Food for Thought....!!!!

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food." - George Bernard Shaw

In one of the veda’s there is sentence "Annam Brahmann" means food is God. Our ancestors have given so much importance to food in life. They also say my body, mind and soul is made from what we eat. Do not ridicule Food. Do not waste food. Do not criticize the quality of food. Food is the source of energy. But in spite of these words, India Ranks Seventh in overall food waste (agriculture produce, poultry and dairy).

I have heard people saying ‘Am a complete foodie’ or ‘Am a food lover’. But same person has wasted food. If you say you are a food lover then you should also make sure it should not be wasted either. We should order only what we can eat. Do not order more and waste food. One should eat to live and not live to eat. We cannot completely do away with food waste but we definitely can minimize it. One third of the food produced going into waste.

Apart from the wastage of the food produced, the resources lost in the form of inputs during food production are also considerable. For instance, 25 per cent of fresh water, used to produce food, is ultimately wasted, even as millions of people still don’t have access to drinking water. In addition, approximately 45 per cent of India’s land is degraded primarily due to deforestation, unsustainable agricultural practices, and excessive groundwater extraction to meet the food demand.

A recent study conducted by Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, revealed that only 10 per cent of foods get cold storage facility in India, this factor, accompanied by inappropriate supply chain management, has resulted in India becoming a significant contributor towards food wastage both at pre and post harvest waste in cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables. India ranks 63 among 88 countries in Global Hunger Index with 20 crore Indians sleeping hungry on any given night, but in spite of this, nearly 21 million tonnes of wheat are wasted in India each year instead of reaching the needy.

It is also difficult to manage the food waste. Government or world community need to invest in technology which helps eco-friendly and healthy food preservation. There are many startups has come up and working on food waste management from couple of years. But they need more support from public as well as the local governing bodies. In Bangalore, BBMP is the local governing body which needs to educate the people to segregate the wet waste. It also needs to strictly monitor the waste management firms for which they have given tenders.

Here are 10 facts you might not know about food waste:

1.                  1.3 billion tons of food are wasted every year

2.                  This amounts to US$1 trillion dollars of wasted or lost food

3.                  If wasted food was a country, it would be the third largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world, after the United States and China

4.                  Just one quarter of all wasted food could feed the 795 million undernourished people around the world who suffer from hunger

5.                  Food waste in rich countries (222 million tons) is approximately equivalent to all of the food produced in Sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tons)

6.                  A European or North American consumer wastes almost 100 kilograms of food annually, which is more than his or her weight (70 kilograms)

7.                  A European or North American consumer wastes 15 times more food than a typical African consumer

8.                  Lack of technology and infrastructure is the main cause of food waste in Africa, as opposed to household food waste in the developed world

9.                  Food waste in Europe alone could feed 200 million hungry people

10.              Food waste generates 3.3 billions tons of carbon dioxide, which accelerates global climate change.

Pakshi Kashi - GaneshGudi

Travelling has never excited me before because it has been norm in my life. Almost every month I travel with either family or friends. But this time I was super excited and looking for the trip to Ganeshgudi. Learning photography from couple of year and never tried “Bird Photography”. But this time I was going to explore it. Also, I have hired special telephoto lens to capture birds.  These things made me excited.

It all started in last tour to Badmi - architectural photography in August 2016. For that matter, in every trip we plan or discuss for another trip. How many of them get executed is the question mark. We zeroed the time on November third week. All got busy in November due to some commitments. We three (Sumathi, Anantha and Myself) decided to go in December first week. This is the season for birds in Ganeshgudi. Many from previous tour could not make it due to personal commitments. Few said they will join and end moment they dropped. This is norm for any trip, be it family or friends. Since, this is exclusive photography tour and no sightseeing; we did not force anyone to join us. We determined to take our photography into next level decided to go ahead with our plan.

Tried to book train tickets but it was showing waiting list. But we are not ready to put our trip into waiting list. We booked the bus tickets and booked the jungle lodges - Old Magazine House. Now the next one was to hire a 150-600mm lens for photography. This was the first time hiring the lens. Anything which you are doing for first time is exciting…!!! Tappers - Lens rentals gave a very good service. Travelling, stay and gears all set for the trip. Count down began.

