Through hairpins and speed breakers

If I would have titled this blog post 'Through hairpins' .. first impression would have been 'this person must have struggled to get through some girl's lousy hair while sitting in a park'
Hence the word speed breakers..any seasoned driver who has driven on ghats or any kid , boy, manwho has played Need for Speed in his life would know I am talking abt a road trip.
Road trip with hairpins and speed breakers which would better qualify as car breakers .
This was a trip to SriSailam which was a last gasp attempt to save us from a boring weekend at Hyderabad. We called the resort at Suryalanka..was fully booked..so SriSailam it was .. full n final... leave in morning.. come bk the same day.
one of our frnds decided to sleep.... so dint come...7 in the morning 4 of us were standing besides an old Toyota Qualis, with only Telugu songs casettes in it,
We got a battery operated speaker, and the only option was my iPod which had nothing but Hard Rock music in it..... decided to play it neways...
frnds always hate me for the kind of music I listen to..if only they can listen to the music as I do..understand it the way I understand.. minutely noticing the drum beats, the bass guitar giving the background effect, leads combined with rythm and distortion.. u will love rock music if u notice these complex and very intense combinations that make the adrenaline pump faster...

so neways..the trip started off slowly... with a lot of traffic.. we came out of Hyd...
One thing I have noticed about Andhra Pradesh is.. it is a highly underdeveloped state... with the exception of the exorbitant Hyderabad... and to and extent.. let me emphasize.. only to an extent.. Vizag andVijaywada.. . No decent road, small villages with kaccha rastas , no decent place to eat for 300 KM...youcan easily see why the suicide rate of farmers is highest in AP.... it is really in a bad state...

Other thing you can notice is that if at a village in AP. you scream LAXMIII... 7 out of 10 girls would looktowards you...this input was courtesy of my Uncle ..Kirit !! .. just in case you thought I
actually screamed Laxmiii at Village....maybe he did !!

So there we were in the Qualis... out came the playing cards.. where every time we hit a bump all our cardswere exposed.... was fun though.. playin cards... not the bumping part

We were not able to believe that there was no decent or even an average place to eat all along the way...nd we were hungry... so we stopped in a small room sized Udipi where we had some hopeless brkfast.. we were better off hungry is what we realized.

Yes ..third thing you would notice about AP. Every village has a place called Udipi hotel.

Then came the Jungle....the SriSailam Tiger Reserve.. only animal we saw except ourselves were cows..
We reached the Dam... decent water level and very funny circular boats..lot of weird music being played..

4th thinkg you will notice about AP ... mind blowing music..( and I mean mind blowing in a negative connotation)... on top of that.. grown men in questionable clothing dancing as if they are having a seizure.

and the round around the dam is actually crazy.... nothing but hairpin curves..you contantly keep going up the hill along the hairpins..and I was really takin pity on the driver..witha car like an old battered Qualis with no power steering.. it was like a gym session for him..

15 hairpins atleast.. I am not exaggerating.

The temple was nice.. I came to know that it is a Shiv Mandir which is regarded as one of the 12 'JyotHirlingams' , the crowd was not massive ..

Observation number 5...South Indians will never improve....I mean.. 'JyoTHI' and 'teek hai bai' ... they have a serious problem with the alphabet H .

I came back from a mahabaleshwar trip yesterday ..visited the famous temple over there too....and the same though came into my mind ..same one which came to my mind in SriSailam.. which is ..what to say.when you are in a temple...I mean.. yeah keep me family same and dont destroy the world in 2012 !! this is what I say usually.. not sure what people do stading there for 20 mins...
For those of you who know me...I am not the most religious guys.. an atheist who likes visiting peacefulplaces of worship be it a Church, Temple, Dargah or a Gurdwara....
People behave so formally in temples.. they r like in their best manners.. being quite.. aware of the crowdaround..a bit weird .. I just dont feel comfortable in a crowded temple...

Darshan over.. time to freak out... every taxi driver and rickshaw wala would point you towards Apurva hotel..the only place where u get decent food in SriSailam.. had some good Andhra thalis.. lots of sambar andoh yes an awesome matka kulfi.. I mean the packing as well as taste was awesome.. I really wanted to carrythe littke kullad/matka home with me to have tea in the mitti ka bartan.. but couldnt carry it all throughout the journey.

neways,..next was a cool ropeway ride into the lake and boat trip till near the dam... it was awesome..theview from the ropeway and feeling the cool winds while in the boat... u can actually book a speed board for500 Rs. and go for a very fast ride !!

Time to go back.. the resort looked good and a couple of us really wanted to stay back and leave the next day.. but the others wanted to go back home to their Momma... so had to leave...
my friends grabbed a bunch of beers and had a talkitive journey back to Hyd... went to a frnds place.. hadsome awesome home made Rajma.... and crashed .......

What a Gr8 Saturday. Got a traveler's soul... but not the best company when it comes to going out andenjoying.. everyone wants to sleep...

You get one shot at life.. why waste it by sleeping !!

Bhavin

Got Skinnnedd !!!

8th Nov 2009 .


It all started with a surprise visit frm my frnd Talli who is a lousy guy and does nt
take his frnds outside ( this is in case hez readin it ) at the guest house in Hyderabad whr I was
or rather..as I am writing this blog.. I am staying right now....


so we decided to go out to the much hyped GVK mall with a cpl of more frnds with us...


The mall was gr8, big and if u r in a mood for shopping for some branded stuff u'll almost get all
the major ones there....




We got out at 7 and came to a conclusion that this is way to early even for a early dinner.
and for a cpl of people lke us even dinner at 10:30 would hv been classified as early...


so after 15 minutes of immobility in front of City centre mall, DeepTHI realized she wants to buy some dress for fashion show it was I guess...so we parked the car..nd while DeepTHI and Himesh went to chk out the dress , me and Suhit loitered around and found this neat Tattoo parlour...


