The Revenge Series Begins

Never before I wanted revenge so badly. The 4-0 loss in England is still afresh in the memory of me and my fellow patriots. We lost to Aus also in the same way... it sure did hurt but not as much as the one against England did. Because Aus was always a tough team to beat, toughest when you play in their backyard. On the other hand England got stronger at home very recently and they did not play against the super heavy Indian batmen. But as everyone know now, that did not matter at all. We were beaten fair and square (well may not be that fair considering the controversial DRS decisions against our RAHUL 'THE WALL' DRAVID). Still, what matters at the end of the day is the score line which was written in ink in the record books. That score line cannot be erased ever. 

Bygones be bygones. We have whitewashed England in the ODI series this time last year in India. That sure was delicious ! But Test series is totally different. The time has come to give the taste of their own medicine with some added spice (lets call it spin). After all, last time we lost more because of the conditions in England. Make no mistake, their batting was equally amazing. This time, my bet is on the perfect replacement for the retired WALL, Pujara. If there is one guy who deserves Dravid's shoes then it has to be him. Well, you have people like Wasim Jaffer and S Badrinath who have scored tons of runs in domestic cricket but they are all 30+ and got very cricket left in them. And in bowling, all eyes will be on Ashwin/Bhajji, whoever plays but my bet is on Yuvi. He has been terrific in limited overs with the ball recently. He may not get as many overs as the first choice bowlers do but he might be the surprise package. And from England, I have always believed in the abilities of KP. His shots are authoritative. When he gets going, there is no better player to watch. No not even the little master. Graeme Swann might be their best bowling bet but my intuition is Indians have always played him well. Probably Samit Patel is more effective then Swann.

Time for some serious cricket. Bring it on !

Anna Rocks !

How many of you heard about Anna Hazare? I would be lying if I say that I know who Anna Hazare is before April 5th 2011 !! But, after reading stuff about him, I now feel he is 'something' !

Mr. Hazare (73), is now easily the most respected person in India (may be more than the likes of CWC heroes Sachin & Dhoni). He is much touted as the modern day Gandhi for his silent yet aggressive stance on 'Jan Lokpal bill'. As I write this post, he entered the 4th day of his hunger strike ( fast unto death!) at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. Finally, somebody has stood on his toes to fight against the biggest menace for our society. Hats off Mr. Hazare !

Corruption has penetrated into the roots of our nation - from municipality to assembly and traffic police to CWG ! Almost anything (and anyone) can be bought these days - this has become a way of life (Indian life). The well known fact is people (specially govt. officials) do not move an inch if they are not bribed. Dozens of movies were made with corruption as the back drop... but we forget them the moment we step out of the cinema ! So much is being said all the time but hardly anything was done.

Glad that the youth of India is behind Hazare and trying their bit to change the nation. Overnight, this grandpa has become an icon (Note: By saying 'overnight', by no means I'm undermining what Mr. Hazare has done to this nation). Long live Hazare...

Peace out !

With the much hyped Ind Vs Pak semifinal match tomorrow, it is going to be a record breaking TRP event for sure. Students are planning give the classes a miss, working pros are planning to bunk the offices, in fact our company is organizing a live screening of the complete match ! little to do with the associate's interest though (more to make associates come to office!! win-win situation u know :P)...

All most all TV channels have made any news/info related to this match a headline! How many of you watch 'Headlines Today'? well for starters let me tell you, this is the English version of 'Aaj Tak' (on a serious note, both these channels belong to 'India Today' group! & hence those similar 'malasa' characteristics). I have been desperately watching Headlines Today over the past 4days just to see if there is any other important news than Ind Vs Pak semifinal ! Believe me... there was none!(at least to Headlines Today's knowledge :P) Cricket is & was the only headline.. all their shows are filled with news, views & debates on cricket... shockingly they have started showing highlights of all four previous Ind-Pak world cup encounters! something which Star Cricket does!! Headlines Today for sure has become everything else except a news channel... huh...

