Desi Back to desh

After 18 months of joint effort by two consecutive Central Executive Committees and an outstanding Pakistani origin consultant in UK, the PASHA review of software industry is out in print. A soft copy of the executive summary is available here. Printed copies are available from the PASHA secretariat at a small cost.

Built on the dataset of 105 participating companies, this is the first industry study that uses real data to estimate the size of the industry, identify underlying trends, and focus on national issues that impact technologies. It shares a wealth of previously unavailable data about growth, employment, skill set and industry challenges.

If you follow the technology industry in Pakistan or the region, you need a copy. For more details contact the PASHA secretariat at +9221 541 8121 or www.pashanews.org.

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December 2006 is when DesiBackToDesh moved from blogger to its new home on Wordpress. I had started blogging in October 2004 and at the time of the move had been posting infrequently (some things never change) for about 2 years when the big move happened. In those first two years we booked 14,000 hits on blogger.

A year and a half and nearly two hundred posts later, come July ‘08, and we are standing 400 short of 100,000 hits. It is not a large number and hardly something to boast about but still a personal milestone, something that we built, wrote and read together actually clocked 100,000 clicks.

Thank you.

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To this day about 20 years ago I was introduced to two coaches of Pakistan Railway’s track and field team. Naeem and Imran, who thought me everything I know about running and endurance. Twenty years later when a thirty seven year old overweight, out of shape, father of three outpaced and out endured a young twenty four year old who shall not be named and who incidentally also refused to be photographed for this investigative piece of journalism, I realized how enduring Naeem and Imran’ training was.

For the record it is not how old, how fat, or how out of shape you are; it’s all about what is wired between your ears.

Rumor has it that there will be a rematch soon on the ground of our new campus once the young twenty four year old has recovered from his traumatic experience.

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Today at about 12 pm we did a snap screening of the last lecture. It sort of served as an office warming party, an orientation for the most recent member of the Alchemy team and yet more free food. Some of us had already downloaded and seen Randy’s performance at CMU. This was a chance for the rest of the team to catch up.

It was an over whelming performance. There were moments of complete silence where we were focused on Randy’s message and delivery.

1. Believe in your dreams, your teams and Karma. Work hard, for there is no other secret for success
2. The power of walls to keep out those who don’t want it bad enough.

Yet there were many instances of carefree laughter and open smiles. The best part was Randy’s ability to not take himself too seriously and his ability to make his audience see the humour in lighter moments. And we did get to see an amazing piece of work from the Building Virtual Worlds class project collection.

We all took away a bit of Randy’s wisdom with us. But there are two lines that stayed with me the most

1. Everybody will show you their good side if you wait long enough.
2. Don’t give up on your dreams. Don’t let others give up on theirs.

If you haven’t seen the last lecture as yet, take out a few minutes today and do it. Here are the links via my original post.

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Superman…

I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naive
I’m just out to find
The better part of me

I’m more than a bird…I’m more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It’s not easy to be me

Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I’ll never see

It may sound absurd…but don’t be naive
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed…but won’t you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
It’s not easy to be me

Up, up and away…away from me
It’s all right…you can all sleep sound tonight
I’m not crazy…or anything…

I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naive
Men weren’t meant to ride
With clouds between their knees

I’m only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
Inside of me
Inside me
Yeah, inside me
Inside of me

I’m only a man
In a funny red sheet
I’m only a man
Looking for a dream

I’m only a man
In a funny red sheet
And it’s not easy…

Its not easy to be me

(Superman, Five for fighting)

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Switched over to Maxcom at home and finally after two years have real broad band at home. We killed the two Cybernet DSL pipes at the office, the one at my home as well as two more at the homes of our directors. All in all that represented about 20,000 per month in Cybernet revenue that has now gone Maxcom’s way. Not to mention the three people in total who read my blog on a regular basis who will also switch to a better service provider.

I have nothing against them but I had had it with paying broadband rates for dialup speed. So there…

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I am not sure how many of you have ever heard of Randy Pausch? I hadn’t till May ‘08 when my routine review of the best selling books list on Amazon brought out the Last Lecture. Last weekend in Dubai I picked up a copy at Borders and read it in six sittings.

I only have two words of advice about the book. READ IT.

Here is the context. Randy is a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer just under two years ago. Given 3 – 6 months to live and invited to give the last lecture at CMU, Randy spoke about how to achieve your child hood dreams. If you missed the chat, you can catch in online here

Required reading, watching and hearing for all dreamers out there…

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It was time to grow up and do something insane.

So we found a new office we couldn’t possibly afford and moved in 12 hours.

This Thursday evening things stood a little cramped.

Friday afternoon they looked a bit busy.

Not to mention messy

But this being our fifth move (home to PIDC, PIDC to new home office, new home office to Amber Estate, Amber Estate to PECHS Block II, Block II to New Campus) in six years we have had a lot of practice.

Essentially it’s a question of labeling and claiming your property.

And hiring lots and lots of smart people…

By Saturday mornings things were under control.

The new conference room was up and running and was inaugurated with one meeting after another

So was my table

Though Mohtashim and Imran were still tweaking the network

But it was finally fixed when we offered Mohtashim as a human sacrifice to the great server rack

Saturday afternoon we were back in business

Some more seriously than others

Of course the privilege of being here first entitles me to quickly create a mess on my desk and invite friends over for a chat

And claim the second best view from a window.