Now I've been pushin people to find out a tattoo parl. frm where I can get a temporary tattoo lasting 2-3 months...
but I was told there is no temp tattoo which would last more than 7 days....


and I was also told that removal of a permanent tattoo is very expensive and even more painful than getting one done....


so my plan of getting 3 or 4 tattoos b4 getin a permanent one was tossed away..
so the artist showed me some pics frm where I got an idea of getting a tattoo on my thumb...


well I decided to give it a shot.. asked him to google the Rockstar game logo..and lay it down on
my left hand thumb...


Was the perfect setting..Black Viking metal T-shirt , BLue Jeans and dishevelled hair..the way I usually am


so he did some printout business and made an imprint on my thumb..now the scary part


he produced a motor..mini sewing machine like instrument and a biig needle..


then he started wearing gloves as if he was gonna do a surgery...


got dettol and a lot of cotton..


in the meanwhile my other frnds had returned empty handed..Talli got them in to see the show


also in the meanwhile I would have asked the artist 20 times as to how painful its gonna be


" It'll be a bit more painful on the thumb"


next 10 minutes I was wondering what is the level of pain 'bit more painful' is supposed to represent


I mean if he said painful..it would hv scared me enuf..given the rate at which he was producing sharp instruments...


but was it really necessary to say bit more painful...


DeepTHI had already uttered 3 times "ohh my god I cannot watch this" and Himesh was ready with his mobile video cam 10 mins b4 that...


so he was ready..I tightened my thumbs...tightened everything I could infact... and till the moment he was to put the needle
on my thumb..I was like dont..dont do it...dont do it.. no.. why am I doing this..?? why the thumb..


how would I hide my thumb at a business meeting, I'll hv to shake hands using my right had.. will I be able to eat dinner after this


I couldnt believe at one point that I was actaully gonna get a permanent tattoo in my life
while these questions flashed thru my mind very fast..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L3JsuC44IA

my skin felt the needle..oh yes what a pinch..its like how Earth would feel when someone takes a flag and tries to drive it into the ground..


the motor was running... I tried not to scream.. just made some funny faces...the needle mkes its presence felt, goes in and out of ur skin at an inclredible speed...


after maybe 15 seconds..I was like..thts not too bad.. and I was sitting normally throughout..,


we were chatting something thru out the operation..yeah I would inded call it an operation..


there it was...................the R and a star..lookin incredible..awesome...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr-7oF4QbLA


I was given some tips as to hw shd I tk care of it


apply vaseline on the tattoo for 6-7 times for a week..moisturize it regularly..dont keep it too wet..etc..


Paid the 2500 bill at the counter to a cute sort of girl.. who asked me a few questions abt my tattoo..


I would hv surely managed to prolong the convo and atleast managed to get her phone number if I was in Pune..
but hell who wants to put in an effort in Hyderabad... I m leavin in the next 3 days..


was a good opportunity though..


anyways.........


thanks to my tattoo it was 8:30 and everyone was hungry... we had an ordeal to find where tried to find Sardar ka Dhaba at LakdikaPul and never found it...


got 25 minutes waiting at Sahib Singh Sultan and decided to move onto to a Chinese restro..


had some exotic chinese food at Aromas of China...


went home slept..


was so happy tht I had got a permanent tattoo...


so m not boasting here.. it needs guts.. till the moment u get it done..it takes guts to sit thru this...


few of my frnds are shocked that I can actually get this thing done.. they hv been thinkin of me as seedha bacha..which I am.. no debates around that


few of my frnds back at Pune are waiting to see the tattoo and are saying how proud they r gonna feel to say to others that one of their friends got a permanent tattoo..hving seeing it only on TV before they see mine....guys get it done urself..really !!


few of you are waiting for me to publish this blog..


and when you do read this guys....m sorry to hv kept u waiting..I wanted to get back to Pune, before I published this


this has been drafted as of today....30th November...


Guys... get a tattoo in ur life.. u r definitely missing an experience..


and for those of u who are still wondering why did I give the title " Got Skinned" to this post...


the organic ink of this tattoo is supposed to fill into the second layer of ur skin...epidermis..


so that tattoo eventually develops as a part of ur skin...


so when I ask u how it looks..say it looks good.. cos if u say u dont like it ,
it will be an insult to my skin !


Signing off with one of my fav. youtube vids.. 6 yr old Kid playing one of the
most awesome songs in Rock music history !!

I love it when he says Ay Ay Ay


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKYAhVSBxsQ




Cheers !!


Bhavin

The Trip to Hyderabad.... Prologue..

