New Year Resolutions? What’s in store for 2018?

On January 18, 2018January 18, 2018 By prasadchavaliIn General3 Comments

What are New Year resolutions are good for? Absolutely nothing 🙂 . They are meant to be broken… So I didn’t make any.

We are already more than half a month into 2018 and I am sure a lot of people struggling to keep up with their resolutions. 2017 was a very hectic and life changing year for me. This was the year, I lost my mother, learned how to deal with death and grief and reconnected to a few fundamental aspects of life. 2017 also was the year I travelled most in my life… 8+ trips to India and over 220,000 miles logged.

For me new year resolutions sounded like a fix to something that wasn’t working. So I started looking at what wasn’t working and the root cause for it. The root cause to all of my issues was the same thing… “finishing it”. I always had a lot of balls in the air, had grand plans and ideas, but not able to get many off the ground or finish line. So the recurring theme of 2018 is FINISH IT!!!

I wanted to always contribute part of my time to a “Cause” – finally in December 2017 we launched Enrich Future, an organization focused on creating better resources for the future. Please visit www.enrichfuture.in.

As my friend, colleague and life coach Janett Chambers said, don’t aim for something you know you can achieve… that is playing it safe…. So this year, the goals are bigger and harder. New office building, growing projects to revenue, over 200 employees, and let’s see where 2018 takes me.

So I request/beg you to call me out on my lack of followup on anything and put me back on track to fulfill my resolution (kind of) of “finishing it”!!!

Once in a lifetime experience… Varanasi – Post 1

On October 27, 2017 By prasadchavaliIn General2 Comments

Several posts to come about my recent trip to Varanasi (also known as Benaras, Kasi), which is a Hindu holy city on the banks of river Ganges.

Varanasi is a holy city in India with deep roots to the Hindu religion and home to god Lord Kasi Viswanth. I heard a lot stories about the city all my life (my father graduated from Benaras Hindu University 55 years ago) and finally had to visit the place to immerse the ashes of my mother who passed away couple of months ago. I have to say words can’t describe what you see in places like this… you have to visit it to believe it. I can’t post all my experiences in one blog so I started sharing some of my photos on my Facebook and instagram feeds.

I feel so insignificant in the history of “time” as this city has been through so much of history that what I experienced is a sliver of its existence. I am not here to criticize or suggest anything to be changed… I am just a witness to life as it happens.

In this post I want to cover 2 Ghats (Ghat: Places on River bank where people bathe or access river) of the 80+ that exists in Varanasi. First thing I learned was that the name Varanasi comes from two words — Varun, the river on the south end of town and Assi Ghat (80th Ghat) on the north end of the town… so Varun + Assi = Varanasi over time.. small nugget of knowledge…

The 2 Ghats are Harishchandra Ghat and Manikarnika Ghat. (Complete list of Ghats)

Both these ghats are famous for cremation of bodes on the banks of River Ganges, the holiest river for Hindu religion. It is the ultimate way of leaving behind your physical existence in the world.

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This picture is taken from a boat a few hundred feet from the ghat. Those burning fires are of dead bodies and people sitting on steps watching as it happens. There are always a few burning fires on this ghat.

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This is a blurry view of Manikarnika Ghat the south most Ghat of Varanasi. This image is blurry.. for a reason. My guide on the boat said it is bad luck to take pictures up close… so I can only take one while we are pulling away… This Ghat has multiple places to burn bodies and it is rumored that they go through 500-600 bodies a day at this place. Myth has it that this place was supposed to have a light all hours of the day by god’s order and it DOES happen. It is a surreal scene to see it in the person. You can read all you want, but it is one of those real life experiences you have to have in person.

So why did I choose to showcase 2 ghats that deal with burning of bodies? First, after experiencing my mother’s death up close I realized how insignificant our trivial pursuits when it all ends. Death is not a bad thing… it is closure of a life cycle… a blessed one for most and you should embrace and celebrate every moment of your living existence. We are all born from the earth and when we die it all goes back to earth… simple isn’t it?

If anyone wants to experience this in person, I will do whatever I can to make it happen… as a paid consultant of course 🙂

Celebrating a life….

On August 26, 2017 By prasadchavaliIn General2 Comments

MomPassport

Chavali Satyavathi Kameswari
Age: 71
Passed Away on August 26th @ 12:20 p.m. IST

Celebrating the life of my mother, who passed away on August 26th, 2017 @ 12:20 p.m. peacefully. I won’t be who I am if not for her influencer, care and concern. As I prepare for life without her presence, I would like to celebrate her life over next few days with near and dear.

