Desicritics Category: Media: Podcasts

Mumbai BlogCamp 3.0

Sakshi Juneja — Wed, 2 Apr 2008 10:34:57 EDT

Attending the Mumbai BlogCamp was frankly speaking not rated high up on my priority list. I guess the previous experience aka. the Pune BlogCamp had much to do with it (crappy weather, excessive product pitching, severely damaged online connectivity, lack of well-known faces and list goes on and on). Plus add to this the absence of my partner in (blogging related) crimes, our very own desi version of Paris Hilton, maidum Melody.

But then again it’s always good to be surprised – and surprisingly, Mumbai BlogCamp quite an organized event, I expecting it not to be.

For starters:

1. BlogCamp was kept separate from the simultaneously on-going BarCamp. So no product pitching crap. Only Blog Talks by (get this) Bloggers.

2. The air conditioner was working and that too in full swing. Not acting pricey but it’s seriously difficult to concentrate when your nose is getting tickled with someone else’s body odour. And not to forget, your own tickling someone else’s nose.

3. Don’t know much about the Wi-Fi because I wasn’t carrying my Laptop this time but then I also didn’t hear anyone complaining about it. So I am guessing all was good on this front.

Blogging Sessions:

1. “Mumbai bloggers are slightly selfish” – This was Rashmi Bansal talking about her experience with Chennai Bloggers while on the topic of ‘Why to Blog’. Needless to say that this did irk yours truly (and I did voice my annoyance) but then again everyone is entitled to put-forth their opinion. On the topic itself, nothing new was said – Blogging should be about enjoyment, shouldn’t be taken seriously, about making friends….yada yada yada.

2. Rohit Shrivastav on Blogging and Legal issues + Spamming + Million other technical jargons which mostly went bouncer. But I have to say, this was the best session from the few that I sat through. It’s all about confidence and Rohit was full of it. Throwing back replies in the same rigorous fashion onto those overly smart folks. Some people I tell you.

3. Ankesh Kothari – “One Tsunami is better than thousand waves”. Undoubtedly the receiver of the dhasu dialogue of the day award. He spoke on the topic of ‘Full time income from Blogging’ and how to go about it. The poor soul was heckled countless times by the very same overly smart folks. He dodged them well enough but the whole tempo of the talk got lost midway.

4. ‘Podcasting and How’ was discussed by my good friend and super stud of the desi-blogosphere Mr. Aditya Mahtre. The ease at which he went about his discussion was simply brilliant. And the best bit was, this time round the overly smart folks just kept their overly smart trap shut. Also the whole concept of Dial a Podcast is quite interesting, you can know more about it on the Indicast site.

Final session (for me only, because I had to rush back to work...yup even on a Saturday).

1. The Lunch - Even though I am a hard-core masahari the veggie thali served was just delicious, especially the paneer dish and gulab jamun.

2. Spotted a seriously cute looking guy. Only to find out that he was there with his girl friend. Ah! Such is life.

3. On being recognized – Okay blowing my own trumpet here but it kind of gives you a high when absolute strangers walk up to saying “I read your blog” or “Hey Sakshi, your blog theme is simply jhatak” or “Sakshi, why don’t you give a talk on Rakhi Sawant”. Simple joys of blogging, I tell ya.

4. Burrp TV Online – The only BarCamp session I attended and I am glad that I did so. The Burrp guys basically gave a live demo of their upcoming online TV guide which would not only give you program schedule of number channels upto 14 days in advance. But also provides SMS facility wherein you can set yourself reminders of your favourite shows and movies. Pretty darn cool, I think.

Overall Tarun and the gang did put a decent effort and clearly showcased an improvement from their previous stint. And one hopes them to only get better with time.

The Dabba Roster

IdeaSmith — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:35:19 EST

I remain a Mumbai train loyalist. Not only is the Mumbai Metropolitan Railway, the fastest way to get from Point A to Point B in Mumbai, it also gives you a slice of what I think of as 'the real Mumbai life'. Frantic students cramming in seat-huddles tell you that the board examinations are around the corner. A bling-ey group chatters away about the wedding they're off to in the matrimony season. Office-goers - peons, sales executives, doctors, journalists run shoulders (okay, bodies) in the nau-dabbon-ki-jalad-lowkulll.

And speaking of dabbas, how about the other dabbas? The ones carrying piping hot nourishment, lovingly made by mothers and wives and cooks across the city and delivered Just In Time for lunch to their hungry patrons? To the uninitiated, the dabbawallas are a network of deliverymen who carry lunchboxes from homes to offices and back using a never-fail above-world-class system of colour coding. An Ivy League US b-school used them as a case study and the concept has picked up much visibility since then.

I was at the station at a later hour than my usual and had a chance to catch one little thread in this vast nervous system that feeds the city. Truly, the dabbawallas do Mumbai proud. It makes one choke up just seeing the neatly lined up lunch boxes.

The train pulled in and I got into the compartment. And there I met yet another Mumbai railway relic - the train sellers of trinkets. Of course their wares vary from hour to hour. So the early morning hears a nasal twang hawking railway timetables and ginger sweets (Adrak ki goli, rupaye ka teeeeeeen...). Move into rush hour and a topi-clad teenager waves a newspaper in your face (Mid-Day...Mid-Day..Midddd-Dayyyyy..). Stagger out of rush hour and we're into trinket territory.

Presumably there's more space to display these wares in the late morning/early afternoon hours when the commuters are dispersed across seats instead of crammed into them. The target audience a.k.a. college kids also make their journey upto campuses around this hour.

