Comments Changed

Change is the only static thing in this world...

So commenting changed from haloscan to the blogger comments.. :-)

Mere saathh aisa kyun hota hai.....

It happened in College
It happened when I went for MBA
It Happened yet again when I started working.....

dat makes it 4 + 2 + 1 month (almost)
Basically just over 6 year continuosly....

and wat is this "IT" in the above sentences.....
The "IT" stands for making of Plans to Kill me.

Though these plans have not yet materialised...(how could they ever)
Well....my ability to crack PJs or seriously pull someone's leg to extremes has led to this scenario. But, luckily I do it mostly with close friends....

But then its been fun for both sides....they miss what I did when we were together and same here I miss what I used to do....

When I meet up with old friends....esp. those who made plans....same plans r discussed...and the exact reason why that plan was made....

Ah SWEEEEEEEEEETTTTTT EEEMMMMMMOOOOOOOTTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSS
- sing it the way Aerosmith did

DID I EVER IMAGINE.....

- People who know me will be amazed to see the daily schedule I now have. I never used to sleep at 11 PM...I just could not....there was no way I could wake up at 6am after sleeping at 4:30 AM....BUT guess what I am doing what I never imagined...

I AM WAKING UP AT 6 AM, SLEEPING AT 11 PM.

- There was a time, when Rock Music and Gaurav Gupta went hand in hand....where there was Rock music there was Highwaystar, or where there was Highwaystar there was Rock music.

AS OF TODAY, IT HAS BEEN AGES SINCE I HAVE HEARD "SMOKE ON THE WATER" AT THE HIGHEST VOLUME I COULD. :(

- Had any of my friends ever seen me having rice (in any form other than Chicken Biryani/Biryani)in XIMB. The answer will come as NO.

BUT THIS IS LIFE. ITS NEVER FAIR TO YOU. I AM HAVING RICE DAILY WITH SAMBHAR. BUT THEN GOOD THING IS THAT I ALSO GET TO EAT THE FRIED PAPADWHICH I REALLY LOVE.

-There was a time when I would be regularly coming out with too many pics from my digital camera

TODAY, I AM NOT CARRYING MY DIGITAL CAMERA, BUT INTENDING TO GET A PROFESSIONAL ONE SOON. HAVEN'T CLICKED ANY OF THE GREAT SNAPS I USED TO WHEN WAS IN CAMPUS

Change is truly the essence of life...
It was truly one big fun time while on campus. Miss those friends now.

But, then now that I am settled out here in Chennai, everything is getting into a smooth roll here, lets see wats in store now on....

MIT Bloggers Survey

Take it.....

RAINS.....

FINALLY, IT RAINED.....
Well....its been humid and fairly hot in this part of the country...but today evening sitting and working on a PPT....that particular amazing smell of mud - the smell which comes when it rains or is about to rain was quite prominent and then looking out of the window one could see the small droplets coming down which slowly increased in speed.....and by the time I realized it was raining.....finally the Monsoon showers happened.....Having stayed in Bhubaneswar for 2 years.....I was missing rain so much....It was then I realized that I don't have a car to go back home....so the best thing which came to my mind was - WHY NOT GET DRENCHED AND THEN REACH TO MY APARTMENT and I did just that....

I really love rains....I hope my coming to Chennai brings much more showers to this city. And tonight the weather seems pretty cool.....worth taking a walk or lazing around on balcony - Ah! those XIMB days....

Waitin for more rains....and right now fod waiting at home.....

Chennai Reports

Back after a real long time. Now am in Chennai. Its real hot (not as hot as Delhi) but whats worse is that its way too humid. Trying to adjust to this climate.

Have joined the company and induction program is up. We were also taken to Bangalore as part of induction program. Bangalore climate is amazing. Now I know where to go when I need a break.

The first thing which can happen to anyone landing in Chennai was experienced very well by me. I paid Rs. 180/- for a taxi ride from Airport to my guest house - and the distance was only 5 - 6 kms. Moreover this fleecing was done by Pre-Paid Taxi Counter. What a start....

So now its final that the stay in Chennai is going to be a long one, so we are getting our house in order. Now waiting to get some time and roam around the place also. The biggest problem which will be faced now is Income Tax - need to minimize it for my Digital SLR Camera.

Rest all later.....

A New Step being taken tomorrow....

