Movie Reviews

Past few months i have been watching movies every weekend. With so many big names every week to watch, it was too hard to resist.

This summer was full sequels but some of them were so disappointing that at one point thought ran in my mind was not to watch the sequels any more.

The biggest disappointment was Spider Man 3 which had glimse of some Hindi movies (way to go Bollywood).

Well following are the movies i watched lately and their "reviews" --

1. Pirates of Caribbean At Worlds End: Having watched parts 1 and 2 just the previous day, i thought of passing this one but to my surprise i liked it very much, all credit goes to part 2 for being so boring.
   
2. Shrek 3: Such a disappointment.
3. Fantastic4 2: Its ok type of movie at time i felt i was sleeping but i didnt so its all good :)
   
4. Oceans' 13: Same as PIC3, quite enjoyable after whoever have watched Oceans 12
   
5. Transformers: Awesome ... graphics we amazing esp if u have watched this movie on a screen like this.
   
6. Die Hard 4: Bruce Willis rocks!
   
7. Harry Potter and the Order of Pheonix: aah!! what can i say ... the book was better. Can't wait for the seventh book.

Some of you are figuring why there is no mention of hindi movies. Well i watched Chini Kum and what can i say, so i spared a mention of it here ...

Cultural shock

It has been always interesting and exciting to visit home every six months or so. This time it was even more exciting as it was my first visit since i went to Singapore.
Having heard and read a lot about reverse cultural shock, i braced myself to experience the feeling when i landed in Delhi amidst cool Delhi afternoon of just 41 degrees. So good so far .. cultural shock .. what is it?
It felt so good to see notice on immigration "For Indian Passport holders only", havin visited Malaysia and Indonesia it was nice to see that we have an "exclusive" queue for us :)

Heading home from airport enjoying aloo paratha in the car i noticed something is not rite, it took 10 min to realize its the honking of horns all around that i found so annoying. I realized this is in months i am hearing horns and why i am so annoyed by this now .. as i am use to it .. well i thought i was.

Now my trip is coming to an end and have to gear up for cultural shock again :P

2007 is gone .. well almost half!!

Staying with my previous post. It seems like yesterday that i wrote it.

Time files!! Last four months have been a mixed bag for me, had my share of fun and slogging.

The most exciting thing to mention is my trip to Langkawi, Malaysia. May be i will do a post abt it later.

I hope to be regular from now on .. keep blogging!

2007 is here

2006!! What a year it has been for me ... a roller coster ride.

Though i am not into making resolutions .. here is one this time .. to get up and jog in the mrng .. and to cover South-East asia this year including watch the Malaysian Grand Prix this April.

What are your plans for this year??

I wish 2007 brings lots of joy and happiness to you and your family.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Supermarkets

The concept of retailing just coming in India and the old players like Big Bazaar are already feeling the heat. And obviously they should worry with Reliance foraying in the market and cellular man Mittal entering MOU with the largest retailer in the world - Wal Mart. The scene of Indian retailing industry is set to change and the customer is all set to be king once again

However this post is not about the big player and how they will play. The biggest advantage of supermarkets is it is a collection of markets at one place (building). This has significant advantage and the ease of shopping it provides. However is this really an advantage? In my view as the stores are getting bigger and bigger, shopping times are increasing and so is the pain of shopping.

Just think how much time it takes to locate, decide and pick and item, say X, then we spend close to 2X time to pay the bill and get out of the fish market. Wow what a convenience!!!!

Other interesting point worthwhile to mention is that we always end up buying all items other than what we came to buy. This is the basis of retail industry and it’s really good (for them of course!). No matter how hard we try to buy an item we came for and get out as fast as possible. Alas! We will always have n+1 items in your shopping bag :)

However it is the time taken to look for one item that we came specifically to buy, that pisses me off. And the sheer size of the store makes it almost impossible for the staff to tell the specific location of the item. And better sometimes they do not know whether they are selling that product anymore or not. This has happened so many times that now I do most of the shopping at the local store, in doing so am able to save lots of time.

I know some things cost more but as they say time is more costly and invested in sleeping gives the best returns. :D

New Job New Country

Its been a while since i have updated you all about my moving on to a new job.

As fate has it, i resigned on monday and i got releived too on monday. For a change releiving was very smooth considering what has happened in last three months, may be they all wanted me to go as early as possible :)

Things have moved on very fast since 25th Sept. ... i've had almost no time to pack, meet frens and more so wind up from Bangalore. I have landed myself a job in Singapore and these days i am quite enjoying it here.

