PEEPLI LIVE

Well, sitting alone in my room nothing to do, I decided to watch PEEPLI LIVE.

First, I thought it might b lke a documentary commenting on the sucide issue of farmers,(as only knew that it’s a Kiran Rao movie, havnt even seen the promos).But I quite like the movie .
It maily focuses on the poorest of the poor in India and highlights the plight of a farmer in a tiny corner of a our giant country ‘INDIA’, but also throws light on the varied people who exploit the situation to their advantage, right from the politicians to the bureaucrats to the television reporters to the local people.It gives a 360 degree treatment to the issue involving the Farmers,Medai,& our very own 'janta ke sewak' politicians.

The remarkable think about the movie is that it depicts the functioning of media in India and how media persons, depicted as vultures, generally stoop to the lowest levels to increase the ratings of their television channel/show.

The Best thing is the film is not pleading for any kind of solution to the issues highlighted .It I a kind of platform that the makers have used to discuss bureaucracy, the rural and urban divide and lack of concern of the administration.

Talking about the performaces, As it is a AAMir Khan Production, the actors are performed marvelously.
Not even at a single point of time , you will feel that you are not in a village scenario, specifically I like Natha’s Mother & Wife’s character d most. The Punches they share was outstanding n actually make u laugh.

What is differentiable is that it is not like a typical bollywood masala movie , nor is a parallel cinema.Its a entertainer that does give a message through an unhandled issuewith utmost sensitivity & maturity.

My Final Verdict would be brilliant script that brilliantly directed by anush. A must watch light satire -a dark subject matter which is dealt with in a delightfully humorous manner

Just a thought

Days pass by somehow
But, nights are now a wagon of pain,
Injuries may heal with time
But marks will always remain,
Restless on my comfortable bed
I toss and turn and try to sleep
But thoughts are bulking my head
And have formed a huge heap
The past is flashing its scorching light beams
Tearing me apart, breaking me at the seams,
The darkness of my life is more visible in the dark
And now, I am trying to give it a voice, trying to speak my heart.

Social, selfish,solitude !!!

You can't teach anyone anything about life through your own experiences, least of all how to enjoy solitude. I would know. If someone had told me being alone could be a fun thing, I would have totally disbelieved it some time back. I'm a people's person, I love being around people, albeit people I like. But four years spent in Mumbai taught me that there could be a thing like solitude, and it could be different from loneliness.

There is a very thin line between the two, you know. How easy it is to wallow into a sense of piteous loneliness and how easy to love the me-time and enjoy the solitude. I've done both while staying by myself, but mostly the latter. I've lived that time like... myself. Uninterrupted. Unadulterated. And loved it. More than I thought I was capable of!

But I think I came back home in time. Left alone any longer, I would have got addicted to my independence, the freedom to do what I wanted to, when and how. I'm glad I came back home to friends and family before I reached a point of no return. And I don't say that cynically. Because solitude is a selfish mode of existence. It's so much about yourself that if you begin to enjoy it too much, everyone else's company becomes dispensable. And adjustments unnecessary.

But such is not the luxury that life affords people who've chosen to live like social beings. And I'm not even sure if I would think solitude was a luxury if it were to be mine permanently. Right now, I only treasure times I've spent alone as precious reprieve from so much cackle. Right now, I only know what both sides of the fence feel like.

What was going on...

Right after dinner, just as I was enjoying my hot cup of tea in this chilling rainy day and glancing through the paper,

R- So M, when are you getting married??

Me- Wha.....?

R- Well, time is running out you know. And you're not getting any younger. Also, you being a girl, your biological clock is ticking.

Kit- Yes , when are you getting married?! What are you doing?!!

Me- Hey, I....

R- Okay lets see...so after you get married you'll have a reception in Bombay right? or Nagpur Awesome. We'll all come down to Bombay!

QR- Oh yes ofcourse. We are definitely coming down.

Kit- Yeah dude, there are awesome nightclubs in Bombay. We should party it up and ofcourse attend her reception too. Don't worry M, ofcourse we'll take you along. So, reception in Bombay. Pakka na?

Me- Wait a......(I thought, These guys are weddng planners or wht, n why d hell d place is mumbai..just bcoz m workng here . God knws y )

R- Man, it will be so much fun! Okay M, there will be a reception in homwtown too I suppose? I am definitely coming at the reception too okay! I loved it!

Kit- Hey JJ, you can drive down from KL right?
JJ- Yeah ofcourse!

QR- But M, you have to tell me way in advance okay, because I would have to book my tickets way earlier since I'll be coming from Canada.

R- See M, how excited we are about your wedding! Don't worry, w
e'll plan everything. Btw, what do you want for a gift?

Kit- Dude, are your friends hot? Can I hook up with one of them at your reception?

JJ- Yeah , are they hot? Cos' we need hot girls at your reception. You know......for us.
R,QR, Kit, JJ- So WHEN are you getting married?!!?!?!

Me- *****B.I.G. G.U.L.P***** (Mumbai,US. ??? , marriage, reception. @@%*## I#@@#..


This is one of those rare occasions when that little voice inside of you, which otherwise keeps saying, "I'm a woman. Hear me roar", just doesn't do anything for you. Simply because that tiny voice inside is violently hushed by these incessant questions from my very dear friends, and has sent me into a complete state of panic. Here I am, surrounded by four boys, who are not only interrogating me about my wedding plans (which is nowhere in the agenda right now, by the way!) but they are also making more than half of the plans for me! In a time span of just five minutes, these four boys have not only given me a mini heart-attack, but have also successfully asserted the fact that "I am getting old" and that my "biological clock is ticking". Two things a gal hates to hear, but for some peculiar reason, these indispensable men in my life clearly felt the need to throw them in my face. Jaws dropping on the table, eyeballs popping out of their sockets, heart-beat stopping for a nanosecond, feet literally getting cold- that is how I reacted. Oh and to make matters even worse, while other brides worry about their make-up and their outfit and the flower arrangements at their reception, I will be worrying about my friend hooking up with some girl right under my nose at my goddamn reception.


Some wise man said, "You can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends". Pfffft! Look what I chose!

Top 10- world's most admired companies

Company: Apple Rank 1:

Apple Inc is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers.

The company’s best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry.

This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand.

Company: Google
Rank: 2

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day.

Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets.

Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users.

Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Company: Berkshire Hathaway
Rank: 3

Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, US, that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies.

Warren Buffett is the company's chairman and CEO. Berkshire now owns a diverse range of businesses including railroads, candy production, retail, home furnishings, encyclopedias, vacuum cleaners, jewelry sales; newspaper publishing; manufacture and distribution of uniforms; as well as several regional electric and gas utilities.

The company has averaged an annual growth in book value of 20.3% to its shareholders for the last 44 years, while employing large amounts of capital, and minimal debt.