Fifteen rupees buys you a spider-clamp clip or a pair of fake pearl-drop chandeliers. Put in twenty more and you can have your pick of a retro headband (Cosmo-inspired) or a matching bracelet. Haggle a bit and you just might get a free scrunchy thrown in for good measure. Or a super-long string of beads that can be used as an anklet, doubled or tripled into a neck piece, wrapped around a bag-strap, woven into a hairdo, wrapped around the waist or just slung over the neck.

And finally, let's never forget that we're home to the biggest entertainment industry in the world and talent is found in unexpected places. I see this girl often on the trains, always accompanied by a little boy with a harmonium. She hops on to the train with the same off-to-work expression that is mirrored by the other commuters in the compartment. They wait till the train picks up speed and everyone is settled in, bags put away in the upper rack, seating negotiated. Then he starts picking the chords and the girl starts, wherever she is standing - usually right in the center aisle. Her compact size and nimble feet make it possible for her to prance in the little spaces between commuters as well, deftly avoiding people's feet. Then they stop mid-song to scope out the crowd and if it doesn't look very interested or moneyed they move on to another dabba.

Maybe in a few years she'll make it to Jhalak Dikhla Ja or perhaps he'll be the next Indian Idol. Or maybe they'll just be street kids on a Mumbai train.

Akshardham and Sonu Niigaam Symbolize Unity in Diversity

Kavita Chhibber — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:58:48 EST

Its beauty and majesty inspires an awed silence, the serenity and good vibrations that emanate in its interiors make the few hours that you spend there truly an experience unlike any other you may have had at an edifice of this stature. I have always felt that when commercialism rears its ugly head, divine structures become devoid of celestial vibrations. Mercifully Akshardham so far seems to belie that observation.

On a beautiful morning in September when I stood outside this majestic edifice in Delhi, I thought to myself that Akshardham must be the most beautiful divine dream anyone could have dreamed.

Today, the majestic Akshardham temple stands on a 100 acre property symbolizing how the diversity of Indian culture, its architecture, its knowledge, and the bhakti bhava-this deep desire to give and to serve, within its portal can become a unifying force.

He is perhaps the most outstanding young singer to emerge out of India in recent times, and when Sonu Niigaam walked onto the stage to perform his fresh new interpretation of Mahatma Gandhi’s favorite hymn Vaishnav Janato, as part of the inauguration ceremonies to honor Drew Faust, the first woman to be installed as the 28th President of Harvard University in 371 years, it was the first time in the 371 years of Harvard history that any Indian artist had been invited to perform at the installation ceremonies.

I had written separate pieces on Akshardham and the historic event at Harvard, but in a strange way they feel interconnected-the beauty and grandeur of Akshardham and the beauty of the moment when Sonu Niigaam stepped on the Harvard stage and sang Vaishnav Janato, it became a surreal moment not just for him perhaps but also for all South Asians world over. Sonu Niigaam is a brilliant singer and while off and on he gets negative press, the more I get to know him the more I discover a very genuine, warm hearted, extremely bright man. There are very few singers with either his versatility or range of voice in his age group, and when he stepped on the Harvard stage, he became a symbol of a transnational world, that Drew Faust talked about in her inaugural speech.

There has always been a group of people who are critical of millions of dollars spent on building yet another temple, and I have been among them. Like many others, I feel that the same money could have been used to help the poor, living in the slum areas in India, and for better purpose for the thousands of underprivileged South Asians here in the US than building the umpteenth temple.

So I went to Akshardham with a skeptical mind. I thought it would be yet another commercialized tourist spot that Tirupathi in the south had become. It was the grandeur of the place that first strikes you obviously and pretty much takes your breath away. Millions and millions of man hours were devoted to building Akshardham, which is a modern miracle not just because of its splendor but also the record time in which it was built.

You walk in and very soon you start feeling the vibrations, and a sense of peace just embraces you. In a discussion with the founder of Isha Foundation Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, I had been told about the scientific way ancient temples were built and what the vibrations emanating from the temple did for meditators who went there. Akshardham is one such temple. The grandeur of all temples erected by the Swaminarayan organization is submerged by the amazing love and volunteerism that seems to pour from the million devotees world wide. The organization does outstanding work in so many areas.

Akshardham has become a symbol of the united diversity of humanity, as people from all over the world visit and mingle lovingly there. Artisans from all regions of India have donated their services and their craftsmanship to create this modern wonder. I wish we could be as loving and inclusive outside such serenity invoking monuments, in a world that seems to be filled with hatred and fear.

A full-length feature on Akshardham, including exclusive video footage: CLICK HERE

Book Review - High Performance Web Sites: Essential Knowledge for Front-End Engineers

AJ — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:41:40 EDT

Coffee in 30 seconds? A sandwich in a minutes? A web page which loads in 2 minutes? Unacceptable..

With ultra fast broadband connections available to an increasing number of Internet users, the bottleneck of fast page loads has shifted from the users to the content providers.

In a survey done on regular users of the Internet, it was found that the users are more inclined to remain on a page that loads quickly even if there is better content available on another site. So it is becoming increasingly important that web pages are served fast or risk turning the users away from your site.

Most sites today can be improved heavily to gain significant performance improvement. And to aide in this, O' Reilly Media has released the book High Performance Web Sites, authored by Steve Souders, Chief Performance Yahoo!

The book details 14 rules or guidelines on optimizing your website for performance. The rules vary from changing web server configurations to modifying the web site infrastructure to tweaking the site front end. The book explains these rules by referencing 10 of the most popular and heavily trafficked web sites, providing details of potential performance bottlenecks and tips for improving their speed.

Most of the rules can be used by any webmasters to wishing to improve the performance of her site; though some of the rules are aimed at very large and/or very popular sites. The simplest rules require minor front end UI changes like rearranging the order of inclusion of Javascript and CSS files in a web page while another others require the use of a content delivery network (CDN) or other infrastructure changes. It is obviously simpler to implement the former and research tells that they provide a higher performance benefit as well relatively considering the effort and cost involved.

