Random Thoughts

They are going

2009-10-30T03:34:00.000-07:00

I came across a statistics filled web page which lists average expected life of various precious metals. It varied from as low as 10 years for indium (used in laptop screen etc) to 1000 years for aluminium. Gold mining would stop in another 40 years and silver would be off in another 20. I believe that what we are seeing is unprecedented. What we are witnessing is a phase where the fundamentals on which the industrial revolution flourished over the last 2 centuries, would no longer be the fundamentals. There would be need for a complete change in direction. Natural resources which are non renewable and those which we run out off (Indium for example in the next 10 years) would force us to play a different game.

pay up to read

2009-09-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

Media conglomerates are contemplating to put up a fee for users to read news on net.... slump in sales of news paper is resulting in the drop in revenues. and this is attributed to people preferring to go the e way for the news .. than to buy a newspaper...

This trend seems to be hitting the developed nations more than developing one. In India, the sales of newpapers is still on a rise....this despite most of popular news papers having a website.

I believe.. it would be a one hard task to implement and drive out the intended results. If it has to work ... news conglomerates need to some how go the music way...Music downloads now constitute almost 80% of the labels revenue. Can News content be made in fundamental nature, similar to Music content, still needs to be contemplated and discussed upon..

However this turns out, I hope fastflip.google.com continues to work the way it does today .. I just love it ....

Media Monster

2009-08-16T02:07:00.000-07:00

A debate is going around about the quality of content we read in Newspapers, Websites, Magazines etc or view thru TV channels. The content lacks quality and focusses mainly on "Stuff that sells". A recent post on facebook had a screen shot of "www.rediff.com" from 15th August 2009, where 4 out of 5 headlines referred to Shahrukh Khan.

If the media and publishing houses are indeed selling what sells, then it is necessary for survival. However, an argument stating "We show what people want to see", is a loose one. It is important to make a mention of Atlas Shrugged here. In Atlas Shrugged , it is exemplified, that what a columnist writes, influences to a large extent how the society approaches a subject and how it helps in forming opinion. Thus print and visual media, cannot stop at selling and should have public service motive on their mind.

As media publishes mob driven content, Mob view maturity would take longer than expected. Although the MOB view might epitomise democracy, to move forward faster towards a mature society, it is required to have good quality media content coming out from an array of thinkers, who help the Mob think beyond the obvious.

May be what we are seeing is a transition phase.

Hockey Vs. Golf

2009-08-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

Golf gets atleast 3-4 hours of weeekly coverage cumulative on CNN international. Golf, in my view, is one of the most uninteresting sport for individual viewing. Apparently it makes great news. Field Hockey on the other hand, definitely scores more points on watchability than golf, but does not make at all to the news desk. I know I am trying to compare apples with oranges, but I guess Field Hockey can learn a lot from Golf.

Obviously, Golf scores points on elite ingredient that make it popular amongst upmarket brands like Rolex, that pour money into the sport, sponsoring programs like 'Living Golf'. Can this be solely attributed to icons like 'Tiger woods' or 'Annika Sorrenston'. If it was about the individuals, then field hockey too has had its fare share of great players. Assuming both survive in the same eco system (which is not true), could Hockey also have achieved same level of popularity, may be yes.

One thing is for sure, How interesting a sport is, surely does not indicate the level of interest It might generate. Now, my view could be biased, may be people do find Golf interesting.

Michael Jackson

2009-06-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson is Dead.... Long live Michael Jackson.....

Idiots guide to printing money

2009-05-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

"what is inflation" and "why cant the government just print money and distribute and make every one rich" have always challeged my understanding .....not that I never tried to google for answers .... actually I did read scores of articles, but the cause and effect kind of practical example that I was looking for never hit me ..... UNTIL ... zimbabwe happened .....

To start with, let me present the background ...

Zimbabwe's govt has been printing Zim dollars indistriminately .... highest denomination note now in circulation is for 10 billion Zim Dollars .. so on the face of it ..zimbabweans seem to have a lot of money .... however .... only 6% of the population is employed ... and most of the others are starving .... or surviving on foreign aid or wild plants (yes wild plants).... the country is in dire state ....

To understand the connundrum .."that more money does not mean more money always"....Zimbabwe fits the bill .. and this is what I understand happened to Zimbabwe...

A farmer owns land. Farmer spends 0n seeds, irrigation, fertilizers and off course human effort to generate a crop. Then the farmer spends on transporting the crop yield to the market. The farmer would add all this up and would put a value to his produce. The country were this farmer lives, imports seeds and fertilizers.

Suddenly, the country does something that pisses the international community (Expels all white farmers who own 70% of land that can be farmed upon)... every one stops trade (Export or Import) with zimbabwe.... As there are no imports availability of Seeds and fertilizers goes down .... there is demand but no supply .. so prices go up... farmers spend more on producing and thus crop prices go up... crop prices go up .. thus inflation goes up....

As there is no end to countries isolation and the isolation is at multiple levels... each and every commodity faces the same fate as the crop.... and pushes inflation up further ...