Company: Johnson & Johnson
Rank: 4

Johnson & Johnson is a global pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer.

It founded more than 120 years ago, and has more than 250 operating companies in 57 countries employing approximately 114,000 people.

Its consumer products, prescription medicines and medical devices and diagnostics impact the state of health care for patients, doctors, and nurses around the world. Since the 1900s, the company has pursued steady diversification.

Company: Amazon.com
Rank: 5

Amazon.com, Inc, a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers earth’s biggest selection.

Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of new, refurbished and used items in categories such as books; movies, music & games; digital downloads; electronics & computers; home & garden; toys, kids & baby; grocery; apparel, shoes & jewelry; health & beauty; sports & outdoors; and tools, auto & industrial.

Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business.

Company: Procter & Gamble
Rank: 6

P&G is a global, publicly-traded Fortune 500 company. It is the largest consumer packaged goods company in the world. Four billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world.

The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers, Tide, Ariel, Always, Whisper, Pantene, Mach3, Bounty, Dawn, Gain, Pringles, Charmin, Downy, Lenor, Iams, Crest, Oral-B, Duracell, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Wella, Gillette, Braun and Fusion.

The P&G community includes approximately 135,000 employees working in about 80 countries worldwide.

Company: Toyota Motor
Rank: 7

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor is the world’s largest automaker with over 7.567 million vehicles in FY2009.

Toyota’s sales are concentrated in Japan and North America, but have seen rapid growth in Asia and South America.

During the last 10 years, Toyota has seen a big increase in international sales and production. Since 2003, the pace of expansion has exceeded half a million vehicles a year.

Company: Goldman Sachs
Rank: 8

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals.

Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.

Company: Wal-Mart
Rank: 9

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (branded as Walmart) is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores.

Wal-Mart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,446 retail units under 55 different banners in 15 countries.

With fiscal year 2010 sales of $405 billion, Wal-Mart employs more than 2.1 million associates worldwide. Wal-Mart was founded in 1962, with the opening of the first Wal-Mart discount store in Rogers, Ark.

The company incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, on October 31, 1969.

Company: Coca-Cola
Rank: 10

The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands.

Along with Coca-Cola, recognized as the world’s most valuable brand, the company’s portfolio includes 12 other billion dollar brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply and Georgia Coffee.

Through the world’s largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the company’s beverages at a rate of 1.6.


List prepared by Fortune and Hay Group.

Source: economictimes.

arre yaar, yeh to 'kaccha Nimbu hain'..

'Kaccha Nimbu' is a concept. To those who are not familiar with it - heres a brief description; 'Kaccha Nimbu' literally means unripe lime - its a term used to refer a kid who either because of age or because of physical injury can not play a sport with other kids on equal terms. Say for example, you got a sprained ankle, but you still want to play dodge ball with your friends, so you take part in the game as a 'Kaccha Nimbu', or theres a kid who is too small to play, small in age, small in his body frame - but the kid still wants to play - and everyone else is big, then you let the kid play as a 'Kaccha Nimbu'.

Being a 'Kaccha Nimbu' offers delightful privileges; if you are playing cricket and you get 'Out' you can still bat one more time, if you are playing carom, you can place your striker any where on the board and hit anything you want, you can even drag the queen piece into your favorite pocket and no one will say anything - "He's kaccha nimbu re!"

As you grow adult, slowly the 'kaccha nimbu' opportunities die away. Till a time comes when you can no longer play as a 'kaccha nimbu'. I remember,had just finished my third semester as an international graduate student - having to deal with tedious projects and endless submissions - I was really really wishing some one in my graduate school would let me play 'kaccha nimbu' for the last week of the semester.

There is an archetypal cliche; "No one is perfect" - yet I do not accept this as an excuse for not trying, neither do I tolerate flaws in character under the disguise of so called 'imperfection'. But often times in dealing with an imperfect world, I have been bogged down and frustrated to infinity by the burden of my self imposed rules. And in those times, I wish I can play a 'kaccha nimbu' with my rules. But thou hath not this chance - for thou hath grown up now. And since when were principles negotiable any ways ??

May be it is a force of nature or the imperativeness of age - At least companionship to start with. Some one who will come to you and say - take a break, some one who will let me be a 'kaccha-nimbu' with him. Some one who would tolerate albeit for a short time. Some one who can understand that subtle and unsaid desire that each person has of being a 'Kaccha-Nimbu' .....

A letter to you..

After years of feeling lost, frustrated with what I have and scared to explore anything deeper, I’ve now resigned myself to this connection that we have because I can no longer deny the pull I have towards you, magnetic almost, inexplicable, unnatural even.

I was a lone ranger before I met you, convinced that I wasn’t going to find anything to satisfy me. But soon enough everyone told me to take the plunge. “Don’t over think it, they chided me, as if they had all attained nirvana. All of a sudden I felt peer pressured, and it made me even wearier at the thought of you.

I remember the first time we met. I was nervous, obviously, unsure of what to expect and how to feel. We got to know each other quickly, but it never felt rushed. Sitting up late into the night, I marveled at your body and the simplicity with which we communicated. When I touched you, you connected me and over time, you made it easier for me to interact with my friends. We made a great team, you and I, and everyone told me so. With you around, there was so much incoming in my life and somehow, you made everything better. You’ve been the first thing I want to look at every morning, and you’ve always shown up when I’ve needed you.

Do you remember the day I thought I lost you? You really don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone and the memory of that day still raises my heartbeat. I’ve taken you for granted so many times, tossed you to the side when something more important has come along but I’ve always valued what you’ve brought to my life, and for that, you will always be more special than the rest. I’ve tried to change you even. Change the way you look, the way you sound. I’ve wanted you to be a cut above the rest, even if it cost me a packet.

I think we’re on the verge of a break. This is the really hard part.

I feel like you’re consuming me. Waking up to you has become a chore, an obligation that stifles me. I feel we’ve stagnated, and have fallen into a rut. I sometimes wonder how we got here. I used to be able to spend hours discovering every facet of you, exploring the intricacies of your character, studying you, taking you in. Now there’s no surprise, nothing new to keep me excited. Sometimes I feel I push you too hard, and I’m scared that you may one day shut down on me. I don’t want to live in that fear anymore. I don’t want to go through the anxiety I feel when you tell me you’re drained from all my chatter. I think it’s time to move on, because now the more I look at you, the more faults in you I find.

