Celebrating 5 years of blogging + Other Milestones

Celebrating 5 years of blogging + Other Milestones

Prolog

It has been a while since i wrote on this blog. Thankfully Abdul Fakhri and Priya Raju have been doing a wonderful job of picking up the slack. 

Fine Tastings

Since this section has not been carried in a while, i decided that it may not be wise to list all the links i liked, many of which i share on my twitter account. Instead i decided to recommend 2 books that i read recently that have had a huge impact on me. The first one is world renowned executive coach Marshall Goldsmith’s What got you here won’t get you there. Marshall has plenty of free resources on his website that you can take advantage of. I am indebted to Sanjay Radhakrishnan for bringing this book to my attention. The second one is Carol Dweck’s @#$%ing brilliant book Mindset . We have been searching for the Soul of Success on this blog  . I would say Carol Dweck has captured the soul of success in her  book. I am indebted to Rajkumar Ravindranathan for recommending this book to me. If you are a parent or a leader, you must read both these books. 

Blog Milestone

I am so happy to announce that we completed 5 years on this blog on June 27, 2009. What a tremendous feeling it is to see this baby that myself and Ganesh hatched grow into a fine sparkling child.  We have now logged a whopping 5,071 comments as of today with 552 posts published.  Compared to last year, we added nearly 2,300 comments in the past 1 year, which is nearly the amount of comments we logged in the previous 4 years combined. The amount of learning that i have received through this blog and the career impact it has had dwarfs the previous 37 years of existence on this planet combined.

My informal surveys amongst the twitterers showed me that blog traffic through RSS is significantly down for the twitterers. I was worried that our blog traffic may have gone down significantly. Fortunately, that is not the case, the traffic pattern seems to be at the same levels when we hit the million page views.  All of these accomplishments would not have been possible without all of you the readers/commenters. Special thanks to commenters –  Subba Muthurangan, Senthil, PK Karthik, Vamsi Poondla, Saraswathi..  

Thank you to all the bloggers specially Abdul Fakhri, Priya Raju, Ganesh Vaideeswaran who have written some fantastic posts in the past 1 year. Hopefully, our not so active bloggers Sreedhar, Sujatha, Sultana, Sibu will blog more this year.  I am also happy to announce that Kumaran Anandan has expressed an interest in contributing to this blog. We look forward to his posts. 

Special Thanks to John Keegan and the Pressharbor team who do a fantastic job of hosting this blog.

Career Milestone

I turned 42 last month and I have been in the midst of making some life changing decisions, in part inspired my Dr. Randy Pausch . After 21 years in the industry, and 14 years in the current firm, i have taken up a part-time role in the same firm as SVP/Head of Innovation. No words of gratitude are enough to thank my management for allowing me to do this.

During the past 3.5 years, i served as the CKO and had the once in a lifetime opportunity of bringing a breakthrough innovation Cognizant 2.0 to production - thanks to a brilliant idea that  my team mate came up with. The teams that i worked with have some of the best people that i have ever seen. They are definitely going to accomplish bigger and better things. I will of course be watching with delight from a small distance away from them. The affection and kindness that my teams showered on me last month is something that will be seared into my memory. Again, mere words are grossly inadequate to thank everyone. 

What Next

While i continue work part time in my current firm, in the other part of my time, i want to chase some of my dreams. One of them is to help Priya Raju with the social entrepreneurial venture she started recently.  The second one is to work on researching the Indus Valley Civilization. I have joined a local research group – Indus Research Center, which is part of the Roja Muthiah Research Library.  There are some passionate people working in that group. I hope to contribute to the initiative and hopefully see that the Indus Script is deciphered soon.  Please wish me luck, as i pursue something that is so far away from my skillset/educational qualifications/work experience.  

Epilog

This is something i always ask every time i do a celebration post. What else can we do to improve your blogging experience on this blog? Please fire away your comments. 

Comments

  1. Quote
    vinnie mrichandani said July 15, 2009, 6:14 pm:

    Congrats! 5 blogging years are like the equivalent of 5 dog years – happy dog years. Full of discoveries, new friends – concentrated in time and equal to way more human years.

    Keep on discovering and sharing!!

  2. Quote
    Saraswathi said July 15, 2009, 6:21 pm:

    Great to read this post Sukumar. Sastwingees is the first blog which comes to my mind when I think of serious and interesting discussions on topics that are relevant to the present day. Kudos to all the group members of Sastwingees on completing 5 years successfully.

    I have been lazy enough not to comment on lot of recent posts though I have been reading them.

    Best wishes for pursuing your dream in researching the Indus script. That’s indeed amazing!! We hope to read about your experiences at the Indus Research Center.