Anyway.... with Manmohan Singh inviting his Pak counter-part for the match & Mr. Gilani gleefully accepting the invitation, the game is not just a game anymore. In the sense, we are again going to start the 'Peace talks', 'Cross border terrorism' etc., These two bitter rivals, who used to celebrate when something bad happens in the other region are showing signs of friendship again! Relations have deteriorated from bad to worse over the past 4 years or so, with a series of bomb blasts and the infamous Mumbai hostility event. But it looks like cricket is going to reignite the talks between both nations, which is actually good. Lets just hope things progress +vely from hereon. But deep within still every one has a pinch of hatred for the other nation! & it cannot be wiped off with just game called cricket.

I read an interesting article in the morning. All hotels are running full in Mohali and cross borders visitors(call them spectators) have no accommodation. So, people of Punjab have shown amazing courtesy & offered accommodation in their very own houses !! I was awestruck when I read this ! When it comes to patriotism (call it hatred for Pak), two Indian states stand well ahead of the rest - Punjab & West Bengal !! But this time around people in Mohali are really acting as wonderful hosts - Hats off, take a bow Mohali !!

Media termed this match as the mother of all battles... Yes, it is against Pakistan but the truth is that it is just another match & it cannot be deemed bigger than final. There will be only one winner tomorrow - Cricket !

M for Marriage !

Over the past 6 months, one thought is drooling in my mind & it is about marriage. No, not mine... But people around me, colleagues I look at every day, friends who give me company on weekends.. every one, literally every one is getting married or at least thinking about it !!

Oh c'mon, I am hardly 26 and so are most of my friends.. few are a few months younger than me !! There are quite a few things that I did not understand so far in my two and a half decades of life. Marriage is one of them! What seemed fine till y'day changed drastically in less than 6months. 6 of my close friends got married in the last 4 months) and few more are in Pipeline. I'm struggling to find some proper company to hangout in free time. People who are married are busy setting up a new home... and people who are about to get married are busy going around their fiancees :P The only past time left for me now is to watch movies at home. Have to quickly find a way out to kill this boredom before it kills me...

Don't know what's happening, but whatever is happening not at all excites me ;-) am I weird or is it just the world around me? huh... what am I talking .. Good Night and Good Luck !

FZ Vs A320

The air fare from Bhubaneshwar to Hyderabad on Indigo airlines is close to Rs.2200 and the road distance is just over 1100 Kms, that's Rs. 2/km.

Now, in Hyd, I ride Yamaha FZ. It gives a mileage between 32 & 35. Ever since the petrol prices have been deregulated by the Indian govt., prices have sky-rocketed touching new highs every month. I have learnt that Rs. 11 is the total increase in Hyd in the past 4-5 months. Now, it costs Rs.65 /lt. That's approx. Rs. 2/km !!

This literally means, I am spending equal amounts to ride my bike and travel by air ! Mind boggling !!

Crazy 31st night !

New year is something most of them look forward to. I am a person who believes that we do not need a particular day to celebrate and hence birthday's and anniversaries do not excite me much. I thought Dec 31st will be just another day for me and I was right till 10pm. That's when my room mates told me about the Puri trip ! On any other day I would have written it off calling them weirdos & insane. But, I sensed the thrill the trip has to offer and immediately said YES.

We are 7 now and they have already booked an SUV (Scorpio it is ! Muscular and Powerful and more than anything it is manufactured by our parent company - Mahindra ! so loyal my friends are !!) We started at 11.40pm, that's 20mins away from 2011 ! Bhubaneswar to Puri is close to 70Kms. We had to wish new year at a petrol pump!! stop wherever we see a light to check if coke is available (found one after half a dozen stops!), ate tandoori chicken in the car, made pegs behind the wagon ! & the FOG ... my goodness! it was so sooo dense, we had zero visibility at times even with the fog lights on! There was a moment where the fog reminded me of movies like 'The Mist' & 'Silent Hill', so scary it was at the same time excitement made us scream. The driver brought the car to a standstill !! This was the most intriguing part of the trip.

We finally reached Puri around 1.30 am only to see the barricades and police on the beach road ! THE BEACH is closed tonight ! But there is a twist in the tale here... the driver took us to the beach from another road. When we stepped out and saw huge sand art exhibition on the shore... which was closed as well. But we managed to creep in without waking up the artists. We saw the giant Santa Claus from inches away... in fact touched it!! it was monstrous... after examining it we made our way to the beach.

