Word of mouth

Thought of sharing a joke how a corporate communication works...

Director to Account Head(s):
Today at 11 o'clock there will be a total eclipse of the sun. This is when the sun disappears behind the moon for two minutes. As this is something that cannot be seen every day, time will be allowed for associates to view the eclipse in the car park. Staff should meet in the car park at ten to eleven, when I will deliver a short speech introducing the eclipse, and giving some background information. Safety goggles will be made available at a small cost.
 
Account Head to Department Head(s):
Today at ten to eleven, all staff should meet in the car park. This will be followed by a total eclipse of the sun, which will disappear for two minutes. For a moderate cost, this will be made safe with goggles. The Director will deliver a short speech beforehand to give us all some background information. This is not something that can be seen every day.

Department Head to Manager(s):
The Director will today deliver a short speech to make the sun disappear for two minutes in the eclipse. This is something that can not be seen every day, so staff will meet in the car park at ten or eleven. This will be safe, if you pay a moderate cost.

Manager to Team Lead(s):
Ten or eleven staff are to go to the car park, where the Director will eclipse the sun for two minutes. This doesn't happen every day. It will be safe, but it will cost you.

Team Lead to Team member(s):
Some staff will go to the car park today to see the Director disappear. It is a pity this doesn't happen every day.

The Budget Fever

February is a month of unique characters - the days are less, the winter goes away and summer would show up. The month has always decided the financial prospect of India; hope you would have guessed that I am referring to the Union Budget. And here we are on the eve of the budget's day. The fever is on and the entire world is looking for the announcements and reforms. The excitement is so much this time, that even the astrologers have been predicting the budget.

Budget had always been a yearly festival of hiking the cost of commodities till the 90's. It was Dr.Manmohan Singh who changed this misconception when he was the Finance Minister in 1991. It was then, when the term "Dream Budget" evolved. From that day, every Finance Minister has tried to deliver a populist budget for India. FM has to think "out of the box" these days and finally come up with a spicy masala recipe that would cater to everyone's taste. And Mr.P.Chidambaram has always been too good in cooking this food.

In the recent years, people seem to have understood that Budget is influencing their daily life in some way of the other. Even a common man has some idea about the budget and he plans accordingly (purchase of a car or television, for instance) and this development is definitely encouragable. It is good that People and press are giving adequate imporance to the budget. And if you're a shareholder of some company, you would know the impact that a budget would cause to India Inc.

This year, The expectations are high on Mr.PC. Budegetting, as you would know, is not a easy task. FM has to decrease the deficit and consider the fact that the public impact is minimal. Tax cuts, reforms and hikes play a major role and the beauty lies when the budget comes out with a minimal effect to the public. The budget presentation becomes more complex on a coalition Government. FM has already requested the Left to be practical and to cooperate. Mr. Laloo has come up with a better railway budget which has many welcoming announcements. But, PC has a challenge to increase the GDP of India from 8% to 10% (not a dream, it's within reach), increase allocations and to cut down taxes. With the current challenges, my assumption is that the budget would be balanced but slightly populist.

Is there something that I can do a budget eve? Yes, you can. PRAY for Mr.PC.

Final Desination - 3

I had the privelege of watching the Final Destination 3 premiere preview show on Feb 8th itself when the film was actually slated for release on Feb 10th. Well, the film was amazing and intense. Those who have seen the previous two parts of FD will agree that they were thrilling and exciting. And those who have not seen them, I think they are the ones who think that thrillers are not their cup of tea.

Here's how Final Destination works. It's all about a small group of guys and gals when the main character from the group has a premonition of some accident that's gonna occur. The person would then do everything to alert the group and some of them who listened would actually avoid the accident. Later the person knows that Death is still chasing each victim in the specific order and he / she tries to convince the group about the fact that Death is still hunting them. She knows who's next and she gets a pre-vision about how it's gonna be, but no one is ready to belive her and tey die in forint of her. They die one by one, when they understand that they have only avoided the accident the first time and not the death itself. This release features a teen girl dreaming of a Roller coaster accident at an amusement park. The girl is none other than Mary Elizabeth, better known as "Samara" of Ring-2. Ryan Merriman (who also acted in Ring-2) would help Mary in convincing the group that they're still gonna die.

So, whatz the hype about FD3? Well, it works the same way. FD1 had a boy foreseeing the Flight accident and FD2 had a girl waring her friends about a chain reaction accident on a super highway (Man, this was too amazing). But they were too good compared the roller coaster accident (probably because this was shot in the night). Also it is bad that this film has a thin story and is too violent compared the first two. I wouldn't say that the film is not worthy to watch, but this is full of gore which is not suitable for a teen audiance. How long could they surive and how they died was the theme of FD1 & FD2 but not the the cruel death itself, which is what makes me feel about this. Execpt for this, Final Destination still ROCKS!!!