Cheating on you is not an option. We’ve done too much together and have been too intimate for me to just discard you. We have to end this with the same disclosure with which we began. You have to know that there will never be anyone like you and that replacing you will not be easy. A part of me wants to just cut off from the world for a while, disconnect completely. I know a part of this is because I don’t know what life will be like after you, just like I can never imagine a life before you. You’ve been with me through my toughest year, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

So, my darling blackberry, I think our journey ends here. I need something new in my life, and trust me when I say, it’s not you, and really, it’s not me, it’s just the ever-changing face of technology. Nothing lasts forever in my business, and it seems the same applies for yours. Think of me fondly, and I’ll always remember your murmuring warmth, nestled against my ear, feeding me news of the world, no matter what the hour. I have to set you down now and step away, because true to your name, your hold on me is just too bold.

Lies..

Why DO we Lie...Hmm, ya, seriously answer it.. Sometimes to hide wht wrong we hav done to someone, to giv surprise , sometimes , its better to lie for someones benefit, what ever may b the reason , but we all lie at somepoint of time to someone or the other..
But in a relationship, is it Ethichally right to Lie...???
Lies, by no doubt, are the most hated thing in a relationship. It leads to deceit, betrayal, infidelity and all their synonyms. It’s seen as one thing that can break the relation in such a way that nothing could ever set things right again. It taints the pretty picture with unsettling dark strokes on the canvas of the bond; thus the marks never go.

However, this is all a stereotypical behavior observed by most humans. We detest it when someone else does it, but unconsciously (of course, most of us are quite conscious) we do it in every aspect of our life. Over the years, courtesy of Religion, Moral Values, Human Rights and Ethical codes etc…“lies” have been given a bad name. It’s not understood properly (at least in most cases). Lying is one of the fundamental evils, I concur, but it’s not just that. Through open observation one can see its neutrality. It’s often used for vile purposes, but just because of its wide application in that goal, are we to completely rule out the other subtle benefits? Lying is one of the key factors in survival, happiness and a prosperous and healthy relationship.

Lies in a relationship keep it well formed and healthy. There are always time when some of our actions or comments might hurt the other person in variable ways, which can hardly be imagined before ever doing the action or making the comment. We humans are the most complex of organisms, and no matter how much you know a person and from how long, it all boils down to the fact that, there is always room for unpredictability, irrational behavior and complete misunderstanding.

There are various factors involved; situation, environment, history, time, personality etc and it’s absurd to think that one would know all the factors about a person at all times. We mistake, we mess up, and things can go wrong involuntarily. But it surely does not mean that one’s intentions were in agreement (at least, it’s nice to think so…but of course, we all have our share in diplomacy). In such situations honesty teaches us to tell the truth, but should we really listen to it’s teachings at that moment? It’s all fancy and dandy to talk about how honest and truthful a relationship should be. But unfortunately (though I don’t think it’s unfortunate but still I used the word for the convenience of the people) such relationships can never last long. It’s a fact that the more honest and truthful you are to someone, its not going to go in his/her good books. Humans keep grudges, they can’t forgive easily, though on the face they would seem as they have liked you for telling the truth but inside that crack never goes. And they are not to be blamed, they can’t help it. Things would hardly remain the same if your friend comes today and tell you that he betrayed you in such and such ways and he is utterly ashamed. No matter how ashamed one is, it’s not about that…the moment you tell it, is the moment of change…the whole image of you in his/her mind distorts.

So what can one do? Of course, lie. Lies can set things right, they can provide an opening, a second chance to not repeat a mistake, a way to not lose a person. How often small things stack up and become the cause for the asunder of years of cherished relation. Lies can give you those small tools to keep someone happy, why not lie the next time your friend asks about your whereabouts for you were to be at his/her place, why not lie about your true feeling about a particular characteristic of someone close, why not lie the next time you cheat (though, we hardly tell the truth ever in that department). Yes, as you might’ve observed we do all these things already, but here is a problem…Most of us afterward, have guilty conscience, because we think that it’s somehow unfaithful to lie. This is what I want to object on, it’s not unfaithful to lie, it’s just something to keep things in order and it’s natural. And if you rationalize, it’s a necessary evil devised for the long term benefits. One shouldn’t feel guilty, because it’s done for the other person, to make him/her feel comfortable and so the relation would remain healthy. However, it comes with a simple condition of sincerity, all of this aforementioned idea is only applicable when the lier is truly sincere to the other person. And because of this sincerity, one cannot argue that it’s the same as pretending. If you haven’t noticed in the whole idea, it would be worth mentioning that on a deeper level pretense is completely a different thing than what I am talking about here. On the surface it might seem as if I am saying to pretend and fake your emotions etc but all I am doing is providing an another vantage point, sincerity is the driving force in it, on the other hand without sincerity a lie is nothing more than the corrupt diplomacy forged to use the people for personal aims

I am not saying that “It’s ‘right’ to lie” (however, right itself is an ambiguity), but I am portraying the idea of lying from a positive angle.

I wrote this sometime back while observing some people in different relationships...what are your experiences?

Lies are like children: they’re hard work, but it’s worth it because the future depends on them

What's Wrong with me..

I ask myself that constantly. Constantly. I mean, it's just so unreal how I've come to be here! The Guy and I look at each other disbelieving-ly, shocked at where we've landed ourselves. This was not part of our original plan, the one we made right at the start.
n seriously, wht is wrong with me...I suppose i m a bit bi-polar in nature..
I'd be lying if I said I'm not scared. I'm scared stiff. I've psyched myself to believe this is going to be a lot of fun, numbing myself to thoughts of uncertainty and self-doubt. What else is there to do? I can't go back now.

But I have a list of things that I've drawn up under the head of 'Worst case scenario' in my head. What's the worst thing that can happen to me as a result of the decision I've taken. It goes something like this:

1. I'll spend hours commuting to and fro from the office.
Upside: Good. That will leave me with lesser time to be alone.

2. I'll have to work long hours, survive erratic timings.
Upside: Better still. That will leave me with still lesser time to miss Lucknow.

3.I won't get enough and good food to eat.
Upside: I'll lose some unwanted weight!

4. Office politics. They'll all hate me, be mean to me.
Upside: I'll better my art of ignoring irrelevant people.

5. I won't be able to cope up, not at all, with any of it - the emotional and the professional pressure.
Upside: What have I to lose? I'll go home just the way I came here. And be happy I tried at least.

6.I wont b able to handle crowdy palces like malls & clubs( I actually scares of)
Upside : What I have to do with the ppl, njoy d place not d ppl.

7. Left with no friends
Upside : Uptil now, I never had a permanent Friendship(atleast with Girls..ahhh).,all lie at all times, but it actually matters me a lot..Ironically, as for short snap be, they were d closest one to me n vise-versa..

And that last bit just makes me feel so much better. To have a home to go back to is all you can ask for in the worst of times. And I'm supposed to be having a good time! Nay?

Its not all about money honey..

