u Volume 33 u Pages 12 u May 2011 Published simultaneously from India and Africa

2 Mr Mayur Shah- International Footprint

8- Vaastu & Homes Mrs Riddhi Shukla

11Cisco Systems

NEWSLETTER | INDIA

Welcome Africa !

Welcome to the June 2011 issue of Vaastuyogam.

June 2011 will be an important milestone in the

history of Vaastuyogam. From this month onwards

Vaastuyogam will be published simultaneously in

India and Africa.

Vaastuyogam has had a very large block of regular,

interested readers in Africa. Right from the inception

of this magazine, there has been a consistent request

from several quarters there for an edition that should

be published in Africa along with the one in India.

Vaastuyogam bridges the divide between modernity

and tradition, between science and custom, between

the Twenty first Century and Vedic India.

Happy reading!

ARCHITECT’S VOICE

Architect Karan Grover has been nominated a

“social entrepreneur” as a Fellow of the Ashoka

Foundation, Washington. Winner of all the

Indian Awards for Excellence in Architecture

and Interior Design; he almost single handedly

won India’s nominations for UNESCO’s World

Heritage Site status for Champaner after a 22

year old campaign. In 2004, Grover became the

first architect in the world to win the U.S. GBC

“Platinum” Award for the greenest building in the

world.

ARCHITECT

KARAN GROVER

See interview on page 4

Mr Mayur Shah was born and brought up in

Kenya. He is a third generation Kenyan. In

1912, his grandfather left Jamnagar,

Gujarat, for Nairobi, Kenya and settled there

permanently. Mr Shah’s elder brother

Gulabbhai, his son, as well as Mr Shah’s

own 26 year old son who has completed his

studies in Economics from Manchester, UK,

are all working together in their joint family

business in Nairobi.

We met Mr Mayur Shah at our Vaastuyogam

office when he was on one of his bi-annual

social/business trips to India.

Excerpts from the Interview:-

I began my business career from our retail

stores and then about twenty one-years ago

I moved on to manufacturing polyester

buttons and fibre glass mouldings. As we

kept growing, we upgraded ourselves from

one business to the next but as part of the

strategy, we closed down the older

businesses to concentrate on the new ones.

Currently, we concentrate only on the

polyester buttons and fibre glass business.

I must mention here, the bold, pioneering

and entrepreneurial leadership of my elder

brother Gulabhbhai who has always been

the supporting pillar for all new business

endeavours of our family.

When we started manufacturing, we did not

have the technical skills but were helped by

a local African friend George who was into

Vaastu is a serious business

avers Nairobi businessman Mayur Shah

u May 2011

But what happens

when things go out of

hands, as they did in

our case. At such

times, with all humility

we should check

whether by intention or

otherwise we have

made some Vaastu

blunders. If the Vaastu

blunders we have

made are pointed out

to us we should rectify

them immediately

without hesitation or

worries about the cost.

this business but had retired. Not only did

George help us set up the business, acquire

and install all the machinery and utilities, he

also trained us well enough to run the factory

smoothly. He was with us for several years

but eventually returned to his village deep in

the reserves of Kenya.

Despite all the hard-work, money and

intelligence one puts into manufacturing,

there always are times when the tide goes

against you. For doing well in business,

there need to be many reasons. For doing

poorly, even one is enough. Our business

too was no exception. Around six or seven

years ago, for no apparent reason, we

began experiencing some downfalls. Our

turnover kept dipping, so did our profit and

growth. We tried to analyze where we had

gone wrong but could come up with no

answers. In fact, we were at our wits end.

Whilst we were hunting for some way or the

other that would revive the business to full

bloom, a friend of ours brought Dr Ravi Rao

Vaastu

continued on page 3

INTERNATIONAL FOOTPRINT

Mr Mayur Shah

“Despite increasing number of Indian emigrants settling in Kenya, there is enough scope

to do well here. This is because the absolutely real and daily threat of cut-throat

competition that we have in India has not yet come to Kenya. Perhaps in Nairobi you may

say that the new comer may find the business climate saturated but there are still

opportunities available in many other cities and places of Kenya where starting and

flourishing in a fresh business is still possible. Another important thing is that there is

tremendous bonding between the Indians in Kenya and they willingly share their

contacts and experiences with newcomers. The newcomer can count on a support base.

An additional point to be noted is that Kenya represents a happy synthesis between the

Indian community - of over one lakh - here and the local population. The two live and work

together here in harmony and mutual respect.