 

Nothin, Jez a restroom talk...

I was barely sitting down when I heard a voice from the other stall saying: "Hi, how are you?"

I'm not the type to start a conversation in the men's restrooms at a rest stop but, I don't know what got into me, so I answered, somewhat embarrassed, "Doin Just Fine!"

And the other guy says: "So what are you up to?"

What kind of question is that? At that point, I'm thinking this is too bizarre so I say: "Uhhh I'm like you, just traveling east!"

At this point I am just trying to get out as fast as I can when I hear another question. "Can I come over to your place after while?"

Ok, this question is just wacky but I figured I could just be polite and end the conversation. I tell him, "Well, I have company over so today is a bad day for me!"

Then I hear the guy say nervously...

"LISTEN, I'll have to call you back. There's an idiot in the other stall who keeps answering all my questions!"

JPG or a MP3, What are you?

If somebody asks you "What type of file are you?" or "What OS are you?", don't look puzzled. You probably could be a redhat linux or a Mpeg file without knowing you are. Do I sound nuts? Not anymore, read now... I Came across a funny site that asks you a few questions and then tells you what file extension are you and what operating system are you. They also tell you what that extension or the OS signify. The questions are crazy and the choices are funny. Nice one to try, anyway...

You know what I am? I am an Inf file and a Windows XP OS (Gee! XP).

Which File Extension are You?


Which OS are You?

Life in the States

Today, I am completing my one year of my life in USA. Travelling to America on an assignment has become a casual thing in India, especially for the IT associates. The only difference is the duration of the assignment and the nature of work. Work at onsite will be a lot more active than at offshore in terms of responsibilities where you'll have to run the show at onsite. Apart from work, there are other changes that you'll have to adopt in the American soil.

There are five C's that differ from India to America - communication, culture, climate, cars & cash/cost. Clothing is not a factor of change and is pretty much the same, but is dependent on the climate of your place. Communication is the first and foremost change that you'll feel right from the Airport. You would need time to realize that they no longer speak English but speak American. And the accent does matter, which you'll practice when days pass by. Culture ,includes food & people, is the second change that really bothers someone, especially when he is a Vegetarian. One has to be specific in clarifying the menu in a restraunt before confirming the order. Most American food stuff would have beef or pork by default and they would be happy to substitute Chicken for beef/pork. Vegetarian food stuff is available, but be specific while making the order. The people, on the othet hand, are polite and harmless, and expect the same from us. Don't be surprised if some new person waves at you on a public place or at your work place...

Climate depends on the place of your travel. Northern states are cold and snowfilled during winter. In Minnesota, the state where I reside, the temperature has reached upto -20F. So, be prepared to equip yourself for the climatic conditions. Cars are autogeared and equiped with A/C and heater, to suit the climatic conditions. The rides are right sided and not to the left and traffic rules differ from state to state. This will require some time to settle up and get converted to the right-sided drive. And finally, Cash and cost of living will change and the dollar rupee conversion comparison won't make much sense if you multiply the dollar value by Rs.45 for commodities like food and rent.

But there is more to do in States than just adopting to these changes. How about celebrating life in America? That would be another blog to write

India wins on and off field.

What can I say about the majestic win of India in the India's tour of Pakistan in Cricket 2006 (ODI)? India had many challenges off the field with the team selection, but still won the series with the "over-confident" Pakistan. If there is a key to the success of India, it's only the team work. India maintained a low profile with the issues, after its test series defeat to the host, which also resulted in Pakistan winning India in the first ODI (although not a convincing one).

Chats & Talks everywhere - "Sachin has lost his charm (Endulkar?)", "No Sehwag, No Ganguly. India is Bully Bully...". It's true that Pakistan had 7 batsmen and had a reasonably strong team even without Akhthar and Afridi. I would say that Dravid had the courage and team effort to thrive India to a stunning victory with the support of Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sachin, Pathan, Singh and Sreesanth. The fielding and the bowling were remarkable, not to miss Dhoni's batting & keeping (India's new Gilchrist).

The war is over and everbody's happy; especially Chappel (Bye Bye, Dada). You can look forward for Suresh Raina in the forthcoming ODIs after his remarkable contribution to the fourth ODI. I'm sure that this win would bring in lots of hope and courage to the Indian team for the tour of England in India. It looks like the new sponser to the Indian cricket team (Nike) makes some sense, doesn't it? Atleast when we realize that all that Nike says is "Just do it"; We did!!!

Internet Explorer 7 (Beta Codename: Vista) - First Look

I've been using IE 7 beta for the past month and it's time for a review. Well, when IE versions 6.0, 5.5 and 5.0 were released, not much changes were noticed in terms of appearance / UI. So, if you think it will be the same case for IE 7.0 then I would say "Dude, You're wrong!!!".