No exports means ... no forex... more demand less supply means ... someone who has forex available at hand will let it off with more and more of local currency.. thus the exchange rate of the currency topples... to counter this effect... govt decides to print more money in order to control the imbalance... which however is not in control at all and local curreny keeps on falling.... more moeny thus does not translate as more money actually..as every one has it .. so it has no value..

now, i would keep refining stuff above.. as sometimes even i am not convince with the amount of details in it....

and request to the knowledgable souls...please do comment .... and help improving story above....

Dhol beats

2009-05-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

kind of passion and adrenalin rush that dhol beats generate, can sometimes not be equalled. Even the most passive and reluctant of people are seen to move a feet of too under the influence of dhol beats. I recently discovered there is something called "The Dhol foundation". I saw some of there performances on youtube. A group of 8-10 dhol players covering the whole stage, beat it and create an electrifying environment. I liked it so much that they have entered my favourites now, and i blog about it to make readers of my blog (not many now a day :( ) to take notice of it and have some fun watching it.

And by the way, federer finally beat Nadal....hfffffff......

move the container

2009-05-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

3rd post of the day.... but its o.k. ... considering there were non last month and i am a bit over over due.
so here it goes, I have a animation movie idea hovering around in my mind and i would like some one from Pixar or Disney to have a serious look into it....;)
Short summary - there are lot of containers .... and there are lot of harbours all around the world .... they are living their life happily .... there is one giant program that controls the movement of containers all around the world .... until .... a bad container bugs that program and all the container movement goes for a toss.... and then a mass effort is made by good containers to fix the bad container and the movement program....
Won't it look awesome and Wow to watch a movie with containers interacting .... i think it would look so.... ;)

The thing is .... lately most of the animations seem to lack the x factor... non of the latest animation had the Wow factor.... as in .... the first time I saw Monstors Incorporated.... i just couldnt stop appreciating the idea ..... lately that hasnt been the case ..... be it "Monsters vs. aliens" or "Wall-e" or "kung Fu Panda"....

so... i have taken to the task of coming up with one of my own ... and in that endeavour .... Please accept the first recipe as above ..

Conflicts

2009-05-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

Lots is happening in Srilanka. I am neutral. Only side I take is that of suffering people, who have got caught between the LTTE and the army. It would indeed be tough to get uprooted time and again, for a cause, how so ever legitimate or otherwise. The thing about ethnic conflicts around the world (Middle East, Iraq, Sri lanka) is that the only people who seems to be gaining out of these conflicts eventually and in the long run are the arms manufacturer.

Legitimate concerns sometimes do give rise to conflicts, but seem to be eventually taken over board by vested interest. Catching them young and not letting conflicts take huge proportions should be the aim. Not that there is no available data to understand the benefit of doing this, just that the right people should act.

Is is funny, most of the countries in Indian Subcontinent(Nepal, Srilanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afganistan, Myanmmar) seem to beat war within.

Poor Joker

2009-05-15T03:50:00.001-07:00

The joker was not given the same techological edge that the batman had in the dark knight. where as the Batman used technology to read the figureprints from a exhumed bullet's, poor Joker wasn't provided with the basic facial recognition software. The joker fought and killed and plotted, trying to make the batman take of his mask and know who the batman really was, something that the most basic facial recognition softwares could easily acheive. I am on the jokers side for this. Make the Joker technologically powered so that he can achieve his objectives with less voilent means.

Welcome Mr. Musharraf

2009-03-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

As the saying goes.... It happens only in India. Only we can call a person who waged a war against our nation, give him status of a statesman and then listen to all the bull***t that guy has in his mind.

Pervez Musharraf was the architect to Kargil war. India lost 600 + of its brave soldiers in this senseless act of intrusion. Pervez mussaraf was recently invited at a conclave to present his views. Apparently that conclave was meant for intelligencia to present their views on the world order (read dis-order) and ways to better / fix it. If I was one who would have lost a dear one in the kargil conflict I would feel deeply hurt. Not to mean that I dont feel hurt now.

Musharraf claimed that he was brave enough to come to the conclave, having being warned by his family, daughter and dear ones that he will be rebuked and abused. I hope his family is aware that this guy, took away 600 innocent lives and is no saint.

Only one brave guy, Maulana Madani had the guts to hit deep inside Musharraf. I could see the anguish on Musharrafs face while Maulana Madani spoke some facts. I wish someone had stood up and asked Musharraf about the kargil conflict and why he did what he did and what was he thinking when he started on it. Musharraf claimed that he was a brave chap. We could have asked this Mr. Brave chap to bravely give us some truth. This does not amount to digging the grave as Musharraf never come clean on Kargil (Even though everyone knows that he started it)

I hope we start putting things in perspective and keep reminding ourselves of the past while we venture into the future.