The Kenyan economy is booming. One reason is that in a fast developing world, there are

few bright spots that are not yet developed. Kenya is one of them. So, we have much

money pouring into Kenya. It comes from America, Europe, the World Bank and

everyone else.

Apart from this, Kenya is gifted with natural minerals. The Tatas have just bought out a

huge Soda Ash plant. Airtel has entered mobile telephony in a big way. Reliance has also

jumped into the fray of the oil refining business. Also, there is ample scope for plantation

farming like coffee and tea. Therefore, Kenya is the place to be in for the next twenty

years or so. There are many of business opportunities and good money to be made

here.” - Mr Mayur Shah

Mr Mayur Shah on doing business in Kenya

u May 2011 3

to our notice as a powerful and result-

oriented Vaastu Consultant who had several

assignments in Nairobi and visited the city at

least twice or thrice a year.

We invited him to do a Vaastu evaluation of

our residential and business premises. He

informed us that work needed to be done by

way of re-arranging various rooms and

furniture articles. We were passing through

trying times and willingly undertook all the

changes he advised. We did not bother

questioning him about the cost that the

changes involved. We just did as he told us

not with full faith but with full hope. Full

marks to Dr Rao for whatever it was that he

did because in less than 45 days of the

Vaastu changes that we made, we were

back in business.

But now things are different. When we first

met Dr Rao and implemented his Vaastu

changes, we did so, not with full faith but with

full hope. Today we have total faith in Dr Rao

and his Vaastu. In fact, just as some people

suggested Dr Rao’s name to me, I have

started suggesting his name to my friends

who fall in trouble.

My brother-in-law and I are working on a

new project (see box “Looking Ahead”) and I

have made sure that the whole of the project

is as per Vaastu and is done entirely as per

Dr Rao’s specifications. Even the plot that

we have purchased for our new factory has

been done only after all approvals from

Dr Rao were received.

We have informed our architect that he is to

strictly follow Dr Rao’s instructions. We

believe in Vaastu totally and have requested

him that he should accept Dr Rao’s changes

to his plans without fuss and that he should

not go contrary to Vaastu advice that is given

by Dr Rao.

After many years of experience in business

and having seen many of the ups and downs

that it involves my advice to anyone in

business is that he should take Vaastu very

seriously. We as businessmen understand

business and can face the challenges that it

throws up every now and then

But what happens when things go out of

hands, as they did in our case. At such

times, with all humility we should check

whether by intention or otherwise we have

made some Vaastu blunders. If the Vaastu

blunders we have made are pointed out to

us we should rectify them immediately

without hesitation or worries about the cost.

The sooner the Vaastu is set right the sooner

we get on to the growth path.

Despite all the hard-

work, money and

intelligence one puts

into manufacturing

there always are times

when the tide goes

against you. For doing

well in business there

need to be many

reasons. For doing

poorly, even one is

enough. Our business,

too, was no exception.

INTERNATIONAL FOOTPRINT

Looking Ahead- Mr Mayur with his brother-in-law Mr Kaushik Shah

I, too, like Mayur am a third generation Kenyan. We have been friends from childhood

and are wives are sisters. I am into the wholesale textile trade as well as the realty

business. Mayur and I had often been toying with the idea of starting something

together. We are together setting up from a scratch a brand new plastic Rotomoulding

plant together.

We were passing

through trying times and

willingly undertook all

the changes he advised.

We did not bother

questioning him or

about the costs that the

making the changes

involved. We just did as

he told us not with full

faith but with full hope.

Full marks to Dr Rao for

whatever it was that he

did because in less than

45 days of the Vaastu

changes that we made

we were back in

business.

4 Vaastuyogam u May 2011

I found that I was getting all

my clues I was learning for

my architecture from my

experiences I was having

at Champaner. Though it

was not very clear in the

beginning the idea of my

wind catcher, the idea of

the jali, the wind tower, the

cooling of buildings, the

large thick walls with small

o p e n i n g s a n d t h e

predominance of the sun

etc were central to the

planning that went into our

old heritage buildings.

They have introduced me

to Agni (Fire) and where it

should be placed and

where not. Or the idea that

the world starts from the

navel of Brahma and so the Brahmasthana

should remain open and therefore it becomes

the courtyard where life takes place. I have

started basing my architecture around these

principles and motifs. I have gradually realized

that working in consonance with climate is

working in consonance with Vaastu.