The beach was completely vacant.. like a private beach, absolutely deserted... and guess what.. first thing we saw over there is a abandoned boat!! may be the one used by fishermen... we jumped in joy and the into the boat. Then the scotch flowed out... we talked, gossiped, sang, discussed movies, people, cities, work and what not.

What if we could not celebrate the new year in GOA, we did the same at the beach but a private one :P Spent a good 3hrs at the beach and between 4.30 - 5am moved ahead to Konark, to watch the sun rise. The sun rise point was totally crowded at 5.30am. We did wait for half an hour to capture the sun rise, but our driver was in a hurry and continuously honking. So we had to leave the place much before sun came out. Again on our way back, the fog haunted us! similar scenes... in fact better since it was the dawn... zero visibility. Never saw such dense fog when I was in Hyderabad.

In all it was a time very well spent. Was the most memorable time in Bhubaneshwar....

Happy New Year !

It has been quite some time since I last penned down my thoughts. Must confess that my interests are slowly changing! But Blogging is one of my favorites and there is no way I

am going to permanently stop writing. Once in a while I go into hibernation mode... but this time it was a lil longer. Anyways.. I am totally awake now and will do my best to provide justice to the writer inside me!! :P

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous new year 2011. & Yeah ... any new year resolutions ?? mine is to stop procrastination :-)

Will soon post about my wild & crazy Dec 31st 2010 adventure! Signing off for now...

FIFA Fever !

Was BLOWN AWAY by the soccer mania, completely !! Had a gala time for a month... never thought Football is such a beautiful game. Have to confess... I was never a huge fan of football... I used to occasionally watch it earlier. But as they say 'you are known by the company you keep' , 'being with a winner makes u a winner' ... being with my football crazy colleagues made me thoroughly enjoy the sport. Watching football (any sport for that matter) with a bunch of crazy friends is one of the best times u can ever dream off.

We all follow club football keenly. But the world cup has taken the interest in this sport to the next level. There are hardly any moments/matches that went unnoticed (caught the highlights if I had missed the action LIVE). My Football knowledge would have easily got 5x in the past one month. Add to that my company's name on the ad hoardings. 9mins of advertising in every world cup match !! whoahoooooooooooooo.... best feeling I ever had about my company.... believe me ... I wasn't this happy ever so far in my career so far !!

Last one week of world cup has been even more amazing ! Reason - Prateek was in town !! yes... just to watch the last 4 matches with us. Been to sports bar, had a wild party at Vibhor's pent house, Watched few sick movies, got drenched in rain almost every night, had to go to the office without taking bath !! :P etc.. etc.. etc.. All this has come to an end last night. There will be a brief pause now. EPL kick off in about a month from now... :) I just hope, professionally, things will settle by then. Fingers crossed /\ More updates to follow in my upcoming posts... ciao

Iron Man 2

Iron Man - 1 was stunning & captivating! It was so sooo soooo well made... you hardly get bored. Iron Man 1 was in the league of hardcore action movies like Dark Knight & Die Hard 4.0 !! But it's sequel Iron Man 2, I'm afraid, is not that good - but, still watchable.

Robert Downey Jr. is simply mesmerizing with his quick & witty one-liners like "I have successfully privatized world peace!!", "I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one", " I will formally apologize later" ... sorry guys, can't remember more... I felt the movie was a lil slow considering the benchmark set in the first part. The action sequence on the Monte Carlo F1 race track is worth watching a million times...

If you are a super hero fan, then you won't have many complaints. At the end of the movie you feel you haven't wasted money at all. It's much better than mindless, senseless & ridiculous movies of Akshay Kumar :P

Burger maniac !

I thought if I don't post something today, I will not be able to post anything for another fortnight at least ! Reason: world cup T20 begins this weekend !! :P ... Was so busy following IPL on Youtube for the past 6weeks !

My passion for food has grown leaps and bounds in the past 1 yr !! Mercury is rising ... & so is my passion for burgers :-). Used to be a regular McD & KFC customer when my office was at Trimulgherry. Ever since that office was shut, I had to create opportunities :P, find a frnd or two to go grab a bite of the soft, delicious and yummy burgers !



