SteveCentral

Dragon's out

2012-01-23T16:17:00.001+05:30

Tea cups @ Teapot Cafe, Cochin

I know I’m too late to say this (better late than never!) ,but yes Wish you a very Happy New Year. Actually today is the Chinese New Yeartoo – They call it the year of the Dragon. If you believe in Mayan calendarthen we are at the brink of extinction. Good Luck & Wish you success,prosperity, happiness & content in this year.

Udaipur continued....

2011-11-28T18:37:00.000+05:30

I couldn't stop myself from adding the birdy's picture again. Any idea what this bird's called? any ornithologist around to enlighten us?

Can you see the Udaipur solar observatory (USO) in the backdrop?

Bombay by wings

2011-11-27T15:09:00.000+05:30

View just before descending at Mumbai airport. A Concrete jungle indeed.

Birdy

2011-11-26T16:13:00.000+05:30

Udaipur once again. This time too it was the wedding which was the calling. This bird was literally showing off by the dusky Fateh Sagar lake. I'm waiting for my next dose of Udaipur/Rajasthan.

Xthrill Zone

2011-08-28T00:18:00.002+05:30

If Alice wanted to get lost instead of the wonderland this place will have been an option. The hills match to Scottish outlands, the picturesque lake sleeps like mercury spilled out. Xthrill is an adventure camp built on the high hills of lavasa. You’ll be guided by Xthrill boards as soon as we start driving inside Lavasa. You need to drive through a patch of rough & rugged road leading to this high perched camp site. The check-in happen here at 5 PM & Check-out at 5 PM too (wondering when do they get time to prepare the rooms...er...Tents). The Camp site is really worth the trouble of driving the serpentine crumbling road. It features 2-Man, 4-Man Swiss AC tents with neatly kept toilet & bathroom with really hot water. This place is all about nature & adventure, it’s neither a resort nor a hotel, and they call it a training institute. If you are venturing here looking for a relaxing holiday this is it where you should be then. Get acquitted to your surroundings, your tent, the friendly crew & talking to them about how they run the place & activities. Watch the sunset over the green mountains & soon you’ll be surrounded by the cricket’s chirpings. Night falls quickly here & its pitch black within minutes. There’s a camp fire set before the dinner & their menu is really impressive & tasty too, mostly veg.

Waking up is a task here, the morning start a bit early at 6 AM, not really an attractive option me. Trust me the view in the morning is really stunning, wow & fresh. I woke up overlooking to a bunch of clouds passing by with lots of dew drops & mist everywhere. Philosophy is what you need with a cup of tea that’s it. No newspaper, no news of any civilization. Just you & unlimited calmness all around you. You can either been a challenger and go on a Jungle trail & climb the Castle Rock or walk like a pilgrim down towards the lake. For the rest of the day’s activities you can freaks on riding ATV’s, turn into a flying fox by Zipling, for a few dare devils you can rappel down a slippery waterfall. You need to plan you day here & work & maintain timeline as per your schedules. I had terrific time here & wish to come back here the next time when they start Para-sailing.

Best time to be here: between June to December

Distance from Pune: 72 Kms

Clothing: Rain wear/ Warm clothes

For more about Xthrill go to: http://www.xthrill.in

Vortex in my mind

2011-08-09T14:39:00.004+05:30

My note pad has so got more creative line than notes. I simply love the black ink!

Just a click of thought

2011-07-07T00:08:00.001+05:30

The Golden Buddha temple at Wat Traimit is located in midst of the hustle bustle Bangkok. Its one of the beautiful Buddhist temples I have ever visited. These bells are placed just outside the temple, I found them really matchless yet quite simple. Bells have been a part of all major religions, why do they attract mortals & immortals?

I'm think tanking

2011-05-28T14:46:00.005+05:30

It’s one of those times when you least expect an idea to scramble your thoughts & that small seed of thought will sweep your feet away. To put in simple sentence I was just toying around the idea of going on a sabbatical or turning to an entrepreneur. Words, words & more words to ideas. When does one get these fixations?

Pattaya, Thailand

2011-03-20T12:29:00.000+05:30

Travelling is fun. This is my first trip abroad & really a special one. Here’s my account:

Day 1 & 2: Bangkok- Pattaya:

We took a flight to Bangkok from Mumbai. Landed at Bangkok’s Suvranabhumi International Airport early morning. Hopped on a bus to Pattaya. Pattaya is 147kms away from the Thai Capital. The highway’s quite busy with the tourist vehicles & local transport tucks. Pattaya is a small & famous beach destination common with the travellers all over. “Good guys go to heaven & bad guys come to Pattaya” this one-liner t-shirts are found very commonly in Pataya, this is because what this place has to offer. It’s the world’s biggest red-light area & most of the Thai girls hanging around with westerners are a common sight. If you tend to take a walk on the walking street on a Friday or Saturday night you’ll realise what this place has to offer. Sin city!

Our hotel at Pattaya, A1 Royal Cruise was a good one. Safe, clean & right in middle of the busy & buzzing Road. Our next venturing was the Alcazar Show. It a cabaret performed by transvestites & transsexuals. It an hour shows with lots of music, dancing, songs, stories & really colourful sets. It’s a must visit if you are in Pattaya. We missed going to the Sanctuary of Truth. Late evening we just took a walk from Walking Street to our hotel back. Pattaya’s nightlife really makes you party hard. There are many Indian Restaurants here so you won’t miss your Dhal, Rice & Roti’s.

Next Day we jumped on a speed boat to Coral Island. Its beautiful beach & its turquoise blue clear water a really treat. Don’t miss to do the Sea walk. It’s a different world under the Water. This Sea walk will cost you 1200 baht plus 600 baht for the Video & pictures. Got back from the Island, a quick shower we headed to Nong Nooch Village. It’s actually a botanical garden & display’s Thai culture in a nutshell & the elephant show. Our Day ended with little shopping at the Soi’s nearby. Next Day morning our next destination was Bangkok, will write about Bangkok in my next post…till then Swaadeeka!

From our hotel room

Stars!

Alcazar-ing

Posing after the show

Walking Street Signage

The Famous Mocktail Vans

American breakfast

A1 Royal Cruise, Pattaya

From the boat

Pattaya's Skyliners

Coral Islands

Dish wars

Nang NOOCH!

Thai Kick Boxing

Ooooch!

Elephants

Global Village

The Cub

Thai Silk

by the way

2011-01-30T23:37:00.001+05:30

This is the flavour of Goa, the spirit which binds everyone. Click this one in one of my recent Goa trip, a game of football & its spectators by the road side at North Goa. A mixture of East & West all over this stand, a real potboiler. Football transcends everywhere & everything.

the shrine

2011-01-15T17:54:00.000+05:30

This is the Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa. Goa’s so incomplete without this monument. Wish I could go back in time when this church was being built by Indian Manpower & the Portuguese brains. Can you spot that slice of the moon on the right?

River Princess, Goa

2011-01-07T22:36:00.001+05:30

This metal sailor got stranded on a stormy night at North Goa’s Candolim-Sinquerim beach. Now a landmark & major ecology ruin of our country. There’s really something about this ghost ship that makes you go eerie…

Winter mornings

2010-12-14T07:40:00.001+05:30

Warm sun rays piercing the early morning chilly blanket.

bitten by the shutter bug

2010-10-15T23:40:00.001+05:30

I have been waiting hard to buy a good camera. Been on the hunt for a while now, I guess this November I’ll gift myself one. I have actually zeroed in on one of the Sony’s but its existence is a big question mark as of today, yea I’m talking about Sony H20. Couple of months ago, I could see it on the shelves (Shops) but not now, they (Sony) killed it to get going with the New model H55. I’m kind of unsure if the H55’s G-Lens is better than a Carl Zeiss one. My final hope of owning H20 is alive if a friend of mine coming from US can pick one, if I’m really lucky I may lay my hands on one of it very soon or I'll have to settle with the H55. To be continued….

Ordinary but....Dabangg

2010-09-25T20:44:00.001+05:30

This would be the most un-likely review I’m writing about. A corrupt, but a good hearted cop, sibling rivalry at its best & a goon to keep the story alive. This would have been a combination with umpteen Bollywood flicks every year, but why did this one race up?

Dabangg means fearless & this movie is quite an entertainer, its colourful, fast witted & most essentially has an unique GI (Geographical Identity) of India’s most mocked states for lawless states, corrupt, absence of any state of stability: Uttar Pradesh. The social element in this movie speaks of eliminating evil by walking on the path of deceit. Dabangg has reached quickly to the levels of immortality; no doubt the makers want to get the sequel rolling out. Cool.

Red Sands

2010-09-12T20:12:00.001+05:30

Sad action, graphics, equally pathetic story telling sums up Red Sands. It belongs to Horror genre of movies but there isn’t anything chilling about it. Considering the outline story it’s adventurous & the director hasn’t done justice to it throughout the movie. The stories of Jinn’s have always been an object of fascination in Asia especially countries with Islamic population. I grew up listening to few stories in my neighbourhood that there were good jinn’s & the evil one’s. Coming back to the movie, it’s total crap, waste of time. No proper flow & God knows where the hell the story was being dragged too. Give this one a miss you won’t hear much about this one.

My Rating: 2/10

An audi

2010-08-19T17:14:00.001+05:30

Spotted this silver Audi TT parked at Sourabh hall, Pune. One thing I hate about my blackberry is its picture quality!

Pune racecourse

2010-08-10T11:40:00.002+05:30

Stallions

Weekend wanderings: Want to take a walk? Can't find a walking track in your neighbourhood? Try the Pune racecourse its open for all & if you love horses you'll get close to the best breed of horses in town.

Twitter down!

2010-08-01T12:16:00.000+05:30

Sundays are good just to rewind & relax, of course not only to us humans but also to the social networking sites. Twitter was down today for maintenance, surely a planned one. Have to tweet after few hours now. Obnoxious.

Twitter getting a servicing.

Highway Star!

2010-07-13T23:13:00.000+05:30

There is always light at the end of the tunnel. This picture was an outcome of last weekend wanderings on Bombay-Pune highway.

want some soup?

2010-05-23T21:52:00.002+05:30

Weekend laziness carried me to 11 East Street. A Double Decker bus, Mushroom & Chicken broth & conversations. Viola.

Big Ben

2010-05-21T14:19:00.002+05:30

Spotted this Bentley Continental GT at Westin, Pune. Who owns it? Obviously, some super dirt rich individual who can spare 2.7 crore INR for a marvel like this. Just an FYI, Bentley has just one showroom in India at Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi. If you have that kind of money please add this car to your wish list.

Ninja through the Glass

2010-05-21T13:34:00.005+05:30

This is old news, the Ninja's are here. Bajaj will import the Ninja’s into India & support the after sales & spare through its elite pro-biking show rooms. Ninja is available in two colours: black & green. My bad, went on off business hours to check it out. Disappointed, but got a view through the glass of this baby Ninja 250. I would have loved it if Kawasaki came on their own instead of tagging along with Bajaj. Now you can blame the business model for that.

Price range: 2.7 to 3 Lacs
Place: Pro Biking Showroom on Bund Garden Road, Next to Ruby Hall, Pune.

Wavin' Flag

2010-05-18T21:56:00.002+05:30

This is the official anthem of 2010 Fifa world cup, South Africa. The words are so beautiful. My head’s been echoing it ever since I heard it. Great to see a African country going great miles to host a world Event. Hope India will play a World cup in my lifetime.

Red & Red

2010-05-16T23:45:00.003+05:30

This is the Mapro Garden at Mahabaleshwar. These plants reminded me of the movie The Village directed by Manoj Night Shyamalan. Try the Fresh Strawberry Cream shake & the grilled sandwich.

"Two sisters sweep the front porch of their simple home. They wear plain boots, not fancy shoes. They swirl their brooms around, light-hearted. The older sister spots something at the edge of the porch and puts her broom down. Itis a red flower. Making haste, they pluck the flower, take it some yards from their home, and bury it. They return to their chores, but are subdued. The color of the flower, red, has spooked them, for it is the bad color." - a recollection from the Movie.