Before I begin.. Gamers.. this has nothing to do with 'GranTurismo5 - Prologue.'
Stepping into my new role at work.. I was asked to go to Hyd.. the place I hate..for a month..its a good place to stay in a hotel or company guest house...go out with frnds and n stuff...
but living here for 6 months in 2008 while trainig the NOC team was indeed a nightmare..neways.. so I decided to go there with a positive frame of mind...excited about my new roleand training.......... and came to know that two folks from my former team are also joining me...
one of them a new joinee who is getting married in a few days... poor guy..
and other..... well dont wanna say much apart frm the fact.. he is the ultimate deifinitionof Fat Lazy ASS.
So then came the day.. Konark express... yes our company has this train guidelinegoing on where we are not allowed to travel thru flights .. cost cutting
so for a 7 PM train... the sluggish guy said one of my frnds Nilesh.. whom I mentionedin a earlier blog post is gonna drive us frm my home.... He soon made me realize not to depend on a laggard like him ... who has not done one single thing in his life on time....by getting late while me n Nilesh waited at my place.....
U know in Movies.. during a very exciting part.. u get unnecessary scenes whr emotions andsome stupid stuff is done to strech the movie nd u r like..... plss cut the crap and get a move on .. thts what this guy is like...he can really test ur patience by being extremely slow and stupid..
so we hurried to Pune station..ran to platform num 3... and realized the train was a hour late
You knw we say...hey Mumbai airport is good.. Pune is a small pathetic airport. Indoreairport is a joke..
I sweared then and there .. I am never gonna say anything bad about any airport in my life again after experiencing the Pune railway stations platform number 3.
on top of that we got the heartening news in form of a deformed voice from an old speaker.tht Konark express is gonna be two hours late... so from 7 PM it was 9 PM.....
tht train starts frm Mumbai and got late ..6 hours bw Pune to Mumbai..we were alreadyregretting why dint we take the earlier Hyderabad express....
So I went to the vada pav shop as my frnds started dying due to hunger..saw a a Chennai guy frm Pune Chennai express struggle with the vada pav guy ..language issuesChennai guy wont speak Hindi as he thinks its a shame.... bloody MF Chennai guy.... the shopkeeper wont understand English or Tamil.. so I helped him out with his food and expenses... Fu**ng A didnt even say thanks...
not that I was helping someone to get a thanks.. I dont really mind ppl not saying thks nd all..but Chennai guys.......
here is why...cos I have heard abt Chennai guys..assholes of the upper category...I am 110% sureif I was struggling in Chennai no one wld hv sorted it out for me... I wished I hadnt helped him..
so I will, yes I WILL help Chennai guys in the future if they are struggling.....But I will make sure his black ass really has a hard time for 5 full mins and enjoy the show before I step in..
so there we were on the stinking platform.... had two rounds.. of vada pav.. still there was 1 hr 15 mins to go before the train arrived.
So we started loitering around the platform, found a book stall.. and after checking many a of novels decided to go for a 50 Rs Forbes magazine...
When we came across another book stall.. where my frnd also had a sudden fancy of buying something to read ... I saw a Reader's digest....
I felt like kicking myself.. how could I miss a RD at the previous one and take a Forbes,RD is like the novel I enjoyed so much since class 8th and was a regular reader before I started working..
Still cannot believe I boguht a Forbes and RD didnt come to my mind...
But neways..the moment I saw an Avaya ad in the magazine.. felt amazing..Two major reasons :
1. cos this is first time Avaya sales team had taken a intiative where it would take its visibility to the public.. Poeple in India feel proud while saying they work in Tata or Reliance and we miss saying that despite of being in a bigger and better company..itabout time Avaya is known in my country.
2. Big thing for me moving into my new role.. if the sales org. in India kicks off.. good for my future......
But I would still prefer a RD over Forbes next time........
So the train's arrival was finally announced.. weren't we delighted...
the Train did come in..now for some of the people who have seen Mumbai's local train barging into the station and braking... this arrival would have been testing......
I mean.. the train was entering the station at an amazingly... and trust me..amazingly slow speed.. I promise you could hv walked faster than the train.. and we did when we realized our AC 2 tier is gonna be ahead of where we stood..
the speed ..and it really does not deserve to be called speed.. so.. the manner in which the train was coming was a serious insult to the horse power the railway engine holds..
neways....
so the poeple in the train were interesting. couple of fat people who told me 'Jab me tumhari umar ka tha to aisa hi fit tha '.... m nt sure I would wanna be in a position to say thatto some 25 yrs old guy when I am 45.
and a Vora guy who narrated stories of his international travels..
and a military commando who was involved in the 26/11 raid in Taj Hotel...he told us the story so non heroically.. such a down to earth commando... a really amazingguy frm Mathura who despite of being a hero didnt flaunt it...
and readers of my previous post titled 'General Observations'.. you would understand when I saythat no girls were there in the train bogey I travelled in.. ofcourse they were in thenext one !!!
Morning I woke up at six, read a sticker in the bathroom saying no to use headphones loudly .. gave me the idea of getting my Ipod ,..... stood at the door for two hours listeining to someHard Rock music....8 am we got down on Secundrabad station........
So thats it.. it seems this is already turning out to be my longest blog entry....
Thats the prologue to my one month stay in Hyd..
if my journey towards Pune is as exciting.... or maybe exciting is nt the correct word..I'll say if it is as eventful as my arrival in Hyd...
there surely will be a Epilogue to this post.
And pals.. pls do not build a perception of Chennai people by my blog..
not all of them are bad people, one of them happens to be in my team and is a very nice guy :) .
Bhavin.

General observations..... or not so General ??!!

Maybe general for the minds of people like me who likes noticing things like these either because we have too much time or no time at all due to the life of excess we are living with too many things to to do in very less time...

So here are a few things which happen with most of the individuals I know..these experiences are acknowledged by plenty of guys.. and I mean plenty...

I was travelling to Indore recently... or rather coming back towards Pune I think while these few thoughts unravelled..

When two or more buses are standing at the local dhaba ... prettier girls will always hop on to the bus next to yours but never in your bus. This probability of a similar experience is high and entirely possible while travelling via a plane or a train.

There will always be stray dogs and Murgas ruuning around in the dhaba and u will be very careful with your legs if one of them even comes close to getting underneath ur table..

Toilets in all dhabas are hidden in the darkest of corners. Needless to add they r never clean.. never will be .. no arguements.

This one made me laugh while I was stading near the road tying to check out the tyres of all the vehicles passing by to get an idea about which comapny has the top market share in the state.....neways.. so this is what happens..

30 people are standing outside the bus at the dhaba waiting for the driver to open the door , and a new bus just enters the dhaba...all people turn towards that bus and keep watching it until every single individual gets off that bus and the door is closed..