In the past 2 months I have been a lil on the back foot when it comes to going out... courtesy - scorching summer. But, but, but, I'm making up for it by having at least one burger each day at the office cafeteria ! YES... we have got a mini 'Mongini's' stall in our STC cafeteria ! This burger may not be in McD or KFC's league... but its taste is definitely unique. Trust me, I had 12 burgers in the past 12 working days !! This stuff is getting on to me... Its a short and simple lunch and I'm loving every bite of it !!

Bring it ONNNNNNNNNNNNN !!

Quite excited about this weekend... IPL begins, Formula 1 season kickstarts, Hockey world cup final and EPL matches!! It's gonna be a very hectic 2days. Invitation has already come from Durga Elite - Pent house for what is going to be a rollicking weekend!! To add to these, Ashok & Yadi are coming from B'lore & Bombay respectively as well... Probably this is the first time I am sad to meet my friends :-( I have already rejected Ash's proposal of watching 'AVATAR' in IMAX - not bcoz of time, coz it is f***ing boring to watch it third time !! To be simple & straight, I did not find anything spectacular about this movie... except graphics - which are appreciable. It is all hype, no substance at all. Sorry ASH.

Anyway... this week i am gonna race against time !! its going to be a litmus test for my time managing skills :P I shouldn't say NO anymore to anyone and still manage to watch everything LIVE !!

Just get a feel that CHARGERS are going to lift the championship trophy this year as well.... here is a logical reason - we are not playing in RAJIV GANDHI INTERNATIONAL CRICKET STADIUM/UPPAL STADIUM. Thanks to T-campaigners !! This stadium has jinx. DC has lost all their 9 home matches so far !! add 3 more to that list (Indian team too has lost all the matches they played in this ground so far !!) that makes it a full DOZEN !!!!!! unbelievable ....... home ground is expected to bring luck, but... it is the other way around here. Anyway... I'm happy that this season, no matches are being held in this stadium and at the same time sad as I cannot cheer for my fav team LIVE.

Wishlist for this weekend: DC must win both the matches, Vettel should win the Bahrain GP, Force India/Schumi should finish on podium, Karun Chandok should finish in points table, Germany should win the hockey world cup, Fulham & Hull city should beat the shit out of ManU & Arsenal respectively, Chelsea should win the game against West Ham reach the TOP of the table !!!! &&& I should also attend the 5hrs extended saturday's Informatica class + Hair cut + Sunday's gully cricket match + meet friends !!!!

I think I should skip silly things like taking bath, eating food, talking to parents, browsing, afternoon nap, etc..,

I know the list is huge... but so is the weekend !!!!!!

4 Adieus & 1 welcome !

This FEB by far is the most action packed month I remember. I have bid farewell to 3 of my friends, my brother and received 1 friend!! Viru, Prateek & Sai have left Hyd chasing their their dreams and Vinay has come to visit Hyd for 3weeks after a long gap of 1.5yrs. Vinay went to US in Aug 08 for higher studies. He got placed in Cisco and have to report in San Jose next month. I know him for over a decade now. Almost everyone I know who flew abroad for studies have changed, & that is quite natural. But this guy is still the same - way he talks, walks, food habits, genre of movies etc., nothing has changed about him. I don't know how he managed but trust me, he is still the same.

Viru flew to South Africa for the FIFA project, Prateek left to Delhi - his hometown & Sai flew to UK to pursue masters.

Viru had 2 dreams (related to sports) - 1. to watch soccer world cup & 2. to watch cricket world cup!! He will live his first dream when the world cup begins this June in SA. Durga Elite is the apartments name where our gang hangs out every week. Durga Elite becomes a mini sports bar on weekends!! All 7 of us are sport maniacs. To make things even more interesting we play fantasy premier league !! The discussions usually happen on 4 important topics - 1. Sports(ranging for Cricket to Tennis, F1 & Soccer included !!) 2. CoRCC/Satyam 3. Movies & 4. Chicks !! ( 50 - 25 - 15 -10 respectively). Everyone except Nikhil is/was a part of CoRCC at some point of their career in Satyam. But, But, Nikhil knows equally well about ppl in CoRCC (no wonder how).

