February 16th, 2012

Podcast Interview with K.V.Prasad, Ford’s ‘What Next’ Guy.

I’m here at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum on an invitation from Ford and NASSCOM to conduct an unconference for digital influencers in the automotive space.  I decided to take this opportunity to fix an appointment for a podcast interview with Mr.K.V.Prasad.

K. Venkatesh Prasad is Ford’s “What’s Next” guy, responsible for fostering global cross-functional innovation at Ford.  He  is the founding leader of Ford Motor Company’s Infotronics Technologies Group – a globally distributed activity the company established in 1998.

In this capacity, he oversees Ford Motor Company’s engagement in global multimedia standards and the related development of vehicle communications & computing technologies. Earlier, Dr. Prasad led research in the area of computer vision, electronic imaging and pattern recognition.

He imagined the vehicle as a software platform where features and services could be beamed in from the outside – without incremental built-in hardware. That revolutionary mind-set led to the development of Ford SYNC. Software-based, the voice-activated SYNC system allows Ford and Lincoln vehicle owners to seamlessly connect to their cell phones, MP3 players and a host of other features and services in and through their vehicle – hands-free.

Prasad was born in Chennai and attended schools there and in Bengaluru, Pune and New Delhi. He went on to earn his Bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Communications Engineering from NIT-Trichy in 1980, and holds double Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering from IIT-Madras and Washington State University, Pullman. He completed his Ph.D in Electrical Engineering in 1990 from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ in USA.

Tags: Kiruba.tv, podcast | Posted in podcast, The Kiruba Show | Comment

January 28th, 2012

The Tree House Experience

I took my wife and two daughters on a road trip. We set our eyes on Munnar and decided that we would stop at places en-route that caught our interest. We made night halts at Yelagiri and Yercaud.

We didn’t pre-book any of the hotel rooms and decided to pick a hotel after we landed at the places. While checking online with very scant connectivity, one particular place caught my eye. In fact, it was one particular type of accommodation that caught my eye…a Tree House. I immediately knew this was it.

I called up the owner, Mr.Gregory Bosen, and inquired about the availability of the Tree House. When he heard that I was bringing along two kids, he was quick to advise me against the tree house as it is perched on a tree 80 feet off the ground. That nailed it! I knew this is the place for us!

We landed up at Glenrock estates, spread over 100 acres of coffee, cardamom and pepper plantations. Mr.Greg relented seeing my perseverance and let us use the tree house.

We had to walk a good 10 minutes downhill into the foresty plantation before we came across this magnificent tree. The first thing that it reminded me of was the Eva tree in Avatar movie. It was massive and earned my complete respect. The tree would easily be over 100 years old.

While I was hoping for a rope ladder or even pegs hit against the trunk, it was a slight let down to see proper steps made out of iron rods that lead to the tree house. A little less adventurous but convenient for my wife and kids.

It was at dusk that we began to realize how lonely and secluded the place was. While there is basis light and water available at the tree house, it can get eerily lonely at night. My kids began to freak out by the sounds of the forest.

I later found out a wonderful wood house on a hill top with a brilliant view in the estate. But more importantly it was closer to the owner’s house and the kids felt a lot more comfortable. We shifted over but we will never forget the one hour that we spent on top of the tree house.

Tags: Tree House, Vacation | Posted in Travelogue | 1 Comment

January 4th, 2012

Why This Photo is Special to Me !

This is one of my favorite photos from the ‘Tour of Tamilnadu’, the 7 days, 900 kms cycling trip. The tour was split into 7 stages and the toughest one was on Day 3. We had to cycle 188 kms from Rameswaram to Tuticorin and had to do it within 12 hours. Not only was it the longest distance of the tour, it was also the harshest. The sun was beating down hard and the heat amplified by salt pans that spread across thousands of acres. As if that wasn’t enough, the route was through a boring stretch of National Highways. Our legs were weary from having pedaled 94 and 127 kms the previous two days.

It was tough day. Both physically and mentally taxing. They say that the race is divided into two parts. The first part is 150 kms and the second part is 38 kms. It may not make mathematical sense but they are right. The last stretch is the hardest. Each kilometer starts getting longer. The pain in the legs grows with each push of the pedal. The sun saps your energy no matter how much Enerzol you drink.

That’s when I teamed up with Ramesh, fellow rider and NLP trainer. We stuck together and gave each other company. We chatted strange subjects to fight boredom. We also had to fight the sweeper van which threathed to pick us up off the road in case we didn’t finish before dusk. That’s an ignominy we didn’t want to face. Now, in addition to fatigue and pain, we also had to fight the clock.

We finally reached the destination, GRT Regency Hotel at Tuticorin, exactly at 6:01 PM. The first thing I did after parking my cycle was reach out to Ramesh for a bear hug. That hug showed the power of human mind to overcome physical hurdles. It showed the power of team work.

Kudos to KrishnaKumar, fellow rider and a photo enthusiast for seizing the exact moment. To me, this photo will be special. Very special.

Tags: Cycling | Posted in Cycling | 5 Comments

January 2nd, 2012

Getting Started on New Year Resolutions.

It’s the birth of a fresh new year. The mind is fresh and filled with positivity. It has always been a tradition for me to write down my new year resolutions in the last week of December itself. But this time, my single minded focus was in completing the 900 kms Tour of Tamilnadu. I was too tired from cycling to whip out a list.

So, I’m dedicating the next two days to jot down my New Year Resolutions list. Previous experiences and wisdom from aging has taught me not to be too strict with it. Its a friendly guideline and not a must-do list.

As with previous years, my resolutions will be kept private. But if you follow my progress, it’d be easy for you to make it out.

Tags: New Year | Posted in New Year | Comment

October 28th, 2011

Press Release for BrainJam on Entrepreneurship at IIT Madras

Here is the press release that IIT Madras is releasing for the BrainJam session I’m conducting on 29th Oct at 6:30 pm. BTW, its a free, open event and everyone is welcome to attend.

IIT Madras Hosts BrainJam on Entrepreneurship

C-TIDES, the Entrepreneurship cell of IIT Madras, is hosting an engaging UnConference on “IDEA: A Beginning of Entrepreneur’s Journey” by Mr. Kiruba Shankar, a serial entrepreneur, a columnist and an author. Being from an engineering background, Mr. Kiruba has initiated several entrepreneurial ventures like Business Blogging, F5ive Technologies, Vaksana Farms, Verdure Books along with authoring books like Wikipedia: A beginner’s guide, Copy Right & Left and Crowdsourcing Tweet.

This highly acclaimed UnConference would primarily involve adrenaline filled, highly energetic brain jamming session where the audience are encouraged to openly share their entrepreneurial ideas/thoughts in less than a minute. Along with this thrilling extempore, the speaker would also spice up the session by sharing his entrepreneurial success story. He would also be drawing upon excerpts from the lives of the leading entrepreneurs and business leaders. Kiruba will touch upon how they came across their eureka moment of entrepreneurial idea, what mistakes they made, what to learn from them and how they scaled up their business.

The UnConference will  be held on the 29th of  October 2011 from  6.30pm to 8.30pm. at Central Lecture Theatre, IIT Madras. This is a free, open-invite event and interested person can register by sending an email to activities@c-tides.org

For more information, please contact:
Sunny Purswani
Student Head
C-TIDES, IIT Madras

sunny.purswani89@gmail.com +91-9940574165

Tags: Speaking | Posted in Speaking | Comment

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