my brain drain

Subprime Nemesis

2007-11-11T00:58:00.000-08:00

This quarter earnings have been very unkind to the global financial giants. The global corporate world witnessed billions of dollars write off, staggering losses in quarter earnings report, ouster of CEOs and top honchos.
When we had thought, the worst was over the ugly head of Subprime has again raised. The same rating agencies which few months back rated Subprime bond with highest grade has cut down its rating. Its biggest impact was felt by Investment banks which had high exposure to Subprime backed CDOs . The Investment Banks unable to find buyers for its CDOs have started writing it off from the books. The first jolt came in August when BNP Paribas wrote off $ 2 billion, which gave jitters to the global financial market.

But recently(18th Oct) the huge write off by Merril Lynch of $ 7.9 billion has left the financial market stunned. Adding to wound was the report that Merril Lynch still has a huge exposure in Subprime market and it is cleaning its balance sheet by transferring its Subprime investments to a hedge fund. Though the securities giant has vehemently denied the acquisition but still the damages were gigantic. The chopper fall on CEO Stan O’nell and board voted him out. The crisis triggered a alarm bell to Fed also which cut Fed rate by 0.25% to wade off the looming crisis. The rational of Fed’s rate cut has been questioned by many analysts who felt that with booming asset prices it will further fuel the inflation.

The report cards of all the financial giants across the globe has come as a dampener. The total reported losses till now due to sub prime has reached a gigantean aggregate of $ 55 billion. When every time we thought that the mess of Subprime was over more write offs resurfaced. No one for sure knows how big and how much more of sub prime is left in the books of the financial giant.

The current crisis has also questioned about the rationality of the investment banker. From the annuls of the history all the major crisis has been exacerbated by the investment bankers. The investment banking business got a major setback during 1998 financial crisis by the collapse of Long Term Capital Management. The dot com bust in 2001 again brought huge losses to the investment banks. Post dotcom in soft interest regime investment banks raised like phoenix and made huge profits. It lead to huge build up across many asset classes but soon bolt in the blue came from Subprime defaults. Till now investment banks were making hay but the sun has set now. The banks are playing safe by focusing on asset management and wealth management and avoiding risky assets. But investment bankers have always reverted back from the lows and have created new booms. It will be a eager wait to see what will be the next bubble that investment bankers spawn.

Global Financial Imbroglio

2007-11-03T01:35:00.000-07:00

The popular belief is, what goes up must come down. If that is to be believed then where is our global economy heading. After a few years of great run up, in the valuation across all the asset classes, the decelerating forces have raised its heads. Since, the start of this year ,pundits’ prediction of a slow down in US economy has started sounding logical. They have always doubted where the US economy is heading with such a huge increase in budget deficit. The excessive consumerism backed by heavy borrowings by US citizen had its nemesis in the form of “Sub prime mortgage crisis”.
Technology, liberalization, globalization, lead to easy global fund flow and gave rise to “Carry Trade”. In February 2007, when Bank of Japan raised its interest rate from 0 to 0.5%, the jitters were felt across the global financial market. . The precedence of “South East Asian crisis” came back fresh into the mind of people.
The history of last decade in financial market has been cyclic in nature. The booming economy of South East Asian tigers got punctured by Asian financial crisis. The two major factors causing the crisis were the US economy’s recovery from recession and the raise in the Fed rate. Next came in the Information Technology boom followed by a gold rush in dotcom. Cashing on the euphoria dotcom companies started entering primary market. Investors forgetting the basic principles of investing, of investing in companies with sound business models, soon faced the hard reality. The bubble begin to burst and final nail in the coffin came as a form of 9/11. What followed was a period of recession.
The period of 2002 to 2005 under the guidance of Alan Greenspan saw cuts in the interest rate from 6% to 2%. The pumping of money by Fed into the economy lead to a rally in stock prices followed by other assets. Most importantly, it led to a boom in housing. Ultimately the boom busted in the form of Sub prime crisis. Subprime mortgage originations grew from $173 billion in 2001 to a record level of $665 billion in 2005, which represented an increase of nearly 300%. The repercussions led to consumer spending going down, the credit crunch, the slump in housing market and jitters in stock market. The economy is so threatened that the Federal Reserve set aside its worries about inflation and on September 18 cut short-term interest rates by half a percentage point for the first time in four years, hoping a shot of stimulus would head off a recession. Commodities had the biggest monthly gain in 32 years, led by wheat, crude oil and gold, as the dollar's slump enhanced the appeal of energy, grains and precious metals as a hedge against inflation.
Are we heading towards softening of interest rates? That the coming time only will tell. But, whatever be it, Fed must be cautious in reigniting inflation and spawning new bubbles. Japanese economy is showing signs of recovery. If that sustains then we will see hardening of interest rate by Bank of Japan which will lead to unwinding of carry trade and lot of global trembling.
India also had its dream run up in the global boom. The commodities, real estate and stocks have sky rocketed. Though the rally is suppose to be backed by fundamentals of India growing at fastest, but are we enough shock proof ? After a dream run up Japanese economy cooled down, so did South East Asian countries. Now, the onus is here on Govt. and RBI to keenly follow the development and formulate maximum risk management strategy.

Finance Continuum @ SJMSOM

2007-08-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

The much awaited day of finance continuum came, and left with great imprint in our mind. The grandiose and magniloquence of the event, outreached our expectations by manifold.
The event started with our esteemed keynote speaker, Shailesh J Mehta, taking on the dais. His eloquence on “Financing the India Growth” left us spellbound. He started off with sharing how India is in vogue in west, be it bollywood, restaurant, weeding or fashion. He further added that without a India connection or Indian entrepreneur on board in a startup, it is difficult of convince a VC in silicon valley about funding. He classified the strengths which will be our growth drivers in days to come. The young working population, successful diasporas, great English linguistic skills, change in mindset from conservatism to consumption. But, showing the rosy side he did cautious us of many impediments that lies on the road. He pointed out the chocking infrastructure in our cities, red tape hassles and hostile geo-political situation. He made us think by saying, believe in principle based economy not rule based economy. Those days of Govt Control and authority are gone. He instigated spark in us by saying lot of potential is there to be untapped and we future generation have to make best out of it.
This speech was followed by panel discussion .The discussion opened with the concern on crisis created Sub Prime Mortgage Rate. The crisis was created by unprecedented liquidity leading to investments in risky assets. But Mr Saurabh(VP, HSBC) comforted us by saying every crisis gives buying opportunity. Then the discussion shifted to underdeveloped debt market. Mr Jayanto added, lack of liquidity in debt market hampers implementation of marked to market in debt and thereby effecting the price discovery mechanism. They strongly voiced for the need of better credit and bond market in India. Need of debt currently are infrastructure, products and participants. Mr Vikash(MD, Carlyl) pointed out the pain areas of bond market are pension and public investments not allowed, need for proper demarcation of roles and responsibilities between RBI & SEBI, trading is not user friendly and lack of uniformity in inter-state stamp duty. They felt we need to come out of vanilla offering in bond market and initiate new and innovative products. Mr Vikash added FII investments in bond market without caps will be welcome thing. The discussion then shifted from debt market to equity market. Mr Gaurav(MD, Rothschild) added how post Maruti IPO, billion $ new offerings have become natural. This talked about the increasing investor confidence. They then touched upon the biggest investment thirsty sector, infrastructure. They felt PP, BOT, BOOT models have to be created. They also felt further inflows for investment can come from FII by implementing capital account convertibility. Last part of the discussion focused on financing SME. They felt it can be best implemented by developing affective and efficient bond market.
The post lunch session was started by Mr. Anup Kapadia(VP, Rothschild). He gave us an exhaustive analysis of statistical analysis of India growth story. Since opening up of economy he divided India’s economic journey into six phases-Liberalization(91-96), Asian Crisis(97-99), Y2K(99-01), WTO(01-03), India Shining(04-06), Global India(06-07). He applauded the chutzpah by Tata Steel on acquiring Corus. He then explained the case study of Bharati and its corporate financing strategy over the years.
The much eagerly and anxiously awaited evening fall soon. The expectation and euphoria could be guessed by the huge build up in audience. Why should it not be, as it was the time for ace investor Mr. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala(Bull) to take on the dais. He started by sharing his philosophy- “To win all wars despite losing many a battle”. He stressed on the importance of reading, experiencing and learning. He attributed a part of his success to his value pick of PSU jackpots back in 2000. He advised for resisting temptations instead buy right, hold tight and exit in frenzy. The days ahead he plans to devout for philanthropic cause. Rare Enterprise director, Mr. Manish, described him as independent thinker who is passionate about equities. To him means remain more important than the end. His golden quote “Be greedy, but long term greedy-understand the importance of time”. Giving the future guidelines, he believed despite the minor jitters of global crisis, he strongly felt within a span of 5 years Sensex will scale 25000. The time with him flew in flicker and soon it was time to bid him bye and close this years continuum.