Random Thoughts Episode 1

2009-03-13T06:25:00.000-07:00

Its easier to be stupid, then to act as one .... you see ..when you act stupid .. you are doing 2 things... you are being stupid .... and you are acting .... now the question is --> why i wrote what i wrote... answer is simple .... Its a Random though buddy... ;)

Suggested improvement/Add on i would like to see on blogspot --->
1. It would be fun to have emot - icons as a part of blogspot edit tool..... sometimes that emot - icons can put across thoughts that are hard to put forward in words ....
2. It would also be good to have a flag on each posting which can mark the posting a private ...
and my private i mean ... visible only to the author ... why .. i would want to use the blogspot as an online diary .... so need would arise where i would want to keep some of the events just to myself and thus need private flag facility.... anone listening ....

with this comes to an end.... Random thought Episode 1

Genocide (Geno --> Race) (Cide --> Killing)

2009-02-28T12:15:00.000-08:00

I am not a foriegn policy expert ...... but their lies the point .... you dont need to be one to see if things are going terribly wrong in a certain region in the world .... I was watching Christian amanpours "Genocide program" in which today topic was Serbia's genocide .... apart from many other things ... one that the stuck me the most was the following argument :

--> Serbs were killing Muslims in numbers and the whole of European Union was aware of it .. Richard Hoolbrooke .... US's ambassador to Germany at that time was urging Bill clinton to attack ...Bill clinton got the following feedback from the European Union about a possible strike

--> "Our Peace keepers are there in the country .... if US attacks and tries to saves Muslims from Serbia genocide ... the peace keepers you be put to harm"

Now, excuse me ... Please let me understand this .... am i missing the whole point .... what was the EU peace keeping force doing in serbia .... as apparently there was no peace there .... looks like they were there to enjoy their time and were making some extra bucks.... because it would be shame if this was happening with their connivence ...

If I was EU.. i would have taken stock of the situation and immediately pulled out of the region to facilitate an attack that would have saved millions of Muslims from getting killed for no reason ....

Sensitivity and action without prejudice is the hardest this to do .... but then people in position and power .... are their as hard things are expected from them .... and they cannot afford to make mistakes .... Point driven i guess

Facbook, CNN, Obama and hinduism

2009-02-27T08:22:00.000-08:00

Never I had so much respect for a politician.... may be i am able to appreciate what Obama is doing .... may be I am much more exposed to what is happening in US and thus can see what a phenomenon Obama is growing into.... I was watching his address the other day .... and some how had this feeling that in a way Obama was speaking for me .... even though Obama may ban outsourcing to India for certain cases.... I still feel he is doing the right this ..

Instead of running away from the eminent problems .. unlike his predecessors.... Obama is hitting then bang on ... be it Energy crisis or be it the global economy .... Obama makes just the right sounds ....

Obviously it will take more than ssaying the right stuff to get things fixed.... but alteast this time the saying part is correct .....

Other things ... the other day Tarun adarsh... any indian speaker mentioned that the world needs the Hindu way to sustain .... I agree and disagree ....
I agree due to the following points :
1. From the sustainability perspective their is nothing beating the Hindu way .... I mean imagine India (80 % hindu) guzzles 25 times less energy "per capita" than US....
2. From Social harmmony perspective again their is nothing beating the hindu way ..... Imagine never has India waged a war against anyone ..... the one that was waged was Non voilent (M.K.Gandhi)

I disagree due to the following points :
1. Sustainability as the primary motive to live ... may induce a lack of imagination and enterprise ..... not to say that we are not enterprising .. we are .... but i think we are still of the hook a bit when it comes going beyond ....

I think if +ves and -ves could be mixed to strike a balance .... Hindu would be the way to lead ....
and i can see that happening in the next 2 decades ...

ISB presented me with feed back for not selecting me .... I take it positively and work to amend the shortcomings has began .... ISB... here I come again .... This time wont give you a reason .... unless you are hell bent on finding one ....

Also, there is one thing I have come to appreciate a lot ... (Facebook and CNN).. 2 totally different platforms are helping each other out like anything .... facebook has huge user base ... CNN uses it as a medium for taking people opinions thru polls .... and it gets huge numbers thus acurate analysis on broad ranging issues ... CNN saves money on doing paper polls .... and facebook gets reference in CNN in every other news item ....

Reddy - if you read this ... you need to do something similar ... try to catch hold of that lady who works for UTV news (associate producer in a career program) (One that we meet at the italian restaurant at my and your friends birthday on 24th june 2008).. and have her ask the host to throwing the name verkko .....obviously you need to have them see the benefit (quote face book and cnn example) between a career program and a social site for top MBA grads....

"time to steal a line"
till next time .... I hope what ever you do is profitalble (Richard quest)
Singing off for now .... talk to you soon ...

Dazzle me

2009-01-16T14:38:00.000-08:00

Chance, courage and risk, As you would all agree with me, are words that do not stand a chance without each other. A little bit of Risk, mixed with a some courage and the boundary is pushed beyond. Play the cards right and 'chance' emerges out of the shadows.