I actually couldnt stop laughing when I was looking at a lot of people all watching the same bus with their arses facing me.. there was nothing in that bus.. in fact it was one of the dirtiest buses I had ever seen .. nothing u can term as attractive regarding the aesthetics of the bus or the poeple inside it.. bus bcos one person turns and looks... everybody follows...

Instant Messenger window copy paste.....dangerous thing to do... how often have u pasted or typed something highly embarressing to a person in a different chat window by mistake.... and needless to say... the person is totally bewildered..and a 100 thoughts are racing throught your mind to find out what excuse should you make for such a blatant..or in some cases vulgar... umm.. in most cases ..vulgar statement.

You are perfectly capable of writing very well articulated emails at all the times, espeacially emails to frnds may turn out to be flawless... but there has always got to be a spelling mistake in emails sent to your managers....

if ur underwear does fall down in a bathroom it will be on a pool of water...

Jeans of ur Size would never be available during Sale

Tata sky would be disabled and would need a recharge only before a crunch football, F1 or a cricket tie..
Chances are u will realize this very late and would be watching the highlights next day on YouTube.

And of yes ...if a drop dead gorgeous one does board the same bus as you do.. and I can write this in my blood .. she will be seated next to a very old guy or an individual who has no potential or guts whatsover to speak to her..

Reminds me of my frnd Nilesh.... if he reads this.... Ohh man...

I would end this by stating.. two facts..not observations.. but facts..:
1. There is no such thing as a seedhi saadhi ladki
2. Boys will be Boys.

I must thank my pals Amit, Gaurav, Vikas and Nilesh who contributed while having tea in our office cafeteria on a weekend when we had no work whatsover...which is usually the case in GNOC team..

Bhavin

The Sport need more Rubin Kazans

Before I start I must clarify that this post is not about a description of a football match .. I am writing this bcos there were a lot of special things that happened last night which gave every football fan in the world a special feeling.. something that pumped blood thru their veins with a rush of excitement

Uefa Champions League 2009-10

Matchday 2

Rubin Kazan vs FC Internationale Milano

How many times have you heard of the names Arsenal, Manchester Utd. Real Madrid, FC Barcelona... these clubs are always there , always among the top, the champions.. bcos they have the best players, or because they have the money to buy the best players, top coaches and fantastic training amenities, a famous football stadium like the Emirates or the Santiago Bernebau .......

Yesterday night I witnessed something new..... a new entrant in the world of champions. Rubin Kazan, from a little town Kazan, Russia.

Small stadium, not a single big name or major known player.. and the first time the Champions League came to their estadio, probably the first time a champs league match held in a stadio without a roof..

It was like a public holiday in Kazan, everyone trying to get a glimpse of the biggest football match of their lives, something that would put their city on the world map..and the stadium though small was looking beautiful, with the most wonderful architectural marvel glittering in the background... which I later found out was the Kazan Kremlin..

The stage was set.. by the time the match was about to start.. the viewer could feel the excitement in the air.. it was huge for this small city....

The match started..and Dominguez.. the Argentine scored for Kazan in the first 10 minutes.. oh man what a drive.. it was like the crowd drove him forward.. and he absolutely thumped the ball into the net.. it was a rifle... zoomed thru the finest defense the Italian champions from Milan had to offer

the stadium simply erupted.. very few times in ur life.. u see a match on TV where the crowd's noise is more than the commentator's word.. it was the case.. the city was on its feet..

and the celebrations.. hell it was like Arsenal celebrating a winning goal.

The match finished in a 1-1 draw.. but as new kids often do.. Rubin got complacent..and all their players tried to bathe into the glory by selfishly trying to score themselves instead of passing the ball..

But the match will be remembered for the burgeoning Russian side and the countless times they shook the Italian's bulwark...

Man if they had won this game it would have been 8 on the Richter in the Russian city...

Gr8 excitement.. 10 yrs down the line.. people will just see it as a 1-1 draw.. but I was one of the lucky ones who got to see this match Live and felt the unique experience .

I just wish more new clubs like Rubin come up and the competition continues on talent instead of money.

Bhavin

Would you like a Whisky or a Whiskey ??

Discovery Travel and Living , a channel which I rarely watch... but I totally had to stop on that channel... when they were showing Edinburgh...

It was beautiful.. so was the lady presenting it...

the roads .. old Edinburgh.. the hotels.. just amazing

So she then walks into one of many famous pubs in Scotland... and tastes one of the finest Scotch.. of course Discovery is paying.. why wouldn't she..

Then she points towards a bottle labeled Whiskey and another one labeled Whisky.. and asks the bartender..why are the spellings different.... ???

So here is the answer... ideally.. the spelling Whisky.. is reserved for Scotch .. and the Term Whiskey.. with a E that is.. is used when referring to all other Whiskeys in the world UK , American etc etc..

interesting revelation to me...

Thats when I observed.. that if you have chosen US English as a language option while typing..it gives an error in spell check.. it will suggest Whiskey... which is not really correct..

American Idiots.

So what would you like to have ?

Bhavin

Are you pissed .. or pissed ??

Tubthumping.. by Chumbawumba.. happens to be one of my favourite songs....
there is a part of song which goes like..
'Pissing the night awayyyyyyy'
I was reading about what Tubthumping or a Tubthumper means.. thats when I came across this very interesting excerpt from an article :

"To piss" has a different meaning in the UK than in the US - "Pissing the night away" would translate to "Drinking (alcoholic beverages) all night." To be pissed in England is to be drunk, to be pissed in the US is to be angry. "

So you can go into a bar at London , waste yourself and say ' I am pissed ' ... people would believe you... as u visibly would be pissed.
So Tubthumping lyrics obviously make a lot more sense now... as to why the lyrics go like..
'It takes a Whisky drink.. It takes a Vodka drink........."

