Incredible India - Bird Watching

As part of Incredible India series, this post is for some incredible birds seen in India.










 
As part of Incredible India series, I had earlier shared blog posts on Karnataka Road Trip, Qutub Minar, Golconda Fort, Humayun's Tomb & Temples in Delhi. 

Incredible India - Temples in Delhi

As part of Incredible India series, this post is for some incredible temples located in New Delhi, India.
Incredible temples located in New Delhi include Chhatarpur Temple, Lotus Temple, Birla temple (LaxmiNarayan temple) and Akshardham temple.

Chhatarpur Temple and within its complex and vicinity, there are some beautiful architected temples. Chhatarpur Temple is located on Gurgaon-Mehrauli Road, in South Delhi. Temple is having easy access by buses, autos, metro and taxis from New Delhi city.

Erected in white marble, the main shrine is dedicated to Goddess Katyayani (sixth form of Durga). The temples within the complex of Chhatarpur Temple have been built in both South as well as of North Indian style of temple architecture.

The Temple is spread over an area of ~70 acres including number of structures dedicated to each deity. Near main entrance, there is an ancient tree, which is covered with holy threads that people tie with belief that their wishes would be fulfilled.

Lotus Temple is another incredible architecture, which is at times referred as modern times Taj Mahal.  Temple is built in the shape of a lotus flower and is the last of seven Major Bahai's temples. Built in 1986, lush green landscaped gardens add up to its beauty. 

Lotus Temple is located in east side of the city. Structure is made up of pure white marble and its architect Fariborz Sahba chose lotus as the symbol common to Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam. 

Birla Mandir in New Delhi is also known as Laxminarayan Temple. Temple was built by the industrialst J.K. Birla in 1939. The temple is dedicated to Laxmi (the goddess of prosperity) and Narayana (The preserver). 

This beautiful temple is located in the west of Connaught Place and was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi on the condition that people of all castes will be allowed to enter the temple.

Akshardham temple in New Delhi epitomizes 10,000 years of Indian culture in all its breathtaking grandeur, beauty, wisdom and bliss. The temple, at the center of the complex, was built according to the Vastu Shastra and Pancharatra Shastra

The building was inspired and developed by Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the spiritual head of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, whose 3,000 volunteers helped 7,000 artisans construct Akshardham. 

As part of Incredible India series, I had earlier shared blog posts on Karnataka Road Trip, Qutub Minar, Golconda Fort & Humayun's Tomb.

Incredible India - Humayun's Tomb

As part of Incredible India series, this post is for Humayun's Tomb located in New Delhi, India. 

Humayun's tomb is the tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun who was born on 1508 AD and died in 1556 AD. Humayun was the son of Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, the first Mughal Emperor and father of the great Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar. 

Humayun's tomb is the first colossal monumental mausoleum and considered to be an early masterpiece that was to decisively influence the design of the later Taj Mahal, the high point of Mughal architecture. Tomb was commissioned by Humayun's first wife Bega Begum in 1569-70, and designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyas, a Persian architect chosen by Bega Begum. When Humayun had died in 1556, Bega Begum was so grieved over her husband's death that she dedicated her life thenceforth to a sole purpose: the construction of the most magnificent mausoleum in the Empire, at a site near the Yamuna River in Delhi for the memorial of the late Emperor. 




Humayun's tomb is open on all days including Mondays when most of the other historical monuments are closed. Its not usually crowded and is a must see place when visiting Delhi. Place is spread out, well maintained and atmosphere very serene considering the traffic chaos just outside. Its a majestic place and a delight for photographers and history buffs.



 
As part of Incredible India series, I had earlier shared blog posts on Karnataka Road Trip, Qutub Minar & Golconda Fort. 

7 Questions to Ask Before Establishing a PMO

According to the definition in Project Management Institute (PMI) PMBOK Fifth Edition, the Project Management Office (PMO) is a management structure that standardizes the project related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools and techniques. The responsibilities of a PMO can range from providing project management support functions to actually being responsible for the direct management of one or more projects.

PMO is also applicable to program and portfolio management offices. By definition, program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually and portfolio is a collection of components (i.e. projects, programs, portfolios and other work such as maintenance and related ongoing operations) that are grouped together to facilitate the effective management of that work in order to meet the strategic business objectives. 

The PMO is established within an organization based on its strategic objective, in which it could play supporting, controlling or directive roles. 

1. In a supporting role the PMO is more consultative in nature. The goal is to provide templates, best practices, training, and a knowledge base including lessons learned from previous portfolios, programs or projects. The PMO's primary role is more as a document control center with a low level of control.
2. In a controlling role the PMO is more focused on auditing. This ensures portfolios, programs or projects are following recommended methodologies, best practices, standards, processes, etc. The PMO's primary role is to maintain compliance across portfolios, programs or projects with a moderate level of control.     
3. In a directive role the PMO is more management focused. Involved in the organization's portfolios, programs and projects, the PMO's primary role is identifying, prioritizing, authorizing, and managing with a high level of control.

So before establishing a PMO, it is very important to understand your organizations strategic goals. The following set of questions will help serve as guidelines

Question #1

What is the mission of the PMO?
Is the mission of the PMO to provide consulting services to projects, programs and portfolios running across an organization and/or to provide standards, processes, templates and also be responsible for auditing on a regular basis while flagging the projects, programs and portfolios that are not meeting their objectives and/or directly manage projects, program and portfolios while forming a governance framework.

