Uh oh, a new tune stuck in the groove, replacing “Absolutely Everybody”…..
Actually not new, nor one I have not heard before. This one is “Tanha Dil” by Shaan. Not too bad lyrics, and a really great tune. I have seen it several times on TV (great video too, BTW), but I ran across the MP3 on the net today, and I was hooked.
Unfortunately, FabMart was closed this evening when I tried to do the honest thing and order the CD. Looks like they are into a revamp, and promise to be back tomorrow morning. Am holding breath….
Carpenter came in with estimates for the partitioning of the den. Grossly overquoted. He probably didn’t realise that I do have the ability to check on prices of things. What did he think he was – some dot-com or something, with me as his VC???
IAC, looks like I need another carpenter. Luckily, Shubha has already located someone.
Anyway….
The big news is that starting February, I am finally getting back into the seminar circuit.
For those of you who don’t know me that long – between 1993 and 1997, I (often in conjunction with Kishore Bhargava) spent a lot of time on the road, holding technical seminars that were aimed at dragging people online – whether they liked it or not. 
Even if I must say so myself – these seminars were outrageous successes, more so because not only did our audiences enjoy themselves thoroughly – we did, too! The instant chemistry was amazing, and even today I often meet people who start a conversation with “you probably don’t remember me, but I attended your seminar in…”. I had mixed feeling there – I felt so old, but man! did I feel good!
Those were the days when I had a lot more time on my hands, and was also writing a column for PCQuest. Much of the content of my column came directly out of my interaction with audiences from these seminars, and this “instant feedback” mechanism was sheer magic.
Things changed a lot after 1996. I ended my column around the end of that year, largely because I was no longer comfortable with the direction PCQuest was taking then. It was (and always will be) a great publication, but as it grew in stature, us “early pioneers” felt slightly lost in the need to cover more products and less technology. The days of PKR’s “tech first!” were clearly over.
Also, somewhere along the line, I had been made to understand that my seminar successes were based on the success of my writing for PCQ. It was only years later that I understood that while this certainly was the case, it worked the other way round as well.
But by the time I woke up to this fact (and PCQ got back on track), a lot of things had changed both for the industry as well as for me. By 1997, C&B Consulting was taking up all my time. By 1999, that small company grew into what is today known as Exocore, and the initial years were hectic, leaving very little time for seminar tours.
In the meanwhile, vendors caught onto the seminar business big-time -with a serious twist – most of them were pushing their products rather than actually trying to educate the audiences. This quickly led to people shying away from these “tech seminars”. Desperate vendors then went down the “free seminar” route, which worked for a while, but finally that horse too was deemed as dead, and no amount of flogging would get it to move anymore. What was left was an empty circus ring.
It was a pity really. I enjoyed those seminar tours like I enjoyed few other things. Meeting so many people, being able to answer their questions, building relationships, meeting them again online, exchanging ideas….
All this was rammed home to me during LB/2001, where one my talks “Connecting to the Internet using Linux” turned the clock back for me by almost 5 years. Suddenly, I could feel that thrill again – that feeling when I was talking to an audience that not only felt it important to hear what I was talking about, but was clearly understanding and benefitting from what I was telling them. Even though I overshot my time grossly, not a single person left the hall, and when I opened up to questions, the interaction was amazing. God! What a rush! I knew then this is something that I wanted to do again.
Anyway – if things go well, I should be able to resume seminars again – in a small way in February, and then a full-fledged tour sometime after the madness that defines Indian business in the months of January through March.
All this is possible because of the great way things are falling in place at work. I have a really great team working with me, and things are just getting better. It has taken time, but today I have the confidence that the team will handle things the way they should be handled – even if I am missing in action. It does make me feel a wee bit redundant, but I’ll live.
One thing is clear – with these seminars, I am going to take up right where I left off half a decade ago. I have learnt so much since then, so much that I want to tell people. And so much that I want to learn as well.
I can’t wait to get started.
There’s no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, a state of bliss
Can’t keep my mind from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I
–”Learning to Fly”, Pink Floyd