As you must have guessed Chumbawumba is a British band.

And by the way... Tubthumper means a Politician in UK, Tubthumping means campaigning or trying hard to promote your views... all slang ofcourse..

Bhavin

Kavya Shivashankar vs the Indian Media

Now if you have ever been or are intersted in vocab and English language.. this is the girl you wanna be a fan of.. Kavya Shivashankar .. the 13 yr old Spelling Bee champ .... actually the 17th Indo American to win the championship in the last 11 years.......

And all this is happening while the 21st century media is not only printing mistakes but also telecasting them......

English news channel says.. " Center to send CRPF to West Bengal" .. Center or should it be
Centre .

Afridi to takeover as Pak T20 captain.. Takeover.. or take over... two words in verb form....

Now forgo .. as the dictionary tells me .. means to give up or relinquish.....
Forego.. means to precede.. or to go before something....
look at this one. " Air India executives toldto Forego perks and salaries for July "...... so where are they going before their salaries.... or it just doesnt make sense maybe...

Kavya spelt the word Laodicean to win the championship.. if she had learnt her spellings reading Indian newspapers or watching TV.. she would have even got Centre wrong...

and our bullshit Indian media takes pride in an Indo American winning.. what did you do to make it happen Jerks...

well ofcourse none of these mistakes are as big as Nov 10, 1969 Indian newspaper headline "De Daulle dead ".. which doll died.. Barbie??? was she even there in 1969... orr.. ohhhh they might be trying to refer to the assassination of the French President Charles De Gaulle...

English grammar is tough.. I will always agree to that... spellings are not easy either

Ever wondered what is the difference between the word complain and complaint ?????

Bhavin

Sunday Treat

I have managed to muster just enuf time to put this on.. what a Sunday this is promises to be...

Back from a very boring day at office at 3 PM.. got a F1 British GP at 5, World T 20 final at 7:30 followed by a mouth watering confederations cup clash of Italia vs Brazil at 11:30 .

What a fantastic Sunday.. will get around 8 hours of sleep b4 office time tomorrow which is more than enuf for an insom. like me..

By the way Kimi Raikonnen had the two strategically worst pit stops in F1 history thanks to the ever faultering Ferrarri after he made a fantastic start to the race...

Got to run.. I've got exactly 9 mins to run an make a very big Arsenal mug of nice strong bitter but nice Italian coffee and add little sugar to rhyme up a bitter sweet symphony before 15 guys come over to watch the final with 50 beer bottles in their hand.... which I will not have cos I got a very sore throat.

Bhavin

Not a habit I should've lost.

Just thought I would document this.. what I used to do in college.. even between exams, classes.. unfortunately out of the habit now.. but here is what I hv read so far.,.and enjoyed very much... the best way to pass time I would say...

Ayn Rand :

The Fountainhead - The Best one ever.

Atlas Shrugged

We The Living

Jeffrey Archer :

Not a Penny more Not a Penny less

First Among Equals

A Matter of Honour

Honour Among Thieves

Kane and Abel

The Prodigal daughter

Shall We Tell the President

Sidney Sheldon :

The Other Side of Midnight

If Tommorow Comes

Morning , Noon and Night

Nothing Lasts Forever.

Leon Uris :

Armageddon

QB VII

Mila 18

Trinity

Exodus

The Haj

Topaz

Mitla Pass

Harold Robbins : A Stone for Danny Fisher ... beautiful first 3 pages

Dan Brown : The Da Vinci Code

Robert Ludlum :

The Altman Code

The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Supremacy

27 only no way there were more I am sure.. shit I cant remember.... 

Pualo Coehlo's Alchemist yes... one of the worst novels.. actually th worst novel I have read so far

Cant belive people liked that..

Got two more....

Irving Wallace :

The Miracle  .... Pathetic by the way.

The Second Lady .... This was even more pathetic and the last Irving Wallace novel I read.

John Grisham -  The Summons..  never felt like reading another Grisham novel after this.

Ummm here is what I want to read but dont know if I will ever grt time.........

Hotel, Airport , Wheels by Arthur Hailey.

The Bourne Ultimatum by Ludlum.

The Guns of Navarone by Alistair Mclean.

Angels and Demons -  Dan Brown ... gr8 movie... normally novels are better.

I will edit this post, probably , if I remember I have read any others.. or recall any novel which I want to read...

Want to stay addicted to this hobby.

yeah I read Five point someone 50 pages and burned it cos it was too boring...

obviously returned one night at call center since I didnt want more pollution in the world.

Bhavin

The Joyride. We've got a ticket to ride

What is the most common answer to the question.. why are the Europeans and Americans pissed off with India........

Well its IT jobs, outsourcing, cheap labour... software company contracts.

Now, I just came across another very interesting industry which is eating away European jobs , Italia and Germany to be specific. and thats Amusement parks !!!

How are the Indians eating away jobs in this field... for all I know.. the only decent amusement park we've got is Essel World and that is also only average.

One might argue that Delhi's Appu Ghar is also in the race... well Appu Ghar is only fascinating when you read about it in a book in class 3rd. That place is actually shit.. even the statue of the Appu that they have got at the entrance is totally discouraging and makes you want to turn back...best indication will get is when you ask then rick driver to take you to it.. and he will give you the most amused looks to take you to the amusement park... like.. is this moron seriously going in there!!!

Neways... so you could be in an amusement park in Greece, Denmark or even Tanzania... yes the African one.. and might ejoy a ride made in India.

Yes, we manufacture those machines, those seats, the safety mechanism , motors and rotors and the swings.. all made here in India, manufactured here.

Indian comapnies are able to provide these products at 50-70% cheaper rates than their Euro counterparts.