I remember on many occasions my drawings

would be taken to a Vaastu consultant and the

client would come back and tell me, “we didn’t

know that you were a Vaastu believer.” I would

reply that I am not but I do believe in

climatology and since my buildings are

climate responsive they are pro-Vaastu. Very

recently we were in Kerala to do the interiors of

a large house which had already been

designed but had only begun to be built. In the

process of designing the interiors of the

house, we found that the house didn’t work.

After finishing my presentation I very meekly

told the client, “Can I show you an option? I

know that’s not my job, but based on the same

footprint and the column layout I’ve

redesigned the building.” Can you believe it;

the client said, “Fantastic ! But before we go

further I will have to show this to my Vaastu

consultant.” Since I had four hours to catch my

flight and had nothing else to do in Trivandrum

I requested that we meet the Vaastu

Tradition as a Viable Methodology For Contemporary Design

Architect Karan Grover passed Bachelor of

Architecture in 1974 from the M.S. University

of Baroda with a Gold Medal for his thesis on

"Pedestrian Precincts". He was awarded Post

Graduate Diploma in 1975 from the

Architectural Association in London under the

tutorship of John Turner for the thesis

"Housing the Urban Poor in India". Mr Karan

carried on partnership practice from 1975 to

1985 under the name "Patel & Grover" From

1985 he has been operating his firm Karan

Grover and Associates’ from Vadodara and

works across India.

Karan Grover & Associates (KGA)

concentrates on working with tradition and the

interpretation of tradition as a viable

methodology for a contemporary design

process. The firm is involved with over 50

major projects all over the country ranging

from institutional buildings to industrial

architecture and corporate interiors.

We met Mr. Karan Grover at his Vadodara

office.

Excerpts from the interview:-

I spent the first 10 years of my professional life

designing buildings that were completely

irrelevant to India. This was partly because all

our education was western oriented. We learn

about Corinthian columns from Italy and

Dormer windows from England but we don’t

learn about the Indian Chowk, or Aangan, or

Brahmasthan. Simultaneously I was working

on the buried city of Champaner to get it

nominated as a UNESCO, World Heritage

Site. I realized that there was no connect

between the buildings I was designing and

the people for whom I was designing. So, I

separated from my good friend and partner

Manoj Patel to start my own firm Karan Grover

& Associates.

ARCHITECT’S VOICE

continued on page 5

Architect Karan Grover

I have studied Vaastu. Perhaps not in the detailed, arduous and structured way a professional Vaastu consultant like Dr Rao might have but in sufficient quantities to have a deep grip on the subject. I strongly believe that if architects built with respect to the land and respect to the materials they use and with respect to the climate, then their buildings will by and large be Vaastu compliant.

Karan Grover & Associates

u May 2011 5

continued on page 6

consultant immediately. The Vaastu

consultant went through my designs and

remarked, “I have never seen anything like

this before. The old design is horrible and if

you want my advice; forget the interiors, give

the architecture to this architect.” We are now

doing the interiors and architecture of the

place as well as a fantastic 5 star hotel for the

same client.

I want to say that there is a certain arrogance

in the architect which is surfacing since recent

times. He feels he has technology on his side

and therefore he can do anything; and yet do

no wrong. If it is hot he can bring in air-

conditioning; if it gets dark, he can bring in

more lighting and so on and so forth. And to

this I say that if all of us architects had done

our jobs as we should have done them, there

would be no role for a Vaastu consultant

because in-built in our studies, at the base of

all our architecture there is this idea of science

that has been used by these incredible old

Indian buildings. Unfortunately, at some stage

we lost our roots and mastered imitating the

West which is the most ridiculous thing to

have done because by doing this we are

bypassing and our DNA, our culture.

I do not want to get into an argument of what is

right or what is wrong about Vaastu. People

believe in Vaastu and there is no denying it.

Architects

Vaastu

ARCHITECT’S VOICE

continued from page 4

Architect Karan Grover - Background

£ Karan Grover and Associates is 25 years old. After being

flooded out of their basement office 4 years ago, they have

moved to the top floor in a building in Vadodara on the banks of

a tiny brown nala - the famous Vishwamitri River set amidst

1000 acres of green; with 23 crocodiles which sun themselves

near the office cars every morning.

£Karan Grover has been differently labelled on several

occasions - as a "Man of Taste" in the Economic Times, for his

interest in food; on the cover of the construction journal

magazine as one of the "Hot Architects" in India; as a "Charismatic Crusader" in Verve

magazine for his campaign for heritage, conservation and sustainability; recently as

one of "India's 50 Most Stylish Men" along with Amitabh Bachchan, India's leading film

icon.