Well come Friday the 3rd of June and I once again leave my home....ah the Paradise City of Delhi yet again.....but this time for Chennai. Last time when I left this city had gone to pursue MBA at XIM Bhubaneswar. This time its not studies but for a new phase - a phase where i start working for the first time. Let us see how this part of life kicks off. Will be meeting new people and some old friends who are already in Chennai. Am kind of excited to reach there - I think two and a half months spent lazing around after convocation does this to almost everyone. Will update later on after reaching Chennai.....and maybe it might be about the weather there...since that will be the first thing I will come in contact with there. Delhi is right now enjoying cloudless sky with sun successful at keeping Delhiites indoors with ACs on causing overload for the BSES and thus some hours without power - end result - ITS BLOODY HOT IN DELHI.
And now its again time to pack.... :)

Tech Wars: Mobiles vs. Cams/iPod

Mobile Phones Versus iPods/Canon

It is finally happening. After a long wait, iPod will soon see some serious competition, not from the side of Microsoft, but from the likes of Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Actually not iPod but iPod mini (has smaller hard disk capacity). Sony Ericsson has come out full force with what they call as Walk-man Phone - W800. Nokia has recently launched its N series mobile phones which it dubs as iPod killers. These phones have a whopping 4GB of memory built into them. While the Sony Ericsson mobile phones are based on their own OS and are Java enabled, the Nokia's N Series run on Symbian series 60 platform. The strenght of SE W800 is whopping 30hrs battery life, while Nokia fails on this front. Similarly iPods also have a good battery life. Sony Ericssons good MP3 performance was seen in their earlier phone SE K700i (my phone, but lacked in external memory card support - the only drawback). From Nokia stable the best phone in N Series offering is N91. This is probably the only N series phone hving ability to compete with iPod and SE W-800. Also with SE W-800 the benefit is that with phone off one can still listen to MP3s, is this present in Nokia N Series is not known yet. Also, Nokia N Series is priced at a very high end. One big decision one has to take is whether he uses phone as a phone or a walkman. The prices of both phones is higher than iPod mini. The war has just begun. Its a three way war Apple vs. Nokia vs. Sony Ericsson. No one can say for sure, where will the customer head to. This is where we marketing guys have a role to play. If you are actually looking for a walkman phone, look ahead, go in for SE P-910 smart phone. If you wanna spend money - spend it wisely. Its a smart phone, really capable of playing MP-3 and has Symbian OS running it. And as of now its the best smart phone available in the market.

Now Canon versus Nokia versus Sony Ericsson. Well as can be seen on my PhotoBlog Sony Ericsson's mobile Camera (K-700i at mere 0.3MP) clicks good snaps if proper light is there. One thing which should be clear about mobile cams is that they need good light to click good snaps, this is because they lack a flash light (can you imagine a flash light sucking your mobiles battery everytime you click a snap). Now again here pitted are earlier mentioned phones from both the companies - SE W800 and Nokia's N Series (with N91 being best. Both these phones feature 2MP camera and Nokia N91 has 20X Digital zoom (keep in mind DIGITAL ZOOM and NOT OPTICAL ZOOM). Also Nokias phones are almost the double the cost of decent digicams having around 5MP and a good OPTICAL ZOOM and over it Digital Zoom. While Sony Ericsson's offering will be slightly higher than these digicams. Here also, priority needs to be seen. And before setting priority one needs to also check out an offering by Samsung - SCH S-250, its the world's first 5MP camera phone. But till the time camera phones are not integrating Optical Zoom also as a part of the phone, till then for digital photography one should prefer stand alone cameras, else any mobile phone having a lower resolution cam around 0.3MP to 1 MP should be preferred. It will help you save money for a good Digicam. Camera Phones are meant to click photos as and when they happen. This is because there are occasions when you don't have your camera, but mobile is always with you. So the higher pixel range camera is not required in a mobile phone. Even a 1MP camera phone will be useful, since the snaps clicked by these mobiles will be of print quality. Till some more innovationin the field of incorporating Optical Zoom in camera phones does not happen, the clear winner in this battle is stand alone Digital Camera with a low resolution camera phone.

BUT technology is growing at an unimaginable speed, thus this topic will keep on cropping up year after year.

Paris Hilton Advertisement for Burger

Well Well Well......here is the link for the spicy hot car washing advertisement featuring the one and only Paris Hilton. The full version - uneditted one can be seen here: The ADVERT. But important thing is that the advt is not for car wash, but for a Spicy BBQ Burger. But this whole advt will not be featured over the television. The censor board has made the company cut it into a 30 sec advt.

Car washing just cannot get better than this, the only car washing scene which can be compared to this is probably featuring Denise Richards in movie Wild Things.

Lately Liril's advt also had to be cut short, just to please the censor board. Why can't we just do away with censor board and let the creativity flow. If the common crowd doesn't like it it will clearly reflect in the sales of the particular product. Even in Pepsi's "Oye Bubbly" advertisement the starting part featuring the belly buttons as lips calling out for Pepsi has also been cut.

