tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-135868202024-03-08T15:19:13.251+05:30C'est la VieSanity, Sanctity, Truth & KarmaChirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1147584307465246522006-05-14T10:32:00.000+05:302006-05-14T10:55:07.476+05:30T.I.M.E Seminar & Party<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/With%20Bharat%20Sir%20%26%20Chaits.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 231px; height: 169px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/With%20Bharat%20Sir%20%26%20Chaits.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />At the successful completion of the CAT preperatoy training program and followed by the resounding success results in the IIM selections, the T.I.M.E team organised a seminar in which they had called all the successful students for a Information, Knowledge & Exterience sharing with the CAT aspirants for the year 2006.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Full%20Time%20Gang.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 173px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Full%20Time%20Gang.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The events took place at Hari Hara Kala Bhavanin Secunderabad and was attended by, among others, the faculty and the management of T.I.M.E.<br />In the evening there was a party organised to celebrate the success, and all the students who have made it to the B-Schools were invited.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/With%20Manik%20Sir.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 163px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/With%20Manik%20Sir.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>This was an occassion where we had a chance to meet al the folks with whom we had animated exchanges during the classroom programs and hadd heated dialogues during the preperatory mock Group Discussions.<br />Got to meet a lot of friends whem we had made in the course of the GD/PI preperation post CAT.<br /><br /><br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/With%20Kaushal%20Sir%202.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 217px; height: 162px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/With%20Kaushal%20Sir%202.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Was quite eager to meet Mahip & some oethers who had given everyone including myself a very tough time in the GD's<br />Amongst the faculty, met Kaushak Sharma, Bharat Jain, Manik Darruvala, Girish Simon & Chaitanya. All of these people had a remarkable contribution of steering our preperation during the GD/PI stage.<br /><br />CAT is more like an individual game in which the bulk of the effort has to come from an individual, however in GD's the group work and the councellikng sessions became the differentiators between making it and missing it !<div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1144778577147618962006-04-11T23:32:00.000+05:302006-04-11T23:47:49.456+05:30Viva la Goa : Pictures from Vacation at Goa<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Goa%20Trip%202006%20Snap%2024.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Goa%20Trip%202006%20Snap%2024.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Snap 1 :</span> The whole gang wholed up at the Hotel Room. The holligans rfepersent the tru flavor of my college and for that matter any premiumEngineering College Hostel crowd<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Goa%20Trip%202006%20Snap%2005.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Goa%20Trip%202006%20Snap%2005.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Snap 2 : </span>Calangute Beach minus the blondes minus the brunetters or in short Calangiute beach minus the fun<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Snap 3 : </span>Calangute beach, for careful and keenobserves there is gold hidden behind.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Snap 4 : </span>Just before I managed to Rinse my precious Digital Camera<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Snap 5 : </span>On Board the Ferry<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Snap 6 : </span>The Soaked Gang<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Snap 7 : </span>Sky, Ocean and the Horiszon that stands in between. the Beauty of the sand belies the amount of discomfort it causes to the visitors in the hot summer afternoons.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Goa%20Trip%202006%20Snap%2007.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Goa%20Trip%202006%20Snap%2007.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Goa%20Trip%202006%20Snap%2018.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Goa%20Trip%202006%20Snap%2018.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch-eeee-tos/126484791/" title="photo sharing"><img style="width: 326px; height: 242px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/56/126484791_27bf283053.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Goa%20Trip%202006%20Snap%2004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Goa%20Trip%202006%20Snap%2004.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch-eeee-tos/126484791/"></a><br /></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1144778132956429082006-04-11T23:25:00.000+05:302006-04-11T23:25:33.010+05:30FlickrThis is a test post from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/r/testpost"><img alt="flickr" src="http://www.flickr.com/images/flickr_logo_blog.gif" width="41" height="18" border="0" align="absmiddle" /></a>, a fancy photo sharing thing.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1144141397820296612006-04-04T14:21:00.000+05:302006-04-04T14:33:17.870+05:30Lessons From Life<span style="font-family:times new roman;">Life in the past two years has taught me many small but invaluable lessons. They undoubtedly form the most valuable of my possessions and the most prized component of my <strong>take-home</strong> from my two years of professional life.<br /><br />The most profound of them is this one<br /> “<strong>Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans</strong>”<br /><br />Time and over I have planned out life meticulously to the last detail, laid out detailed plans, made room for contingencies and felt confident that this ‘finalized’ revision will finally and at last sail through.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br />Every one of those times and I really mean <strong>Every Single One of those times</strong>, I have this searing belief that the last debacle of my plans crashing down was because I forgot to take care of all eventualities and effecting factors.<br /><br /><p>The realization never dawns that the whole act of ‘<strong>Planning and Execution’</strong> is fundamentally against the law of nature, that of ‘<strong>Chaos’</strong>. Nature wants us to keep working on plans, if at all we choose to make some. Though complete lack of it would mean mindless directionless meanderings, but one should expect to do constant revisions and improvisations as the situation changes and newer challenges keep cropping up.<br /><br />What's funny is that the moment I start getting complacent thinking that I have got the idea of the game, the very next moment I am in a neck deep pothole; reminding me of my <strong>ignorance</strong> and my <strong>lunatic innocence</strong>.<br /><br />It seems that “<strong>The harder you plan out life, the more it kicks you straight at your face</strong>”. For now I have taken a change in strategy, I intend to live each moment to its fullest, live my this ‘<strong>One Life’</strong>. While contemplating any action the two things that I will keep in mind are </p><ol><li><strong>The foreseeable consequences:</strong> just the ones that are plainly visible with a clear line of though. No Reading between the lines or Ghost Hunting.</li><li><strong>Follow My Heart:</strong> Something I learnt from the wonderful books ‘<strong>The Alchemist’</strong> and ‘<strong>Jonathan Livingstone – A Seagull story’</strong>. After all you get only one life <u>of which you get to see only one snapshot to see at a time</u>, Rewind and Fast Forward facilities are not available, so what better than to use your intuitive capabilities and count on the forces that be, or follow your heart so to say.</span></li></ol><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1143991696487831992006-04-02T20:58:00.000+05:302006-04-02T20:58:16.540+05:30Personal MBA<a href="http://www.joshkaufman.net/personalmba">Josh Kaufman: Inside My Bald Head | The Personal MBA</a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal">Got this really intriguing article as a recommendation from some B-School friends.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This article talks about getting an education equivalent of an MBA sitting right at home and continuing with our professional commitments by leveraging the power of books.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Josh Kauffman, mentions some very valid points to bolster his case to someone who is skeptical of the idea, but before that he takes great pains to set the expectations right. This is something which can really make all the difference between a happy and a sad ending to a prolonged and arduous endeavor.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">While I would undoubtedly agree with the general idea that books indeed can contribute marvelously to the learning of an individual, there are definitely contentions which cannot simply be discarded. A people oriented course like MBA could do with dollops of people to people interaction. Was discussing this with a dear friend of mine who is passing out this year from ISB and will be joining a dream Consulting firm. He concurred with my views, regarding the fact that in an MBA you probably learn only 10% of your lessons from the course curriculum per se. The cocktail of the arduous grind and the intense collaborative teamwork in form of assignments and presentations bring about an attitudinal reformation, transforming man, an inherently lone worker by nature to someone who is absolutely at home ijn a team working environment.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Josh of course, is not under any illusions and he makes quick to clear up the loads that needs to be done in order to practice in life whatever is read from the books so as to make it a part of our day to day life, only then does reading all that stuff really make sense.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1143831555671165032006-04-01T00:26:00.000+05:302006-04-01T01:17:27.266+05:30Visit to Chittaranjan Park Kali temple<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Kali%20Bari%205.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Kali%20Bari%205.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Kali%20Bari%201.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Kali%20Bari%201.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Kali%20Bari%202.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Kali%20Bari%202.