Best of Luck!!!!

2007-08-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

Black Thumb!!!! This is how my thumb looks.
It happened on our photo shoot for placement brochure. The day was grandiose with all of us daintily dressed in our extravagant business suite. With sweltering heat and the very concept of posing before the camera, I was getting jitters. Since my childhood I had faltered very badly in any modeling pose I had tried for my pictures. Either the closed eyes or the open mouth, something or the other had always played the spoil sport in my search for a photogenic picture. Here also after a lot of retakes and to the exasperation of the photographer, something average was managed. Relieved to be back in natural world of expression, I was amazed to see the effort of a girl standing in the photo shoot queue. Immaculately styled hair, shimmering carmine gloss, crisply tailored suite and complementing it was perfect pair of stilettos. Looking at her effort that had gone for this shoot I could not resist myself but to wish her “Best of Luck” , with thumb pointing up. Next what happened was unbelievable to my eyes. As she turned back with a smile to react to my compliment, the tragedy struck. She stepped right into a banana peel lying on the floor and making and making a somersault landed 180 degree flat on the ground. For a moment, I could not realize what had happened. While the other guys got busy lifting her I was so shocked that I stood standstill with thumb pointing up.

Life Pre and Post SJMSOM

2007-07-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

Pre life, jump from bed, slip into formals and fight it out with traffic on the road.(SP Road in Hydb, OMR in Chen, Hosur Road in Blore).
Post life, its morning 8 and I am already late for the class. Bike got demoted to bicycle. Roll on the bicycle through the pristine woods of the campus. Palpitating, I enter the class to find Prof. half way through his PPT.

Pre life, reaching my cubicle, I open my Outlook with anxiety and very much to my expectations new mails have arrived. New mails, from onsite &#%#$(censored abuses) for delivery made last night which has been diagnosed with major bugs.
Post life, fighting it out with fellow mates in Eco class ON “impact of free market economics in Africa’s economy”.

Pre life, its lunch time but still I am running debugger up and down in my code of few thousand lines. Till now, bug is challenging me with catch me if you can, I am clueless.
Post life, after enjoying a sumptuous lunch in canteen its time to go online and check inbox. Aila!!! Got a lecture now to attend on Stats. Rush to the seminar room and drowse in the glory of flexible chairs and A/C.

Pre life, sun is setting down but no relief. At last the nuisance in the code has been detected and its time for a fix. God knows when I get done with it.
Post life, time to hit the swimming pool. Sportsman inside me can not resist the temptation after seeing such a grandiose sports infrastructure.

Pre life, its dinner time and thanks god, I have somehow managed to fix that nuisance. Now, time to get back home. Back home its me and my idiot box and soon I am off to dreamland.
Post life, done away with dinner and now it is time prioritize, as time is a scarce commodity here. Work for a Bplan for a hour, draft mails for the sponsorship of finance feast, complete the assignment and open the books at last. If rumor is to be believed a surprise quiz awaits tomorrow. Oh!!!Its 3 AM and time to hit the sack. Morning class of 8o’clock is already knocking.

New Chapter of Life

2007-07-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

Like Diwali, CAT also became a annual festive of my life. Both made me wait till the year end and once there, they left without any trace, making me look forward to the next year. Following the trend, this year too proved no different. After a heart wrenching verbal section which gave me enough jitters to declare myself inapt for CAT and hang up boots forever.
But being a Software engineer back up plan is always solace in onsite. Wasting no time, I too got my H1B visa stamped and started getting ready to jet set. But, as life has its way, without any hope and with low morale I somehow pulled myself to the hall to write JMET. The biggest shock came to me when I realized that I did pretty well in the exam and I had some chance. But, by then stage got set for my trip to Chicago. That night, after lot of introspection, retrospection, soul searching , I decided to try for IIT and drop onsite.
Next day called for high drama with all my seniors bombarding me for my unprofessional approach and asked for my reason to back out. Being a big movie fan it didn’t take me much time to cook up the biggest story of my life which had all shades of love, violence, caste, anger and a perfect potboiler. I told my seniors, going onsite is not that important to me as losing my lady love. I don’t know how convincing I was, but my seniors gave me chance to stay back in offshore. But it did resulted me in straining my relation with my seniors. It ultimately made me look for a change of job and successfully I could manage a new job. But further confusion was added by HRD ministry when they halted the result and I was already running out of time to make a shift to new company. But as they say better late then never, at last result came out and it gave me immense relief to see my name on the list. Now, after enjoying 2 months vacation I will be joining SJMSOM on 18th July. Hope I do excel there.

Shivganga & DD Hills trip

2007-04-09T05:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend it was my turn to write my Motor Cycle Diaries, and following the Che Guevara inside me I teamed up with my school gang. The trip was to Shivganga (56 Kms from Blore) and DD Hills( 100 Kms from Blore) and here it goes……….
With bandana, sunglasses, sunscreens and resetting bike’s trip meter we started off from Bangalore city in the morning. But as it was the first day of the month in B’lore our plan got a setback when we had to stand in ICICI ATM queue for a hour, thx to IT & ITES brothers eagerly for this day of the month. After toiling with much cursed B’lore traffic, soon we hit NH4. It was a great biking experience with Bill using full throttle of Pulsar to Gairik using extreme maneuvering skills of Yamaha. After a smooth cruise we soon hit the Shivganga. But, the life threat came to me when I realized that bikes don’t go to the top of the hill and gal with us was adamant to visit the Shiva temple up there. I thought it would be a big sin on my part if I don’t help a gal visiting, Shiva temple(Shiva-Gal-Monday-Big Connection). While climbing the mountain I realized the contrast of walking miles in treadmill and walking in real. Reality is always tuff. But thx to the enthralling beauty of the hill, it did make me reach the top. From Shivganga we headed towards DD Hills. After a 2 hour ride and constant acclivity we reached the DD Hills peak. “Mind blowing” is one word that I can use to describe my feeling watching the sun go down. With DJ nature spinning its own track and twilight creating a trans effect, badly we missed our blended drink . Till we realized it was nine at night and we decided to get back. With heavy hearts and no mood to return we loaded ourselves to the bikes and started downhill journey. The ride downhill was amazing with moon in my eyes and wind in my hair…I felt like I was flying. And as they say.. every good things come to an end…so has been my tryst with DD Hills. Now back to the square, remembering the beautiful moments I am pening to capture the emotions.