Aga Khan Palace, Pune

2010-05-16T00:25:00.006+05:30

Living in Pune for the past few years I wasn’t able to make a trip to Aga Khan Palace, been passing through those roads a zillion times. I finally did a few days back. No crowd at all & just few keen looking foreigners with their travel bibles trying to figure out this monument. Aga Khan was close to India’s freedom struggle & a place made famous by Mahatma Gandhi, he was house arrested here by the British along with his wife, Kasturba Gandhi & his associate Mahadev Desai. There’s a moderate entry charge of Rs. 5 for Indian & Rs. 100 for Foreigners. Inside Aga Khan Palace, there are artefacts, few faded painting, letters, things used by the Gandhi’s during their confinement. Just behind the palace are the memorials of Kasturba Gandhi & Mahadev Desai, who passed away here. This palace is also one of the resting places of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes. On the way to the memorial there is a small counter of swadeshi things & books written by Gandhi for sale. We Indian have little regard for history & lesser for our heritages. There are hardly few people here though it was a weekend & others who were there were more interested in the garden than the monument. This place being so silent yet holds a distinctive place for a Gandhian. The voice can be still heard.....

the truth

2010-04-19T12:00:00.003+05:30

Few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a movie/documentary called Zeitgeist Movement. It was a raw attempt to relook on few historic events & was cleverly plotted to mislead people who had little background on Christianity or economy or terrorism. This documentary projected that Christianity was indeed a religion derived from ancient pagan religions & was the story of Jesus was a straight cut out story of Mitra’s and many other indigenous gods from all over the world. . Documentary like The Da Vinci code was very gripping but untrue, here’s what Zeitgeist Movement. it projects:

• Christianity isn’t original.
• The story of Christ is untrue.
• The facts like Christ was born on 25th Dec, had 12 disciples & gave up his life to save the world was a plagiarism story from Egyptian gods.
• The Roman church is the culprit & was hiding its tracks & truth about Christ.

For a layman, or for today’s information hungry crowd, this documentary will blow the lid & daylight on the integral belief of Christianity & will help them criticize it hard without knowing any background over the subject. There are many websites which support these theories, hard. I was looking for answers, solution which is convincing enough to reconfirm my faith. My search ended, when I found this Christian book house, OM Books, (Operation Mobilisation). The Case for the Real Jesus by Lee Strobel was the antidote for this controversy theory. The book’s well drafted and holds much critical information about all the latest media assaults on Christ. I would recommend everyone to read this one before pointing & concluding anything.
What does the book states?

• Christianity is an historic religion supported by historic writings, not an outcome of Myth or creative writings.
• Writings about Christ are from the eye witness & contemporary writing of those times.
• The prophecies were made before the birth of Christ & he was indeed born out of the Virgin.
• The Mithras & other similarities of other Gods hold no water as they have fallen short of facts when looked at them critically.
• Christ led a simple life unlike the theories of him having a close relationship with Mary Magdalene.
• Christ was resurrected on the Easter Sunday. This was real.
• The other books (Gospels of Judas, Peter etc) which claim the real “truth” were not included in the Bible categorically to hide the truth was a big gimmick.

The faith of many Christians is shook regularly, but has done little damage. Here’s a religion which is hit from all angles & still stands still. I agree Vatican has & is responsible for many social crimes in the name of religion but they did nothing to hide the truth about Jesus. My defence to defend comes just not coz I’m a Christian, it comes to just know the truth. & the truth shall set many things free.

5. some1

2010-02-08T17:43:00.004+05:30

Theatre isn’t that happening in Pune & English plays are sparse. Last Saturday, evam was in town with their new play, five point someone. (Yes, this time Chetan got his due credits unlike 3 idiot’s fiasco!). Theatre has its own charm & would love to see more good plays to be performed in Pune. Okay, this play is totally an adaptation of the book about 3 looser IIT students who go through their share of misery when at college. Play duration more than 120mins pepped with background score from few famed Pink Floyd numbers. It had its own high’s & lows, but overall a good performance. Now I have read the book, watched a movie & done with the play. Can’t think of any other form of this book to come alive now….

Place: Nehru Memorial, Camp.

Two States

2010-02-04T16:24:00.003+05:30

It always happens that I’m still reading a book & another book attracts my mind. Is it normal? Human nature & novelty is eternal. Two states: The story of my marriage by Chetan Bhagat is about a couple trying to bring their families while still keeping their cultures & customs in mind. The book’s tricky (or the author), he claims it to be fiction & on the same reveals it’s based on his wedding drama. Quite contradictory you see. The story is filmy, same formula used by umpteen bollywood flicks. It end has a filmy climax too. It’s a recommended book for couples who face religion, language, customs & all the silly social factors to tie the knot. Which I assume is on the high these days in India. It’s an okay read & language is quite Indian readers centered so shouldn’t be problem in finishing it in a jiffy.

The two states are actually: Punjab & Tamil Nadu. Known for their rigid customs & colorful lifestyle. ;-)

BAU

2010-01-19T12:55:00.002+05:30

I have really no words or excuses left to justify the irregular postings on my blog. What to do, I guess the time’s right for the frog’s to croak & keep jumping all over. No, No It isn’t monsoon now; I’m talking about the techies. Hiring has picked up in this Quarter so lots of Offers & top of Offers come more negotiations for more greens. Where am I in between? Yeah your guess is right…Just at the Epic-Center!

Oh! 2010

2010-01-04T12:55:00.003+05:30

I’m just back from a road trip. Pune to Bangalore & back. It was fun, adventurous & the feel of venturing into an unknown territory pushed the adrenaline high. My i10 was pretty tuned up throughout the drive. One craziness of mine costed the oil filter, I landed up on a bad patch of road & the oil filter got brushed to the ground eventually leaking out the engine oil. That was one of the highlight of this trip. Got more to say…no time to inscribe now. Here’s wishing you all a very Happy, successful & blessed 2010.

tweet tweet...

2009-12-02T15:45:00.008+05:30

I got twitted by the Pune Mirror this morning. I had a twitter account a year back, thanks to my dreamy memory I forgot the password. I opened one recently & the next thing I know is my second tweet ends up getting published in Pune Tweets strip. Mixed thoughts.

The day I met an Astrologer

2009-11-29T22:11:00.004+05:30

Sunday evening’s are quite depressing.
Weekends fly by & all I could do is to wish for it to stay a little longer next week. Not a great enthusiast for seeking future but sometimes I read my horoscope on my leisure. My weekend wanderings took me to a person, an astrologer (or rather a wise old man in his mid 60’s). The first time I asked him to look at my hand he was rude & terrible I felt of him. I was just asking him that’s it; he had an option to deny my request. He took his time but he was more welcoming this time & we had a conversation. He didn’t fit into a regular “astrologer kinds”, no parrot, no cards, just a book which he kept calling a “panchang”. He was keener on my “Kundali” to interpret things, which I don’t have neither believe in. Belief is such a huge & burdensome thing. He started about my education, he said its “it’s good, you should keep studying”. He was updated that IT guys need to keep upgrading with the technology, I’m mistaken for IT guy most of the time. “You never had problem with your schooling” he continued. I just wanted to tell him I had a horrible Math teacher who turned me to hate math till today. I kept running away from Numbers thereafter. “You should have taken Science” he mumbled but not that sure this time. I loved Physics & spent hours looking at the black night sky admiring what a marvel Space was. It’s been here always, seen everything. Tried to build my own telescope but was hit by lack of funds & non supportive parents who thought a twelve year old can’t build a telescope! I admired Copernicus, Galileo & felt awful that the church poisioned Copernicus instead accepting his theory. They were my heroes. I still have a telescope to own it. He acknowledged that I was independent & made my own way without any Support from anyone. I agreed. He spoke about having a painful & tumultuous relationship with my parents, it was shocking to hear that & I corrected him, my folks were friendly & never came in my way or compelled their thoughts on me. It was always all well with them. He concluded that you’ll buy a property soon; you have no problem with your health or money, but a spendthrift, seeking luxury all the time. Money won’t stay with you longer. Wish its turns true :-). I was reluctant to talk to him but it was nice talking to him, he passed his card & smiled. That’s it; he knew me & my story just having a look at my palm. Did he tell me my future or just told me “what I wanted to hear” will be a mystery & I’ll let time unfold it right in front of my eyes.

Kurbaan it!

2009-11-22T23:23:00.005+05:30

A group of illiterate terrorist plan to bomb subways in US. A poor soul tricked just to get into states, a very annoying story & more annoying flow of the movie sums up to Kurbaan. Wondering why someone wants to create a mess on a topic like Islamic terrorism, which is already messed up! Comparing Kurbaan to Newyork, Newyork was atleast watchable even though you’ll find the movie is again loosely derived from Hollywood flick like Crash. Kurbaan will definitely remind you or make you connect to Khuda kay liye in some ways but it’s nowhere near to it. American Homeland security & intelligence is considered to be superior & prudent but Kurbaan really shows them as a bunch of morons running around in all directions without any clue. How ignorant! It’s one of the idiotic movie ever made & will confuse everyone who had some understanding of Islam & terrorism. Ultra cruel. Saif looks like, he is ready to retire. Kareen is okay. Vivek’s lecture made him look sillier & Om puri should stick to revealing his explicit “maid-en” adventures for his biography. Utter rubbish! Please pass this one & Kurbaan it, not worth anything! The reviews posted on rediff & Indiatimes are bloody ambiguous.

Armed with a VAIO

2009-11-11T23:56:00.000+05:30

At last! I got my first laptop this week (5th Nov’09). It’s always complicated to buy gadgets these days the way technology changes so fast & things become absolute faster. It wasn’t easier either to finalise a particular notebook. I almost checked for all brands, all kinds of pricing & configurations. Acers, Wipro, Dell were reasonable with good system backings. HP, Toshiba were okay. Sony was distinct & my weakness too. VAIO is the best for Personal, Business usage. You can flaunt too. I was hopping shops in Pune but unfortunately I found no sane sales guy who could convince me to buy any Laptop. Most of them were ignorant about Computers & were just doing their “piece of work” by offering cheap Chinese made freebies. House of Laptops & Vijay Sales sucked big time & not worth the ad’s they do in papers. Croma was better but Luke warm. Sony World was where I could identify a place I could buy from. I hardly took time to decide on this one. Dell was my other option but lost out due to its very common looks & their mode of selling. I had to wait for 5 working days to be delivered. You see we Indian’s don’t buy stuff before we feel & see it with our own eyes & hands ;-). I got this one for 41.6K. I’m still getting used to its features & was busy creating recovery disc today. It’s worth the money & something very “special” for me. My iPod has found its partner now. Let me weave some magic with it now...

Things to keep in mind before you decide on a laptop:

Processor: Processor is the only component which you can’t upgrade in future so be careful with it. It’s always better to choose the latest one (your friends won’t put you down if you buy a latest one). Intel Core 2 Duo is the rage these days.

RAM & HDD: RAM can be upgraded & you can always buy a portable external hard drive or order from your cousin, colleague & friends travelling from US. 2 GB RAM (2.1 Ghz) is decent enough & HDD of 250GB would be sufficient. 320GB will be a blessing.
Are you a Techie? : If you are that nerd techie how wants to work on programming its better you don’t compromise on the Configuration. Huge programming software will definitely slow your system down (Min. You’ll require a 3gb RAM). If you aren’t techie enough then buy a laptop which will complete your needs like surfing, gaming, Movies, music & Photography. There are so many varieties of laptops now that you’ll feel its custom made for you.

Price: Pricing is relative here. If you have a budget constrain don’t make a mistake of buying something just for a heck of it. You’ll be disappointed. Patience is the Key.

The Crash : After effects

2009-09-29T12:48:00.003+05:30

Bad things keep happening. Weekend went back to the doctor to get checked again. The Swelling showed no signs of dwindling. The pain kept coming back. Had to get an MRI done & it showed a ligament tear (soft tissue) & a small fracture on my knee. Sounded bad when I heard that. For next two weeks I need to use the braces & the crutches to walk around. Painful!
The Bike’s fine now after the servicing, its handle realigned. I was in two minds to give to a local mechanic or the authorized service points but conclude on the latter one. I really haven’t rode the bike so can’t comment much.
This is the second ligament injury which I’ll be carrying. The worse was my shoulder dislocation. It was annoying, painful & killing. My condition now is similar to this.
Treatment mentioned here is similar to what the doctor has recommened to me.

RICE :When you are first injured, the RICE method - rest, ice, gentle compression and elevation — can help speed your recovery.
Immobilization :Your doctor may recommend a brace to prevent your knee from moving. To further protect your knee, you may be given crutches to keep you from putting weight on your leg.

Since most of these injuries have tendency to heal at its own course. Can’t do anything much than pop those painkillers & let time fly by you.