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Kali%20Bari%203.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Kali%20Bari%203.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Kali%20Bari%206.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Kali%20Bari%206.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><u><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Chittaranjan Kali Bari Pictures from my recent trip to Delhi<br /><br /></span></span></u><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/Kali%20Bari%2013.jpg"><img style="display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Kali%20Bari%2013.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/Kali%20Bari%2014.jpg"><img style="display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Kali%20Bari%2014.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/Kali%20Bari%2016.jpg"><img style="display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Kali%20Bari%2016.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/Kali%20Bari%2017.jpg"><img style="display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Kali%20Bari%2017.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1143703162890147432006-03-30T12:49:00.000+05:302006-04-02T00:43:21.843+05:30Akshardham Temple, New DelhiWith more than ample time to spare and running out of places to visit, I decided to include the much talked about, newest attraction of Delhi, Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple.<br />With this is mind, hoped into an auto after taking a metro ride to Connaught Place, and it faithfully landed me right at the doorstep of the huge '<span style="font-weight: bold;">Temple Campus</span>'.<br />Working in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hitech City </span>this is the easiest similie that came to my mind, need not be the best or the most appropriate. The Temple compound was almost immeasurably huge, much larger than the Infosys People Factories constructed across the country.<br />The first thing that crosses one's mind or rather that should cross the mind is the name of the mandir, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Akshardham</span>. The very sound of it preposes great meaning to the planary of nomenclature. <span style="font-style: italic;">Akshardham means the eternal, divine abode of the supreme God, the abode of eternal values and virtues of Akshar as defined in the Vedas and Upanishads where divine bhakti, purity and peace forever pervades.<br /><br />Read more on this <a href="http://cheetos.wordpress.com/2006/04/02/akshardham-temple/">here</a>.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1142240830259036762006-03-13T14:20:00.000+05:302006-03-13T14:37:10.273+05:30Snaps from Evening @ Prasads IMAX<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Prasads%20IMAX%208.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Prasads%20IMAX%208.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Prasads%20IMAX%206.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Prasads%20IMAX%206.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Prasads%20IMAX%207.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Prasads%20IMAX%207.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Prasads%20IMAX%205.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Prasads%20IMAX%205.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Prasads%20IMAX%203.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Prasads%20IMAX%203.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Prasads%20IMAX%204.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Prasads%20IMAX%204.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Prasads%20IMAX%201.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Prasads%20IMAX%201.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Prasads%20IMAX%202.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Prasads%20IMAX%202.jpg" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1142188727724930522006-03-13T00:08:00.000+05:302006-03-23T12:31:08.030+05:30Silence Must be Heard<a href="http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1017515">Jumbo 500 - An Ode to My Favourite Sportsman & Cricketer</a><br />After Kapil Dev if someone really facinated me in Indian cricket, it is the bespectacled engineer fighting silently for a long forgotten entuty, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Team INDIA, </span>the "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Men in Blue".</span> What stands out is the difference in spirit that he has demonstrated, over and over again, in contrast to his much more superiorly talented, notoriously undisciplined and unscrupulously unsportsmanlike peerslike <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rahul Dravid</span> and Co. Unfortunately enough he comes from the same place which is also the roots of Dravid. <br /><br />The reason for this comparison, inspite of apparent dissimilarities is the two sides of the coin of Indian Cricket that they represent. Dravid had the potential of becoming a phenomenal cricketing sportsman, but he rather choose the more convenient route of being an opportunistic route through the web of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dirty Indian Politics. </span>Irrespective of the credibility or the suitability of 'dada' for the post of Indian team what cannot be digested or believed is that Dravid's intense lobbying had his own narrow vested interests more in mind than the future of Team India. Irrespectove of his calibre and his competence, he deserves of being disqualified from Indian Cricket just on the grounds of performing actions unbecoming of his stature as Vice-Captain of Indian National Cricket Team.<br /><br />In an unassociated bunch incidents, during the rift period between 'Dada' & Dravid, I was frequently cornered by <span style="font-weight: bold;">BangaLURUeans</span> in my office in an attempt to kick a debate as to the relevance and the contribution of 'dada' and his 'dirty games'.<br />Even though 'dada' was never my pick of players, I was duty bound to defend him , not because I was expected to do so as a BONG, but because these regional sentiment driven folks<br />(the bangaLURUeans) were discrediting not only Ganguly's current call at the indian Cricket team but also his contributions throughout his career to Indian Cricket. Now this was too much. Ganguly, is no saint but comparing him with Dravid who's sole focus was improvinh his personal game, is like comparing Finance minister's role to that of a domestic housewife. I simply had to show the "LURU's" my <span style="font-weight: bold;">middle finger</span> through logical reasoning route. But what hurt me the most is that being throughout brought up in Delhi, I never realised I was a bengali, in fact I was one of the harshest critics of them, I always thought that I was only an INDIAN. It took some Frustoo LURU's to bring narrow regional sentiments into the picture.<br />Now, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I am back!</span> I love praising people for what they have done, the choices they have made, the way they have conducted themselves rather than their dynasty, birth or other no contributional factors. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I am back</span> at praising my favourite in the Cricket team, without any concern that with this those LURU buddies of mine would jump out of their seat to claim their common link with <span style="font-weight: bold;">my JUMBO</span>, doesn't matter they never till now considered his presence even worthy of consideration.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>T</strong></span>here are certain joys in life that need no explanation. One of them is watching 'JUMBO' Anil Kumble toss a twirling ball at the start of his run-up and then determinedly trudge in to deliver his ball without any apparent effort. As a bowler, he has been credited with a vital role in many of India's victories in the last decade yet,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> in many ways, the leg-spinner remains Indian cricket's unsung hero</span>.<br /><br />I loved this man for the HONOUR he brought with his conduct to the Gentleman's Game of Cricket.<br />He stood out amongst the hooligans like Miandad, Inzamam, Shoaib and the whole Australian Cricket team who had reduced this sport to a cheap show of antics.<br /><br />One of the saddest time for me was when Jumbo, as Kumble is known within the team, was dropped during the 2003 World Cup, and with him having to face constant comparisons with Warne and Muttiah, had been discounted with a career long over.<br />This habbit of <span style="font-weight: bold;">whoring</span> is something that characterises the narrow trivial mindset of South East Asians. The tendency of comparisons ignore the principle of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Unique Selling Proposition</span> or <span style="font-weight: bold;">USP </span>which is the mantra of modern business.<br />Jumbo need not prove himself against the other good bowlers to prove his way into the team, all that he needs to do is to prove his worth and show how he is indispensible to a strong winning Indian Side.<br />The silence has finally been heard, the discipline, dedication, Focussed hardwork has finally paid rich dividents. Jumbo has finally etched his name firmly and permanently into the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hall of Fame</span> of international cricket with his 500th test cricket. God truly is fair, Justice Finally is done.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1141657403129442272006-03-06T20:09:00.000+05:302006-03-06T20:33:23.146+05:30Digital Photography EXIF/IPTC Information<span style="font-size:85%;">I never considered myself a Photography PRO, a mere enthusiast at most. And yet at this juncture in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_photography">Digital Photography</a> I find a critical flaw in the softwares' functionaity. While taking some images my camera date and time was misrepresented. I thought that should not be a cause of concern as I was not putting my date-time stamp on the pictures anyway. Little did I realise that the information is either ways stored in the picture header itself. This is called <strong>Exchangeable image file format </strong>or </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EXIF"><span style="font-size:85%;">EXIF </span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">information.This information provides Extensive information like <strong>make of the camera, the aperture time, nature of flash, focal length, exposure time, date, time, ISO Speed Ratings </strong>and so on.<br />(<span style="font-family:times new roman;"><em>The metadata tags defined in the Exif standard cover a broad spectrum including:<br /><strong>Date and time information.</strong> Digital cameras will record the current date and time and save this in the metadata.