£He has been the Founder Secretary of the Heritage Trust, Vadodara and its

President since 2001. Heritage Trust, Vadodara is a group of local citizens working for

the conservation of the city's Heritage. The Heritage Trust gained international

recognition when Champaner won the nomination as one of the 100 Most Endangered

Sites of the World Monuments Watch List, New York, for the year 2000.

£State Convener of INTACH Gujarat since 2001.

£Winner of several All India competitions including the Vidhan Sabha for the Goa

Legislature Assembly.

£Selected as one of 14 architects in Asia for the "Roots" Exhibition, sponsored by the

Fujiya Corporation in Tokyo and was invited for the inaugural ceremony of the function.

£Karan Grover was a visiting Professor of the M.S. University and an active speaker

in various forums in India and abroad. Invited by Washington University for the

Graduation Address of the Department of Architecture in St. Louis in 1996.

£Karan Grover & Associates won five Architectural Awards in the year 1997:i) The IIA-Snowcem Award for “Excellence in Urban Architecture” for General

Electrical Plastics India project at Gurgaon. ii) The JIIA Commendation Award for “Excellence in Industrial Architecture”

for Castrol India Ltd. factory at Silvassa. iii) The IIID-MK India Award for “Excellence in Commercial Interiors” for the

Showroom of Sanghvi Exports Pvt. Ltd. at Mumbai. iv) The IIID-MK India Award for “Excellence in Corporate Interiors” for the

Godrej Transelecktra Research & Development Centre at Vikhroli, Bombay.

v) The JIIA Award for “Excellence in Residential Architecture” House for

Urvashi Devi of Baria at Baroda.

£Karan Grover & Associates won an Architectural Award in the year 2002: CII/ABB

Institute of Quality in Bangalore awarded the Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) -

Snowcem Award for the outstanding Public Building of the year.

£Karan Grover & Associates has won in November, 2003 the prestigious PLATINUM

award under Version 2 of LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) from

the US Green Building Council for the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre in

Hyderabad - the first architects in the world to get this highest possible award.

£The company is also involved in Heritage Conservation Programmes and has

prepared a Master Plan for the Heritage Conservation of Buildings and Precincts in

Baroda.

Architect Karan Grover

ARCHITECT’S VOICE

continued from page 5

Almost 80% of my clients believe in Vaastu. To

give an example, I was working with the Birlas

on a project. They had this 30 acre plot for

which their Vaastu guy found the topography

to be faulty. He asked them to raise it by filling

it at places. This the Birlas did willingly even

though it entailed a tremendous cost.

What happens with Vaastu is that a person

implementing it goes through a serious

revision of his mind-set. He believes that now

that he has done the Vaastu corrections all is

going to be well. He starts working more; he

gets on to high confidence levels. He works

more aggressively, more honestly , more

forcefully and as a result of all this personal re-

engineering things begin to improve. But my

submission is that Vaastu is only an anchor;

that if you could muster up a positive outlook

some other way, you would still get the same

results. Vaastu or no Vaastu.

I have studied Vaastu. Perhaps not in the

detailed, arduous and structured way a

professional Vaastu consultant like Dr Rao

might have but in sufficient quantities to have

a deep grip on the subject. I strongly believe

that if architects built with respect to the land

and respect to the materials they use and with

respect to the climate then their buildings will

by and large be Vaastu compliant.

I see Vaastu implementation strictly as a

customer requirement which must be

incorporated in the brief right from the start.

The idea that Vaastu will play havoc with

design is humbug. Vaastu has a hierarchy of

Vaastu Implementation

locations that begins with the best and most

suitable place for a particular activity to

something that is slightly less suitable but not

really bad to something that is far lesser

suitable but still not bad to places that are bad ,

very bad etc. So you have a very best location

to a location that you must avoid at all costs.

Even in the bad cases Vaastu might have a

countervailing remedy. Therefore, you could

lower your call on a particular room by locating

it in a slightly less Vaastu compliant place.

Harsh as it may sound, I am truly ashamed of

most of the architects. I am ashamed because

they take shortcuts. They abuse the land,

disregard climate, have lost contact with

people and are building buildings to boost

their egos and squander finite resources . All

this happens because they are no more

sensitive and have lost the sense of the

sacred. They now have a situation where

people from outside the profession are

Architects

6 Vaastuyogam u May 2011

continued on page 7

I spent the first 10 years of my professional life designing buildings that were completely irrelevant to India. This was partly because all our education is western-oriented. We learn about Corinthian columns from Italy and Dormer windows from England but we don’t learn about the Indian Chowk, or Aangan, or Brahmasthan.