I am not yet settled here and almost half the time i am in market looking for things for daily house hold work etc. Being my first trip abroad, i am loving the experience.

On the job front, things are settling down.

theres lots to write .. so keep coming back here

Diwali in videsh

This Diwali is different from all the past diwalis i have celebrated. Although the similarity in all of them is i have been celebrating Diwali away from for the last 10 years, however this time i will be celebrating in a different country.

I know, i know i need to give you all lot of detail (so look for next post).

The markets have been lighted for the past one week and i am sure they will be at their peek today so without further ado i should head out and see the festivities.

Heres my wishes to you and your family Happy Diwali.

---दीपावली की ढेर सारी शुभकामनाऎ

Nothing to Worry about.

Thats the stand of government these days. What a sorry statement to make where people are dying from the deadly fever, or air passengers in danger as engines failing in mid-air or our neighbours air force is abt to cross in numbers of fighter jets we have.

NO NEDD TO WORRY, there is nothing to worry about. Thats the official stand of ur government .

Its such a sorry state that people, doctors are dying coz of the irresponsible behaviour of authorities. And instead of taking corrective measure .. ususal blame game and politics is going on.

Another example of Govt. apathy is the report which i saw in one TV news channels' site. It has listed so many incidents where one of the engines have failed in mid-air etc. Govts response "Nothing serious has happened". We should be so proud of our represntatives who wait something to happen to get their acts together. The Irony is "Nothing ever happens" we just get committe and some report after so long, nobody is interested anymore.

Worst is our national security, our neighbour according to a report will cross Indian airforce in terms of number of fighter planes. Govt. Response: NO need to worry we are thinking on it. I wonder what kind of idiots we chose every five years who does not have the brain to think and decide on Air Force modernization and our National Security for the last 25 years.

Man these are just few incidents that reflects how much the govenment is commited for our well being or shall i say thier on well being. May be thats what the perils are for having population of over billion. There are so many ppl here that it does not matter to anybody if some die or live .. the bottom line remains is We the People are fools!

Halwa to remeber

Last Sunday i decided to smthing different from my normal routine of "Sleeping on Weekends".
So i called up my fren N and asked him if we can cook. N being the official cook for out branch in college has many accolades to his fame which includes 2 successful branch outing where we cooked food ourselves.

He happily agreed to skip his schedule of "Bird Watching" for "Gajar Ka Halwa".

Getting all the ingredients from the market we went to work and Voila in 2 hrs time we made Gajar Ka Halwa, Mattar Paneer and Rice (since we do not know how to knead atta ;) )

here are some snaps i took .. mind ya i did more than taking snaps :P

Gajar ka Halwa .. yummy

Mattar Paneeeeeer....

Voilla .. Da Lunch

Kites

Its been a long time since i have updated my blog. Nope i was not buy @ work however there is lots happening in my life and will update you all in comming posts.

these days i am on a short trip to my home town and man what a timing to come back home. this evening i flew kite .. after eight long years .. and it felt soooo good that i do not want to come down from terrace .. and damn i forgot my camera in delhi to capture these moments.

I will enjoy even more this time @ home ....

Appraisal

No no its not in continuation of my pevious two mails. This is related to salary hike of our honourable MPs.

Going thru the newspapers Man! our MPs draw a fat salary and that too for disrupting work at parliament. and thats not all the good part is yet too come .. guess what who does hikes thier salary? The MPs themselves wow!

So here is a deal ... we will not work .. we will not let the parliament work and when President of India gives his speech, we will utilize the time for a quick nap. Amazing isn't well that is what i think is happening .. all MPs unite cutting party lines for atleast one thing their salaray hikes.

Looking at the salary an MP gets in my view its already too high considering the perks he gets (not to mention the undertable money) but the question is not the amount of money MPs get ... the question is -- Is it justified for MPs to appraise themselevs and get away with fat raises?

NO, if MPs are so eager to get raises every 2 years or so then we shud have some sort of appraisal system for MPs too. But how are we going to have that .. yes they are evaluated once in 5 years but we all know how fair it is! .........

I always wanted to Quit on monday morning!

This is may be inspired by Tata Safari adv., today after two years into the job the thought is becoming a reality ...

