You are an entrepreneur if...

Tom Evslin has ten ways to identify whether you are an entrepreneur. Here are some of them:

10. You can’t bring yourself to call anyone “boss”.

8. Instead of saying “there oughtta be a law”, you say “there could be a business…”

5. Some of your favorite people are VCs (condition applies only after obtaining at least one round of VC funding).

4. Some of your least favorite people are VCs (condition applies only after ATTEMPTING to obtain at least one round of VC funding).

3. You are most likely to start a new business immediately after thinking in the shower.

2. You have to take two zeros OFF the numbers in your business plan or no one will believe it.

Do Indians shake their heads to say yes?

What is the most common way for a westerner (or NRI) - who has probably visited India once or twice - to act knowledgeable about India? Just reveal to the audience (mostly firangs) that, in India, a person shakes who his/her head side-to-side is really saying "yes"!!!

Only problem, I - who have lived all my life (30+ years) in India - have never seen this happening.

I wish these firangs and NRIs please give up this silly - and untrue - characterization. Thank you.

Tsunami Videos: The waves arriving

Asian Tsunami Videos.com has some amazing amateur videos of the killer waves.

I found this one shot by a German tourist to be quite amazing.

It starts like a normal day at the beach only the tide is extremely low and completely unaware of the incoming Tsunami people are wondering about exploring this fenomenon and some even are scooba diving. Then the cameraman starts noticing some huge waves in the horizon which start to break and he describes them as "extraordinary" several times. As the waves get closer he also notices that the ships are trying to escape them at full speed and when the first wave finally reaches one ship and swallows it whole does he and the tourists on the beach start to realize the magnitude of what is comming directly at them. Screams can be heard from the tourists in the background and he starts showing increasing concern repeating the phrase "what is that" untill he finally panics and tries to flee for his life.

We drive like this only

Great video from a camera focused on a typical Indian city/town road intersection.

Funny and scary at the same time.

Keep it simple "Sam"

A must watch video especially for all those NRIs who "Americanize" their Indian names.

Birds in my backyard

This time of the year, each morning (around 8.30 am onwards) a flock of birds land up to sun bathe in the "Adyar creek" area which forms our apartment's backyard.

The rich greenery after the recent rains dotted by these - mostly white, some brown - birds makes for a relaxing view. Watch a slide show of photos shot from my home office window (and a couple of them from our apartment's terrace) here.

"How RSS feeds are like magazine subscriptions"

A great post by Kaps comparing RSS feeds and magazine subscrptions:

RSS feed subscriptions are quite similar to magazine subscriptions. A subscription shows a commitment to read but there is no guarantee that the subscriber will read it. Both are delivered to you once the stuff is published.

A higher subscription base provides some comfort level to the writer / blogger as he/she knows that there is a committed readership.

Blog comments are like ‘Letters to the Editor’. Accolades are hard to come by.

People who visit the blog directly are similar to people who buy the magazine from the newsstand. This kind of readership is normally seasonal (usually Mon – Fri).

Promising Local Site: I Love Chennai

G.R.Krishna ("GRK") has launched I Love Chennai, a very neat looking web site and "campaign" for folks who are passionate about this cool (huh!) city.

The web site has some great photos, including as part of the Chennai Photoblog. A good example (of a couple of "machis" on their bikes):

ILC also has an online discussion forum and plans to soon launch "Its our City", "an online PDF ezine" to which "you can contribute articles, photos, writeups, ideas...etc".

A very promising start indeed! I hope ILC continues to keep up the initial momentum. They are absolutely on the right track by making it a community effort.

Long term, I think such a creative and community focused effort can give mainline papers - like The Hindu, Deccan Chronicle (that silly tabloid passing off as a newspaper with its horrible Sun TV ads ), TOI (if and when they eventually launch) - and even the neighbourhood papers a serious run for their money.

PS: Here's my 2-bit for GRK and co.: get the guys behind Bosey on to this platform.