So what's the big deal about this? Well, there is Tabbed Browsing for one. Yup, we know that Johnny is a little late; Opera had it, Firefox came with it and Netscape has it and it's good that IE 7 has come up with it. There is a change in Back & Forward control buttons; They are grouped together with a single list instead of each having a individual history list. The Stop & Refresh buttons are placed next to address bar, which makes some sense really. If you're one like me who would install a google toolbar or yahoo toolbar or MSN toolbar only to only make a quick search, Here's Quick Search for you on the same place where you find it in Firefox (Yes, Top Right). The default search engine is MSN (Need i mention it???); ofcourse you can change it to any search engine of your like and don't forget to set it to default, else, it would be MSN again. And there is the support for RSS feeds and the Favorites and History are a little enhanced and would be called Favorites center.

Aren't you still convinced? Okay, You're the one who argues "My existing non-IE browser has all these features already. What's the new about it?". Now read the new features... Quick tabs - helps you see a thumbnail view of all the open tabs, so that you can navigate between tabs. One click "home page" toolbar control where you can add/remove/change the homepage. A new "Add-on Manager" to manage your IE plugins / add-ons. Popup blocker is pretty much the same but there is this new "Phishing filter" for a secured browsing experience. And believe me, this version has really improved in terms of webpage printing. The "Print preview" is rocking and  you can print the page in a screen-condensed format where the entire page fits your paper. Apart from the text size, you can also control the zoom of the web page. You can zoom it from 10% to 1000% and even to a custom size, if you want.

But still if you're a little hesitant about the Vista, there's still time for you. You can wait till the final version roll out or you can just upgrade your IE and still continue with your current non-IE browser. But do remember that you will have to upgrade to this SOMEDAY, SOMETIME.

Keep'em simple, Folks!!!

Reliance Industies Ltd - one of the pioneer industries of India, now demerged into 4 companies. The companies are new and yet to be listed in the markets. During the demerger that happened on Jan 18, each 100 shares of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) were divided into units of 100 each in Reliance Capital Ventures Ltd (RCVL), Reliance Energy Ventures Ltd (REVL), Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) and Reliance Communication Ventures Ltd (RCoVL) in addition to the 100 RIL shares. Anil Ambani's board of directors had promised that these companies will be listed on February 13, February 20, February 27 and March 06 respectively. Ambanis are already behind the schedule and the latest press release says that RCVL will be listed on Feb 21 and no hints about the other companies. Not sure, if Reliance is really bothered about their promises not being fulfilled, but they seem to be a little worried about the names of these demerged companies and the name of the board which they are changin and changin and changing...

Okay, what does it mean for you and me? Let us say that I had 100 shares of RIL as on Jan 17. They were demerged to 100 RIL + 100 RCVL + 100 REVL + 100 RNRL + 100 RCoVL on Jan 18 and the demerged units were allocated to public before Jan 25. After the demerger, the shares of RIL which were quoting at Rs.950 levels were traded at Rs.690 to Rs. 710 levels. And a shareholder will no way be able to determine if he has gained from this demerger or not until the other four companies are listed and get settled after the initial listing fluctuations. Till then, the shareholder's money in these companies are locked down in a mystery of four boxes. Even poor Aladin has to wait for Anil to get the Genie out of the lamp. And is that all? No, after these companies are listed, RCVL will be merged with Reliance Capital Limited (RCL) on a ratio of five RCL shares for every 100 RCVL shares; REVL is merged with Reliance Energy Limited (REL) on a ratio of 7.5 REL shares for every 100 REVL shares. Adding some more suspense and spice to this, these companies are listed during the weeks of Union Budget'06 which again is going to a deterministic factor in the markets. Mr. Public can do nothing but keep his fingers crossed for the companies to be listed to get his locked down money in these shares.

Is this locking down a new technique? Not for Reliance. I was a so-called priviledged member (in 2003) of this Reliance India Mobile and only God knows my problems. My number got changed and I was still billed to my old number; my address got changed and still I was billed to my old address; my phone (handset) got changed but the upgrade cost was incorrect; so on and so forth. I was a regular customer care caller and it was a real fun when every customer rep would speak of a new terms and condition which the previous one wasn't aware of. I even had my weekly visits to the Reliance Web World and it was the same except that it too much crowdy up there and the sad part was when many people are standing there with so many complaints, Reliance was trying to convert web worlds into Jave cafes, merketting their cup of Coffee. One fine day, I decided to return my mobile and you know what? I was fined of breaking my 3-year lock down contract on a basis of Rs.40 each month for the remaining months. I don't want to speak about my another poor experience about Reliance Fixed Wireless phone (not really fixed!!!). The reason being the instruments of the mobile and the fixed phone and exclusively designed for Reliance to incorporate the CDMA technology. They were marketted as free and even a new born baby will say that it is not the case. The Reliance demerger, per Varma, is also a new invention. When there are Indian laws that insists that a demerger has to be in the benefit of the shareholder and should be profitable, Reliance has not demerged using the framework of delisting but using framework of IPOs.