For pics..check
http://www.flickr.com/gp/7343360@N06/J8YU38

We have arrived

2007-01-30T22:26:00.000-08:00

“We have arrived”, that was the feeling I had today morning flipping through the pink newspaper. Yesterday if Shilpa Shetty hogged the global limelight, today it was TATA-Chorus deal and S&P upgrading its rating on India. If TATA could go for all cash buyout of 11.3 billion $ Chorus, so is our apna Hutch, sought by Global Giants for 16 billion $. Never ever has our companies been so much confident and with billions of cash surpluses. If things progress this way then Goldman Sach’s report of India becoming superpower by 2050 will surely come true .
Hats Off India!!!!!

Devbagh/Goa Trip

2007-01-05T05:36:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a trip of Devbagh/ Goa. The gang this time included me, Parag, Saurabh, Dipu( Chipped in at the last moment coz of Alok’s sickness. Thx Dipu)

Story goes-
On Saturday night (24/12/06) we started for our destination Karwar. None of us had absolute idea of what is in store for us. Saurabh was speculating may be a rave party, I was thinking may be clouds, Parag was thinking may be wild trip. The trip started usual way with a big hiccup. Our rail reservation showed waiting. So somehow we managed to get hold of 4 tickets on a shanty bus n that too in the last bench. Nothing to deter us down as spirit was all too high. Complaining, sulking whole night in the bus we made to Karwar at dawn. Reaching their and watching early sunrise in Kali River took away all our exertion. I could not remember when last I saw a sunrise and wondered how sunrise can be so beautiful. Reporting to Outdoor lodges office we were told, a speed boat will take us to the island which was some 7 kms inside Arabian sea. 7 kms is what we did not expect as none of us has ever been to island and that too 7 kms. Lots of question started creeping into our mind… what if…blah blah. But subsiding our fears we stepped into the speed boat. As we had no other options, bookings had been already been made and we being backpack travelers, could not afford to loose that sum. Ride in the sea was breathtaking with dawn breaking out. Dolphins were jumping to get morning warmth. A scene that neither my words can explain nor our cams. When we reached the island the first thing I remembered was Cast Away and then someone from the other three said…wow!!!! Blue Lagoon(Boys r Boys!!!). Without wasting time we changed n got ready for water sports. Started with tube surfing and sea being rough each one of us ended up falling from tube into the mid sea. But thx god!!!! having life jacket made non swimmers like Saurabh also enjoy every bit of it. Then we did water skiing, kayaking and before we realized it was evening and we had to miss parasailing. Evening we played beach volleyball. Night it was party time. We had bon fire and BBQ and soon we realized it was 2 at night. We thought better we go to sleep now as a big tension loomed on us. As expected our return tickets from Londa Junction did not get confirmed. Only hope we had was to try reservation from Madgaon(Goa). We were suggested by Great Outdoor management staff that we leave for Goa early morning. That meant missing snorkeling but as Parag made a coast benefit analysis he realized his failing to report in office in Tuesday will lead KPIT Cummins’s share falling in stock market. So we thought better skip snorkeling and head towards Palolem(Goa). After all its Goa in Christmas. A visual delight for coinsures and gestation delight for epicurean. I don’t know which of the two we can be classified. Palolem was a great experience and soon it was end of the fairytale like trip. We were in Madgaon station and after making all the efforts using monetary, physical we could not manage tp get a reservation. Hehehehe…next was a befitting end to the trip.

For pics u guys can check in
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/556749244qmukPo

Trip Info
Karwar(550 Kms) from Blore.
Karwar to Great Outdoor Resort(Kurmagar Island)
Karwar to Palolem(Goa)
Madgaon to Blore

Movies

2006-11-30T23:38:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys!!!M back. Was a bit preoccupied in last couple of months. Now pretty free and yesterday made it to Dhoom2. After watching Hayabusa and Ninja chase in Dhoom1 my expectation was quite high. But to my surprise Dhoom2 turned out to be a sequel of Couching Tiger and Hidden Dragon. Laws of gravity defying stunts and a non sense plot made the whole movie viewing experience very tedious. Only USP of the movie- it created a craze for gyming. Never ever in Bollywood movies I have seen such a well toned bodies. Another big release last month was Casino Royale. I decided to skip that movie. As no way I can accept Bond falling in love and crying for his love. I have known Bond as a suave sophisticated womanizer(Pierce Brosnan). But coming days I am looking forward to Kabul Express. The movie is wroth a watch for the amount of courage these guys have shown by shooting in Afghan. Next, Guru also looks to be a good movie. The movie is suppose to be inspired by Dhirubhai Ambani’s life and unlike a typical Bollywood flick, this movie also covers the darker side of business. Both Raghav Sachar and Rehman did a wonderful work in the music department and my current Winamp playlist have those songs. Now waiting patiently to see both the movies.

Tagged

2006-08-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

I always had this motivation problem with me. Whatever I do, I end up getting uninterested about it and soon loose interest. May be a fickle mind but this time its Chandni who is keeping me motivated to write something. This time I got tagged by her. So here I go………

I am thinking about…
Presently I am sitting in Blore railway station and abusing myself once again for a mess. This time it happened that I did not check the train departure time and somehow took it for granted that train is at 8.But hell broke out when I dropped into the station to know that train is at 11. So now scraping n abusing.

I said…
"Didn't do anything wrong this time in Goa"….m honest….guys this time do trust me…but yes..have all the info…wll surely help u all

I want to…
Rest this complete weekend. Coming back from Goa to Chennai needs lot of mental and physical preparation. The body that got used to some finest delicacies of fish n goan cuisines coupled with good wine, night long party, best delights to the eyes..needs some time before it settles down with idli n vada.

I wish…
I was staying in Shillong and was enjoying the laidback life there. Life in last couple of years has changed so drastically. Now, I get up in the morning fight it out with traffic and reach office. By the time I leave it is time for dinner and after having dinner nothing else but sleep. The greenery, music, hangouts, food of Shillong are all lost. I wish I could revert back to that life.

I hear…
All types of music. From contemporary to country. But my personal favs are moribund songs. Somehow I could very well relate to those songs.

I wonder…
We humans are like virus. How being the least fertile species we have encroached the Earth and infesting it.

I regret…
Dnt regret anything. I always look forward.

I am…
Not a very good person. That is best and safe answer.

I dance…
copying steps of bollywood stars. My fav step are hands wide open like SRK, shaking booty like Govinda, hands in pelvis n shaking whole body like Abhishek. But since the advent of Hip Hop life has become easy for people like me. Dnt need to do much just shake.

I sing…
Dont sing much as I have been banned from singing all the heavy metal songs on the excuse of it being too explicit and corrupting the corporate ethics. But someday for someone I wll once sing “Abhi na jao chorke ki dil abhi bhara nahi,Abbhi abbhi to aye ho, Abbhi abbhi chal diye”

I cry…
Nowdays No. Last time cried was in class VIII when I prepared some cheats for cheating in English exam and after the exam forgot to throw the cheats. Next day maid discovered it in my pant pocket and thinking it to be something important gave it to mom. Mom like a typical Indian mom escalated the matter to Dad and like a typical Dad he did what he did best.