The Crash

2009-09-24T19:29:00.006+05:30

I Crashed. :(

Last Sunday,we (Me & few friends) went tripping to tahmini Ghats & Dongerwadi. It turned sour, on the way I lost control (gravel on the uphill & my front brakes not up to mark) of my Karizma & I crashed :-(. It left me with a injury on my left knee; its a soft tissue tear, makes me drag my feet while walking. Doc's suggested to be on 5 day bed rest; unfortunately I cant do that. . That's my damage!. My bike's in a bad shape, I fell on the left side so the front fairing is scratched badly, an eye sour really. The handle's not in sync with the front wheel, in simple terms its alignment is totally screwed up. You need a squint eye to ride it the way its now. The "Premium Sport" lower mould I feel is moved little towards the engine. Kind of psychological apprehension. I was in pain after the fall least I could do was to pay attention to the bike, the choke got turned on due to the crash & my other friend who rode the bike back didn't realise the choke was turned on all the while. I fear an over flow of petrol for those 50-60kms to the engine.Don't know the Consequence of riding the bike with its choke on. I rode the bike last night after three days & I feel the impact could have possible done something to the gear shift too. I'm planning to get the bike serviced, just hope its should be through with some minor repairs. My Knee is recovering & I'm back in Office (with a crepe band). Still have a swelling though. I'm seriously looking at few modifications for my bike now. Will post pictures of my 'wounded soldier'soon. Any good bike modifiers in Pune?

The Google Story continues....

2009-09-16T18:02:00.002+05:30

Last night I finished reading The Google Story, an impressive book which walks you through the birth & history of one of the most highly rated firm of our times. I liked the way Google runs & their philosophy of continuous learning & the way they have converted it to a University. I’m keen on their Genome project. If they succeed & mange to connect technology, medicine & DNA types it may well solve the way Doctors treat patients. I some how feel the reason Bill Gates wanted to be a part of India’s UID project was to equate Google’s this project somewhere, coz to create such an unique database for Indian population might involve DNA stems somewhere. I may be wrong too.

The Google story is a short biography of Google. You’ll love to read this book if you are a Google (product’s) addict. No one would deny Google is lot better search engine than any current search engine. I know that coz when I type “stevecentral” on Google the top search results are linked to my blog, that’s pretty neat. The same search on Microsoft’s Bing throws up weird search results. Google is accurate. It’s a prudent case study for young entrepreneurs in any field of business to learn from Google’s mistakes & how Sergey & Page have pulled Google out of initial investment tribulations & still managed to keep their vision intact. The Google Story contains 26 Chapters & closes with three appendixes dealing with: Google search tips, Google labs aptitude test (GLAT) & Google’s financial scorecard.

Indians + Google:
The Google Story mentions about two Indians in its course. Krishna Bharat, (Chapter 12: And on the fifth day…) & Ram Shriram (Chapter 5 & 25). Krishna Bharat was a techie working with Google when the twin towers crashed & he is the guy who created Google News. Krishna Bharat got back to India to Head Google’s R&D Center. Ram Shriram was the person who got the deal worked out (with Kleiner Perkins & Sequoia Capital) for Brin & Page.

"don't be evil"

2009-09-11T14:50:00.002+05:30

I’m still hanging on with The Google Story, two chapters to go before I complete the book. It was an amazing read. It’s a rag to riches story for Larry page & Sergey Brin; I can imagine the struggle they have put up with to reach where Google is now. It’s a contemporary book & one could relate to the instances described. Google is my dream company to work with. They are creative, competitive & have challenged the norms. I stand by their motto “Don’t be evil”.

Fecund landscape.

2009-09-07T10:23:00.002+05:30

From yesterday's memory.

Nature's wink

2009-09-06T20:51:00.002+05:30

This tree on the edge of lion's point at lonavla was enigmatic. The weather as before never disappoints anyone at this time of the year. With the skies dipping down and the gorges turn into ivory green i couldn't help turning poetic. Nature does wink at us at times. . .

Wayback Machine!

2009-08-21T18:48:00.001+05:30

I abandoned my first blog hosted by myblog before I moved to blogspot. I went back curiously to see what happened to it after all these years? I couldn’t find it anywhere nor any signs of its existence was available at any search engines. I knew like email Id’s blogs were also subject to terms & conditions & they are deleted if not logged in periodically. Still no clue what happened to the blog hosting site myblog.com. I’m currently reading The Google Story by David A Vise, one of the chapters mentioned about this Internet Archiving website called Wayback Machine. I was still curious if they really archive the whole worldwide web pages of the past. I typed the URL name of my previous blog (stevecentral.myblog.com) & clicked on ‘Take me back’. It really did store my pages safely, although the pages had difficulty is displaying pictures but the writings remained. Kind of Nostalgic reading through those pages. It’s a very interesting project by wayback machine, now I know where to look for deleted pages when Google fails. Try It!

Lazy day

2009-08-14T12:35:00.001+05:30

Yep, its an holiday today. I call it a lazy day. Couldn't be lazy enough today, had to pick up my driving license from the RTO office, one of the well organised corrupt authorities in India. I paid 2400 Rs to get it done. Ideally,legally i think it shouldn't cross 500 bucks. Now at the book shop,landmark. Its moved to a bigger place now opp Dorabjee's. I love the smell of the books. Can be here forever reading. . .

Flu flu! Swine Flew!

2009-08-11T15:54:00.003+05:30

I have this bad way of putting things at the lighter side in middle of a adversity too. . I drew this yesterday at the office dashboard. Pune is badly hit by the H1N1 virus. Schools shut, malls empty, multiplex's closed, roads empty. Reminds me of a movie- 28 days later. Hope we overcome this situation soon.

Getaway: Girivan Resorts

2009-08-10T17:07:00.013+05:30

16/September - Update: Just happened to go to this place few weeks back & I didn’t like it a bit. Last time I went it was raining & crowded so I believe it was different unlike this time. The security & so called dumb care takers were very arrogant & stupid. First they said to enter you need to pay Rs.250 per person in that Wilderness (includes just snacks & dinner), which obviously I denied to pay as we weren’t staying back that long, it was just a joy ride. The guy sitting failed to understand any language that we were just there for 15-20 mins & were heading back soon & had no sense to treat visitors. If that’s the way they are managing visitors, I’m afraid I seriously don’t recommend this place for anyone or anything. Some might argue that this may be a one-off case but I’m in no mood to silent to such unruly Hospilatailty ever.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pune & places around pune turn green & serene during the rainy season. There are many options for a weekend getaway from here. Last weekend, I tripped to this place called Girivan, a private hill station (That’s what they claim!). Got to know about this place by few friends who already made a trip there.
It’s roughly an hour’s drive from Pune towards lavasa route, instead of taking a left to lavasa from the main road you need to keep traveling straight ahead & take a right. (You’ll find a hoarding of Girivan, Keep your eyes open). After taking this diversion, you are on your own. You can see rich green fields, (Florescent green would be right!), green hillocks creamed with white foggy clouds & narrow one way traffic roads. (Lesser version of Roads). Follow your instincts & find this place on your own the drive is worth & the place is a hidden heaven during the rains. They have a small eatery at the Reception center, over looking the hills & the inter twining road below. They don’t serve Coffee so sit back & sip a hot cup of tea here. It was a short trip so can’t describe too much. I’ll write back more on this place when I really go & explore it out.

(Click on the images to enlarge! Pics from my SE K790i)

My car got scratched...continued...

2009-07-31T12:24:00.001+05:30

Ok…the update is…the Hyundai guys have agreed to work on the scratches. I’ll be getting it done on Saturday. However they didn’t assure that it will completely vanish. Atleast my heartburn would be minimized. I guess, I’ll be fine with it now, I guess every car goes through this…When I stop at any signal, I keep looking for other car’s scratches & feel little better & sad too when I see bigger scratches & dents on other cars.
Sometimes you can’t help, some dents & scratches are your mistakes & others are due to other’s folly.
Don’t be disheartened if your new car has been scratched, it’s just a matter of time, today or tomorrow it’s going to be scratched anyways. So just leave those scratches on their own!

Rain rain

2009-07-14T19:16:00.001+05:30

Its been raining since yesterday. In a way its nice to see the pour after those empty dark clouds all this while. This is a small pond in my campus usually fills up when its raining.

My car got Scratched!

2009-07-13T11:37:00.002+05:30

Ah! Not a great start today. I don’t know what joy one gets scratching a new car? Got up this morning & went down to pick up some stuff from my i10 (just over a month old) it was dis-hearting & agonizing to see scratches on the right side of the car. I guess it was done by some insolvent kids playing last evening around my car. I shouted at the watchman but I know it’s of no use & was wasting my energy on a frail old man. It’s a heartache to see those lines on a brand new car, especially when you have put all your money on it. I hate kids for this. I had got a Teflon coat done while getting the car, called the Hyundai guys, but I don’t think that would help. The guy who did the Teflon thing wanted to see the scratches before he could comment. I really don’t know what evil satisfaction one derives by just damaging others cars/ property?
If anyone is aware of any good scratch removers or car scratch repair shops in Pune, please do respond.

Rainy day

2009-06-19T17:47:00.001+05:30

Ah! It rained atlast. Good to see the greenery back. This pic's taken from my cubicle window.

Temple silence

2009-06-06T18:51:00.001+05:30

I'm just sitting in a corner at a temple. Just could see this old lady chanting few lines from her religous book. Smell of incense sticks at a distance and pillars standing tall to tell a tale of devotees. Religion is everything to most indians.

Monsoon on its way.

2009-06-06T10:07:00.001+05:30

Yesterday Evening from my office lobby.

"I"

2009-05-15T12:12:00.001+05:30

There are little voices whispering in my head. Voices which tell me about future, about me. I’m possessed! Just little more ken of things. You might probably not understand what I’m trying to say but being ignorant is fine with me. What keeping me alive at these turbulent times?

1. My work (It’s a religious duty for Living)
2. My ipod (Love Apple for its Invention)
3. Football (Take my fears away, I’m give my best out on the field)
4. My bike (My way, my freedom, my speed, My stallion)
5. Internet (Makes me happy, I find what I look for, Reading is bliss)

I need to & I’m coming back to life very soon, the way I’m the way I should be…Rest can go to hell, collectively!

Weekend Gambol

2009-04-03T17:56:00.003+05:30

It’s a busy Friday afternoon & I’m day dreaming look at the Blue skies outside the window. It was a long week & looking ahead for a relaxing weekend now. Last weekend was a total re-treat. It was just my book (India Unbound, Yes I’m still reading it!) listening to music, watching Movies & F1.

Completed reading two chapters from India Unbound, Merchants from Marwar & Dreams of Khabootarkhana… I want to finish this book by Weekend & start reading The Google Story.

Watched, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay & Kung fu Panda. The Thing, maybe it’s a classic I found it a bore. Harold & Kumar’s is a fun movie about a Korean & Indian dude who are totally insane & land up at Guantanamo bay, Cuba for their stupidity to smoke grass on a airplane & later charged as terrorists. The Movie is about their escape from the prison & how Kumar gets back his ex-gal. It’s a one time watch. Kung Fu Panda’s the entertainer. The Panda & his moves will keep you delighted. The movie’s about a Panda, Noodle seller who dreams of making big in the Kung fu world (becoming a Dragon Warrior). Check out for the five counter parts of the Panda & his teacher (a lemur, if I’m not wrong!).

F1 was fun last week. The season started as usual with the Australian GP with some really new & contemporary rules & the cars modified, the spoiler or the Wing is modified to look shorter this was done for the cars to do frequent over takings & the controversy about the rear diffuser will be for awhile until the hearing. The best feature added is KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System, using it will increase the cars hp to 80!). The qualifier was a surprise, from no where a team makes it to the pole with Jenson Button. Indian Viewers or maybe just my cable guy’s reception of the Qualifiers was frozen on this TV Screen for a very long time. I guess these guys got choked seeing an Emirates Air hostess!

Brawn GP was sensation last week. They ended up at first & second positions, Jenson Button followed by Rubens Barrichello. Hamilton was awarded the Third place replacing Jurno Trulli & yesterday it was amended & reinstated Trulli to Third place. Phew! An exciting first Race! Tomorrow it will be Sepang & Renault claiming that the track is more conditioned to their car it will all & all makes it more than a thriller.

The Qualifiers on Saturday will answer these Questions. Meanwhile good news is that Force India drivers finished at 9 & 11th position. They didn’t get any points but they have very well increased the expectations of their fans for the next race. At one point, I thought Giancarlo Fisichella will finish in top seven until he mis-parked his car at the pits & lost his timing.
That’s it as of now……

What's wrong?

2009-03-26T17:39:00.000+05:30

My writings have totally vanished, that make me say that I no longer think about things. I have become lazy & sound more mundane. I’m submerged into 10am to 8pm workshift. Work seems have no end. I have to be more conscious & agile about everything I do. I sound like an adult now; even I may not be one. These are the symptoms or withdrawal effects. I don’t find time to write on my own blog & read anything including daily newspaper. I just wish I could have little more time for myself than everything else. It looks like a grievance note than a bloggers update. But this how & what’s been happening so far. I’m just working & working & working……even as I write this…

Dev D

2009-02-04T12:00:00.004+05:30

After watching Dev D, all I can summarize is that the new era for Indian Film Industry has began. Dev D is a movie about a guy who has no aims & ambitions in life & who is hell bent in living a reckless lifestyle. Blame it on his Indian male ego which makes him turn down his childhood sweetheart Paro. Abhay deol is distinctly apart from his other deol clan & can act & has been doing some very interesting roles, (Contemporary). Dev D is loosely & based on Sarat Chandra Chaterjee’s novel Devdas. Dev D has re-written many new rules & it has all praises for sexism, drug abuse, alcoholic & being a looser to the realm. Dev D has a very dark & edgy sound track. The movie revolves between three main charecters: Dev, Paro & Chanda. The movie will either bore you or makes you feel great about it & its unique style of Narration. For me, it seems like a good watch not a regular stereotype Hindi movie. Definitely it will make its way into my ipod library.

