Feeling Good..err...

1) I started writing about Cricket after a long time. I write for Crickblogs.com. My first article is here
2) Got up to find that the Mumbai Mirror had featured my blog post"Mumbai Rains-July 28" on the rains on 28th. This is how it appeared in the paper.
3) Had the most amazing evening on the 28th of July. Took my mother along on a windy rainy evening to Bandstand, had some hot Bhelpuri, stood at the Bandra Fort, Gawked at Shahrukhs house, broke my umbrella due to the winds. Hoped for a tsunami to come, but the Mumbai high tide didnt live up to its hype that evening :-).

but can it be that I feel bad also? Yes..lots to feel bad and down about

a) watching Kismat Konnection last night
b) learning that IRCTC allowes only 10 transactions a month per login id.
c) I try to book a ticket on IRCTC for 3 hours and payment fails twice, and 3 times the site failed with some crappy messaging around communication failure.

Mumbai Rains-28th July-

This was at 4 pm in the evening. In the light of a hightide warning, we were given the option to leave early or stay back in office. I jumped at the offer, took the "offer of bad light" and strode back to the "pavillion". This was at Lower Parel station


Never have I seen such a mass of violent people at 4 pm, trying to reach home.


The moments of fresh air, when I just managed to get inside the train, almost losing my glasses in the process of barging my way 'Zidane ' headbutting style

Fast Local and Slow local, quite a few permutations that people have to figure out as they learn to take the quickest way back home.

Nice Rainy Weekend

Thats the view from Lower Parel Railway station. Strangely, whenever there is a call
for a Great Lakes reunion in Mumbai, the rains start to come from nowhere.

Thats my Dean, Prof Bala Balachandran, speaking during our Alumni meet and the information session, that we had on friday at IMC in Churchgate.

View from the park in Bandstand. Since its 10 minutes away from my place by walk, decided to walk it. Had an amazing experience in the rains. Best was the time, I lost control of the umbrella. It was safely entagled in a barbed wire, while I was sipping a tender coconut amidst heavy rains and winds.

Another view of the Mumbai skyline from Bandstand, near the old fort.

IIPM Best B-School in India-Did You Know That?

Can't believe CNBC actually published this story on IIPM !

In the age of news reporting, where every news is Breaking news, I am sure this story finds its place. IIPM's recent ads talks about 2 students who made it big with some big international company. One says that IIPM was instrumental in getting her an admission abroad. So it means that the foreign degree helped them to get where they are. Cant IIPM's thinktank even figure this when they place the ad spending crores on print media?

Man, I get my daily dose of laughter when I look at their ads. Now they have gone overboard with this news. I am sure the folks at IIPM will now buy more premium print space to announce this. Where IIPM really offers unmatched value, is as a 'valued advertiser' willing to burn money, and the amount of hype it generates in the media(print/web/tv). The media will love talking about them, as IIPM always raises eyeballs with saner folks, who create bad blood, and with the rest who see them as the messiah for the one's who didn't make it past even a basic grade in CAT.

IIPM is not yet there, and they need to stop making an ass of themselves. It would be great if such an institute really challenges the TOP 10 B schools, as that would mean more quality students passing out. As on today, I dont quite think IIPM is anywhere close to it(dont ask how, gut feel, seeing their ads)


Ok, I stop here. Cant take so much laughter for an evening!
Publish Post
Thanks Vipul Singhal, for pointing this link, and making my evening memorable

Thank You Zoomin!

The other day, I happened to come across Zoomin, and since I had a mail on my flight ticket that said 25 prints free, I decided to book a set of 26 prints. After the discount I I found that I had to pay for the whole excercise just 28rs(where 100 rs were discounted). I found the experience to be really good, with easy and convenient options to upload the pictures. Zoomin promptly kept me updated on the status of the courier that was supposed to reach me. It even gave me a login to check where my material was. 3 days later, I recieve a nice black bag, that said "Precious Photos Inside! Do not bend or staple". That talks about the care these guys take to deliver the product, and neatly inside the cover was a photo album to store the physical prints and a calendar showing a thumbnail of all the pictures that I ordered. I enjoyed the shopping experience on Zoom in. Might see if any offer on bigger print sizes exist, and it comes with no caveat like minimum prints to be ordered and et al(so far I havent encountered). But the customer service is what has really impressed me into thinking of a second order some time soon.