I am not always…
that innocent as I look. I have many deadly plans building up inside me.

I make with my hands…
boiled water. I have always been astonished with the immense power of boiled water. It has magical powers of being a savior. In boiled waters if u add eggs it turns out to b boiled egg, if u add with tea leaves it turns out almost as tea, if u add some rice dal n masala it turns out almost edible. To be honest I dnt know cooking. I only know boiling water and it has been savior for me.

I write…
never. Once tried writing an introductory speech for my boss using fountain pen. I realized I was writing after 2 years and with the fountain pen after 10 years. In the end I broke the nib of my boss’s pen and along with it bloated up my desk with ink. But thx god I am not that clumsy with keyboard.

I confuse…
Clients. They have this belief that anything in this world can be automated. Though I agree with them but automation wll come at the coast my sleep and weekends. So the more u can confuse the clients the more you can relegate your work. But to be honest art of creating confusion is also a talent and its not very easy.

I need…
Cellphone so that I can set an alarm, calculate stock market ups n downs, sms people wheneva I get drunk, play mobile games waiting in the queue, n wheneva in heights of boredom can message myself motivational sms.
Net so that I can scrap, blog so that I can read, sites where I can get visual delights, stock quotes and keep connected to some online communities.

Pewww…thanks god …I could complete the tag. Not that easy as I had thought. Now…chance to forward the tag. Here it goes
Kiran
Munmun
Punit
Janani
Anu

2006-08-04T01:44:00.000-07:00

Thx frnd, had it not been u, I had almost forgotten that I have a blog to maintain. Other day in a travelers blog, I was reading world’s highest railway has been started between Beijing and Lasha. Reading it, I could also feel the charm and the joy attached with that trip. Because for me, I have always enjoyed a train ride basking on the couch of the IInd A/C with lots of book and music for your ears and nobody to disturb. Being from India’s extreme corner, Shillong, I used to enjoy 50-60 hours train rides from other extreme corners of the country to the surprise of my fellow friends. But not that it has always been so black and white. Many comedy of errors also happened. Once it happened that instead of boarding Guwahati Rajdhani I boarded Mumbai Rajdhani. On entering the train I found someone else was occupying my sit. On confirming, to my horror, I realized that I am in Mumbai Rajdhani and by that time the train also started picking up pace. I realized that I had made the biggest error of my life as the next halt for the train was Jhansi(after 6 hours).As god had always been kind to me and due to some signal problems the train halted and I could get down. Another comedy of error happened when I boarded a train from Gwalior for Trivandrum at 12AM. This time after boarding the train I realized that my ticket was dated with yesterday’s date as after 12AM it is a new date. Whole journey I had to go sitting in front of wash basin and more to that I had to pay the fine also. Some of my favorite stretches of train journey are 1.crossing sea by Rameshwaram bridge 2. Konkan railway trip 3. Traveling by the side of Chilka in Orissa 4. Kalka Shimla Railway for its steepest climb and tunnels 5. Toy train from Shilliguri to Darjeeling where the train goes meandering between Tea Gardens. If one has to enjoy the integrity of India one should enjoy a ride by Indian Railways. So much cultural diversity is visible that observing it itself is very interesting. Though now with low coast airlines and constraints of job, I am unable to enjoy the laidback train journey. But given a chance that is what I would love to do.

Mea Culpa!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-07-04T02:34:00.000-07:00

I am sure for today’s match between Germany vs Italy, the dies are biased towards Germany. But, I am sure if I put my bet for Germany it is surely going to loose. So, is the case that has been happening from Quarter Finals. The streak of the bad luck which started from Argentina has continued with England and then for Brazil. It started with Argentina vs Germany match, I being a stench supporter of Argentina made a bet with my friend. I made my calculations thinking that the quality mid field Argentina has it might make it. Though my mind was also divided between 50-50 chance of wining for Argentina. To cross check my bet I checked all the old statistics of Argentina vs Germany and checked the betting rate also in Ladbrokes.com which placed Argentina marginally ahead. But to utter disgust the misfortune happened. Hurt more in ego than financially I thought I wll take my revenge and this time put the bet in favor of England. Seeing the match go to penalty shoot, I was more then sure that I am through with the bet. But, Alasssssss!!!!!! after Ayala of Argentina, Lampard and Gerrard of England, players of highest stature, also missed the penalty, unbelievable. Now was the turn for the last match of the day. Like any disinterested person who believe Brazil is(was, for me now) Numero Uno in football, I also had the belief and made yet another bet. But, aghast!!!!!!! this is not the Brazil I was expecting to see. Their whole attack and mid field looked to me unsynchronized. The way Zidane was dribbling he defied the ageing problem. The biggest shock came to me when Henry struck, I was kept wondering how a player of Henri’s caliber was left unmarked by the Brazil defense. What ever has happened has happened, I am not thinking. But, the male instinct in me refuses to die. Now for the last time I am betting again for tomorrow’s France vs Portugal. This time in favor of France. So, plz people for my salvation pray for France to win. But, if its other way then I hope judging by the past record France don’t put me behind the bars for culpable sabotage.I won’t have anything to say, but Mea Culpa

Mittal-Arcelor

2006-07-03T00:40:00.000-07:00

The recent Mittal Arcelor issue has every shade to become next Yash Chopra pot boiler in Bollywood. From start I was following the deal closely, as something inside me was telling me that an Indian has come of age. This time his audacity ceased no bounds. The man, Lakshmi Mittal, showed the temerity to make an attempt for hostile take over for its near rival company, Arcelor. This news itself was shocking and came as bolt from the blue for both Arcelors and common people. Mittal till now was known for takeovers, but only for sick steel companies which he used to turn around. The takeover made Mittal face with immediate repercussions from Arcelor clan. Mittal was sullied, where everything from his quality of products, corporate governance, racial identity was questioned. The man of steel, Mittal , stick to his guns. Mittal made all efforts to see the deal through but the adamancy of Arcelor board was not giving any room for compromise. But the biggest mistake Arcelor then committed was calling in a white knight, Silverstal. (White Knight is a company which is called by a company which is under takeover threat to save it from the take over).But, the man with lots of grey hairs and grey matters in Steel business realized the biggest mistake done by Arcelor board. As the decision was taken unanimously by Arcelor board members without considering other share holders, the major percentage of share holders started sulking. Adding more to it, Silverstal, Russian company was never looked at in the good eyes by Europeans. As Russia has always been known for poor corporate governance and formation of Cartels which hijacks the smooth business. Finding the niche Mittal started taking all the Shareholders in his side and when he had 30% Shareholder backing him he revised the bid to make it look more attractive. Now with major shareholders backing Mittal, Guy Dolle and clan(Arcelor Board) had no other option left but to succumb to Mittal. To make the deal look perfect it was then called the merger of two titans of steel industry. But, to me it was again a takeover by Mittal where he successful pushed out the incumbent management Guy Dolle and clan and took control of world number 2 steel maker. The Mittal with this takeover also gains better credibility in European market and by diluting his stake in the new holding to 45% from 80% in previous company, he answered the critics who have always considered him to run a family business and lack the transperacy in corporate governance. He further gained access to the value added products of Arcelor as his business involved low ended steel. Though it has been a master stroke by Mittal, it has come at the coast of high valuation for Arcelor. But, now the biggest stumble for him ahead is the successful integration of Mittal and Arcelor. Though, my belief is with the mettle and judiciousness of Mittal, it is just wait to time before we see an Indian being equated with Andrew Carnegie, the Steel Baron .