Please say a prayer in her name and thank you all for your support during this tough period.

— Prasad Chavali

2 1/2 years… where did it go?

On July 20, 2017 By prasadchavaliIn GeneralLeave a comment

As you can see, I had a blog post on December 1st, 2014 and then literally disappeared… what happened? #WHEREISPRASAD – well that is the story of my life.

#WHEREISPRASAD on Facebook

#WHEREISPRASAD on Instagram

and of course #WHEREISPRASAD on twitter

Obviously nobody missed me enough to twist my hand… literally. If there is one thing I miss is the creativity required to do the writing. Hope I can get back to it at least once a month.

Where I am at?

At a very happy point in my career knowing what it takes to build a company from scratch and use the experience to provide productive enterprise solutions and provide employment to those who believe in me.

What I need?

Motivation from the friends and well wishers that believe in me enough to make me keep writing and still follow my passion…

So in short….

I WILL BE BACK!!!

No Shave November… Recap

On December 1, 2014December 1, 2014 By prasadchavaliIn GeneralLeave a comment

December 1st, in India…got up today to shave for the first time in a month… had a lot of thoughts about last month and my whole no-shave November experience… and also been a month since I wrote my last blog… so here is the recap.

Final Look before shaving:

I saved 5 hrs of my time during the month of November by not shaving… Yeah!!! But I also spent over 5 hours trying to weed out the long gray hairs with my little scissors to look young (Guilty!!!)… after a while, I gave up…
I got to write about three dear friends in my blogs… made me cherish their memories
Talked to at least 100+ people about No Shave November… some tried to do the same themselves, but gave up after few days it seems, some donated… glad to produce whatever impact I could for cancer causes..
Bought my No Shave November T-Shirt and donated my “best guess” of savings to American Cancer Society… Overall No-Shave.org reported over $1 million donations a week ago.. not sure what their final tally was
Looked more middle easterner like during my flight on Qatar Airways last week… at least that’s what I thought 🙂
Had fun shaving today… by taking few selfies… one before… one with goatie, one with mustache only (not shared here to spare you guys…)
Had the privilege of taking many selfies during the month of November and share them shamelessly on Facebook regularly… will stop for a few days now

On a serious note… it was a privilege and can’t wait for next November to come to do it all over again… next time reach more people to participate with me!!

#LETITGROW

No Shave November…

On October 31, 2014 By prasadchavaliIn General1 Comment

As I finished shaving today, I realized that I am not going to shave again for 30 days… as I start my No Shave November participation.. a simple and unique way to raise cancer awareness. You can find more details about it at http://www.no-shave.org

Last year I started about 2 weeks late, since I didn’t know about it. This picture shows the progress during November 2013.

So other than not having to shave for 30 days (yeah), why am I doing this? I would like to dedicate this year to 3 important people in my life, that succumbed to Cancer.

Kurt Bunney

Kurt was my first boss in 1995 at Infinisys. I still remember his question in the interview “Can you cut code?”. He was my big brother, mentor, role-model and had significant influence on my life. My first drive through experience – going to a customer meeting, we ordered sandwiches , he was driving of course. i asked “Are we going to stop to eat these?”.. his response is: “why do you think it is called drive through… you eat and drive.. now finish it quickly before we reach client’s office”… so began one of my many life lessons from him. One day he told me to go watch Seinfeld TV series.. he said “that’s the only way you will learn how to speak english normally…” So I became a Seinfeld junkie… and it did help with my communication skills. I can write all day about Kurt… one of his funny lines was “Dude, you are so skinny… you need to run around in shower… just to get wet”.

Unfortunately he developed brain cancer in 2006 and died in 2007 at the age of 48. We had lunch with him during one of his treatment periods and I couldn’t stand to see the man I really looked up to go through such a phase. When he passed away, I was out of town, couldn’t attend his funeral… but not sure if I would have been able to attend even if I was in town. Kurt.. you will always be my big brother… and I am lucky to have you as a friend in my life.

Janett Chambers

Janett was a colleague, friend and life coach. She worked with me 2006-2008 and didn’t make the move to Florida in 2008. She had cancer right after that and when I came back to Arizona in 2011 I had the privilege of working with her on a limited basis as she became my life coach and inspired me to grow my business again. She passed away late 2012 and I didn’t knew about it for a couple of months.