Fort Hotel, Muscat, Oman

Institute For Plasma Research, Gandhinagar

coming in to correct their buildings and I am,

here, not just referring to the Vaastu

consultants alone.

Allow me to retell a mythical story maybe over

two thousand years old.

“A person went to a master and said I want to

become an architect, so I have come to you.

The master replied that before he could

become an architect he should learn about the

human body so you go to so and so and he will

teach you about the human body. When the

person went to a guru, to learn about the

human body he was told that before learning

about the human body he should learn dance

because knowledge of movement was

essential. So this person went to another guru

to learn dance and was told that how could he

learn to dance if he had no knowledge about

Should Architects learn Vaastu?

ARCHITECT’S VOICE

continued from page 6

u May 2011 7

Harsh as it may sound, I am truly ashamed of most of the architects. I am ashamed because they take shortcuts. They abuse the land, disregard climate, have lost contact with people and are building buildings to boost their egos and squander finite resources. All this happens because they are no more sensitive and have lost the sense of the sacred. They now have a situation where people from outside the profession are coming in to correct their buildings, and I am not referring to the Vaastu consultants alone.

Champaner-Pavagadh - World Heritage Site

Champaner-Pavagadh has been declared a World Heritage Site on July 2, 2004 at the

World Heritage Convention of UNESCO in Suzhou, China. This is the first time that the

work of an NGO – Heritage Trust (of which Karan Grover is the President), has been

instrumental in getting World Heritage Site status for a site – the first site in Gujarat and the

26th in India.

Situated about 45 km away from Vadodara city in Gujarat, the Champaner-Pavagadh

UNESCO World Heritage Site is a concentration of largely unexcavated archaeological,

historic and living cultural heritage properties cradled in an impressive landscape which

includes prehistoric sites, a hill fortress of an early Hindu capital, and remains of the 16th-

century capital of the state of Gujarat. The site also includes, among other vestiges,

fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, residential precincts, agricultural structures and

water installations, from the 8th to 14th centuries. The Kalikamata Temple on top of

Pavagadh Hill is considered to be an important shrine, attracting large numbers of pilgrims

throughout the year. The site is the only complete and unchanged Islamic pre-Mughal city.

The Word Heritage site status has helped the Champaner area in many ways. Overall

progress is clearly visible. Throughout the day area is full of tourists. This has

strengthened the local economy and the labour migration to surrounding cities has

reduced. Locals guide tourists, supplementing their income or sell handicrafts and local

jungle fruit. The deserted 15th century capital of Champaner was first excavated by late

professor R N Mehta of the M S University in the late 1960s.

(We shall discuss Champaner - Pavagadh in detail in our series “Conservation and Indian heritage

sites to be carried shortly.)

music and rhythm. He was then told that to

learn music and dance he must first know

what to eat and how to cook. So, in the pursuit

of architecture this “student” who wanted to

learn to be an architect spent over thirty years

learning to cook, eat, sing, dance and learn

about the human body and every time he

mastered one art he was told that it was

incomplete if he did not know about yet

another discipline.

The moral of the story is that architecture is an

extraordinary profession where you have to

know about life in all of its aspects including

structure, ecology, air quality, environment,

technology, building construction, behavioural

sciences, acoustics, lighting and so much

more and more. To add to all this it would be a

good idea to have a short course on Vaastu as

well, maybe something like a semester of two

months like just we have on psychology etc

Dr Riddhi Shukla is a Consul tant

Gynaecologist & Obstetrician practicing at her

own Arogyam Spec ia l i t y Hosp i ta l ,

Navrangpura, Ahmedabad.

She is also running a high-risk pregnancy unit

at Sterling Hospital, Ahmedabad and is a

specialist in ensuring delivery in complicated

pregnancies like pregnancy with jaundice,

kidney disease, AIDS, etc.

We met Dr Riddhi Shukla at her Arogyam

Speciality Hospital in Ahmedabad.

Excerpts from the Interview:-

My mother wanted me to become a doctor as I

was always inclined towards study. She

emphasized that everything can work

together in life; that a career could co-exist

with household responsibilities. When I could

not get admission in a medical college in

Ahmedabad due to a shortfall of half a mark, it

was my mother who prevailed upon my father

to let me go and study at Baroda Medical

College. I was the apple of my father’s eye. He

wanted me to be at home with him every day.