The book also delves on improving the speed of Javascript heavy pages, which affects sites making use of Ajax heavily. With an increasing number of sites becoming richer in Javascript, this is a fairly important chapter and so should have been a little more detailed.

Overall, the book is very good and explains in detail rules which might seem obvious but which not many follow or even know of. The chapters are arranged in a good logical order and of reasonable length each though some could have been a little more detailed. I read some of the chapters more than once to appreciate them in full. Another feature, which might be good or bad depending on perspective is that the book is mostly code and application (eg. Web server) agnostic except when specific examples were essential.

The book is also provided with online examples for each topic being discussed. The examples have two parts. Traditional implementation and with the performance rule being discussed applied to the example. So users can compare the effect of the rule by themselves.

All in all, the book is very useful and essential to improve the performance of your web site from the frond-end perspective. The rules in this book, if applied will give you a significant performance boost.

Steve Souders is the chief performance Yahoo! and advises various teams across Yahoo! on how to improve performance of their applications. He is also the author of YSlow, a Firebug extension (yes an extension for an extension) which tests a site in terms of the rules detailed in the book.

The Director's Cut - Where Reel Meets the Real: The Genius of Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Kavita Chhibber — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:56:16 EDT

“It is so simple to be happy, but it is so difficult to be simple”- from Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film Bawarchi.

Chess is a game of complex psychological twists and turns and clever moves, and Hrishikesh Mukherjee was a master chess player. He was also a brilliant academician, a scientist, and a gold medal winning sitar player among other things. Hrishikesh Mukherjee also went on to become one of the top most editors in Indian cinema, a very gifted writer and a legendary director.

Hrishi da supposedly based the character of Rajesh Khanna in Bawarchi on his own father, a chemist who used to concoct all kinds of things from Kohl for the ladies, to fire crackers in his lab, but Hrishi da could have very well based it on himself because he was so good at so much.

For someone who just sat in with a friend to first absorb and then advice on film editing, Hrishi da went on to become one of India’s most brilliant editors, deeply admired by genius film makers like Bimal Roy. Roy gave him a free hand in the very first film Hrishi da edited for him - Do Bigha Zameen where Hrishi da experimented successfuly with some new techniques that later were to be picked up by others and became the hallmark of his work. Many other top notch film makers came to him and asked him to take a look at their films. His admirers included the likes of the great Satyajit Ray, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor.

While the legendary actor Dilip Kumar was the one who Hrishi da credits as the man because of whom he became a film director, Raj Kapoor too became a close friend who along with Dilip Sahib stood by him even when his first directorial venture Musafir bombed at the box office. Dilip Kumar had predicted that the film would be a box office disaster because of the unusual subject matter-of a house being the centre that linked several stories together. “ Tu marega(You’ll get butchered) but I will do the movie free for you, go ahead,” said Dilip Kumar to Hrishi da.

After Musafir bombed, no one wanted the young director near them, and the phenomenally successful writer Sachin Bhaumick told me that when he approached Hrishi da with his first ever story for a film which was later to become the film Anuradha, a beleaguered Hrishi da told him, if his next film was a hit he would definitely hear Sachin ji’s story and help out; if he flopped that would be the end of his directorial career and then God help them both.

Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor had used their clout to get the producers to agree to let Hrishi da direct the next film Anari. The film was a runaway success and the rest is history.

For a man who so easily mastered the complex chess games and looked at complex human emotions, Hrishi da’s story telling was surprisingly simple and may be that is why it appealed to all strata of society. He was the producer’s director says everyone. He leaned towards what was most economical, and never wasted any raw stock. He shot often in his own house, by changing the color of the walls, rearranging furniture, and making the same rooms look utterly different according to Rakesh Roshan and Nitin Mukesh.

His films had remarkable music, but he hated wasting time and extra money on picturisation. The film Anand, says singer Nitin Mukesh who has worked with Hrishi da in so many films as an assistant director, was made in less than 30 days. “Zindagi kaisi hai paheli” one of the biggest chart busters was filmed by just telling Rajesh Khanna - tum bas chalta raho,(you just keep walking) in Hrishi da’s cute Hindi-Bengali accent and walk Rajesh Khanna did into the hearts of millions each time any of Anand’s songs picturised on him played or appeared on the screen.

Subhash Ghai who has had a very long reign at the top and has emerged as one of India’s most successful directors, says he admired Hrishi da as a superb editor and a master storyteller. As a youngster looking for a career in films, Subhash Ghai often found himself in Hrishi da’s house asking for work, and ending up learning a lot in each visit. It was Hrishi da who as Chairman of the jury was instrumental in getting the Filmfare Best Director’s award for Subhash Ghai for his film Saudagar, in spite of there being better films that year according to Ghai. It was because Hrishi da was able to recognize and appreciate what a phenomenal effort it was to bring out stellar performances out of two new comers, Manisha Koirala and Vivek Mushran on one hand, and the legends Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar on the other.

Today Ghai’s film institute Whistling Woods teaches students how to make movies like Hrishikesh Mukherjee did among other things, says the film maker.

Another super director Rakesh Roshan who started his career as an assistant director as well, says his film Khudgarz was a total take off on Hrishi da’s film Namak haram and did very well.