<br /><strong>Camera settings</strong>. This includes static information such as the camera model and make, and information that varies with each image such as orientation, </em></span></span><a title="Aperture" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>aperture</em></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>, </em></span><a title="Shutter speed" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>shutter speed</em></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>, </em></span><a title="Focal length" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_length"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>focal length</em></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>, </em></span><a title="Metering mode" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metering_mode"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>metering mode</em></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>, and </em></span><a title="Film speed" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>film speed</em></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em> information.<br /><strong>Location information</strong>, which could come from a </em></span><a title="Global Positioning System" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>GPS</em></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em> receiver connected to the camera. </em></span><a title="As of 2004" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_of_2004"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><em>As of 2004</em></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><em><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> only a few cameras support this, though. Some people therefore use a normal receiver to track their movements, and then post-process the images by matching the timestamps in the images with the log from the receiver and can so add the missing information to images.<br /><strong>Descriptions and copyright information</strong>. Again this is something which is most often done when post-processing the images, as only high-end camera models let the user choose a text for these fields</span>.)</em><br /><br />So just in case the information is incorrect in this 'header' the images appear chrnologically disoriented in an image organizer like <strong>PICASA.</strong><br />What was lacking in the market, was free software that could edit this information in batches so that any error while taking the images could be rectified. <strong>A Definite WINDOW of OPPORTUNITY for wannabe entrepreneurs. </strong>I am attaching such an image with incorrect EXIF information. To see the Exif Information :<br />In <strong>Windows XP</strong>, Exif information may be viewed by right clicking on an <a title="Image file" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_file">image file</a> and clicking <strong>properties</strong>; from the properties dialog click the <strong>Summary</strong> tab.<br />On<strong> </strong><a title="Mac OS X" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X"><strong>Mac OS X</strong></a><strong> 10.4</strong> and above, this information may be viewed in the Finder by doing Get Info on a file and expanding the <strong>More Info section</strong>.<br />Check it out for yourself to see how much 'hidden information' can your photos carry !! :D<br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="206" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Hyd%20Home%20%233%20004.jpg" width="264" border="0" /> <br />(For <strong>International Press Telecommunications Council</strong> or <strong>IPTC</strong> information Check <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPTC">here </a>)</span> <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1141037254626065722006-02-27T12:12:00.000+05:302006-02-27T16:17:34.683+05:30Budget around the corner<span style="font-size:85%;">With the Big Daddy of all <strong>Household Domestic budget</strong> less than 24 hours away, speculating on it seems the most logical thing on earth. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Tomorrow the pulses will halt at <strong>Dalal Street, NSE &</strong> all the <strong>Commodity Trading Exchanges</strong> at exactly 11:00 AM, when the finance Minister <strong>P.Chidambaram</strong> will present the <strong>Union Budgetfor the Year 2006 - 2007. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">There will of course be other sections of socities like housewives, students, Software professionals, Docltors, Engineers and so on who will proceed about the day just as any other working day of the week. But irrespective of who they are or what they do, this is one thing that will have a deep influence on their lives. A lot of things are going to become dearer, a lot of purchases will need to be re-scheduled, a lot of wages will need adjustment and a lot of domestic grocery spendings will need to be re-configured. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The budget holds different concerns for different "<strong>agents"</strong> of the society. Whether it is an individual, an institution, an organization or an investor. All will be affected someway or the other, some getting a gentle nudge, others getting turmoiled to doldrums. Concerns are hence in-evitable about this. Let me shed some light about the impact on <strong>"Indian Middle Class".</strong> For ease of description let us take a four member family: <strong>Mr. Ram</strong> (Aged 38) working as a mid level Marketing Manager in an Indian Company, <strong>Mrs. Sita</strong> (Aged 34) Housewife by choice and a qualified engineer by qualification,<strong> Luv</strong> (Aged 12) & <strong>Kush</strong> (Aged 9) both students at a reputed public school. Although there will be others who will be linked to them, like in-laws at both ends, for the purpose of simplicity, we'll take them to be largely financially independent. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Instead of keeping the analysis at a very generic level, we will take up individual items which are likely to be on the Finance Minister (FM)'s platter.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><ol><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Fringe Benefit Tax</strong> : If this tax is hiked, Ram's official tours will become more expensive for his company. So while till now he was getting to use economy class tickes from regular airlines like Jet or IC, he may have to switch to Low Cost Carriers(LCCs) like Deccan or SpiceJet. This will also mean that he will have to forego the complementary meals both at the aircraft and at the hotels where he is put up by his company. Moreover the free shared cab pickup that his company provides and the fuel allowance for his personal vehicle may become a thing of the past. To top it all, telephone bills re-imbursements would also be subject to taxation. For Sita, it might mean that she may have to forego the weekend drives that Ram used to take her to. With petrol prices heading skywards and company on the verge of retracting the fuel expenses, this could be an acoidable expense. For Luv and Kush this may mean that missing the school bus would attract a harsher reprobation and may sometimes even lead to dropping off from school for a day, as his dad stubbornly refuses to drop him by his car.<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Exempt-Exempt-Taxation (EET) :</strong> Moving from an EEE to an EET taxation system is widely being anticipated. Simplifying the <em>'latin'</em> here for the<em> non-financial readers</em> an EET taxation implies that investments made for tax saving (like ELSS Mutual funds/ National Savings Certificate/Public Provident Fund/Infrastructure Bonds etc.) will attract a tax on liquidation at maturity. So to say, after the lock-in period when these aqre exchanged back for cash, the cash will now attract an additional tax. Under the EET system <strong>contributions</strong> to these scheme are exempt from tax (E), the <strong>accumulation/earnings</strong> are also exempt (E); however, the <strong>withdrawal/benefits</strong> are taxed (T). (Hence the E-E-T) An Exempt-Exempt-Exempt(EEE) regime on the other hand implies that such investments remain outside the tax net even at the time of liquidation, as has been the system till now. So this will mean that the lucrativeness of the various tax saving investments will be diminished or removed. So Ram can be expected to spend more than he did the last year and hence it seems that Luv and Kush can now have that Cricket Bat which was pending in the shopping list and Sita will have that lovely Microwave oven. Ram, can also opt to go for a family vacation with his new disposable income.<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Customs and Excise duty Cuts :</strong> Finally a good news. This would mean almost all the things having imported components will be saving some money. We can expect some of them to be samaritian enough or having significant business foresight enough, whichever way you look at it, to pass on the benefits to the end user. So it finally may be the time for Ram to buy a Santro after bidding farewell to his 7 year old maruti 800. Microwave, cellular phones & Home theater systems are all going to beome cheaper. So all the more reason for Sita to go for that microwave, and in case she is able to spare some money from her day-to-day kitty then she could also opt for a DVD Player Home theater System. Luv and Kush can only hope that Sita would not ditch the plans of the DVD, and so they can finally watch "<strong>Lord of the Rings"</strong> sitting right at their home!<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Inheritance and TOBIN tax not imposed :</strong> TOBIN is a tax implemented on International Potfolio Investments. Inheritance tax and TOBIN are two taxes that the left parties were insistent on. This would not have too much of ramifications on Ram's life as his father was a village school headmaster who had a meager salary, of which he spent the most on education of his two saons Ram and Lakshman. Sita, Luv and Kush too are imune to this one element of the tax.<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Tax on Aviation Turbine Fuel to come down : </strong>This would mean that the tax on ATF that airlines have to pay would some down from the present 40% to a more sane amount. Ram and family would be hence more likely to get that Rs. 500 ticket ( + Rs. 221) of Air Deccan as it is expected that LCCs will pass on the price benefits by increasing the percentage of seats available in the lower priced categories.<br /></span></li></ol><p><span style="font-size:85%;">So Much for Anticipatory Musings. If this is the state of affairs on the eve of the budget, just imagine the catastrophic length when the budget actually comes out tomorrow. God Help Me !!</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1140968425481344882006-02-26T21:10:00.000+05:302006-02-26T21:18:52.106+05:30Weekend Trip to Hussain Sagar<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/182/6327/1024/Hitech%20City%203.jpg"><img style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px; width: 310px; height: 233px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/182/6327/400/Hitech%20City%203.