World of Globalization

For every problem there is a solution and for every solution, there are solution experts. These solution experts have no comparison, if they offer you a solution at the right time and price.  Prudle Labs's (the startup) journey began with a vision in mind, to overcome the problems of enterprise companies, who were lost in the world of translation.

#PrudleLabs had been the talk of the town recently, when they were invited at a global startup event #StartUpIstanbul, by the Etohum in association with Startany to showcase their innovative solution. #StartUpIstanbul is an 3-day annual event to recognize startups across Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe regions, while giving them a platform to present their indigenous ideas . Each year this event receives over 25,000 applications and the top 100 is selected and invited to Istanbul, based on the first day screening, top 50 is selected to move into the second round & final round. Prudle Labs was one of the privileged ones to be in the Top 50 and the only one from India to present their solutions across global investors.

So to understand in detail, what Prudle Labs basically does, I got an appointment with the CEO himself, Mr Deepinder Singh, a 15 year veteran in the Globalization industry, having worked with many MNC’s like Symphony, Sapient, CA & Dell Technologies.

“Birth of Prudle Labs was a well thought after solution, it was curated to tackle 2 main problems that is currently revolving among the developers of enterprise companies and Language Service Providers(LSP's) globally. 

While dealing with Enterprise companies, we offered to resolve few of the key pain points among many others, which include:

Transparency:  With the current model of work within the globalization industry, there is little or almost no scope of transparency between the client and LSP’s, we remove this obstacle by opening up the tool between Developers and LSP’s, there by keeping the both the parties posted on the progress of the work.

Storage / Repository Management: Data in today’s world is growing and the demand for space is never ending. With huge chunks of file movement (both source and translated files), there comes a bigger responsibility of maintaining them. We step right in, with our futuristic solution, while we not only save all the content at our end and help our client & LSP’s to use the tool as a repository management, we also maintain it for them, as a value addition to our partners.

Turn-around time: What good is a solution if it does not reduce the overall turn-around time in provision of the results. For judging any tool, it had to be at least 10% better, to out perform other tools in the market, so we decided to outperform ourselves 6 times over and give our clients a reduction of 60% turn-around time, in the overall translation life cycle.  Cool isn’t it ?

Business Management: Nothing is always technical and shall never be. There is always a person with a vision of an eagle and would continue to require information at such level. Thus we stand to intrigue our clients and LSP’s with over 75 different types of reports for managing business related activities.
Oh BTW, just so you know it, the manual task of work-order review is now automated, because human brain should not be limited to such stagnant items.“ says Deepinder.

“On the LSP’s front, we offer to provide solutions to 3 unique pain points : 

Privacy of the linguists: We assist the LSP’s to ensure cent percent privacy of the linguists are maintained and only information related to files are opened to the client (Developers in this case)

Query Manager: One of the key items which causes delay in the world of translation jobs,  is the resolution for queries during the course of translation. Each LSP in their quest to achieve maximum quality tends to clarify all the information, which may lead to delay in delivery of the job.  Email’s were earlier identified as a mode of communication, but with changing times, emails will have to go and newer solution offering such as our’s will have to be brought in.

Profit Margins: Business are not NGO’s and we don’t treat them. With so many vendors mushrooming in every part of the world, thriving in the industry is a skill. To help such quality companies afloat, our tool is designed to ensure that we offer up to 30% additional profit. Only when we work together, we will win together. “ says Deep.

I was more than overwhelmed to understand the business overview of Prudle Labs and wanted to know the brains behind this entire thing. So in the lines of the Deep, “Prudle Labs was originally my child, which was actually implemented in the real world by Parsoon Rana, another 14 yr veteran in the Globalization industry and also the CTO of Prudle Labs. He is wired to understand the dreams of layman and sketch a solution on the technical side. “

“We are currently 8 member team, spread across the globe (with 2 outsourced members), to ensure we do not deviate in our quest to offer the best innovative solution, we also have 2 distinguished members from the industry, namely Amitava Roy & Tim Grady in our board of directors “

“If we are to to talk about achievements:

We have already carved a niche for ourselves, by filing a patent for the innovative solution offering. Patent is in review and awaiting further news from the approving committee. 