So, Wht to begin with,..hmm..
Let me begin with a question. How much money is 'good enough' to leave peacefully? I realize it is an open-ended question with no possible consensus reply. But what I am trying to ask is, do we all really believe that money is merely a way of securing a peaceful life? If yes, then should we not also know how much is enough? On the other hand, if money is not the mean but the target itself, what's the target amount you are trying to reach? Is there a quantifiable answer to it?

I am fortunate enough to be at a stage of life where survival is not my main target. This is the case with a lot of people I know - my friends, my cousins, my seniors, etc. Lot of us earn substantially higher than our basic needs. Most of us also earn much above even our luzury needs that we enjoy. Most of us earn enough to take our families out for a movie or dinner few times a month. We earn enough to enjoy a couple of vacations in a year to a far-away place, away from the routine. Sure, we need money to do all this and more. Point is, many of us are earning much more than what you need to do all this. Day in and day out we are slogging out in our lives to get that higher increment or a super bonus that marginally/incrementally goes into our savings and not towards luxury spending. Saving for an uncertain future perhaps. Despite all this, I strongly feel a lot of us are giving way too much importance to money and financial safety, thinking about not just the next year or two but even 10 years and 20 years down the line. If this is how it goes, money will hypnotize us and leave us drained and dead even before we are actually dead.

I have two points to add further. First is the happiness quotient. If the money-making efforts are making you truly blissful, then half the problem is taken care of. You are not killing yourself internally for a secure future. However, is this not a rarity? Lot of us crib about not having enough time and mind-space to live for ourselves. The attempt to get 'work-life balance' has caught up in a big way among corporate executives. Clearly so, there seems to be an unhappy inner self even as the outer self is busy chasing the money targets. That, to my mind, is a problem one must address. If more money does not make you more happy on a daily basis (and not at a future unknown point in time), then we ought to change few things around.

Now, let's assume one is indeed blissful in doing things that consequently results in money being created. Case in point would be a sportsman, an actor, a painter, a musician or a CA for that matter who loves what she does. Even then, I have an inkling that there is something not-so-right. That's my second pointer. I cannot see a lot of sense in a situation where someone tries to achieve a separate room for each member of his family (by purchasing a 3BHK flat, for instance) at a time when some of them around in this world cannot afford a single small room for 10 of them put together. I am not intending to sound 'socialistic' here. Question that disturbs me is, do the money making people not think about the relatively under-privileged soceity? I am not taking anything away from people who make money. Surely they are extremly skilled and work hard to earn whatever they do. But, do they not believe that once they reach that point of security, they can then try to help somebody else around to get to security as well? Like as if we are one big family in this world and we seek & help each other out? Can we not do that more often than not? Can there be no collective efforts towards that? Or do we remain self-centered as always? Do we simply add more luxuries to our own wealth & lives, and may be end up not even enjoying them. By upgrading from a 21-inch TV to a super big Plasma, when life is so reckless & fast that we spend only a few hours in front of the TV. If that's the case, wasn't the decision to upgrade the TV just a symbolic gesture to tell the society around that you are a wealthy person and ought to be respected? TV is just an example, we could be spending our money in a lot of other ways.

I read this somewhere recently (I think it was Sri Sri Ravishankar who said this) that our education system needs to be modified to include two more things in it right from grass-root levels: a little bit about Philospohy and a little bit about Philanthropy. I totally agree. This will add a sense of perspective in our lives and see things in a different manner. We will be more compassionate and less wasteful in our attitudes.

I have asked myself how much money is 'secure' enough for my family. Working to reach that number and then trying to spread out for others is what my motto is. If you think this way of living makes sense, then ask yourself how much money is 'secure' enough for your family and their needs. Then work hard to reach a level where even 'ancilliary' works or more proper part-time that does not consume all of your time will help you earn that bit. Rest of the time can be used to make this whole world a much better place. This is where education helps. A professional degree like MBBS or CA must be used to make our lives less complicated and easier. Unfortunately, we use these degrees to challenge ourselves to earn some obscenely high amount of money and screw up our own happiness in the process.

I began with a question. Let me end with a beautifully worded line that I read as the status message of one of my friends and is apt here. A perfection of means & confusion of aims seems to be our main problem.
...

who is the owner??

I read this statement recently and was quite struck by it: Things that you own now will end up owning you someday.

It is an extremely powerful thought. Loved it. It has been running inside my head since the moment I read it. Today, as I was having a conversation with my professor, he shared a beautiful story with me. It goes like this:

One fine day, while a sage is giving a discourse to his disciples, a man comes walking with his cow. The sage says to his disciples "See there, a man and a cow are coming together". The man hears this and gets a little agitated. He tells the sage "Hey old man, we are not coming together. You cannot put it like that." The sage replies "Oh yes, you are right. I am sorry. I will correct myself." He then tells his disciples "The cow is bringing the man". This makes the man very angry. He yells at the sage "Are you crazy? The cow is not bringing me. I am bringing it. I am controlling it. Do you understand?". To this, the sage replies beautifully saying "Sorry boy. The way I see it, the cow is bringing you alongwith it. If you leave the cow alone, it will still keep walking on its own, peacefully, without your help. But if it leaves you, can you do the same? So who's controlling whom?"

Awesome story. Hope you understand the gist and the message.

So, are you owning things or are they owning you?

"Have Breakfast… or…Be Breakfast!"

Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?


Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. Answer is none of the above. The winner is Nokia whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cell phones.

Reason being cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling stand alone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all. One can only hope the Sonys and Canons are taking note.


Try this. Who is the biggest in music business in India? You think it is HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma? Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel makes more than what music companies make by selling music albums (that run for hours).

Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscriber base in India. That sort of competitor is difficult to detect, even more difficult to beat (by the time you have identified him he has already gone past you). But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing easy you can't be farther from truth.


Nokia confessed that they all but missed the smartphone bus. They admit that Apple's Iphone and Google's Android can make life difficult in future. But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you? If these illustrations mean anything, there is a bigger game unfolding. It is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails?



The "Mahabharat" (the great Indian epic battle) is about "what is tomorrow's personal digital device"? Will it be a souped up mobile or a palmtop with a telephone? All these are little wars that add up to that big battle. Hiding behind all these wars is a gem of a question – "who is my competitor?"


Once in a while, to intrigue my students I toss a question at them. It says "What Apple did to Sony, Sony did to Kodak, explain?" The smart ones get the answer almost immediately. Sony defined its market as audio (music from the walkman). They never expected an IT company like Apple to encroach into their audio domain. Come to think of it, is it really surprising? Apple as a computer maker has both audio and video capabilities. So what made Sony think he won't compete on pure audio? "Elementary Watson". So also Kodak defined its business as film cameras, Sony defines its businesses as "digital."