  3. Quote
    Kartik Chandrasekharan said July 15, 2009, 7:02 pm:

    First off, Congrats! Good to know about Cognizant 2.0 is being successful amidst the scale of your org. All the very best for future!

  4. Quote
    Ranjit said July 15, 2009, 7:06 pm:

    Thanks for the book recommendations Sukumar.I hv read Marshall Goldsmith’s book,some part of it I didn’t fully grasp though. I am neither a leader/parent but I bet ‘Mindset’ too would be a great read. Like Saraswathi, recent laziness (call it recession effect, we blame most things nowadays on recession anyways) meant lot less comments. But yes, I do read all of them and look fwd to the Fine tastings section.
    I would love to see more and more eminent people posting their ideas through this blog in the future. Truly Sast wingees itself is Scrumptious & delightful much like Knowledge ! Best wishes & congratulations on the milestone.

  5. Quote
    smuthurangan said July 15, 2009, 8:08 pm:

    Excellent Sukumar, Great way of contributing something to even unknown persons, your blog posts has tremendous amount of information and pointers. For some who like to grow/learn, your blog is first one to read. It is hard to maintain the same spirit for 5 long years, for that hats off to you,Priya, Abdul, Ganesh, Sreedhar, Sujatha, Sultana, Sibu and all. Thanks for mentioning my name also in commenter list. I read Marshall’s book it was great and a coaching guide for leaders.

    I think trying something new at this age is right decision and best of luck with that. I hope you can share some research finding here after your successfully complete of the research. Best of luck with your and Priya’s social venture.

    Subba

  6. Quote
    pk.karthik said July 15, 2009, 8:23 pm:

    Sukumar,

    Congrats on ur 5 years of blogging.I am sure this blog is going to places.All the best on other endevours.I hope u succeed in ur IVC endeavour .

    PS:I was in a bit of shock when u told me that u r becoming part time so was not able to enquire future plans….apologies about that:)

  7. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 15, 2009, 8:35 pm:

    Thanks a lot Vinnie. Yes, blog years are way more than human years. Dog years is a nice analogy.

  8. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 15, 2009, 8:37 pm:

    Thanks a lot Saraswathi for being a regular reader and commenter. Thanks for your kind words and best wishes.

  9. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 15, 2009, 8:39 pm:

    Thanks a lot Karthik.

    Ranjit,
    Thanks a lot for being a regular reader and commenter. Thanks for the kind words and wishes. Yes, i do hope sincerely that more people will volunteer to write on this blog. I guarantee that you will like Mindset.

  10. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 15, 2009, 8:42 pm:

    Subba,
    Thanks a lot for being a regular reader and commenter. I don’t remember a single post on which you have not commented. Thank you so much for doing that.

    Thanks for your kind words and wishes. IVC decipherment project has been on for several decades now. It is probably one of the most open ended, ambitious problems i have tackled. To top that i have no real background in this area. Yes, i will definitely share stuff that i find on this blog. I do hope that the RMRL team will decipher the script one day.

  11. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 15, 2009, 8:43 pm:

    Thanks a lot Karthik for being a regular reader and commenter. Thanks for your kind words and wishes.

  12. Quote
    Sanket said July 15, 2009, 10:03 pm:

    Best of luck for your new ventures Sukumar!

    I still remember Ch1 as the best part of my stint at Cognizant :)

  13. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 15, 2009, 10:12 pm:

    Thanks a lot for your wishes and kind words Sanket.

  14. Quote
    Annapoorani Sivaramakrishnan said July 15, 2009, 11:10 pm:

    Sukumar congrats for the 5 years…
    I am always glued to this blog and especially to your’s,priya’s,ganesh’s and Abdul’s writings….
    You are the one behind ch1 which rocks and which we cherish forever…
    Thanks for suggesting those books…
    waiting to read lots and lots of post from this blog.
    PS:Priya do write more,i missed your writings in ch1,but will catch in this space…

  15. Quote
    Amit (subscribed) said July 16, 2009, 3:20 am:

    Sukumar, congrats on the milestone, both for the blog and for the carer move! Best wishes for the future! May your dreams and future initiatives be fulfilling for you and for those that matter to you! You have been an inspiration and I wanted to tell you that!

  16. Quote
    Ganesh said July 16, 2009, 4:35 am:

    Congratulations Sukumar. Glad to be part of this crowd. Great to see you follow your dreams and Good luck with career 2.0. Randy Pausch is truly inspirational.

  17. Quote
    Shashank said July 16, 2009, 5:44 am:

    Congratulations Sukumar, Priya, Abdul, Ganesh & team…

    And good luck Sukumar for your Indus Valey Research project…and Priya for your social entrepreneurial project, came to know about it from Sukumar. Sounds great.