We have been recognized by the  Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) of Government of India. Fun Fact: Govt of India has received around 11,000+ applications in the last two years and only 10% of those applicants have been accepted & recognized based on their innovative solution offering. You now know where we stand”, winks Deep. (Source: https://www.startupindia.gov.in/) 

Prudle Labs sounded like a veteran in the industry given its offerings & achievements, but I was taken aback when I understand that they are still awaiting their 1^st yr Anniversary. All this in just under 10 months, well, they are definitely sprinting but ensuring not burning out .

So what is in store in future for Prudle Labs:
"With #StartUpIstanbul being a very successful event for us, we are now invited by the Turkish Govt this December, to Istanbul, to further explore our business relationship.  

Alternatively, we are also looking for VC’s within India to the tune of 3-4 crores INR as we plan to expand and strengthen ourselves in the industry with the innovative offering.“ says Deep. 

To end with, I kid and ask, "Deep, Can I contribute to your organization in anyway ?  
In response, he says "YES, we have 6 positions open",  and winks..!! 

Wish you the best team Prudle Labs on your next visit and Merhaba to Istanbul,  From The Koch :)

Restless rhythmic feet

Kumar Swamy or Mentor as his friends address him, a 34 year old, defines the age old adage of “Tall, dark & handsome”. Kumar, currently working at Dell R&D facility at Bangalore, is the brains behind the D3 or the Dell Destructive Dancers. His quest to dance and choreograph has helped him scale greater heights in his field, than he could have previously imagined.

Every painting begins with a black or white backdrop. Life probably gave him the blank canvas too, but it ensured, he felt the need to paint it along.

“As a kid, I was an average student in my academics, it could be because, I never took interest in studying or partially because I knew deep down that my father's business was a good back up plan. Being the ordinary kid, with very less social interactions, during a visit to the Annual festival at the Prestigious Bangalore Club with my parents, I happened to get attracted to this gang of girls dancing and laughing along. I was in awe as they gracefully danced each step, I wanted to be with them too, but I was shy. Couple of my uncles saw me standing around and elbowed me to join the gang and I eventually did so." adds Kumar

“Little did I know, that the single act of mine would be a life-changer.  As I danced along (I claim it to be dance even today), the girls started laughing and offended me by pointing out the mistakes. I quickly ran away from that place as I was not used to being mocked at, especially girls.  I went very low for couple of days.  My only best friend back then was my neighbor, I decided to pour my heart out to him. Ironically, he was a student at the Shiamak Dawar’s classes in Bangalore, so he promptly suggested me to watch some videos and learn what dance is all about”

“For a kid, whom learning was a difficult and not-so-interesting curve, dance came as smooth as butter. VHS after VHS, I almost got addicted to what I saw. Prabhu Deva & MJ, became the latest fad in my life. Initially to learn, I kicked off copying the steps of these inspiration and showcased them to my dancer friend.  He recognized my effort, yet advised me something which I still cherish. “ says Kumar.

“Bro, always see and learn, never copy.  Understand what is the concept of the track and then dance. As a kid, it hardly made sense, but today, it’s a philosophy I follow”

“With a mentor always available for back-up, I slowly picked up on my new found passion. I started performing in my school annual fests, earning fame and recognition.  Once I was 18 yrs old, a new world opened up for me, dance clubs of Bangalore. I frequented clubs regularly, to dance along-side random people. Some classy moves and you have the attention of the crowd. Conversations with people was now easy to pick-up, which otherwise would never had happened to me. I enjoyed this new life”

“As college life came along, dancing at fests, event planning, movies, clubbing & parties was the regular norm of my life. In my entire college tenure, I would have bagged around 20+ awards. We were also invited to perform at Thailand , for an international dance festival. This one was a biggie, as we were accustomed to domestic events only. But we grabbed that opportunity with both hands and performed a Western and Indian cultural mix kind of dance, ensuring us the 1st Runners up spot. Our first ever International award, the prize money that came with the award dint matter much, it was the recognition we were yearning for and we rightfully earned it.”  adds Kumar , with tears of happiness !