Ofcourse quality is the first thing which will come to your mind..that is actually better and among the best in the world.

Arihant, Hindustan Amusement Machines , BombayAmusement Rides, Prakash Amusements.. ever heard of them.. I bet not. These are the companies that make them. Countries like South Africa, Oman, Saudi Arabia order rides from these companies who make a healthy turnover of more than Rs. 5 Cr ranging upto 40 Cr.

Even Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania is gonna have one big ausement park very soon , imagine Tanzania having one bigger than us... and the project has gone to HAM .

Price is a sensitive quantity these days, thats the reason factiores are strugllling in It and Ger.

They hopefully are planning to open their own in India........

Come on join the Joyride.

Bhavin

Circuit Breaker...

This is not the electronic crap we used to try in our engineering labs and it never worked,,,, because we were too busy popping our heads outside the window while some nerd tried to create a circuit........

In the news after the election when the stock market went berserk , too happy that a Sardar is gonna lead the nation and went ahead buying shares like Sardars.

Circuit breaker as I learnt that day.. is used to avoid abnormal fluctuations in the stock market... used when the prices of stocks go higher than expected or fall to a critical level.

Within some time of opening trading after election results.. the market crossed the 10% rise threshold , people buyed like crazy and the regualtors had to stop trading then and there...... and remained suspended for the rest of the day.

A Sardar had that impact on the nation..... and we crack jokes about them...

The regulator , by the way was SEBI. This I knew.

One thing to note is tat there are bands... upper price band lower price band.... when trading is suspended... share trading goes on but its price does not move beyond the higher or lower price band .

Economics was my favourite subject in my MBA course.. but still there is so much to it... its a huge.. massive subject.. nd is hard to remember stuff if you are really not working in that field...

Bhavin.

Czar of the Auto industry falls - The tough road ahead.

Opel goes to Magna
Chrysler to Italy's Fiat SpA.
Pontiac is written off.
Saab may go away.
Volvo, Hummer, Saturn are for Sale.
GM.. the General Motors.. the icon of the motor industry. One time No.1 company on Fortune 500 files for bankruptcy, and no one is shocked.

They call it an accelarated bankrupty process, where they think its all planned. an amount is decided, a date is decided... and then the bankrupty is filed.

GM and Chrysler are going to emerge in an environment which is more hostile than ever before.Too many companies, chasing too few buyers.

GM is wounded, its reputation is in tatters, their cars are outdated and inferior, plus the worst ... people feel Obama admin is wasting taxpayer money on a company that made numeorous mistakes over these years.

Something as simple and dangerous as greed is the cause of something as little as a pickpocket being put in jail to being the cause of GM's fall.

People are angry at GM and Chrysler because they are a burden on the system.

When I read something like this, I couldnt help agreeing compltely to Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy who pitted themselves again the world govts saying regulation is the need of the hour.
Global firms needs to be regulated... AIG, Lehmann, GM.. they became so big that when they fell they took the economy with them.

They should have never allowed them to become so big.

Whose turf is it anyway.

Bhavin

Cash and Carry

Bharti Walmart has opened its first store in Amritsar.


The global retail giant and the number one company in the Fortune 500 has officially stamped its presence and intentions.





I was reading about this in today's Eco Times and came across a term to which I was not really familiar.



Cash and Carry.

So I figured its basically a logic where wholesalers buy directly from Manufacturers and sell it at a cheap price at warehouses which are given touches like a mall or Big Bazaar.



They call it CnC cause the customer buys the commodity on the spot, pays on the spot and carries the goods away.



Now I am wondering... is this really going to help... given the Indian diaspora... a big number of people, we have seen a model so far where you put stuff in a basket or a trolley, walk around the store and pay it all at once at a counter.. which may or may not have a long queues.

I am thinking will this CnC business reduce time, result in shorter queues at multiple or will it save a lot of time as payment would me made as and when the customer has picked up his stuff.

And remember.. its CASH.. so no credit cards, no swipes, no signatures on bills which takes time.. but customers will need to carry a whole lot of cash and change in their pockets.

Cash and Carry is gaining momentum in India. Metro is another retail chain who earlier opened a similar outlet.

Lets see how this goes. Facts are they are selling Cereals 2-5 % cheaper, General Merchandise 25 % cheaper.

Cool.

Bhavin

My new Chinese phone.. What a piece of.... S***

My new Chinese phone has managed to piss me off enough for me to wrtie a biiig blog post on it.
Looks chic doesnt it.

Dual Sim, touch screen... more abt the touch later..... polyphonic, lots of colours real flashy blah blah blah....

Read every word... understand how bad it is.... try to realize wht u would do if u had to face this....

This phone is a torture.. it should be given to eloping War criminals so that they surrender due to frustration...

It has so many shortcomings.. I decided to make a list of how much does this phone really sucks..

First things first.. its from a brand called Kawasakhi.....

No no no.... its not a spelling mistake.. KawasakHI .. what Sakhi.. do these Chinese morons have a clue what Sakhi means in Hindi.. and there it is flashing kawasakhi with a crappy jingle when it starts.
Shit man where is Copyright, competition and fair practises forum.. here is some company selling phones by making a total joke out of the phenomenal bike brand Kawasaki and no one gives a damn about it. Too busy resurrecting the economy..not a bad thing to do.

That reminds me.. where the hell is Kawasaki these days. where are their bikes.. was it sold off.. I dont even see them in Moto GP... btw Rossi rocks.
I'll find out abt it later.. this post is abt my phone and how much it really sss..........

So... the name is bad enough... plus on the box it says Dual SIM.. in brackets , only one SIM can be functional at a time... and I m like.. WOW.. thanks for providing me with the cold storage to preserve my other SIM card.