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />With Multiplex pickets evaporating from counters faster than spirit spread out on a petridish, We were left with very little optoins this weekend than to cool our heels at <span style="font-weight: bold;">Necklace Road</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eat Street</span>. This is a nice shot taken from there. Beauty , it seems, is also in the lighting of the neclace road. Most Guys of course, wouldn't give a twiddle to this concept of beauty, and more so when we are talking of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hussain Sagar</span>.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Are you Kiddin? Get Real Dude! There are better things to see there !!" </span><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1140941487844460982006-02-26T13:36:00.000+05:302006-03-01T23:07:05.093+05:30Photos of Hitech City<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/Hitech%20City%2002.jpg"><img style="display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Hitech%20City%2002.jpg" border="0" /></a> Cyber Gateway at the Top. One of the earlier Cyber workspaces Built. The First one being Cyber towers whose photos now don every promotional photograaph of Hyderabad<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/Hitech%20City%2003.jpg"><br /><img style="display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Hitech%20City%2003.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Below comes the latest in the triology the Cyber Pearl<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/Hitech%20City%2004.jpg"><img style="display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Hitech%20City%2004.jpg" border="0" /></a> One of the best and most grandiose looking TCS offices.<br />Set in Red brick and in cylindrical shape this is TCS Deccan park for you<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/Hitech%20City%2008.jpg"><img style="display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Hitech%20City%2008.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />After TCS lets come to a rather eye catchy, yet awkward looking building<br />This is JVP for you. A Building that hosts three companies Kanbay, EIQ Networks and Agami Solutions with Kanbay taking 90% of the volume pie<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Hitech%20City%2013.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Hitech%20City%2013.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But with the sparkling new Campus comming<br /> out beside Microsoft, Wipro and ISB, Kanbay<br />would soon be moving out of this cramped location<br />to its rather voluminous new address.<br /><br />Read a more Descriptive account <a href="http://cheetos.wordpress.com/2006/02/26/hitech-city-photos/">here </a><br />See more snaps <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch-eeee-tos/104519017/in/photostream/">here</a><br /><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1140758006031106632006-02-24T10:43:00.000+05:302006-02-24T10:43:26.086+05:30Carpe Diem<a href="http://www.hbs.edu/mba/">Target :Harvard Business School</a><br />Came across the latest presentation From the HBS adcom and marketing team, regarding the prospect of their program and the knick-knacks. Liked two things a helluva lot. One is that they have done away with the madatory work experience requirement that most other B-Schools have and the second is the expansive and almost exhaustive financing options that this B-School provides. The later has some obvious advantages for both the school in terms of the intake pool and the aspirant, so wouldn't harp much on that. The former, is like opening up the windows to let some fresh air in. Suitably screened college passouts bring a certain amount of refreshing <span style="font-weight: bold;">idealism </span>and <span style="font-weight: bold;">romanticism </span>with them. They breathe a lot of energy and enthusiasm and most importantly hold strong to thier beliefs. A welcome change among the <span style="font-weight: bold;">war-worn</span> seniors who through their experiences in life often bring with them an <span style="font-weight: bold;">overdose </span>of practicality and pramatism so as to even under achieve than the seekable. A suitable blend of Ideology and pragmatism garnished with rich and <span style="font-weight: bold;">postive </span>inferences drawn from practical experience often lead to good judgmental outputs.<br />Anyways, Loved the complete presentation. Went through it over and over again until there was an over bearing of guilt feeling of killing precious time. Made me wonder <span style="font-weight: bold;">when </span>I will be able to walk into the corridors of HBS. Lot of students aspire to Kellogg or Wharton for the rich industry interface and the intense network they offer. Makes them better utilise their MBA, at least initially , when they pass out.<br />For me Harvard remains the temple of modern philosophy, thought and awakening. Incidentally I have seen my taste change over the years, and I have grown into much more of a conformist that the rebel I was in my yesteryears. I have come to realise that<span style="font-style: italic;"> my rebellion too was conformity of a kind</span>, I conformed to the commendable act of disagreeing with anything that was widely accepted.<br /><br />I have overhauled this web-log to reflect the changes that I have gone over the past couple of years. I truly have undergine a thorough re-orientation over the past two years of my active professional life. I have begun to see a lot more and thus appreciate the multi-dimentional aspects of most worldly problems. The next challenge is to develop the ability to skim through chaff to seperate the grain from these, so to say that after apprfeciatiing the multiple dimentions be able to sieve out the crux of the matter from the ocean of nitty-gritties.<br />Let me know how you like the look and feel of the new site.<br /><br />I am actually considering moving back from <a href="http://cheetos.wordpress.com">wordpress</a>, which actually is quite buggy even now. Hardly a match for the amount of flexibility that blogger offers me.<br /><br />Till the time I am able to makeup my mind I will probably dabble between the two<br /><br />Cheetos.<br /><br />P.S: I have resolved the formatting issues with this site for Internet Explorer. A big thanks to <a href="http://sugatabanerji.blogspot.com/">Sugata 'Joy' Bannerji </a>for the same<div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1140444327349672352006-02-20T19:35:00.000+05:302006-02-20T19:35:27.406+05:30About Myself in 25 Points (Randomly Sequenced)<span style="font-size:78%;"></span><br/><ol><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I love non-vegetarian food and my favorite in that would be </span><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Tandoori </span></em><span style="font-size:78%;">Chicken with a Thanda COCA COLA. In ice-creams I love Vanilla with chocolate sauce. I love having all of these in a </span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">Shere-e-Punjab </span></strong><span style="font-size:78%;">Dhaaba. At home my favourite dish will be </span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">paalak paneer </span></strong><span style="font-size:78%;">and </span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">Eeleesh Mach</span></strong><span style="font-size:78%;">(Bengali Hilsa Fish Preperation)</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I am a cocktail of a Delhi-ite and a Bong, think I retain the better half of both. For example I am as headstrong as any Delhi-ite and as Lazy as a Bong. I easily go up in arms to fight for My DELHI. I have stayed in Mumbai and liked it, but I definitely believe that Delhi is way better than that.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;"> I am an early riser and love listening to music at BIZZARE volumes at the crack of the Dawn. I generally Don’t bite people when they bug me during these spells. I am quite tolerant in that respect.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I am yet to find out a time when I have actually acted sensibly in front of a girl. The prettier the girl the more clumsy I am. I do not think that there is something actually wrong with me, but only that mad </span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">BAD LUCK </span></strong><span style="font-size:78%;">is all SCREWED UP! </span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I like good looking girls, but only as long as they do not open their big mouths and start spilling the ANTI-Matter stuff :P Its actually quite unfair of life that the pretty ones are quite bitchy. I wonder why I always feel for the ones these bitches play with and later ditch off for Greener Pastures. </span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I have an obsessive thinking disorder, makes me believe I am a chronological mismatch in the modern era of Instant Noodles. I am probably better suited in the early 16th century in Greece among philosophers like Socrates and Ptolemy.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I study only what I enjoy studying, and yes a lot of things actually do make an interesting read according to me. Operating Systems, Literature, Stories about our Freedom struggle, Biographies of Mavericks, TIME magazine, NATGEO, Harvard Business Review & Asterix are some of them.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">The ideal way to send my weekend evening would be comfortably resting on a leather couch, with dim defused lighting reading “</span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">Gone with the Wind</span></strong><span style="font-size:78%;">” with soft instrumental music playing in the background.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I am a bigger admirer of </span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">Tim Burners Lee </span></strong><span style="font-size:78%;">than of William Gates (‘Bill Gates’). I always prefer a pirated version of Windows to a licensed one and provide complimentary assistance in cracking licensed soft wares.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I am yet to find out what is that single most important purpose of my life. But I am pretty sure, Life is for LIVING and not for the sake of mere Survival. I believe it is the unpredictability in life which makes it truly worth living. Life otherwise would have been a simple equation. Calculate and Be-over with it. Life on the other hand springs the most startling of surprises just when you thouhgt you knew it all!</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I find it difficult to understand how people can eat gluttonously and still stay wafer thin. I hate it even more, that what I like the most are normally on the top of the Prohibited list</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I am outgoing, outspoken, warm and friendly. Make easy friends in minutes and standby them even when all others leave. I have never come across a friend more faithful than I am, and I am not overstatibg facts. Its just the way of life with me.