below list:

    Materials required:
    Water purification tablets
    Diapers
    Soap
    Toothbrush
    Toothpaste
    Towels
    Clothes( please dont send us unusable clothes)
    Medicines – crocin, antibiotics, cough syrups, first aid etc.
    Dettol
    Packet food ( biscuits, ready to eats etc)
    Sanitary pads
    Candles
    Matchboxes
    Milk powder for kids
    Mosquito repellants
    Chlorine tablets
    Tarpaulin
    Rubber chappal
    Rain coats
    Mats for sleeping

    For Chennai collection:
    please deliver at
    No. 14, 3rd street,
    Ganapathy colony,
    Teynampet,
    Chennai – 600018

    For Bengaluru collection
    please deliver at
    Hermitage Apartments,
    No.22, Haudin Road,
    Ulsoor,
    Bengaluru

    Please contact:
    Gayathri – 9677251362 / 994040003
    Sridhar – 8939114640

    You can send the money to the below given account with the transaction comment as “For Kerala Relief”. Account details are:
    Acct holder name: Sridhar Divakar
    Bank: Citibank
    Acct number – 5014973445
    IFSC code – CITI0000003

    Please help! Every little help helps!

  • RIP Hitendra Vasudev

    RIP Hitendra Vasudev

    Hitendra Vasudev. A wonderful soul. Always helpful. Always ensuring that everyone is comfortable. Always making everyone happy. A good human being. Irony of life is that such beautiful persons are often snatched by destiny.

    Gujaratilexicon Team woke up to devastating news on Christmas morning that Hitendra Vasudev had left for his heavenly abode. Hitendra has been Gujaratilexicon since 2008. I remember my first interaction with him in 2008 – He was a young and a soft-spoken person. He was eager to make a difference. Over the years, he learnt new things and rose up the ranks. His contribution has been evident in the journey of GL and all its work.

    Hitendra’s hallmark was his ownership. He never said NO to any work. He took initiative in several areas – ensuring office administration tasks, banking work, property movement, GL events, supporting HR activities etc. He learnt computer and Gujarati typing and then contributed to GL mainstream projects.

    He managed his family responsibilities with equal commitment and wanted to give the best to his young daughter. I am really pained that how the world has changed for such a young girl. God needs to take care of her and become her angel – without father, world is no longer the same. Who will take care of her wishes and dreams? Life can be cruel indeed.

    Hitendra has been a part of our family support system and ecosystem as well. He was a regular visitor and part of our lives. Family is equally shocked.

    We and Gujaratilexicon family pay our homage and tribute to Hitendra and his contribution to GL movement, our work and our lives. RIP Hitendra. Om Shanti.

  • Subroto Bagchi’s Sell: Rich Insights For Technology Sales

    Subroto Bagchi’s Sell: Rich Insights For Technology Sales

    Selling is a challenging profession and a very demanding one as well! Selling today is a different ball game with the buyer being more knowledgeable and smart. A buyer would have done a thorough research on us before actually interacting with us. A lot of activities in the sales process are getting digital and a smart sales person needs to understand this shift. Even Artificial Intelligence will invade sales area. So how does one deal with these changes? What are the best practices in technology sales? Unfortunately, there are few sources and books on technology selling that can provide insights and shared experiences. Mindtree Co-founder Subroto Bagchi tries to address this gap and provide his rich insights on selling.

    Many of Subroto’s fans and friends like me were awaiting his new book – since a lot of water had flown in Ganges since the release of his previous book. And ever since he told me that his upcoming book was on sales, the salesman in me was eager to lay his hands on the book.

    ‘Sell: The Art, Science, the Witchcraft’ is the title of SubrotoDa’s book and it brings together the experience and advice of various sales leaders. Subroto has known these sales leaders and drawn on their unique sales philosophy and wisdom. There are nice anecdotes, unique insights and practical tips.

    SubrotoDa defines sales as part science, part art and part wizardry. It is not a profession in itself but a very critical skill in every field and an essential skill for people across all levels within the organization. Selling is not something to be apologetic about. It is not a pushy, winner-take-all masculine act. It is an empathy-led, process-driven and knowledge-intensive discipline.

    A lot of things in Sell impressed me – visual design of technological solution, collaboration between sales and marketing for larger deals, response to a major RFP loss, Google Quotient, The Naked Burger, Do It Like Swedes etc. I definitely intend to influence my sales practices with some of these thoughts.