From this week, we are only 5 :( In the course of next few weeks/months this number might go down further as everyone is in queue to move out of CoRCC. Guess that's how life is ... addition & subtraction of friends on a regular basis.

Will for sure miss them :-( All the best guys...

Racing God is back !

I have been itching to pen down my thoughts on the mega/super/block-buster/ultimate comeback of Michael Schumacher aka Schumi :-) & finally here I am !

I was first introduced to this sport by one of my (now) old buddies :P Srinu way back in the year 2002 during the summer break. Though I haven't followed it much for the next 2years, it got on to my head in past 3-4 seasons. Having watched Schumi rule the world's most glamorous sport for few successive years, I couldn't digest the fact that he retired so early (early for me... as it was just 2 or hardly 3 seasons of Schumi for me).

His much hyped comeback this season as a replacement for injured Massa has put a smile on my face and I was on cloud 9. Believe me I was driving my bike like never before for the next 2days :P. But unfortunately his comeback hit the road block as Schumi was not able to get himself fully fit to race in such a short duration. Heart break for fans like me :-(

Never mind... I hope this time the plan will definitely materialize and I can see him on race track again ! But yeah... he will not be in REDS.. still... WHITES are not really bad. Once again ROSS - SCHUMI will spill their magic all around the world :-) It will be a cut throat competition next season as there are 13 teams and more than half a dozen prospective champions !! Alonso, Massa, Hamilton, Button, Rubens & of course the baby Schumi (Vettel).... Its going to be a cracker of a season. I just wish to see Schumi on podium at least once :-) If he manages to win the drivers championship(the chances are very unlikely), then, then there is nothing like it !! this come back would be considered next only to Lance Armstrong's.

The sadness of KIMI's absence this season is overshadowed by SCHUMI's come back !!

Hit the Top gear.... Go all guns ... Go Full throttle... :-) GO Schumi :-)


Just in case if any one of you is wondering why I am a crazy Schumi maniac :P Here is a factfile -> courtesy - ESPNSTAR.COM

Best way to get out of boredom ?

I've got a question for you... specially for people who are still single(with no GFs) --- What is the best way to get out of boredom when you are alone?

Well... each one of us probably have our own way of dealing with boredom. For example... my old & best friend Ajay 'dances' or rather say a mixture of aerobics and dance whenever he gets bored!! Vinay starts reading stuff online or watches youtube videos, more than half of my colleagues... (say friends at work!) spend time sleeping :P, the rest are addicted to Farming in Facebook (farmville) !! Mom spends half of her time watching TV serials :P etc... etc...

The known fact to most of you is that... I am single with absolutely no track record of having a girl friend(now, before you get me wrong, let me clarify - I AM STRAIGHT)... my only passion(s) in life so far are - Stock Markets(where 95/100 times I end up loosing money!) and sports.

I now have hardly any old friends at home :( all dispersed!! We managed to rope in 12-14 guys in office and play cricket every saturday morning at a ground that is 12kms away from my home!! As 8 out of 10 people say "My work sucks" and I am among those 8!! Below is my daily routine and I hardly deviate from this fixed schedule (MON-FRI):

Step in to office @ 11am
Login & read Online News, check stock quotes etc...
T Break @ 11.45 which most often than not ends up longer than a lunch break!
Check mails and surf for an hour or two
Lunch Break @ 2 PM
Pretend to be busy! for another hour or two....
T Break @ 4PM
Log out & Step out @ 5PM followed by gaming activities and swimming at club !!

Apart from this... I have got a lot of time to kill. So... I resumed my movie marathon! With Airtel broadband at home I can download a movie over night & with Vibhor in office - I dont give a damn even if my internet doesnt work for ages :P!! So... here I go "a movie a day keeps the boredom at bay" :P Last week I've watched at least a dozen movies.... I would have visited IMDB not less than 200 times!! Never slept before midnight!!

With my external hard drive full of movies, it is assured that I am going to get bored anytime in the near future :P LOL.... As I write this post, 'GOOD WILL HUNTING' is 70% done!! :P

& finally, this time on a serious note..... I genuinely feel all this needs to be changed for the betterment of my future. But, u know 'Old habits die hard' ;)

Back to LIFE !!