The day has arrived along with cyclone Nada on Bay of Bengal, which affected Bangalore. It was raining and traffic jam all over. It was difficult to reach the VRL bus station. This was destiny driven trip and all fall into place we were off to Dandeli.  There is no direct bus to Ganeshgudi. Either we need to get down at Londa (by train -30 KM) or Dandeli(by bus - 21KM) and catch a local bus or hire any private vehicle. We took auto from Dandeli. We were hungry as it was 9:30 am in the morning. Auto Driver took us to Kamat hotel for breakfast on the way. Road was under repair and it was roller coaster ride. By 11 am we entered the Old Magazine House at Ganeshgudi. We were thinking that 150-600mm lens was big lens and with some pride went inside the gate. As soon as we entered the gate welcomed by the prime 600mm lens with Nikon D5 mounted on Manfrotto tripod with Gimble head. Other person had Canon 400mm on 5D mark IV. We were blown out by seeing it as our camera is mid range DX DSLR. We checked in with jaws dropping and eye balls popping out by seeing top class gears in action.

We were feeling bit inferior seeing those equipment's. But we are not that weak folks to blown away by it. We know it is not the camera that matters alone, but the skill and ability to capture and frame it. We have done photography with mobile phones too and captured good clicks. We went out with our camera (Nikon D7000, Canon 1100D and Nikon D5100), 150-600mm lens and tripods. The equipment set and ready to shoot. The moment oriental white eye came, we were into action. It was like using AK-47 on the border to kill enemies. But the difference is we were shooting with camera and capturing moments. But the atmosphere was filled with noise nothing less than the battle field shoot out. All were clicking the camera in burst mode and clicking. Now I understood why in movies hero wants to take the AK-47 and go further on battle field. He cannot reach out to enemy and want to hit the head. Same is the case with photographer. I was not able to reach the target (bird’s eye) in spite of the 600mm lens on DX camera which can reach up to 900mm. Feeling the same and tempted camera out of tripod and go further inside. I was tempted to ask “Bird Boss can you pose for me”….!!!! But this is not a movie. Heart was with “Live and let live” policy and so did not disturb the wildlife. I focused to capture without getting into LOC of Birds’ privacy.

Afternoon between 12:00-15:00 hours there was not much sighting on the day one -December 3rd 2016. It gave us bit time to have our lunch peacefully and get ready for late afternoon session. After 15:00hours, there was rush of variety of birds. Some of them have come just to watch and witness the variety of species. There was a professional person to record the sightings into database. It was such a serious place for bird activity. We were fortunate enough to witness one of the rare species - Indian Pitta. This bird is very colourful. It is very shy in nature and was there for few seconds. By the end of the day I have clicked around 1000 photos. Mr. Anantha had around three thousand clicks….!!!!

Late evening, I was accessing the day’s work and was of the target many times. It was more than intended. I did not have knowledge on bird’s behaviours was the reason for it. While doing wild life photography, one needs to know about the behavioural aspect of the species you are trying to capture. Generally, birds are very shy and it tries to hide behind bush, but at the same time also wants to pick food and water. It repeats it behaviour. This second chance is to frame it better. I did not know the ABCD on bird’s behaviour. Kid present in camp was able to identify the species easily. I was spell bound by his knowledge. I need to learn more on birds. A retired military officer at the age of 70+ was identifying birds with the help of book called “Birds of the Indian Subcontinent”. This was inspiring. Had a great buffet dinner and retired for the day.

Next morning woke up and went for walk in the nature to find the birds around the camp. It was more challenging to click as the birds were behind leaves or branches. It was far away. Also clicking with hand held telephoto lens of 150-600mm was difficult. I had monopod but even though it was tough to focus as small leave/branch in between subject and lens was causing out of focus. Some of the bird species (one among them is Indian Trogon) were spotted during the nature trial but could not capture as it was far away. Returned from walk and had a buffet breakfast. It was time for check out. We packed our things and moved out. But we are not finished our shooting. The luggage shifted to bench under the tree. We ordered for lunch and continued our shooting.

A visitor X came and asked “what species you spotted yesterday”. It was like asking a blind man how big is the elephant. I am an uneducated person when it comes to identifying bird species. But I should maintain my reputation and only species name learnt on Day-1 is ‘Indian Pitta’ and told him the same. He was excited by listening to it. He immediately went to the office and booked for day outing package. That is the kind of commitment people have during wild life photography. I was surprised for his commitment.

We continued our task. I was more focused to capture quality pictures rather than clicking more numbers. This gave me some time to plan the shots. Again today afternoon also was less spotting. In free time, it happened to shoot some selfies and portraits with the hired lens. Our macho-man Anantha took photos with two 150-600 lens. Selfie queen Sumathi took photos with camera, lens and tripod. Thanks to MI5 for capturing us. Afternoon, we all had a great lunch and got ready for final round of action. We had good time capturing the birds.

