Month: March 2009

Drive to Bhimashankar

Apart from regular games of pool and counter-strike, this time on the weekend, me and Vivek did a roadtrip to Bhimashankar. Bhimashankar boasts of a wild life sanctuary, famous treks and one of the 12 Shiv Jyotirlings.

Roadtrip was full of mountains, rains, landscapes, sheep, dams, rivers, sunshine, clean air, people walking long miles, going from nowhere to nowhere. The drive to Bhimashankar is easily the most scenic drive I have even taken in India (better than my trek to Chandratal and Rohtang Pass).


I got to know about the place from Milind Gunaji’s book – Offbeat tracks in Maharashtra. It is some 260 KMs from Mumbai and easiest way to reach there is by the Mumbai Pune Expressway and take the exit at Talegaon. Then you drive on for about 3 hours to reach the Shiva temple.

This is one of those places where the journey is more exciting and fun than the destination.

Why Travel?

I say …

I have always believed that journey is more important than the destination. The pursuit of unknown is what makes the journey part exciting. You face ambiguity. You face uncertainty. You don’t know if you would reach or not. You don’t know what to expect when you reach your destination. You don’t know what is on the other side of that long and winding dark tunnel. You don’t even know if the tunnel would end.

Personal Information Management

So, these are problem statements …

  1. I know a lot of things and want to know lot more.
  2. I read tons of material and my to-read list is growing exponentially everyday.
  3. I come in contact with a lot of wonderful people. And I need to stay connected with them.
  4. And finally I want to be able to manage my todo list on a daily basis.

And with busier and mobile life, its imperative that something about managing information is done. And fast.

I have decided I would use online tools for these tasks. Simply because Internet is now as ubiquitous as it could be and online tools are almost as good as offline ones. Also I want to use simple tools. Life is too complex anyways, why use complex tools?

So, here is a list.

  1. A pen drive for files that are too large to be shared on the Internet. And carry along data that is very critical that if Internet goes for a toss.
  2. del.icio.us – bookmark links, webpages and other things that I want to keep track of.
  3. pbwiki – take notes and invite comments
  4. Google Docs, Calendar – for creating lists and schedules
  5. Google Reader – to keep track on my reading list
  6. SaurabhGarg.com and septemberthe22nd.blogspot.com
  7. Slideshare and Scribd – for managing files, documents and presentations

And then I will continue to use these online tools/services

  1. Twitter
  2. Dopplr
  3. Facebook
  4. Flickr
  5. LinkedIn

What else should I use? Is there a good contact management software? Where I can keep a list of my contacts, where I know them from, what do they get to the table and all that?

In Delhi, I did …

I am in Delhi right now and back in Mumbai tomorrow morning. Here are few things that I did on this visit. In no particular order …

  • Met @pjain. We have been planning to meet for about 6 months now. Finally caught up with him. Had a nice chit chat about barcamps and entrepreneurship in India.
  • Hogged onto “fried” Paranthas from Paranthe Wali Gali.
  • Saw Dev D. Finally. No more comments. Except that it was emotional atyachaar ;P
  • Visited Birla Temple – the same place where Mahatama Gandhi was killed in 1948. And for some funny reasons, you are not allowed to take your cameras inside the temple.
  • Practised driving on my dad’s car. Drove atleast 300 KMs within Delhi. I can now drive comfortably as long as its not the uphill part of a crowded flyover. 
  • Read WEB’s 2008 letter to shareholders (notes here). Did not understand a major chunk of it. Hopefully would get clarification at Value Investors Mumbai‘s Meeting No. 3 on Sunday.
  • Dropped my sis at Delhi’s domestic airport.
  • And Picked a friend from Delhi’s international airport.
  • Visited People Tree. Bought one teeshirt (for myself) and a bell (for a friend).
  • Dropped my phone thrice. Time to buy a new one.
And these are the things that I normally do, but did not do this time

Warren Buffet’s 2008 Letter to Shareholders: Notes

WEB released his 2008 letter for shareholders. Download it here. 

Following are the things that I underlined while reading the letter. Samples of his gift of the gab at play. 

  • By yearend, investors of all stripes were bloodied and confused, much as if they were small birds that had strayed into a badminton game.
  • Like it or not, the inhabitants of Wall Street, Main Street and the various Side Streets of America were all in the same boat.
  • When investing, pessimism is your friend, euphoria the enemy.
  • sucking my thumb
  • Long ago, Ben Graham taught me that “Price is what you pay; value is what you get.”
  • Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.
  • As we view GEICO’s current opportunities, Tony and I feel like two hungry mosquitoes in a nudist camp. Juicy targets are everywhere.
  • A promise is no better than the person or institution making it.
  • If merely looking up past financial data would tell you what the future holds, the Forbes 400 would consist of librarians.)
  • We never want to count on the kindness of strangers in order to meet tomorrow’s obligations. When forced to choose, I will not trade even a night’s sleep for the chance of extra profits.
  • Approval, though, is not the goal of investing. In fact, approval is often counter-productive because it sedates the brain and makes it less receptive to new facts or a re-examination of conclusions formed earlier.Beware the investment activity that produces applause; the great moves are usually greeted by yawns.