Rakesh Roshan said as an actor initially he would get confused when Hrishi da would suddenly say to him, go change your shirt, look this way or that way but when Roshan who worked in Hrishi da’s film Khubsoorat as an actor, watched the final rushes he would see how each time Hrishi da had taken the perfect shot. Rakesh Roshan also said he has worked with so many directors but none who were as sharp and clear in what they wanted as Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Director par excellence, Nagesh Kukunoor, said he truly realized what Hrishi da meant to him when he became a film director and people started asking him who were the film makers he admired most, and the more he thought about it the more he realized Hrishi da was the greatest film maker in India in his eyes. Subhash Ghai has dabbled successfully in so many genres but said he could not have touched Chupke Chupke, or done a better job. Nagesh said Bawarchi was the perfect film and he couldn’t have touched it as well. Nitin Mukesh has been with Hrishi da in his peak years but even he regrets not being a part of Anupama and Rakesh Roshan says he must have seen Namak haram a hundred times at least.

I had an interesting conversation with Rajeev Pandya, whose father was a close friend and produced some of Hrishi da’s films. Later Rajeev went to work with Hrishida. Rajeev spoke about the amazing contribution Hrishi da made not just as a director, but how he gave many actors new persona and helped the good ones hone their skills even further. He was very supportive of new comers and kind to them. Rajeev also talked about stellar film directors, writers who shared strong relationships with Hrishi da. Gulzar an amazing poet, lyricist and director had a wonderful guru in Hrishi da and holds Hrishi da in high esteem to this day, says Rajeev and Nitin Mukesh seconds that.

“You will not find a single person who will have anything else but good things to say about Hrishi da,” says Nitin Mukesh.

Hrishi da's movies created stars. How else can you explain Ashok Kumar as the hero of Aashirwad and Lalita Pawar as the heroine of Mem didi? How can you explain Bindu in a sympathetic, soft role in Abhimaan and the macho man Dharmendra in soft sensitive portrayals like the ones he did in Anupama and Satyakam or as a comic actor in Chupke Chupke, or the parallel role Asrani played in Abhimaan. Raza Murad who has done over 450 films to date is still remembered as the Alam of Namak haram. Many think Rajesh Khanna reached his peak in Anand, Bawarchi and Namak haram and that Amitabh Bachchan is considered a serious actor only because of the work he did with Hrishi da.

I’m told that most superstars never talked money with Hrishi da. Hrishi da told Rajesh Khanna he couldn’t pay him a dime for Anand, and Rajesh Khanna after the initial disbelief at that comment was so mesmerized by the story of Anand, he started pulling out dates from all over the place, sneaking into Hrishi da’s sets at every given opportunity to finish Anand. “There came a point when Rajesh would be seen near the sets and I’d say run, he’s again here to give some more free dates,” said Hrishi da with a laugh in an interview!

These mega stars, some of whom have become legends, gravitated towards Hrishida with such passion because they too knew that while it was indeed very difficulty to be simple, Hrishida’s sets, and his stories brought them closest to the fragrance of the simple life that they had left far behind in their quest for aiming for the stars. Hrishida not only had his own feet firmly on the ground, his kind, compassionate, non judgmental and all embracing nature always gave them a haven they could turn to whenever they needed a reality check.

They knew that in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s world, both the reel and the real were not far from the truth-and each other.

Please click here for "The Directors’ Cut", Part IV of KavitaChhibber.com’s special Webcast tribute to Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Part III: "Hrishikesh Mukherjee: Kuch Dil Ne Kaha (The Heart Speaks)" written by Kavita.

Part II: "Hrishikesh Mukherjee: Down Melody Lane" written by Kavita.

Part I: "Hrishikesh Mukherjee: Timeless Stories that Warm the Heart" written by Kavita.

Indian Cricket: Good News At Last!

USC Trojan — Wed, 4 Apr 2007 11:06:31 EDT

I was extremely excited to read this morning, that Zee head honcho Subhash Chandra has decided to form the Indian Cricket League, ICL, as a professional cricket league separate from the BCCI's structure.

While I am not a big fan of professional leagues like the NFL and the NBA because they truly do not encourage loyalty, I am also sick of having to play domestic cricket for your "state" side. Automatically, as a player playing for a "state" side, there is a tendency to believe things do not need to be fixed immediately.

For example, if there ia a fielding problem, I doubt if someone is going to step up and say we need a fielding coach. If the team loses in the first round or worse, gets relegated to the second tier, the coach may not be fired at all. And of course, there is absolutely no passion among the fans today and it could be because of lack of interest in the domestic circuit but more interestingly, it could be because of lack of exposure to who is playing.

How many of us know the #15 player in the Indian team? How many of us know, on the other hand, the captain of the Mumbai Ranji team? Worse, the winner of this year's Ranji team?

But with the creation of a television network-sponsored league, there is an expectation now that there will be extensive coverage by a well-known television network, and since it is going to be a professionally run league, there will be accountability. The babus of our cricket team and the ones who aspire to be there, cannot simply say they are going to pass on the domestic circuit because now that is going to be their bread and butter.

The professional league will then also need to have professional support staff. No more nominated managers and physios acting like trainers. If it is anything like the other professional sports, there will be a strict contract whereby the cricketer may not be able to do skydiving, for example. In short, the teams' interests will drive the cricketers' interests.

And those are all the good points. Not all is good though. Playing for the "state" does inculcate some sort of loyalty within the team. So when Sairaj Bahutule went to play for Maharashtra, there was some level of disappointment as well as a feeling that he had ditched "his team".

Whereas in a professional scenario, trades are part of the game. You play for one team one day and due to any situation with you or the team, play for another team another day. You are simply a resource that has to start working at 100% from day one and you may have many day ones in your career.

But besides the loyalty thought, there seems to be nothing wrong with a professionally run league and in fact, it may be a good idea to keep the BCCI on its toes, even though Zee has said that they are not competing with BCCI but complementing them.

I don't know how BCCI will let its contracted players play in a separate league with different commitments, but we'll see how this plan unfolds and what happens next. I can't wait to see it happen, if it materializes.

Congratulations, Mr. Chandra and all the best!