“I was espoused by my parents to take up a Master’s degree, as they believed, education will always help at one point of time in Life. Just like my UG life, my Masters was also fun filled and exciting, as I got to experience newer areas of growth. My attendance issues due to travelling and organizing events, was also sorted by the college authorities. I get them the laurels, they help me with my attendance, it was a win-win situation for both me and college. Masters gave me the best gift of my life, Priya, with all networking happening around me, she easily walked into my life and we kind of got along well. She was a sorted person in life and I was a mad person in town, opposites attract they said, I believe it now. The biggest break during my college life came, when dancing reality shows boomed on TV’s. Immediately after Boogie-Woogie, came Dance India Dance reality show, we nominated for the audition and our practice sessions were in full swing. Dance, parties, college, movies and friends is what I would have defined my situation during that period. “ he adds.

“Few days before the audition, we had practiced crazily in a short span, as we had to wrap up early to attend the bday part of a dance troop member in our gang. We headed to the friends farmhouse and danced till we drop. Food & liquor was in abundance. As it was about to dawn and high in spirts, we started to head home , guys on two wheelers and the girls tagged onto the car for safety reasons. It started off as a very pleasant journey back home, but guess fate had a different destination written for us… We met with a near-fatal accident that night, a lorry collided, with our bikes and all 4 of us were thrown on all corners. When I woke up in the hospital, the gravity of the situation dawned upon me. I had been in coma for 12 straight hrs, 2 of my other friends for 15 hrs and one friend for almost 15 days. 2 days before the audition, my life stood still. My doctors conveyed that I was bed-ridden for 6 months, as my right leg thigh had been fractured in the accident and it was a slow recovery process."

“For a week or two at the hospital I couldn’t digest if this had really happened, but God has his own way of doing things and I had no option either. If I was to look any positive outcome of my hospitalization, well, 1) I quit smoking and 2) I understood Priya’s importance in my life. The last semester of college was a low profile one, I was discharged from hospital and had slowly started walking now. One more year down the line, Priya took this as an opportunity and proposed. I bought some time off, spoke to my parents and I said YES !!! “

“We got married after 2 yrs of courtship. I had started working on my own now, as dance was not the only means to support my lifestyle. As I worked day-in day-out, my passion kept calling me. I wanted to be back at the dance floor, at every opportunity possible and so I mustered the courage to do it, only to realize I was hospitalized again. My body did not respond positively to my efforts, even a regular dance performance was straining my body. This was it, my doctors strictly warned me not to strain or the repercussions of the same will be severe. I knew where life had got me and what I stood on. But as they say when life gives you lemons you make a lemonade. I was advised not to dance, but nobody denied me to teach it.” winks Kumar.

“D3 as we know it today, was born in 2014 - 4 years as a Choreographer, my passion has ruled a major part of my life.  My fellow colleagues and friends have been very supportive. Word of mouth appreciation has helped me scale new heights.“ adds Kumar as a closing statement.

What next I ask?

He quickly pulls up a video on You-tube on his cellphone and gives it to me, I look at the video and I stare blank at him, understanding my curiosity, he quickly adds that he had choreographed that. His new goal, to start off an online dancing channel on Youtube, which people can subscribe, to learn dancing and not just merely copy.

As I saw the sparkle in his eyes, I could see a Mentor was born. 
Wish you the best Kumar Swamy.

Journey of a Happy Mascot

“Dream is not something which you visualize while sleeping, it is something that does not let you sleep” - Late A.P.J Abdul Kalam.

Wise words from the legendary scientist, who left behind a vision of India being a superpower, by year 2020. Every soul on this earth has a dream that they would want to fulfill. Our childhood is a greatest example of dreams which never saw any limits or boundaries, every single activity was a dream and as one faces the real life, few of us dared to make our dreams come true.

One such person I know is M.S Murali, currently donning the role of Chief Fun Officer, at a MNC with an employee strength of 1,80,000. "Bringing a smile onto a face is one thing, but ensuring that it is replicated for all 1,80,000 folks is altogether a different game. Each day as I wake up, I ask myself, "How can today be different ?" (from what I have done in the past). As I've no set benchmarks to out perform, I am my own competitor, I tend to see things which others have not even imagined.", says Murali.