    Cheers!

  18. Quote
    kumaran said July 16, 2009, 7:15 am:

    Nice summary and snapshot of 5 years and your life in 5 paragraphs.

    Like the way you include everyone in the credits and also putting me under the light so I am comitted to blogging :-) :-) Lazy me , who has thoughts but lazy to blog. Twitter was a instant gratification tool.

    Looks like I will do my contribution to the group here.

    I think another 5 years we will have a online comunity with it roots also spread in the real world doing much more. :-) :-)

  19. Quote
    Surendar Chellappa (subscribed) said July 16, 2009, 11:00 am:

    Sukumar

    Wonderful accomplishments. Sad I never got to working with you through the Cognizant years.

    You have been a transformation agent to both the organization and to the individuals you’ve touched.

    Good luck with the research – I know a few people who dont believe in the Aryan invasion theory; if you find your reserach takes you anywhere near that zone (on AIT), would be delighted to get your opinions.

    I am personally no master in history but reconstructing ‘in my mind’ is always an iffy thing and borders on religion – its more faith and onjectures, as we see most things from our current context. For ex., how would the world see the several odd statues of kanshi and maya, say 2000 years from now.

    Surendar.

  20. Quote
    Sanyog said July 16, 2009, 12:03 pm:

    Great job, Sukumar and co.
    I am not a regular visitor, but do get engrossed in some of the debates whenever I visit this blog. It indeed is a great achievement to complete 5 years and attract so much traffic and so many comments.

    All the best for your forthcoming endeavours.
    Cheers

  21. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 16, 2009, 2:06 pm:

    Thanks a lot Annapoorani for your kind words. Yes, Priya will be writing more over time.

    Amit,
    Thanks a lot for your kind words and wishes.

  22. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 16, 2009, 2:07 pm:

    Ganesh,
    Thanks for the kind words and wishes. As one of the founders of the blog and as someone who has been contributing to this blog since day one, the congrats go to you as well.

  23. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 16, 2009, 2:14 pm:

    Shashank,
    thanks a lot for your wishes. I have passed on your wishes to Priya as well.

    Kumaran,
    Thanks a lot. Look forward to your thought provoking contra views on this blog soon.

  24. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 16, 2009, 2:23 pm:

    Surendhar,
    Thanks a lot for the kind words. Of course, i don’t think i could research the Indus without formulating an opinion on Aryan Invasion. I don’t believe an Aryan Invasion took place. But at the same time i do believe that the Aryans came from the outside.

    You could see some of the supporting research in these 2 posts that i wrote a while back:

    http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/02/24/the-real-history-of-india-part-6-aryan-invasion-theory/

    http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/03/01/the-real-history-of-india-part-7-chariots-horses-and-thunderbolts/

    Please let me know what you think.

  25. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 16, 2009, 2:24 pm:

    Thanks a lot for the kind words and wishes Sanyog.

  26. Quote
    Arun g said July 16, 2009, 4:12 pm:

    Congratulations on reaching the five year mark….Enjoyed reading the posts..
    Wishing you all the best for your future endeavour.

    Why is there no edit options for the commentators to edit their own comments,once it is posted?An option to edit the last comment in the blog will help to reduce the errors in comments section

  27. Quote
    rajagopal sukumar (subscribed) said July 16, 2009, 4:29 pm:

    Thanks for your kind words and wishes Arun. i don’t know why the commenters can’t edit. It must be a feature of the wordpress version we are using (we use the latest version automatically upgraded by Pressharbor).

  28. Quote
    Ananth said July 16, 2009, 5:10 pm:

    Hi Sukumar,
    Congrats for completing blogging for 5 years. This is such a good blog.. I enjoyed reading all the posts. Wish you have a great future. Wish you realize all the dreams you are chasing.

    All the best. Looking forward to the next posts in the blog.

  29. Quote
    rajagopal sukumar (subscribed) said July 16, 2009, 5:35 pm:

    Thanks a lot for being a regular reader and commenter Ananth. Thanks for your kind words and wishes.

  30. Quote
    Vamsi said July 17, 2009, 6:36 am:

    Sukumar,
    Thanks for the great blog. And many congrats on pursuing your passion. We hope to hear great things from your IVC research.

  31. Quote
    rajagopal sukumar (subscribed) said July 17, 2009, 8:07 am:

    Vamsi,
    Thank you for reading and commenting regularly. Thanks a lot for the kind words and wishes.

  32. Quote
    Srividya (subscribed) said July 18, 2009, 2:50 am:

    Congrats for completing blogging for 5 years. This ia great blog.