It was around 5:00PM and our hero “Indian Pitta” did not turn out. Visitor X was desperate to see it. He used the mobile and played calling music. By seeing this I felt annoyed. My respect towards him turned to zero. This is disruption to the nature and bird. They have put clearly the board “not to play any bird calling music”. The forest official came and gave him his peace of mind. Then they stopped the music. There are many do’s and don’ts when you are exploring forest or nature. We have already occupying majority of the area and forest is shrinking. Upon that, we do this kind of activity and harm nature. These are educated class and have knowledge. They know this is not the right thing to do but still continue to do this. God only save India…!!!

The time has come and we have to leave this “Pakshi Kashi”. We decided to come back again soon. We did not cover the timber yard area in Dandeli. This area is also good place for bird photography. Forest guard helped us to book the cab for return journey to Dandeli. In cab, we have decided to come back and discussed future trip to this place. We had dinner at the same Kamat restaurant and our discussion on next visit continued in our dinner time too. We boarded the bus at 8pm and returned to Bangalore.

College Gate - ‘Difficulty is a Severe Instructor’

“No…No….No… whatever it may be I am not interested…………thank you.”

This was the first response what we have got from the first customer when we approached at the first stall put up by us.  Birla Global Finance Company Limited (BGFCL) is our team SIP Company.  Our team consisted of Neha, Bharathi, Shiladitya and myself.  We had a very good team since we were working together in the college and now at company.

We were into financial services sector and we were handling investment products like mutual funds and insurance.  April is the beginning of the financial year and people are not planning for any kind of investment in this month since they just finished that in March at the end of the last financial year.  It was a challenge to work in this kind of environment.

When going gets tough, tough gets going…………..

It was really checking our patience and we kept on putting our efforts.  The company guide, Mr. Chetan Kumar, Branch Head – BGFCL, did give us a very good support during this period.  He gave us the lot of inputs how we can crack the market.  We applied our skills with his input and slowly started the business.  We did put up the stalls at various companies.  When we put up the first stall, we approached the customer but he replied, “Whatever it may be I am not interested.”  It was a totally a negative response, but we did not lose our heart we kept our enthusiasm.

Initial stages, we did find it difficult to convince the customers, but as the days progressed it became easier.  Once we had the complete knowledge of the product, it became easier to convince the customer.  It is the knowledge that makes you confident in life – ‘Knowledge is Power’.  Some customers are really very skeptic, since we were handling there monitory issues.  They were hesitant to give us the cheque.  One customer even took our college ID card photocopy.  He wanted our company guide to call on his mobile phone.  It was very difficult to convince that customer.  We met this customer in our initial stage of SIP.  After convincing this customer our confidence level grown. Funny thing is he was from Thomson Financial and met him in Garuda Mall. After completing MBA, this was the company I joined. Never met him though.

SIP did teach us the actual corporate culture and importance of time.  We need to be on time for the marketing calls, otherwise we will lose the customer.  We also improved our communication and analytical skills.  The company guide and faculty guide was very supportive during the SIP.  During the initial stages it was hard to get the business that time our spirit was kept by the faculty guide Mr. Yashoda Krishna by his valuable inputs. He always told not to say ‘NO’ to customer.

Once we went to Banasawadi to meet customer in the morning around 10:30am along with Shiladitya. But he said ‘I have a meeting come in the evening around 6:00pm’. I said okay and came out.  He scolded me why did I agree for evening, which is not possible to come so far. I said “boss, evening there might be rain, traffic jam or stuck with other customers. Don’t worry’. Evening, we really could not make it as we were in Koramangala. So called him and informed not able to make today and will come tomorrow morning. Next day, he gave the business for us.

As a team we complemented each other earlier also and now at its best.  It is the teamwork what makes the impossible is possible.  The best example for this is ants.  In office people were wondering about our teamwork.  We did leave a mark in company with our work and achievement. So much fun we had during our breaks. Sometimes, we used to laugh loudly in the office only.

We were into most happening sector in these days i.e. Mutual Funds and Insurance.  We did get a good insight of these sectors.  This will help us to correlate the theory with the practical scenario in the upcoming semesters as we have chosen the subjects like portfolio management and mutual funds.  It was a dream SIP.

Save … your skills, Insure… your experience, Spend…. your knowledge, Enjoy ….the success.