I wrote a post about her in January 2013 – https://prasad.chavali.com/2013/01/29/employee-colleague-friends-and-life-coach-a-tribute-to-janett/ Looks like the star they put up for her on Standup2cancer.org is still active. https://constellation.standup2cancer.org/24330

Mike Hunter

I met Mike hunter in 1994 when I visited Storm Lake with Lesli. He was married to Lesli’s best Friend Sheryl. Since then, they visited us a few times, and we used to stop at their house in Omaha before we drive up to lakes in Iowa during our trips. Needless to say, Mike was a very genuine and cool guy.. and we had great time talking and meeting up. I don’t think I have seen such a hard core Nebraska Cornhuskers and Kansas City Chiefs fan. He used to collect shot glasses and I tried to do my part to contribute.

Mike passed away last year after fighting cancer for a few years. On my last trip to Omaha before he passed away, I developed a fever and couldn’t give him a hug or spend time in his house, as his immune system was so weak. But in spirit… I wanted to tell him that he was a great friend and he will be dearly missed.

Now, there were other people friends and family that had cancer in lives that were able to beat it… thanks to the advance in medicine.

I will contribute my share of savings from not shaving this month and already bought my T-shirt from the website. I urge you all to just take a minute and remember people in your life that had a brush with cancer.

I will post pictures on how I look during the month of November often!!

Top 5 Apps you use most….

On October 25, 2014 By prasadchavaliIn GeneralLeave a comment

It has been too long since I did a new post…

Been thinking a lot about what apps people use on a day to day basis. Almost all of us have smartphones and check phone first thing in the morning when we wake up. What are your top 5 apps and why do you use them?

1. Vonage Extensions: This app lets you call internationally using your Vonage VOIP line at home. With 2 offices, friends and family in India, I almost use this on a daily basis. Before Vonage Extensions app, I used calling cards to call India and also Skype now and then. This is a MUST app for me right now.

2. UP (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/up-band-required-up-up24/id461125277?mt=8) – Ever since we got introduced to the UP bands last year (thanks Sally Anne), we (Lesli & I) been keeping track of walk and sleep activity on a daily basis. It is not uncommon to plug the band in 4-8 times a day (the new bands sync via bluetooth). This is also one of the most easy to use, sophisticated apps I found. I really like the interface and functionality. Well Done.

3. WhatsApp: Ok, it is not so popular in US. No wonder Facebook paid billions to acquire this. This app is the communication standard in India. There is also a group of all my cousins that share jokes and other information on a regular basis. The ultimate use happened, when I bought some furniture for the office in India seeing the photos from the store and negotiating back and forth on it…

4. Word with Friends: Oh Yes, been playing for more than for 4 years… not too many friends play with me now… since I figured out how to win most of the time. The app has gone through a lot of revisions… still fun.

5. Sports Center: Still use this app by ESPN often to see what games are going on.

Of Course, I do use most common apps like mail, camera, etc. but I find myself reaching for these 5 apps most often when I have my phone. You notice Facebook is not a top 5 for me. I tend to visit Facebook more on my computer than on my phone. I use Skype a lot for office communications, again on my computer.

I also use travel apps significantly especially Delta, America Airlines, SPG, etc. when I travel. I don’t know if I am an app junkie, I have about 75 apps on my phone.. I wonder what is the average number out there….

My Own Dreamliner Experience…

On April 19, 2014 By prasadchavaliIn Travel ExperiencesLeave a comment

A little history of my aviation geekiness…

My interest in commercial aviation started back in 1991, when working in Combustion lab in Arizona State University, on commercial aircraft engines for research. I followed the evolution of 777 engines and started following all different types of makes and models. I prefer Boeing planes to Airbus, and Boeing 777 has been still my favorite plane of all. I can probably identify 95% of commercial aircraft – including model and type of engines, speed and capacities, etc. I also record every one of my flights (since 2006)… so hope you are convinced I am a aviation geek.

I have been following Dreamliner since its announcement, its features, material, efficiency, battery fires, etc. Since none of the US airliners acquired these planes (until United recently), I haven’t had a chance to fly on one of these for a long time. I was almost tempted to fly Air India which has a few dreamliners in its fleet. So, when I saw British Airways introduced one of its 8 planes on London – Hyderabad route, I had to book that flight for my trip to India.

