Chennai - The city so changed....

Well....
People said come October rains arrive in Chennai....

Well what they said was truth and only truth...

But with the kind of rains which are being seen here they are also amazed.

The climate here in Chennai is just amazing....its cool and pleasant - slight drizzle going on.....

Overall a perfect weather to go to the beach and play football in water.

Want to do that....But..........

First footsteps in Stock Market......(updated)

Events Yesterday.....
- Stock Market down by over 100 points. Goes below 8000 mark for first time after 9th Sept'05
- A certain Mr. Gaurav Gupta (happens to be myself) sees it as an opportunity to invest
- So the first ever dealing on my ICICI Direct account happens.
- Buy the stock. AHH a decent size of amount from my salary account gets transferred to trading acconut and gets invested.
- The stock is on a rise defying the falling market.

Events today.....
- Markets open strong, over 100 points high than yesterday.
- Keeps going high, coincidentally my stock also reaches day high (and i just keep holding it)
- Market starts fluctuating, same behavior depicted in my stock
- Market goes down again and again and again (by around 116 points) and my stock also goes down.......
- Market starts recovery, but is still below yesterday's mark, my stock is still
fluctuating, but I know it will be back.....

Feel like purchasing more....but don't want to invest more money atleast for now.....trying on reinvesting the already invested money over and over again.

Wishing it a speedy recovery and hoping my stock comes back to normal and goes on a speedy rise.......

This article gives hope.

Update: Booked my first loss in one of the two investments made and moved on to third stock after selling first. Hoping to get the right mix asap...

The SE7EN things......

Well got tagged courtesy Arun. So here it goes....THE SE7EN THINGS......

Se7en things I plan to do before I die

Explore the world's best beaches, forests and other nature's offerings
Give back to society (not decided how)
Get my name published in an International Photography mag for Nature Photography
Have my own house - to my taste
Try as many kind of different dishes as possible
BUY a MERC - sports stylo
Enjoy Life to the Max

Se7en things that I can do

Get a Maruti to start with
Can Xplore exotic locations within India
Enjoy South Indian food - in true form
Make more friends
Get more Sleep
Get a PDA Phone
Create a portfolio of photos I click


Se7en things I can’t do

Believe politicians
Live without embracing technology
Stop praising beauty
Stop cracking PJ's
Stop travelling
Self praise
Live without friends


Se7en things that attract me to the opposite sex

Eyes
Smile
Intelligence
Long hair
Sense of humor
Simplicity with Elegance
The way she carries herself


Se7en things I say most

Abey oye
Shit
Hmmm
Wat da ....
Dekhte hein
Wwwwaaazzzzuuuupppp
Ki haal chaal


Se7en celebrities I wish to meet

Julia Roberts
Aamir Khan
Rahul Dravid
Priety Zinta
Tom Cruise
Sunil "Bharti" Mittal
Richard Branson

Se7en people I am tagging

John
Saurabh
Maloy
Sujan
Sarita
Shub
Whirlwings

Yet another weekend passes by.....

With this weekend gone - 3 months in office also got over.... :)

Well.....Its back to office with Monday...which incidentally always has to come after Sunday....why cant we have Saturday Sunday Sunday Saturday....and then Monday.

It would have been so much fun that ways.

Well realized one thing....how much one tries to control the expenditure - the more it happens.....

Anyways it was quite an action packed weekend....

Friday night - Dinner plus movie.
On Friday went off to see NO ENTRY.....amazingly non stop hilarious movie....which will make you keep clapping and laughing non-stop. good plot and really well connected story line. Must say....great work at editting. 3 Actors 4 Actresses and they can make you roll on your stomach.....awesome fun.....will not reveal the plot....just go ahead and see the movie.

Saturday had some work with Bank and then went for lunch and then a yet another movie - Stealth. Well watch it if you wanna see a US Stealth Bomber - which is unmanned (has AI) get all senti and in the end go ahead and give its life to save a human. WOW!!!! What a story - only Americans can think of all this bullsh*t.

Sunday did nothin much....cleaning of house - resting and then went out for dinner.

Was a good weekend.....

Would say am enjoying it here in Chennai now....its not that bad a city as people make it sound to be. It can be fun....u just need to settle down here - make a good gang of frnds....or u may already have it....then you can just chillout....The only thing lacking here is - great climate.....we can adjust to that courtesy human designed and manufactured A/Cs......

Today moved into the new office - shift in office building happened - moved to the dead office building....with rest of the Management Trainee gang now.....still adjusting to the new environment - but from now on things look great....