College Gate - SIP

College Gate – SIP

First year students were preparing resume for the Summer Internship Program of the curriculum. A four-months program between first year and second year designed to bridge the gap between the industry and college. This is more of a trailer of what is going to be the corporate world. We need to prepare resume, rather curriculum vitae. There will be number of companies tied up with college to provide internship. We can select the companies for giving interview according to our specialization. But for finance, none of the company is ready to provide the internship. Companies do not want to share their financial strength with interns. So did not get the intern in finance department.

College placement coordinator sent me to Birla Global Finance Company limited. Along with me three more students were there (Bharati, Shiladitya and Neha). Mr. Chetan was the Branch Manager. He took the interview. The company provided Mutual Funds, Insurance and Loans. We all did well with the interview. After interview the usual dialogue “we will inform you” was conveyed to us. Next day, placement team informed us we all four of us were through and we can do our internship with BGFCL. Probably, we were the first to get the internship. This made the class to feel J factor with us. But the other side was it was beginning of an excellent friendship in college days. Narendra Chopra’s birthday came. The other three were close to him and because of this did have blasting birthday at “Gullu’s Chats -Shesadripuram”. Gullus provide variety of chats like Bun Nippat masala, Puffs masala, etc. By this time we were part of many projects together and we did came up with a firm team to do all project. We (Nehan, Naren, Sheela, Shiladithya, Bharati and myself) were the noted-team among the faculty as well as students for our teamwork.

We never used to bunk the classes. We were the motivation factors for faculty that if no one is there our team definitely there. People thought that we never enjoyed college life because we were always in the college. But enjoyment depends on the your perception and it is very subjective and individualistic. After class we always used to go for “Churumuri Gadi” eat there and have juice in “Ganesh Juice Center”. We used to talk so much and enjoy. Some times we did speak about our projects and subjects. This kept us focused on MBA.

The Second semester final exams were approaching. We need to make a book review for soft skill class. I chose “Five Point Someone” from Chetan Bhagat. I did the review by giving slides names fusing with cricket terms like opening, slog overs, extra innings. Mrs. Jyothi was very impressed with my presentation. Class started spreading the book is really good. Now it has been history by being part of Bollywood biggest grossed up movie ‘3 Idiots’ screenplay.

We need to share our wild dreams with the class and face the class for questions. This was an exercise to build the confidence in students for public speaking. My turn came. There are 3 dreams in my life. Write a book in Kannada language and direct a film in Kannada. The final one was roaming around with the relatives and friends in Scorpio especially in Malenadu (western ghats).

Mrs. Jyothi -  which is your most desired destination.

Suraj: Kailasa Manasa Sarovara.

Mrs. Jyothi: why don’t you take your friends there.

Suraj:  it will be difficult to survive in extreme conditions. I don’t want to give trouble my friends, but if anyone volunteer’s to come then no issues.

Time passed. Second semester exam came. All were busy preparing for exam. Also, they were excited to enter into company for summer internship. We finished our exam. There was an inaugural function of summer internship program. Next day all has to report to companies.

Continued….!!!

College Gate - Quota

A good MBA course is one that is designed to read the situation in different perspective at a time. It makes you very dynamic in thinking. I have learnt “change is the only constant in this changing world” practically. We were still under the shock of our friends demise, but need to get back to action for management fest. The turn around time is less than 24hours. Next day, entire college was in full swing for the preparation for fest.

I do not remember the name of the fest. As I have mentioned earlier, this fest also had events in Marketing, Human Resource, Finance and Management focused events. I was part of organizing committee for finance events and quiz. So could not participate in those segments. For Marketing there were too many participants. As was busy, arranging finance and quiz event, could not participate in marketing. Only option left was Human Resource event. The least interesting subject for me but took part in this event. First round we need to introduce our self and speak for 3-4 minutes. Yardstick was to be interesting and attitude defining. When my turn came I introduced myself. Next two rounds were some situation-based assessment. I got the second prize in this event. Everyone praised my introduction. This prize-winning introduction is there on ‘about me section’ on the blog. The first two places have been assured that they will represent Regional Management fest of INC.

The day arrived for Regional Management fest and was present at Banasawadi Center where the event was happening. HR event organizers called all the participants. I was about to go, but one of my senior Vijay Raghav came registered his name as the second participant. I asked him ‘what is this? I am the second contestant as I came second in human resource event.’ But this guy showed his ugly side. He told me ‘am in final year, I wont be able to participate again. You have one more year. Also I have taken permission from Mrs. GR (Principal).’ Quota system..!!! I don’t want to make commotion there left. I did ask Mrs. Jyothi who was the faculty in charge. She was also helpless. This is micro one. When you see it in macro i.e. in context to Indian system this much bigger problem. The quota system should be evaded. Deserving candidate should be given the opportunity. Then India can compete with world in any field.

