*" The best thing that happened to me was joining Intel and the best thing that happened to me was leaving Intel ," says Dham in one of his vapid sound bites that make him so popular with journalists.

Vinod K. Dham was general manager of the P5 group.

He entered the Dham without Lord Vishnu's permission and saw that the Lord was resting at that time.

According to Hindu mythology, goddess of prosperity and wife of Lord Vishnu, Maha Laxmi also witnessed the whole incident, as she was also present in the Dham at that time.

Hiru Dham Singh was also honored with the title of ‘ Pradhan ’ from the Government of Lhasa.

Located about ten miles from Rajkot, east of Kathiawar, it was called ‘ Vallabhi Dham ’ before it became Valla.

Vinod Dham was born in 1950.

At the University of Cincinnati when NCR needed help, Dham was the only student in his class who had worked longest in semi conductors.

Dham believes that Intel ’ s ability to “ focus and execute ” while maintaining full compatibility of application software with its previous generation microprocessors was the key reason for its success over dozens of these big competitors.

In a Business Week cover story on Intel ’ s new processors, Dham was quoted as the general manager of 586 processor group.

Dham was most pleased about the mindset change.

( Ref: Business India 5 – 18 June 1995 ) In 1995, at the age of 45, after spending 16 years at Intel and reaching the top management of the company, Dham had a “ mid -­ life crisis ” and was itching to do something different.

Even at Intel, Dham took chances, such as his prescient decision to work on processors when he was done with being in R & D. By the time Dham quit Intel, he had already built a tremendous brand for himself.

Having Dham on the board was coup for the small chip maker which has been looking to make a mark in the microprocessor world.

Dham, who had made a career out of microprocessors, was no longer interested in just chips, which form the guts and brains of personal computers.

Meanwhile, Dham learnt from dealing with several customers that there was an emerging need for developing chips that could effectively transfer voice over the Internet.

Dham explains, “ The Internet protocol was being used mainly for data and delivering voice over the Internet, which was designed primarily for data transfer and was a tricky problem in terms of technology .” Dham redirected the company to build this new chip to support VoIP ( Voice over Internet Protocol ), among the first in the world at the time.

“ One of the biggest lessons I learnt was that it always helps to start defining your product with very early involvement with customers ,” said Dham.

Dham, with his partner, was extremely hands on in helping these companies in their day-to-day operations.

It was in his honour that the Madhupur Dham was built in the 16th century.

Dham, with his wide -­ ranging Intel experience, turned around NexGen ’ s strategy.

Around 1680, a prominent family member Hiroo Dham Singh went to Kailas Mansarovar for pilgrimage.

The Dham has stay facility for the devotees at “ Yatri Niwas ” which can accommodate more than 90 people at a time.

These two along with Badrinath and Kedarnath form the Chota Char Dham, a holy pilgrimage for the Hindus.

As a young graduate in 1971 Dham worked for Continental Devices India Limited, Delhi, one of India ’ s only private silicon semiconductor start-ups at the time which collaborated with Teledyne Semiconductor in California.

Doing this at front end, Dham said, more than paid for itself by avoiding most revisions in later stages.

Dham could have hewed to a safe course and stayed at Intel for the rest of his career.

Dham convinced the NexGen management to explore what appeared to be a perfect synergy for merging the two companies -­ NexGen had a product but no factories and process technology, AMD had a factory and advanced technology but no product.

With demand for communications-related chips then growing at 20 % per annum, Dham and Silicon Spice's three MIT grad co-founders wanted a piece of the pie.

In a little over two years ( in August, 2000 ), Dham sold Silicon Spice to Broadcom for a whopping U. S. $ 1. 2 billion in an all stock deal.

Having learnt that the opportunities for venture backed startups in India will likely revolve more around services required to meet the needs of India ’ s growing consumer class, Dham subsequently co-founded NEA-IndoUS Ventures a cross border India ­ focused fund in 2006 with New Enterprise Associates ( NEA ).

Dham was profiled at the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas in 2007, organised by the Ministry of Overseas Affairs of the government of India ; a high recognition for Global Indian Luminaries including Amar Bose, Indra Nooyi, Vinod Khosla, Arun Sarin, Lakshmi Mittal.

Buoyed by " religious tourism " and by the rise of a conservative Hindu population compelled by sites that speak to the existence of an all-India Hindu culture, the Chota Char Dham has become an important destination for pilgrims from throughout South Asia and the diaspora, particularly Bengalis, Marwaris, Oriyas, Marathis, Gujaratis, Delhites and people from Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

Lakhisarai is a small town and it is famous for its ancient lord Shiva temple ( Ashok Dham ) and Vermilion ( Sindur ) factory.

The town has blessings of many religious mentors, it includes Dargah of Hazrat Nazmudin, Temple of Do-Janti Balaji Dham ( which is famous for its exterior hand made stone bricks construction and in-side Lord Sun painting ), etc.

Salasar Balaji or Salasar Dham in India is a place of religious importance for the devotees of Hanuman.

Hiroo Dham Singh ’ s guerilla warfare tactics helped Tibetans in driving away these Chinese marauders.

In 93 ’ Dham was named one of the top 25 executives in the US computer industry.

In 1 Jan ' India ’ s premier magazine India Today listed Dham among the Global Indian Achievers.

On 22 April 2011, Dham was given People Choice Award and Special Jury Award in the category of Science and technology by Times of India Group ’ s ‘ Light of India Awards ’; recognising Indian achievers abroad.

* Dham on cell phones usage and its future: “ There is nothing except maybe Excel spreadsheets that you can ’ t do on a cell phone.