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I pity those who have a false sense of superiority of themselves, arrogance and imprudence really are a big turn offs. </span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I am uncomfortable with heights. ( Darkness does not frighten me and finds me quite unafraid. But despair and hopelessness arrests my free lively spirit. I have the </span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">SPIRIT of a STALLION.</span></strong></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I love my mom, dad and bros. I really am more of a family guy.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">In GOD I trust. I think religion is something more private than one’s private parts. I do not accept interference in these arenas.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I like to sing even when I am not too sure of the lyrics and I know there are others who are watching me ! ( I am a bathroom singer, a staircase sing, an elevator singer, a bike singer and a jogging singer rolled into one.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I am intolerable to cruelty, somewhere inside me is that SILLY boy who believes that God resides in us all, we are thus all basically GOOD people. I truly am foolish and romantic beyond rectification.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I think Life’s been tough at times, but I appreciate the fact that it has given me the courage to Pull on this far! “</span><em><span style="font-size:78%;">To save me from the Storm, Is not what I ask of you O God! Give me just the courage to face it</span></em><span style="font-size:78%;">”</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I believe in living my life so that my epitaph may read “</span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">NO REGRETS”</span></strong><span style="font-size:78%;">. I have only one life, so I really believe in living it in my terms. As I look back, which I do often enough, I find lots of times when I was real good and then some once or twice when I could have been better. I DO NOT intend to allow the later count to increase.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I love spending Durga Puja with my family. Nothing, Nothing can really entice me out of that.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I believe that Indians and Americans can teach each other lots, Indian Philosophy and American Attitudes will make a killing combination. American Babes and Desi Dudes will make a terrific JODI. Similarly American Porn with Indian storyline will be a block buster seller. Imagine the storyline of Hollywood with Matkas-Jhatkas of Bollywood!! I think you get the meaning. :D</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I loved watching </span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">Street Hawk, He-Man, Jungle Book, The World This Week, Vikram Aur Betal </span></strong><span style="font-size:78%;">among others. I never had cable TV in my house so I watched Doordarshan. I hated </span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">Krishi Darshan </span></strong><span style="font-size:78%;">and </span><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">Gumshuda Talaash Jaankari </span></strong><span style="font-size:78%;">( Lost People Information). I was naïve enough to believe that news readers actually memorize all the news articles.</span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I am working in a software company and keep wondering why people always put on a front for others thereby complicating a rather simple life. I believe that SIX SIGMA PRINCIPLE is no match for the principles of management taught in BHAGVAD GITA. Six sigma id more of fluff, not much substance. </span></li><br/><li><span style="font-size:78%;">I keep in touch with my friends even though sometimes they don’t even care to return the calls. But most of them really appreciate my efforts and more then reciprocate the gestures. Some of the best friends that I have made are people who are the most different from what I am and what I stand for. The only common factor being the common Inner Goodness.</span></li></ol><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1140417177427909922006-02-20T12:02:00.000+05:302006-02-20T12:24:18.966+05:30Wall Street Journal on INDIA<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/collage.jpg"></a><br /><div class="Section1"><p class="articletitle" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:6;"><span style="font-size:26;">A Passage to India's Future</span></span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:78%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:9;" >By STAN SESSER<br /></span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:7;" >Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL</span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:9;" ><br /><span class="atime">February 4, 2006; Page P1</span></span></span></b></p></div><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">MUMBAI -- Victor Biswas, a New Yorker who arranges tours to India for museums, alumni associations and other groups of Americans, should be a happy man. He's sharing in the tourism boom to India -- his revenue last year grew 20%.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">But instead of celebrating, Mr. Biswas is watching his profits vanish. His agency lets travelers lock in prices 18 months in advance, and he factors in "normal" hotel-rate increases. But five-star hotel rooms have gone up 30% or 40% in just a year. "It's killing us," he says.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Mr. Biswas's experience serves as a glimpse into the flood of change sweeping tourism in India. Travelers are coming in record numbers to the world's largest democracy, which is in the throes of an economic transition. But it isn't just the tourist industry that's being reshaped. The list of must-see places is evolving, too -- underscoring the speed of India's transformation.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:7;"></span></p><table class="MsoNormalTable" style="WIDTH: 129.75pt" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0" width="173" align="left" border="0"><tbody><tr><td style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in"><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Jaipur.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Jaipur.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span class="salmoneleven">The Jaipur City Palace Complex.</span></span></span></p></td><td style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; WIDTH: 9pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in" width="12" rowspan="2"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"></span></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"></span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">In search of this new India, we picked five places that are particularly emblematic of the changes underway -- and then spent time in each of them. In Mumbai, where trendy bars, clubs and restaurants are popping up all the time, the country's exploding affluence contrasts sharply with its well-known poverty. To see how the economic shifts are impacting India's politics, we visited Kolkata, where socialist policies are getting a heavy dose of capitalism.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">At the beach resorts of Goa, Indians are spending their newfound disposable income on vacations -- and quickly turning the area into one of the trendier travel destinations in Asia. Udaipur, a city rich with Indian culture and history, is grappling with strains on its infrastructure from the crush of tourism. And while the technology economy of Bangalore is well-known, the burgeoning middle class in the southern city of Hyderabad shows that this boom is spreading to other parts of the country, too.</span></span></p><reprintsdisclaimer><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Overall, we found that getting around India is a lot easier for novice travelers than it used to be. New airlines translate into more flight options, and more restaurants cater to upscale tourists, meaning you don't have to restrict your meals to the hotel for fear of getting sick. Some four million foreign tourists visited India last year, up 15% from the year before -- and that was on top of a rise of 25% in 2004.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">But there are still plenty of hassles, from people who follow you down the street to sell you things, to the continued lateness of trains and some airlines. Indeed, thousands of airport workers went on strike across the country this week in a protest against the planned privatization of airports in Mumbai and New Delhi. (For the most part, flights took off and landed as scheduled, despite the strike.)</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">My swing through India showed some major infrastructure improvements. New highways are being built everywhere. A four-lane expressway from Udaipur to Jaipur, the two biggest destinations in Rajasthan, has cut travel time almost in half to five hours. And a number of airports are being modernized. The infamous, two-hour-long immigration lines at Mumbai airport are now a thing of the past.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Five new airlines have started up in the past two years, and another five are slotted to take flight this year, according to the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation. One example of how this has changed the options for travelers: Jet Airways, Indian's largest domestic carrier, quoted me a fare of $520 roundtrip from Calcutta to Hyderabad. But I was able to book flights on the Internet on two new low-cost carriers (Air Deccan and Spice Jet) for a roundtrip fare of less than $100.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">All of these improvements mean it's getting harder to get into the best spots. Two years ago, I was able to book my favorite Mumbai hotel, a renovated British-era apartment house called Shelley's, just a week in advance for the peak New Year's weekend. This year, Shelley's was filled weeks ahead for the entire month of January, and so were six other Mumbai hotels I called. I ended up paying $330 a night for a room at the five-star Taj Mahal -- with no hot towel or welcome drink on arrival, no one to show me to my room, and with breakfast and Internet access not included.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Richard Johnson, director of international relations for Asia at the University of San Francisco, has seen all the problems in his 20 trips to India over the past five years. He's been a passenger in an Indian-made rental car that caught fire and then exploded on an expressway. He was caught last July in a Mumbai monsoon that was so severe that at one point his car started floating. And he's had several bouts with stomach problems. But despite all this, he says, "I'm fascinated with India."