My Blooper...continued......

2009-01-22T18:11:00.001+05:30

I finally got back my dock. The tech guy charged me 1500 bugs, 675 for the step down & rest for the Services & Spares. Quite unfortunate that, I plugged it in directly earlier. But it looks fine & cool now. It’s really amazing & worth the buy & the Struggle (I went through). Will write more about its features later.

My Blooper

2009-01-02T14:42:00.002+05:30

I recently ordered (Somewhere in the third week of November) a Sony Micro hi-fi ipod (CMT-BX20i) dock from US,through a friend in US. I had to wait until he sent it through someone traveling back to India. I picked it up yesterday from the guy who brought it from US. I was totally unaware that the power requirement for this component is different & when used outside the US & it needs a voltage converter. As soon as I plugged it on, the standby blinker was on & after few seconds it was gone. I didn’t know that it needs a voltage converter at all. Later when I went to buy a converter, the electrician told me that it’s a common problem when using an electronic application meant for American homes. Unhappy & cursing himself for the lack of awareness I had to leave it to fix it up. He assumed that SMPS is gone. I assumed nothing. That’s how my new year’s first day started. Will update soon on the dock’s state.Lesson learnt from this episode: Never get any electronics from US, until you know it will work out of US/Asia. We still are two worlds apart.

Last day of 2008

2008-12-31T20:40:00.001+05:30

Few more thoughts...
Few more lines to reflect upon…
Few more smiles…
Few more steps…
Few more minutes to bid farewell to this year.
Good, bad, enchanting, tempting, dreamy, hard times, little measures of joy, new friends, new philosophy in life, recession, job jump, terrorism, downsizing, Travel India….many more travels, airports, trains, bike….
I can just go on & on like a wordsmith…This year, whatever it’s been it’s been MINE.
Thanks God for letting me be. Thanks for being there; I know you’ll be always even if I’m a fallen Angel in your eyes. Remembering 1 John 1:9…..
I’ll try not to be what I’m now. Thanks a lot everyone for putting up with me. It time to welcome a year, a new hope, a new beginning for many things, a new way to walk about…. Walk…never stop.

Software to Softwear

2008-12-09T18:02:00.008+05:30

These days where the market has slowed down & banks are turning bankrupt & a sour taste of recessions is the delicacy for all MNC’s & IT Companies in & out of India, the brave Software giant Microsoft has found a second line of business to survive these volatile days, they are now making the real “Softwear”, which the common man knew few decades back!!!!
Post Bill Gates’s exit, The Company has is running loose & have started there own apparels & no guesses for the name they picked for their retro-Geek kind of a clothing as “Softwear”. Sound cool, the tee-shirts would be available in stores in US by 15th Dec 2008. I couldn’t find more info over pricing, hope they don’t charge a bomb for their tees just like their Software products. Whichever ways, very soon the Chinese will pirate the designs & sell at a cheaper price just like other Microsoft Software’s. Unfortunately MS thinks it them who connect over a billion people but to rephrase it’s the Chinese who are helping them!!!

An eye for an eye! We have the right to self-defense.

2008-12-09T11:13:00.004+05:30

Each passing day, it’s becoming & more difficult for me to sit & gather my thoughts. I’m lacking the time, spirit & patience to pen down the voice inside my head. Past few days were really horrific; it has forced me to voice my opinion. Terror had a new face & a new place to leave a scare behind. Mumbai will never be the same for atleast those folks who were rescued & who lost a near ones in this attack.
Events which unfolded on 26th Nov in Mumbai will & have to change the way we (Indians) look at terrorism. We have been with living with external & internal terrorism since the last 4 decades. Its very unfortunate that Pakistan, a rogue & under-developed nation which is a extremely a classic example of a failed democracy & fundamentalist nation, harbors terrorist & terror organization to function & execute from its soil & its very frustrating to see their Government deny that none of the terrorists were from Pakistan. According to Pakistani media, India has staged the whole event of 26/11 online lines of American 9/11.Heights of Foolishness!! Every piece of evidence recovered was pointing towards one direction: Pakistan.

It was a cowardly & a sick incursion by the terrorist on Mumbai. Hotel Taj Mahal has been an icon of Mumbai along with the Gateway of India & famously pictured in many movies, pictures & documentaries. I have been to Mumbai so May times, but it was just once that I could get a glimpse of Taj & Gateway (Way back in 1990’s). I haven’t had a chance to spend time at Taj or Trident, but when I saw the fire in some parts of the Hotel it was a depressing feeling. Back into College days, my Industrial Relations Professor used to make his teachings interactive & occasionally tell us stories associated with industries & India’s history, struggle to become an industrial State. He has once told the story of Taj, it wasn’t just an elite chain of Hotel’s, it carried a History & was a pride of every Indian. It was started by the Great Tata when he wasn’t allowed in one of the Restaurants run by the British during the colonial rule.Jamshetji immediately, swore to put the English Restaurant out of Business & hence started a curio called “Taj”. No Surprises why this place was targeted apart from it being a famous hangout with Foreigners, Diplomats & Socialites. Little did the Terrorist know the repercussions; their aim was to tarnishing the image of India (Tourism, business) internationally with this attack, instead it brought wrath of other nations on Pakistan. Very soon economic, trade & other sanctions will follow on & Pakistan will be reduced to a full-fledged terrorist state, if they do not confess their involvement.

One more thing which came in as a welcome change is the general opinion among the mass about our Politicians & the security of a common man. There were vibration sent out to the politicians that they will face the common man’s anger if they do not correct their ways of functioning, question’s were raised against people who were in Power to safeguard our nation. Head’s did roll. Our Security & defense mechanism were put on test; we came to know that we had a weak & redundant maritime patrol force. Every time we are hit by terrorist, they point out our weakness. It time for us & our government to run the show in a professional way. We as a country have a long history with terrorism & given the time span we have been affected, we should have become super nation to tackle terrorism & help other countries who are being affected to counter terrorism. Comparing the general population, we Indians have become immune & so casual about bomb blasts, terrorists, murders than the other developing countries. We have two under-developed neighbors who are unfriendly, non co-operative & don’t share the same idea’s & a very violent history since ages & an on-going dispute over Kashmir. I really don’t see a solution for the Kashmir issue until a major worldwide headline (War) event is created, I feel if this (Going for war) is the only way a lesson can be taught & a solution can found to erase our insecurities. Why not then wage a final war, my words may sound amateur but war may be the only answer for peace.

Barbeque Nation

2008-10-27T17:12:00.009+05:30

The winters knocking at our Doors & I feel yet another year when mercury will dip & dip lower. There are few things which I feel one should do in winters, is to throw a Terrace party. Can you imagine sipping your Favorite drink with hot grilled barbeques with bunch of Buddies under Cold, breezy winter starless night. In Pune unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to go or throw a terrace party, but serious wish I could. Talking about Barbecue’s, Last weekend I wanted to try some new restaurant, I was bugged going to the regular Restaurant again & again. Barbaque Nation was behind my mind since awhile. I knew they were quite a name in Bangalore,Mumbai but really didn’t have time & company to try there.Staying in Pune for all these days,I thought I could figure out any place with a minimum description. Overconfidence, on my part I should say! I finally have to call Just Dial (020-2222-2222) to ask for the address. I would like to apologize if some foodie or a critic reading this post may not find the details sufficient. Coz I can’t write about Food, that’s an area which I never liked to venture into. I can neither write about how the ceiling or furniture was looking or how well the ambience went along with the name of the restaurant or the theme. It's just straight to the point. (I would rather say from a Bachelor’s point of View or a Novice).

Barbaque Nation is the best if you want to spend some good time with your family & friends. The food or rather the Barbeques are exotic & delicious. You get unlimited helpings of Barbeques. I hardly had two Veg Barbeques, but my day was made by the Non-Veg Barbecue’s: from fish, mutton, prawn to chicken, they were well made & well served. There’s hardly a room for Vegetarian here. I quite didn’t like the Veg Barbeques. Barbeques were meant for meat not for grass! My personal Favorites were the Prawn Barbaque & the Chicken. You can order for a drink separately.
Moving to Buffet, you have quite a variety in Veg & Non-Veg Cruise. I liked the Mutton Biryani & the deserts were descent for the Closing. All this was for 450 Rs. plus taxes, roughly you’ll land up paying Rs. 500 odd per person. The Ambience is soothing with some cornered instrumental music from the old & new hits make a relaxing Combination. A good place to spend some good time with near & dear one’s. More than that I would say a great business Model!

P.S: Call well in advance to check for Buffet & Barbecue’s for the evening, as they change it regularly.
It’s always better to call & ask for reservations that standing for your turn.

Barbeque Nation,Pune.
Location:Near Agakhan Palace,Behind Dass Showroom, Kalyani Nagar, Pune – 411014
+(91)-(20)-32327788,32327799
pune@barbeque-nation.com
www.barbeque-nation.com

Thought's running Wild.

2008-09-08T19:28:00.001+05:30

Huh...
It was similar to a rollercoaster ride for me in the last few weeks. I wish I could explain or vent out what I have been going through openly…I have always been a product of Change. Been Evolving since I’m on my own. Evolution is a part of me (But I do believe in Creation!) & I know that I won’t stop till I can, whether some one adores or rejects. I’m happy about things which have happened so far but also Skeptic about other issues. I have been guilty of ignoring my blog & it seems like as days go by, its seems too difficult to manage it.I just don’t want to keep a blog just for the heck of it (Like those freaking moron bollywood celebs), I feel in love with it, there were times I have overcome my fears & break downs due to this space. I owe a lot. I just don’t want to update it coz I have to…..that’s not very much me to do things coz I have too. I have a constant fear of closing down my blog or to a thought that I’ll not like writing anymore…..Will leave this thought to be a thought. If it persists I know what needs to be done. I will be Guilty forver.

Scramble'd

2008-06-25T20:52:00.007+05:30

Internet. It’s a wide, deep Ocean. Found this website on Gorgeoux's posts, she has been a front runner in identifying novel ideas. Wordle, it creates a kind of a poster for the Tag's used or the most frequent words used on your Page. You can use it to make amazing Posters, ofcourse only with Words!. And it was really awesome to see how it came out for my Blog.

About Wordle : Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

Colors of India!

2008-06-22T14:57:00.008+05:30

Since I have spent so much of time on my site writing about traveling, going new places, exploring, I thought this is the right time to write about a site which attracts all the Travelers who want to know more about India, its Culture, History & heritage. The idea was an incredible way to market our travel industry & as far I see, it was one successful campaign. I’m talking about Incredible India, a programme which the Ministry of Tourism undertook to promote India as a preferred Travel destination. It went to many places over the couple of years & its website’s making news for all the good reasons for winning the PC world awards 2008. The site gets an approximately of over 10 lac hits in a day world over, that’s infact a huge traffic movement I would say. Its theme for internet media called “Colors of India” is really superb. Some of the images used do really reflect the colors of India, a very colorful country with a lot of vibrant colors & places, that’s the reason I was really tempted to upload few images straight from the theme. If you haven’t been dipped into these colors it’s time to get out of your cubicle & hit the road. I remember a famous quote which often does appear on Discovery Channel from St Augustine- “The world is a book & those who do not travel read only one page”.

Some other Quotes which grab my attention:

“There is no happiness for the person who does not travel. For Indra is the friend of the traveler, therefore wander!”
-Brähmann

“Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled".
-Prophet Mohammed

Don’t you think these statements from the wise are really good enough for a Headstart?

Dehradun:Step Closer to Nature

2008-06-20T23:14:00.007+05:30

It was a dream.
After my wonderful flight from Pune to Delhi, I was on my way to Dehra Dun. I was really excited to be in Dehradun. I had an option of Flying from Delhi to Dehradun but some how wanted the travel team not to find a connecting flight from Delhi to Dehra dun, and indeed I was lucky, I had to take the road, which I loved too. It was raining hard for quite awhile but later reduced to a mere summer showers. It was 6:30 pm when we left Delhi; soon we were on the Highway.