Adversity games

2009-01-09T06:51:00.000-08:00

All said, its like an opportunity in adversity for the Satyam team. Challenge of a life time. Not every one gets an opportunity to save a sinking boat. From my view, the current management has its task cut out. Sector is still sunrise. With some good work, some courage and some sacrifice from both management and employee, Satyam can come good. Lets see what happens.
Greed is the cause of all maladies. Respectable and acceptable sustainence should be the aim. Not that i follow this ;). Just a thought.

Improvement areas and new years eve

2009-01-04T12:53:00.001-08:00

Hello 2009 ..... not the best 1st thing to post in 2009 but its been playing on my mind .... and as i have seen .. then best way to let it go is to write about it ...So here i go....
When I talk to the people who i really am open talking to ... I usually blabber whatever is on my mind .... now... each person has a different way of absorbing things in his/her own context .... and that is where i screw up.... as i blabber .... I do it in my context .... and obviously people think in there context and usually I repent exposing some of my inate thoughts .... I hate it when that happens and I just keeps playing on my mind .... may be there is a need that I need to address... filter what you want to say .... may be one of the resolves of 2009 ....

All day i talked today.... Mom and papa... Shikha and then Shikha (The new one ;)).... Chaitanya ... then got an unexpected call from Suvendu and Richa .... yesteray as well talked all day long with Mom and papa... Shikha and Shikha ... and Mathur ..... also tried to work a bit with moderate success ... was able to complete some things that were playing on my mind .... overall a successfully utilized weekend.

New year with the Frishmuth's - On a different note... Boss in Munich invited us (Indians working in germany) to his home in Hamburg for the new years eve. Georg (Boss) and Tini Frishmuth (his wife) were fabulous hosts. They made us feel at home from the word go. We were able to achieve a very good level of comfort with them. There were usual discussions on a wide range of topics starting from India, cross cultural stuff and finally some work. After the awesome dinner and breakfast on 31st Dec night and 1st jan morning .... Georg and Tini actually drove us all around hamburg....all day...which was again extreme fun .... which was finally concluded with Georg and my indian collegues dropping me over at the station and waiting on the station till the train came over and I boarded it (comforting) as its a new place and its always good to have someone around. Thanks purely to Georg and Tini for inviting over for the occasion, I could experience the German hospitality and warmth .... Let me put in context ... it was nothing less, actually let me go a step further, it was equal to the Indian way of doing it .....
enough for today .....

Poetic Wish for new year

2008-12-30T14:06:00.000-08:00

finally I met the poet in me .... ... snippet blow is totally original.... written on 30 dec 2008 ....

Wishing you all a very happy new year

just like the ones gone by,
may this one as well shine,
just like in the ones gone by,
may each one continue to climb

Israel-Palestinian issue

2008-12-29T14:15:00.000-08:00

One side accusing the other, and vise versa, of breaking cease fire and thus trying to justify individual acts of agression. More than anything else, this signigfies that both sides really dont want peace.
Issue description - Israel's agression is on account of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Hamas's agression is on account of Israel's economic blockade of Gaza as Israel reportedly does not like Hamas, as one of the objective of Hamas is to Erase Israel. No one knows who hit first, but both sides are ready up in arms.
Issue analysis - Israels Aggression on Gaza over last few days takes a huge hit on arab world. There is disgust all around in arab countries. In a way, what Israel does has a global impact (Including increase oil prices). Even a kid would understand why. Hamas is too small to be noticed, Its acts of aggression are not reported. Assuming, hamas does do rocket attaches into Israel, then that does not make headlines in CNN and UN. This creates an imbalance.
Issue impact - Israels aggression has global impact as it is preceived as attack on Islam. Fuels passion and hate amongst one community on account of suffering inflicted by a rich state against a poor region. US supports Israel towing the line that sovereign states have right to defend its citizen.
Issue dissection - I believe Israel can excersize greater restraint. Israel could have raised on last ultimatum to Hamas a week before boming Gaza. I never heard anuthing like that on CNN, which is my main source of information. If that did not help, Israel should go to the Arab league, who reign down on Hamas (Assuming it has some control). But then it needs to have control, because hamas is getting its funds from somewhere and I am sure its from somewhere in the middle east. If Israel reaching out to arab world does not help stop hamas, then i believe it is reason good enough to attack hamas. This atleast insured that Arabs were pre informed and involved, which is much better than current situation.
Conspiracy theories - Sometimes I feel even his is driven by oil prices. Now how in the world could all this start the day oil prices fell to record lows of < $35 a barrel. Its $40 right now, which is like 14% appreciation in 3 days since the attack started.

I hope I would get my point across. I believe no situation is too complex. There is always a path for the ones willing. Its just that, not the right people may be handling it. Not the right emotions are being fuelled, and I believe each one of us know what the right path is.