</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">The U.S. has now displaced Britain as the No. 1 source of visitors to India -- some 600,000 Americans traveled there last year. "We had so many people traveling to India that we had to open a second office there," says Pam Lassers, a spokeswoman for Abercrombie & Kent, the high-end international tour agency based in Oak Brook, Ill. Bookings so far this year are already up 55%, she says.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/India.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/India.jpg" border="0" /></a>Below, the highlights from our journey.</span></p><p class="b13"><b><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:12;" >MUMBAI</span></span></b></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Rajeev Samant, an Indian businessman with an engineering degree from Stanford University, recently moved to a new neighborhood. One big reason: The new bars and dance clubs there "are always buzzing until 4 a.m.," says Mr. Samant, who at 38 years old still prefers dating to marriage, to the chagrin of his tradition-minded parents. Mr. Samant, who sports a shaved head and thin gold earring, returned from the U.S. to start a winery, Sula. "Mumbai is a boom town," he says.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">It is the commercial capital of India, but a capital unlike that of any other major world power. Transportation is abysmal, and the face of poverty is everywhere. But it's the best place to see the emerging young and affluent class in India: the cool restaurants, hip bars, the Bollywood stars.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">The Mediterranean-fusion Indigo Restaurant, which was jammed on a recent Monday night, is now selling several $100 bottles of wine a day versus about one a month, at best, five years ago. Artists who previously needed a second job to survive are now flourishing, with prices for paintings on average doubling or tripling in the past two years alone. The number of galleries in Mumbai has quadrupled to 20, says Pravina Mecklai, who owns a gallery called Jamaat.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Some of the money in Mumbai is old wealth -- many of the country's old industrialist families still live here. It isn't uncommon to run into the son or daughter of a big textile baron who is dabbling in movie production. But new money from tech and other sectors is also fueling the club and restaurant scene.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">In a country that once saw thousands of university graduates each year unable to find work, Mumbai is facing a very new problem, as the expanding service industry fueled by the new yuppie class competes for well-educated employees. "The difficulty is attracting young people to enter the hospitality business," says Raymond Bickson, managing director of Mumbai-based Indian Hotels Co. Ltd., which owns the Taj hotel chain.</span></span></p><p class="b13"><b><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:12;" >GOA</span></span></b></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">As with China, Indians, armed with more disposable income, are now discovering their own country as tourists. This is helping to reshape places like Goa, the southern beach state that was once the domain of backpackers and budget travelers.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Vishal Minda, a Mumbai stock trader, and his wife Sanjanaa, both in their 20s, have visited every year for the past five years, staying at the high-end Taj Holiday Village beach resort. "We've been to Thailand and we're going to Europe in May -- but just one time," says Ms. Minda. "Goa is a place you want to keep coming back to." The state has become more accommodating to Indian tourists, she says. There are now, for example, several excellent vegetarian restaurants.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Shops offering Indian designer clothing and furnishings are springing up everywhere. The cash registers at Sang Olda, a home-furnishings store, were ringing furiously recently when the top executive of an Indian conglomerate decided to celebrate his 50th birthday in this former Portuguese colony. "His guests wiped us out," says Claudia Ajwani, co-owner with her husband. "One of the guests, an Indian who owns an IT company in California, furnished his entire California office from us," she says. "He wanted to 'Indianize' the office."</span></span></p><table class="MsoNormalTable" style="WIDTH: 129.75pt" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0" width="173" align="right" border="0"><tbody><tr><td style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in"><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/collage.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 186px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 817px" height="478" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/collage.jpg" width="276" border="0" /></a><br /><span class="salmoneleven">From top to bottom: Zwigs Pub in Mumbai; Goa's Sinquerim Beach; Udai Kothi Hotel in Udaipur; a dried fish seller in Mumbai; and Hyderabad's Hitec City.</span></span></span></p></td><td style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; WIDTH: 9pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in" width="12" rowspan="2"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"></span></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"></span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">The attractions of Goa are considerable. Goans are known as some of the friendliest people in India and almost everyone speaks English. The isolated beach resorts are magnificent, and a bargain compared with many other tourist destinations in India.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">But Goa can be a downer at the same time. The narrow, potholed main road running along the beach towns of northern Goa is filled with horn-honking, bumper-to-bumper traffic, including beefy tattooed Europeans on motorbikes, riding past miles of schlocky souvenir shops and snack bars.</span></span></p><p class="b13"><b><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:12;" >UDAIPUR</span></span></b></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">This city, a popular stop for foreigners with its elegant lakes and beautiful old palaces, has a big problem: not nearly enough places for them to stay.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">While the scarcity of hotel rooms is an issue in many parts of the country, it is particularly dire here and other parts of the state of Rajasthan, which attracts more tourists each year than the Taj Mahal.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Some 1.2 million people visited Rajasthan last year -- triple the number that came just three years earlier. The shortage of rooms shows how ill-suited the infrastructure is in some ways for the level of interest in the country these days.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">The very rich stay in the palaces, and the backpackers patronize the little guest houses. But that leaves out everyone in the middle. In some cases, room rates in Rajasthan have already doubled from those quoted in last year's Lonely Planet guide to India. Vinod Zutshi, Rajasthan's secretary of tourism, calculates that the state needs at least 15,000 hotel rooms (rated at least one star by the government), or triple its current stock.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">The hotel shortage is creating some new opportunities for entrepreneurs. One happens to be the Maharana of Udaipur, whose family ran the state in the days of the Raj but lost all political power a half-century ago. He runs an empire of eight luxury hotels, whose rooms go for hundreds of dollars. But his latest project is the Garden Hotel, a renovated former workers' quarters whose rooms go for $70 a night.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">The hotel has been an immediate success. Although it opened only last October, it's already completely full during the current peak season. "It's very difficult to get a room in Udaipur at this price," explains manager Ranjeet Singh.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">The lack of hotel rooms should bring the international hotel chains scurrying to Udaipur, but it isn't happening. One explanation is that large cities like Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore have year-round business traffic, while Udaipur's tourism slows to a crawl in the hot summer months followed by the monsoon.</span></span></p><p class="b13"><b><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:12;" >KOLKATA</span></span></b></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">It's a wonderful paradox: a Marxist government is changing this city from an economic basket base to a center for high-tech and other modern industry.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Once a proponent of radical labor laws and powerful unions, the government is now wooing companies with tax breaks and free land, in a bid to return the city to its former glory as the industrial center of India. It's a sign of just how deep-seeded the change in India is.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">"Kolkata was a terrible place for so many years," says D.K. Chaudhuri, head of the computer-software company Skytech Solutions, which has offices in three Indian cities plus New York, London and Chicago, yet chose Kolkata to be its corporate headquarters. Now, "it's the most pro-active government I've ever seen. They behave like capitalists, no matter what the rhetoric."</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">The transformation of Kolkata -- once known mainly for Mother Teresa and abject poverty -- is one of India's great success stories. Downtown, the buildings are grimy, the air is polluted by the ancient buses and taxis, and the sidewalks serve as sleeping quarters for thousands of homeless. But a half-hour's drive away, in the spotlessly clean Salt Lake district, it's another world. Gleaming, modern buildings, reached by broad, tree-lined boulevards, house hundreds of information-technology companies. The city, formerly called Calcutta, also has one of the most vibrant cultural scenes in India, as literature, dance, modern art and music are all thriving here.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Marxist ideology still plays a role in the state of West Bengal, of which Kolkata is the capital. The government has an active land-redistribution program, for example. But "Marxism is not opposed to industrialization," says Nirupam Sen, West Bengal's minister of commerce and industries.</span></span></p><p class="b13"><b><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:12;" >HYDERABAD</span></span></b></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Ashok Hadi, an information-technology consultant at one of India's most-successful companies, knows he could make $80,000 to $100,000 a year -- more than triple his current salary -- if he moved to the U.S. But he isn't interested.