Let the advertisements come on screen as they are made. Pepsi's advt was tooo good to be censored and cut. Liril had come out with some serious creativity - moving away from all the waterfall advertisements which was their backdrop in past, with only models changing.

Let the creativity and the market forces prevail to determine the success or failure of advt and also let the audience only determine how the advt is. Its as simple as "If we can have Mallika Sherawat on screen, these advertisements are anyday much decent than her acting or whatever she does."

My Photoblog Kickstarted

Well, finally my photoblog is up and running.
You can access it at: Snapshots from heaven

Go ahead and have some fun.

Thinking about a Photo Blog.....

Well thinking that this is probably the best time I can go ahead and set my own photoblog where I can post some selected pics taken from mobile cam or from other digicams....

Since am free for next few days, don't wanna waste it. Already planning to get a digital SLR - choice between Canon EOS 350D or Nikon D70s. Most probably Canon is going to win this fight if Nikon does not come out with a good competing camera at 8MP. Also, since more into nature photography have to look for a good wide angle lens which can take panorama pics at a go.

Just waitin' to Lay my hands on one of these two beasts of Digital SLRs.

So will put up the link after creating a photoblog soon.

My fave photo shoots have always been snow capped peaks (should have had an SLR cam before going to Sikkim in March). I aim to shoot a great sunrise someday (for that getting up around 5am is absolutely necessary). Though have got good sunsets at Andaman and a couple at Railway station. For clicking a great pic, one needs some real patience.

Next my fave shots I like taking are in a move train, standing or sitting on the door of the coach and clicking some country shots....trust me.....train is the best thing Britishers gave to India ever. India is extremely beautiful, and it can only be experienced during a train journey.

Also, now maybe in future I will be moving around a bit, but following lines will always always hold true: (The lines were given to this world by GnR - Paradise City)

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home (Oh, won't you please take me home)

[Home here is Delhi New Delhi, having the prettiest girls in the country and one of the very few metropolitans blessed with loads of greenery - truly a PARADISE CITY]

Lets see what the future has in store for me now...........

MBA - Ponder over it.........

Henry Mintzberg of McGill University, Canada, advocates "You don't get trained in the capacity for managing in an MBA programme. You think you do, but . . . a lot of people end up grabbing for techniques. Where it goes wrong is in the case-study method: give me 20 pages and an evening to think about it and I'll give you the decision tomorrow morning. It trains people to provide the most superficial response to problems... getting the data in a nice, neat, packaged form and then making decisions on that basis. It encourages managers to be disconnected from the people they are managing".

Well, Mintzberg is 150% right. What we are taught are just mere techniques. Most of the students in any B School have no work experience. Most of us take MBA as a natural extension to our bachelors degree and in top B Schools the percentage of engineers is clearly above distinction (75% of the batch).

Well as a person who has been there done that, I would like to admit that though case studies is a method followed by all the B Schools as a primary teaching aid, but then as Mintzberg says what students do is just put the whole case neatly down on slides and in recommendations are made by just "thinking out of the box". With pressure of too many projects or assignments to be submitted, the case studies are the once which suffer the most as everyone feels they can do it anytime after finishing of the projects. Also, another place where we - in India - lack is - we do not have a huge collection of local (India Specific) case studies. We are always referring to Harvard BS case studies. In only some top B Schools do some professors convert their Industry experience into case studies, and these are the best case studies which they can use since they were personally involved in them.

But what I feel should be the future trend for B School education is having more of professionals coming to teach for a semester. Also as projects the Industry projects will provide the maximum learning to the students.

If B Schools and corporates want to have a continuous supply of good managers in future then they should work together to change the teaching methodologies in B Schools.

Also reading of "What they don't teach at Harvard Business School" should be made compulsory at all B Schools. One excellent book on people interaction - another area where B Schools lack.

THE INDIAN "IDLE"

Well we have seen competitions like "Indian Idol", "American Idol", "Channel V's - Get Gorgeous" and all such competitions......
BUT WHERE IS INNOVATION.....
Imagine competitions like:
- The Indian IDLE
- The Sleeping IDOL
- Channel [T]ea's Get Bored

If anyone has any practical ideas on these lines....can help in making this list for future television serials longer.....and these are the concepts which will provide the best possible laughing material.....

You can see how bored I have been lately......my blogging rate is on a sharp rise.....

MICROSOFT TROUBLED BY GOOGLE

Well the following link "Microsoft versus Google" makes for one hell of an interesting reading, especially for those who are open source software lovers.