Its that time of the week yet again....

Hello all,
Finally its a Saturday followed by a Sunday - which means - HOLIDAY....

Such a relief after 12 days of non-stop work....

Straight from office am off for dinner....with friends....
My god....while this month expenses have been on a high BUT I haven't been....need to go to ATM...

Last night also talked to a pretty old frnd of mine....after some real long time...
feels great....

Its dat time of the week again....

Also realized next month in October 3 days of holidays coming which can be extended to 4 days....hopefully some plan can be made.....need to go into the wild....close to nature and try out my hand at photography....need to get used to my new cam....
need to bring out more beautiful snaps.....create a portfolio for some work after the age of 40 (hopefully by then I will have some great bank balance so that I can simply pursue my hobby - its a Dream - hoping they come true.....)

Lastly.....people having high expectations.....hopefully will be able to deliver.....

Eclipsed.....

The picture shows the current feeling inside me.....

hmmmm....like the Sun coming out of the dark, with the week taking a turn today on Wednesday, with the Saturday being off....and Sunday being a hol (under normal circumstances)...things look bright coupled with some other happenings which cannot be mentioned here.... :)

"AM LOVING IT"

Need a break...need to rest.....

Feel like going to some place around Chennai....its been a really longtime since I moved out of Chennai for some short weekend break or even a single day outing will do wonders....

BUT, courtesy last weekend expenditure - a pain to wallet which was further aggravated on Monday due to a silly mistake....I think will have to live like a real Baniya for some time....(am a Baniya - but money generally keeps slipping away from my hands)

The weather looks good outside....but till when will it be like this....
Hoping it rains today....

Such weather reminds of Bhubaneswar days - the day it used to be hot, it had to rain that evening, but here, only one part is true - the day is hot - in evening it may or may not rain. Probability of rains is pretty low.

Have heard that October - December, Chennai receives decent amount of rains....lets see how decent is considered decent here.

Started reading up a new book - "Brand Portfolio Strategy" by Aaker after finishing off with "The Tipping Point"

Thats how the evening time passes by.....

Still have to see Mangal Pandey and with the kind of reviews No Entry is getting will have to see that also....

So....in the world of cricket....why was Rahul Dravid stripped of captaincy when Ganguly joined the team....Ganguly a person...whose cricketing days are over....got reinstated as a captain....

After loss to New Zealand, Ganguly did have guts to say that Batsmen should contribute more.....what is he....he is a captain....he should lead by setting an example.....

Today in advertising world, for a change our cricketers are less and less to be seen....hopefully they will now concentrate on their play....

On Sunday - Posting from Office

Well in 3 months of my work life....its my first Sunday when I am in office - DOING WORK.....

Morning went out for breakfast with XIMB friends to Spencer's Plaza. Its so good meeting up with close friends after pretty long time....

And now here I am....in office....DOING WORK....

It looks so deserted....till now I have been able to count 4 people working here, but none in my department.....its so deserted.....with all the cubicles....and the machines lying around with none to talk to....no noise (shor gul)....which is so characteristic in normal routine....

But one good thing...tomorrow I will not be complaining about those "MONDAY MORNING BLUES"....
SO this weekend spent in office....

Don't feel like going out at this hour...this Chennai climate has changed back to NORMAL - Its HOT and HUMID..... [atleast its not HOTTEST]

Another achievement - I have not run away to Bangalore for my second consecutive weekend.

Searching for some more good places around Chennai where we can go out for some weekend outing - with Mahabalipuram being the nearest one [50Kms].

Some more interesting hoardings have been sighted - without company's name - like in one of my previous posts. One of them says "Earlier I used to do it alone, now he also loves to do it"

More such ads have been seen and will be updating more lines as and when I recall them.

Seen pasted on a Reliance mobile scheme poster a Special Airtel Offer of Rs. 99/- [making full use of available space on Reliance Poster [pasted properly - hiding the Reliance Scheme]]

On the last count in the park behind my house saw 8 deers feasting on grass [not the drug kinds] and other plants- they look so beautiful - will try to click them soon after I get a tripod - will have to use zoom and slow shutter speed since they come there in late evening.

What else.....

One of my roomie leaving of for Bangalore with change in Job....why do people have to leave when you just start to get settled and are enjoying your stay together.

What else.....

In the evenings I am reminded of Deep Purple's song - Burn:
"The sky is Red, I can't understand,
Past midnight I can still see the land"
[though midnight can be removed - its late evenings and sometimes the sky looks amazingly beautiful.]