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On April 18th, when I landed in London from Phoenix (on a 747), I was checking out the gates to see where dreamliners were… spotted a couple. Took the train to C gates in Terminal 5 and started walking towards the gate… and there it was… this was probably the closest I have been to one.

I knew it wasn’t necessarily a big plane, a more efficient mid-size, long range plane. Not sure many people recognize it… its 2 distinct features are the different nose and curved wing tips. I couldn’t wait to board the plane and check out the interior. Finally after 15-20 minutes wait, we started boarding… I almost had goose bumps stepping into it… almost 2+ years since it has been in service.

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First thing I noticed how “NEW” it the plane was… almost smells like new car. Beautiful lighting and colors. Reached my seat.. first thing I had to do was to take pictures… The seat was similar to other club world seats on British Airways and few enhancements on the controls and entertainment.

Next, I had to play with the window shades… there are no pull up and down shades.. just the controller to darken and lighten the window. At its darkest setting, in the middle of the day, the sun looked like moon… and it was really dark, you can still see a bit of outside. The windows were huge and everything else in the plane got nice updates. Not sure about the bathroom door though… it is “new slide” and many people are not used to it… including me. There is no green/red occupied sign on the front… instead a red/green light at top of the door – and people are not used to that either… someone almost knocked the door down when I was inside. Sensors for flush, faucet and lot of other upgrades.

My seat was right next to the wing/engine. The Rolls Royce engine was HUGE… almost as big as the 777 engine. These engines ran quieter and one of they are most powerful ones out there. We were going at 640-650 mph during some stretches of the flight.

Finally… the wings.. well, they are made of composite material and resemble close to a bird’s wings. Well… what I didn’t realize how flexible they were… when we took off, during climb wing really looked like it was flapping… never seen a wing bounce like that before in my life.

The cabin was supposed to be more comfortable for long haul flights… the 9 hr 35 min flight went by quick with a comfortable 4 1/2 hr sleep and couple of movies. Landed in Hyderabad 3o minutes earlier at 4:20 a.m. –

The experience was every bit as per my expectations and made the long trip to India go by quick. Now that I finally been on one, I can now say that the dreamliner is now my new favorite plane and looking forward to my next flight on it in 3 weeks.

PS: No, I haven’t been paid by British Airways or Boeing… but I think they should 🙂

Lot happened in 2 months!!

On March 29, 2014 By prasadchavaliIn GeneralLeave a comment

Every week, I keep thinking about my next post and time keeps going by… it has been almost 2 months since my last post, so I thought I do a quick recap.

Malaysia Airlines: It has been 3 weeks since the Malaysia Airlines MH 370 flight disappeared. As you can see my last post was about my visit to Kuala Lumpur. I traveled to India in January on Malaysia Airlines and from Los Angeles to Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur and back same route, I flew on Boeing 777-200 the same type of plane that disappeared. So I can’t stop thinking about how it would have felt for passengers on that plane, no matter what happened. My thoughts and prayers are with the passengers and their family. I sure will keep counting my blessing every time I get off a plane.

Almost on CNBC: last week, I traveled to New York to be on a CNBC segment on BirdieBox.com, a new venture I am being part of… The night before the interview we find out that they do not have enough space on stage and had to cut my segment out.. at last minute on the day of the interview, they moved it to outside of NYSE and I almost got back on there, except that there as no spare microphone available – oh well, my time will come, but it was an awesome experience visiting NYSE and CNBC studios on the floor of the stock exchange.

My 2 new favorite apps: Lesli and I have been using the Jawbone UP bands to keep track of our activity and the UP app on iPhone is one my favorite apps. You know a good user experience when you are addicted to the app and being in Technology field, I really appreciated the effort put into making the app so good. Then on my trip to New York, I finally got to use UBER. It has been out for a while, but I never got a chance to use it till recently and instantly fell in love with it – the simplicity and functionality are the two most impressive factors about this app.

Travel: Obviously it has been one of the busiest travel quarter of my life. I had some interesting experiences like getting stuck in a hotel during snow in Atlanta, someone taking my bag to Mexico City during our vacation trip to Puerto Vallarta, etc. Finally home for a full week in a month and plan to catch up with life and things I enjoy doing… like writing this blog.

Headed back to India in a couple of week – will be peak summer, but the excitement of opening our second development center on May 2nd is going to be well worth it!