I felt bad, but did not waste my time there by cribbing. Went to Shopper Stop. Not to come out of my sadness. We need to complete assignment for marketing subject. My team got all the relevant information and presented in front of the class. This was extra assignment specifically given by Mrs. Baisaki to the team making me as the Leader. This presentation would benefit the class. She, specifically, chose me as leader. This made me think “do I have a caliber to teach?”. We did give a good presentation and other faculties present said ‘good job’. I lost my deserving place in fest, but I did get knowledge and confidence by giving good presentation. Life is a balance sheet. It has got credit and debit column.

College Gate - Haunting Times

During second semester, used to take the lunch box. Never took during high school days. A 30-minute lunch break and house was 2 km away. Bicycle was the mode of transport. For going home 10 minutes, have lunch in 10 minutes and back to school in another 10 minutes. That was a routine because did not want to take the lunch box. But going to the office has taught me many things in life. Marketing job makes you learn many things. Few more in the college who brought lunch box. A Kannada speaking boys were my lunch mates. Dilip, Indresh and Vijay Kumar were among the team. We had lot of fun during those lunch breaks. Indresh used to discuss many things with me and we generally went for walk after lunch. During walk Dilip used to talk on Kannada film jokes, specially, Jaggesh movies.

Class has divided into groups. And each group has been assigned to do all the projects for that semester in a particular segment i.e retail, hospital or banking, etc. Hospital was the segment given to our team. We have to do accounting, marketing, and human resource subjects project in that. We decided to approach Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain Hospital near Cantonment Railway station. First only three of us went and met the HR-department director. We explained him the scenario. He said please get the letter from college and also bring in all the members with ID cards. College gave us the letter. We attended the morning session as our appointment was in the afternoon. All the 12 members went to hospital.  Number of student was reduced in classroom. Usually, the students bunk the class and go for movie in afternoon sessions. It is a unwritten rule. Morning session was always a gathering time. Instead of waiting somewhere they wait in classroom. But none my teammates were like that.

Mrs. GR took afternoon first session. She was furious to see very few students. The director deferred our appointment due to some emergency meeting. We all came back to college at the end of last session. Only 10 minutes left we did not go to classroom. We were waiting in lounge to finish the class. Mrs GR saw all of us as she was leaving for the day. She gave all of us her peace of mind. No one has scolded me like that in my life. In spite of all the effort we got this. Do we want to bunk her class? If we are interested in bunking class, no one will come back to college. I don’t know sometimes people forget simple thinking. Also, our team members attendance was at high percentage almost all had more than 85%. She being a faculty definitely knows that. This kind of behavior is demoralizing and demotivating for a student. During weekly mentoring session did speak out with Mrs. Jayashree. Honesty gets you in trouble. We should have disbursed from hospital only. We should not have shown commitment and passion for studies. After this, I always avoided Mrs. GR as far as possible.

Next Saturday, was travelling to Sringeri for my annual visit. Got a call from Indresh while I was in the bus. It was about 11:00pm. There has been a network problem and call got disconnected without me being uttering a word. I could not call back as there was no network. On Sunday, visited at Sringeri Sharadadevi Temple. Renewed my annual maintenance contract with Sharada Devi. Also visited Hornadu, which is 80 KM away from Sringeri. Evening near the Thunga River beside Sharadadevi temple is very peaceful. So I always make it a point to come back to Sringeri from Hornadu before evening. Sunset is a nice view from riverbank. Night travelled back to Bangalore. Monday, morning reached college at 9 am. I saw few were crying in the classroom. I asked what happened. Niranjan told me that Indresh committed suicide on Sunday night. Oh no! I was shocked to hear that. I was wondering what made that guy to do so. Not sure what was running in his mind. I wish the network was available and could have spoken to him on Saturday night. Probably that conversation would have passed suicidal ideation. I have learnt in medical transcription stint that suicidal ideation is momentary. If you share your thoughts and it might change your thinking as it was out of your system. This thought haunted me for few days. But you cannot change the destiny.

People wanted to go for Indresh’s native and be part of funeral. So all requested for holiday. Mrs GR rejected the request as only two days left for management fest in college and lot work to be done. First year student assured her that we will take care of the work next day. But she was adamant. Mr Raghavan and Mr. Naveen has interfered and convinced her. Also the seniors said we would stay here and put extra effort. MBA course is all about managing things and achieving the set goals. But one should not forget humanity at any cost. Still his orkut account exists in my friends list. He is still alive in many of his friend’s heart.