My wife told me couple of weeks back (even before the whole gamut of things started) that this is a KAAL year! She read it that this year is not that great! Have I started believing that? Oops, let me set the context right, though I'm sure most of you guys must have sensed it by the title of this post. But still for others I'm talking about the finance market in India; in fact the whole world market. Where are markets going from here? Is 2008 really a bad year for Indian economy?
These days as soon as I reach home I switch on my idiot box (which doesn't seem to be as idiot to me as before) to listen to NDTV Profit. And the more I watch it, the more I'm getting perplexed. US market as well as Asian market is taking a bit hit. Yesterday's fearsome declarations by Vikram Pandit (CEO of Citigroup) of the huge losses and mammoth write-off's have left me more shocked. The winds of change have finally arrived and it seems the world market gonna make devastating changes. Is it a sign that India will head its way towards becoming the global power?
But right now I dont see the light at the end of this tunnel. Indian economy itself is weak right now. Prime minister with his financial advisors are meeting to find out a way to resolve the issues or rather finding a way to beat the heat. They are coming up with re-structuring the tax slabs, change in indirect taxes, etc. Mr C Rangarajan is still projecting that the growth rate will be 8.5% this year (quite hopeful). I'm sure these guys are thinking hard to make that happen.
For me, things are too scary. I've been into this market very recently and all this is making me learn a lot (well, i'm trying to hide my fear here). But I'll keep watching the market and make my moves as and when required. And surely I wish my wife makes some more predictions; of course in favor of my portfolio :-)
So whats your game plan??
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
New Ads on the block
Indian advertisement industry has achieved great height. Someone would say, wow, what a realization. Well, to me its definitely yes. I mean having spent last 2 years in US and watching TV commercials out there, I was damn sure that Indian commerials are great and much much better than what are aired in US. But after coming back to India and watching the recent ads, man, i'm totally overwhelmed.
Two ads which belong to his category are:
1. Airtel ad where two boys across the borders of two countries try and play football. The message is there wont be any boundaries, only if we talk... too much, excellent idea. Hats-off to K. S. Chakravarthy who is the brain behind the ad. The unfamiliar language used (French dialect used by Moroccans) adds to the universality.
2. Latest Canara Bank ad where mother-in-law learns Punjabi in order to welcome her new Bahu! The message is that the bank is adapting in the changing times. The emotions and sentiments behind the ad are worth commending.
Also one more Ad is of Cadbury Eclairs Crunch for which the punchline goes like- "Kuch cheezon ka maza dheere-dheere hi aata hai... ...Jaise Cadbury Eclairs Crunch". Good thought process.
For more TV commercials visit: http://www.indibiz.tv/
Keep it rolling...
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Arz kiya hai
Parakhna mat, parakhne main koi apna nahin rahta,
kisi bhi aayine main der tak chehra nahin rehta..
Bade logon se milne mein hamesha faasla rakhna,
jahan dariya samandar se mila dariya nahin rahta!
kisi bhi aayine main der tak chehra nahin rehta..
Bade logon se milne mein hamesha faasla rakhna,
jahan dariya samandar se mila dariya nahin rahta!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Work-Life balance - A good read
This was a speech made by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Anna Quindlen at the graduation ceremony of an American university where she was awarded an Honorary PhD.
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'I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know. Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree: there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank accounts but also your soul.People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is cold comfort on a winter's night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've received your test results and they're not so good.
Here is my resume: I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my work stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the centre of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today, because I would be a cardboard cut out. But I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch. I would be rotten, at best mediocre at my job if those other things were not true.You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are.
So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger pay cheque, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm this afternoon, or found a lump in your breast?Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze at the seaside, a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a sweet with her thumb and first finger. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beer and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister.All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good too, then doing well will never be enough. It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes.
It is so easy to take for granted the colour of our kids' eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again.It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling them this: Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the back yard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived'.
-----------------------
'I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know. Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree: there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank accounts but also your soul.People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is cold comfort on a winter's night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've received your test results and they're not so good.
Here is my resume: I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my work stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the centre of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today, because I would be a cardboard cut out. But I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch. I would be rotten, at best mediocre at my job if those other things were not true.You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are.