My mother explained to my reluctant father,

“Tare aevu manvanu ke thaiaine vaile parnie

ledhee!” (“Assume that you have married off

your daughter a little early!”) Be that as it may,

there was a pall of gloom over the house while

I was away at Baroda. On Fridays, I would

come for the weekend to Ahmedabad and it

was only during these days that the house lit

up with cheer. My brother would always

comment, “Now that you are here, mummy will

cook all the fancy stuff.”

The one and a half years that I spent at Baroda

Medical College were the watershed of my

life. Prior to that, I had never even gone to a

bank, a vegetable market or travelled alone in

buses or trains. At the Baroda hostel, I had to

Baroda Days

fend for myself. The education was entirely in

English medium which only made matters

more difficult for me, as I came from a Gujarati

medium background.

After one and a half years in Baroda, I returned

to Ahmedabad and pursued my MBBS and

post-graduation studies here. I will always

remember the long days away from home at

Baroda. They drove me to rely on and become

friends with many of my hostel mates. The

friendships became so strong that even today

– after almost two decades – some of my best

friends are from my Baroda days.

Though my marriage to Ketan was an

arranged one, we both knew each other well

since Ketan’s brother Divyang is married to

Ami, a very close friend of mine. Ketan was my

senior and helped me during my studies. We

were engaged for two years. During this time,

he was in Mumbai and I in Ahmedabad.

Despite our busy residencies we made time

and met each other every month either in

Ahmedabad or in Mumbai.

Ketan’s residency was very stressful. He had

more than his share of bad times during his

stay at Mumbai. Around this time Divyang and

Ami left to settle down in London and

thereafter his father, Dineshbhai was

diagnosed with renal failure and passed away

With Ketan – The Early days

Dr Riddhi Shukla with her husband Dr Ketan Shukla

continued on page 9

8 Vaastuyogam u May 2011

Vaastu & Homes

Dr. Riddhi Shukla

Today, you can say we

are settled and well off.

Our practice is doing

well. Our family and

social life is uncluttered

and cosy. We could not

have asked for more. If

Ketan and I were to

explain what made this

happy story happen,

both of us may have our

different versions. But

one thing will be

common throughout our

different versions and

that will be the role

Vaastu and Dr Rao have

played.

just fifteen days before Ketan’s final exams.

He had to come to Ahmedabad to attend the

final rites etc., and return immediately for his

exams. Yet, no doubt due to the blessings of

his father – he stood first in Bombay

University.

Our ambitions after marriage were nominal.

We both wanted safe jobs in government

hospitals and lead a simple, hassle-free life

with friends, relatives and family. We found out

– both Ketan and I – that we were not cut out

for the politics, bureaucracy and apathy that

are the rule in government hospitals. I got a job

at a family planning centre where the doctors

were to supervise family programs in the

slums. To my dismay, I found that no doctor

had ever visited any slum for the last ten

years; they were merely rubber stamping

fictitious reports and collecting their pay.

Ketan was toiling over 15 hours a day. His

assiduous and honest approach baffled his

peers and he – like me – soon got disillusioned

with the system. In time, we both left our jobs

and set up our private practise. This was the

time we accidentally bumped into Vaastu.

To begin with, we worked out of rented

premises. I think Ketan was the first – and only

– urologist without his own set up. This is how

we began our career. Soon enough, we

acquired our own clinic and it was during the

rounds we were making, distributing the

invitation cards that a doctor friend suggested

that we should get the clinic layout etc.,

approved by Dr Rao, a seasoned and proven

Vaastu consultant. Ketan would not have any

of it. The opening of the clinic was just a week

away and there was no room for any

alterations that the Vaastu consultant was

bound to insist upon. That – we thought – was

the last we would see of Vaastu. Of course that

was not true, because if that were so, I would

not be here talking to Vaastuyogam.

Today, you can say we are settled and well off.

Dr Rao and Vaastu

continued from page 8

Our practice is doing well. Our family and

social life is uncluttered and cosy. We could

not have asked for more. If Ketan and I were to

explain what made this happy story happen,

both of us may have our different versions. But

one thing will be common throughout our

different versions and that will be the role

Vaastu and Dr Rao have played. In fact, the

premises itself, where we speak right now,

have an interesting Vaastu story.

