A man and his dog

I am getting some weird dreams these days. May be because of all the uncertainty around us or may be it's just something inexplicable. I met my childhood dog buddy last night in my dreams. It felt so real! I was very happy that he is still around, recognizes me and ready to hang out with me. Normally I can't really  remember the dreams when I wake up but this one was different.

He was a common pet between 2 houses in our neighborhood at my native place. He was pretty handsome, really good with kids and possessed a gift of selfless love. We called him 'Sultan'. The name was given because he came to us during a popular tv series - 'The Sword of Tipu Sultan '. I am personally not a big fan of Tipu Sultan but history tells us he was a brave king and our Sultan totally lived up to that name.

I  used to meet him just once a year for a few days. Every time I reached my grandparents' place, he used to run to me. I don't know how could he remember me. I used to do all sorts of mischiefs with him, but he was always tolerant and forgiving. I was a little kid when I suffered from a dog bite but Sultan is a reason I never felt scared of dogs. He taught me to love selflessly and how to be there when someone needs you. I don't think I can ever get close to him when it comes about loving selflessly.

My grandparents told me he caught a thief one night at a neighbor's place. To me this was exceptional given he was not a trained dog. Loyalty is a very common canine trait but this kind of daring is not. I have seen very strong dogs who get scared of something as small as a rat.
I remember an instance when Sultan followed me all the way to the bus station and tried boarding my bus. Lots of memories. After a long time I am missing someone so badly.

I hope I will be able to get another pet dog one day. It's a lot of investment, especially emotional one but it's worth it. One learns so much from these wonderful animals.

Came across this poem on animal channel, borrowing just a part of it-

God said - ‘I need somebody strong enough to pull sleds and find bombs, yet gentle enough to love babies and lead the blind. Somebody who will spend a day on a couch with a resting head and supportive eyes to lift the spirits of a broken heart.’

So, God made a dog.

Costa Rica - Pura Vida!

It has been more than a year since I spent couple of consecutive days without responding to work emails or attending a work call. I needed a break and my wanderlust wife merrily agreed to accompany me. We literally booked this trip on a spur of the moment and then everyone started scaring us about COVID! We were so bored with the winter and NYC that we decided to go against all the odds and board our flight. Must say, it was a one of the great decisions I made.
Costa Rica is just what I wanted - crisp air, lush green landscapes, amazing food and a dose of Pura Vida!

We decided to drive around in Costa Rica. The main reason was to stop wherever we want, eat roadside food and wander around without any scheduling constraints.

Our first stop was in La Fortuna - small town near Arenal Volcano. Now this Arenal dude is pretty famous but extremely moody and shy. We were there for about 3 days and we got its glimpse for just over 3 seconds and people still called us lucky.
La Fortuna is a small town. It has some good restaurants. We especially liked La Fonda (amazing Salmon), and Soda Viquez (simple Costa Rican food). Oh, and I forgot to mention an Israeli restaurant we tried on our way to La Fortuna - 'Lands in Love'. It offers a splendid view and mouth watering vegan / vegetarian dishes. Loved the Shakshuka there.
The hanging bridge hike near Arenal national park is a must do and make sure you hire a guide. These guides are pretty good at spotting wildlife, and they also carry a telescope with them. We also did a couple of hikes in Arenal Volcano national park, spotted some interesting birds and animals. The jungle there is refreshing and aromatic. Highlight of the trip was an evening in Tabacon resort. This is an exotic place with natural hot springs full of minerals. We just threw ourselves in those springs and relaxed for a few hours. Talk about indulgence.

Next stop was Monteverde and on our way we ate at 'Cafe & Macadamia'. Again- breathtaking views of lake Arenal with some out of the world fruit smoothies and freshly cooked meals.
In Monteverde, we stayed at a boutique hotel - Hidden Canopy. This is owned by a 'Superwoman' Jennifer King. This lady worked in Silicon Valley, got laid off, went to South America as a scuba instructor. When she came to Monteverde, she fell in love with this place, bought some land. This land was just a cow pasture with a small shack. She then turned this piece of land into this beautiful hotel in the middle of a cloud forest. This place is just serene. Toucans, hummingbirds flying around, clouds hovering around and Jen's amazing team serving you some delicious breakfast. Talk about pampering yourself! And icing on the cake - tea time with freshly made snacks while watching a breathtaking sunset. We did absolutely nothing in Monteverde other than a nocturnal jungle tour and a couple of hikes at the crack of a dawn. Nocturnal jungle trip was a different experience, we saw a viper, a sloth bear and many other animals, bugs, frogs. I don't know I would do this kind of tour again given the way we end up disturbing those wonderful creatures. The guide said the animals don't get bothered by our presence but I am not really convinced. We ate at Cabure near Monteverde. It's an Argentine restaurant but offers some fabulous curries. Susana (owner) spent a lot of time in India studying wildlife and that's how she mixed up Argentine dishes with Indian curries.