Chennai Memoirs

After a rather nice sumptous meal off the international flight from Mumbai-Chennai(Air India Express)
I had come straight to my college reception from the airport in Chennai. Reached college at 30 minutes past midnight on 11th July. The reception was silent. Back in our batch's days, the reception, the seminar hall and veeranam classrooms were largely occupied through the night. The reception had a select band of people who always hung out till 4 in the morning, doing various things of interest, academic and non academic. The reception was a place where one carefully hid his helmet, so that prowlers at night dont come and push off with your helmet in their pursuit for 3 am breakfasts at Saidapet.

The clock shows 12 45 and no one in the reception. Times have changed! Not too long ago, Pamit would be strutting up and down talking in the reception keeping his phone at a 120 degree angle to his mouth. Vipul would be the DJ who would leave everyday guilty of not spending too much time flirting with the pile of finance books he had adjacent to the laptop. Rahul and Prachi would chat for hours, and in between would be interuppted by the prescence of Pawan or the other folks who would come down to take a leak.
I waited for a friend of mine, who finished his office shift at 2 am, and till then I met a few juniors and gave them some gyaan, after which I saw a movie from 3 am to 5 am. The rest of the day was spent on hunting for property near Singaperumal Koil. Didnt finalise on anything. My money is safe in my pocket during this real estate slump. Felt bored in the evening, met up with my engineering college friends Sudhir and Vinu at Cafe Cofee day in Madipakkam, and then hooked up with Anand for a night ride on my bike


The whole night was spent speeding down ECR,and driving in the dark and we stopped by at a beach to see the morning sunrise.


Our eyes would droop any moment, It was a long night on the bike, and was a little cold and scary too. The next day was spent in my house with Kishore and Arvind, discussing on dracula's and travel industry in general. We achieved another night of sleeplessness, all in the aim of me catching sleep in the morning train on 13th. But as luck would transpire my Dadar express waitlist number never moved beyond 12, and that made me book a Jet flight at night from Chennai to Mumbai(My purse done in by further 5.4k). Had some decent food in the flight and got back to the normal Manic Monday Mumbaikar rush. This week an extra M has been added to the Manic Mumbai, and its the spread of Malaria by Mosquitos. Need to steer clear of that for a while now.

The Week That Was

So one Thursday evening, after a tired day at work, a few of us decided to unwind at Hardrock cafe in Worli.
The place is very customer friendly and so it will be when you pay 314 rs for a starter :-). Somehow I havent yet woken up to the idea of running huge bills at overpriced restaurants in the name of night life, with a few songs in the background

But you see, the world isnt like Kartik Kannan, they enjoy their smoke,drinks and dance. Looks like a tradition here where people dance for this song called "Y M C A" where even the guys who serve you, shed their inhibitions and dance along with the crowd. My classmate from Great Lakes was also dancing on stage, with his Godrej Pals.

Navneet may be a one step wonder, but he does have the enthusiasm and guts to go dance in front of a 100 odd people at midnight, which few people have. His team of Management trainees from Godrej, seemed to have a blast. Navneet Ganapathy was my batchmate in Marketing at Great Lakes last year.


Thats another Godrej guy, called Arunachalam Swaminathan, who chose to avoid the night at Hardrock, and joined me for lunch and "Contract" on Saturday. Arunachalam, is an awesome dancer, and has a highly contrasting reticent image of going into a shell when he suddenly speaks of terms like transcdental meditation,Vivekananda and Ramana Maharishi. He is actually vacillating between both these worlds, and is largely a follower of old adages, as and when he gets bored. BTW Arunachalam was also my batchmate in Marketing at Great Lakes.

The rest of the week was spent watching Aamir and Mumbai Salsa. None of the movies actually caught my imagination. Pretty average movies. The whole of Sunday was spent sleeping and catching up on unpaid bills. So here's to a new week and new resolutions to keep the room clean.

Hindustan Times-Thanks for Rubbing it in!

Philip Kotler at Great Lakes!

This happened a couple of years back. Came across it in Youtube. I guess the next time I visit college, must ask the library copy of the whole talk

Snapshots from Mumbai Last week

Walking through flooded streets, as you are listening to radio flood updates can be quite an experience!

The Mumbaikar obsession with time, seems to have been displayed too prematurely by PVR cinemas, who's display seemed to show negative numbers.

