The year in transition !!

Its been some real work @ office out there post october which has meant that my blog seems more of quarterly newsletter(going by frequency of posts!!). The year gone by has been quite an eventful one with life moving from talks of Oh-my-God-recession to where's recession ?. Just @ year end, some Idiots have turned out to be highest grossers in Bollywood. But what's interesting is the new war of words between almost famous Chetan Babu and media's designated perfectionist Amir Khan. Our FPS Chetan is unhappy with the font size of his name in movie credits which he expected to be in extra large font. Chetan may be forced to sing the 'adapted' song from the film...

Give me some credit
Give me some gain
Give me more royalty
Or I'll go to media once again

Wat did Amir say in reply -- Na na na....Na na na..Na na nana na.. :)

We all know of our Bwood's unashamed copying passed of as inspiration without giving credit where it's due; only diference being this time the 'copy' has raked in unprecedented moolah.

Anyway, leave Idiots to their idiosyncracies. We have more pertinent questions for 2010, the answers of which are tough to predict: --

1. Will Shashi Tharoor's tweeting continue or will be banned by an ordinance?
2. How many states will India have by the end of 2010?
3. What would be the estimated total expenses on Kasab's food this year?
4. How many blasts are expected to occur till 2010 end?
5. With food costlier & talk cheaper, will we continue with 'Eat less, Talk more' policy?
6. Who'll deliver a hit first - Fardeen, Himesh or Hurman (I guess everyone knows the answer)...seems question itself is wrong. It must be 'whether they'll deliver a hit ever?'
7. How many more mistresses are expected out of 'Woods' by year end?
8. Which will rise more...sensex or price of sugar?

Keeep guessing folks .....

Food with whipped Caste !!

Caught between choice to either 'Wake up Sid' or to disturb those who say 'Do Knot Disturb', I preferred latter. Mayb the name itself was in perfect coherence with my usual cognitive preference of not to be disturbed.David Dhawan's gang was at it again and I enjoyed it. But this post isn't about muvies but some recent political moves..

Among the unending debate on Tharoor's 'cattle class' and numerous analysis on our famed 'middle class', we might have missed recent news about more classes in India. Our Rahul Baba ate food and spent a night @ dalit house..Jatin Prasad ate khichdi with dalit's..Even Azharuddin spent 1 hr eating food cooked by a dalit 'halwai'..

Nothing offensive abt it but Congress is silently playing the caste card again in our UP's political ring. and most are seriously bugged by this tamasha..can't be too critical bcoz its good whatever the end intentions of parties..means can be justified later..atleast the most under-served, underprivilged section of the society is finally getting some attention after decades of neglect and government apathy of which Congress itself is responsible for close to 50 years. What irks is the media hype which even our 'Kalawati' is not happy with !!

At this pace, some of the upcoming shows for Television can be:
1.The Great Indian Caste show
2.Hero Honda Hunk Brahmingiri or Clinic All Clear Dalitgiri
3.The Cookery show - Who cooks better khichdi? Sponsored by Congress Co-sponsored by BSP,RPI, Panthers party...Chief Guest on the show one & only Behan Mayawati..

4. MTV 'Caste'villa..
and many more
Hope the tamasha goes on..Its win-win for everyone..some get news, some get votes, some get attention...I too get something..irritation :)

People are generally good !!

Came across this article, a few days ago, and it was a good reading about Craig Newmark, the acclaimed founder of craigslist.com. The website, despite being panned from numerous quarters for its simplicity and indifference towards innovation, still rules as the most popular job-hunting, apartment-search and dating site in US. This article was my first interaction with the website and What's more intriguing is Craig's indiffernece to business rules, disinterest in money and above all his core belief that "People are generally good and trustworthy and are just concerned with getting through the day". This thought process was somewhat in stark contrast to the corporate greed all around in US & world.

Me too a believer that 8 out of 10 people u meet are good. Its those 2 who leave a bad taste in our lives and may be we too easily fall in Pareto's 80:20 trap. It's better to think about 8 good people u meet rather than other 2. By the way, surprisingly my current boss is a part of 8 rather than 2 :)

Anyway, people are free to have their opinions,here's the link to the article:

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/magazine/17-09/ff_craigslist?currentPage=all

When to switch off the Television !!