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">"There are many more opportunities here," says Mr. Hadi, who works mainly with American clients of the Indian software-outsourcing company Infosys Technologies.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">By now, many people have heard of Bangalore, the southern Indian city that is home to some of India's most important tech companies. But the rise of Hyderabad -- often dubbed "Cyberabad" -- shows how India's information-technology prowess is spreading to other cities. That, in turn, is helping to reverse the "brain drain" of previous years.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">For tourists, Hyderabad offers a pleasant alternative to Bangalore. It has vacant hotel rooms, less pollution, and fewer traffic jams. There's a picturesque Old City built when Muslims ruled the area.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Hyderabad has about 300 information-technology companies employing a total of 175,000 people -- both of those figures have tripled in the past three or four years -- says S.V. Ramachandran, regional director of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, the trade association for India's high-tech industry. "More and more Indians in the U.S. are coming back and setting up operations here," he says.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">The headquarters of Indian companies in Hyderabad are as luxurious as anything in Silicon Valley. Consider Satyam Computer Services, which has revenue of $1 billion. Its wooded 120-acre campus just outside Hyderabad features not only strikingly modern buildings, an employee swimming pool and a gym, but also enclosures for deer, peacocks, rabbits and other animals. Staff doctors tend to the needs of employees, while a veterinarian takes care of the animals.</span></span></p><p class="times"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">And in Hyderabad, India's second tech hub after Bangalore, a relatively small salary can go a long way. With his $24,000-a-year income, Mr. Hadi owns a 1,700-square-foot, three-bedroom apartment that he bought three years ago for $40,000. He has paid off his car, sends his son to nursery school for $400 a year and has a full-time maid.</span></span></p><p class="times"><b><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:12;" >Write to </span></span></b>Stan Sesser at <a href="mailto:stan.sesser@awsj.com">stan.sesser@awsj.com</a><sup>1</sup></p><table class="MsoNormalTable" style="WIDTH: 357.75pt" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="477" border="0"><tbody><tr><td style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; WIDTH: 52.5pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in" width="70"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"></span></span></p></td><td style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; WIDTH: 305.25pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in" width="407"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"></span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"></span></span></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1140261939732478892006-02-18T16:53:00.000+05:302006-02-18T16:55:39.743+05:30My Desk at its Shabbiest Best !<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/Desk%20%40%20Home%20004.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Desk%20%40%20Home%20004.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1139655501743087432006-02-11T16:28:00.000+05:302006-02-11T16:53:48.360+05:30Aesthetical Redemption<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://businesspartnerships.ca/images/content/writingnewpiece.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 173px;" src="http://businesspartnerships.ca/images/content/writingnewpiece.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://paperpenalia.com/handwriting.html">handwriting/penmanship tips</a>: "<span style="font-style: italic;">...you’re probably hoping a fountain pen will do the trick ... If you use a spiral notebook for practice, you can leaf back and see your progress. At first, your strokes and lines will be bad—over-running and under-running the lines, too small, too big, crooked, uneven, just ugly. Check your position; check your muscle groups; and try again. And again."</span><br /><br />This is something I have always wanted to do. Have a beautiful typeset handwriting, something that would make my not so attractive writeups too, very very attractive. Now this is when I really realise two very upsetting things in life. One is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">importance of the cursive writing workbooks</span> that I had comfortably tossed off in primary school and the other is the amount of role the <span style="font-weight: bold;">aesthetic appeal</span> of an object plays in determining the <span style="font-weight: bold;">first impression</span> or the <span style="font-weight: bold;">knee-jerk rection</span> of an entity or idea.<br /><br />Its Quite Profound, if I may so add. The other day I was talking to one of my friends about to complete his MBA from a top B-School here. He was cribbing and lamenting about the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> sexual and racial discrimination</span> that goes on in the placement process. He was refering to the obvious preference that beautiful ladies get over aesthetically challenged men like him. In no uncertain terms he mentioned that the prefference of the selection body is unabashed and unashamed in this regard.<br />Girls, especially the pretty ones, are definitely first amongst all races that exist in modern civilization. To remove any doubt that may remainin the corner of your mind let me take an examlple. Try to recall the face of Mayawati or Rabri devi for a while (sorry for not being able to find a more <span style="font-weight: bold;">aesthetically challenged</span> politician). Imagine for a moment this was not Mayawati/Rabri but was Sonia Ganshi. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Foreign Born Italian Blood Indian Princess</span>.<br />I think somehow the discomfort in the above scenario is obvios and stark. I do not need to further elaborate on that! Somehow we want the people whom we admire and look up to should be good looking if not outright orgeous. In stories told to kids, Princes have always been handsome, its the villain who reserves the honour of being of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mirror-Cracking</span> material. Somewhere the over importance of looks is imbibed in the psyche of us right from when we are born. Rmember all the relatives ho come over to see a new born and keep complimenting on how goodlooking the baby is! Yes! It starts right there.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1139413232786665622006-02-08T21:07:00.000+05:302006-02-21T17:47:08.886+05:30Krazy Brotherhood: College Re-union @B'lore<p align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/1600/Bangalore%20Feb%2006%20002.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 326px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 234px" height="260" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/400/Bangalore%20Feb%2006%20002.0.jpg" width="326" border="0" /></a></p><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">One Weekend Well Spent!<br /></span>That sort of sums up the last weekend spet at J.P. Nagar residence of my college/hostel buddies. It was a true pleasure meeting them after what was a longish span. Some had changed, few even drammatically, but all in the positive sense. Was particularly impressed by one <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Maverick</span> guy whom I always found <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">poles apart</span> from me while in college. Had a very dissapointing opinion about him. Boy! Has he changed! Must say that he indeed pleasantly surprised me. Was a true pleasure having his company for these days. I think I am glad that I met him, so as to comfortably dispose-off his previous image, that I had so preciously preserved since college days. Was particularly impressed by one <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Maverick</span> guy whom I always found <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">poles apart</span> from me while in college. Had a very dissapointing opinion about him. Boy! Has he changed! Must say that he indeed pleasantly surprised me. Was a true pleasure having his company for these days. I think I am glad that I met him, so as to comfortably dispose-off his previous image, that I had so preciously preserved since college days.<br />In fact quite a few of us have changed in more ways than I thought we could do possibly. Some have l<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">ost the innocence</span>, others have been so <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">hardened </span>by reality as to permanently impair their ability to dream, some have become too <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">cynical and sceptical</span> about their past as they bask in the essence of their present glory. All the while comfortably shelving to an unkempt corner of the mind the realisation that it is probably their that so ill-mouthed past that has brought him to this day. But then there are others, as the one whom I referred before who have beautifully bloomed from the promising bud stage to that of a shining flower.<br />Strangely it reminds me of the great philosopher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disraeli"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Benjamin Disraeli</span></a>,<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">"Life is too short to be little"</span><br /><br />How profound! <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><br />Think Big and you'll be BIG.<br />You'll be big in happiness,<br />big in accomplishments,<br />big in friends,<br />big in prosperity,<br />big in RESPECT.<br /></span><br />I thank all those friends of mine for the wonderful time I had with them and the splendid memories that I got!<br />I wish them Good Luck in whatever they pursue and pray that they arrive at their destination happily, content and in Peace.<br /><p align="left"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 307px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 234px" height="260" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/Bangalore%20Feb%2006%20010.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">We sure Rocks!</span><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1138880210288781252006-02-02T17:06:00.000+05:302006-02-02T17:23:40.610+05:30Life as an investment banker<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.shapepostcards.com/images/Postcard_photos/Cash/hundred_dollar_bills.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.shapepostcards.com/images/Postcard_photos/Cash/hundred_dollar_bills.