So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger pay cheque, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm this afternoon, or found a lump in your breast?Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze at the seaside, a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a sweet with her thumb and first finger. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beer and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister.All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good too, then doing well will never be enough. It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes.
It is so easy to take for granted the colour of our kids' eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again.It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling them this: Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the back yard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived'.
GOAL - nice try!
My very first movie in Chandigarh - Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal! I went with one of my colleagues AG to watch this movie. Though I was not expecting something great from this movie, but it being a sports movie, I wished it has the energy and humor to hold me there. Well it didnt fail me on any of those two fronts. The one-liners used are cheeky and definitely laughable.
But the two things that I didnt like about this movie are:
1. The 'Billo' song. I guess this was not at all needed in that sequence. At least the location of the movie, London, should have been taken into consideration. The fleshy (can be read as flashy too!) song was completely out of the place.
2. The second point which this movie is trying to sell is British vs South Asians (particularly India and Pak). Why? Why do you need that point to movitate an individual (John) who is already motivated and professional. This was done not once but twice - first when he was being pulled in SouthHall club from Aston and secondly when he ditched SouthHall and joined a new club (the Porche was ravishing for sure!). There were other convincing ways, like the way Bipasha argued saying that he was going against the ethics and sentiments of the people. That was acceptable, but not the color of the skin stuff. Moreover, the point to be noted (which was stressed in the movie too) is that John was born and brought-up in London itself!!
Overall in conjunction with the English Premier League going on, this movie is definitely one time watchable!
But the two things that I didnt like about this movie are:
1. The 'Billo' song. I guess this was not at all needed in that sequence. At least the location of the movie, London, should have been taken into consideration. The fleshy (can be read as flashy too!) song was completely out of the place.
2. The second point which this movie is trying to sell is British vs South Asians (particularly India and Pak). Why? Why do you need that point to movitate an individual (John) who is already motivated and professional. This was done not once but twice - first when he was being pulled in SouthHall club from Aston and secondly when he ditched SouthHall and joined a new club (the Porche was ravishing for sure!). There were other convincing ways, like the way Bipasha argued saying that he was going against the ethics and sentiments of the people. That was acceptable, but not the color of the skin stuff. Moreover, the point to be noted (which was stressed in the movie too) is that John was born and brought-up in London itself!!
Overall in conjunction with the English Premier League going on, this movie is definitely one time watchable!
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Swadesh!
Thora sa nervous, thora sa dara hua,
Bahut si butterflies ko stomach mein sameta hua,
Pahuncha mein Bhaarat desh,
apne 'dil' ki aawaaz ko sunta hua.
Airport se nikalte hi laga jaise miss hua kitna kuch,
Kitne maheene se mera immune system raha untouched.
Dilli mien doston se mulaakaat, Lko mein ghar ki baat,
Mein aa gaya mere desh, Inquilaab Zindabaad!
[clap clap clap] :)
Well, i couldn't stop myself from writing such an idiotic prose with poetic qualities! But these were the genuine thoughts that creeped and captured my thoughts. Being back in India. I was already having so much of fun. The whole night spent at Pandey's place with tasty food prepared by Sachi, all the kahaaniyaas by baniya and Nandish, the finer touches by Pranjal and of course the grand 'Oho's of Pandey - all made it memorable. Of course others were missed, but I guess I'll be meeting them soon...
Bahut si butterflies ko stomach mein sameta hua,
Pahuncha mein Bhaarat desh,
apne 'dil' ki aawaaz ko sunta hua.
Airport se nikalte hi laga jaise miss hua kitna kuch,
Kitne maheene se mera immune system raha untouched.
Dilli mien doston se mulaakaat, Lko mein ghar ki baat,
Mein aa gaya mere desh, Inquilaab Zindabaad!
Well, i couldn't stop myself from writing such an idiotic prose with poetic qualities! But these were the genuine thoughts that creeped and captured my thoughts. Being back in India. I was already having so much of fun. The whole night spent at Pandey's place with tasty food prepared by Sachi, all the kahaaniyaas by baniya and Nandish, the finer touches by Pranjal and of course the grand 'Oho's of Pandey - all made it memorable. Of course others were missed, but I guess I'll be meeting them soon...
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