After sometime at our clinic, we began

scouting for a larger place. We did find one

and were on the verge of finalizing it when we

recalled Ketan’s friend’s earlier caution about

Vaastu and his seasoned and proven

consultant. This time, unlike earlier, Ketan felt

we were not too late. We showed Dr Rao the

premises. To our surprise, he rejected it

outright. When we asked if he was rejecting it

because he felt the premises were not good

for our practice, he replied dramatically, “How

will your practice succeed if the premises itself

will remain incomplete for a long time.” Whilst

we were leaving, he pointed to a plot right

behind the place we were buying and

remarked that buying a place here would be a

good idea.”

Some months passed. On a tour to Jaisalmer

we bumped into our builder friend whose

premises we had rejected on Dr Rao’s

insistence. After we exchanged pleasantries

he enquired whether we had finally bought

any premises. We replied that we were still

scouting. “Then why don’t you have a look at

my new scheme” “Oh! You’ve started a new

scheme already?” I remarked. “Yes. Actually

the old scheme is still incomplete due to

litigation and may take quite some time to

finish, so I have decided to start a new

scheme. You will like it. In fact, it is in the plot

that was behind my incomplete scheme.” This

9Vaastuyogamu May 2011

continued on page 10

Dr. Riddhi Ketan Shukla

£

£

£

£

£

£

M.B.B.S., D.G.O., P.G.D.H.C.M, (Post graduate diploma in

Healthcare Management)

Specialist in HIGHRISK PREGNANCY SPECIALIST AND

CONSULTANT GYNECOLOGIST

She has visited the Department of Gynecology-Princess

Margaret Hospital, Swindon, U.K as an observor May 1999. She has taken training in following specialised subjects at

various well-recognized centers.

Laproscopic sterilization - Civil hospital , Ahmedabad.Microsurgery - V.S General hospital, Ahmedabad.Ultrasonography - Federation of Obstretic & Gynecology Society of India.

Endoscopic surgery - National institute of Laser & Endoscopy, Mumbai.

She has made the following presentations

Paper on “Maternal Mortality in Unregistered patients” at SOGOG 1996 at

Ahmedabad.

Paper on “Maternal and Perinatal out come in Unregistered Patients” at World

congress on Labour, Mumbai 1997.

Paper on “Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission in HIV positive patients” at

SOGOG 2003, Ahmedabad.

Invited as guest speaker at Ahmedabad Obstretic and Gynecology Society, August

2003.

Invited as a faculty AICOG 2008, Delhi, World Congress on HIV 2009, Nagpur,

AICOG 2010, Gauwhati.

Dr Riddhi is the founder of Naari a Forum for Women’s Health & Happiness and is the

West Zone Co-Ordinator of FOGSI AIDS Committee

Dr Riddhi Shukla with her daughter

came as a bolt out of the blue. Just as Dr Rao

had predicted, our builder had been unable to

complete his project. The other attractive

piece of news was that he was coming up with

a scheme on the very plot that Dr Rao had

pointed out. We saw this as destiny playing its

hand. Without delay or further thought we

bought this place.

Everything you see here is designed as per

Vaastu and has Dr Rao’s approval. It is a

simple design, not extraordinary at all, yet it

has worked marvellously well. Many of my

patients confide in me that they feel very

comfortable and at home here. This place,

where we are sitting is a favourite place for

many of my relatives and friends. Whenever

they are nearby, they drop by for a chat. Often,

I stay here overnight to attend to emergencies

and I have always found solace and comfort in

this place.

Most women, even though they are working,

always have the family on their mind. It could

be their husband’s career, the studies of

children or the health of their in-laws. I have

changed my consulting hours five to six times

to accommodate the schedules of my

children.

Vaastu has certainly helped me with the

Vaastu and the Study-Room

10 Vaastuyogam u May 2011

hours for study even though the children were

on their own now. So, I have taken up a

management study course, which frankly is

tougher than studying medicine. In a way,

therefore the Vaastu of the study room has

bound me to education.

This is only a slight exaggeration, but I can say

that I do not even drink a glass of water without

consulting Dr Rao. I have experienced the

impact of his Vaastu advice in my career,

family and social life.

Currently, we are having a new house being

built at Rancharda - a suburb of Ahmedabad

and have planned it as a weekend home right

now but in the distant future we might actually

shift there. We bought this place with the full

involvement of Dr Rao in the selection of the

plot and the design of the house.