    He uses the analogy of life-cycle of Coho salmon to drive home the importance of right prospecting by segmenting the customers and figuring out the right hook. Right qualification is importance to save the most precious resource of salesperson: time. And also ensure optimization of organizational energy, effort, intellect and other resources. I smiled at the different stereotypes presented: Great giver of homework, patron saint of thought leadership etc.

    He has some stellar lines for us:
    – Authenticity is in short; hence in demand
    – The prospecting process has changed. Your future customers are already doing prospecting about you and your company

    Honesty, transparency, customer relationship, negotiation, etc. are important traits for an effective seller and Subroto delves into each of these topics. Customer relationship is a competitive advantage and one has to developer chemistry with the customer. He emphasizes one thing that has not changed in sales – people buy from people. A best sales person is a consultant who advises client and brings teams together to create the right solution and sell in a consultative approach.

    Subroto also delves into areas of deal-making, legal support, paperwork etc. He ends the book with detailing of what a makes a true sales champion.

    Subroto delivers his rich intellect and wisdom in easy to understand nuggets. He has strong rationale for his views. I had whole-heartedly followed his advice of uprooting ourselves and exploring new geographies to break our comfort zone and rewire our thinking.

    Could this have been even a greater book? Would have I liked anything more in this book? Yes – Some more depth on some topics (I understand the overall writing style of Subroto). I would have liked to see the comparative analysis of selling practices of Indian IT and true blue Western IT companies. Maybe some detailed case studies of winning a large and complex enterprise deal – without divulging confidentiality of any entities. Maybe some biggest sales follies of the sales leaders. I would also have loved to see his views on how the new and mid-sized Indian companies can win deals in the new emerging global landscape. This would have been a great service to many emerging sales leaders.

    Sell is a great resource for technology sales professionals. It is a great addition to the dearth of Indian voice on this topic. It has nice insights for sales professional. Read it!

  • Travel Nostalgia: The Making Of My TEDx Session

    Travel Nostalgia: The Making Of My TEDx Session

    “We are all refugees from our childhoods”
    – Mohsin Ahmed, How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia

    It was an eventful day in London when the invite for TedX Lakhota Lake landed in my inbox. I read the invite and was pleased to know that TedX was launching in Jamnagar. And I was happy that I was invited as a part of the inaugural event.

    The organizers were extremely encouraging, creative and generous. They gave me the complete freedom to choose a topic that I wanted to speak on. I started thinking. People expected me to talk on leadership, technology or movies. But this time I wanted to talk on something that I have never talked before. And I wanted to bring the Jamnagar connection alive.

    Jamnagar was the place that was part of my initial travels outside Bombay. Year after year, I used to travel from Bombay to temple town of Shankheshwar to Jamnagar and Khambalia – cities in Gujarat. It was as spiritual experience to me as the destination of the temple town. I have special memories of my time with cousins and friends in those places. But I enjoyed the idea of travel the most. I used to find my own space while traveling and enjoy my chosen books and music. I would relish the changing landscapes as the Indian Railways train chugged along while we spoke to fellow travelers and their stories. Thus travel became an important memory of my childhood.

    Hence it was befitting that I chose the topic of travel for my TedX debut in Jamnagar. The topic was SoulFuel: Why Solivagant Travel Matters!

    TedX debut is always special. And the fact that I choose speak about my travel memories and connect with the city made it even more special for me. Life is beautiful!

  • TEDx Talk: Soul Fuel – Why Solivagant Travel Matters!

    TEDx Talk: Soul Fuel – Why Solivagant Travel Matters!

    My TEDx Talk on ‘Soul Fuel – Why Solivagant Travel Matters’ is live!

    Technology, travel and movies are my passions. I work around the confluence of these themes using my varied skills!

    I am an evangelist to influence and inspire people to travel. I believe that travel is the best way to widen our horizons, accept differences, remove intolerance and make the world a better place. It promotes cultural exchange, understanding and helps people to connect with people.

    In my TEDx talk, I spoke about the joys of traveling alone and how it is an enriching and life-changing learning experience. I strong believe: A new you is the best travel souvenir!

    I welcome your feedback and suggestions on this talk and what other topics you would like to me cover in future talks and travelogues! And yes, if you like it, spread the good word. Please “like” and share it.

    Keep traveling! Keep discovering!