PS - feel sad for all lives lost in Gaza and Israel. However, cant do more that just write and be a silent spectator.

one of those days

2008-12-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

today... was one of those days when I felt totally out of sorts. I didnt like working and all the thoughts that automatically came to my mind were not too bright. It took me one full day to recover. I tried to indulge in washing utensils, making food for myself, watching movie but none of them helped. As the day passed by I had a call with Jani and Aravind.. I think that brought me back on track. It got me all involved in work and I lost the other thoughts that were coming to my mind. Then I watched another movie "Oye lucky lucky oye".. Which i would say was a good decision .... 2 hours well spent ... entertaining and intelligent movie .... refreshed my mind .... and then listened to a couple of good songs .. on of them being ....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cBz92sxSNU&feature=related.......
last couple of days have been historic.... hahahaha... what a word to use .... but then given my state of mind.. that is the only word that I can recollect .... singing off ....

Terror Tourism

2008-12-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

Definition - Vilasrao Deshmukh Accompanied by Ram gopal varma and his sons in the Taj Mahal Hotel one day after the terror seige being debriefed by one the cops involved in the encounter at the Taj.

Usage - Last 10 years since there has been an unfortunate increase in the terror attacks on our city, people picking up our terror tourism packages has overshot people picking Medical Tourism and Leisure tourism combined

Dasvidaniya

2008-11-30T03:09:00.000-08:00

Wufff.... what a sentimental picture this is .... however It does reinforce the fact that Working backwards is the best strategy.... set goals and invariably you end up fulfilling them .... without wasting time I am off on doing so...how about you ???????

Strategy to Control Terror

2008-11-28T21:41:00.000-08:00

Actually to be honest ... for the kind of stuff that has been seen in mumbai over the last 3 days or so... I believe we really cannot form a strategy. When someone is just hell bent on killing and does not care about his life .... there is nothing one can do. No kind of preperation or patrolling can avoid this. Only thing that seems plausible in such a scenario is to react and contain the damage. Its like you cannot stop an earthquake, but be prepared for what happens once the earth quake strikes. On that front I think NSG guys and mumbai police and mumbai ATS have done bravest act. As I see these guys, I see they are much less armed as compared to what I can see on Discovery. May be that could be an improvement area.

ISB Reject

2008-11-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

I could'nt make it to ISB. Got a reject. Its a bad feeling believe me .... makes you question the core "fence sitter".... my thoughts had run hard to make a new world out there .... which as it seems now need effort some other way to reach .... "the going just got a bit tough" and if that is the case .... so be it ....

I was watching "In pursuit of Happiness".... not to say that I am anywhere near "Christopher Gardner" but i will take a cue, and invest all energy over next one year into "another thing" ;) ..... because i want to feel exactly how this guy felt in climax - "It been a long time that happened"

Gowda and his stupid Son Kumaraswamy

2008-11-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

Couple of days back JDS organized a rally in bangalore that crippled traffic and mad many school goinbg kids stuck in traffic for 6-7 hours. Obvious its unacceptable to allow such a rally. People raised hue and cry. Today it is reported that kumarswamy made the following - "now the bangaloreans will understand the plight of village kids who walk 6-7 to school"...

Mr. Stupid kumaraswamy.... you and your good for nothing father is partly responsible for this. You guys were in power...and could have made schools in villages... however... that can only be done if you and your greddy family gets time off from guzling public money ... which obviously you wouldnt have found ....given that you have palacial bunglows in and around bangalore... billions of rs. in bank accounts...

I am disguisted with that statement to the core.... i mean how can a politician say that.... I urge everyone to read the statement correctly... and in nrn's words.. this is such a loose statement that i feel like hitting it for a six ... i hope stupic Kumaraswamy pays for it .... singing off with a lot of anguish .... i wish i could slap this guy .... urging a political party to give me a ticket in their next elections (ahem.. congress please excuse i dont have money to buy a ticket)

also on that note... who the fcuk is this Rahul Gandhi.... and what is this shram dan drama about .... we need to question and expose this guy before out gullible junta takes him to the throne ...
believe me .. i can do a better job than him ... if it helps validate my credentials I can produce recommendations from respected sources ....

Disclaimer - i am not affiliated to any political party and these are my personal views ....

ISB results a week away

2008-11-13T04:02:00.000-08:00

ISB R1 results will be out in another week. I have read too many interview experiences now and inevitably i go into comparison with mine. Honestly, my interview was extremely uneventful. To bland and not happening. No trick points... plain simple tell you about your application and then a couple of of shots and as i mentioned in my last post the interviewers looks every uninterested in me, I hope that is not an indication. I write this as I dont stop thinking about it until i write.
I hope uneventful interview is not bad interview. I hope interviewers interest in interview is no indication of "how it is going". I hope i make the cut and start on a new journey.
Otherwise, I would have a lot of soul searching to do.

and the latest buzz on pagalguy forum is - "Jiske doc uploaded.. he is thur.." and mere docs are not uploaded yet ... what the F.... i am surely reading into this too much :(

and today the doc update thing gets even uglier .... wtf.... sinking sinking ...

and its finally official ... doc theory is wrong .... there is no truth to it .... its a trash .... and as i write a bunch of officials are deciding whether i am good enough or not .. this information pulled from pagal guy forum and is apparently very reliable ....;) .... anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety

and the latest news is that the decision has been taken ...and the fates decided .... the news comes out from pagal guy again .... apparently a reliable source again .... 5 long days left .... i had a horrible dream today (very much like the dream target-09 from pagal guy had) .... please please god .... prove the dream wrong ....