Since we had someone to pick us up from Delhi, I felt little relieved. The Drive who said he had lived all his life on this Route, took a detour instead of the so called highway, we had to take a deviation & we were just going by a dark, isolated, narrow one way path along a canal.I believe this waterway running parallel to us was River Ganga. It was the “regular” way taken to cut down on few Kilometers. But it was quite Dangerous, I felt.

After few miles on the highway we stopped at Cheetal Grand Restaurant, a regular stop-by for the regular Delhi-Dehradun travelers. Some thing like the food malls on Pune-Mumbai Expressway.Cheetal Grand is located at Khatauli, roughly 100kms from Delhi. It’s quite unique; it has catchy message boards & great flora & fauna. I wonder how they managed to keep so many birds caged. Some, I felt were rare, I had never seen them before. I guess Maneka Gandhi yet hasn’t stopped by here:).The onion & chili Pakoda’s are quite famous here.It was already dark & I could faintly see anything except for the some dark villages (Most of them were without power) which my driver significantly pointed out were a part of Uttar Pradesh (Land of Turmoil, Hope it changes its perspective). I guess by 11:30pm were in Dehradun, little tired & damn hungry.It was just a picture perfect start; I woke up, leaned over my balcony to see lots of greenery &it was pouring, never felt so beautiful about rains. The sound of rain was so refreshing, I never paid attention to how rains sounded before. A Small Church standing at a distance. Just felt nice about the little chill hitting my body. It was one of those days were you just lazed in bed, reading sipping hot cup of coffee or sitting by the fire place & have a drink. Hmm….It felt like heaven. I never wanted to leave…

I got very little time to go around Dehradun; so near but yet far from Mussoorie. I managed to just see Mussoorie over the Mountains. (My first glimpse of the Himalayas). I remembered Ruskin Bonds. He lives in Mussoorie (Had ideas to met him too). But, was unlucky this time, was running out of time & also was advised it was unsafe to go Mussoorie after the nightfall. (If on my own, I would have driven down on my own, even if I had to spent 30mins there). Got time to see the Dehradun market, shopping area, uptown area, the Tibetan market, in & around Clock tower area, walking by. It was a Sunday evening so most of the shops were closed. Went to a sweet shop & had lots of Ras Gulas. It was really a small trip; I just couldn’t get to see much of Dehradun. Yes, I did miss visiting the landmarks- The famous Dun School &IMA.
I had and early morning flight from Dun to Delhi. Dehradun’s only airport known as Jolly Grant is situated 25kms from the main town, the drive is quite pleasant but be well in time to catch the flight, if ever stuck in a jam you can say goodbye to your flight. I’m sure you don’t want to do that as it’s the only Flight out of Dehradun. (Only AirDeccan flies to Dehradun-Delhi Sector, One in the morning & the other in the evening, basically ATR’s).

The Airport is quite small & lack basic facilities, I guess it will improve once the airport is fully built & more flights start operational. There’s just one Air Deccan counter & one foodstall with minimum staff & little Security. The Airport is nestled at the foothills of Himalayas. My dream of Dehradun was pretty much over. I’ll surely come back here for sure, hope not on a Business trip.
Trip Details:
Delhi-Dehradun: 232 Kms Apporox
My Travel Dates : 4th(Reached at 11:30pm, almost 5th), 5th, 6th, 7th April 2008
Pune to Delhi –4th April 08, Flight #SG 212 Y -04APR PNQ-DEL AK1 (1330-1525 hrs)
Dehradhun to Delhi – 7th April 08 # DN 510 Y -07APR DED-DEL (0655-0750 hrs)

Total Recall

2008-05-29T22:29:00.003+05:30

April 4th’2008, Friday

It was hot & scorching Friday afternoon when I was boarding a SpiceJet flight bound to Delhi. The last time I flew SpiceJet was from Bangalore to Pune, more than a year back. It was quite wild, the only reason I opted for it was its Apex fares. There was no reason now for me to look for Apex but I got booked just because of the Schedules which was pre-planned. After the take-off, we were flying via Mumbai to Delhi. I could see the Silver coastline & tiny white wave strikes hitting the Mainland. Very soon we were flying through Central India and I had all the time to complete reading the in-flight Magazine & a Financial Daily, iMint. I guess we were nearing Delhi, say 20 Flying Minutes from Delhi, there was a storm coming our way. When I left Pune it was Clear & Perfect weather to Cruise, Call it Climatic changes, Global Warming or Typical Indian Pre-Monson Showers, whatever it was it was bad. The flight was hardly booked to its Capacity, there was no one seated next to me (I normally prefer sitting alone while Flying Alone). Very soon we were stuck with such bad turbulence & the Airbus was just a like a mere paper plane trying to maintain its axis. I have never feared of Flying but this wasn’t a usual one, it was going on incessantly violent, I was putting up a brave front, pushing my back hard & so many thought just flashing. I could think of TV series LOST, unlike its plot of Crashing on an isolated island, I knew for sure I won’t land up at any Island, but will be a headline for next day’s newsprint. To add more flavor to the situation, there were few first time flyers I guess who lived up to their Expectations. All I wanted to do was to walk out of the Aircraft ASAP. There were a million things which were playing hard on my mind…emotional, comic, about things, people, Religion, God, Friends, Places, Faces, hugs, touch, kisses everything at one go. I had just stopped worrying about my career, Profession, work; these were so minimal at this point….mere waste. I was just one among many sitting there in that flight, who just got a pre-view on how we have stopped living our lives & were just getting carried away by just doing things which life lets us into. SG 212 Y- This flight did touch down Delhi safely; We were soon welcomed by an hailstorm. The feeling of being safe was re-installed in me. I can never forget this Journey, in 15 minutes, I knew I need to say so many things to so many people for being with me, for letting me the way I’m & who I’m.(In way very own small way)

First Rains

2008-05-10T17:05:00.005+05:30

Just when everyone was busy in their own work & lives. The summer Sun just gave up & it did rain. Missed Banaglore & its rains for awhile. As all good things keep coming back…so did I & the Rains.

Cricket Unleashed:IPL

2008-04-22T00:00:00.010+05:30

Every one is talking about it. Its rainy money & sixes & fours all over India. We are united as a Nation but we are now divided between the eight Cricketing teams of a league. At times confused where should our loyalty be counted? Imagine this, if you are a Bengali living in Bangalore for a decade, which team do you stand for & cheer? Indian Premier league a.k.a IPL or commonly called as Indian Paisa League by the fourth estate has boomed much higher than expected, unlike the rebel league ICL. Change is inevitable, if you don’t change with times, you’ll cease. These were the same line the English Cricket Board re-invented the game of Cricket to re-boost the dying game in England. Today BCCI, has initiated to take a lead in taking the Twenty-20 format to a next level, ironically, this was the same board & only Cricketing body which opposed the Twenty-20 format. Well, imagine the kind of money spent on buying the players from all over & BCCI has requested ICC for specific window slots where no international matches between cricketing nations will take place during the IPL season, mainly to make the players available throughout the IPL season. Adam Gilchrist, the Aussie Wicket keeper quoted over his auctioning as “I left like a cow”, a very realistic view. Hope whatever ICL does, it will help the game overall & take the League standards to the likes of English Premiere League or Spanish League, where the whole world is aware about the teams, games, players & more important-the game of Football.

I could say I was a part of Inaugural of IPL at Bangalore on 18th April. I was taking a stroll on MG road & here are few images of the Inauguration, well not from the within the stadium but from outside. Few images from friends, lucky ones who went to watch the beginning of a new era.IPL if ever Sucessful will change the course of Indian Cricket.

It really holds EVERYTHING!

2008-04-03T18:27:00.007+05:30

"Ipod,ipod burning Bright.
In the corner of the night".

No offence to Willam Blake, But that's what I feel about my New ipod. Since traveling has become a vital part of my Profession I’m bound to spend hours travelling. Best Solution to spend your travel time is to read or carry a media player. I already had a 1GB ipod (Black), the first generation one with a display but I required something more. Some thing which will be a complete solution to all the Movies & Music I have & would love to carry along. 1GB didn’t give me many options; I could just store around 200 song & pictures. The clarity of Pictures wasn’t that sharp.

I got my second ipod from US few weeks back; thanks to a very good friend who took all the trouble initially to put up with my confused state of buying an 80gb or an itouch, later with ordering it & sending it all the way to India safely. Thanks a ton Misraji, I owe you one.

I finally decided to go for a 80gb one & so did I get one- A 80GB Classic (Black- 5th Generation). So far, it has been worth the money put on it. Its got a huge Memory- around 76GB available to be utilized out of 80GB memory. It’s got one of the Crisp, brighter & sharper image quality, actually it’s the LCD. Watching Movies on the ipod is quite an experience & addictive too (Atleast for me, till now). The Audio as well as Video output has been staggering.

There are few concerns using or rather say making the best out of this ipod, here are few I could identify: You need a Video converter to convert avi or mpeg video files to mpP4 or any of ipod compatible videos. Converting a Movie itself is a great ordeal as the converts take nearing an hour to convert one English movie of 700mb. But trust me the wait is worth also. Syncing my ipod with 18GB data of pictures, songs & videos took atleast 15-18mins. I understand that the data is huge but Imagine if you are syncing your ipod with 60-70gb of data, Its going to take minimum of an Hour or plus. I have also been using my ipod as a pen drive. I been storing software’s & some movies & Picture Folders-you can use this option my creating an new folder in the ipod after you eject your ipod from itunes. I’ll update further on things you can do with ipod’s as I learn with days passing by, why wont anyone like to, when you have such an amazing gadgets with you. Speaking about ipod, want to see how to make your ipod a smashing one? Check this site http://www.smashmyipod.com

Here's what smashmyipod.com have to say about themselves? : After we collect $400 in donations, we will take that money to a local Apple Store. We will purchase the iPod, open it right inside the store, and destroy it right on the spot. The whole thing will be shot on film, and displayed on this site. This is only a social experiment, for the entertainment of the donors, and visitors of this site. For more info, read the faq.

10,000 BC

2008-03-14T13:29:00.004+05:30

Inspired by some of our Bollywood flicks, Hollywood tried to use the same ‘ol formula to make 10,000BC only difference just an high end digital graphic display which to some extent looked real enough to stimulate your sense & some just an disappointment (I’m talking about the Confrontration of the Spirit & D’leh), which could have done much better. D’leh is a Hunter, in love with Evolet. She is kidnapped by some tribal Persian looking warriors. This begins the journey of D’leh to get her ladylove back to his settlement.

Pros: Some really good graphics especially re-creation of Mammoths, Egypt look alike pyramids & exotic location from the artic like setting to the grassy marshlands to Sand dunes.

Cons: Story required little more perfection; it could have done in a more realistic way. We are talking about 10,000 BC. Things were very different I guess not were test Rambo’s were running large to over throw an entire Civilization or Settlement.

Right from the Heart-Taare Zameen Par

2008-01-15T23:42:00.000+05:30

Every Child is Special. That’s the tag line for Taare Zameen Par, but how many of us think that way??/ Not many I guess. It’s not very frequent I write about Hindi Movie (There’s nothing that I love writing only about English!) but this one made me write. Children are always taken for granted when it comes to schooling & studies. Watching this Movie, I got nostalgic about few things which passed my way when I was in School. (Read Below). I feel Aamir Khan Deservers to go to Oscars this year too. Bollywood’s newest find Darsheel Safary has really got a long way to go, His acting skills as a Kid is next to none. It really good to see Mainstream Bollywood coming out with Sound & Meaningful movies with really great learning or social message in them, considering movies which made hype last year like Om Shanti Om & Saawariya. Both were Scrap! I’m not writing too much about the Movie because it’s worth going & watching the Movie than a Review.

My Schooldays were rocking, Here’s the Top 10:

1.My Folks always made me feel guilty that I never studied enough!!!!

2.Was always compared to my neighbor next door that he gets up at 5am & slogs & I get up at 8am. ( I hated Comparisons which helped me become more stubborn instead of motivating me, that goes on till now)

3.Was very brilliant in Math till I reached VIIth Standard. (98/100 types) but one Incident changed my view about Numbers (It was my Math teacher). I never intent to do well in math again & I continued it till my Xth. (Barely realized that I was the one who’ll be suffering later in my academics).

4.I was very keen on Journalism & Literature. But my Dad wanted me to become an Engineer (a Normal trend few years back).

5.Never suffered from dyslexia but pretended to have one whenever in trouble.

6.When I got my Report card after my IXth Standard Finals, I changed my Math Score from 30 to 80, but forgot to change the total marks Overall. The total was still of 30!!! My Dad called me a “Criminal Mind”. I was house Arrested for a Month! (Without Play! Just Imagine).

7.Used to Bunk Math Tuitions but still used to take Fee from Home. (I thought it was no use studying Math in Life!!!)