Meet Indicast: A New Breed of Indian Podcasters

Anand S — Thu, 8 Feb 2007 04:05:28 EST

As a member of Startups India, I recently caught up with Aditya and Abhishek who run one of India's earliest podcasts, Indicast. Aditya is an MIS from Carnegie Mellon and Abhishek is an MBA from Wellingkar. The interview turned out to be an hour's chat on all issues regarding their podcasting, which they have now taken to doing full time. Here is the entire transcript.

Anand - You've mentioned that Indicast is an Indian Podcast where topics are discussed from an average person's point of view. But for the benefit of our readers could you please elaborate a bit more?

Abishek- He (Aditya) was closer to technology than I was. He was in the US back then, and in October 2005, iTunes had released and the podcasting culture had started picking up there. So he asked me, why don't we start an Indian podcast where we talk about stuff which Indians abroad would like to listen about in India? In a way, that is not really a news-reader kind of format. We'll talk as if we talk in, say a college canteen or after a game of cricket, where we hang around and discuss on, say, why Ganguly should be dropped. And let's build in some emotions in it.

Anand - So, it's basically for NRIs?

Abishek - The idea was that NRIs would listen to it, anyways. Let's see how it is taken back by those in India, because in India podcasting was not even a month old. It was a month old elsewhere in the world, and anything that happens in the US takes at least a year to start off in India. So, that was the idea. We'll talk like how we are talking right now.

Aditya - The other benefit is that listeners can relate to it much more than, you know, a niche channel. So, we wanted them to feel as if they are sitting very close to us and listening directly rather than a radio voice.

Abishek - Normally, we are not in the same room when the recording takes place. We only know that we are going to talk about these five topics; he will research on his own, so will I; so it is not rehearsed and is very impromptu. Sometimes, we ask each others questions, which we will not have the answers out there as a script. So it is as improvised as it can get. And there is no sense of retakes and is very natural.

Aditya - For the things that we don't know, we put it up for the listeners for them to comment on that. They send us links and stuff which go in the comments section.

Anand - So, it's kind of a Web 2.0 for Podcasts?

Aditya - Yeah, definitely. It is a lot more Web 2.0 than any of the other podcasts. There are a lot of podcasts in the US where they have people calling in and we are planning something like that. We haven't yet finalized it. But, in the Indian space, we are the first ones.

Anand - So, when and how did you come across this idea?

Aditya - As he said, it was in September-October 2005, when iTunes was released.

Abishek - In fact, we had been dabbling with blogging for a while, for something like 3 or 4 months. It was a group blog; three of us were doing it. We used to get a few comments here and there. Then we decided that let us do a podcast instead of a blog.

Aditya - For me it was boring.

Abishek - It didn't come very naturally, because for blogs, you have to catch someone's attention, you have to be a very good writer, and so it doesn't come very naturally. Talking does, because we are MBAs (laughs).

Aditya - So, that's why we decided on doing a podcast. Plus, no one else was podcasting. Probably a lot of Indians were blogging. So, that was the reason. We started it in October 2005; the first episode.

Anand - How do you obtain the content? How do you ensure you do not miss out something important?

Aditya - Well, our content basically comes from newspapers, magazines we read here and there, websites, blog posts, and personal experiences. Personal experiences are a big hit on our podcasts. His experience about his travel in train during Ganpathi season was amazing. And you won't find that kind of information anywhere in the traditional medium, or in the newspaper. And people love that part. We put up info from here and there; from streets on how they are campaigning, etc. You know they are using small kids to do campaigning. Those things you will never get in any of the articles.

Abishek - We are opinionated, but we also make sure that we are backed by a fact. If we have a source, which we always have, we link it; and if we do not, then we say that these are our opinions.

Aditya - If you go through the site, it clearly says that we are not experts. We don't know everything out there, and so it is from a layman's point of view. And well, we sometimes do miss out on something important, but then, most of the times we don't because, if we see something's interesting, then we see that it is interesting for our listeners as well. If we do miss out something, then people usually send out links (of what we missed). We pick it up from their end. If it requires a longish sort of a discussion, then we go into the depths.

Anand - How well is it being received? Could you give us insight into the demographics? Any significant achievements?

Aditya - Very well so far. In the second week itself, we were on iTunes 'New and Notable podcasts'; Number 1 there for two weeks. Then, we've got a lot of press coverage, mainly because it is a new thing. From a user point of view, over a period of a podcast; an episode, we get about 4000 downloads over a year. That's the estimate because we didn't care to track it when we were doing it just as a hobby, and we only started it something like six months down the lane. And based on the aggregated figures, we are estimating it to have been downloaded 4000 times. And, we have 40 such episodes. We just released the 41st last night. So, this simple math gives us a decent number. So, it is being well received. But the sad part is that most of our listeners come from outside India, because of restrictions like blocking of sites, etc, where our core audience is; MBA students. That's one part, and another thing is that most of them don't know what a podcast is. They know about blogging, but not about podcasts. I guess they visit our sites, but we don't have as many downloads. So, what we think is that people go to our website but do not know what to do after that. That's one point. But all the media thing that is happening, it is helping to spread the word.

Demographics; it's 18-35 age-wise, educated obviously, most of them outside India, majority coming from the US - 50%, then UK, Canada, Switzerland, Japan. Japan was surprising. All these countries are where India has its export hub, according to the Tata Statistical Outline. So our listener base matches with these countries. Next thing is that most of them are techies, who know what a podcasting is. These guys listen to us on their commute, because they have this portable MP3 player, download it from iTunes or from the website, and store it in their iPods, and listen to them while going to office. Most of them are earning members, which is very important and which is the crux of our business plan.

Anand - How does that relate to your business plan?