Technology Mess!!!!

2006-06-22T03:44:00.000-07:00

I am big proponent of IT revolution that is transforming our lives. But , once the going gets tuff, life gets into mess. The same happened with my Blogspot. Somehow was struggling to make the comment button work for last 7 days and when I thought the only option left was deleting the account and start a fresh I got the way out. The problem was simple. While making my last posts I had my enable comment option disabled. Then I enabled the option but still could not see the comment button visible. Today, while making my last try I realized that comment can’t be enabled in the Old Posts but it is getting visible for new posts.
At times, the IT mess is so irritating that it can get into ur nerves. When I retrospect my memory is full with many such mess. One happened while I was trying to find out one widely circulated clip. I typed the keywords in Google, only to end up seeing that word pop up every time I gave D in Google text searchbox. Another mess happened when I was sending some AutoMail to a group with my AutoReply enabled. It happened that someone had his Out of Office enabled. So, what happened was my mail ended up getting into a chain of infinite loop. The issue then had to be sorted out with the help of mail admin team. Another such mess happened while trying to Install a s/w I made my hard disk crash. The life with comp is really fun till the time it works fine...but the moment it starts going wrong..."God Help Me"

Rise of India

2006-06-19T04:50:00.000-07:00

Shuttling Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkatta, Chennai in last few months I saw a drastic change that has started sweeping India. The so called leftist calls it Great Urban Dream. But I have many reason to prove Left’s argument as a fallacy. Wherever there is good political governance followed by good political stability, the state is growing leaps and bounds. Be it Karnataka, Kerala, WB, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujrat . Way the dollar is entering country either from export or remittance, it has created huge job opportunity. The country which few days back complained about lack of job opportunity has now job surplus. All average educated person can easily expect a decent job .The days of power shortage, pot holes, red tapism, unemployment is giving away to heavy consumerism, luxury life style, e governance. The way these cities that I have seen are unbundling itself speaks of the confidence. Though still the cow belt region(MP,UP, Bihar) and North east are lagging in the gold rush that is taking place in some states. But, that is for different reason. North has its problem castism, feudal mentality , parochial political leaders, lack of primary education and North East has got its problem of insurgency and negligence of Center . But, I strongly believe that growth has a trickle down affect and once it starts taking place in certain regions of the country its affect will have positive impacts in underdeveloped areas also. If the politicians of the country dnt hijack the idea of dream India with their insular policies then the Goldman Sachs report of India being super power by 2050 might come true. Though a long way to go n loads off hurdles in road, but seeing first sign of developments in these cities I am thrilled.

Thank God!!!!!!!!!

2006-06-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

Thank God!!! I am born in the last decade of 20th century and now have sailed into to 21st century. This thought struck me other day while watching the movie Gladiator . How ruthless life can be, how barbaric we human are, how manipulative we human are.
The evolution of mankind for last 5000 years has been filled with an act of struggle, struggle for existence itself. The struggle with nature, then with other animate beings and then within its own kind. Once the humans could subvert the ecological balance in its favor , then there was no stopping back. The so called human civilization started to take shape. The design for which was done by few Oligarch. The design in itself was flawed which was based on the closed ideas of few who had their personal designs. All the roots of innovation and idiosyncratic ideas were crushed . Result was in the first half it took mankind a 3000 or more years to make a leap. The second half ushered in after the Industrial revolution. The right to question, knowledge sharing brought with it the rapid advancement in technology, medicine, navigation . Advancement was so fast that what was clocked in 3000+ years was being breached in 150 years. Opportunist by nature , mankind realized the luxury of materialism. They realized this life is better then the previous closed life of barbarism. Hence came the rise of MNCs, Universities, Free thinking, Innovations. Now, I find myself privileged enough to be born in this era. Basking myself in the Couch with A/C blowing and reading a book with iPod in my ears I in my weirdest nightmare also can’t imagine myself living in that closed era of 300 years. Those eras are better to be enjoyed in Gladiator, King Arthur genre movies in a multiplex than to be a part of it.

Biggest irony of my life

2006-05-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

After getting lots of bickering for making my blogs too complex and subtle, I thought of writing about the biggest irony of my life. This time I promise there is no hidden meaning and it comprehends same as it reads . The story goes into flash back, my 1st year of Engg College. After being inspired by mushy SRK movies I joined College with high dreams. But life in Engg Coll is unlike kuch kuch hota hain , but steal somehow I managed to fall head over heels for a girl. To save her from blasphemy(she might think) as she is a mother three kids now and with a stone in my heart I will still call her the girl and I can afford to also, coz story is going in flashback. The gal someday while exploring web if u manage to read this blog then plz do comment. Getting back to the story I started falling and falling in a bottomless pit of love and started competing with others who were also in race. Soon the competition started getting tougher for me.A guy from her hometown started to still the show. More over I was not getting the much needed emotional thread with which I would be able connect her. In this competition whole first semester got over and before I could realize it was exam time . Now, with exams day after tomorrow I realized that I am yet to learn Engineering Drawing. I dreaded this subject like anything and the biggest problem was whenever I sat for drawing Isometric Projections which needed lot of imaginations I ended up dreaming about Taj Mahal. When you are head over heels you do see Taj Mahal only .But to my savior the unexpected happened and somehow my hostel mates managed to get hold of leaked Engg Drawing paper. Now, came my chance to get a thread for my love story and flunking the towering walls at late night I managed to get the gal the question paper. As was it, the question paper also came replica of the leaked paper. Now for some students like me the system of acquiring question paper and writing exam proved to be of great help. Now in next exam “Engg Maths” following the same trend the paper was acquired. Believing that this would be a chance for me to get 80/80 in maths I mugged the answers of statistics to two decimal places. Now with the confidence of 80/80 in Engg Drawing behind and soon to be 80/80 in Maths, next day when I opened the paper to get jitters. Paper was not the leaked paper and not a single question matched. I realized no power in this earth could save me from flunking in the Maths and in my free time I started practicing maths. Soon it was the result time and as I guessed I flunked. One of the biggest shock of my life coz flunking happened to me for the first time. So to express my shock for two days I didn’t attend college and started practicing Maths rigorously. After two days to prove I am shattered, I went to college unkempt and hairy. To add some emollient to my pain the gal came and expressed her surprise that how could I have flunked. I thought may be she has started taking interests over me and expressed her confidence on me. But she continued saying when paper was as expected how could you be the only one flunking in Engg Drawing. I flunked in Engg Drawing and not Engg Maths....was it a conspiracy by nature against me...

Mechanization to Digitization

2006-05-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

Due to professional constraints it has been some time since I wrote my last blog. So writing my blog after days work, which has taken its toll I find my mind cluttered with the idea of digitization. I started wondering how the scenario has changed in last 30 years. After the industrial revolution the whole world started moving towards mechanization. Now, the work which needed human effort could be mechanized by breaking the work into assembly line production. This had a huge cultural significance in human life, which also along with assembly line machine started getting disciplined in life. The concept of working hours got introduced. As history has witnessed humans never stopped in excellence and once mechanization reached its saturation, humans came out with digitization to increase the productivity. The consequence of digitization has been immense where it changed the geographical barriers. Disciplined working hours of mechanization gave away to flexi working hours of digitization. Any mechanized work that could be broken into binary digits could be digitized to increase its efficiency, throughput, quality .Now all the manufacturing plants have digitized machines which could easily be monitored by a centralized system sitting far away place and hence heralded the new era of digitization.