Google on a Roll........

Aha Google is BACK....and dat too with a BANG....

Heee Haaawwww...

Beware Microsoft Beware Yahoo....
You have no clue where Google is going, whom google is targetting.
I should also say.....Beware Skype....

Now does that indicate anything.....

Well well well.....
Google has brought out its own messenger by name of Google Talk.

Try it once and you will like it.

Not at all heavy on ur PC resources, simple and elegant and also has voice chat feature.

All that in the first messenger they launched.

What would the world have been had Google not have existed.

It is slowly entering into everything we do on a PC and scaring the existing players to take desperate actions big time.

Lets see how Microsoft and Yahoo react to this launch.

As usual Google has gone in for a soft launch and am sure is piggybacking on its huge GMail membership for getting as many users for its IM as possible. And its an excellent idea. When you login into the messenger you get your GMail address list and you can invite anyone from them to join the Google Talk irrespective of whether they are GMail users or not....and this inviting is at maximum 3 to 4 steps process which you can just click through.

What would a life be without GOOGLE.....

Currently:
GOOGLE for search
GOOGLE for blog
GOOGLE for mail
GOOGLE for chat
GOOGLE for maps
GOOGLE for news
GOOGLE for sharing photos
GOOGLE for toolbar
GOOGLE for wen accelerator
GOOGLE for translation
GOOGLE for desktop search


Future:
GOOGLE for OS
GOOGLE for internet browser

That would be a dream come true......Microsoft will then face some real competition.....

The Hogenakal Trip.....(updated)

Saturday, Sunday and Monday......was a good break. An extended weekend. Had gone to Bangalore for this weekend. Reached there on Saturday and stayed there with my cousins. That day we spent in Bangalore itself. In the evening we went to a pub there called Legends of Rock. Hmmmmm after such a long time...got to listen to some real good rock music and at a good volume. After having drinks there we went off to a restaurant nearby called "Chandni Chowk". A must go place. Lovely decor. And good food - must have: Makai ki Roti and Saag. But do not try Kulfi there. It is avoidable.

The next morning we left for "Hogenakal". It is a small place in Tamil Nadu. Located in a wildlife sanctuary it features beautiful set of waterfalls. "Hogenakal" means smoking rock. And thats what it looks from distance with all the mist/small water droplets being carried by the wind. From distance it just looks as if smoke is rising from the rocks - but when you go near to the scene is awesome. Another good thing about this waterfall is.....you can experience the please/scare of living (better to say standing) on the edge.....the feeling is scary BUT AWESOME at the same time. During this month (August) the river Kaveri is flowing with some overdose of water creates amazing waterfalls in this region. The water in this area is known for its curative powers. This is one place one should visit if he/she is in Bangalore or Chennai. Another intersting thing to experience here is the boat ride - IT'S DIFFERENT. The boats are circular in shape and made up of Bamboo with tarpaulin outside so that water does not enter the boat. This boat though you will not believe is amazingly strong. Another fun thing you can do in this boat is, make it rotate at pretty good speeds and we experienced it. This is also a good place to go for trekking. We returned from there in late evening and saw the sunset happening on the way back. Looks truly amazing with small hills around the Hosur Road.We went straight for dinner to a restaurant. The place is truly amazingly beautiful....well this is the place where the song "Ek Chhoti si" in the movie Roja was picturised.

The next day was spent resting at home in Bangalore. Cousin bro arranged for my ticket for the night journey back to Chennai by bus. My bus started around 10:30 PM from Bangalore and reached Chennai at 6:00 AM. Sleeping in bus is the most difficult thing. From next time I will try for train tickets for going to Bangalore. And without sleep, got ready and came to office....

Hoping for more such trips into such beautiful spots.

Some of the pics of Hogenakal can be found here

Last evening.....and off to Bangalore yet again.....

Saw a hoarding last evening having a beautiful female model in standing pose and it spoke loud the line "I used to have it once a week, and now I am having it almost daily". Nothing else was mentioned....who had put that hoarding is unknown to me. But, seems they have been inspired by DNA advertising through hoardings in all over Mumbai.....but atleast it was known that DNA had those hoardings. Imagine, a kid asking his parents what does that sentence mean when he sees that hoarding while going to someplace with parents. Where is the advertising going to. As once said "Sex Sells"...so all advertisers and marketers are making use of this so very effective tool to sell anything and everything under the sun.