Aditya - Because, later on, we plan to do a few community based things, where we can monetize this. For example, we could have an ecommerce store; here if you have a community which will have the paying capacity, it (these people as members) will be much more useful than a person chatting from a cyber-cafe. So, those guys exactly fall into that category, and them being techies, they will know that online transactions are secure, etc.

Anand - Any significant achievements?

Abishek - Yeah, like he mentioned, Outlook had a story on podcasting where we were featured, and then BBC Radio was a surprise thing. That was basically about how podcasting is coming up in India. So, they wanted to interview us from Indiacast. And then, we had one on Mid-Day. It was almost one year after we started.

Aditya - That, and being on NDTV was huge. They did a four minute story on podcasting. They highlighted us quite a lot. Plus, we estimate at least 90,000 downloads that we have had. And we are pretty much sure that it is much more than that because half of the time, we have not been tracking it. So, we are pretty much sure that we have hit the 1 lakh download mark. And that's without any marketing thing; just based on word-of-mouth. And this, I think is a big deal, and a pretty significant achievement from a statistical point of view.

Anand - Well, could you tell us more about yourselves, your positions and other stakeholders. What did you guys do before and your work experiences?

Abishek - I was working with Godrej after my MBA. And we started this after I was a few months into my job. He was in the US, working with Pitney Bowes after his Carnegie Mellon MIS, and then he came back here to start his own company, that he had already started in the US. And he said, 'Why don't you join me?', and that's how I hopped on to his boat. Later, Indicast, in itself started to make some business sense. That's when we got serious about it and putting the numbers on the paper, and started to pitch in for a few angel investors.

Aditya - We got an opportunity at the TIE summit. Recently they held a conference in Mumbai and they asked us to present our case for Indicast. There we got a few people who wanted to talk to us after that, which is still going on. So, as of now, we are the only two key players and stakeholders. Position-wise, I am more towards the technology part, and the co-host. He is more towards the statistical part, the content, making sure that what we are talking is not crap, and we have actual things to support it. He also takes care of what the users want to see, the comments, etc. But, that does not mean it is his domain. I'll have to contribute as well. He will keep telling me things to add from a technology point of view; he does things like creating episode notes.

Anand - How is your start up being funded so far?

Abishek - In two words, ours is self-funded. There is no external funding. But then, yes we do seek external funding.

Aditya - Yes. For now, we have been using all open source technologies. Except for the website, all the audio, video; everything is hosted on an open-source media called the RMedia.org. Also, bandwidth is a big issue here, since we would exceed our bandwidth if hosted from our side. But, it is all copyrighted still. But, yes, we do seek external funding. We have been working quite hard on that. We are not looking for a big amount, just decent enough. We want to keep it low, and we want to see it in a start up mode, because it is much more fun being here. That being said, most of the funding will be towards getting good people on. The crux is getting good content. If we fail on that, we lose everything. We want to make sure that we get good guys on.

Abishek - Basically, this is because we have different themes in mind. Indicast is just a pioneer, the first one. We need to have different themes, and hosts for these different ones, for which we need to get new people, and for which we need money. We still intend to keep working on open source where we don't need to buy software, but we cannot substitute good people and good content.

Aditya - We have different ideas, but we haven't decided on anything yet. What we just had in mind was, we are a podcasting company, and we are looking for funding, right? So, why don't we make our business plan as a podcast and put it out there on the net. Let people download it. Plus, we don't see it as an issue that people might then be able to replicate our model.

Anand - A few of our readers indicated interest in learning how to go about taking an idea from concept to inception. So, could you please share with us your experiences. For example, did you encounter any initial hiccups while pitching the idea? Could you please explain the process you followed that might help other future entrepreneurs planning to startup?

Aditya - What I would say is, first start doing it. Don't just sit there and say that I have this brilliant idea, but I need funding. Most of the start ups (on the tech side) don't need funding to get started. Within a couple of months, you will come to know whether it is going anywhere or not. If it is going somewhere, then start writing a business plan. We wrote a business plan a year down the line. So, the idea is to start doing it. Because you might waste two months in writing a business plan, when you can actually put that two months into getting that thing up. Get into building it over weekend or when you have time. If you are excited about the plan long enough, then you will obviously take it long. We get this question from many people, and most of it from MBAs who are already earning 40-50 thousand a month. So, what more do you need to get it started. It is a different case in a manufacturing setup where you need money upfront.

Anand - What are the key technologies Indicast is built upon and why did you opt for them?

Aditya - Firstly, Podcasting is not a technology driven industry. It is driven by content. We have been using open source technology, but for a year, we had hosted it on a blog website, Blogsome.com. We were just linking to an MP3 file from the blog which can be done very easily. We hosted the MP3 file on Ourmedia.org. It's free. So, from technology point, it is not a big deal. So, from a creativity point, how you create the podcast. It is about how the hosts talk about things, etc. So, talking about technology, it is not any sort of an 'entry barrier' in podcasting.

Abishek - Yeah, anyone with a mic, a laptop, and an internet connection can get a podcast up. But, you need to know which are the open source technologies. You need to know what to use, like, he knew that we could use blogsome for a year. Just making use of your mind there.

Aditya - Also, ask podcasters out there (on the internet) about how to do, and they will be more than happy to help you out. A simple Google search will tell you how to do a podcast. But, if you think that you can present content very well, then you are in, otherwise not.

Abishek - Again, content alone might not help. People might not want to listen to you, if the content is delivered in a bland way. So, content mixed with humor, or street-smartness, or any other USP you have is very important.

Aditya - So, coming back to the question, use any blogging platform. For recording, you can use the built-in windows audio recorder to start with, and use an MP3 encoder to convert it into MP3. Or, you can use Audio-hijack PRO. It is an open source software, which can be easily downloaded.