USP of Chennai

2006-05-16T02:25:00.000-07:00

1.Being a power surplus state, it enjoys the cheap n uninterrupted power. This comes as a savior for lesser known mortals like us, who also can think of and then afford the luxury of two a/cs at home. This is a huge advantage coz there is hardly any way u can feel the heat and life is always in an optimal temperature.

2.The city boasts of cheapest hangouts ie beaches. Unlike big cities shelling out big bucks to have a feel good, one can just drop into a beach and let oneself get carried away into the beautiful arms of nature. For more adventurous people there are some pristine beaches in ECR where u can drop down at night with ur own beer n have a greater feel good.

3.The city being a beach city boasts of some of the very good resorts. For all those who like to experiment with their taste buds there is lot many to choose from. City boasts of some of the very good restaurants which are specialized in sea food n caters to diverse culinary styles of continental , Mediterranean n localized delicacies.

4.The best part which I like is unlike many other cities u can start for office at 9:30 and reach office by 9:45 covering a stretch of 10 km. This gives you enough life to enjoy out of office which one may have ended spending sleeping in company coaches.

5.Fast changing Chennai. In last few months I have realized how fast a city can change had I not seen it with my eyes. Towers are cropping up followed by huge influx of urbanization. The reality prices are soaring leaps and bounds. New malls and restaurants are opening fast, though not many pubs till now. With the gold rush that has gripped Chennai I doubt if I return to this city after 5 years would I be able to recognize.

Palpable Change

2006-05-11T01:43:00.000-07:00

Weekend is once again approaching , n something inside me has already started feeling good. Don’t know where from this feeling comes in coz apart from being jobless wondering n shelling out hefty bugs there is not much of a difference between weekdays n weekend. Only USP of weekend is u don’t need to show ur face to ur boss n make the onsite hear ur voice. When I was a school going kid weekends meant watching TV in the evening n visiting social circle of cousins n frnds. TV then used to be a big thing as on weekdays with school n homework there was hardly any time left n unlike these days, then with few satellite channels beaming, best serials were reserved for the weekend. Soon school days got done away with n came the college life. The social n innocent weekend of home gave away to noisy n weird weekend of hostel .New life started with loss of innocence and soon , weekend meant sleeping, sleeping and more sleeping. Lifestyle in weekend became haywired coz by the time u get up its lunch time. Evening was meant for carousal of frnds with guitar n beer and by night its time to get bacchanalian.Next unfolded the most melodramatic scenes of hostel life staring cockeyed guys. Some wiped it out for love clash, some for ego, some for future plans but all in all weekend in hostel had all the masala of a SRK movie. Then came the next phase of the weekend which I would call single earner single feeder weekend(SESF).The simple and frugal weekend of coll gave away to sophisticated n extravagant weekend of SESF(single earner single feeder) . Weekend meant watching movies in multiplex, having a good dine out, binging in the pub, watching DVDs n shopping. When I look down the memory lane change that is strikingly palpable to me is way I spent my weekend. They say only thing that’s constant in life is change and I am sure there will be many more changes to come in the
coming “WEEKENDS”.

The Shawshank Redemption

2006-05-06T03:34:00.000-07:00

After recommendation of a friend I thought of watching ‘Shawshank Redemption’ and the movie had so much to inspire that I am writing a blog . Though m unlike many not a big movie buff, but trying to pen down my thoughts. The movie starts with a scene of Andy’s(protagonist of the movie, played by Tim Robins) wife in a compromising position with her paramour. That is the only scene in complete movie where an female character appears, rest they are only visible in posters(Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, Raquel) in the prison wall to indicate change of decade and to hold a concealed secret till the end of the movie. The movie’s theme is based on Stephan King’s(famous horror writer) novel where Andy gets falsely convicted for his wife’s murder. He ends up with two life term sentence and from here it starts Andy’s struggle in “not fairy tale world”, Shawshank .The movie ultimately ends with trump of human character with Andy setting himself free and standing in front of the vast free Pacific Ocean. The idiosyncrasy of Andy from the start was palpable when after getting heavy thrashings he refuses to succumb to the sodomy of his fellow prisoners .He proves his brilliance to jailors and gets his fellow prisoners a beer treat. He breaks the code of conduct in prison many a times and brings relief to his fellow prisoners .The last half n hour movie takes an unprecedented turn where Andy proves its hope and conviction that wins u in life. Unlike his fellow prison mate who ends up committing suicide after getting parole from jail, Andy starts a new life after making his great escape. The film is made memorable by Red(Morgan Freeman) with his voice over narration. I end my blog with the dialogue of Andy to Red “Hope is a good thing and no good thing ever dies”.

rise of hipster

2006-05-04T01:52:00.000-07:00

Other day I went for shopping of formal attires and being a liberalist by nature this time I ended up buying a formal hipster. Sounded so weired initially to me as “hipster” that also formal. Thanks to this new age of marketing and effervescent sales person who is bridging the difference between formal and informal . I was wondering how a hipster culture promoted by the beat generation singing hip hop found its way to office. The low rising hipster hanging low on waist which once became so controversial that US senate tried to ban it claiming it to be obscene and conservative had always bickering over it. People say it was rise of hippie culture followed by grunge look of nirvana and now it’s a hip hop style’s low waist. It all has to be fad. Their rise and fall is inevitable. But, what has made me wonder is its getting accepted as mainstream fashion. Now, like many other of my generation colleagues I also have started wearing it in a formal attire. I can never think of floral prints of hippie style , ragged jeans of grunge, and big collared shirts of retro being getting introduced into mainstream fashion or in business culture .So whether it’s a genuine or fad style time will prove, but for present m getting freaked by the style hipsters are creating. Its comfortable trendy n makes a great look with a perfect mid ruff though midriff part is needs lots to be worked on with a sedentary nature of job.

Fuss of language

2006-05-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

Today after reading a comment from kiran I thought m goin to nuts writing…I was never that type..m alwayz that happy go lucky..guy writing n speaking a fuzzy English that coz to makeup for the amount of mess I make in my english grammars .To b honest in my class test I plucked once in English though later in my Boards to the surprise of many and even myself I was lucky enough to make a blinder. Though me being from CBSE was always looked down upon by the ICSE bunch who thought reading Dickens n Shakespeare gave them a better edge in the language. Itz not that I tried my hands in English classics but to b honest never could relate to it. Once my cousin sister gave me Love Story(Erich Segal one) to read n to prove her apprehensions wrong I stuck to my determination n did finish that book. As I thought without reading that book I would never b able to discuss the nuances of the book n prove her apprehensions wrong(unlike now u have Wikipedia that time healthy discussion meant going throught it completely).But, what struck me was why a age old concept repeated n clichéd apt many times, the theme of love story was something u cnt put scarilage and to save myself from my cousin community giving oblique looks I had to endorse the book. English has always been a funny language being so cosmopolitan from itz start and presently is the reason for my bread and butter. What I dnt understand is the pseudo conservative approach to the language who argue that the sanctity of the language is being diluted by new sms culture when fuzzy is becoming the trend. My view is the language which itself is being derived by the fuzziness of so many other language and is adaptable enough that it became a global language, there is no reason why we should unnecessary think of pro conservatism. Let it evolve as it evolves n may b soon we will surprised to see the language as will be Shakespeare if he see it today.