Now that construction has begun, I am very

nervous that some silly oversight might upset

the Vaastu balance of the place. We explained

to our architect that we wanted our house to be

in accordance with Dr Rao’s advice I

constantly prevail upon Dr Rao to keep a

check on the work.

For me and for Ketan the perfecr Vaastu of our

place is as important as the place itself.

because we know that having a proper Vaastu

house is pivotal to a happy life.

Conclusion

continued from page 9

Dr Riddhi Shukla with family

Everything you see

here is designed as per

Vaastu and has Dr

Rao’s approval. It is a

simple design, not

extraordinary at all, yet

it has worked

marvellously well. Many

of my patients confide

in me that they feel very

comfortable and at

home here.

children. My children did not have any formal

tuition till class VII. I myself taught them. Here,

the Vaastu-oriented deign of their study room

has helped. The three of us – my son,

daughter and I – got off fabulously during

those formative study years. Each day, I spent

three hours in that room teaching them till

finally I developed a love for learning. Ketan

insisted that I should reserve those three

Cisco Systems is the world leader in

manufacturing Network-related equipment.

An extremely successful networking

company, Cisco was present when the

Internet was emerging. It was there before the

Internet took off as a giant industry and it grew

with the Internet. Its devices, routers and

switches are the backbone to a large

percentage of the structure of the Internet. In

addition to organic growth, Cisco also

expanded through the acquisition of

companies that it saw representing future

technologies.

Leonard Bosack (Born in 1952) along with his

wife Sandy Lerner, were the founders of Cisco

Systems. Leonard Bosack met his wife Sandy

at Stanford where she was the manager of the

Business School lab, and the couple married

in 1980. In 1984, they co-founded Cisco with

the aim of commercializing the Advanced

Gateway Server. The Advanced Gateway

Server was a revised version of the Stanford

router built by William Yeager and Andy

Bechtolsheim.

Bosack and Lerner designed and built routers

in their house and experimented using

Stanford's network. Initially, they went to

Stanford with a proposition to start building

and selling the routers, but the school refused.

It was then that they founded their own

company and named it "Cisco”.

It is widely reported that Lerner and Bosack

designed the first router so that they could

CISCO SYSTEMS

CISCO SYSTEMS

Networking and Internet giantrides high on a unique logo

connect the incompatible computer systems

of the Stanford offices they were working in

and send romantic love letters to each other.

However, this has now been written off as a

manufactured corporate legend.

Cisco acquired a variety of companies to bring

in products and talent into the company. In

1995-1996, the company completed 11

acquisitions. Several acquisitions such as

Stratacom, were the biggest deals in the

industry when they occurred. Many of the

acquired companies have grown into

$1Billion+ business units for Cisco.

In the year 2000, at the height of the dot-com

boom, Cisco was the most valuable company

in the world, with a market capitalization of

more than US$500 billion. In 2009, with a

market cap of about US$108 Billion, it is still

one of the most valuable companies.

The Company has built its Globalization

Centre East in Bangalore for $1 billion and

20% of Cisco's leaders will be based there.

(This article is based on research from

published and unpublished sources, as well

as from the internet.)

u May 2011

Golden Gate Bridge Illustration

The name "cisco" is not an acronym, but an abbreviation of San Francisco. According to

John Morgridge, the company's first president, the founders Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner

hit on the name and logo while driving to Sacramento to register the company. They saw

the Golden Gate Bridge framed in the sunlight. The logo was seen by them as a modified

version of the past that would shape the future. Plus it looked really “cool”. They hoped the

logo would convey something about creating an authentic life and making a living at

something you believe in, in a place you love, with people you really like to be with.

The name cisco Systems (with the lowercase "c") was continued in use within the

engineering community at the company long after the official company name was changed

to Cisco Systems, Inc.

Rao Speak

The logo uses the powerful combination of blue and red and this is its strongest point. As I

have often mentioned blue is the perfect colour for IT and IT-related businesses. The use of

font is perfect and this brings to it an appearance of harmony. The irregular and jagged vertical lines may be a good stylistic reflection of the San Francisco

bridge but don’t augur well for the company. These lines are responsible for the dearth of

internal talent which the company has no doubt made up for by an acquisition binge.

However, the company even though it may do well financially and technologically, will

remain under public scrutiny and will be unable to acquire the long term respectability of

companies like Apple or HP.

The Cisco logo that developed from

the sketch of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Dr. Ravi Rao’s on going Projects

u May 2011

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