As an old fat obnoxious narcissist once said, long time ago;

It is good to be fat, obnoxious and narcissistic… As long as you have a great team covering your fat, obnoxious, narcissistic behind.

To the Alchemists who made all of this possible and more.

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Meaning

When your little one tells you that Narnia is the best movie he has ever watched and can he please have some more pop corn. Or when the little one’s younger siblings are all over you as soon as you step inside the door.

Enlightenment

When you catch a student eye as he finally makes the connection and his hit by enlightenment; you know in that one moment you have touched another life.

Validation

When a client who has been messing with your head, your payment, your schedule and your life, the day before his departure to greener pastures drops by for a visit and says, “I would love to work with you in the future, tell me how can we make that happen?”

Value

When a team member in your team comes in to tell you that you shouldn’t sell because what we have here is something special.

Recognition

When professionals you couldn’t dream to afford walk in and tell you, “You are the only shop in town I am talking to right now and let’s make this work for each other”

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I hope this puts any doubts to rest about how I spend my time on PC roof top J

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All it takes is one suit to start an epidemic.

After Imran’s (far right) arrival in February we became a much more respectable firm. Grey hair tends to do that.

Four month’s later the Alchemy pitch is now being made by a team of MIB agents, one short of half a dozen.

From left to right, Haider, Nabil, Jawwad, Arif and Imran

Now that we are a part of MIB, should we raise our prices?

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I get to teach another course at S P Jain in Dubai and end up with a group open book, open laptop, open network final on a fine Friday morning after teaching till mid night the night before.

Here are some scenes of anguish, pain, denial, rage and suffering from my lovely students.

Nilesh (below) was actually kind enough to drop me home the night before. As you can see he is wondering why he didn’t drop me on the other side of the Persian gulf when he had the opportunity.

But to be fair they all put up a good fight for a good cause and of all the places I have ever taught, the students from S P Jain have impressed me the most.

Part of this is due to the blistering pace the program sets for the EMBA students (one 18 hour course a week, 40 courses to complete your degree).

Part of this is due to the students’ commitment to their cause (classes run from 7pm till 10:30pm, 6 days, alternate weeks)

And some credit obviously goes to their brilliant faculty (including yours truly).

On a more serious note, if you are looking at a regional MBA program based in Dubai, you will not go wrong with S P Jain.

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Here is what has been keeping me busy for the last two months…

The new Alchemy campus.

6000 square feet, trees in full bloom, ample breathing space.

Our own rockery, stonelaid paths and multiple table tennis tables.

More pictures and the story behind the campus to follow once we have moved in and there is some sanity restored in my life.

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Ever since I discovered Soy at Ibn-Batuta Mall two years ago, I try and make it a point to have at least one meal here. And every time I have a bite sitting on rattan chairs, I slip back to our long ago, but not forgotten Californian adventure.

Soy is outside the main Mall in the open surrounded by a shade of sunshine and a cluster of young bamboo trees. When you sneak a peek through the glass windows where they are not covered by jute chicks (Urdu for traditional roman blinds, not the English ones), it appears for a moment that you are sitting in an exotic bamboo resort with its own oriental fish pond. The thick stone slab floor, the aged wooden furniture and the Asian servers take you to a far far away place, certainly not in Dubai.

As you sit on the table you are greeted by four white catories (dishes) of garnish. Hot chili, sweet chili, chili in vinegar and a toxic green chili paste with yet more chilies that will nuke your sinuses, if you dare give it a try.

The menu is not that exotic at first glance but then you notice that they do Tom yam as well as hot and sour soup with a Soy /Sichuan base (finally soup not with ketchup).

Hidden deep inside the pages is also a sampling of Kung Pau chicken the way it is supposed to be done, the way we used to have it in California, first from the Chinese takeout shop on Sunflower at Denise’s apartment and then from Jamila’s kitchen at Versailles on the Lake. By the time you discover the wok menu and the crispy baby corn with dry chili, it is obvious that this is either going to be a very long lunch or you would need to come back some other day to satisfy your taste buds. A single trip to Soy can only leave you wanting for more.

I finally settle for spring rolls, the Jamila style soup, Pad Thai (finally someone is willing to serve it with chicken). I know I am not going to finish all this but I still need to order Kung Pau chicken for my post class late night dinner. By the time I am done with this note, despite a full stomach I have taken on one more serving of fried baby corn with dry chili.

More than the food, the reason why I adore Soy is the memories it invokes. The soup and the chicken take me all the way back to California and our fifteen short months by the lake; our first proper apartment with air-conditioning, real furniture, pool and a balcony we could sit on. To being taught how to drive, to following the driving instructor so that I could finally pass the driving test by cheating and learning how to cook with all the ingredients coming in a can. To Costco, Starbucks, late night movies, sunshine and rain. To the play ground and sand box in Laguna Nigel that Amin loved and the drive on Mac Arthur that we treasured just as much.

I know that you would love the food, but I think you would like the memory magic more. I never thought that a five thousand year old sauce, made of soy, could bring back so much with one bite.

To memories, friends and Chinese food made with a base of soy (not ketchup)

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