2006-04-29T03:32:00.000-07:00

For so long, was not able to write..so today thought of pening
Actually I thought abt some ironies while other day I was passing
in front of a wine store. It struck me that why a wine store is called
Wine store when they never sell wine n then as usual lodsa ironies came
into my mind.. which I though of sharing.
1.Why does our Sensex slides 200 points when itz announced by Metrological
Dept that rain this year will be short. My take is with dams n canal irrigation.Are
the farmers really dependent of monsoon and more to that our agriculture has
always shown negative growth. What is the big deal about?
2.Why do left have to oppose FDI in center for retail and real estate ?The same left
in West Bengal is scouting for FDI be it Salem Group or any other. Is the left
ideology only for namesake?
3.Why developed countries are so against globalization ? Be it opening up their
Service sector, farm subsidy or Mittal Arcelor issue ? Dont they realize present
Economy calls for borderless world and ultimately it contributes to their bottomline
Only.
4.Why do politics in India is practiced as it was practices 50 years ago based on

caste, creed, populism .Dont politicians realize to grow at 10% GDP they

have to talk about economics, development, growth instead of reservation.

Roller Coaster ride of Sensex

2006-04-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

The wild gyrations of Sensex can give Maumit Khan(my fav) or any item gal dancer a run .When everybody thought Sensex is going hot with the release of Basic Instinct 2,it made everybody go down in knees in last 2 days.We humans have this uncanny neck of thinking that Sensex is where we can mint money , but to b honest with idea of making money in short time u may b better of investing in lottery then stocks.The lottery makes u loose 10 bugs but Sensex for unthoughfull investment in short time can make you go pauper. The age old theory says everything that goes up must also come down n somebody rightly said we notice the stocks when its time for it to come down. Some, common mistake we do is we all follow news n when we hear a good news we think its time to buy. But,why dnt we realize that when its time for us to buy the script is already in its high becoz of the FIIs n Mutual Funds n its time for them to dump .So, is the case that moment we buy the script it comes down n we start fretting over our luck .when do we realize its not luck , had we really made a sound investment ie a stock with good fundamentals and good news helping the bottom line of the company in long run,there is no need for us to panic .The company will always pick up in long run, itz a test of patience . Satyam made a nosedive of 80 rs in last couple of days.But my conviction is that 1 month target its surely going to break its 52 week high of 900.You cnt dump a stock which is growing QoQ at 35%.To b honest I myself is deeply invested in Satyam but fundamentals are strong which beckons the stock .The stock is trading at p/e of 22 compared to its peer Infi at 35.But,breadth of the market will be decided tomorrow with Infi coming out with its number and to go by roomers its going to be better the expectations with some bonus issue coming up for shareholders .I am keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow n hope market comes out of its hot gyrations n bull again takes up like the batting of Dhoni

World is Flat

2006-04-12T00:17:00.000-07:00

Just today finished reading the book n must say....was an eye opener.itz a must read for all to let them know how the global business is changing and what are its repercussions in our life. Itz abt how the world is going flat coz of some incidence which took shape in past. The book talkes abt falling of Berlin wall, Netscape going public,Opensourcing,Offshoring,Outsourcing and Insourcing as the major reason of flatteners. The Friedman has completely instantiated the book with illustrations which makes the reading more interesting. He talkes about how true British company like Rolls Royce now is owned German automaker BMW which has its major work outsourced to worlds manufacturing hub China. He talkes abt how the division of labour is changing in present context with high end design being done in Taiwan, engineering being done in Russia, manufacturing being done in China n post production customer support is being done in India. He takes highly about India Software firms n how they are digitizin almost all the process by breaking it into Onsite Offshoring model. He supports the job loss coz of globalization by saying that in the end it creates value for the customer by right pricing and by boasting the companies revenue and makes it concentrate on its core competence. Friedman talks how a land of elephants n snake charmers have taken up the onus to automate the world. Though his major concerns are geopolitical tensions which arises coz of 9/11 or middle east crisis, but he concludes that immense prosperity the world is seeing for last decade is coz of globalization n its here to stay.So,better u align urself before u get out of the herd

Land of no return!!!!!!!

2006-04-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

When I was in Hyderabad lesser known mortals made me realize that Chennai was a place where all the hardcores are being exiled for incarceration for rest of their life..and as the fate had for me I also had to borde for a voyage to Chennai.The day i landed here..life itself took a bitter struggle for existance with sun n humidity playing tactteam along with conspiracy by autowalas..n then when I went out to lease a house came questions...vegie???..which cast??...but someone rightly said ..where there is a will there is a way...like the allied POWS making an escape from nazi jails...I found out my saviour would b CAT05..but later did i realize i wll be fighting it out with 1.5 lacs..lesser known mortals who r also looking for their salavations...nwyas that is later part of my story....thankfully i cud shelter myself in a plush appartment....n slowly started making my stay from incarceration to stay of a joy...I statred realizing life in Chennai is also touched by as Friedman would call it "World is flat".....as Raj Aryan would say in Mohabaatein(though wrost ever movie..i saw..if after reading it planing to see..plz dnt).."Hawao ne rukh badal dia"...after my arrival here a big tower called ascendus came up..n more to blessing in disguse i have Nift next to my house(though m not lucky..!!!)...the food court of Ascendus is so much upshot that u literally feel the words of Raj Aryan..wat iz it?? crowd!!!!in halter tops,spagetti,skirts..oh god!!!!...next is beasent nagar beach...my saviour in weekend..i call it sastha n tikau..coz itz a beautifull beach n when ur broke u cn hang out without shelling...though my fav...iz ECR road...a road which has lodsa to explore..not so innocent as it looks..some underground stuff u wana know preosnally PM me...n then heppened diseal,platinum,zara,h20 etc...though i personally still complain there is lodsa to be improved in this front ..n wud be happy if someone....puts up something in OMR road...by the time I thought my Chennai exploration is over n its time for me to stop buying formals..n concentrate on my casuals...it was CAT05 out..making me shift to next version Cat06...one more year incarceration...but,now i would say this is not an incarceration..n m have started njoyin ..my 1 more stay here n hopefully in find my El Dorado this year....So,plz all the lesser known mortals..n if I hurt ur ego by saying this..then u all future of my country..plz prey for me n my search for El Dorado....

Music Revolution!!!!!!

2006-04-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

What does a creative person do siting idle???I dnt know but i thought i will write my blog...n when it comes to writing something my brain starts taking 180 degree rotations on what..coz m not a scholar to preach on something neither do i like writing about my life nor me geek...but,thax god!!!i do have privilage of listening music in office n thought of writing another blog in music..actually i was wondering one day which way is the music scenerio changing Frank Sinatra,Chuck Berry,Elvis,Beatles,Ledd Zepp,Doors,Pink Floyd,Deff Leppard,Iron Maiden,GnR,Metallica,Nirvana,Linkin Park,System of Down...the music was eveloved over the age..intially started by Native Americans as blues...n then rock bands taking over from it for creating a cult movment of American Rock(popularized by Doors,Jefferson's Aeroplane) to Psychedellic movement to the head bangings of Maiden..it has always emerged as a revolution.It always created its own idiosyncrasy with an angst for anger...n then when everybody thought rock was dying it was guy from seattle "Kurt Cobain" singing "Rape Me"..again resurrected the movement n that was followed up by other bands Pearl Jam..but as the digitazion started taking place it caught up with the music also..now the digitized nu metal/alternatives started fusion of rock n hip hop n created a new cult of its own...n Linkin Park singing "in the end it does not even matter"....they have created a rage in new gen n itz showing how many ways the rock can be resurrected...the band like System of Down in this new genre is making me go crazy ...No one knows which was the golden age of rock..for some it was classical period of ledd zepp,kink..others glem rock GnR for some metal age of Mettalica for some Psycedellic rock of Pink Floyd for some itz the Nu metal...but whateva it is,my company gives me enough bandwidth to download songs in free time n experiment with my ears...n m have enjoyed the whole life cycle of rock music...my playlist has one track of all the bands mentioned to b played...a long journey from 60s to now....