I quit... yea i have put down my papers today. There are multiple reasons for quitting .. but regulars on my blogs will know. I cannot take it any more ... all the hype about corporate culture etc. are just words , nothing more ... at the end of the day its the same as in any govt. organization in India. Actually corp. culture, professionalism, ethics etc are just buzz words which looks good in magazine surveys.

Nobody actually gives a damn about tranperancy in the organization, they are merely big words which are used in PPT for campus recruitment or used as fillers in websites.

Picking up from my last post, i was cornered in a team meeting but in vain. Since then i have had meeting with the director HR and the response is a sham , making mockery of things. When such things are happening, it is not appropriate for me to continue here in such unprofessional environment.

No, i do not have a job in hand and neither do i care abt it ... coz i will have one sooner or later. Lets see how things turn up ...

Its all about Ethics

Things are chaotic @ work and are getting worse each day. Reason? Lies after lies... now how patient can u be when u know that ur being told lies... It all began during my appraisal (1 on 1) meeting. The meeting was just another meeting as it happened last year the only difference was that the goals and growth path has changed. We started the discussion as usual with the work done and the roadmap for the future. However there was one significant difference this time in our meet, i had to tell my boss that these are the projects i have done in the last one year. As the discussion went on we talked about future goals, work in the team etc. etc., then came the core of the discussion my performance rating for the year and promotions. We discussed for a min. or so when my boss said Okay ur rating is changed from X to Y (to the higher side)... and after all the discussions my appraisal was closed. However, i grew a bit skeptical when the rating was not written in the performance evaluation form and after following up twice i finally got it. I carried on my work as usual and when i was told my revised package i grew a bit skeptical. The situation is like i am told "You are great" however the document says the opposite "You are not so great". To clarify my doubts i approached HR and there i came to know that the ratings in HR system and the performance evaluation are different. Yes, they are different! I had escalated this matter to the Ethics Officer of our company and since then things have gone worse. I got a reply which made mockery of the events and how come a manager do appraisal if he is not clear of the process? Amazing! I replied to that mail and was termed was disrespectful and unprofessional... Ha! at least i am not unethical. Things on Friday turned ugly, ppl have started taking things personally.......lets see what happens on Monday when i am meeting HR Director. Lets see what HR ppl say abt Unethical practices that is happening here....

Time....What Time?

What is time? I guess many of us have forgotten the importance of time....i find it amusing ppl (read my cousin) saying "Bas yaar 5 min mein pahuch raha hoon" yaar kaise... plane hai kya jo 5 min mein koramangla se MG aa jaooge!
I wonder since when i am frustrated wid ppl who do not value time... be it in Office, Home or for that matter meeting a fren. We tend to take time for granted .... and on top of that we have IST ... which implicitly says ki if u have got to meet someone @ 7 pm so start from home @ 7. Man i have faced this situation many times and to my surprise ppl ask "yaar tu itni jaldi aa gaya"?
i am so frustrated with ppl not value time, i have started teaching them a lesson ... no no i have not started following IST instead if they do not show up within 15 min after the schedule time i just leave, yes its true be it work or personal matters i am following this and as a matter of face i am quite enjoying it.
"Abhinav, we have a meeting now...plz come over".... i replied the other day .... Oh! Boss but the meeting was @ 3 pm and nobody turned up and rite now i am too busy lets sit tomm. ... ha ha u cud have seen the Jabronis face.
Another incident .... there is this person, who for the last one year, consistently comes late to catch the mrng bus to work...this despite the bus always comes late .. Can u believe this!!!!
For the last one year ... almost Daily i get a call "Bus aa gayi kya?" .. "wait wait i am coming" .. and i have to bear the wrath of ppl already in the bus and have to look out the window where is madam .. madamji aayi ki nahin... My patience has run out finally (yup i am very patient .. i tolerated for one year).....these days i do not ask the driver to wait and jab "Madamji" ka call aata hai ki bus aa gayi kya? i simply say "Haan aur chali bhi gayi" .. Man i am so relieved these days fellow cab mates do not stare @ me these days.
Having said that, i do not take any pleasure that the poor grl misses the bus daily, also i am not saying that i am perfect i have also missed the cab once, however the point remains why ppl take time for granted? it is always better to be a minute early than a second late.
I wonder when we start believing "Punctuality is the Key to success".

hera pheri ... phirse!