Resources Unlimited : Epilouge

2008-11-11T03:43:00.000-08:00

What if there was unlimited resources available to the human race .... Think about it and start commenting .... Until then i take my time to build me thought which i will put down in a post to follow ....
pointer - start with crude oil is free scenario...

My tryst with tread mill

2008-11-08T10:02:00.000-08:00

My latest craze .... need to loose atlease 10 kgs in the next 2 month .... and thankfully again Shiva came to my rescue.... he already had joined a gymnasium near by and it was motivation enough for me to hang on with him for loose weight project. No particular reason .... this is one more thing that i believe has always been on my mind .. and my usual lazy self would find one reason or the other not to do so.... lets see how goes this one .. 4 days on and things look good.. the instructor is pushy... the moment I say i am leaving .. he would tell me one more excersice... and it goes on .. until i tell him ... o.k. not any more .. i am leaving .... all my body parts are aking .... which can be attributed to the muscles (muscals - ;)) coming back to life after a prologed leave then have been on ...
lets see where I land up with this one ... need to make full use of 1.8k investment for sure...

ISB Interview

2008-11-02T03:56:00.000-08:00

ISB interview is thru..... And here is my take on it:
I entered the room, one of the guy sitting there.. introduced him as a 2003 alumini (Mr. A)....and asked me to sit until he reviews my on the spot essay "Which was on "Pastel""...then came another guy... he introduces himself (Mr. B)... and as expected I dont remember any of the names...

Interview start :
Mr A - Can you run thru your application and various decisions you have taken...
Me - Ran thru my application .. each and every bit ... blah blah blah blah
Mr A - So things are going good .. why MBA.
Me - Ran thru this one real good. This was my area. blah blah blah blah
Mr B - Asks Mr. A.. do you have any other question..
Me - Yeah .. actually I have a couple .... asked the questions.
Mr B - anything else you want to ask...
Me - Nopes. No other question.. Hand shake.. and I say .."I hope I was able to put forward my case in an effective manner" .. thanks all around...over...

My feeling - just 20 minutes ... in which i was speaking most of the time .... and was only interrupted say 2 times to get details ....I felt the interviewers looked least interested in me.... they looked indifferent...... I hope I am wrong.... Most of the stuff I had prepared did'nt even come up... In a way good .. in a way bad..... Again ...I really really hope I was good and i make it.. if i dont make it I would not know why as I dont think i screwed up ... In the end.. thanks to Neha and Nitin for letting me disturn the whole day at their nice little ISB studio.... I saved on some anxiety talking to them all day .... also again Reddy, prashant, Neha, Murtaza and Shishir... Big Thank you... for helping with application, helping with Mock interviews .... and also big thank you to my application recommenders ....I hope this one goes good...3 weeks to go for results ..... i really really want this one ....

2 days to go.....

2008-10-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

the D day is almost there.... and I have an un-enviable record of screwing up when it matters .... I hope this time that is not the case.... and I hope to put up a decent show.... i really really want to go there and speak my mind.... because there is stuff inside.... but one way or there other.. It somehow doesnt come out.... Again .. i hope that is not the case.... i am not reading into situation to much.... just that .... i treat this as a very important juncture and I want to do good.... Again guys.... wish me luck....

Call

2008-10-21T06:50:00.001-07:00

Got one of the most important call ....I really really need to convert this call and make this a culmination of all the effort that has gone into making it happen not only from my side but also from 3 other people (Reddy, Neha and Prashant).. on top of that I would want to make this also the end point for the last 5 years where hope against hope against hope .... I kept on doing whatever was thrown at me or whatever I could politely request for and got .... Guys wish me luck....

ponting - mns - arundhati roy - mamata

2008-10-19T22:30:00.001-07:00

these need to told that they are a blot and good for nothing.
Ponting the pig - Ponting is know more for his arrogance than his cricket shots now. I hope he reads this, because I would like him to know that once he retires no body would remember him.

MNS the freak - Dear maharashtrians.. please remember mns is doing all this north indian drama thing for votes.. I hope you understand that mns cares a "jack shit" about the marathi manus thing....if it really did there are better ways to help the marathi manus other than beating up poor people on railway platforms...if this thing continues don't be surpirsed if "Bihar and jharkhand" stops suppyling coal and other rich minerals to maharashtra.... Arrogance is not a virtue ....maharashtra may have progressed .... but that cannot be attributes to only maharashtrians.... every Indian has contributed in one way or the other....