Monday Blues!!!!!!!!

2006-04-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

What a pity it feels when u keep lying on ur bad and realize,its monday.The immediate things that start wondering in my mind .... formals,id card,traffic,morning heat,boss,computer screen n before i could go insane thinking..THANKS GOD!!!!!...its time for me to rush n slog it out...n m soon here siting in my cubicle ..but to beat the monday blues..today i thought of listening the Doors...the immortal sound of Jim Moriss..while listening to "light my fire" i really started wondering how high the life has been for Jim Moriss..the song has some lyrics "Girl,we couldn’t get much higher"...i thought does all prodigy has their own vices..for Moriss it was his high..but whateva!!!!..the guy has the voice which really takes u to a state of ecstasy without marizuana...the magic is his voice...when the track "LA Women" enqued next in my winamp started to play..i forgot its a monday today.Ray Manzerak was creating magic with his keyboard with Moriss complementing with his vocals.The starnge part about the band is it doesnt have any bass guitar,the base n rythm is being created by keyboards.I was also wondering how in nu metal/progressive rock age which has heavy distortion n digital mixing song of Moriss fits in..but i dnt know.....2 of its track was enough for me to get high without marijuana n get along with my work.I see l 10 more tracks enqueded in my Winamp of Doors..n thats enough for me to beat monday blues.HELLUVA!!!!!!!i found my anecdote for Monday Blues

Google

2006-03-30T02:19:00.000-08:00

A very funny thing heppened!!!!!Sitting in d office i was thinking of taking a long leave from office n was thinking wat wud be my boss's reaction.I cd guess, it wnt be any less then mailto:$#@!#$@#!..n then wat i cud think of iz need for some geniune ground to make a stand before him.All that came into my mind was pretty school kid type excuse..n then the idea came into my mind..why not try my saviour in my professional front(made my life lot easier by cut copy paste) Goggle n to my expectations it did come out with some results in 0.812 seconds.Hatz off to Larry Page n Sergei Brin for their inovation...noone knows wat algorithm google usses for its search,but one thing i cud make out is it does have AI factor in it where it searches based on heurestic search.The optimized results it gives is really tuff for any other search engine to match.The inovation of google iz not limited here..then they got back with gmail changing the defination of email from just sending msges to a tool to effectively exchange msges along with big attachments of huge mbytes.Then came the orkut,my fav timepass in the time of fiefdoom in office when i get a chance to scrap beauties along the globe.Itz not limited here,now google is buying word processor Writely to take googlism to next level where u can use all the MSOffice utility via web.This much was enough to shake huge empire of Bill Gate's Microsoft that they have also taken Google as a threat.Microsoft has also started with its innovation as its desktop application business is seriously challenged by the Google.Google is taking the business from desktop independence to desktop interedependence which it plans to do via web.Google's business to implementing all destok applications be it MS Office,Yahoo Msn in web marks a huge shift in the way business is done.If google becomes successfull in coming days then the world of computing will be very different from todays.I am eagerly waiting to see what turns out in future for Googlism.But,for now let me see whether the reason given by Google is enough for me to get a leave

Mera Bharat Mahan!!!!!!!

2006-03-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

Add gurus say i belong to Gen Next,but 5 years back i cud have never understood what they mean by that....may b they were visionary enough to see The World Is Flat and India Shining in the flat world.Today the atmosphere in my country has become gung ho with the economic prosperity ushered in by inflows of green bags.Outsourcing,BPO,Generic Drugs,FII,Repatriate has ushered in an era of urbanisation.Never ever in my dreams some 5-6 years back i could have thought getting a job 20k after graduation wll be so easy.Some 10 years back our country was in the cluthches of untold misery,poverty,low coast of living but the huge change globalization n liberalization has brought in that....now they say from Gen Next we r becoming Go Getters.Never ever i have seen so much euphoria about India Success story outside where all the companies are beckoned by India.The overall impact of this is huge rise in consumerism by Go Getters which is further fueling the domastic market.The story of India seems to be rising but as they say all business cycle where boom is followed by a recession.If the proper risk managment is not done then there are lots of reasons to spoil our party.The bottleneck of it is the unstable politics we practice in center and state and more to that the growth which is taking place in certain pockets of country which is increasing the digital divide.If balance is not mantained then we might have serious resource crunch as already the cities have started showing its strain.But,everything apart my country has arrived n we r rocking in global village.
Mera Bharat Mahan

Back Again

2006-03-24T04:24:00.000-08:00

I thot that will be my first n last blog but...i think m back again with some more craps of my mind.This time my thot is revolving how dangerous a life can be without a communication channel n that too when u need it most...n today being a such day.I cud not think of nething better then to reach out with blogspot.I have realized how yahoo msn,orkut,window messanger,cell phone,email has become a part of my life.With all those i damn to care which part of world m being marroned b it alibagh,manhattan or puerto rico!!!....i can think of guys around all places of world i can imagine in my weirdest dreams from less known places like of africa to states..but the emerging technology being empored by new gen technocrats has bridged all the divides...n that makes me a resident of global village.world is getting bridged shorter with technology boom.m sure someday it wll come when the world wll be boundary less n we all will be vagabond n nomads of this global world.....rock this free world.

trying to write first blog

2006-02-15T01:42:00.000-08:00

i never thought that i would ever be wrtiting a blog n may b more so coz i never had that much confidence on my own writing skills(grammers,spellings..do xcuse me if u find one)..but as d geek says "man r man!!" coz they like doing wat itz not supposed to b done(writen on d wall) sometime intentionally n sometime unintentionally ,from adam to eve,atom bomb n recently iraq invasion etc..so i m also on my way to prove myself wrong that i can write a blog.. since childhood i had dis tendancy of getting into things where itz writen on d wall that ur not supposed to do it.i dnt remember but my parents do tell me stories of my infancy days n which no way sounds to me s infant jobs.but coming to my school days i remember my deeds.n one was d show of heroism when i was caught bursting cracker in d school n ended up with principal.n my favourite was once bunking my school to watch a movie n while going on the way meeting my dad.though my acting skills r a power to reckon by which generally saves my day.after my school i thot of goining to a music school(may b that was also not for me.i realized later) but eneded up becoming an engg(engg was also writen on d wall i thot that time) n now trying to make my company with all my bretherens as a billion doller company .coming more to writen on d walls i had tendency of getting along with wrong gals also....sometimes either be itz galz who is stupid or at times itz her rough father who writes it for me on d wall..l..n now when itz written on d wall that i wnt make a very good blog to keep peoples interested on my writing..i never give up...but DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!i have realized just d persuation in life that i never give up only makes u reach high...all d writings in d wall can be proved wrong