8.Was a very Brilliant Student in Social Science. I topped the class from IIIrd to VIIIth standard. Later In my XIIth I got 89 in History, Second Highest for the college. (thought I’ll get into History Channel easily)

9.Played almost all games which my school was into: Cricket, Football, and Hockey except volleyball. Was very good Batsmen & we won the All-School Cricket Tournament Finals; I was the part of the Winning Team. I played all the First Rounds, Quarter-Finals & Semi Finals but was dropped playing the Final cause I left a Catch in the Semi’s, sometimes I still see re-play of that Catch I missed in Flashes in my Head! That one Incident made me a Bad Cricketer.I was called “Blewett” in my team named after Australian Middle-order Batsman Greg Blewett that was mainly because my Fielding & batting styles matched with his. Eventually, My cricketing dreams crashed before I could take-off, so did Greg Blewett’s, after few appearances in the Australian team He was Lost in the Oblivion.

10.I was so interested in Journalism that in Class X started writing News related to School stuff in Notebook papers. It was named X TIMES initially but Changed to X-FILES later. It was turning controversial as I had written few things about Teachers!

Adios!

One Way

2008-01-07T18:42:00.000+05:30

The first thing I could relate this movie with the latest New Year Mumbai Molestation Incident. There isn’t any direct relation with the Movie & the Incident, which took place in Mumbai. Only thing in line would be violence against Woman. Really have no idea if, whether this movie was ever released in India, neither I have any distant memories of this movie in the past.An excellent movie, a good realistic story & quite a brilliant performance by Til Schweiger. Til Schweiger (Eddie) faces the wrath of a fellow Colleague (who was raped by Eddie's future Brother-in-law) when he turns down to testify against the accused to save his marriage. Unfortunately, Eddie’s is cornered by the victim for a bitter Revenge.
What I liked about the movie: Great Direction & the flow in the movie (Its gripping) & a great sound track. Worth a Watch!
Runtime:116 min

Knocking @ 2008

2007-12-31T16:22:00.000+05:30

Yet another year is passing by…. I really have no memories of what significant things have I done this year except for a job change early this early. Am I Really Content with it? My Answer is a Yes. Working with a bigger company has its own pro’s & con’s. But whatever I’ll never get back into Consulting Firm ever again, no matter what the offer is. Here’s something, which I’m doing to plan in the next 365 days:
Things what I intent to do in 2008:

1. Lead a health life…fresh air (smarter one’s will understand)
2. Try to sleep early. My routine is really screwed up. I need to a Manager to get it back on track.
3. Kill my Laziness. I’m ultra lazy! I can sleep the whole day & Night too.
4. Financial Smartness: I’m little spoilt when it comes to managing the greens. I’m very much moved emotional when I go for Shopping or traveling. Need to invest more on MFs or an IPO.
5. Get a new Cellphone, I guess!
6. Fine-tune my driving, a little!
7. Be little more Regular towards reading my Bible. (Religious uh!)
Well, Im sure there will be new things which will mushroom & surprise me, I’m kind of prepared for it. Looking forward for a blessed year & Sayonara to 2007, you have been a great teacher. Wishing you all a very Happy, safe & a hot :) New year – 2008! See you on the other side (soon)!

The Conclusion- Kokan Experience

2007-12-28T19:06:00.000+05:30

This was what was promised & here it is the journey to India’s western part famously known as the Konkan. I’m not that fascinated with konkan in particular, but I’m with beaches & good sea food. A 4-5 hours drive from Pune will land you up in this beach village called Srivardhan, it has a famous neighboring village called Dive agar. Initially the road played a spoil sport, it was the most suicidal road I have ever been.

We stayed at a family run guest house providing us food & other things. The beach’s just 10mins walk from the house where I was staying. If you want to try some thing better, or do not want to stay with a local family, the Maharastra Tourism department has its own guest house on the way to the beach. The only reason why I preferred to stay where this family was renting out the house was due to the food. Srivardhan is really a small, sleepy little town, you can’t expect more here. The local cuisine is really mouth watering. Try the prawns, the fried fish with some local chutney- it’s really delicious & for the main course there’s nothing better than a fish curry-rice & lots of fish fried & cooked in different ways. It’s really a heaven for people who love sea food & especially Konkani style of preparations.

The beaches are really clean, covered with white sand through out. You can find lot of travelers from Mumbai & other places on the beaches during a peak season. At the beach be careful with the crabs, you can find their claw marks all over. The people here are friendly & helpful. There’s a huge majority of Muslims here.

My next destination was Dive agar. It’s hardly an hour’s drive from Srivardhan. The only place I got to see here was the Elephant God’s Temple & I would love to get back to Dive agar than Srivardhan the next time I get a Chance. By the End of the day at dive agar I was ready to get back to Pune ending my short weekend expedition.

P.S: Just for the Records, the Pics above were taken from my Sony Ericsson W810i.

Droppin by..

2007-12-20T17:49:00.000+05:30

Let me just accept the fact why I wrote something on my blog today. My Internet connection at work’s been down since two days except the Internal mails, everything’s on the stand still. Actually I like it this way but, work never leave you infact it makes it more tedious later & have to pay for all these days later…. coz no body’s going buy this Story. Well that was a slice of Corporate Culture for you (Don’t you this I have been using that word to frequently on the blog).

Konkan Trip-Part 2..through the Lens.

2007-12-09T19:23:00.000+05:30

Playing beach Cricket at Srivardhan Beach.

Serene Beachline on the way to Dive agar from Srivardhan.

Silver Beach...really Beautiful.

Sunset on the way from Pune to Srivardhan.

Passing By small fishing hamlets through the Konkan Area.

Road Tripin....

Coconut Grooves all my way!

Coconut Grooves are filled throughout the Konkan...an Identity which you can never miss.

Konkan Stories - Part 1

2007-12-04T09:46:00.000+05:30

Weekend's have always been really hectic & tiresome for me since the past few months. I'm always in the Office on Saturdays & busy catching on my Sleep on Sunday's. That makes it to Zero social activity. Last weekend was bettter, away from the city, a new place. Konkan was something which I have heard a lot of times from one of my friends who's Dad used to work for the Railways. My friend used to tell me all about the great Konkan Railways which was considered an Human Marvel according to him & also the the dense forest area the railway line used to pass through. This was my chance to see it through my own eyes. This would be another place where I'll be venturing without making an prior "Google" search on it. Stories from the Konkan Expedition will continue....

In the Name of God

2007-11-01T01:33:00.000+05:30

I feel that the writer in me is almost dead & the hacker & explorer or voyager has taken over me completely. Sounds like I have been bite by a bat & I’m turning into a Vampire. I’m guilty of not giving enough attention to my blog over few days but I’m unable to attend my self. All I do is Work. The internet has plagued my home too so that adds up to working from home too. I have been working on few secret projects of my own related to technology, new software & other interesting stuff; I wish I could write all about them but not now.

Thanks to torrent & torrent users I have been download lots of stuff from the internet music, videos, & movies. Since the exposure to Pakistani movies in India is very minute we don’t get to hear much from the other side of the border. But no matter what, there are few things which can’t be contained viz. Music.We can’t hate good music or art based on the nationality of the artist, even if they are rivals to you in every field. I read so much about a Pakistani movie making big in Pakistan for a change rather than a bollywood flick.

Downloaded this movie- khuda kay liye from torrent & trust me it can be considered as showcase of liberal Pakistan. The story of Khuda kay liye is different, more than that it was curiosity of how a movie from Pakistan would be. This is very much a first & foremost Paki movie which I got to see. The story is about a liberal Paki family & a tale of two brothers passionate about Music-Mansoor & Sarmad,who walk away from each other due to their respective ideologies. Mansoor is passionate about music & lands up in US for learning Music but Sarmad is influenced by the fanatics, fundamentalist who preaches him that singing, music is against Islam & he lands up in god-forsaken Afghanistan. Khuda kay leya can be a refreshing welcome movie. You might not find this movie with your video library guy,but for sure you can download it from the net, the links are plenty.

More about Khuda kay liya:

Khuda Kay Liye revolves around a young Pakistani man named Mansoor (Shaan) who goes to the United States for higher education. During his study years, the tragic events of 9/11 turn the World Trade Center is turned into dust. Chaotic investigations and arrests engulf the United States, and Mansoor is by the American authorities, although he is innocent of wrongdoing. The experience leaves Mansoor severly traumatized. Meanwhile, his younger brother Sarmad (Fawad Afzal) is encouraged by an old friend, Shershah (Hameed Sheikh), to cease his musical career in favor of the straight path of God. Mansoor and Sarmad's uncle (Humayun Kazmi) arrives from the UK with their only cousin Mary (Mariam) (Iman Ali) who wanted to marry her non-Muslim boyfriend back in the UK against her father's wishes. When they arrive in Pakistan, Shershah trucks them to their village in a tribal area near Afghanistan, forces Mary to marry Sarmad, and leaves her there. She tries to escape but Shershah and Sarmad follows her and brings her back to the village. This film also stars Bollywood legend Naseeruddin Shah in a short but powerful cameo. He plays a Muslim scholar who clarifies oft misunderstood and misinterpreted tenets of Islam during a court case.

Cast:
Shaan - Mansoor
Fawad Afzal Khan - Sarmad
Iman Ali - Maryam
Naseeruddin Shah - Maulana Wali (Special Appearance)
Hameed Sheikh - Sher Shah
Austin Marie Sayre - Janie
Larry Neumann
Rasheed Naz - Maulana Tahiri
Naeem Tahir
Seemin Raheel
Humayun kazmi
Najeeb Ullah Anjum
Ayub Khosa
Rufus Graham
Angela Williams
Alex Edwards

3rd Bourne Series: Bourne Ultimatum

2007-10-09T19:03:00.000+05:30

Forget Bond, forget, Mission Impossible… Make way for a new sensible genre of action movie. Let the adrenaline flow. Jason Bourne is back. Bourne Ultimatum is an awesome sequel to Bourne Supremacy & Boune Identity. I don’t know if there’s going to be one moreof bourne series after this, but I think I saw a book called “ Bourne Betray” of late at a Corner book store. Bourne Ultimatum will keep on the edge througout the movie, it’s got a good story & good SF. Jason Bourne is again on a verge of finding who he really is? & Why has he turned to be a famous assassin. With the Government agency wanting him dead coz he’s is considered lethal, but there’s more to why the agency wants him dead. Don’t remember any other Movies of Matt Damon more than the Bourne Series now. Catch Jason Bourne before he disappears from the big screen. Best satisfying Action Thriller of 2007, for sure.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Thriller, Adaptation and Sequel
Running Time: 1 hr. 51 min.
Release Date: August 3rd, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action.
Distributors: Universal Pictures, Universal Pictures International
U.S. Box Office: $222,788,180

Mining for Minerva's

2007-10-03T20:14:00.000+05:30

I might not be a master on performing “Disappearance Act”, but I guess I pulled this act very well; this would be my longest sabbatical from my Site since its Inception. Corporate life is very hectic & I remember a famous saying from the management lesson, which say, ”to do nothing you have to be at the top”, the reason why I’m so blank these day is that I’m not “TOP” & I’m at end where all the Ends begin…meaning at the Middle of the Power Hierarchy. I been working, working & working towards betterment but let’s see to what extent this will be appreciated. I have been working on a critical or a Challenging Requirement for any Recruiter. I’m glad I got a chance to work on these requirements. Infact, I feel I’m cut for these Requirements, I always had been successful on the Most difficult Requirements than on the most Preferred or Considered easier Fulfilling Technologies like Java or Testing. It’s rather funny & amusing to say that right?

This the first time I have openly written about my Profession over any Media, in detail. About the Requirement I was into is called Minerva, a Order Management Tool used basically by the Asset Management Banks or Companies like GE Asset Management, Credit Suisse & JP Morgan Chase (New York). Minerva is a Product by Latent Zero. The very reason it makes this Requirement a Goldmine would be due to two reasons:

1.It’s a new Skill, Product: I was told this Product itself was Launched in the Year 2006

2.The Domain of Capital Markets or Asset Management is very Vital & requires a Sphere head to Master it. Density of People here are less. Lesser in Asia.

When all the odds are against you & everyone looks up to you for a Miracle… A miracle does happen. I have been lucky to find the two best guys who are involved with LZ’s Minerva & I’m proud about this fact & also feel little supreme cause I left no stone “unturned” to look for these Resources, be it Asia Pac, the America or the Europe. I would like to take an opportunity to thank all those who supported me during this Project & also Martin Hill (From London) who had enough patience to answer my Emails at all odd hours (and can’t forget initially he gave me a Wrong Phone number to reach him). That would be all about why I was pre-occupied on Minerva instead of my Blog. Now that I’m back recruiting for Java , you can expect more writing on my site. LOL. =)

28 days later.......Confusion.