I personally know Mikey (as most of his friends address him) since the days of TGIM episode number 200. "TGIM - Thank God Its Monday, is one of kind of initiative that connects passionate music lovers (Rubber-band) cum employees across the company every Monday by giving them a platform to perform and showcase their talent, be it singing or playing instruments. " says Murali.  "The initiative is such a huge success that, we have been recognized by the Limca book of records, as the only initiative to be conducted non-stop for over 500 mondays or 10 yrs now. To add to it, we have been able to fly down our our Rubber-bandits to Paris recently to perform , there by giving the world a glimpse of what we can achieve if we believe in something we love", quips Mikey 

"Limca records was now achieved and I was back to my old question, "How can today be different ?", answering this at times can be difficult, cos the stakes are too high, but I was the happy mascot, if I am not accountable for setting things right, no one else can be. So , this time we raised the bar of the game. Along with Valerian, my partner in crime and my trustworthy MnS gang, we dared to achieve the impossible, to set a Guinness World record.", he adds.  "People wouldn't believe on what we targeted to achieve, some would just laugh at the whole plan , but hey, it isnt a dream, if it does not sound un-realistic. From day one the vision was set for Project-G, to bag the Guinness World record for the World largest Bollywood Dance lesson." An army of friends came together and started working on this dream. Notably Siva Murugan or SMS as everyone calls, a close friend for over 10 years, joined with Mikey to choreograph this dream and together made it happen. That moment, being accounted as a successful Guinness World Record holder could hardly be described in words, its a feeling , its an experience to be lived and cherished with 4276 employees coming together and performing the single largest Bollywood dance lesson the world has ever seen." adds Murali. 
 As I look at the certificate & trophy , I can hardly phantom the value of this achievement. It certainly is once in a lifetime high !

As there are always two sides to a coin, there are two journeys of a human being one professional & one personal. Having achieved the name and fame in his professional growth, one can always guess that it would be at the cost of his personal life. Little did I know about the journey though. "All that happens in your life is for a specific reason, more often than not, things are destined. I was in a marriage for 5 yrs until 2010, before we broke apart for personal reasons. life was indeed a mess, going thru a divorce can be a nightmare for any gender. Countless court sessions eating up your time and money, as my case was in a different city too. How can I put a smile on others face , while I am frowning myself.  " he remarks 

"I am an EmCee by choice and this very passion became my backbone during the worst times, it helped me overcome the sickness of going thru the divorce , at the same time, earning for the alimony . " says Murali. For a person who has hosted over 1400 shows across 12 countries, which includes hosting the T20 cricket World cup, being on stage is a definitely a serious business, yet he is incredibly humble considering that he has carved himself a niche of the Brand Mike Murali, in the events circuit .
"T20 World cup anchoring was indeed a dream come true, it was a platform which one would always want to associate himself with,  at the same time, I was not just sharing my interest but almost a religion in a country like India", he quips. 

When asked about his prized possession, Murali being a Ilayaraja fan, I thought he would point towards the personally signed poetry, which Murali wrote and got it signed by the legend himself, but he pointed to something else that hid behind the framed work. I leaned to see what he was pointing at and immediately, we exchanged smiles, as we see his house full of life. His parents living & cherishing his every move, the calm and beautiful wife Charu who has been the force when our man was swimming in the tsunami for the Guinness book, his son Pranav who is almost an adult now and gets along like a friend with Mikey, his daughter, Laya the 12 month old doll and the most adorable member of the family - the Beagle - Chilly  "Life is either easy or difficult , there has never an in-between. If you are part of the in-between, then you are not living life to a full extent." , he added. 

As we got along talking so much about his life, he was eager to share abt the bond he shared with his friends what was acheived through it.
"Almighty has been very generous to me while allocating friends in my journey of Life. In one of the recent catastrophic incidents, which include earthquake at Nepal or floods in Chennai, I was moved within to see the pain and agony of the affected people. Sucn incident gave birth to EFGH - Every Friend Gives Help, an NGO that I run, where in we pool in assistance across the world, for a noble cause.
Every single time I reach out seeking for assistance during critical times, I see overwhelming response restoring my faith in humanity, the power of friendship. During the Chennai floods, we send out 5 truck loads relief materials and over 7 lakhs rupees buying bed sheets and under garments for the needy, which was hand delivered to the affected people by EFGH members in Chennai. EFGH is just the starting point of what I can foresee, a social revolution, that is in the making through this", adds Mikey

With a vision like him, I am sure there is a something brewing inside him and awaiting the right moment to be let out to the world. So join me in wishing him the best, because not always you meet someone with the right intent and capability, Mike Murali is certainly a Happy Mascot!  Keep spreading smiles Mikey ! 

**

So when was the last time did you dare to dream, a dream which you think could change the world, a dream that would not let you sleep peacefully.