Anand - Ok, Where do you plan to take Indicast going forward? Is news podcasting really exploding?

Aditya - The main goal right now is an episode a day. Indicast shall remain a weekly show. But we shall put up different shows every day. Over that, we want to create a Friends sort of sitcom or something. And, make it available through the internet; completely bypass the broadcasting network. So, instead of it being available on Sony every Thursday at 9:00 or something, it will be released over the internet every Thursday at 9:00. And it is available for you whenever you want to download. Again, everyone is talking about Video over Internet. There is a new thing called Joost, which is done by the Skype founder, which is exactly we are saying. We want to create that kind of a thing. So, if the Skype founder and we are thinking the same thing, we are on the right track. I think it will click, because nobody has the time to watch TV these days.

Abishek - Also, what is generally perceived is that people might not download a video from internet, from an Indian perspective because broadband has still not penetrated to a great extent. But our research on Alexa.com shows that YouTube is the 13th most visited site in India, and Raaga.com, an online music streaming website is the 15th most visited site. So, if these sites are there in the top 20 in our ever-growing Indian internet population, there is a huge market potential. So, we should not be under-estimating that. So, that's the argument against this being a high bandwidth application which might not work in India.

Anand - So, What is your business/revenue model? Any exit strategy on mind?

Aditya - Going straightforward, it is going to be primarily ad-based. So, we are in the process of doing a couple of ad-inserts inside the episodes; however not more than ten seconds. We also plan to give out a coupon code or something, which the Indicast listener can use to purchase at a discount. We are looking at ways we can convert ad into information. Coupon code is one idea. Also, we plan to open an ecommerce store where we could sell things which we review in our podcasts. Exit strategy - We have nothing on our mind as yet. We have just started, and so do not want to think of the exit. I don't think there would be anything like an IPO or something, but yeah, I can see a buyout on the cards by say, a Sony or a MTV because we have the content, as well as a user base; an international user base at that.

Abishek - You insist on asking for one, and so we have just come up with one. We have just started it, and so don't want to worry about it. Let us think over it when we get there.

Anand - OK, so what are some of the challenges in news podcasting and how do you plan on tackling them?

Aditya - The main challenge is - how do you go about keeping the content interesting and hold their attention for twenty minutes. We are now doing it with one podcast. When we move to several shows, we will have to keep trying to keep the content fresh.That apart, I think spreading the word has been a big problem to us. A lot many people in India do not know about podcasting, and you can only do so much through word of mouth. So, that has been one another challenge to us.

Anand - Getting, more general, What is your take on increasing number of start ups in India?

Aditya - It's good to see a lot many startups in India, but it should be interesting to see in which areas these startups come up.

Abishek - For example, there are quite a few social networking sites that have come up, some from Indians. But it is not possible for the same person to be part of all these sites. So, the number of start ups increasing is fine, but how many of them really make sense is vital. I would want to see the number of unique ideas coming up rather than simply the number of start ups.

Anand - Which websites/Magazines do you visit often?

Abishek - I like The Economist. It has a very elitist appeal, but they talk about stories in a way that a normal man would do, and they have real juicy content in it. And Google, for everything else.

Aditya - I am not a big reader, and anything over a hundred words and I am lost. So, TechCrunch is good because it is how I read. And then, I listen to a lot of podcasts, because it is easier for me, and I don't need to read. Like, 'This Week in Tech', Diggnation, and then a few RSS feeds from here and there.

Anand - How did being an entrepreneur affect your lifestyle? Do you get enough time for yourself/family?

Aditya - It takes a different kind of a person to be an entrepreneur. Everyone aspires to be one, but not everyone is ready for one. At the start, you've got to do everything; things which everyone might not want to do it. So, that is a lifestyle change.

Abishek - In a company, processes are defined; if I may borrow an MBA jargon, but here it is only you. You define the process, but that's the fun part. Lifestyle-wise, you are more to yourself, because you are only doing what you like. You have chosen to do that, you were not forced into this.

Aditya - You might not get enough time for yourself, until you settle with the work. There is nothing like a work schedule.

Abishek - We have recorded shows at 3:00 in the morning, when he was in New York. It basically requires you to come out of your comfort zones, and family life.

Anand - Ok guys, it was fun talking to you both. All the best for Indicast

Aditya and Abhishek - Thanks.

Can You Make Money From Blogging?

kamla bhatt — Sat, 27 May 2006 07:53:50 EDT

Blogging has arrived and there is money to be made.

I recently spoke with two power bloggers: Rafat Ali of Lost Angeles, USA and Amit Agarwal of Agra, India. You can listen to how Rafat started blogging to get a job, but it turned out that he ended up creating his own job. Amit left his engineering job and started a new career as a professional blogger and web consultant. Amit's podcast interview also provides tips for effective blogging.

Interestingly, both are engineers turned bloggers. Rafat has an engineering degree from Aligarh Muslim University and Amit from IIT, Roorkee. Rafat started working in PR and advertising agency right after his graduation, and eventually got a degree in journalism from Indiana University. Amit's first job was as a software engineer.

Rafat's blog paidContent.org has evolved from a one-person show into a full-fledged news media-startup. Currently he has a clutch of writers spread across the world who file news and reports on mobile and digital technology. He is the editor and publisher of paidContent.org, Moconews and ContentSutra. He uses blogging tools and points out that this helps him run an agile and low-cost operation. The combined hits on his site is about 5 million a month. The main revenue stream for Rafat is from advertisements.

Amit's blog Digital Inspiration is also a lean machine. He recently moved into an office and writes anywhere from 3-7 posts a day. His focus is on writing product reviews, tips on productivity and providing updates on the constant slew of products that come from Google, MSN and Yahoo. Amit's blog sees a high level of traffic and his revenue stream is also from advertisements. Besides blogging, Amit also writes for some publications and a TV show.