Last night our senior batch (previous years Management Trainees) in the company am working in gave us a dinner party. It was at a Pub cum Restaurant - BASERA on the East Coast Road. The ambience there is really good.It has both open air and A/C room seating available. We decided to have an Open Air dinner (weather was good and there were no Mosquitoes). We were a total of 13 who had gone there for dinner.If I comment on dinner then I cannot do justice to it. This is because most of us non-veggies were so over-whelmed with the taste of Chicken Lollipop that we had an over-dose of starters. Starters also included Reshmi Kebab and Tandoori Chicken. Mouth starting to water again. After that we also finished of a plate of Chilli Prawns in a straight go. And then was the time for the main course. We ordered main course for sure - but soon after it was served we realized that we have had an over load of starters. We were unable to finish it all off. But should say, it was a good change from the normal food we have for dinner here in Chennai. Must say food was good, but the whole ambience of the place was even better.

After dinner we went of to one of the senior batchmates home since one of them had a birthday today. At the stroke of the mid-night the cake was cut and the Birthday Girl was duly wished with the cake on the face ceremony taking place. Then, Beer and SMIRNOFF Vodka (yeah not Romanov - which is found in Chennai and Smirnoff is real difficult to find here) along with Sprite, Orange Juice and Tomato juice. We all had a nice bakar session till late into the night. Some of us slept there only.

Well since I have to go of to Bangalore today night, I had to do some packing and some clothes washing so had to wake up Arun early in the morning (6:13am) to drop me home.As of now I am sitting in office and had washed clothes in the morning have to reach home asap and pack my bags and rush to Chennai Central Railway Station from where I have to catch my Bus to Bangalore. Don't get confused buses do not run from Railway Station but from the travel agents place opposite the Railway Station. Lets see after reaching Bangalore where do we go. Third weekend consecutively in Bangalore. Saturday, Sunday and Monday heeehaawwww are HOOOLLLLIIIDDDAAAYYYYYSSSSS.........

Hoping to make good use of my new cam in this trip.

My Dream.....Smile Ready CLICK!!!!!!!

WELL WELL WELL JUST CAN'T TELL.....
I have to announce it.... :D

Finally, yesterday I laid my hands on my dream cam....which I had been eyeing for past two months....

Presenting to you: Canon EOS 350D Digital SLR cam.....
Following is the pic of the cam:


It comes with a Canon 28-55mm Lens as part of the kit. In addition to that lens I purchased a tele lens also - 75-300mm Canon EF Lens.

Camera looks same as the one shown in the above pic.....I went for a all black body.
For the additional lens which I bought following is the pic:


Along with it to start of I have bought 512MB Flash Card and by the year end have to get 2GB microdrive hopefully....

To start with, this is a good photography kit...hoping to make the best use of it....right now getting the hang of the camera. Finding out all its functions. I hope to be soon out and clicking....and hoping to get my photoblog active soon.

Drive to Bangalore.....

Firstly, Wishing everyone a Belated Happy Friendships Day, since I could not come online yesterday to leave across a message.

Well am back from Bangalore. It was a official tour but then a good change. The weather there was amazing. In my past two visits to that city - I have had a chance to get drenched. But this time around the weather remained on the cooler side without any rains only occasional drizzle (u cannot call them a drizzle also).

Spent four days there - from Thursday to Sunday. We started straight from office after lunch in car around 1 pm on Wednesday. The distance is around 341 Kms if Old Madras Road is taken which goes via Chittoor. We had taken this road and covered the distance in around 6 hours and 30 minutes with one break in between - for snacks. We entered Bangalore at 7:20 PM. This I think is a good enough time to cover this much of distance. The road for first 50 Kms or so is still under construction, so initially we were pretty slow, but after that the road becomes much better and its a very comfortable ride to Bangalore. Actually faster than train. After having snacks I drove the car upto the outskirts of Bangalore. After such a long time - after 2 and a half months I was driving a car.....WOW.....

The road passes through three states - Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It also passes through an Elephant Reserve, where we did not see any Elephants but saw loads of monkeys. The scenery at some points was absolutely amazing, especially during sunset and when some light drizzle had happened. Will be putting a couple of pics after transferring from my mobile.

In Bangalore I stayed with my cousin bhaiyya and bhabhi. You can imagine the climate of the city from the fact that we did not need to switch on fans the whole day. On Thursday and Friday we did our work. After that we got the weekend free.

When out on the road and roaming in and around the city, the cool breeze is the best thing to feel - and that is what Banaglore gives you almost whole day!!!!!!!! How can people living in Bangalore adjust to any other city where they cannot get a similar climate.