Before i say smthing abt the movie there are few things i must mention.
Firstly i have not seen Hera Pheri (yea still i have not seen it)
Secondly i am not a Hindi Movie fan.

Neverthless it was the usual Friday where work always come on this uneventful day. By the evening i was so pissed off with work so we decided to watch Phir Hera Pheri in the evening.
The movie was supposed to be a comedy movie but i thought that i had laughed much much more in "No Entry'. Ne ways the movie was a much needed break from work... he he this is not a review i am just bored @ work so i thought i write abt it :)

The Place is called The DEN

Well as they say whats in the name and there is nthing much in the name .... Den is the name we (me and my roomie) has given to our new home.
Yea i shifted last week, my bro went back up north and finally i get to live the way i want to. I had found a bakra (or he has discovered me.. he he ), and after a days search we found a good house for a decent rent and walla last week i found my stuff in my new room. It was yesterday when i realized how much pain shifting can be...i started unpacking my stuff and man its so confusing to find new stuff in ur bags and u think gosh when did i get those..hmm .. if thats not all there are thousands thing u want to see atonce only u knew in which bag u have packed .. lol...well thats what happened yesterday and after wasting half a day i decided that i shall unpack next weekend .. hope i do it this time.

There has been many instances we use to hear, when we were in college, from our seniors that college is good, there is lots of politics and partiallity at work. Then we used to think that why the hell they are saying that i have seen at almost all TV channels that indian corporates this and that.
Well i got that experience myslef last friday. This is Appraisal time in our company and as expected ppl are giving tough time to the mangers, however what came to me as a result of my appraisal is totall shock. I have been rated among the top performers, inspite of this i am denied promotion, instead another guy (at the same level as i am ) got the promo. On being asked at what counts i fell short to get the promo, i was given answers like
1. It was a random decision (bill shit)
2. he had done some extra curricular activities (is this college/ school and are there grades for that if there are why i was not told)
3. i have no answer (now ur getting to the point)

Well thats it i knew the answer buggers are being partial. That was not all he tried all the tricks including threatening to keep my mouth shut....well on Monday (yesterday) i met SPM (his baap) and as expected he is his Baap all managerial funde and crap but i did not budge and he gave me "suggestions", "advices" and in the end reluctantly admitted his mistake (though not openly but in carefully crafted words).
This mrng i got a mail that i have another meeting regarding my performance evaluation..Boss that is closed why u want to get screwed by me again ... he he will update it later.

Update Finally i had another meeting with my PM and he reminded me of u have worked on this this this (saale pehle yaad nahin aaya kya?) Then he said i have confidence in u and stuff. ... (ha ha i am listening) then he said I AM SORRY (u shud be u !@#$%)

i don't wanna go back

It happens everytime when i come home and have to leave for work after a "short" vaccation. Well this time its no different...all i wanna say is Mamma, I don't wanna go. I know i have cribbed a lot abt Delhi's pathetically hot weather, and today was no different and i am exhausted after the days' out meeting frens and shopping, however it is this part of my vaccation that i hate the most, when i have to pack again and head back. I will miss Aloo Paratha, Palak (I am not mentioning Rajma Chawal :) ). But what the hell i will be back again in 5 months time.
All i can think now is i will be back in 5 months time .. and have Parathas :)

whts Cookin?

There are 2 things which i never dreamt i will be ever able to do in my life. The first one is Dancing and the other one is cooking. All my frens have learned to cook in college (Hostel) however i preferred to sleep empty stomach rather than trying my hand at cooking (yea yea i knew to make Maggi but thts not what i count in cooking). Last month while i was in Delhi, i danced ( yea danced like hell ) after all it was my cousins' marriage. After coming back to Blore i thought .. What the heck? i did the Dance, i cook too!... with that feeling i had hit the kitchen floor a fortnight ago and thought of making "Poha". I got all the ingredients and veges cut i heated some oil and started putting the ingredients as instructed by my Mom over phone earlier in the mrng. All Well .. till now, then disaster struck...i had to add a tinge of Dhaniya Powder...so i looked over the shelf and to my amazement there were three little jars filled with identical greenish-brown powder....i opened all three of them and poked my nose over each one of them to make out which is Dhaniya Powder, in doing so i got more confused and went by my instincts (meanwhile the other ingredients were on gas and were burning.. lol) chose one and added to the pan. Satisfied that nthing is spoiled and the Poha is done ...i took it off the flame and transferred to a plate....First bite and i realized that i have added Jeera Powder instead of Dhaniya Powder.. haha .. and yes i had Jeera Poha on that "eventful" Sunday. However last week i had made Chicken Curry ...well not all by myself i called my fren over and man it was awesome to taste :)