In digital camera the two markets perfectly meshed. Kodak was torn between going digital and sacrificing money on camera film or staying with films and getting left behind in digital technology. Left undecided it lost in both. It had to. It did not ask the question "who is my competitor for tomorrow?" The same was true for IBM whose mainframe revenue prevented it from seeing the PC. The same was true of Bill Gates who declared "internet is a fad!" and then turned around to bundle the browser with windows to bury Netscape. The point is not who is today's competitor. Today's competitor is obvious. Tomorrow's is not.

In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways in India? Singapore airlines? Better still, Indian airlines? Maybe, but there are better answers. There are competitors that can hurt all these airlines and others not mentioned. The answer is videoconferencing and telepresence services of HP and Cisco. Travel dropped due to recession. Senior IT executives in India and abroad were compelled by their head quarters to use videoconferencing to shrink travel budget. So much so, that the mad scramble for American visas from Indian techies was nowhere in sight in 2008. (India has a quota of something like 65,000 visas to the U.S. They were going a-begging. Blame it on recession!). So far so good. But to think that the airlines will be back in business post recession is something I would not bet on. In short term yes. In long term a resounding no. Remember, if there is one place where Newton's law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware. Between 1977 and 1991 the prices of the now dead VCR (parent of Blue-Ray disc player) crashed to one-third of its original level in India. PC's price dropped from hundreds of thousands of rupees to tens of thousands. If this trend repeats then telepresence prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then. As it is not many are making money. Then it will surely be RIP!


India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly different. So were the icons. The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag. The filmi gods were the Khans (Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and the other Khans who followed suit). That was, when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50 over cricket. Then came IPL and the two markets collapsed into one. IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs. Suddenly an IPL match was reduced to the length of a 3 hour movie. Cricket became film's competitor. On the eve of IPL matches movie halls ran empty. Desperate multiplex owners requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls to hang on to the audience. If IPL were to become the mainstay of cricket, as it is likely to be, films have to sequence their releases so as not clash with IPL matches. As far as the audience is concerned both are what in India are called 3 hour "tamasha" (entertainment). Cricket season might push films out of the market.




Look at the products that vanished from India in the last 20 years. When did you last see a black and white movie? When did you last use a fountain pen? When did you last type on a typewriter? The answer for all the above is "I don't remember!" For some time there was a mild substitute for the typewriter called electronic typewriter that had limited memory. Then came the computer and mowed them all. Today most technologically challenged guys like me use the computer as an upgraded typewriter. Typewriters per se are nowhere to be seen.


One last illustration. 20 years back what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning? The answer is "alarm clock." The alarm clock was a monster made of mechanical springs. It had to be physically keyed every day to keep it running. It made so much noise by way of alarm, that it woke you up and the rest of the colony. Then came quartz clocks which were sleeker. They were much more gentle though still quaintly called "alarms." What do we use today for waking up in the morning? Cellphone! An entire industry of clocks disappeared without warning thanks to cell phones. Big watch companies like Titan were the losers. You never know in which bush your competitor is hiding!


On a lighter vein, who are the competitors for authors? Joke spewing machines? (Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, himself a Pole, tagged a Polish joke telling machine to a telephone much to the mirth of Silicon Valley). Or will the competition be story telling robots? Future is scary! The boss of an IT company once said something interesting about the animal called competition. He said "Have breakfast …or…. be breakfast"! That sums it up rather neatly.

( Source : Dr. Y. L. R. Moorthi is a professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. He is an M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and a post graduate in management from IIM, Bangalore & I was fortunate to assist him )

Not feeling Well..

Due to 3 idoits air in the atmosphere...everyaround is like...all izz Well....all izz well...but frm ystrday,i m actually not feelng well..
When ever we are not well, i swear...i feel so home sick.

Living in a big city..with aspirations..freedom,..does sound nice...we are allowed todo whtever we want to..no timelines...no nightout restrictions...but on the other side, When we fall sick...its the worst...No one around us to take care of us...I m lucky enough to have jimmy beside me, bcoz it makes us more sick...if no one is takng care when u r ill, actually if someone even asking you how r u feelng , makes a difference.

i was missng home so much..speciallly mom, when at home, we throw all kind of tantrums," doesnt like this, will not eat this n dat", now realizng the facts, when we hav to b well n go to office,as there is no one to take care of you n you cant afford to fall sick.

I hope , i would b able to go home early, but too much work to do, as hav to take leave next week , for a friends weddg...In doston ke liye kya kya karna padtha hian...

What is Life...

I hope this thought must hav came in everyone's mind.Mine too.
I keep on asking myself :-

Life is not as easy as its spelling! right ...

So true! But one more fact is that it does spell out its complexity…ya really...

Life is sometimes Lovely when things are going our way, when everything around us is so colorful! When things don’t go our way for a few times, it becomes Irritating. We lose our temper on petty issues. When we feel we cannot solve problems we try to elude them. Sort of try to make them a part of us, just as cancer cells growing amidst the normal cells. We know it’s going to proliferate but we are astonished to see the speed with which the problems proliferate. When situation goes out of our hands, we stop pulling our hair instead we scratch our skin. That’s when life becomes really Frustrating. We find ourselves to be direction-less, hopeless and without any strength to carry on. A time comes when we step forward to begin the journey in search of Euthanasia.

But –We still have a long way to go before our wish is granted. Life is like a cycle. It keeps turning… L and then I then F then half-expected E. But when we are close to another component of E, that is Excruciating pain, we find the wheel turning back to where it all started. Life becomes Lovely.
A man is a man and not God (Governor Of Death) right,.
So unless He wants us to, we cannot put an end to the cycle of Life.I hate ppl who commit suicide, We have to live life as it comes. Simple or complex, perhaps depends upon our way of looking at it. A prisoner waiting in custody for a death sentence or a dove flapping its wings to fly, whichever way you look at it…

The Ultimate Truth is Freedom..

Ego & Self Respect

Past few days I have been thinking about something,As was havng a discussion with my friends... It started as a thought, turned into discussion with friends and now the next step is this post. Please note, I did not say it ends in a post. Because, this is not the end! I expect some input from the reader’s as well...

What is self –respect and what is Ego?

Is there any difference? If yes, what?

Let us talk about the definitions:

Self – respect: The quality of being worthy of esteem or respect
Ego: An inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others

According to me, there is a very thin line between self-respect and Ego. One ends and the other begins. Ego is overdoing self-respect. I also believe that the line is never fixed, it shifts. So how do we exactly study the line, I thought.
I tweeted my thoughts and received response from one of my followers who also added that “Self - respect is a positive spin and Ego a negative spin to the same trait. To be simple one could say Ego - I am the best, Self - respect - I am not worse than anyone else.”