During the stay we ate at a place called "Little Italy". Its an Italian joint there and the food there is good, the pizza crust was refreshingly different from the Pizza Hut's - fresh or stale crust whatever. As a matter of fact I was initially thinking that this place is called "Little Idli" - whats happening to me!!!!!!

Also after such a long time I had good Chhole Bhatoore at Bombay House.

Another mission for which I went to Bangalore was to get a Digitial SLR camera - Canon EOS350D. Found a great shop - Camera Citi, but the camera was out of stock at this shop. Still no problem - its main office is luckily in Chennai, and is supposed to be one of the biggest Indian camera dealers. Will be going there today to see whether I can get the camera now or not.

Well, another beautiful place to visit in Bangalore is the Leela Palace on Airport road. Its really beautiful. The garden was amazingly well landscaped - with waterfall and a small cave. DEFINITELY LEELA!!!

We also saw a movie at Innovative Multiplex. The movie was The Island. Its a movie which is basically trying to be futuristic and tell viewers what might happen if human cloning starts and becomes commercialized. The topic is good, but depiction definitely not. Well its a movie you may watch when ur totally vella but not when you have other options of movies.

We left Bangalore at around 5:50PM and it was supposed to be a night drive. I was home at 12:30 am or so which again means we covered the distance at a good speed with one break.

After long time I went on highway drive (actually after first week of March when I had gone on Gangtok Trip with XIMB friends).

Now I might again be going to Bangalore or some place near to it on the next weekend which is going to be an extended holiday with 15th August - India's Independence Day coming on Monday giving us Saturday, Sunday and Monday as holiday....WOW....Yipppeeee!!!!!

Hoping to go on that trip with the new camera - if I am able to get it today.....

Bangalore is becoming like a second home for me!!!!!

As the Weekend passes by (Updated)

Yet another week passes by and 2 months up in job. Wow I have survived two months and am still enjoying the job. Not many would say that. Lucky me ;-)

Well the weekend went by really well.....Saturday was yet another Saturday Night Fever....u can say a mini bachelors party...loads of masti non stop....it was a drunken revelry at best :D ;-)

And the best thing was the next day dad was supposed to come to my place and everything had to be set right. This task was handled with care and necessary cleaning up activity was carried out and successfully. It was great meeting him and this is for all the XIMBians reading this and who r in Chennai - "ghar se khaana aaya hai" come over.....

Am leaving for Bangalore on Wednesday afternoon. Yet Again!!!!!

Am eagerly waiting for purchasing my camera - the CANON EOS350D Digital SLR Camera. Haven't been able to go to market for a long time. But since am going to Bangalore am hoping to strike a good deal there. So Bangalore ki junta help me.....tell me where r good camera shops there who can give good deals do name smoe and tell where they are. Life feels so empty without a camera in hand....one hobby I wanna seriously pursue....my photoblog is feeling ignored. "Somebody, somebody help me"

Well over the last week a lot has been happening. Imagine in a day news channels had to cover three big reports - Mumbai floods, Gurgaon incident and Bombay High fire. Later on militant attack on Srinagar and also a attempted militant attack on Delhi. hoping things get better for this country soon. Since the year start one calamity after another is striking this country. And when will US of A realize that striking the root of all problems atleast minimizes the problem to manageable extent.

Now I will be blogging back after coming from Bangalore.

UPDATE: Well beat it...I went to see the movie "Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya" for the second time....I know its not worth that respect....but its better to go and see it with friends than sitting at home and doing nothing much....yeah its better to watch Katrina Kaif and Sushmita Sen than idling away to glory at home....

Night Time, Rock Show and Heavy RAINS!!!!!

As I am writing this blog, its raining pretty heavily outside.Chennai has been having amazing climate for last five days continuously. Sun has not shown its face.

Well weekend was amazing. Saturday evening....along with two friends I went for a Rock Show here in Chennai. Izaz was performing there. The band was good, nice smooth guitar works and most importantly - it was very different. It is a group from UK but having origin in Pakistan. The crowd was good [well that is understood ;-) ]. The show was going on fine and got better when rains started. Though thye show had to be stopped due to heavy rains. Still we waited there without any cover and got completely drenched in Chennai rains. Night Time, Rock Show and Heavy Rains - are a deadly combi. Fun to the max. I just love it. I love all the three things....so when got a chance to experience all three together so how could I not resist waiting there. All in all it was a SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER.