Apart from all the business gyaan, flicks and sports which make TV worth watching, there are times in Indian Television when one would prefer to switch it off. So, without second thoughts, I'll switch off the television :

When the film is a multistarrer but the lead actor turns out to be ...........Ravi Kishen

When the song on top of chart is from the movie..........'Radio'

When Salman Khan is 'wanted' not for acting but.........dancing

When every next show is billed as the.......'meanest show ever'

When the next much awaited coming soon show is..........'Rakhi ka Divorce'

When the movie coming up is the comeback flim of.........Dino morea

When the leading news channel of the decade award is given to......India TV

When the next reality show is named.....LGBTs Up, Close and personal

When the talk show is hosted by Barkha dutt where the only person talking is.......herself

When the politician of the year 2009 award goes posthumously to........Mohd. Ali Jinnah

When the host of biggest 'talent' hunt show is......Suneil Shettty (No spelling mistakes here!!)

and certainly when...

Akshay Kumar promises on any game show to give free DVDs of 'Chandni Chowk to China' .

The winner stands alone !!

Yes, the recent book from Paulo Coehlo 'The winner stands alone' didn't match the high expectations I had from the author of 'The Alchemist' and 'Veronica decides to die'. Set up in the backdrop of glitzy Cannes film fest, the book emphasizes, re-emphasizes to the point of ranting about price one has to pay in life for fame, glamour, and power. May be i m inexperienced in all the three so relating to the story proved difficult :) Still, the book felt incomplete with me still unable to decide whether Igor, the principal character, was right in what he did or not; destrying the whole world to get back his wife Ewa ? A lot of ppl might agree with me. The mythical yet true Alchemist philosophy was replaced by too much realism. Characters too aren't memorable apart from the protagonist. May be some would be able to appreciate the point Coelho wanted to bring home through this book but i would rate it 2.5/5.

Last but important point is i bought the book on rent so didn't feel bad even if the book didn't turn up as good as i expect it to be:) Next week i plan for 'Five people you meet in heaven' by Mitch Albom. Hope it turns out better.

The week gone by !!

Quite a hectic week...realized that PE isn't just term sheets & cash flows its much more than that..but away from job things have become quite 'alphabetical'. Didn't get it ? I m talking about global economic pundits who have taken recent fancy to english letters to describe recovery.

V shaped recovery -- For hardcore optimists who love to think they are in a groove when actually they are in a rut.

U shaped recovery -- For the 'average' and easy going people who'll like to bide some time in the flat portion of U till recovery happens and then they can then boast 'See, I said so'.

W shaped recovery -- Smart pessimists who believe in two dips before any recovery though no one specifies how many Ws may follow without recovery

L shaped -- ppl inspired from lost decade of japanese who feel nothing may happen for long

More letters may be added in the wishlist, but with economy showing nothing conclusive, U V W may end up inverted or it may be full circle O or it may be even X i.e no one undestands what the hell happened.

But i can't end the post without mentioning about two training institutes i came across today in a promotional ad in our mumbai locals:
1. Divine Hope English speaking institute
2. Only Hope computer training institute - We offer 'silicon valley' certifications

Seems the owners have left everything including students to God and his mercy. And since when has silicon valley started giving certifications.
Anyway i can expect no mercy from my boss, i am my only hope. So got to go...

They too are back !!

With re-covery pronounced a certainty and erstwhile hidden gang of analysts & technical chartists re-grabbing max space on business channels, its time to again re-listen to some their patent lines:

1. 'If Nifty holds up xxxx level, then yy stock can go upto zz level' --- It is assumed that investor will overlook 'if' condition and concentrate to returns from 'then'.

2. 'Momentum can take xx stock to yy level' --- Who's this 'momentum' is rarely understood but is considered strong enuf for the job.

3. 'Buy x stock at y price with a stop loss at z level' -- Rest assured that stop loss would get triggered the same day when u buy at the recommended price.

4. 'As of now we have no holdings in the stock' --- The most important line is said in the last in the softest tone and in shortest possible time.

Finally, can't help but remember The Devil's dictionary at this point which aptly described analysts recommendations:

Strong Buy --- Buy
Buy --- Hold
Hold --- Sell
Sell --- It's too late :)