I found this interesting and decided to study “the fibres of thin line” between the two. I had a discussion with a few friends. Most of them had to say the same thing, a few differed. What follows is the discussion between friends and me. ..

This is a small canto shared by someone close to me...I liked it thus wanna shared it on my blog...here it is..

Life is bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no I've said too much
I set it up

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no I've said too much
I haven't said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour I'm
Choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool
Oh no I've said too much
I set it up ...

blogatech: Adding Chat to your Blog

blogatech: Adding Chat to your Blog

Right Vs Wrong

Right and wrong are questions of morality and social relevance, that play a pivotal role in our lives. Being a social entity, there is a tremendous amount of shaping that happens, our thoughts and behaviours (external atleast) are to a very large extent governed by the do's and dont's that we have internalised over the period of our life span. However, there comes a time in our life when we find ourselves in a situation where there is a clear conflict between our commonly accepted notion of right and what the mind finds and thinks should be right. This is the exact contradiction that I have been facing for a very very long time. This strife is not just related to one particular incident but has expanding its tentacles to so many parts of my life that it has now become almost second nature for me to have parallel thoughts running in my head. There is no resolution to this that I have been able to find.

Here, what Osho says -

What is my definition of right?

That which is harmonious with existence is right, and that which is
disharmonious with existence is wrong. You will have to be very alert each
moment, because it has to be decided each moment afresh. You cannot depend on readymade answers for what is right and what is wrong.

Disappointingly, this time around I could not find solace is his words. At a macro level this might hold true, but them looking at it from my perspective, it still falls short of being deemed as a solution.

My passage through life has been one of disharmony. Infact, thats the only way I have progressed. Everytime when there has been a disharmony (real or perceived) in my life, it has motivated me towards progress. My entire existence is an exercise in resistance. There where is the question of finding the balance and equilibrium. When entire life has been nothing more than an unstable equilibrium where does the question of harmony arise. Its like talking about balancing a deck of cards on a pencil which itself is standing on its tip.

Past is Past .Move on...

We keep on preserving something from the past , isnt it? ...Holding on to the past is something we all do...

There are so many intense emotions that are a inseparable part of our memories, that often it’s hard to think about something from the past and separate the feelings associated with the event. And yet whenever we come across someone trying to overcome and recover from something tragic and unfortunate, the only word of advice that we offer is - move on...But its too difficult for me..although..

At one point of time I was considered by my friends to be a caring people, who use to be ever thoughtful, full advice and suggestions. At that time on innumerable occasions for varied events that occurred in the lives of people around me, the only advice that I had to offer was - move on. And to my surprise it seemed to be working for all but one person. And that person was me.

Gradually, I came to realize that the grand face that I was putting up in front of so many others was merely a facade, a means that I had devised to keep running away from myself. To keep avoiding myself, my thoughts and my feelings. Seemed ironical to me that a person, who kept advising others to accept things as they had happened in the past and move on, was unable to put his own words to practice...I keep on moving from places to places, from friends to friends, from situation to situatiosn, but was not able to move on...i often wonder why????

Now when I see myself, I am no longer the person I was a couple of years back. I no longer have the endless list of friends. No longer do I stretch myself and do anything remotely thoughtful. I have turned into a slight introvert. I like to spend time with myself. There are periods of long silence that I often go through and there is nothing grand about them, they don’t carry any spiritual or higher significance. Those are spells in which I merely do not have anything to express or to share with others around me.

I haven't as yet figured out a way to reconcile with a thousand thoughts from my past and the feelings that they invoke whenever they cross my mind. And I am not even remotely close to finding a solution.

Sometimes knowledge can be a burden. You know there is a problem and you know there is a solution to it and you know how to get started and still you are standing still. There is no reason to it. There is no explanation to it.

Nietzsche has said - "He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how".

I stand on the opposite end of it - I am aware of the how but I cannot figure out the why. And this is not just a head spin of the famous quote that I have done here. I have overcome my lack of creative inspiration by borrowing words from a great philosopher and re-arranging them. This is my problem statement.

I think that the only way to get started maybe to start with my personal search for meaning. I don’t think that I am the only one who has encountered this kind of dilemma. No wonder "Who am I?" is the question that people have been asking for centuries.

Mirror Mirror on the wall

Often even the mirror doesn’t show the reality. We only see what we want to see. It is our perception that we see in the mirror. And perception is nothing more than our interpretation of everything within us and beyond. The looking glass through which we choose to see both the inside and the outside world. If the world seems to have turned sepia all of a sudden, it is because of the tinted lens that we put on and not due to change in world order...thus, the image seems to be diffirent in different situations...

The same holds true for relationships and the way we choose to connect with the world. If we are empty from inside then no matter how complete the other person is, all that we will see is portions of his/ her that are empty too.(it must have been true to every individual, at some point of time in life) The glass will always seem to be half empty. The world around us will always seem to have a void.No matter how hard we attempt to fill the void by filling it with more and more companionship, activities and actions, the feeling of emptiness is going to remain there, forever. And gradually when all our attempts start to fail, we start to head towards despair and hopelessness starts to crop in from all spheres.

The only way to end this misery is look inwards, and accept oneself. Accept oneself for the person we are, for the past we had, our current and past relations, and for all that that constitutes a part of our being. It is only when start the process of accepting and becoming at peace with oneself that we will start to understanding things in a wider perspective and start to appreciate things that form a part of external reality.

And it is only after reaching this stage that we can start to look for a meaning and fulfilling relationship. One which does not bind us down and lead us to despair, but instead, liberates us and pushes us up towards greater heights of love and happiness....isnt it???

Thoughts of Silence

Finally after more than a week of wait, I am publishing this chain of thoughts as it is. There are too many missing links in the flow and too much has been left unsaid. However, I believe letting it stay back any longer is not going to solve the purpose. So here goes one more post in an attempt to understand myself and my experiment with silence. I think I have forewarned enough about the incoherence of thoughts and expressions to explain further

For most of us silence is a very unsettling experience. Especially if it is for a prolonged period of time. We tend to re-act to silence by trying to run away from it the best we can. Ironically as it might be but silence makes us more restless and fidgety. I for one for a major part have been that ways.

Only off late have noticed a gradual change in me from being uncomfortable and afraid of it I have been moving towards phases of mindful silence. I call it so because these are phases when I am merely an observant. Fully aware and being passive (by choice), just letting silence unroll.

It has not been an easy roll out till date. The emotional turmoil which I am going through keeps coming to the surface, resulting in a struggle between keeping peace and once again letting the vicious chain of thoughts take control.

Just came across this sentence in a book on Zen Buddhism –

Mindfulness is an energy that can hold the suffering, the anger, the despair, if you know how to hold your suffering for long enough, you get relief..