Shopping In Delhi

Last week i was in Delhi to attend my cousin's marriage. Due to my busy schedule i had postponed my shopping till i reached Delhi, which i realized was a big mistake. I reached Delhi a week in advance and thought was sufficient to socialize and to shop. Alas! i shud have known that this is not Blore. In Blore u do not have much choice (which i always crib abt), few Malls and that is it. Delhi is very different i realized u have so many markets, so many choices and so many Kilometers to roam, all in all a perfect recipe to leave u confused. Same happened with me, i started my shopping spree from Lajpat Nagar looking for some clothes that i wud wear on Engagement Day. Lajpat Nagar market is full of showrooms as well as road side shops and thus provides u lot of choice. But to a person like me who hates shopping its only a waste of time. As i had no clothes ready for the marriage i had no choice but to explore all the options :(, after looking in 5-8 shops i bought a Kurta Pajama which i think looked cool on me :) (i am waiting for the pics)
The next day we headed to GK, the place is full of showrooms.....an ideal place to do window shopping and yea to see beautiful grls :) i thought since the place is not big i wud be done with shopping in half a day and wud get the much needed sleep. But my cousin (groom) had other plans, we wanted to buy shoes and whenever we liked smthing someone or the other wud say lets look in other shops and come back (notice the culprit CHOICE), in doing so we spent the whole day just in buying shoes...well i am not complaining it was for Groom who had to look the best (i suppose).
The next day was spent in CP hunting for a suit, i never realized that buying a suit is gng to be the toughest. I spent the whole day looking and trying suits after suits and bought nothing.
The next day we headed to Noida -sec 18 and finally i bought a suit which i think i am not gng to wear again in near future.
After 4 days i was almost done with my shopping and was so tired, but there was one thing still missing, Sherwani for the marriage. Fortunately that was gng to be stitched and i needn't had to bother abt it (thank god!).

Shopping in Delhi taught me one lesson, the more choices u have the more confused u get, so next time do ur shopping frm Bangalore :)
Also never go out shopping with Fashion Designers as they tend to experiment but i am not complaining coz i looked cool (i think).

Was it an Accident?

After incidents on Lakme India Fasion Week 2006 with wardrobe malfunction on more than one occasion there has been more than anticipated interest in this years fashion event. What more our good ol' politicians have taken a break from usual leg pulling and have set their guns on the recent (il)events at the show. Again our media has done it, what it does the best, blowing things out of proportions.
I feel sorry for the poor models what happened and commend the way they handled esp Carol Garcias. However i still cannot digest politicians taking interest in fashion....man India is Shining. On a serious note this again points to the moral policing our politicians like to do...they just can sit quite and shut up....no they want a probe..Probe? what for? well if at all we need probes is for corruption? why ppl are so poor? why infra is poor? etc. etc. but who cares for that.
All they care is for baning TV channels, spread hatred among the public etc. etc.

What a Day!

March 31 2006:
I generally do not look back at a day till i get into my bed, i have no clue why i am thinking abt it so soon. May be b'coz i am in Office this late after a long time (5 months to be precise). More so i am still stuck with the damn paperwork, i wonder when will i get out of this mess :(
Then its end of the month .. Salary Day....yippie.. oh Hell!! this is end of the financial year too Gosh!! how much money Govt. has stolen from me .. ha ha ha.. ya the bloody Tax ... i have been robbed!
Then there is one thing i have been aware since morning.... No Dinner tonite @ home :(
Well i am yet to decide how waz the day for me. But all i can say March 31st reminds me that in 7 days time i will be at home feasting on "Aloo ke Parethe" made by Mom... i just can't wait for that
...damn! No food tonite :)