Arundhati Roy - This is my favourite... if you want to be always in news ....do what this lady does .... talk controvery... i dont want to go into the details of social activities this person has been associated with ... but over all as a spectator i get this feeling that she has become media hungry.... and please ms. Arundhati roy.. please dont speak on my behalf... please dont say that you are talking on part of the civil society .... because you are not one of us... I believe you are more like the "i need limelight now and then types"...

Mamata Banerji - what to say about this lady.... everyone knows ..... she is exploiting poor farmers for political gain .... what worse can one do .... mr. Tata has guts that he is really taking her to the task....

Oil Roads

2008-10-11T01:43:00.000-07:00

you gotta read this seriously.... oil anything above $75 a barrel means oil companies in India loose money as pricing is controlled by Govt. of India ..in the larger national interest....point taken...i believe in tough times Oil companies should strive to minimize loss...and here is a way I propose to acheive that ....

I believe it will be a good idea if oil companies foray into city road/Highway construction...Its a well known fact that bad roads contribute in a major way towards slower traffic movement in cities....slow traffic movement obviously means that a vehicle ... just because the road is not good .. would be guzling more oil than required... this can easily be avoided if the road was paved well....people who move around bangalore would agree that at some places... traffic is bad not because there are too many vehicles ... but because the roads suck ... example ... sarjapur junction .. agaara junction ..etc etc.. list is long ...

each extra litre of oil consumed due to bad roads means more lose to the oil companies ....

In bad times ..... if oil companies take this initiative and fix the roads.... they would save of losses and they would also be replacing the ineffecient municipality in this important infrastructure domain...

In good times .... this would open a new revenue stream for oil companies.... which i believe is always a good thing...

Do comment ....

happy Birthday to the Big B...

Power formula

2008-10-08T05:49:00.000-07:00

Much like always (and this is not recent .. this is an old one).... Shiva and I argued....Point of contention...

I say - Street lights a national waste

Shiva Says - No way... Street lights are useful in many ways...

Now come on... why do we need thousands of 500 watt bulbs light deserted road all night, when there is not a soul roaming around ... specially in bangalore .. where 11 Pm means sleep time ... anyways all vehicles have independent headlight units thatare designed to provide necessary flux for the driver to operate in... only issue would be wandering human souls.. who for some reason want to stroll on city roads at 3 am or so.... may be we can make the street lights human presence sensitive... obviously this must have been thought before ... or is it like ... this is a revolutionary tought coming straight from the brilliant mind ";)" ..... we have a inhouse imaging expert and he actually said .. such street light do exist....opps.. another one of those cases...

Shiva does not blog .. and i always present my point of view with greater detail... obviously .. this is my blog .... however.. do comment..lets see how wins.. me or shiva

Its time....

2008-09-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

After 4 long months I go home tomorrow. These 4 months have been least to say "Eventful".. I had the time of my life in Mumbai in June... (Thanks to Reddy and Vik)....Came back to Bangalore on 1st July .... somehow managed to come back to the same house as I used to put up in "Oracle days".....Had a nice little get together at my place (Sponsered by Nitin and me)...Get together went good .. most of the oracle folks came over and the new CGey project mates... (Nikhil, Murali and Thomas) .... had some challeges at work .... but not anything that surpassed Synergy days...had another get together at Akshay Khanna's place .. with the college BLR guys .... filled a form .. It took me 2 months..man.. lots of thanks to Reddy (his friend Murtaza), Neha, and Prashant for this one. Guys you rock... and finally decided enuf was enuf.. I am feedup.. I need to go home... this has been the longest I have out of home ever (last max duration was 3 months)....there is something about going home ...it cant be described....anticipation may I call it... anticipation about what.. I don't know.... good for now... next post from home...

Abuse shower

2008-09-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

yeah yeah... the ubiquitous "Gali" is the topic for today. I have never know anyone use "Gali"effectively as a medium of expression than one of my DCE gang member "Mohit (or baba)". I mean, it happends once in a while.

Scenario (cause) - Someone spread a rumour about Baba getting married and all... and also links it to the fact that, marriage is the reason Baba .. is coming to India for the very same reason.

Reaction (Effect) - This allegation is trigger enough for Baba... The big daddy of our group .. to write his "That kind of email". Each line of which is full of beautifully and carefully thought of expressions. this email... you would think will only contain abuses for the Cause guy.... but wait.. that is not the case... this email is Baba's oppty to have a take on each and every one in the group...for reasons..that are best known to baba... believe me.. there is no betterlaughter medicine that this once in 6 months email from Baba.. and obviously I really look forward to it...I wish I could post Baba's email here.. which i just read and laughed like hell for 20 minutes... but then "Who would stop you guys from reporting my blog"...I have too much to sa on this blog .. dont want to take a chance...

Masala Dosa ....

