Yahoo! The Filo Way

I was covering the Yahoo! Open Hack Day here in Bangalore on Saturday but it was the presence of co-founder David Filo that interested me. I land there very early and stepped into a room full of hackers and almost immediately felt an IQ inferior complex. Got out of the room to breathe again, I noticed this frail-looking T-shirt clad guy in jeans chatting randomly to a few Yahoo folks. Guessing he was some random Yahoo organiser, my eyes scanned the area hoping to spot Filo. But no such luck came and I went ahead to meet the Yahoo communications team to check for an interview slot with Filo.

I had a larger-than life image of Filo as during the early days of the internet having a Yahoo! mail account was the second best thing to have; the first being a girlfriend. Having created a platform spawning a new generation, Filo gave the geek world a whole new world of recognition. In this online battle, Yahoo might be on the losing side but hey the consumers are not complaining as are just getting better.

So surprisingly my Filo interview request came through and I was supremely excited. I got introduced to the man himself (as you have already guessed it was the frail T-shirt clad guy). I figured he was a man of few words and emotions as I got no small talk or a broad smile when I shook his hands. Maybe journalists probably intimidate him especially us TV guys who usually stick up mikes like it was a gun and ask for bytes. But the questions were discussed in advance with his team and the interview went well. I got some politically correct soundbytes like 'Bullish on India' and 'Leverage Bangalore's talent pool' and I was happy it went well with no retakes. I was also thrilled that I had got Filo first and exclusive on our channel.


But I was expecting to see some passion and excitement from the guy and it will be fair to say that I went home disappointed and nothing to Yahoo! about. For Filo, this must have just another TV interview and really no reason to impress the audience or the reporter :(

Up, Up and Away!

It's not everyday that you wake up and say I Love My Job..I was feeling the same yesterday as I was scheduled to board the US Military Boeing C-17 Globemaster III..it is a military airlift plane..Wow wow wow..Sitting inside the plane felt like a kid in a candy store. I just couldn't stop smiling..We took off with pilot showing off his short runway takoff..it fe lt like a roller coaster. The US Military guys were inside describing each move to us and it felt like a part out of Top Gun..

He took us to 20,000 feet and I did a link to the camera at that height walking...It was really exhilirating. ..After showing us some moves at that height for about 20 mins, he said we were going to do the tactical descent...So we descended almost vertically from 18,000 feet to 6000 feet in 30 seconds...

The only scary moment was when this was happening I saw the crew running around in despair..but they were desperately hunting for a paper bag for my cameraman who was going to puke..He was filming the whole thing from the cockpit and the descent was too much for his stomach to handle...Besides that, the ride was just fuck amazing..Hard landing and braking..It was just too good to be true; felt orgasmic..Almost wanted to plead once more to the captain..

The day before, I went on board a Global Vectra chopper..it was ok compared to the Boeing ride..That video onboard the Boeing plane has still not been uploaded..will share the link asap..

On the right of this page there are two videos of my stories on the Aero India show. Some lucky journalists got to fly on the F-16s this time and I will lobby hard to get on one next time...

Can't wait to fly again!