Tax, Tax and more Tax

This mrng i came across this article regarding caution deposits for house advances and the Tax on that. Gosh! i didn't knew that u have to pay registration tax on advance (security deposit or caution deposit) which we pay while renting a house. According to new State Budget we need to shell out 7.5 % registration tax on caution deposits for house advances. That’s too much! Well if u look at the prices in Bangalore of any commodity, all are Too Much! I do not understand the logic behind it. A US to India power converter plug costs Rs. 45 in Bangalore (Koramangla) while the same damn thing costs Rs. 15 in South Delhi. Can anybody explain me the logic? Well some say all here are working class (read Software/IT Professionals)...So? does this mean that we have to shell out so much money for such small things. This just reminded me of my days in Port Blair where there was an unwritten rule that "Anything that is not branded or doesn't have an MRP marked, its going to cost u the much", and i guess the same thing applies to Blore city too. Any product frm unorganized sector u buy and it will cost u heavily. Also look at the rent rates these days ... in my view the only thing that can give competition to the bull run we are seeing these days in stock markets. Any place u look for a decent house and the rent are sky rocketing. To make matters worse, landlords ask 10 months advance as a security deposit. What for? am i gng to run away with ur house and why 10 months...in Delhi advance is max. 3-4 months. Why? Well we are all prospering working in IT companies, making good money...does this justifies the irrational demands of landlords....and why are we paying that much? Well yea we can afford it but till when? ppl here (auto drivers, landlords) should understand we do not have a money plant in our backyard and govt. should understand that levying more taxes will not take them anywhere either.

PS: anybody havin more info abt state budget and its impact on us can do a post or send links.

Paper work .. Paper work .. more Paperwork

Today i appeared for the driving license test for both two-wheeler and four-wheeler. The whole exercise was one tiring shit.....do all the paper work, fill the forms, stand in queue, submit the papers. Then again wait for the almighty Police Uncle to come. Today the Policeman came at around 11:15, by that time i had to stand for over 2 hours in scorching heat and guess what now the Uncle wants all the applicants to hold their applications again...Again? i searched for my application along with some very impatient ppl and the whole scene looked like afish market, if nothing else...i mean why the hell applicants had hold their applications....start calling the names from the bundle of apps and start taking the test. Paperwork is not limited in the government offices too...in software companmies u have to write all sorts of docs like the release notes, manual and the all very important design document. Design Doc....huh? Sounds interesting? Well that the most boring work these days i am doing esp when u have to do it on a MS Word Template. Gosh that’s hard.. MS word somehow makes me crazy..
And then after wasting half a day for driving test i came to know that i need to do more paperwork as the appraisal time is here. I wonder when will this paperwork will leave me???

PS: I passed my driving test and will be getting license soon :)

Holi Hai!

Gosh! its Holi and i am sitting here in Office. Though i do not like to go out and play with colors on a Holi Day, that craze is gone now (i know i am only 24 years..) but still the craze to play with colors and water is all gone. Now as i sit here in Office and wondering what the hell i shud do today..i am the only one in my team to be present. Talking to my folks back @ home made me home sick again .. no no not the colors. but the awesome "Tahari" my mom is gng to cook today for lunch and yea those delicious "gunjiyas" Damn! i am missing home.
Enuf of centi i guess.....Here’s Wishing u a Very Colorful Holi!

Saza-e-Kalapani

Passing time on this dull Friday Afternoon i came across this article which prompted me to write this post. Post abt Kalapani as they all call it -- the worst jail term anybody cud get in pre-independence era. I also got Kalapani the only difference being it was post-independence, but hell what does a 16 year guy knows abt that. i was 16 years old when i showed my dis-interest in my fathers' business and had no clear goals in life what i wanted to be. i didn't knew that casual talk with my father (while i was flying kite) on a chilly December day will become my sentence to kalapani, as it turned out to be a week later when i was told to pack my bags and head off to Port Blair to stay with my relatives. I was very upset as the words echoed in my ears....What? what wrong did i do? The reply i got in return was "ur grown enuf, u have made a decision that u do not want to do business. I have made my decision that u cannot stay here coz the atmosphere ur gng to get at home will be always business-like. So ur out in 6 mnths time". I thought my folks does not love me (well it was my father actually, my mother cried on hearing his decision). Thinking abt it now, i have become an engineer (a great achievement if u ask me) :) Port Blair is a very calm and quite place. Life there is really amazing, no tensions, no worries and awesome beaches. Looking at the picture of Cellular Jail just reminded me how grand the structure is. Moreover i am amazed by the sheer genious of the designers who designed it.....Only 3-5 guards can keep a watch on the entire premises....real genius. For those of u do not know, original cellualr jail used to have seven wings, now it has five wings the other two gave way for the biggest hospital in the Islands which provides free medical services for the local people. Then there was my favorite Corbyn's Cove beach .. ah! i just love beaches. Then u have Marina Sports Water complex..my favourite place in the whole world. There was this bench at the end of the Jetty overlooking sea and Ross Islands at a distance frm where u can see all the ships entering Port Blair Harbor. But as they say all good things come to an end and this did literally....Tsunami Dec. 2004.....i was not there though i have heard frm my frens that Marina Sports Complex was totally devastated as the other places in the Islands .... i wonder what happened to Little Andaman where i say a water fall for the first time in my life. I wonder that bench is still there, neh it is not i saw the picture of the jetty and everything was submerged. Well the restoration work is gng on and hope it is completed before i head to my second home this winter! And yea who can forget the light-and-sound programme @ Cellular Jail every evening....gosh i am missing it too much!