Some people never like to remove that Kingfisher tag that they got to stick on the bag. Its like a status symbol for the fast moving mumbaikar, in the densely crowded trains. Kingfisher must be smiling all the way to the bank, thanks to the viral brand bulding.

There's this theatre near my house called Gaiety, Gemini, Galaxy.... in the Bandra Talkies complex. Its an age old theatre which has played host to some of bollywood's yestertear hits from the 60's. Guess what game they have in the theatre, to lure kids accompanying their parents? Mario...!!! I guess they should soon look at market trends and adopt Road rash in some time. Just assuming that they are 10-12 years behind a generation that belived that the bow of the Ramayana/Mahabharata was more funkier than guns of GI-JOE and HE-MAN. I suddenly feel old... seeing Mario :-)

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na- My Review

Sometimes you feel good seeing a movie promo on television, and instant impulse makes you to quickly lock the house and run to the nearest theatre screening the movie, to catch a glimpse of what you tend to expect after the promo has lured you to the movie. I did that with ' De Taali' and enjoyed the movie, and yesterday with "Jaane Tu...." and I never could have come back more happier.

Aamir Khan's production house after a near flawless 'Taare Zameen Par', pulls out another instantly lovable movie,with a great script,cast and good direction. There is a certain innocence the movie exudes, and here is where the winner is. The movie is likable because of the way the characters are well etched out and by the time you've come out of the theatre, you dont care if the movie is a Hit/Flop, but you loved it as the movie makes you feel a part of the "gang" in the way they tell the story. There is no one character that dominates the movie, but each person's bit adds to the lovely story!. I loved the garnishing provided by the 'dead' Naseeruddin shah in the small cameo that he does, and another character that acually provides the "topping" for the movie would be Nirav Mehta, the guy who plays the Gujju.

The Movie has a feeling of realness and a -boy-girl-next door feeling, as its extensively shot in areas in Mumbai,very similar to the Tamil movie" Boys", (that was all aboout Chennai) and one could also say that due to the common thread being that Genelia D'souza who stars in both. She has got a better role in JTYJN. and her bubbly,effervescent character against the backdrop of the Bandra fort, makes a few of her scenes really memorable. A.R.Rehman, strikes a chord with the lovely music with each track being hummable. Its running in an infinite loop on my mobile music device and the last time such a feeling happened was during Swades, where the "Yuhin Chala Chal" track was going on and on and on............

Other Updates

'Via Darjeeling' was a nice concept in terms of making a movie, but the ending leaves you seethng at the director, thanks to the innumerable cliched bollywood endings that we love to expect!

Went for a office party at Dio's in Tardeo's and saw what Mumbai was at a night dance party. What did i do? Just sipping Cranberry flavour , and feeling that the lyrics of the song Pappu cant dance was aimed at me :-). Mumbai is upfront about its horny culture, and that's so much a relief from the hypocrite-filled-Chennai culture(but I still love Chennai! )

Had another reunion with GL mates last night at Infinity mall with Vipul,Arunachalam and Navneet. Call it Arunachalam's birthday treat. He was bent on taking us to a place that accepts Sodex Ho food passes, and we ended up having Rajasthani Thalis, and then gossipping in the mall.

Have some weekend office work, so will grudgingly open the office laptop, even as "Pappu cant dance saala, screams in my ears"

Colurful Day at Work

Thats the sight I saw when I came into work.

The office was plastered with Blue and Orange baloons all over. Felt like a child in some dreamy paradise :-)


Thats my workspace and the colours represent our brand's two prominent colours.

Ok the Reason for celebration...We turn 2 years. Life in a start up is always fun, than the cliched corridors of one of those industrial revolution like masses of software company.

Lovely weather in Mumbai, expecting a exciting weekend. Would have to choose between Na Jaane Tu.... and Love Story 2050, then planning a walk along the world's biggest slums in Dharavi-Mahim by heritage walks, with my former colleague at Sulekha, Vineet Pabreja. Then probably a long walk along Marine Drive in the rains with an umbrella and a trip to Haji Ali, ....long wishlist.... and ya If High 300+ totals are not being scored, I could tune in to Star Cricket. Saw two of my Dreamjob mates doing well on Television. Jatin Sapru was interviewing some Srilankan cricketer with his kitbag, on Star Cricket, while Shireen Dastagir is partly hosting MTV Wassup at 8 am

Tired!