2008-09-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

What if there was no masala dosa... What if there were no Shanthi Sagar's and likes in Bangalore. What if you had to dine everytime you want to have a quick grab for your ever demanding stomach (or rather I should say my ever demanding stomach). For me it would have become difficult. Shanthi Sagar's in Bangalore present a "Sasta, sundar and tikau" option to thousands of people all around Bangalore. Flocked by people (very similar to a gol gappe wala in delhi), Shanthi Sagar's run on an 3 tier model (1. Have food Standing 2. Have food sitting but no AC 3. Have food sitting with AC) .. these options are available all in the same establishment.. to take your choice ....
Masala Dosa MRP. option 1 - Rs. 17
Masala Dosa MRP. option 2 - Rs. 29
Masala Dosa MRP. option 3 - Rs. 45
Cost may vary (+/- 5%) depending on location
Junta from every strata of society can be seen at Shathi sagar's. Apparently in comparison to my friends who basically hail from southern part of India... I am the one who is more crazy about Masala Dosa/Idli, and obviously you guessed it right, my south indian friends are more crazy about naan and shahi paneer. So this is my tribute to the great Shanthi Sagar's of Bangalore and to the people who work tirelessly to provide good quality food.

The Pen Challenge

2008-09-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

Take this one. Pick up a pen and start writting random stuff. Before you think this is a extempore exercise.. hang on.. because it is not... this is to check..."whether you still remember how to use a pen/pencil"..

Honest confesson starts here - I am losing it. every time I pick up the pen and try to write.. I get this.."Ooh my god" feeling....Apparently I havent been using pen a lot... most of the typing is through this key borad things.... which required only punching figures against the correct key....

A concious effort has thus been initiated to get back the skill that got me here....

Let me know your results.... and it better be.. "Pen is difficult to use".. as that will make me feel good...

Tataaaaa... (Hates.... Mamata)

Getting into the groove

2008-09-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

I eagerly look forward to penning down a few words here. So what is going to be the topic today -

Today's topic is : I finally started trading... literally...

--> Thanks to Niel.... I got introduced to www.khelostocks.com.

I always wanted to trade ... but refrained from doing so.. (for various reasons)...too busy... conservative approach.... no interest...etc...etc....Now that I was in need to know the basic fundamentals of trading... khelostocks.com presented an amazingly cool risk free environment to me. Rs. 10 Lacs in ready cash each time you create an account.... trade just the way you would have done in real time (say on icicidirect.com) with live market fluctuations, a good BOK for a starter like me. I finally bought an infosys share. I always wanted to do that. I finally know what short selling is (I also know it is not allowed in India Markets and was recently banned in US). I also know what limit and market trade is. Niel also explained to me what Options are al about. Actually, both of us discussed it in detail.... and looks like i am ready for options. i also know what swing trade is etc.etc.

Some statistics -

Last Friday - I started with 10 lacs on khelostocks (Rank - 1463)

Today - 10.5 lacs. (Rank - 413).

Now, isnt that decent enough. 5% profit in 7 days. Looks like I can do this well. All this profit was made using swing trade on Infosys shares. Last week, the markets were volatile and Infosys share prices were jumping up and down every minutes. I bought and sold 500 infy shares atleast 5 times at 20 rupee profit.

All in all, Khelostocks.com rocks for me. Thanks to Niel again.

Good for today. I hope against hope, to pen down thoughts every day.

Tata for today.............

Tata lose...

2008-09-24T11:37:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I had a long heated discussion with my roomie. (Shiva)...
Point of contention -
"I say" - Tata did not put its full administrative and management strength to win Singur
"Shiva says" - Tata must have done everything they could. TAS (Tata administrative services)
is made up of the best minds and they would have deployed all skills they could.
"I say" - Agreed, Tata must have put in their best effort. However, if that is the case, then Mamata baneerji was actually able to defeat Tata in this battle.
"Shiva Says" - Correct... Tata lost this one.. so their best effort was not good enough

I am unable to imagine, why couldnt Tata pull off this one. How come Tata never knew that owner of nearly 1/3 rd of land it acquired (300 of 900 acres) never wanted to do away with it.
If it knew that was the case, did it go any talk to these guys.
--> If it did not talk, Tata must have assumed that Govt. of Bengal is doing a Red carpet and would handle this. Also, in the process, Tata left people who own these 300 acres in open, for Mamata banerji to "Bake her political bread".
--> If it did talk, then again tata must have failed to convience these people about the compensation package, which again means it FAILED.

Bottom line, Mamata banerji won. In process, 4 other parties (Tata, govt of bengal, Farmers in singur and people of bengal) lost. What a Shame.

Shiva and my discussion went on for 1 hour. I just can't put all that here (Too lazy to do that). But i guess, i have made my point.

2008-09-22T12:03:00.001-07:00

Inspired

2008-09-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

Welcome... to begin with.. I must confess, I got inspired to have my own blog. Getting inspired and then acting on it, potentially puts me on par with most of our hindi film industry music directors. How I feel for them now. On second thoughts, they are not doing that bad a job with all that inspiration thing.

Why I blog ... Some one once told me that I am a good listener .... and I kind of agreed .... having said that.... that day I decided its high time I start speaking out .... because if i don't, people miss on my opinion.... not that it matters.. but still....

So guys.... whenever you see an update on this page .... do visit....