Revisiting Kuala Lumpur….

On January 31, 2014January 31, 2014 By prasadchavaliIn General1 Comment

I have been to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3 times before…

First time in December 1992 – on my first trip back to India from US as a Student… with a group of friends from ASU. We had a day break and visited a few places that day.. only have a couple of photos from that trip.

Second time in 1997, while working for Motorola, came to Malaysia to give training in our QA software… went to the island of Penang, Malaysia.

Third time was also in late 90s… don’t remember exact time.. but didn’t go out of airport.

Since 2005, I started traveling to India via Europe mostly… as more european carriers added flights and Delta, United and others joined in. So haven’t travelled via Pacific in 7-8 years. So this time when a great fare sale came up on Malaysian airlines during Thanksgiving, I decided to take this route. I could have connected in Chennai (Madras) and reached Hyderabad earlier, but decided to take the day break in Kuala Lumpur to revisit the city after a long time and take the direct flight to Hyderabad late in the night. So started my 18 hour day in KL.

We arrived 4:30 a.m. from Tokyo to KL… most of the airport is still sleeping… not much activity. Got through immigration and customs in 5 minutes and was out in 20 mins… at the train station. There is KLIA ekpress.. a 28 minute ride from KL International Airport to KL Central station.. the fastest train in southeast asia (as they claim). It started right on time at 5:20 a.m. and arrived exactly 28 minutes later as scheduled. The train had free Wi-Fi and at that early hour there were only a handful of us on the train.

Central (sentral as spelled in KL) was also barely active. I booked room in Le Meridian, which was supposed to be next to the station. Google Maps showed I had to walk 1.2 km (0.8 miles) to get there… I was contemplating taking a taxi, then asked the one security guy that was there and he said it is close to walk straight.. and there it was just across the street… so Google Maps is not always 100% accurate 🙂

Checked into the hotel… with my elite status, they allow early check-in and put me on 15th floor suite. For the price I paid, it was one of the best hotels I stayed in… Since I was sitting/sleeping at an angle for 28 hours.. decided to take a quick nap… and before I knew it… it was 8:30 a.m.

Got ready and went to the club lounge on 33rd floor (views attached)… tried to locate the Petronas towers from both sides of the floor – couldn’t find them. They are supposed to be visible from most of KL. Later I found out that they were on the side of the hotel. After a good breakfast checked with Concierge and figure out taking a train from the station is the best way to get there… so around 10 a.m. set out to visit City Center.

The central station has so many different routes and options, it took me a little while to figure out where to go and which train to take. After getting on the right train, it was 5 short stops to KLCC station – Kuala Lumpur City Center… it was the center indeed. The train station itself was on the lower level of a mall… you walk out and right across the street and the towers are within walking distance. The new mall “Suriya KLCC” was really high end with all top brand stores and stretched a few city blocks and also connected the 2 towers.

Once I reached the towers, I took selfies and a few shots of the towers like everyone else from the park across the street from the towers. Pictures really don’t do justice when it comes to these tall buildings. Then I went inside the towers to see if I can score a ticket to the skybridge (the bridge between the 2 towers, half way up). Looks like the tickets are sold out online, I should have checked, so I decided to just walk around and do some window shopping.

One amazing thing was the minimum security around the towers. Other than a few occasional cops/security guards, no metal detectors, X-ray machines… what am I missing here? Do they have no threats? Will this kind of normalcy ever come back to US? Probably not.

After an hours of walking around, decided to get back to hotel… had a buffet lunch at the hotel that offered 5 different cuisines (Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Indian and Western) – then decided to not take another trip out… I was tired from lack of sleep and had another quick nap.

Checked out of the hotel around 7:25 p.m. for my 10:30 flight… later found out it was too early. I was able to catch the 7:30 p.m. train at the hotel and reached airport exactly at 7:58 p.m. Passed immigration/customs in less than 10 minutes… didn’t expect that. The airport security was also so minimal.. no need to take computer out, shoes off… again, almost reminded me of pre-9/11 days.

Kuala Lumpur definitely offers a cultural diversity… You see Chinese, Indians, Malays and a lot of other ethnicities… you will see huge mosques and also Indian temples. I am not sure how day-to-day life here is, but it sure has its own intrigue… I enjoyed my visit and am glad took the day break…

The world as I see it….

Author: prasadchavali