Terrorism in India...Whos Line is it anyway?

Varanasi bombs explosions shook the whole nation, not b'coz place of worship was targeted among others but so many innocent ppl got killed by maniacs who think that will fulfill their goals -- whatever they are. The only thing they have achieved is that they have reserved a seat for themselves in Hell. However this is not the only reason that saddens me. Its the attitude what makes me sad and ashamed. Attitude of govt., politicins, media and relious fundamentalists. At this time of national grief...ppl are busy in making allegations, new ways of improving TRPs/vote bank, spreading communal tensions.
To start with the govt....yea the customary meetings, calling up the Chief Minister etc. etc. what was their in the manual is all done. what the govt shud do frm this point of time is WAKE UP! and tighten the screws of the intelligence agencies, arm the local police well and pay them well which will keep thier motivation lever high. 303 is obsolete, provide them smthing they can bank upon. There is a significant lack of co-ordination among different govt. agencies which is evident frm the reports after such incidents. When the Govt. will take steps to correct the shorcommings in its policies? After how many incidents? After how many loss of lives? Reading this article, many ppl feel (including me) that the govt. is lax in its policy to tacle Terrorism. There are laws like TADA which has brought its misuse by political parties to the limelite. We are talking abt National Security, our security and these ppl are framing laws so that they can settle political scores. Will these "wise" men will ever grow up and think beyond politics? i wonder! We should have a firm policy in place so that such henious attcks does not occur in fututre and the culprits get appropriate punshment.
Media .. Please do not bother abt ur TRPs, Stop sensationalising news. Also stop asking Stupid Questions! Media is also a partner in spreading communal tensions along with political parties by asking stupid questions and giving ideas to crazy ppl. Political parties these are the culprits responsible for dividing Indian society, causing tensions, violence while they have a quality time on our expense (tax payers money and general public ignorance). Still at this point they are trying to woo people by playing with their sentiments..worse spreading tension, hatered. I wonder which other nations' PM calls upon his ppl for restraint among people of differnent religions..It Happens Only in India! Hon. politicinas understand one thing these are the lives of people ur playing with not the vote banks as u see it.
Religious Fundamentalists all i want to say abt them is Shut Up! if u want to do any good to the ppl of ur religion if not society help the ppl who are suffering frm poverty, disease.
Finally people of India "Jago", understand what is in our interest and not get provoked by silly comments. Choose ou representatives wisely. Live and let live

Stocks and Stock Markets

In my last post i talked about Indian Law System which i do not understand at all. There are two more things which i do not understandl. The other one is Stock Markets. this post is influenced by the book i am reading on Stock markets and my own observation for the past few years. To begin with Stock Market just reminds me of a song by Bon Jovi "Hey God! -- What the hell is going on?" the only thing i understand is that stock markets go up and go down, the swings being judged by the indices. A quick questions pops in my mind what makes the indices go up or down...the answer is the Stock prices of the companies that makes up the index say BSE-30 index. Ok! And the stock prices are governed by the performance of the company Rite? Well the markets seem to think otherwise. For the past 3-4 years i have observed (most of the time) even though a company declares positive results for the quarter the market responds in the other direction almost all the time...the logic? i have no clue! Then u have those analysts.. These guys are real pro . i have heard frm lots of ppl "If u hear their words carefully, u will be able to predict where the market is heading the next day". So a question that comes in the mind of naive investor (say) like me is -- Then what drives the markets? thats a million rupees question (i do not like Dollar) and the person who can answer that, in my view has made a lot of money on the stock markets. There is one incident i remembered in which the markets went down by over 1% around 26 Jan 2002 (i do not remember the year correctly) and the reason given by the analysts on a major financial TV was General Padnabhan has called a press conference...............if my memory is correct the Army has been calling for the press conference earlier too on the eve of independence day.....so what was special in that? NOTHING ... i think they just ran out of ideas to take the markets down. Coming back to present times, markets have been touching new heights till yesterday....i did not get the point for this phenomenal rise coz as my frens tell that the "Mid-caps" (i have no idea what the hell they are) have not risen much compared to the rise in markets and the rosy picture that the RISE paints. Also this reminds me of the scams that have always followed with the phenomenal rise in the markets. I hope this time this isn't the case thanx to SEBI for tightening the regulations even further. Having said that, as i said in my earlier post that ppl think of loop-holes in the laws before they come into effect .. lets hope this isn't true this time for the benefit of small investors. PS the books I have read are --