The story goes like.........
Once upon a time Sergey Brin and Larry Page started of a company which claimed to provide the fastest and the best search possible. That was just a start. Companies like Microsoft and Yahoo did not consider them a challenge and outsourced their search tool to other companies, instead of having a search machine of their own. No one would have at that time guessed what Google's plan could have been. The magic which Google's search machine did was create a brand Google. Well the brand was such that instead of saying a sentence like "Search for xyz" people started using "Google for xyz". The word "search" was replaced by word "Google". Their were competitions like "Who is the best Googler?". Even in our campus we used to have student conducted Quizzes over LAN where the use of Google or any search machine was allowed.......but it was just to find the best Googler.

Also another thing which Google achieved was - cracking the mystery of how to make profits from online advertisements.

The Google of the search fame was ignored by the Microsoft as being just a simple online search tool. It was then, when Google had decided to go for its IPO, that they also decided to launch of their e-mail service - and what a marketing strategy to follow - "Membership by invitation".........this is a do or die strategy. But then to make it work they had a 1GB capacity for their mailboxes (which is now increasing towards 2GB). This was like a major earthquake for other big email providers like Yahoo, Microsoft and Rediff. While Yahoo and rediff reacted pretty fast MS was slow and it provided higher 250MB storage only on new accounts not on existing......what a miser Bill Gates is. For Google, this venture into email was a big success and from here the company has not looked back.

They are enjoying a real good run at Wall Street, and they have entered into many areas either through their own softwares or through acquisition - major being Orkut (social networking), Picasa (Photo management and editting software), Hello, and a real big one being Desktop Search (developed in-house).

It is the desktop search which is now giving sleepless nights to Microsoft - what will Google come up with next.

Also there are many cases as can be seen in the link given where Microsoft employees have left MS for Google.

Lets see where this war goes.......and there is no way Microsoft can buy Google.........just because of one simple reason........it was developed on Linux and MS buying a company which has its roots in Linux doesn't sound a good publicity for its current products.

Imagine the following scenario - Google releasing their own version of Linux with real easy to use desktop, an office software based on Open Office and also a browser!!!!!!! This all together can be a real Microsoft Killer.......

Till the results of this war are out.....Google away to glory.........

FIVE POINT SOMEONE

This post coming after a real long time.....actually the reason is that I have been upto ABSOLUTELY NOTHING......other than my photography classes. They are real fun and this field is real interesting and worth a hobby.

As for my travels had been to Jabalpur between 20th and 25th April.

Well last night I had started a book called "Five Point Someone - What not to do at IIT" by Chetan Bhagat and just could not keep the book down till I read through all its pages. Its about three guys Hari, Alok and Ryan....all three close buddies and all of them good at acads before entering IIT-D and then about their struggle with the IITs relative grading system. How they tried to beat the system. It covers their actual life from the moment they entered IIT, to Hari's love interest (imagine sleeping with the HODs daughter in HOD's house in broad daylight and that too in real life), to their Pink Floyd, Vodka and Grass sessions on the 9th floor of the building [that is a must try ;-) ], to their struggle with the academic committee (for an attempt to steal exam paper from HOD's office - on the day Hari had slept with his daughter), to all of them struggling for jobs and then their parting away. It is an amazing description of the hostel life of the three IITians and is a true story as written by Hari (name taken up by Chetan Bhagat in the book).

Well the book is addictive and anyone who has lived in hostel will be able to relate to it in one way or the other...though hostel life everywhere is different....

Well its a book which you just cannot keep down.....hoping the movie version of the book does justice to it.

At some points you will be reminded of the movie "DIL CHAHTA HAI" - it also had three friends - Akash, Sameer and Siddharth (Sid) and talked about their college life, love life how they go seperate ways and still come back together....well to get the feel of the movie just see it if you haven't.

Well it reminded myself also of the fun we used to have in the hostel days at XIMB......as Bryan Adams would have said "Those were the best days of my life". Well personally I do miss the bakar sessions we used to have either in mess or outside on the stairs or while walking or in someones room.........those early morning tennis games or late night walks (actually early morning walks), also the thing which is being missed is the Birthday celebrations the XIMB way.......those block fights (also with water) at midnights.......

Still life has to move on......just over one more month to spend here in Delhi before I leave for Chennai......eagerly waiting for that moment, but the time doesn't seem to fly....infact seems to be moving too slowly.......