After going through a prolonged period of suffering and being emotionally drained out in the last few months, my only hope is letting silence take control and show me the path of healing. Putting these thoughts into words has not been an easy task for me. Being an introvert, all my struggles and conflicts as well as the source of their solution always lies inside. However this time I know this is not going to work for me. I am gathering the courage to bring it out step by step. I seek solutions and understanding which lies beyond me and bring the lost harmony.

Searching for words , with whom we chat for hours !!!

Just had a conversation with very good friend of mine from school, actually after 5 long years, there were many things to share but, it just went to a casual exchane of info..Wondered why when we bump into someone whom we have been out of touch with since ages, the conversation starts almost on the same note-


How have you been ?

Good. How about you ?

Fine.

So what’s up, its been really a while since we last spoke.

Yeah. True. So what’s up?

Well, nothing much.

How is job going ?

Good. And yours?

Well some rough patches here and there, but smooth sail most of the time.

Good. And how is your girlfriend (or boyfriend or significant other)

Chal raha hai.

Lets sit sometime and catch up like old times.

Sure would love to do that.

(exchange of contact info)

(Goodbyes)


And then never bothering to get in touch again.

I am not sure about the rest of the people, but this surely happens with me a lot of times. And these are the same people who at one point of time were the closest college, school, classes or building buddies. With the passing of time one just gets busy with ones own life.

Well can actually categorise them into three possible reasons for this- first, Genuine lack of interest and little common ground, we all change with time so our interests, hobbies too could change thus leaving the commonalities behind; second, there are new additions into our world the toll of work & pressure that come alongside which takes away a major portion of our time, then comes the significant other, not to miss out the family & some new friends. The older ones just drift apart for no specific reasons. It just happens!!! Third, so much water has passed down the bridge that you really don’t know where to start.

Well there are times when I can actually categorise some of my old friends into all of these scenarios. A chance phone conversation with an old school pal who in school was my best friend made me realize we have grown into very different people & with absolutely different interests left me wondering how?? the conversation just did not move ahead from the regular exchange of pleasantries. I did whine about it a little while…but then was back to my normal self coz the absence or presence of this long lost friend of mine would not make a difference to my world now.

So many times I have faced something which is a mix of the second and third situation. Even when I met up with someone who was really a good friend at one point of time and I really want to share all that life has been through since we last met, don’t really know where to start from. But we did manage to gather the past & voila…it was just like old times…& this has happened not once but a couple of times & we just manage to pick up from where we left last..,

Leaves me with a thought what’s going to be like say five years down the line? Will I be writing another blog post about how I have outgrown the current people in my life or will some stay all along and some drift away?

Only time can answer this one!!!

Digital disguise..

I just set up a friend's PC. I haven't done that in a while..Wow..really..
It was a real fun to do so...but..
Apparently, a computer is now not a computer, it's an opportunity to upsell you.

First, the setup insisted (for my own safety) that I sign up for an eternal subscription to Norton. Then it defaulted (opt out) to sending me promotional emails. Then there were the dozens (at least it felt like dozens) of buttons and searches I had to endure to switch the search box from Bing to Google. And the icons on the desktop that had been paid for by various partners and the this-comes-with-that of just about everything.

The digital world, even the high end brands, has become a sleazy carnival, complete with hawkers, barkers and a bearded lady. By the time someone actually gets to your site, they've been conned, popped up, popped under and upsold so many times they really have no choice but to be skeptical.

Basically, it's a race to the bottom, with so many people spamming trackbacks, planning popups and scheming to trick the surfer with this or that that we've bullied people into a corner of believing no one.

You can play along, or you can be so clean and so straightforward that people are stunned into loyalty. You know, as in, "do it for the user," and "offer stuff that just works" and "this is what you get and that's all you get and you won't have to wonder about the fine print."

Rare and refreshing. An opportunity, in fact...whts say !!!

No Onions Nor Garlic !!!

After a tired weekend, I prefered to read something, thus, I chose a book which was much recommended by a very good of mine hmmm Thus just finished Srividya Natarajan’s ‘No Onions Nor Garlic’,although it was published much earlier,(which I wasnt aware of this author), but due to his strong recommendation , I picked this one,..Its a complete laugh riot that depicts caste politics in Madras University. The narrative is fast-paced, packed with situations that are hilarious and characters who are caricatured representations of TamBrams, dalits (or well pronounced by foreign ethnographers as ‘daylight’) and bumptious academicians. The author displays total irreverence to the practices and beliefs of TamBrams in particular, and satarises the academic pretensions of professors and scholars in the University. A good read, though the novel gets verbose at places and the loud humour goes overboard at times.

It’s difficult to get across just how funny and thoroughly entertaining this novel is. A goddess idol can be ordered with larger breasts. A cow dung artist is treated with postcolonial studies seriousness. Deconstructionist Derrida is invited to a conference and doesn’t show. Natarajan does hi-lo humor, connecting penis jokes with deconstructionism. This novel is packed with sanctimony-deflating wit, and nearly every other page induces fits of giggles

Anyways , its worth reading the book., i am looking forwad for more to come from Srividya's Kitty..I guess soon some film director will pick this n make a movie....

Controversial 3 idoits...

As we all are aware that 3 idiots are breakng all the recoreds set by any indian movie similarly like the book of Chetan.Now Amir & the Director refused all the cliams made by him ...we all know that this movie is a fine pick of the book..
I was a young teen in college probably, when I had read Five point someone (FPS). Any author whose creation is a rage all over the country ,books sold like hot cakes and there is a huge fan following, making a movie based on the story would be an honor for the author. J.K.Rowling rightly got her share of fame and success when her popular Harry Potter Series were transformed to movies. Why was Bhagat singled out then? Why did director Hirani and Producer Chopra find it so difficult to give credit to the talented author? That wouldn’t have harmed the film I am sure.

Anybody who has read FPS would agree that the plot of the story and major incidents of the movie (like the atmosphere of Raju’s home, the dialogues of his Mother, or the character Viru Shastrabudhhe lifted from the novel character Prof Cherian, Raju’s attempt to commit suicide, the ragging scene, Viru’s daughter falling in love with a student …..And so on).The complete idea was cut, copied from FPS and pasted in 3 IDIOTS without even giving the slightest of credit to the original author. What a shame!

Now when Bhagat claims for credit I don’t think he is wrong. The director and team have literally conspired and cheated him. Had the title mentioned that 3IDIOTS is an adaptation of FPS, Bhagat wouldn’t have felt cheated. It was painful to read that his mother cried post she saw the premiere of the movie sans his name or due credit given. Obviously I would feel the same if that happened to me! This is not expected from big shot directors. Even Bollywood movies are coped from Hollywood, however they do mention that its been inspired or adapted from certain movie. If honesty is that difficult to express, then these experiments are certainly unimpressionable. No doubts 3 IDIOTS was a good movie with little twisted characters and scenes yet wholly inspired by FPS. Nobody can deny the fact and I stand for truth. I empathize with Bhagat and feel that he was denied what he deserved. This is not a publicity stunt. The book was written years ago...& even if it is, do consider that chetan passed out from the iit and iims he is surely not an easy duck to shoot he knws how to make money and get freee publicity whats wrong in that everyone is money crazy so he is doing rt and one thing more he is also emotionally attached with the his ist boook ...