Our last stop was Poas Volcano near San Jose. I highly recommend a place called Chubascos in Alajuela for their cheesecakes and other local dishes. We stayed in Poas Volcano lodge. This place was devastated during an earthquake 10 years ago but they got back on track and rose like a Phoenix. It's a fabulous place with brilliant artistic sense. I did a long hike there and got a chance to spot a rare bird - resplendent Quetzal. I was lucky to spot one given there are not many in Costa Rica especially this time of the year. Lethargy took over next morning and we decided to skip a visit to Poas Volcano and instead headed back to airport to catch our flight to NYC.

Overall, Costa Rica is a fabulous destination. You would forget all your anxieties, worries and just get immersed in its simplicity. People are honest, simple and they live worry free. It was a good change from NYC's hustle and bustle. The roads in Costa Rica are well maintained. Driving was pretty easy there. We did minimal research and found these places based on the recommendations from locals. I hope this article helps you plan your journey when you go get your dose of Pura Vida!

Pictures: Sneha Pendse

Arenal hiding from us

Hike near Poas Volcano

Glimpse of Arenal

Sweet Plantains: Costa Rican dessert

Sunset from Hidden Canopy

Wildlife in Monteverde

Why do products fail?

This is a very common question and there are ton of articles / books written on this topic. However, products / projects still fail, millions of dollars are wasted, heads get rolled, deadlines are changed and frustration continues. You think you have learnt from this failure, and you won't repeat these mistakes but when you get onto your next venture, you find that you are not only repeating these mistakes but also making a few new ones.

I don't think there can be a 'One size fits all' solution to this problem. But working in Consulting has allowed me to be part of different projects for different clients and look at this rather objectively. So this article is more of a documentation of all these findings. I want to focus on 'product development' here. Sales, pre-sales, marketing etc are separate functions and let's discuss that sometime in the future. Here are some of the common pitfalls I have come across:

1. Not sharing your problem statement / goal: As simple as it sounds but it's not surprising that most of the times, the team that starts working on a initiative is not aware of the end goal.
Many a times, team members have a very limited visibility of the project. This is sometimes needed given some products are confidential for their organizations. However, for the non-confidential gigs, it's pretty essential that everyone knows what they want to achieve and where are they fitting in the jigsaw. This clarity also helps everyone get a feeling of ownership. Otherwise, it's just another job for them. If you think of it, this is the essence of design thinking.

2. Bad Communication: Another cliche, but man, you should not be surprised about this being mentioned here. I call it as 'Communication Leakage'. What starts on top floor and what reaches at the bottom floor are two entirely different versions. How do you handle it? Again - making sure that everyone is aware of the end goal, everyone is able to listen to / understand the 'top floor version' in as simple terms as possible. This also means that 'top floor' needs to communicate in such a way that its 'bottom floor' is able to understand and relate with.

3. No right team in place: I totally agree with Jack Welch here. Finding a right team is 'the' most important aspect of a successful team. It's Synergy, stupid! You have to create a synergy in your team. I like to look for attitude and aptitude in my team members rather than qualifications. The soccer fans can easily relate this with 'Real Madrid' - the dream team. Your team can never be successful just by adding bunch of highly qualified superstars. You have to take efforts in building it. Look for modesty in the people, people who are passionate, ready to listen and share their opinions without worrying about political correctness. With the right recruitment process, and synergy in your team, you have laid a strong foundation for a successful initiative.

4. Final requirements: Now this is a holy grail. Software industry likes to believe that the good old Waterfall model is real. But it never is possible. No one knows all the requirements on day 1. Requirements always evolve! You can not go with the assumption that you will have all the requirements signed off within certain time-frame and people can not change those later. This is rigid, anti-creative and impractical. You got to be agile, you have to be ready to evolve as your product / project progresses and show some flexibility. For a successful relationship, product or anything in life, you have to adapt! The most powerful cultures diminished because of not being able to adapt. Here we are just talking about a simple product. So think about it.

5. No Leadership: Now we come to everyone's favorite whipping boy (or girl)! But it makes sense, you don't get to enjoy the icing for nothing. Leader is like a parent who makes sure that all his quarrelsome kids come to a table for dinner and finish their food without creating any mess. You have to understand that you are going to handle different departments with different interests. They are going to fight with each other, create hindrances, may not have bandwidth for this work etc. You have to wade through all these obstacles keeping your head and tongue completely in check and once you are really good at it, you don't have to read articles like this. :)