Now coming back was also quite a experience in itself. With rain showing no respite, we were forced to go out of the Open Air Theatre to the road in search of auto-rickshaw. Backed solidly by heavy rains and lack of availability of empty autos, the auto charges went soaring up - touching Rs. 100/- which we were not willing to pay for an auto -who in the world would be willing to pay that much for a Rs. 30/- ride. Again we spent around an hour on the road. Well - best was when there came another group - were forced to come out of shade since rain was not stopping and the young lady in their group came out to look for the auto - followed by two of her guy friends. She was determined to get the auto before we got. And alas she succeeded - she might have even got a good bargain, courtesy my friend (we 3 were guys) who was trying to get the auto was not that attractive ;-). Life is so biased against guys na.....

Then we decided to try to get the auto from the other side. Crossed and went on to the other side - to the Pizza Corner - we were all drenched and were in half mind whether to go in for a bite or not - courtesy the AC which was switched on inside. After waiting for auto for a real long time - we decided to go in and try and sit only to come out - WE WOULD HAVE CHILLED - the Pizza Corner guys weren't willing to adjust the AC temperature.....Again the bargaining process starts.....and after seeing off around 6 autos we finally managed to get one at 6o bucks. WE HAD TO PAY THAT -we had to reach home. There was no way I could have gone home that day - so stayed at my friends place, had dinner there and went back in morning.

I just love rains, I just love rock music and now I got enlightened about Chennai - so I just love this city too.... :D

Sunday went off lazing around at home....had a breakfast cooked by us..."egg bhurji" and it was good. Then had a nice sound sleep in the afternoon and again for dinner went out with friends to Pizza Corner.

Weekend went off well....and the next day - following the usual "MONDAY MORNING BLUES" I got up late- though managed to reach office on time, and before leaving office here I am typing this post and its raining....yet again....

The Chennai climate right now is nothing close to what I had been told it is during this time of the year.

Am happy - Life Rocks....

Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya

Well was in Bangalore this weekend.

Arey the mixup of the title and the above line can be very misleading. Am still single and was not meeting someone special in Bangalore.

Well had a great time in Bangalore. Met up with cousin bro n sis and many batchmates from XIMB. Its always great meeting up with old pals with whom one had spent 2 years in hostel. Also had great food - people going to Bangalore try out a restaurant - Angeethi near MG Road. Its really amazing and had really tasty Punjabi food there. Well weekends are time when there is absolutely no walking space in the two hot spots in Bangalore - M.G.Road/Brigade road and the Forum Mall. In Bangalore they really need to open more hep places to give the crowd living there more options to roam around and thus making these two places less cluttered. The city really needs to revamp its infrastructure big time. BUT, best part of stay were the two evenings which I spent there - it rained really heavily there - haven't experienced them yet in Chennai here and got drenched both days :D . Hoping someday a technology comes using which we can copy and paste the climate of one city over another - then we will copy and paste Bangalore's climate here in Chennai.

On Saturday saw the Salman Khan starrer - Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya. Well I can say only one thing - It's again a David Dhawan movie and he doesn't let you down. From start to end you will be laughing yourself out (TIP - Do not try to use your brains - and just incase if you have brains leave it at home or car or anywhere but leave it outside the hall). The whole hall was just laughing from start to end. In the very first scene itself, you are guaranteed to burst out. Sushmita Sen is again sizzling with and this time also in a Saree - she is looking amazing. Katrina Kaif thoroughly overshadowed by Sushmita's presence in the movie, still manages to make her presence felt - just by being there and just modelling arond with some acting. But she does look hot - but Sushmita sizzling hot - after all Katrina got chilled doing Just Chill. Yeah Katrina does look hot but needs to work on her acting a lot else she will just come in item numbers (JUST CHILL). That was a nice song and very well directed. The songs in the movie are good, the album can be bought. But go and watch it in a movie hall for once and have a great laugh - non stop - with the whole hall roaring. Sohail Khan gives bro Salman Khan a good competition - actually seems as if you are watching two Salman's acting. Well, movie has everything - great comedy [after a real long time] - Salman Khan [yet again topless - so females can have a yet another look] - Sushmita Sen and Katrina Kaif [Guys double treat for us all] - and all other great comedy actors playing their part really well.....

Its really sad that in some parts of the country the screening of the movie has been stopped and that too just by hearing of the tape - in which its not even sure whether the voice is of Salman Khan or not.

The life goes on.....

Well have now realised how important "Wednesday" is.It is a day after which the week actually starts looking bright. And this is not for just single person, but for most of the people who are working or in School (not college or not doing MBA).