  33. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 18, 2009, 9:30 am:

    Thanks for your kind words and wishes Sri.

  34. Quote
    Raghu said July 18, 2009, 11:29 am:

    Congratulations Sukumar!

    Five years of bloging with an association that goes back almost 25 years is phenomenal! Wish you all the very best in your new (ad)ventures! I have been an infrequent visitor to this site but have enjoyed reading the posts over here. Thanks to your twitters, I guess I’ll be alerted to more posts over here in the future.

    All the very best!

    Raghu

  35. Quote
    rajagopal sukumar (subscribed) said July 18, 2009, 12:24 pm:

    Thanks for your kind words Raghu. Yes it is 25 years since we passed out of college. I have known Ganesh since 6th grade.

  36. Quote
    Abdul Fakhri said July 18, 2009, 1:47 pm:

    Congratulations Sukumar. Its a pleasure blogging on sastwingees. I look forward to reading Dr. Randy Pausch.

    All the best with your ventures especially the work with the Indus Research Centre. As a historian, I would say that only the brave go that far back. Good Luck. :)

  37. Quote
    senthil said July 18, 2009, 1:54 pm:

    Sukumar,

    Congrajulations over the milestones that we had reached in this blog… In my view, you would be remembered more of the open culture you have established (both in the concern and in sastwingees), than the blogging itself.. this aspect is what it makes one addicted to your blogs..

  38. Quote
    Sultana said July 18, 2009, 1:59 pm:

    Sukumar,

    Congratulations. Thanks for your kind mention. I intend to fare better in writing posts in the coming days. All the best with your Indus Valley Project.

    Sultana

  39. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 18, 2009, 2:41 pm:

    Thanks a lot for the kind words and wishes Abdul. If you click through to the link i included for Dr. Pausch, you can view the Youtube video of his last lecture. That is the best way to understand his ideas. There is a also a book that you can read, but it is best you watch the video first and then see if you want to read the book.

    Senthil,
    Thanks a lot for being a regular commenter and reader. Thanks for the kind words.

    Sultana,
    Thanks a lot for your wishes. Look forward to more posts from you.

  40. Quote
    Priya Raju said July 22, 2009, 9:08 am:

    Cool, Sukumar. Your unflagging zeal & the kind support of our readers – these have kept the blog going all these years. Of course, we other writers helped, but I think our contributions are secondary.

    I’ve been a lazy bum in the past few months, will write more often from now onwards.

  41. Quote
    Nimmy said July 22, 2009, 4:53 pm:

    Congrats to SAST Wingees on 5 years of wonderful blogging! :-) March on!

    And here’s hoping you have a great time donning the hat of an Innovation Head, Sukumar! You ought to….Innovation is such a lovely thing to pursue! :-) Looking forward to exciting posts on the topic…!

  42. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 22, 2009, 5:41 pm:

    Thanks for the kind words Priya. It is always a team effort.

  43. Quote
    Sukumar (subscribed) said July 22, 2009, 5:42 pm:

    Thanks a lot for the kind words and wishes Nimmy.

    Yes, Innovation is as fascinating as KM. I am quite excited. I have actually been running the group for the past 4 months or so, now it has become my exclusive focus.

  44. Quote
    balajee said July 23, 2009, 5:20 pm:

    Congratulations Sukumar, Priya and all of the bloggers on this site. It is indeed a remarkable achievement.

  45. Quote
    rajagopal sukumar (subscribed) said July 23, 2009, 6:09 pm:

    Thanks a lot for the kind words Balajee.

  46. Quote
    Arvind said July 27, 2009, 9:01 pm:

    Congrats on completing 5 years of blogging, I really have a lot to catch up on….Thanks for being such an inspiration!

  47. Quote
    rajagopal sukumar (subscribed) said July 27, 2009, 10:32 pm:

    Thanks a lot for your kind words Arvind.

  48. Quote
    Bharadwaj said August 5, 2009, 3:59 am:

    Great to hear this news Sukumar; that you are researching on Indus Valley Civilization!!
    You may have already know this; but just in case:
    http://www.infinityfoundation.com/ started by Rajiv Malhotra
    Congrats on completing 5 years blogging !
    Wishing you all the very best in your life and career.

  49. Quote
    balaji said August 7, 2009, 1:48 pm:

    //The second one is to work on researching the Indus Valley Civilization

    wow! Good luck with it, Sukumar!
    I recently heard that scientists are on the verge of cracking the Indus Valley script. Is that true?

  50. Quote
    rajagopal sukumar (subscribed) said August 7, 2009, 3:40 pm:

    Thanks Bharadwaj and Balaji for the kind words and wishes.

    Balaji, no those stories are exaggerated. We are nowhere near the truth.

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