Had I been in his place, I would have sued the director who made false promises to him. It’s shameful and extremely disheartening for a creative person. Frankly, his idea was stolen. Just because he did not have a patent right and was misleaded, there is nothing he can do. I wish I had a magic wand in my hands to rewind time and make it happen the way it should have been.
Just a thought: If the movie team had given Bhagat the due credit, wouldn’t have people seen the movie? Or wouldn’t they have appreciated it? Success was inevitable so why was the game played fowl? This means the director had less faith in him. Aamir khan too has been dragged into this without his fault anywhere. He says what the producer asks him to After all he is paid for all this, right?

Technological updates in 2010

virtualisation

Despite its obvious benefits in operational efficiency, footprint and power consumption reduction, largely virtualisation has been utilised in the data centre infrastructure – servers, storage and so on. In 2010, we anticipate greater adoption of virtualisation for desktops. Although the primary reason for slower adoption of desktop virtualisation is the complexity of its technology and its impact on end-user experience if not done properly, one cannot undermine the advantages it offers in terms of better management and cost efficiencies. There is considerable progress being made in enhancing user experience and reducing complexity for ‘virtualising’ desktops thereby boosting its demand in the coming year.

Redesigning applications for cloud models

Cloud computing is certain to witness greater adoption in 2010, especially from an applications perspective. As tools and platforms mature, more and more applications will get built into the cloud than what has been witnessed in the last one year. Hitherto adoption of the cloud model and underlying technologies such as virtualisation have been largely tried out in converting ‘infrastructure’ into a ‘service’. The next level of evolution is taking this to the platform and application level. Enterprises will begin to rearchitect their legacy application portfolio to suit this new virtualised environment.

Corporate applications on mobile devices

There will be a spurt in the usage of mobile devices that allows us the liberty to not necessarily be physically connected to a corporate network to access information. While smartphones form a large chunk of this trend, there are other specialised mobile devices enabled with wireless communications capabilities via which corporate applications can be accessed. For instance, mobile point-of-sale terminals. We see mobile technologies as an underlying technique for delivering corporate applications for people on move.

Social Networking

Social networking is ubiquitously used for engaging and interacting amongst family and friends. But we now see the technology and platforms built for essentially personal and social interactions catapulting to the next level to serve the purpose of corporate interactions. One will see very interesting applications being built on social networking platforms as a collaborative tool for geographically dispersed teams to work together more closely. Google Wave is a good example of this trend.

Green Computing

Considering that cost savings and energy efficiency are two sides of the same coin, this will drive greater adoption of green computing among enterprises. Companies are now looking to use data centres that are modular and standardised, allowing optimisation of their power consumption. Touted as Performance Optimised Data Centres (POD), they give more flexibility to customers for balancing their capital expenditures and operating expenses while seamlessly meeting their needs for additional capacity

Sectorial Overview: 2010

This is the end of the calendar year 2009. The year started with a depressed market. However, the market sentiments made a U-turn in the course of the year and the markets are closing with over a 100 percent gain from their lows. Positive sentiments are prevailing in the markets.

The market will appreciate even further from the current levels as the world economy is improving and the earnings of domestic companies would gain momentum in the coming few quarters. In general, every stock with strong fundamentals has the potential to gain during a bull run. However, some sectors usually perform better than the others.

Investors have to analyse the economic and business conditions, and figure out the favourably-placed stocks and sectors in order to get better returns in the markets .

Based on the current situation , these are some of the sectors that are expected to perform well in the medium to long terms:

1. Information technology:

The information technology sector has performed very well during the second half of 2009. Positive developments in the global economic conditions have kept the IT stocks in a bullish mode. As economic conditions are improving in the developed markets, these stocks will perform well in the near to medium terms.


However, investors should track the currency movements in the international markets. The sharp appreciation of the rupee against the dollar can play spoilsport for these stocks. Investors should invest in large-cap companies with strong balance sheets for better gains. These companies also have a wider base and more power to hedge against sharp currency movements.

Stocks to look for: TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra.

2. Auto:


The automobile sector is another one where stocks appreciated significantly this year. Most of the frontrunning companies in the auto sector have managed to show good volume growths during the last few months.
The volume growth is expected to remain strong given the positive sentiments of consumers and availability of easy financing. Those invested in this sector can stay invested with a short to medium term perspective.


Stocks to look for: Maruti, M&M, Tata Motors, Hero Honda.

3. Public sector units:

Investors can look at taking positions in select public sector unit (PSU) stocks. There are talks on consolidation, disinvestment, increasing the public holding etc.
These stocks are also good for diversity in a portfolio. Investors should do their homework before taking any investment decision.

For example, the proposed disinvestment is not going to change anything from the control perspective of PSUs and the money collected as part of this disinvestment would mostly go to the government.

Stocks to look for: NTPC, ONGC, SAIL, SBI.


4. Hospitality:

As the domestic economy is coming back on to a high growth path and the world economy is coming out of recession, the hotel industry is expected to benefit. Currently, India accounts for around 0.5 percent of world tourism.

A strong GDP growth, improving infrastructure, confidence in the country's economic prospects, and open sky policy has improved the outlook for the tourism industry here. This positive outlook would increase the number of foreign tourist arrivals in the country.

Domestic tourism is also gaining momentum due to increased confidence of consumers, rising disposable incomes, cheaper airfares and better connectivity.

Stocks to look for: Jet Airways, ITC, IHC.

5. Power:
Power is one of the sectors that have a huge potential to grow here, but investors looking at investing in the power sector should plan for the long term (more than 2-3 years) as this sector is investment-intensive and returns are mostly back-ended.
With a stable government at the centre, one can expect more reforms and ease in terms of structural issues to execute projects.
Stocks to look for: Reliance Power, NTPC, Tata Power.


6. Pharma:


Traditionally, the pharma sector is seen as a defensive sector in the market. However, the stocks in pharma sector have given very good returns in the recent past. The pharma sector growth in the recent past has been driven by the growing middle income segment and their growing affordability, and greater access to healthcare.

The outperformance of pharma stocks is expected to continue in the medium to long terms. Pharma stocks also add diversity and defence to the investment portfolio.
Stocks to look for: Ranbaxy, Sun Pharma, Glenmark, Apollo.

Source: Economic times.