GPRS.. Slow GPRS... very slow GPRS. .. I dont even wanna mention how much pain ans effort I had to go through to make it work... this thing just has all the settings at all the wrong places.

Neways.. this is how the GPRS works... u click a link..
Redirect request.. do you want to resend data .. I say Yes.

Redirect request.. do you want to resend data... Yes

Redirect request.. do you want to resend data ... Yes motherf**** thats why I clicked on the f***ing link... then it works...

SMS settings.. you can search the enitre phone for SMS settings.. but you will not find a setting which says.. Save sent messages..
So, if you are replying to someone's message.. there is no way you can see it in your sent items.. the phone is so smart.. it knows that you are intellingent enough to remember your replies.. so it doesnt make an effort to store it.

And yes when you compose a new messgage.. thanks the goodness in this world it gives you an option of save and send .

The phone is also not capable of recogninzing JPEG format images not taken from its cam.It just says Invalid format.. for JPEG.. and still stores the images clicked by its cam in the very same format. Imagine that.. u cannot view any other images.. whats the 2 GB memory card for??

One might argue music.. well let me tell you first .. there is no decent music player.. there is one which will not let you play the files stored in memory card.. yes Sir copy it on the bloody phone...

Orrrrrr go to ur memory card.. click the file you want to play.. it will give u a menu.. click play again like a fool.. and then it will play the song with a GIF of Charlie Chaplin dancing totally out of sync with the song.

Yes you guessed it, you cannot play multiple songs.. it does not undertand the word Playlist.. cos its English.. and this is a Chinese phone...

And whatever you do , dont turn the volume full, the speaker does not play the song.. it CRIES it out.. Bose and JBL users will jump out of window screaming help !! if they come to realize that sound quality can actually be so poor. ..

And you cannot Zoom into images. yes there is a button called Zoom it doesnt work.. not for any image.. it doesnt even let you Zoom out.

The came says 5 Mega auto focus.. the image shows less than 1 mega pixel quality witha Max resoulution of 640 X 480.

I hate my phone.

And what wonderful OS.. if I receive an SMS, I cant read it until I kill every bloody window that is open or kill every bloody application which is running.

There is no software available whatsover

It totally refuses to recognize Java files.

Game files are in .nes format which it refuses to install. You can just copy that file from one place to another if you enjoy doing that.

The only game installed is called Mahjong and its in Chinese.
I...
I just...
aaarghh...

And oh my goodness... it does not let you select a SMS tone.. the only option you have is to set a MIDI tone.. this is not 2006 , not 2007, not 2008 .. its bloody 2009 and this piece of crap is still stuck on MIDI format SMS tones.

Voice breaks, if you are able to hear the other party, chances are they wont be able to hear you.

If they are able to hear you... forget abt it.. u arent gonna hear them.. scream as much as u like .. u r just gonna piss the other side off.

The charger cable is only one feet long. And its lose..the moment you connect it , it says connected, and the very next second disconnected.

The headphones works only when it likes to...

And yes... the best thing of all... the biggest achievement of Chinese phone....

they say its touch screen.. no its not.. it HIT screen.. BANG screen.. you really have to watch Dennis Quaid's baseball movie ' The Rookie 'and throw your finger like a 100 MPH baseball pitcher to make the phone realize you have touched it.... and it needs to respond..... react.. pls..

I am back to my beautiful little black Moto Ming which I love so much.. even more now as I have experienced a disaster of a Chinese phone.. called E phone , trying to replicate iPhone..

Listen you cheap 4 feet Chinese crackpots.. you are never gonna bloody match the finesses, quality, features or even the aesthetics of Apple. Apple rocks at what it does and have the most perfect products in their fields.

Folks.. do not purchase Chinese phones.. go for brands.

Bhavin

Champs League Final... I am soooo happyyyyy

I recently posted ........Man.Utd is one club that I would always want to LOSE. LOSE BIG.

And I absolutely loved the looks on thir faces when they thrashed 2-0 by Barcelona FC at Roma's Estadio Olympico.

I have been a fan of Barcelona since the Patrick Kluivert days... the caretakers of football as they call it... beat the Red Devils in a surprisingly one sided finale.

United inspite of all the charisma , the hype, Ronaldos and Giggs , Rooneys.. could not get one decent shot on target!!

It was surgical precision in the midfield from Barca.. United just could not complete their passes.. man I love when United loses this way...

Repurcussions!!!!! ........ If they have any sense left.. Ronaldo and Tevez would leave United.

Shit man a club is willing to play 100 million dollars.. the richest i the world.. THE REAL MADRID.. Galacticos..

Ronaldo has to leave United now....

For Barcelona.. its a win win situation. They will easily retain the top players...will get a goood sum of money to look in the market.. and Guardiola ..man the youngest manager in history to in the UCL will definitely continue....

He got Barca a treble in his first season.. Spanish King's cup , the La Liga tile... and yesterday.. the night of champions.. UCL..

But hell m not writing this because Barca won.. m happy cos United Lost.... its the ultimate satisfaction for a Arsenal fan, besides Arseanl willing ofcourse..always.

Lol man Ronaldo and Tevez were standing right at the end of the line when they were getting the silver medals.. thiings havent been going too good wit Fergie for them...

M just waiting for the news that thy r leaving.........

The good thing was..Ferguesson admitted that they were outplyaed.. for a change Man Utd. did not blame it on the referee when they lose.

All said... great Refereeeing.. A Swiss referee for such a huge event was a shock.. but he lived upto te expectations.

Again... m just so happy.

More to come...

Bhavin.