Well in this period also read "The Inscrutable Americans" by Anurag Mathur. The start for this book is with a letter written by Gopal (the main character) to his brother living in Jajau from USA. Well basically the story is about Gopal being from Jajau and small city (which Gopal termed as Paris of Madhya Pradesh) and has gone to study in USA (to a small college there though). The basic highlight of the book lies in the comical usage of English and how Gopal understands the American English, how he makes friends there, how he from a strict vegetarian and strict no-alcohol lifestyle changes towards having non-vegetarian food and making beer a part of his stay in USA. Also how he falls in love and is left heart broken. It basically tries to portray some of the difficulties which the people/students from smallers towns of India might face when they go to states. In the book also described was how Gopal had prepared for his stay at US and what he had thought was US all about. Well this is another book which is a must read. Really good. I read this book on my train journey to Jabalpur.

Killin' Time

Well Killin' Time never got easier before....
Finally have joined a photography course.......this is for professional photography....and thus can be seen as my first step towards getting my very own NIKON D70 ...... Digital SLR (Single lens reflex) camera......

Well the classes seem to be good and interesting......and most important of all am getting a chance to play around with various SLR Cameras and also variety of lenses......which is not that easy.......

Will update on more later.......eagerly waiting to lay hands on my very own Nikon D70.......though its some months away.......

OOPS THE MEN IN BLUE DID IT AGAIN

"What has to go wrong has to go wrong........"
But firstly did any thing go right at all.......

Firstly match on the Kotla grounds....the pitch which it was known will in no way hold good for a full day.......

Over this we lost the crucial toss....and allowed Pakistanis to score 303.....and now that score was almost impossible to chase on this wicket......BUT still...atleast we could have given the fight.....

On such occassions.....we are forced to think is the Tendulkar's era over.......just see him scoring and see Brian Lara scoring......Lara is going strong and consistent even today.........

We did not take wickets regularly...we let partnerships build up...but when our batting came.....we gave our wickets at regular intervals without letting any partnerships build......this feat was achieved by giving catching practice to slips, bringing the ball back onto the wicket (Tendulkar has expertise in this), and ravid giving his wicket the only way he can be dismissed - by running himself out........

So Pakistan Team has won straight four matches and they did it by bouncing back from being behind by 2-0 (India having 2 wins).......It was a difficult task of losing from that stage for India....but if any feat is not achievable....India can achieve it.......

This is not the way John Wright should have been given a farewell gift.......he has done a lot for Indian team and the team seems to have lost it all.........

Hoping Indians regain their form in the next series........if some decisions regarding leaving a senior player out of team due to lack of form has to be taken it should be taken....they should not take their place in team for granted......

All The Best to Men in Blue for future challenges........

KILLIN' TIME.........

Long time since I last posted ne thing.....
So now...what is the scene here.....
Well I can at this stage very well imagine what a post retirement life can be.....

Now have around 45 days left to spend at home....

Over the past few days that I have been home....spent time with relatives....and met a couple of friends....also saw three movies and read two thrillers.......

SO i have been to Mumbai....the stay there was good...met some more friends and relatives out there and also saw "Miss Congeniality - 2" there.....The movie is a great time pass.....OK it is a one time watch but paisa vasool.....and nice comedy also....so those who haven't seen the movie yet....go and watch it....

Before that had seen "Pacifier" - imagine Vin Diesel as a BABYSITTER.......he did a great job....a MUST SEE movie from my side.......you are gonna have a great time laughing yourselves out in this movie.....really great......

Also saw "Million Dollar Baby"........this is an excellent movie.....the best among any recent english movies which have been around.......really good go ahead and see it......

Among the books.....had read Dan Brown's - The Da Vinci Code in XIM-B itself....so after coming home read two other books by him - "Digital Fortress" and "Deception Point". Among these two books Digital Fortress is a must read.

Now whats ahead.......on 20th April going to Jabalpur and will be back on 25th April. Planning to watch "Hitch" - I think it has released today. Have to decide on which book to pick up next.

So thats all thats been happening this side......missing the action filled campus life...where something or other kept happening.......

SOME MORE TRAVELLING........

Its that time YET again......
I am gonna go travelling again.......
This time going to experience the cities of Pune and Mumbai....
Lets see what do they have on offer.....
Plus this is involving meeting relatives and old frnds......

So this year has been quite hectic....full of travelling....
In October to Andamans, in Feb-March to Darjeeling and Gangtok and in March to Kolkota and now Mumbai and Pune calling......

Have plans to visit Bangalore also.....that needs to be planned and plans need to be implemented......

So from today 2nd April afternoon till 11th April night...I will be out.... so another blogging break......

MORE PICS UPLOADED

More pics have been uploaded and here go the links:
Convocation - More pics
Darjeeling Gangtok Trip - More Pics
Campus Pics

Well thats how I am spending my hols......
And now this work is also finished....WHAT NEXT.....
Do leave tips......how to pass two months.......