After Wednesday the week seems as if its shrinking. I suppose it is the day after which the productivity of personnel might be at its peak - because of the happiness that weekend is nearing (and here I am blogging - performance mein count nahin hota - but still....)

Anyways, the week had been hectic till now and still is. But still - work is interesting and this is in itself a motivation.

Have been pondering on a question - should I or shouldn't I - go for a car?
Its gonna be a big expenditure - initially thinking a second hand Esteen/Honda City and later on after 2 years when enough savings are there I should go for a new car. Lets see what I decide upon.

Today in market there are so many exciting hi-tech products and I feel like getting some of them asap - Canon EOS 350D (Digital SLR Cam) and a PDA Phone to start off with.

Have to explore Chennai also and some surrounding areas, but this weekend most probably am gonna land up in Bangalore.

Liking this city - its very mixed and hopefully its a trend happening. Mostly the city is conservative, but there are pockets where one can feel at ease. The people are nice, they try to understand you - there was time when auto wallahs would simply ignore you - not today - though they fleece u - but unlike what happens in Bangalore. Best thing is the cost of living is best for the person who is starting to earn. Loads can be saved. The best transport which I liked here has been Shared Auto concept and it is really amazing. In this the auto (bigger than normal ones) will not take only one person or small group, but will try to carry many other people on the route in which they operate. and will charge u a small fraction of total cost - which is fixed and thus no arguments. Also, the cost of pubbing is really low compared to other metros. The only grouse is the rains - when it rains here it is just small drizzle for 10 mins. Have heard it will rain here big time in retreating monsoons (October) - lets see [wait and watch for the update on that]. Also will keep on updating about the city as and when I experience anything more.

Another interesting stuff happening is how technology is making life difficult for celebs. The DPS - MMS was just a start. What followed has been more of invasion of privacy or use of technology for keeping oneself in news by celebs - one will never know this. There have been three mobile cam video recording leakages into media (public arena) - Kareena Kapoor and Shahid, then Riya Sen and now Mallika Sherawat (though it was not her in video but someone of close resemblance). So this is just a trend starting. Most mobile phones are now equipped with cams with video recording capability and the quality is good. It's now on us how we use technology. This has always been an issue with technology - is it bad or good - this depends on how we use it. And as technology advances making laws for their proper use becomes more and more difficult. We should adopt new technology (else how will people like me achieve targets) - but then we should use them not for invading someone's privacy or for any unsuitable purpose.

Thank God its Saturday

wat to do...its saturday...sittin in office......working on projected cash flows...

waitin for evenin....wen i hope to GET FREE and tom is off....ONE DAY WEEKEND

People across the world say - TGIF - Thank God its Friday - but there are many people like me who say TGIS - Thank God its Saturday...........

aha finally weather in Chennai seems to be improving somewhat....i hope it stays like this for a long time.Yesterday, finally got drenched in the first major Chennai rains of this season - FINALLY - after a long time. It always feels so good getting drenched in rains. Miss those Bhubaneswar rains so much now. During this season rains were a regular feature there. Almost everyday and almost for whole day. Day in day out rains. Open the windows of ur room and u may very well wake up without the need for having a bath that day.

And today sun aint showing its face. The sky is cloudy, the climate is neither HOT/HOTTER/HOTTEST infact cool. Slept without switching on AC (cost cutting - baniya in action).

And what is happening this monsoons - heard that Delhi was under flood threat (on NDTV - one of the few channels here wich we can understand), Gujarat already bore the brunt, MP realing under it (rains for 5 days continuously finally stopped), rivers in Himachal Pradesh and J&K also overflowing big time (seen the shots in news channels - and its way too scary). Orissa will soon be under floods after a real hot season there. Freak snowfall happened in Himachal Pradesh (i think) - in this month.

Firstly Tsunami, then came heavy snowfalls (unprecedented), then extremes of heat and water problem, and now excess (too much) of water.....wat next from Nature's side. How much of Nature's fury will this country have to bear during this year.

Before monsoon session started the political parties got a major debating point - Ayodhya attacks and now no one knows will this session ever happen. BJP might this time around boycott until the Government takes the action which it demands - as L.K. Advani says - build the Ram Temple at the site and all the countries problems will be solved - even Terrorism. If it was all that easy, why the hell did not BJP do that in their rule and then they could have taken a credit for eliminating terrorism. Even US of A should co-operate with BJP - easiest way to bring terrorism to an end.