Question #2

What are the roles and responsibilities of the PMO?
A well defined RACI matrix across organization will help determine the tolerance and maturity of organization to adapt to one of the supporting, controlling or directive PMO types.

Question #3

What would be the KPIs for a PMO?
How the PMO will be measured is important. Determine the type of PMO that needs to be established and set appropriate metrics accordingly. 

Question #4

What would be the 30-60-90 day implementation action plan to establish the PMO?
A step by step action plan of 30-60-90 days will help create short, mid and long-term goals for the PMO and help determine the PMO type as well.

Question #5

What is the governance model for the PMO? 
Managing and controlling the PMO for a longer period will depend on the governance model defined for the PMO. In turn, the governance model will help in understanding the type of PMO needed. 

Question #6

What is the availability of qualified personnel to staff the PMO?
Establishing a PMO is heavily dependent on finding qualified personnel and a key factor to be considered in determining the type of PMO.

Question #7

Where does the PMO fit in the organizational hierarchy? 
Understanding where the PMO will fit in the organizations' hierarchy will help establish innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. This will also help in planning the roll out of PMO in 30-60-90 cycles. 

Please share your thoughts on how you would establish PMO in your organization.

7 Questions to Ask Before Establishing a PMO was originally posted under Prokarma blog on Jan 6th 2015. 

Incredible India - Golconda Fort

As part of Incredible India series, this post is for Golconda Fort located in Hyderabad, India. 

Ref. wikipedia, Golconda, also known as Golkonda or Golla konda ("shepherd's hill"), a ruined fort of Southern India and capital of medieval Golconda Sultanate (c.1518–1687). The Golconda fort was first built by Kakatiya as part of their western defenses. There is also a legend that a shepherd boy found an idol on the rocky hill called 'Mangalavaram'. This news reached the Kakatiya king, who was then ruling Golconda and ordered the construction of a mud fort around the holy spot. Later, the fort was expanded by the Qutub Shahi kings into a huge structure made of granite and it was built in 945 CE-970 CE on the lines of the Kondapalli fort. The city and fortress are built on a granite hill that is 120 meters (400 ft) high and is surrounded by massive crenelated ramparts. The fort was rebuilt and strengthened by Pratapa Rudra of Kakatiya dynasty.The fort was further strengthened by Musunuri Nayaks who overthrew the Tughlak army occupying Warangal. The fort was ceded by the Musunuri chief, Kapaya Nayaka to the Bahmanis as part of the treaty in 1364 AD. The fort became the capital of a major province in the Sultanate and after its collapse, the capital of the Qutb Shahi kings. The fort finally fell into ruins after a siege and its fall to Mughal emperor Aurangazeb in 1687 AD. Many famed diamonds are believed to have been excavated from the mines of Golkonda including Kohinoor 

Its worth taking a licensed guide to know interesting historical facts about the fort and click photos of significant history within the fort. There are more than 700 steps for climbing to the top but good % of historical significance can be experienced in the ground level itself. Fort is in ruins but still has wealth of historical stories to tell. It takes approximately 3 hours to cover the fort and depends upon how many snaps you would like to click. 

It is believed that there is a secret underground tunnel that leads from the "Durbar Hall" and ends in one of the palaces at the foot of the hill. The fort also contains the tombs of the Qutub Shahi kings. These tombs have Islamic architecture and are located about 1 km north of the outer wall of Golkonda. They are encircled by beautiful gardens and numerous exquisitely carved stones. Also there exists a tunnel connecting Charminar and Golconda, which was supposed to serve during wartimes as a source escape and according to our guide, it was also a route the King used to take his secret trip to witness the dance of a hindu dancer

Early in his reign, Quli became enamoured of a beautiful Hindu dancing girl named Bhagmati, to whom he assigned 1,000 cavalry as an escort. As time passed Golconda became very unhealthy through over-population, and in 1591 the king built a magnificent city a few miles away, which he named Bhagnagar to commemorate his favourite mistrress. 

On right side picture, 250 kg (551 pounds) weight can be seen, which was supposed to be lifted by candidates for qualifying the test of joining the army. Test was since the army men were supposed to carry equivalent weight to the top of fort during its construction. Daily diet of the men used to be consuming 2 Kgs of Rice and 1 kg of mutton at a time. 
Fort is also a testimonial to the cultural and religious diversity of India where a temple and mosque co exist. In the above picture, couple of girls in traditional dresses and beautiful ornaments are seen going for the religious rituals to perform in the temple climbing to the top, carrying the pots with fire on top. Amazing....

In the backdrop of fort, one can see development of modern Hyderabad & experience old meeting the new
Below are some of the artifacts that were uncovered from that era while digging through ruins. 

Second picture below shows where all the diamonds were embedded. On the right most picture below is the bedroom of one of the kings, which is now in ruins but what is still evident is the luxury royals experienced. Hole on the top dome was kept for sunshine to fall in so that royal couple would know when its day break without anyone disturbing them about the time.

Click here for text of complete guide of Golconda 

As part of Incredible India series, I had earlier shared a blog post on Incredible India - Karnataka Road Trip and a post on Incredible India - Qutub Minar.