Anil & Mukesh, you have a law-team who knows the in & out, loops and leisure of the Indian law terms and you come up with a legal contract (if not totally legal) which no one but your advocates can understand (not even your customer care reps). But do keep in mind that the end user of your product is not a corporate entity but Mr.Pothujanam (Mr.Public). So, my advice to you is "Always keep them simple".

Hats Off, Cheran!!!

I don't have much attraction to Tamil movies due to its lack of variety and of late, this is the reason why I don't watch them much. The only change you'll literally notice in two films is the change in the cast (sometimes, not even that) or the increasing heroism (For instance, VK is driving a sumo at the speed of 100 mph being chased by gundas, when one of the front tires goes of the wheel. Hero still balances with his one leg down on the road and accelarates at 120 mph). Fortunately, Tamil Cine industry offers some really good movies, once in a blue moon. Thavamai Thavamirunthu is one such movie. A “feel-good” movie which you will enjoy even after you return from the theatre, a film which delivers its message gradually, in a slow and soft manner, with a rural background. Here's my review on Thavamai Thavamirunthu.



Like his previous masterpiece "Autograph", T.T. too is a total teamwork. Everybody has a performing role; and special kudos to Rajkiran and Saranya who have lived their role. The film is obviously sentimental, nevertheless Cheran has shown improvement in his acting compared to Autograph where he used to shake his shoulders and weep throughout the movie, showing his back to the audiance. The story is all about a family of a father (Rajkiran), a mother (Saranya) and their two sons (Cheran & Senthil). A typical village family - they have poverty in plenty. Cheran has outshined as a director and also as an actor. Padmapriya (You are right, import from Kerala) is a right match to the role rather than to Cheran.

With not much of a star cast involved, the storyline and screenplay are the key contributing factors. Sabesh Murali has done his part right to the sentimental pace of the movie; "Orey oru oorukulle" has the right music, mix and voice. I do not know if this movie is Hit or Miss, but it is a pity that movies like these don't become box offices or talk of the towns. The movie will not satisfy people who only want macho masala or sheer entertainment. But the fact is that it's only movies like these which gives life to Cinema. Hope the Government (if not the people) will recognise the work of Cheran and honour him with a National award. A movie to enjoy, remember, and learn from. Good Job, Cheran!!!

A Complete Man, Sai... Since Feb 2006.

"What is Life without Internet?" - I am a hardcore surfer and I lived by this saying for so long that I never had a feeling that I am not 100% complete. I knew some of my fellow guys who are active participants in some forums and few others who told me that they participate in Communities. Those few people also told me that they don't use chat clients anymore but they communicate thru Orkut. I never had an interest in what is Orkut until one fine day when I saw my friend Orkutting. It was then I figured out that I am not a complete net-surfer until I made my appearance on Orkut in February. Yes "Orkuting", that's the Buzzword today.

Orkut, what's that anyway? Orkut is a Google service (like Friendster) which relates like-minded people to communicate thru communities. For instance, If you like Laloo, there is a comunity for you where you can discuss him. There are communities for Ramarajan, Rajini, Tom cruise, Thanjavur, Saravana Bhavan, Spencer Plaza, Thayir Satham, Satyam theatre and whoever, whatever you can think of.

Wonder what you can do on it? People say that it is rather used as a Dating site rather than as a communication forum. From my observation, it is true when I see the server often bombing out with "No donut for you". They say Brazilians occupy nearly 75% of Orkut and as much as 10% are Americans but I feel like Indians should be atleast 30% (That's right; Desi Desi everywhere). Like any typical Google product, Orkut is also in Beta phase (almost for the past 2 years) and registration only upon invitation from an existing Orkuteer (even though your gmail id can be your username). Now I have made it a practice to do some matured Orkutting regularly and today I'm like "What is Internet without orkut?". Now, I feel complete, again.

Old Villain's Re-entry

Okay, Here I am, again starting to write my blog. I had my blog created in Rediff some 6 months before and I took as much time in designing my screen rather than adding stuff to it. This time, I am here starting to add stuff to my blog right away.

I personally think that Blog is not Diary writing. You need not write your day to day happenings in a blog. You can share a thought, crack a joke or upload a picture or host a link to a funny news that you think of sharing it. It's like you are constructing your own home in your town; choose what you want and decide what is required and what is not. It is not a CNN to be updated every minute or every hour, but I would see to that I update it often. Keep checking this space for more fun & fundoos... You can read the same blog in my MSN space also. The same content will be updated in both.