Balance

Humans tend to be very unbalanced. We can't sort out how to address our "minds," our "bodies" or our "spirits." We certainly are at a loss over any rational balance between our professional and personal lives (work and family). We are unbalanced, that that is wasteful, sad and dangerous. Life gets shorter every day --- most of us act like we are in training for some great happening that will occur in the future - we totally forget to live in the "now." Certainly most of us have to work to pay the bills, but a life that is all work and no play --- well, is not much of a life. I guess these few days here under the subtle influence of the various Indian Philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism are having their effect on my easily impressionable mind.

Fortunately, my compatriots on our expedition here to India are aware of this serious human condition, and do attempt to seek balance, as you see in the picture above, where we are attempting to keep the "temple that is our body" in proper condition; and we are also engaged in endless intellectual debate on a vast range of topics including the relevance of terms such as Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Engineering; considering if the addition of "winglets" to the top of a sailboats mast would reduce a theoretical vortex drag (the de francesca hypothesis); and also the gender of god.

We are seeking balance --- of course we are not there --- but in respect of this search - I am now off to dinner.

Brian

Delhi -- a decade later

I was last here in Delhi in 1997-98 -- it remains a fascinating place - though on the surface, it looks and feels pretty much the same as it did a decade ago. For better writing than mine - visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi

The hazy view is from my hotel room. It is hotter then you would expect - around 41 degrees Celsius. Imagine having to peddle a bike around in that heat, as the fellow in the picture has to. We are quite fortunate.

Brian

Learning about the local culture

We all know how important it is to be sensitive to local cultures - and with that, or Grand Master Pietro today took us to The Red Fort to better understand the richness and history of this area. Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fort to learn much more about the fort and to see some great pictures. Based on our visit today, we believe we may have found the new location for the TBS offices in India - and a suitable residence for Roy.

Brian

WOW - that is all I can say about this place

A few days ago we visited the Narayana Hrudayalaya Institute of Cardiac Sciences.

It is rare when I don't say much - but on this visit - I sat spellbound - they are performing magic.

And I finally found a way to slip myself into one of these pictures. You see the guy standing in front of the television monitors; he is Abhay P. Singhavi - CEO Preventive Health (and telemedicine) services) If you look closely into the monitor behind him - there I am in the middle in the grey suit.

Also here you see Pietro and Carlo equally spellbound by what is being done at Narayana. Visit: www.narayanahospitals.com to learn more. Really - check them out.

Brian

Columbia Asia

Columbia Asia (http://www.columbiaasia.com/) is a company started by Rick Evans many moons ago. They were a client of mine in Malaysia and they are doing very innovative things for healthcare. We visited Rick at his offices here in Bangalore (no, Rick is not in the pictures) and we hope to be doing some business with them.

Rock Stars

It is not all wining and dinning --- unfortunately.

Here you find Pietro, Ven (the leader of TBS India), Roy (The Voice From the Kingdom), and Chevla (the guy who really gets things done).

I am not sure I am so happy about being the picture taker --- my ego and vanity are bruised.

A really great start to things here in India.

Brian

Blogging is hard work...

I don't know how Stefano kept up with this. Bravo to him.

We had the first TBS INDIA board meeting on Tuesday. Notice the TBS Logo in the back ground of the fascinating picture of Pietro and Paolo.

The meeting went well - we are off to greatness.

Bad day for flying

Panic after Air India plane skips landing

In Mangalore
Heavy rains, no landing system forces Air India Express plane with 150 on board to land in Kozhikode
M Raghuram. Mangalore

Memories of the May 22 air crash of Air India Express's Dubai-Mangalore flight IX-812, heavy rains and a yet-to-be-repaired Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Mangalore's Bajpe Airport are making it extremely difficult for pilots to land at this aerodrome which is claimed to be an all-weather one.
On Wednesday, this became evident when, again, an Air India Express flight on the same Dubai-Mangalore route was forced to abort landing during heavy rains at Bajpe at 6.10am and made to proceed to Kozhikode instead.
The flight with 144 passengers and six crew members approached the Bajpe airport runway and tried to land in heavy rains, Chellam Prakash, station manager, Air India, said.
Poor visibility, heavy rains and a fear of an encore of the May 22 air crash when the ill-fated flight overshot the runway and crashed into the ravine beyond the runway killing 158, forced the Mangalore air traffic control (ATC) to ask the pilot to abort landing at Bajpe airport and diverted the plane to Kozhikode.
Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials told DNA that the ILS, which was damaged during the IX-812 flight's crash at Bajpe airport, was not yet functional as the system engineers had not fixed it. An airport official told DNA: "Visibility had come down to 100 metres due to heavy rains. Air India pilots are not allowed to land unless there is a clear visibility of 2,000 feet from the landing threshold. In the absence of a working ILS we could not permit pilots to land at Bajpe and asked them to come back later."
The flight then landed safely at Kozhikode at about 7.15am.


... but the TBS buddies are dauntless and won't get threatened so easily! Our brave spirit is best described by Freddie Mercury words:

Don't stop me now

Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time
I feel alive
And the world, I'll turn it inside out yeah
I'm floating around in ecstasy
So don't stop me now
Don't stop me
'cause I'm having a good time
Having a good time

I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity
I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm gonna go go go there's no stopping me
I'm burning through the sky yea
Two hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit
I'm travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man out of you

Don't stop me now
I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball
Don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time
Just give me a call
Don't stop me now
'cause I'm having a good time
Don't stop me now
Yes I'm having a good time
I don't wanna stop at all

I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars
On a collision course
I am a satellite
I'm out of control
I'm a sex machine ready to reload
Like an atom bomb about to oh oh oh oh oh explode!
I'm burning through the sky yeah
Two hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit
I'm travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic woman of you

Don't stop me don't stop me, don't stop me hey hey hey!
Don't stop me don't stop me ooh ooh ooh
I like it
Don't stop me don't stop me
Have a good time good time
Don't stop me don't stop me

I'm burning through the sky yeah
Two hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit
I'm travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man out of you

Don't stop me now
I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball
Don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time
(all right) Just give me a call
Don't stop me now
'cause I'm having a good time
Don't stop me now
Yes I'm having a good time
I don't wanna stop at all

Morning in Bangalore

The day is just starting and I wanted to get this posted before the day started. The team started arriving yesterday from various points in Europe - I got to the Hotel around 2am - so it is a sleepy start for the day - but the rest of the team arrived even later - so it will be an interesting start of the day for everyone.

You can learn more about Bangalore at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore It is the Silicon Valley of India - but you cannot really tell that from this picture.

I will do my best to keep this blog updated while here - but I am cannot promise to be as diligent and interesting as Stefano was on the expedition to The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Setting the TBS flag here in India was a visionary strategic move on behalf of our company CEO. While it will of course be challenging to support our ever increasing geographic scope of services - I am confident that years from now, India will prove to be a cornerstone to our global operations.

Stay tune for more ... and as always -

Be Brave !!!

Tbs lift off for India