Champions League Final... confession

Full Disclosure:
My favorite football team in the world is Arsenal FC, but I definitely have a special place in my heart for Barca. This means three things about my feelings towards this matchup:
1) I want Barcelona to win because I always want them to win (except win they’re playing Arsenal or Real Madrid .)
2) I want Manchester United to lose because I always want them to lose (except when they play Chelsea then I want the pitch to open up and swallow all 22 players into hell. If that means an innocent ref has to go with them then so be it, because let’s be honest ‘innocent ref’ is an oxymoron.) And
3) I want Barcelona to win because of Thierry Henry (more on him later.)

By the Gods... and ofcourse the Godess.

I am not sure why this thought came into my mind.. but suddenly remembered THOR. The Norse God.

Maybe I was listening to Scandinavian metal band like Children of Bodom or Ensiferum which suddenly got him into my mind.

And as it so often happens one thought links to another and it happened here.... I was reminded of one interesting object associated with most of the Gods... their famous weapons... it always appears in our imagination .. when we think of Gods... their picture holding their weapons...

Consider Thor with him hammer....

Looking at Zeus witha bolt of lightening in his hand ,

Ares with his spear,

Aphrodite with her beauty,.Indra with his Vajra, Shiva's Trident, Krishna with his Chakra......... or even the fictional Kratos.. from God of War fame.. with his Blades of Chaos.

Weapons ar always associated with the Gods.. its like their trump card... they put it on when they really got their arse beaten up by the devils or whoever.....

But this gave me another interesting thought about our imagination... or I shoud say the way different Gods are presented to us...!!!

For instance.. when u think of Thor.. u will imagine an all muscular God in an attacking stance really about to smash someone with his Hammer.. great viking crown..

Zeus.. u'll picturize as white robes.. about to electrocute someone with his lightning bolt... again an agressive picture..

Similar with the likes of Kratos and Ares and of course the Titans.

Titans is a topic which has always fascincated me. Will probably write a blog abt it later.

Back to my topic, reagarding God's impressions in our mind... thinking of Indian Gods....

Why are they never standing as if they are abt to hit someone...

Have u ever seen Indra with a Vakra in his hands.. he will just stand at one place with Vajra mayyyybe shown in the picture rusting besides him..

Ever seen Shiva throwing a Trident... or even poking it into someone's... whatever..

Or Krishna really abt to cut someone's throat with his Chakra.... nope he just used a lot of Glue to keep it so stable in his finger...

Nope.. all of them would be standing there.. weapons in their hands.... lots of hands.. yeah another things with Indian gods.. they have multiple hands but .. .. I dont know why they need them... multiple heads in case of Bramha.. birdwatching.

And ohh.. all of them would always have a niiiiiiice grin on their faces...

Somietimes I am like... what the hell are they grinning about.. thanks Goodness its just a grin.. if they would be stading like that showing their teeth... would have been a candidate in comedy circus...

Newayyyyyyyysss.... just some thought tht came to my mind...

More to come...

Bhavin

Furious with Ferrarri

What in the world, is Ferrarri Formula 1 team doing...

Seems like they have lost it.

The same Ferrarri which used to win races for Schumacher soleley on the basis of pit stop and fuel strategy is now the team which has made the worst blunders in this years F1 season.

Needless to say they have come out in this season with one of the worst designed cars, no double diffuser, too much reliance on KERS ( Kinetic Engine Reclamation System) and lacking downforce in turns which loses them close to .5 a second.

For those of you who are new to F1.. 0.5 seconds is a very very big deal.

So they already have a bad car , on top of it.. to begin with.....

2 major blunders in the Spanish GP.

1. Kimi left out in Q1 of qualifying thanks to overconfidence.. his time was beaten in the dying seconds due to which he was left stranded!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man you shoud have seen Kimi jumping out of his car.. for the first time in my life I saw anger in Kimi's expression.

Last time he crashed I saw him eating an ice cream out of the Ferrarri refrigerator!!!!!!!!!!

And guess what they made the same mistake with Felipe earlier in the season.

2. Felipe Massa.. poor guy.. for the first time in this season he managed to keep his car running,...and with three laps in the race remaining while he was at fouth position... he was told.. oh man.. he was told that he was one lap short on his fuel and he needs to save it.

Now these are big drivers.. and if their career is taking a hit due to their constructor.... they will be furious.. and Felipe very rightly was... well he finsihed the race.. but lost three precious positions and finished 7th.

I am just hoping that Ferrarri recover, get some gutsy and intelligent people in their team to make strategies.. and just keep it simple at times.... they are showing signs.. and really want Kimi to win races... I have never admired or loved a driver as much as I have liked Raikkonnen.... this photograph will just give you an example...

More to come......

Bhavin

What to write now that I have finally started....

I dont know if this has ever happened to any of you 'bloggers'............
I think a lot ... some people would opine its a good thing but friends who just wanna sit with u and drink.. just say 'you think a lot'.. and the connotation seems negative for sure...
So I think a lot.and sometimes I get some really whacky stuff in my brain which I think I should really be documenting .... bcos its like really... or maybe.. in my opinion...something I should remember..
so let me say this again.. I dont know if this has happened to any of you.. but when you are actually registered to a blog site.. newly like I am right now.. u are all excited about starting to blog and write stuff u r thinking and all.. but whenI actually clicked create blog and the keyboard is wating for me.. I am trying to remember what was the real supposedly smart idea I wanted to document for which I registered at this website at the first place.....

I am 100 % sure all of those who are still reading this have heard the cliche... thinking is easier than doing ..... or the other way round.. something like that....

So this, as it really strikes me. is a classic example of that cliche.. all this time I was thinking of creating a blog and writing all the stuff that I think.. but when I am actually getting started... it suddenly seems a bit tough..... to remember those things...

Anyways.. I will probably add more to this.. an insomniac as I am , its 12:51 AM and there is not a wink of sleep in my eyes yet..I think I have written a lot for my first post.....

more coming up.. surely....

Bhavin.