Ever since Mahindra tookover our company, the focus is more on cost cutting & in that process the top management has decided to close few centers. So the good news is .... we moved out of the bhoot bunglow a couple of months back to a temporary location in Sec'bad and then now to ... probably the biggest and the best location - STC, Bhahadurpally!! STC is heavenly beautiful, peaceful & most importantly it gives a college kind-of feel :) very unlike the earlier 2 locations. So... finally I have reached the place where it all began 3yrs back!!

The only problem for most of them operating from STC is commutation, else... it is near perfect. My home is equidistant from all 3 locations I have operated so far (gud for me). Past 2 weeks have been simply awesome. Reason - we have a club in here! with lot of indoor games - Snooker, Billiards, Carrom, TT........... Tennis, Basket Ball.... club is the motivation for we guys to come to office every single day!!! Add to that a nice swimming pool!!! I wanted to learn swimming for a long time... :) so... we all jump into the pool at sharp 5pm!!!!!!!! ....... U must be wondering when we actually work :P The thing is we prioritize our tasks & play comes ahead of work in this list !!! Thumb rule -> "work less... play more" he he he he he & yeah... so far it worked fine :P

The only thing thats missing is my favorite sport Badminton :( ..... seriously wish we should have one. But never mind... STC still rocks!

3 cheers :) :) :)

Whom r u going to VOTE ?

With elections in the visible distance the campaigning process is in the full swing. Roads are filled with traffic Jams as our so called 'Leaders' are delivering 'hate' speeches at every nook and corner of the city. Every junction has a check point with a police legion to check if huge sums of money and liquor kind of things are moved. News channels are telecasting LIVE speeches ! Half a dozen bizzare debates at least each day and these debates most often than not turn out to be a disaster. Political parties are spending monstrous money on canvasing. Actors are acting as the catalysts in this movement ! Billions of rupees are being spent in these months time.....

I am 24 & this is the first time I am going to vote ! I have applied for the voter card last time around but I guess no one cared to gimme one :-( My name in the current voter card is filled with blunders which I cannot even explain. So I suspect even this time It might get a little difficult for me to VOTE. But lets try :-) I am not so excited ;) several reasons.... I dont think anyone who is going to reign for the next 5 years(hopefully) is going to make much of a difference in our lives(I hope I am wrong).

I have made up my mind that I will vote for Jai Prakash Narayan's Lok Satta party(Not a huge fan of his) At least they are not spending money as other parties do :-) and more than anything else the degree of non-sense talks is low.

FZ Vs A Star

A couple of days back, in Times of India there was a small snippet about the newly launched Maruti Suzuki A-Star. There were few rallies held in cities like Chennai and Bangalore. According to TOI, A Star gave a record mileage of 37+ Kmpl !!!!!!!! can u believe it ? when Ford Fiesta gave an average of 31Kmpl .... my jaws have dropped! and this news has certainly made me think of my decision of buying an FZ 16. My bike is literally drinking feul .... at times it gives just around 30Kmpl :-( Common its just a 153 CC bike with just around 14 BHP... it should give not less than 45 no matter how u ride. Then I keep saying to myself... time and again... this is one heck of a Yamaha product ! & I am one heck of a crazy creature who respects this brand name from the core of my heart.

Now imagine feeding two(dont get me wrong... i am talking about me and my bike) with my miniscule salary !

But the fun of riding a bike is amazing and it will be even more when keep ride at 107Kmph on a national speedway. Yesss.... yesterday i was testing my machine on NH9 Medchal highway and it hit 107 with ease ... for a moment I felt someone was pulling me from behind ... then i slowed down a lil bit as there were heavy vehicles ahead of me. It was fun... my heart was beating at double the normal speed... adrenaline kept pumping ! :-) Next time i will make sure that my tacho shows at least 111 kmph !

Anyone can cook !

Did this title remind u of something? In case you are still struggling to recollect where u have come aross 'Anyone can cook', it is the jist of the Oscar winning movie 'RATATOUILLE'. I can never forget the characters in this movie. Rats look cute after watching this masterpiece from PIXAR !! Such is the brilliance of this flick. One movie which has truly inspired and motivated me to get my hands on cooking.