Mumbai some times tires you, and I am no different. I guess its the long walk from office to Lower Parel, and from Bandra station to Pali hills. I cant take a taxi as the road is jammed with the autos and the taxis and the sea of humanity that fights time. So I prefer taking a walk and that ends up tiring me. What if i were to end up taking a house in Navi Mumbai or Mira Road? I guess I shouldnt invite heart attacks upon myself :-) . Secondly India isnt playing cricket for me to find the fastest route home also. We were thrashed by Pakistan, due to some unimaginative cricket. Today the Lankans seem to be piling it on. It remains to be seen what happens later in the evening(7 20 pm in Mumbai is still evening hehe ). Time to head home! and get set for a long day in office tommorow...err....not really we have a party tommorow at 7 pm, so it means a day where lot of work needs to get done, else I stamp my weekends with the clatter of word and excel files

Happened to chance on a video on WATBLOG about an interview with my company's founder. Hope that helps you to get an intro of the company that I work for. Watch the youtube interview below. The host of the show does get on your nerve sometimes, but thats the beauty of youtube where amateurs learn from their mistakes and better their videos.


One of Cleartrip's advertisments in Television Media :-) Love this ad...

The Mumbai -Great Lakes-Alumni Chapter Meet

A week back I had shot a mail to all the batches at Great Lakes, about the alumni meet this Sunday in Mumbai. The city was having dry weather and the rains hardly existed then... but somehow Alum meets in Mumbai so far have had this rather uncanny way of bringing rain along with them. This one was no different.

The attendees were

Kartik Kannan- Cleartrip.com
Srivas Ramgopal- VGSL( VSNL Global Services)
Rahul Khare(Frost and Sullivan)
Pawan Bhawsar( VGSL)
Vipul Singhal(TCS)
Seema Mohanty(Bayer)
Prakritish Buragohain(Bayer)
Nihit Nirmal(Shaadi.com)
Logendra(L and T)


With 20 minutes left for the Alumni meet to start, the skies opened up and caught me unawares. Heavy rains. The 1 pm start was then relaxes to 2 pm, as people slowly found their way to Nirmal Lifestyle, Mulund. This picture was taken enroute Mulund station to Nirmal Lifestyle.



Rahul Khare shares a funny bone with Logendra and Srivas Ramgopal, who till then was the sole guy with the Great Lakes T shirt.

Vipul Singhal and Kartik Kannan.....fresh after Mcveggie crunch and French fries


Seema Mohanty, finally breaks her silence :-). Seema looked quite lost in the meeting, and spoke to us about her role in Procurement division at Bayer. Logendra tries to look aghast, into a cross talk session happening on the other side of the table


Thats a serious discussion going on between Rahul Khare and Srivas, as Pawan(greyish green shirt) and Logendra(Maroon) are ogling beyond the Macdonalds window at things more interesting to the eye.

Vipul Singhal on " Why Banias rule in Business", while Nihit Nirmal wears a forlorn " I- have heard -this -so -many -times-because I am your room mate look"

Srivas, Rahul and Pawan listen to how Nihit is making hay while beautiful girls register at Shaadi.com . Nihit camouflaged his web flirting act by using MBA'ish words like " I look into Analytics".

Thats me, with a "Turn me On" Message on the T shirt. Unfortunately the Mumbai girls in Mulund were not up to it,

A couple of hours into the meet, a few Vipul one liners later and a couple of I-am-bored looks from Nihit, Prakritish Buragohain(the guy in the middle joined us). He was spared the bill payment, as he came in late, and Macdonalds was about pre paying. By the way, if you are asking why should he pay the bill? He just got married in Assam, without the help of Shaadi.com (Nihit lost a customer!)


Pawan seems to vehemently argue with some one during the meet. Logi sees humor in the argument.

Some of what we discussed were

1) each alum present's company and role offered
2) switching possibilities
3) Book reviews
4) Meeting up with Uncle Bala when he comes in July
5) How can we make it more productive, by discussing business models in next meets
6) generall chit chat, leg pulling and mud slinging.
7) Which movie to watch at PVR...(we went for 'Via Darjeeling' by the way)

We hope to make future alum meets more productive with more people and a more structured approach to discussing things that mutually help us. That was a quick and dirty update from my side.