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2005/dec/19ibank.htm">Wannabe an investment banker ?</a><br /><br />Superb article to read for all those who aspire into one of those coveted "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_banking">I-BANKS</a>"<br />Another interesting read detailing about the Investment banking career as such, the demands, the aspirations and the stuff that goes behind can be found <a href="http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2005/nov/11place.htm">here.</a><br /><br />Honestly, its a wonderful read and a true blood Eye Opener for those DOLLAR dreaming individuals!!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1138766295343202402006-02-01T08:51:00.000+05:302006-02-01T09:28:15.356+05:30Re-instating Objectives<p>Sometimes when you are going at lightning speed in life it becomes all the more to re-instate the previously decided objectives, just so that that occasional straying can be avoided and the progress is consistently "<strong>On course</strong>".<br /><br />So here as I sit in my this rather spacious aparment in <strong>Hyderabad,</strong> much bigger than the one in which I stayed for most of my kid life in Delhi, reminiscing about my pleasant childhood in Delhi and wishing for an instant that I could go back, even for a little while, to that comfort of Delhi, the familiarity, the parental care, the carelessness and the freedom to dream unleashed-unbridled. I get a realization than slowly the journey is becoming tiring and though I am not realizing it this instant, soon fatigue will set in. Before that happens I need to recharge my batteries so as to be <strong>Loaded</strong> for the next round.<br /><br />Now, to reinstate objectives would be a simpler cause. But here we are talking of <em>dreams</em>, of aspirations, of hopes, of desires, of unchallant thoughts! Now this is is a different ball game altogether! So lets set forth this small exercise in a simplistic manner, using a <strong>Third Party Approach.</strong> Idea is to pen down all this guy felt and all this guy was coveting and fighting for when he got down to do <strong>a Re-fuel.<br /><br /></strong>I see myself after a <strong>fullfilling</strong> tenure in professional life moving in for the <strong>KILL;</strong> an <strong>MBA</strong> from one of the top <strong>B-Schools</strong> in the <strong>world</strong> <span style="color:#990000;">(<strong>Harvard</strong>, <strong>Stanford</strong>, <strong>MIT</strong>, <strong>Kellog</strong>, <strong>Wharton </strong>types..)</span> probably one of the <strong>IVY LEAGUES</strong>. India is not good enough for me. Good as the IIMs are they still house some guy from <strong>CBIT Hyderabad</strong> who bumped off his 4 years in engineering preparing for CAT and that <strong>roadside romeo</strong> from St. Stephens whose B.Com /B.Sc. was spent appeasing his GF from <strong>Lady Sriram</strong>. NO WAY! I definitely belong to a different league. I have a very bright academic record and spent my 4 years toiling hard in my <strong>Engineering</strong> in <strong>Computer Science</strong>. Includingthree very successful internships at C-DOT, TCS and finally Kanbay. Been working in a <strong>coveted</strong> which pays me pretty well though I hate my job as such!<br /><span style="color:#663366;"><em><br />"Hone Hone de Nasha, Khone Khone ko hai kya,<br />Ek Saans main peeja, Zara Zindagi Chadha,<br />Hai yeh to yeh Jashan, Tu thidakne de Kadam,<br />Abhi saanson main hai Dum, Tu chalne de Kadam"</em><br /></span><br />After my <strong>MBA</strong> I may pursue a <strong>Ph.D</strong>. or may join some <strong>Capital market research firm</strong> or an <strong>Investment Bank </strong> and this will be the beginning of my life-long infatuation with capital markets.<br /><br />I will not compromise on my <strong>DREAMS</strong>. They are <strong>MINE</strong> for me to <strong>STRIVE</strong>, <strong>THRIVE</strong> and <strong>ACHIEVE</strong>. I am going to take what it takes in terms of <strong>effort</strong> and <strong>endurance</strong>. I will never <strong>BETRAY</strong> them or <strong>LET THEM DOWN</strong>.<br /><br />Though going for an MS would be an easy exit, I would not do that because that is not what I see myself doing after 15 years, and 35 years hence I would not like to see myself being associated without my custom made career for an easier <strong>Over-The-Counter Ready-to-use</strong> one.<br /><br />A step-by-step approach would be :<br /><span style="color:#000066;">Go take the GMAT first and get a score in the nearest possible vicinity of 800.<br />So that the best of B-Schools Gun for me. <u>Will make my move to meet that end then.<br /></u></span><br />A Picture of the next place which I would like to call my DEN. Thats <strong>NASDAQ</strong> for you!<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/US%20Trip%20213.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/US%20Trip%20213.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p> <a href='http://picasa.google.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1138711810125717382006-01-31T18:20:00.000+05:302006-01-31T18:20:10.173+05:30We are Moving<a href="http://cheetos.wordpress.com/">New Location</a><br /><br />Migrating the site to a new Database Open Source hosting facility for greater flexibility in terms of content.<br /><br />But at least for some time now would be maintaining this one too because of the much better perma-link handling capability.<br /><br />The new site however would mirror all the content present in this one as well. In case you too are finding the layout of this BLOGGER site in a very poor state, I would strongly recommend that you try out my new hosting facility. For the Hyoper link click on the heading of this post or click <a href="http://cheetos.wordpress.com/">here</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1138708319476257922006-01-31T17:18:00.000+05:302006-02-21T16:17:40.060+05:30The Chameleon in Me<div align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/collage2.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; WIDTH: 286px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 183px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="183" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/collage2.jpg" width="228" border="0" /></a><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />Different Hues of Me.<br /></span></strong>Sometimes makes me wonder<br />why we keep changing our<br />'jackets' so as to fall in line<br />with the surroundings.<br />Come "<strong>In Sync"</strong> so to say.<br />Forces me to think!</div> <a href="http://picasa.google.com/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: 0% 50%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px; moz-background-clip: initial; moz-background-origin: initial; moz-background-inline-policy: initial" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="middle" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1138480467054525542006-01-29T01:24:00.000+05:302006-01-29T02:04:27.103+05:30Rang de Basanti<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.indiafm.com/img/feature/06/jan/alice1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://i.indiafm.com/img/feature/06/jan/alice1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sawf.org/newsphotos/bollywood/rang_de_basanti/all_four.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.sawf.org/newsphotos/bollywood/rang_de_basanti/all_four.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Checked out <a href="http://www.rangdebasanti.net/">Rang de Basanti</a> Today.</span><br />Really worth a dekho. Especially for somebody who is as foolishly hopelessly patriotic as I am. Was set in contemporary India with tinges of sepia here and there. What stood out is the beautoful paralels drawn between the India then and now.<br />Amazingly it seems like time has stood still for all these years. There is still the opressor and the opressed. The roles and the characters remain same as usual only the individual playing their parts have changed. So the Khaki clad <span style="font-weight: bold;">British Sahibs</span> are now replaced by the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pot-bellied UP/Bihar Hawaldars,</span> who I feel are many times worse. Fact is that I really do believe that India has an acute problem in the form of these two states. In President Bush's terminology "Rogue States" Needless to stay Delhi inviting with open arms most immigrants from them also borrows some of their so characteristic fervour.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sulekha.com/moviepics/medium/Rang_m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.sulekha.com/moviepics/medium/Rang_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>But while most people would harp on and on about the '<span style="font-weight: bold;">Fantasticity"</span> of the movie there are some obvious loose ends to it. Something the Director did a bad job about. For Example the acting of some of the friends (excluding Amir Khan of course) was a bit loose at times. The script too could have done with a bit of primming. But as a whole is a very good effort. Quite a few of the actor/actresses including but not limited to amir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Alice Patten, Om Puri, Kiron Kher, Anupam Kher and Atul Kulkarni have done a remarkable job of their roles. The situation gets so reallistic that ou actually miss out the fact that this is just a movie!<br />Before I conclude, I need to make a mention of an individual whose omittion would be as significant as that od DADA from the indian Cricket team. After a rather longish span A.R.Rahman has actually come up with a sound track which is not only quite good but also Club class ir rather Club Premium Class. He has pushed in a lot of Techno and Fusion stuff into the tracks along with the now routing Bhangra and reggae. Soundtrack is quite worth purchasing and i would recommend it with a rating of 7 on 10 for purchase.<br />In my callibration themovie scores 7/10 which is mighty good I must say. Considering the facts that Parineeta scored 5 and Park Avenue scored 6. The ones which Have scored homeruns are Agantuk, Godfather I-II, Silence of the Lambs and One Flew over the Cukoo's Nest.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">So go catch it before it runs out of your nearby theater (which I assume will be not too soon anyways!).</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13586820.post-1138384566542451152006-01-27T23:23:00.000+05:302006-01-27T23:26:06.550+05:30Life @ God's Own IIM<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/640/collage3.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4415/1200/320/collage3.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href='http://picasa.google.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Pro-freedom Pro-thought Pro-development Indian.</div>Chirantanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173899232948784776noreply@blogger.com0