Anyways... coming back... this weekend my cousin Harish was at my home and we both thought of cooking Veg Munchurian! We got some Carrots, a Cabbage, a Capsicum(many Cs ... lol), few Onions etc... and of course the ready made Knorr's veg manchurain pack. Then trimmed these veggie stuff and mixed it with maida and made into Veg balls....fried them in oil and then mixed these fried balls with the remains of vegtables and Knorr's pack and boiled it for another 5mins and here we goooooooooooo! our yummy veg manchurian was ready...! never felt so happy about cooking !!! :P

oh yeah... we also tried our hands on Palak Paneer which was also quite tasty. But Veg Manchurian was so aweful that it truly deserves the dish of the weekend award ! Hey... just got another !DEA :-) 'Satyam' is already in troubled waters... how about getting ready for next job? a chef in a fast food centre or something like that? food is one of those sectors which will be last to be hit by recession .... so no slowdown worries... no pink slips... my job will be safe as long as I cook well !! lol

Next week I will try some new stuff... got to explore Reliance Fresh(the one beside my office) tomorrow for more ready made recipes! else I need to take some timeout for Googling with key word 'recipes' :P

Freedom,Independence,Republic & Democracy ....where are these ??

I have learnt ages ago that India is a truly Republic & Democratic nation & India is a developing country. India being the 2nd fastest growing economy in the world, we are talking about becoming one of the super powers in the world ! Future definitely looks promising.

But there are few gray areas which are definitely pulling us back. Forget major things like corruption & Terrorism. In the era of globalization few senseless acts by brainless creatures are making me think if we have really achieved freedom. I don't know how many of you have given a thought on this earlier. Things like attacking women in Pubs and Discs, Anti V-Day protests, Attacks on Churches are few classic examples from the recent past.

Men going to Pubs in ok with them... then why not women? after all its their life. Many people have already debated on this. But in my opinion any such taboo is a pure senseless act. According to a research report apparently V-Day has created a Rs.600crores market in India alone ! courtesy... Archies & Hallmark ! Even in these recessionary times, this V-Day Archies sales has grown by 4%. You know what it means ? It has indirectly contributed to lot of employment & to the growth of Indian economy. I agree that celebrating these kind of days is purely an individuals choice but it is pure non sense and stupidity if someone else has the trigger. Look at this.... "Couples seen on the streets on Feb 14th will be forcefully made to marry !" what the f***. May be terrorists have a better reason for their senseless acts ! This is heights of making a mockery of LOVE.

What bothers me even more is that the fact all of the above mentioned things have occurred in major Metros ! cosmopolitan cities like Bangalore and a city like Mumbai which never sleeps ! Solution for rediculous acts like these is not so tough to find if you are willing to look for. But who cares these things make headlines only once in an year. India would have already become a much better place to live for if we our acts made some sense... but unfortunately the most uncommon thing in humans is commonsense !

No offenses please... this disgust and hatred is only on the protests which cause huge traffic jams and interrupt the dialy courses of many of our lives.

On the right track ?

Part III

Finally there is a sigh of relief among all of us with govt stepping in & taking swift measures to get Satyam back to normalcy and Jan salaries being paid off ! We lost few major clients as reported by media but managed to retain most of them. Now we can find the light at the end of tunnel as many prominent players are showing interest to takeover Satyam. They include L & T, iGate, Hindalco & Spice Group !

Even if some other company buys Satyam layoff will be inevitable. The first thing any new management focuses on will be increasing the Bottom line of their balance sheets (Operating margins) by cutting cost. And in any IT company chunk of the expenses are on its associates. Axe will definitely fall sooner or later but the good news here is that jobs of thousands of other associates will be protected.

I personally believe, initially when this crisis broke out govt acted promptly and taken few very good decisions. But things now are now very sluggish. For the past one month, the headlines of very news channel and paper is Satyam. With elections in the sight of visibility news on Satyam might be sidelined & can be found only in the middle pages! Slowly, steadily but surely they are bringing it back on track. It might take another couple of months to unfold the future of this company and 2 more quarters it should be business as usual ! We might also see a change in the name, another CEO, CFO etc.,