2007-09-22T12:06:00.000+05:30

What is Ignorance?? You watch a movie thinking that it's a movie what you want to watch but after two days you come to know that it was not the movie you wanted to watch. Confused? That was my state of mind few minutes back. Saturday, downloaded a movie from the internet assuming that it's the latest Hollywood flick 28 weeks later, either I had an knowledge about it being a sequel to 2002 released movie 28 days later. I just got enlightened when I was going through Wikipedia to read more about the Movie.

Now, that means I caught up with the old movie & I still have to watch the new edition-28 weeks later. The Movie 28 days later is about new kind of a Virus called Rage virus which has gripped whole of UK & infected people to indulge in Violent acts, basically mindless Violence. The movie starts with some Animal rights activist entering a Chimpanzee Research Lab, where these animals are infused with Rage Virus, what happens later is that entire Queen's land is infected by this Virus & People start killing People. Best Shot in the Movie I liked is the Digital Recreation of London without a single Soul on its face. What would you feel if you are all alone in a huge city? The movie's different & watch able. I would like to go ahead and watch 28 weeks later also, maybe next week. So what would be next after 28 days, 28 weeks later? 28 Months & 28 years coming your way?

Starbucks Delayed

2007-08-21T17:26:00.001+05:30

Mighty Coffee giant Starbuck are on & off with their foray into the Indian market. Call it a strategy or Market survival stunt; they have been delaying due to few reasons. Once in a while the Business News carries an article about Starbuck & its CEO making some Comments. About Indian Café market Conditions, South Indians love the aroma of fresh filter coffee & Café Coffeday chains are really doing some cool business & expanding. Meanwhile Barista after a renewed business ownership has been targeting the market aggressively. Coffee lovers are really loyal to the Café they go to. Like me, I prefer a Coffeday coffee than Barista & vice versa every one has their Favorite Coffee makers. Now very soon a Third group might emerge if Starbuck enter Indian Markets by Early 2008.
Meanwhile, Barista's majority owner, C. Sivasankaran, pledges: "I will make Barista the Starbucks of India."

Reading Fountainhead....

2007-08-13T18:18:00.001+05:30

13 chapters read till now, I'm not able to put this book down. I'm going to sleep at 2am in the morning. I'm addicted. Fountainhead is an amazing book; I haven't read anything like this before. The book was written in the 1940's but its story is relevant even now. I'm the new fan of this imaginary star-Howard Roark-Simply love his attitude. Sure will be reading all the books of Ayn Rand.

Fatal Attraction...

2007-08-08T21:38:00.000+05:30

Found this Pix on the net while surfing, got attracted to it instantly dont know why. Is it the same with you?

Are you on Orkut?

2007-08-05T17:05:00.000+05:30

Well, we all agree that Orkut is a rage now a days. Happened to go to a cyber café and most of the guys there were on orkut, looking into others profiles or searching for long lost friends & so on. All of were forced at a point of time to join Orkut due to peer pressure. Don’t know where this attraction of Orkut started all of a sudden. Everyone whom I know are on Orkut & busy Scrapping people. Groups, Blogs & website for communication purpose were all of sudden looked down as primitive means of Communication. Everyone wanted their share of their identity on Orkut. Why did Orkut become a Youth Symbol? Orkut was much easier means to communicate or pass on the message instantly, infact more quicker than an email. You don’t need to remember or type the email ids of your buddies. People are much comfortable to see others pics, I remember that one of my Colleague saying that its because of Orkut that he met so many of his School friends, now most of them in US- a regular saying of any orkut User!. Well, with the advantages of Orkut, the disadvantages came in pretty faster also. People were hi-jacked sometimes of their own identity to create obscene profile or it was used to avenge score against others. Cyber Laws were in action & some new species of Cyber Cases were lodged. Courtesy: Orkut.Orkut has been a top social networking site in India & Brazil. Australia is hooked to face book & bebo & other countries are into Hi5 & so on. Indian entrepreneurs were also not behind to target the (Desperate) Crowd to network on Desi Orkut like sites. Some came up fast & went away faster… some still hanging on just like that…DesiMartini was one. With big wigs like Indiatimes, Rediff, Yahoo! India are experimenting on the lines of Orkut. On the other side Orkut’s future will remain on what NEW it can offer its Users as most of the Orkutters are also exploring other network sites, or will a new revolution start at home with a Desi Red hot site with an Indian Flavour??
Till then…. Happy Orkuting… Add me up!

Are you afraid of the Dark?

2007-07-29T11:24:00.000+05:30

Sidney Sheldon's novels are always had a women centric characters. I got to read one of his latest novel released in 2004-Are you afraid of the Dark?
I Completed this book in 5 days time basically reading it while going to bed & I always feel I wont read his novel's but land up reading them till the end. I still have two books to be read in the coming days-India Unbound & Fountain head.
Are you.... is a story of Two determined woman who are keen to find out who killed their husbands, who were scientist with a think-tank Company known as KIG. The novel was released in 2004 & they were still talking about very primitive technology & terms. The two main character's Dianne & Kelly are chased by the Killer-Harry Flint through out America & Europe. The power puff girls are invincible & are survived a million times from the deadly attacks. Cool right?? Woman Empowerment!!!
Their Husbands were killed by the head of the Think-tank, Tanner Kingsley coz they were planning to go public about their invention-Prima, a weather-controlling Device. Evil Tanner wanted to keep this invention a secret & blackmail the Government & Countries by creating Weather modifications.
Diane & Kelly manage to kill Harry Flint & Tanner is killed by his own brother by his own device Prima. Sad ending. Both Diane & Kelly lived happily ever after. I can't write anymore on this Novel.Phew!

Lets talk....

2007-07-17T20:09:00.001+05:30

It seems like Indian Media wont leave anyone alone, wheather its about some girl who stripped & walked on the streets of Rajkot or Some bollywood star getting kissed by a Footballer far away in Europe. We need anything to talk about.Hieghts of media maddness is one News channel asking its audience the BIG Question: Whether its an end of the road for star couples John & Bips? Can anyone give us & them a Break?

Southern Spice

2007-07-17T19:29:00.000+05:30

Here's an update about my Journey few weeks back. Since my work kept me on bay & away from my blog, better delayed than NEVER.Here i go:

Another week, another new place.... from Lucknow my next destination is Hyderabad. From one city of Nawab to another one. This was my second visit to Hyderabad; the first was ages back when I was in school. I just remember one thing I saw in Hyderabad when I had come here last, Salar Jung Museum. I'm twice unlucky to see the famous landmark-Charminar.

Day 1.
July 5,2007_Thursday: I had to leave to the airport from office by 5.30, my flight was at 7pm. I was already exhausted by the time I reached the Airport. Little hesitant also as it was an Air Deccan Flight, I had got a chance to see the true Air Deccan standards by myself. It has a bad reputation of not being on time & bad service, understood that its an low frill airliner but it don't mean that you don't Provide Cotton to you passengers who suffer from ear pain while flying. Hyderabad was looking dazzling in the night from the sky, it was like a sea of Golden Lights, I guess any city would look beautiful in the night. Hyderabad's Airport is named after a famous Movie veteran N T Rama Rao, this shows that how much Movies & Movie stars have an impact in South.

I was put up in Banjara Hills, its around 20-25 mins ride from the Airport & costs 100 INR by a Rick. Banjara Hills in Hyderabad is a Famous elite residential area of Hyderabad, there's no scarcity of good eat out here. Had dinner at around 10:30 at OUR PLACE, a restaurant. My day was over with a Hyderabadi Biryani & a small shot of Vodka.

Day 2
July 6, 2007_Friday: Was back in the Airport by 8:45am, we had a flight to Rajahmundry at 9:20am-Air Deccan. My mother had mentioned that this place is full of Coconut trees & indeed there were plenty.It's a small sleepy town where major economy is Farming & small time business. The climate & the features of Rajahmundry are same as Sri Lanka. I was caught off-guard when I reached my Hotel, it was a beautiful Resort called RIVER BAY & another shocker was it was run by the Andhrapradesh Tourism Board, it was a very well maintained Resort built of the banks of River Godavari. The seacoast is just 25-30Kms away from here. Since the Coast is closer it has the charectistics of Coastal weather.The Godavri river basin is explored by ONGC & GAIL, this belt is rich in Natural Gas. Was done with my work by 5pm so thought of exploring this place.Went to see the barrage, it a dam like structure built away from the town & it was looking beautiful at sunset. My local companion for the trip told me that this barrage was built by Sir Arthur Cotton who was the governor when India was ruled was the East India Company. Today People of Rajahmundry worship him cause this barrage protects the town from the mighty Godavari

Day 3
July 7, 2007_Saturday:Was awake by 6:30-7am had a quick Breakfast at CAPTAIN'S TABLE. Was back to work & went on till 9pm & had Dinner at 11:30, the tandoori Mutton kebabs was delicious. I hit the bed by 12:30am.Crash

Day 4
July 8, 2007_Sunday: It was time to go.Checked out by 8:30am & was on the way to the Airport.
Rajahmundry's Airport is around 9 kms from River Bay. We had a flight to Hyderabad via Vijayawada. By air Vijayawada is 20mins away. I reached Hyderabad by 12:30pm & felt much better. From Airport Straight to PARADISE, a famous Biryani Restaurant. No guesses what I had here, I can live on Biryanis. Also try the Tandoori Platter, it is really tasty & mouth-watering. Since my next Flight to Pune was at 5:20pm I had enough time to do some shopping, Hyderbad Central was the nearest Choice & I brought what any traveler would love to carry with him- an iPod Charger!! I paid 380 INR but it was worth better than searching for a PC or laptop all the time.

Thanks to us The Flight smelled of some fresh Hyderabadi Biryani. Yes, we carried Hot Biryani's for friends. The airport x-ray machine security guy found it amusing to see steaming biryani packs sent inside the machine for a security check. It was really humorous!

It was time to say bye to Hyderabad & I was on my way to Pune, by 7pm I was back here & reached home by 8pm with some Short, sweet, hectic & tasty memories of Andhra Pradesh & Hyderabad.

Sony Ericsson K750i

2007-07-14T21:52:00.000+05:30

I'm currently using a K750i and its really very handy to me. Infact i'm posting this text from my phone window. Its a boring saturday night for me hope that it will improvise by tomorow.

Welcoming the Monsoon!

2007-06-28T20:16:00.000+05:30

The City of Nawabs, Kababs, Culture & Chikan:Lucknow

2007-06-27T14:37:00.000+05:30

I was waiting to write about my Lucknow trip yesterday but didn’t get enough time plus my mind was blocked to think & write some sense. Lucknow famous for the Mutiny, which awaked the Independence dream through out the country started here, Popularly called as the 1857-First war of Indian Independence. History has always been a fascinating subject for me through out,that was also the reason why I got higher grades in History in College. While the mutiny started in Lucknow & spread through out Northern Indian, South Indian & other parts of India where numb to any such revolution. This was purely because of lack of co-ordination & differences between other Indian Kingdoms.
Lucknow’s Airport-Amausi is 20kms away from the City of Lucknow, As soon as you land you can see a huge hoarding that the airport is certified with ISO-9001: 2000. Lucknow has one of the most better roads after Goa, they are huge & without any potholes. On the way to the hotel I could see Malls, Multiplex & hotels, I was sure this place is not so obsolete as mentioned.
The hotel I stayed, Comfort Inn was good & the service quite commendable. The rooms are quite beautiful & they have some Local cuisine on their menu. Try the Lucknowi Biryani here. This Hotel doesn’t have a Bar so can’t order for Drinks

Places I visited:
Bara Imambara: Located in the heart of the city is a splendid & artistic Monument called Imambara, We had to hire a guide to see this place. It was built by Asaf-ud-Daulah in to keep his subject employed during the famine, which hit his kingdom. This place was built for 11 long years. Our guide mentioned that Asaf was so rich that he built this place during the day with skilled workers & broke down the same building to employ unskilled laborers in the night.I really wonder how rich he might have been to do this. Another fascinating fact about this Structure is Sugarcane juice, Spices, Jaggery is used as Mortar to build it.It also has a Huge terrace which hangs on with out any Pillars to support it.It’s an amazing piece of architecture.The complex also includes the large Asfi mosque, the bhulbhulayah (the labyrinth), and bowli, a summer palace with running water.
The main imambara consists of a large vaulted central chamber containing the tomb of Asaf-ud-Daula. At 50 by 16 meters and over 15 meters tall, it has no beams supporting the ceiling, and is one of the largest such arched constructions in the world.

There are eight surrounding chambers built to different roof heights, permitting the space above these to be reconstructed as a three-dimensional labyrinth with passages interconnecting with each other through 489 identical doorways. This part of the building, known as is a popular attraction, and often the whole complex may be referred to as the bhulbhulayah. It is possibly the only existing maze in India and came about unintenionally to support the weight of the building, constructed on marshy land.