1. A Beginners Guide : Profitable Investment in Shares
2. One Up on Wall Street - How to Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market (Currently Reading)

Justice in India ... a costly affair.

Justice! Wonder does anybody understands its true meaning? I don't.
There are lots of things that are unique abt India..to start with culture, language and ofcourse the yummy food which everyone appriciates and talks abt. These days there are lot many things aprt frm good ppl talk abt India like its foreign relations (read US of A), economy...well to apty put u hear sub-continent and India is the first thing comes into my mind. "Sub" continent..wow thats pretty big but then a question pops up in my mind how easy it is to get justice here.
There is no doubt we in India have one of the finest documented law system in the world. Our constitution in itself is a master piece. However as they say "Nobody is perfect"..very true nthing is perfect...in this case i feel that law system in pur country is not anywhere near perfect.
If there is a new law coming we get to know well in advance and if anyone of us is frm a business class family u will definately know before that advice/suggestion has become a law, we have already found the loop holes to exploit it.
I have found our law system pretty strange, Firstly, for the sheer number of pending cases at all levels. Secondly, nobody believes in the system anymore...general belief is if a case has started it will go on forever..true very true (telling frm personal experience).
Then u have a unique way of getting justice. u have to start at the lower level say a Sessions Court where if u are lucky u will get justice in 5-10 years. If anybody is not satisfied with the judgement (it is impossible to satisfy a human being....humane nature) then we have High Court and the same procedure is repeated again and this time we get judgement in less time say 2-3 years .. again humane nature.. and we have the baap of all courts THE Supreme Court of India.. housed in a magnificient structure in delhi.
I wonder if one follow this path (many do actually) how long will it finally take get justice...hmmm.. i have no clue. But one thing is sure the scenes from Hindi films aptly applies (son taking forward the case frm his father)...the only difference is it doesnot get over in 3 hours it really goes on for a long time (personal experience again).
Well times are changing here, and the day is not far away when govt will set-up some committee for law reforms....my only hope is that it stays free frm political influence....

Budget 06 was good news in terms of income tax whose rates were untouched by the Finance Minister and the cars are getting cheaper. However going thru the newspapers for the past 2 days, some reports (eg STT ) are depressing. To start with PCs and notebook are set to get costlier with 12% excise being levied. One quick question though if i get a laptop frm US (say) will the excise duty be still levied? Presently one laptop is allowed without any duty. Then u have STT for transaction in Stock Markets....i was dng my homework reading abt stock and stock market.. now this STT has left me confused :( And my favorite topic for the past few days...Transaction Tax in banking. Going by the reports in the newspapers we will have to shell out more money in addition to Rs.30-50 which is levied by bank if money is withdrawn from other banks' ATM. Debit/Credit card transactions will now attract Tax -- which in my view spell doom for the banks as ppl will refrain using plastic money .. at least i will. And to tell u the most ridiculous tax i have read in a report in TOI is there wud be service tax levied if u decide to have ur address changed in the banks' records. Amazed? there is more... This morning read that even requesting for a Cheque Book will attract service tax....I am confused at this point....if i go to bank to get the same, the bank will levy a processing charge and now Service Tax if online banking is used. i have a question...am i taking somebody elses money from the account which bears my name? i just do not understand the logic...seriously do i have to pay to get my own money out frm the bank...then whats the use of keeping money in banks...Here is a tip for Finance Minister...plz levy tax on the interest ppl earn in their Savings Bank Account...i think thats the only thing left now to levy tax on.