Thank God tomorrow is Sunday.... many friends here from XIMB...after a whole week will be meeting them and many more whom I have not met for a long time....

Shaking Dreams......

On Reaching office at 8:15AM what better thing can describe the experience - the only thing coming to my mind is a Poem/Song byThe Doors - Awake. This is how they used to start there live performances normally...

It Goes on as follows:

"Is everybody in?
Is everybody in?
Is everybody in?
The ceremony is about to begin.

Wake up!

You can't remember where it was
Had this dream stopped?

Awake

Shake dreams from your hair
My pretty child, my sweet one.
Choose the day and choose the sign of your day
The day's divinity
First thing you see."

Ok am slowly adjusting to the timings now. But then am not comfortable sleeping of early.

And today or tomorrow hoping to get a huge speaker and sub-woofer set and have some head banging after some real long time. Its been ages since I have heard "Burn by Deep Purple" at full volume. The drum rolls and the guitar rolls - Ritchie is amazing toooooooo goooooood toooooo beeeeeee truuuuuueeeeeee on guitar. Even todays guitar god - Joe Satriani praises him.

Music whatever kind one is listening to does keep on giving the required momentum to ones life. Luckily my phone can keep some MP3s and play them really well...so that has been providing some respite.

and in the end with today being Friday - again The Doors - Break on through to the other side

"Made the scene
Week to week
Day to day
Hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side"
AND THE CORPORATE RAINDANCE CONTINUES.........week on week, day on day hour on hour...with the coffee driving you through the day......

Still enjoying it till now.....hoping it stays the way its going or gets better....

All Marketers are Liars

Hmmmm interesting...finally I decode my career...finally get to know what I have to keep on doing to be successful.... "All I have to do is lie"

Now thats where the catch is...

"Marketers aren't really liars, they are just really good at telling stories which customer wants to listen"-Seth Godin (in book - All Marketers are Liars"

There is a limitation to telling stories - Marketer MUST tell stories which matches with the viewpoint of his audience - else will the audience believe? NO and he fails.

This is how all these fairness creams are earning big time. They are selling you a story that you want to believe - see any advt. - most of these are today concentrating on girls getting jobs by using "XYZ Fairness Cream". This is a central story being used on our television. and are people buying it - YES.
End result, customer willingly fooled. Customer was made to accept a story which he/she would believe.

And from there the Book "The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big Difference" takes over the mantle.
Once the people start believing your stories, they will spread it on their own - "WORD OF MOUTH ADVERTISING" - The best thing which can happen to a product.

The Best example for this is the Apple iPod.
It wasn't the first MP3 player with hard disk available on the market. But its the product which now is earning Apple more money than its Macs. Why?
They had a simple product - concentrating on just small compact design, easy PC Connectivity and Good battery life. Today it has a whopping 65% market share in portable MP3 players and tooooo whopping 92% market share in hard disk based MP3 Players. It was launched in November 2001 and took over 1 and a half years to start on a path of success by clocking 1 million sales count. It took a real long time for that. But after that there was no stopping. Today it has crossed 6 million sales.

What made iPod a hit, while others could only just watch and actually could do nothing. Even Microsoft till date is only looking and doesn/t know what to do.
Here comes the marketer. Am sure the person who devised the marketing strategy for iPod should be a marketing god. Just look through any of the iPod advts. and you can see where they sold. Simplicity, small size-huge space and good battery life were onething. There were many who had similar or more offerings - Creative and Dell and many more. But then Apple positioned it as a "Must have Fashion Accessory" and this accessory was affordable for the targetted segment of students and young professionals.There was a coolness factor associated with it.

Steve Jobs rightfully says - iPod has become a cultural phenomenon.

Apple is depending a lot on Word of Mouth. Now iPod is more of a success because of the Network Effect - there is a huge iPod community which is growing and many more people wanna be a part of it - I ALSO WANNA HAVE ONE....maybe soon I will be an iPodder.

As one iPod user said: "It's a society within itself. You've got your biker community, your hip-hop community and now you've got your iPod community. It's all about those wires."

The essence of the communication from Apple was basically that you wear iPod and not own iPod. This made it an essential, just like you wear clothes.

So iPod continues to live on with its new offering iPod shuffle being a major success - even though there are competitors like Creative (also some other brands or non-brands) with products cheaper and having more features than iPod shuffle.

But then to this story telling there is a limitation - it should be authentic and in no way way should the marketer try to be a fraud.

Currently Reading: The Tipping Point
Plan to Read: All Marketers are Liars

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