There is also a blocked passageway which, according to legends, leads through a mile-long underground passage to a location near the Gomti river. Other passages rumoured to lead to Faizabad(the former seat of power of the Nawabs), Allahabad and even to Delhi exist but have been sealed after a period of long disuse as well as fears over the disappearance of people who had purportedly gone missing, while exploring.

Shop Hop:
Lucknow famous for its Chikan Works (Kind of Designer Embriodary), you can find everything with Chikan work here. Kurthas,Sarees, Salwars & even the Kerchiefs with Chikan work on them.
Best places to buy them is to go to markets located in Aminabad. You can see shops filled with Chikan dress & bangles. The place is jam packed with people, so if you really like to Shop between crowd you can go ahead. Another Must do is to have the Lucknowi Kulfi- It’s a kind of Ice cream served with some soft Vermicelli.

The Gunjing:Hazrat Gunj & Sahara Gunj
These places are the Globalized effect on Lucknow. Hazrat Gunj hold all the branded shops, Hotels, Cinema Halls, Café etc.
Sahara Gunj is a bright lite-up Shopping mall, you can try the famous Tandey Kababs here. Lucknow is a pardise for Non-Vegi’s, a must do in Lucknow is to try as much as Non-veg Dishes…..they are really Mouth-watering. I cant write much about the Night life as I really didn’t have energy to do that.
Lucknow is a place of power play, you see a lot of Government official cars with red & blue lights over them. Political party hoarding are also a common sight on the road. Lucknow is a beautiful city with good infrastructure & also the people are friendly and speak very proudly about their nazakaat & taizeeb

High on Lucknow

2007-06-26T18:05:00.000+05:30

Pictures taken after take-off from Lucknow Airport. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Lucknow Alive

2007-06-26T14:26:00.000+05:30

I’m just back from Lucknow. I really had a different conception of this place before I got to see it myself. Lucknow is very much like any of the other Indian Cities & a lot better than the city I live in now. I didn’t do much research about Lucknow before I left, but little search on Google proved handy to know little about this ancient & tradition city. Uttar Pradesh reminds most of us as a political turmoil place & poverty & underdevelopment, but trust me if IT boom happens in Lucknow, it was really make other cities run for their money. I head already TCS has a small center there. Since my visit was an official one & hardly got some time between the hectic schedule to experience the real Lucknow. I’m stuck with work now at office so will take time to extract pictures of the trip from the digital Camera & my phone to post them. More about my travel to Lucknow later for sure. . . .

Me, Rains & Pirates

2007-06-22T20:13:00.000+05:30

Its 8:15pm and I’m still sitting in front of my PC, staring, tired, hungry. I’m stuck up at office cause it’s pouring heavily outside; this is something I hate about rains…. Inconvenience. I would have would have loved it if I was at home & watching a movie or listening to some music or just hanging out but I’m aint luck this time. Just me and my ipod here! Few days back I went to watch the Pirates of Caribbean: At World's End, while I was think this movie will be an end to the Sequels it looks like after watching the movie it isn’t so. I just wanted to watch cause I have watched the earlier ones; I guess that was the reason most us had to go watch Johnny Depp. Its an average movie & has nothing in it to watch it again.
Even the girl sitting next to me didn’t get scarred watching Davy Jones-the evil wicked Pirate, now you can imagine, so take you kids and take plunge into the Caribbean with the Crew, meaning watch the movie with your Kids, its really funny & the the special effects were very blur. What should I do now? Waiting……………………for the next sequel where the Pirates, Jack sparrow, black pearl & others will be shown fighting the East India Company in the Indian Ocean.
Trivia

So locations wouldn't have to be revisited by the crew, some scenes were filmed during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006).

They started filming without a finished script.

Keith Richards agreed to appear as Jack Sparrow's father and the keeper of the pirate code. He has been pursued for an appearance since the first installment of the series.

The crew built a sixty foot replica of the front half of the Black Pearl on the back of a semi trailer in the salt flats of Utah for a shoot with the Shadow of the Pearl. The shoot was scheduled for 19 days, it took 4.

The cast and crew filmed off of the coast of Southern California in the South Bay Area around the last week of August 2006. The Black Pearl could be seen sailing to and from port from the Palos Verdes Estates and Redondo Beach pier. The stars of the film would take time off from shooting to meet fans and sign autographs.

The series has a rather inconsistent naming concept in Germany: The first film was named "Fluch der Karibik" (lit. "Caribbean's Curse"), the second "Pirates of the Carribean - Fluch der Karibik 2" (although early posters showed the more literal "Fluch der Karibik - Die Truhe des Todes") and this one "Pirates of the Carribean - Am Ende der Welt".

There's a bonus scene at the end of the credits.

SPOILER: At the end of the film, Barbossa suggests to his crew that they go looking for the Fountain of Youth, but is prevented from doing so since the relevant portion of the map has been stolen. Next we see Jack Sparrow, in his dinghy, turning the rings of the map to form a chalice and the location of the Fountain of Youth marked by an X. The X marks Florida, where ironically, Captain Jack Sparrow lives to this day at Disney World. Another reason why it marks Florida is because St. Augustine, Florida (the nation's oldest city) is the host city to what Spanish explorers (specifically Juan Ponce de Leon) believed to be the Fountain of Youth. Tourists still visit the site to this day.

SPOILER: In the scene toward the end back at Tortuga when Jack figures out out Barbossa stole his ship and gets slapped by the two women, Scarlet and Giselle, look at Jacks waist. He has his "mum" tied around his belt (the shrunken head).

Namesake

2007-06-19T18:51:00.000+05:30

ABCD’s have always been a good subject to write about & also a good species to laugh upon & also to feel proud about them (Viz many of the Biz magnates & IT spearheads). I can feel little Nostalgic because few months back I had written about Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mehta, a story about a desi boy’s life in the far west. I wanted to read Namesake but didn’t find time to go buy the book, while traveling last month I brought a paperback edition of Jhumpa Lahari’s Namesake on Pune Railway Station. Seriously, I never heard about Namesake until I got to see the Promo’s for Namesake-the movie by Mira Nair. Weeks back I was done with the book, a good piece of work & a detail peep into the Bengali families, lifestyles & some typical Indian mannerism & the usual Parental ideas versus the new generation “Always question why?” attitude. I was sure that I’ll turn into a Bengali by the time I complete reading it coz I my Bengali Vocabulary was increasing with every single page I read.
As far the movie goes, a commendable performance by Irfaan Khan, Tabu & Kal Penn. This novel couldn’t have fit into a 3-hour movie; only if it could have been made a sitcom every detail of the novel could have been active. The movie is finely made, but traces of work of a Student who has just slogged the whole night for next day early morning exams can be easily found. What else? I got to know about a new author who plays an important role in Namesake-Nikolai Gogol, a Russian & author of Overcoat & several other short stories.
So the verdict? Namesake-the book or Namesake-the movie?
For obvious reasons: NAMESAKE, written by Jhumpha Lahari.

About Namesake, The Movie:
(2007)
122 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
THE NAMESAKE is the story of the Ganguli family whose move from Calcutta to New York evokes a lifelong balancing act to meld to a new world without forgetting the old.
Though parents Ashoke and Ashima (Irfan Khan, Tabu) long for the family and culture that enveloped them in India, they take great pride in the opportunities their sacrifices have afforded their children. Paradoxically, their son Gogol (Kal Penn) is torn between finding his own unique identity without losing his heritage. Even Gogol’s name represents the family’s journey into the unknown.

Cast: Kal Penn, Tabu, Irfan Khan, Jacinda Barrett, Zuleikha Robinson, Glenne Headley, Brooke Smith.

United Colors of Bloggers

2007-06-15T14:21:00.000+05:30

Blogs are so cool. I started blogging basically due to one sole purpose was the Instinct to write, to communicate my views with others, to criticize & to get criticized. Can add one more reason to it: A career in Journalism which crashed before It could take off. But not being into this field didn’t stop my instinct to write, write & write. Here I’m after posting 100 odd write-ups & 2 blogs (I have abandoned my previous blog with the same tittle on myblog, another Blog provider).
I guess everyone who is into blogging will be aware the BlogCamp being held in Pune this Saturday (Precisely tomorrow). I guess the next best thing, which could have happened to encourage Blogs, Bloggers in India. Will I be there tomorrow? Yes, I WILL BE!

What's BlogCamp,Pune-16th June 2007?
Its is a FREE unconference focusing exclusively on blogging, organized by bloggers for bloggers. It‘s built upon the principles of the famous BarCamp (ad-hoc unconference) focussed on sharing, learning and new ideas. This is going to be an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction between attendees. Any blogger who wants to contribute is welcome and invited to join. In the spirit of BarCamp, if you attend, be prepared to present something (even if it's just 10 minutes).
More details on: http://blogcamppune.blogspot.com

Access Granted!

2007-06-11T12:21:00.000+05:30

The sweet smell of success after few days of struggle on the search engines for a proxy path to access blogger… the reason why I wasn’t able to write anything is my current work place has blocked blogger.com. I feel very relieved that I could hit the security system of this work place too ;-)
Will be back soon with more news. Any anyone who wants to access their Orkut or blogspot(If its blocked at your work place,schools or Colleges) please mail me I’ll let you know the proxy URL or paths with IP addresses….
Reach me at:stevecentral@gmail.com

To my Mother....

2007-05-13T13:06:00.000+05:30

The great Gift to mankind to guide every Human being to turn into an angel is & will be the existence of Mother in our lives.Every year I'm not at home but I call my Mother to wish her and make her feel the closest person in my life for making me learn & thanking her for what i'm today. Thanks alot Ma. Happy Mother's Day! (I know you don't go through my site but you'll in my prayers always)

Before I Was Myself, You Made Me, Me.

Before I was myself you made me, me
With love and patience, discipline and tears,
Then bit by bit stepped back to set me free,
Allowing me to sail upon my sea,
Though well within the headlands of your fears.
Before I was myself you made me, me
With dreams enough of what I was to be
And hopes that would be sculpted by the years,
Then bit by bit stepped back to set me free,
Relinquishing your powers gradually
To let me shape myself among my peers.
Before I was myself you made me, me,
And being good and wise, you gracefully
As dancers when the last sweet cadence nears
Bit by bit stepped back to set me free.
For love inspires learning naturally:
The mind assents to what the heart reveres.
And so it was through love you made me, me
By slowly stepping back to set me free.

Dimitri Shostakovich.

Movie Mania

2007-05-06T12:04:00.000+05:30

Movies I watched in the last fortnight:

• Turistas(Cold suspense, 6/10)
• Hills have eyes(Bloody Violent, 4/10)
• Hostel (Some thing like Hills have Eyes in different format 5/10)
• When a stranger calls (6/10)
• Stay alive (Any one who plays the video game (stay alive) dies in the same way in real life!!! 6/10)
• Saw I, II, III (awesome 7/10, waiting for the 4th)
• Eragon (watch the Dragon speak! 5/10)
• The Return(please return it back!! 4/10)
• Eight Below (Based on true story,6/10)
• American Pie: Band camp(4/10)
• American Pie: Naked Mile(5/10)
• Bourne Supremacy (Shot in Goa! Love it! 8/10, hanging on for Bourne Ultimatum)
• Bad Company(5/10)

Bound or Unbound?

2007-05-06T11:12:00.000+05:30

Looks like my own site seems a strange phenomenon for me these days. The average time I spend here is drastically reduced like a Developing country’s Per Capita Income coming down to $2!!
Wondering Why I’m using Economic Jargons?? Influence? You can say that….. Long back I had got a Book- India Unbound by Gurucharan Das, a Harvard Grad who wrote details about evolution of India’s Economic growth from the early 1900’s till date. I would like to write about this book in the next few posts on my blog. Histories sometimes have to be understood to understand our future. For me, being with the fastest growing sector in our economy I need to understand the market conditions & functions. Lets all hope that our Country prospers even after we have a Failed Bureaucracy on top who rules our country Same applies to the Corporate too, unable to understand the Grass root and failed and unusable policies can see you doom very well.

Reviews:
‘Part memoir, part journalism, part history and part management bible . . . India Unbound is an opinionated but insightful guide to a rapidly changing nation in which old cliches about spirituality and poverty and increasingly irrelevant . . . Das had a ringside seat at the events he describes, and the result is an engaging account that moves easily from the big picture to the telling anecdote.’ — New York Times

'It is a wonderful book—a great mixture of memoir, economic analysis, social investigation, political scrutiny and managerial outlook being thrown into the understanding of India.’— Amartya Sen

‘Informative, entertaining, and basically correct about India’s need to embrace capitalism more wholeheartedly, for all the costs and risks.’— The Economist