The story of the power bloggers shows there is money to be made in blogging. But, this requires focus and dedication and most importantly staying a bit ahead of the curve. Bottomline: both enjoy what they are doing and don't see it as work. Probably that is the most important take-away.

New Media Mobile Content India Blog Podcast Indian Podcast

Spying for the Raj: The Pundits and Mapping the Himalayas

kamla bhatt — Fri, 12 May 2006 00:02:48 EDT

I always wanted to know who measured and mapped the great trans-himalayan range and how it was done. What kind of people undertook this difficult task of mapping this vast mountain range? I had a basic idea that it was a band of people from the Survey of India way back in the 19th century who undertook this task.

I filed away this piece of information and promised myself that I will look up this information at a future date. You know how these things are...once you carefully file it away it remains firmly wedged in the back of your mind...much like a piece of paper caught in the back of your filing cabinet. You see it every now and then when you go to retrieve something from your mental filing cabinet and then you shrug your shoulders and mutter to yourself, "One of these day, one of these days."

Well, my quest came to a rather abrupt and pleasant end last week when I was in London. I discovered that Jules Stewart has recently published a book titled Spying for the Raj: The Pundits and the Mapping of the Himalayas. Jules talks about this fascinating subject in his book and provides details on how this mountain range was finally measured and mapped by the British administration in the 19th century.

I heard about Jules's book when I was talking to another author - Roy Moxham, who is in the process of writing his third book. Mr. Moxham is a great source of information about the British Raj, and has a vast fund of footnotes at his disposal. For instance I was looking for a particular book about a 19th century British Commission in India, and without batting an eyelid Mr. Moxham gave me the title and the publisher's name. It did not surprise me since he was a conservator of old books in a London University. If you have not read his books, you might want to give them a shot. His first book, The Great Hedge of India is interesting. Anyway it was Mr. Moxham who pointed me towards Jules Stewart and his new book.

As luck would have it, I was able to meet Jules in person and interview him about his book. The book traces the 30-year process of mapping the Himalayas that the British undertook. The official name for the survey was "The Great Trignometrical Survey of India," and lasted from 1864-1894. Captain Montgomerie was the person who headed this survey. He recruited a small band of local people from various parts of the Himalayas and trained them in how to use basic measuring equipment. He also devised clever and ingenious ways to measure the progress made by this small group of dedicated spies, who were called "Pundits."

These pundits consisted of Tibetans, Kumaonis, Garhwalis and Mongolians among others. For instance there was Nain Singh from the Kumaon-Garhwal region, who was part of the expedition and did some daring feats in order to map the terrain of the Himalayas. Then there was Kinthup, an illitereate tailor's assistant from Darjeeling. Kinthup spent four years measuring the Himalayas, but in the end his work came to a naught, zilch, nada, nothing.

One of the reasons why the British wanted to undertake this survey was to fill their gaps about their knowledge of the trans-himalayan range like the terrain, Tibet, the rivers from Mt. Kailash etc. By the end of the survey the British had a much better idea and knowledge of the mountain range.

A primary reason that drove the British to undertake this task was to contain Russia's interest in this part of the world. Tsarist Russia in the mid-19th century was on a quest for a warm water port in this region (in what is today Pakistan area). Jules mentioned that at point the Russsians were literally at the gates of India. This need to contain Russia is what propelled the British administration to undertake this survey. It was against the back-drop of this "Great Game," that a small band of "pundits" went on a secret mission to map the Himalayas.

The book makes for some fascinating reading. It filled a gap in my knowledge about how and why the Himalayas were finally mappped.

Jules is in the process of finishing his third book about the history of the Northwest frontier in Pakistan. His first book was also based on this region and was titled The Khyber Rifles. He travelled in the Northwest region for the first time last year when President Musharraf arranged for his trip to this region.

An avid moutaineer, Jules was part of an expedition to Mount Everest a few years ago. Half-way through, they had to abandon their plans since their leader suffered a heart attack.

Jules is a journalist based in London.

You can listen to an audio interview of Jules Stewart here.

Free Expression in Asian Cyberspace (Day 1)

Teeth Maestro — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 00:11:55 EDT

At the conclusion of the first day of the conference on Free Expression in Asian Cyberspace Conference being held in Manila at the Asian institute of Management. A large number of speakers from across the region spoke at lengths highlighting the battles of free speech being fought within their own countries. Check out the presentations and video clips of all the sessions at Free Expression in Asian Cyberspace Blog

I personally would recommend these following speakers which were the highlight during the day

Prof. Ying Chan, University of Hong Kong, she spoke about the demographics of the Asian internet access. Her Presentation is here
Kunda Dixit, Nepali Times, he talks about the battle tussle with the King's men in Katmandu and Nepal. His presentation is here
Chi Dang, who sheds light on the resistance movement and very innovative ideas of Vietnamese activists to by-pass internet monitoring. Her presentation is here
Andrew Lih talked about blogging and podcasting in China, and the new breed of web publishers who post on the internet despite so many restrictions imposed by the Chinese Govt. His presentation can be downloaded here
Manuel Quezon, discussed the heated controversial tapes exposing Philippine President in election rigging in the run-up to the previous election, which led to a rally of raids and arrests. His presentation is here
Rebecca Mackinson, Global Voices, she discusses the creation of Global Voices Online and the model to encourage the alternative news media as the future alternative to the traditional content. Her presentation is here

If you care to enjoy seeing the event in PodCast/VideoCast proceed to the Asia 0900 blog who are recording the events in real time.

After the long grueling day we were served with a sumptuous dinner at a restaurant on the Manila Bay, enjoyed a casual night hosted by Sen. Juan Flavier.