28th November 2010

 It all started with the ungh uding early as I was tired, went to sleep early the nite before. Working in shifts have many advantages. One of them is you get to see and experience the dawn...the phase from dark to light, that period is beautiful. Also is the early morning air, it's really refreshing. And so I went for it. However, today I did Infy photography. You know like wild life photography, its a new stream of photography, the campuses are indeed so beautiful if seen from photogenic point of view. So, from 6AM to 0730AM, took around 100 photos.

 Did many new things also actually...like went straight to the centre of the cricket ground, took batting position on both sides..feel good moment! Also counted the dimesion of the ground on all four sides from the centre of the pitch...60 and 56 steps straight and 50 and 54 steps side. Pitch 25 steps. Note I am saying in steps, not yards. Also felt the ground was really wet with due in the early morning. Had Puri Bhaji and Idli Wada for breakfast...gotta be hungry after roaming around the campus for sooo long takin pictures!!!

 Well the morning was just the begining of a memorable day to be. I booked tickets for Unstoppable. To start with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine(Fast and Furious guy). Wow...great star cast to start. Although I was thinking...man...Denzel Washington has become damn old...hehe..took me a while to recognize him in his bald look! Neways getting to the point, the movie is supera! Gr8! The director Tony Scot has made a movie before called "The Taking of Pelham 123" , again starring Denzel Washington and based on train scenario. That one is a good movie...but this one..as I said, supera!

 Unstoppable is a movie about a train with lots of cargo and gets loose! How? Well the driver gets down to switch the track and the train automatically shifts gear, gains speed and driver is not able to board it again. Sounds crazy, but the whole movie after that on how Denzel and Chris stop the train and save thousands of life is amazing. It's the kinda movie where you get lots of dhak dhak moments and in the end you get that feeling of happiness and content in your heart. Must watch movie..the sound effects are really awesome..so better watch it in Dolby. Rating 09/10. Check out here if you want more info on movie.

 Ok..still 28th November goin on. I was looking to buy a new cell phone since months. Had narrowed down to Samsung Galaxy 5 and Samsung Monte. Went to a store after the movie. He said both are 9.1g's. Galaxy is fine but Monte at 9.1g is a no-no. Then I saw Samsung Star Nxt, the next generation of Samsung Star, pretty cheap around 6.5g. Difference between the previous star is, this one also has social networking. However no 3g and wifi as expected and no flash in camera. Also majority users complaining on gsmarena. Watched some video reviews also of it. Time at store with Galaxy 5, Monte and Star Nxt till now, 45mins. Still not happy.

 Samsung Wave was like my dream phone to buy, but I dropped it as it was too expensive and I won't be using it for long. Then what I see, Samsung Wave 723. What is this, thought it was normal Wave and asked the price, the guy said 12.9k. I was like what!!!! It is actually the next generation of Wave. He said Wave is not available anymore. Difference between Wave and Wave 723, no Amoled screen for Wave 723. Everything else same. Comparatively price is 12.9k of 723 and around 17k of original Wave. Woohooo...yes baby I hopped on it. Also did some hardcore bargain to get it finally for Rs. 12650. Price of the same cell on Univercell site: Rs. 14k. Cell is launched last month itself..so not available yet on Mobile Store and Consumer Mate. Neways..point is end of the day...got a Wave for 12.6k!!!  Boy believe me when I tell you...my heart is still elated!!!

Note that this baby is not yet released according to many sites...I guess I am one if the firsts to get hands on it!!! Check out GSMArena and PhoneArena for specs.





 So, does it end there? No not really! Had heard about the Hard Rock Cafe. Thought of checkin it out as it was in the same mall where I saw the movie and got the cell. What is Hard Rock Cafe? Well it is mainly a bar..but one with a very sophisticated ambience. The theme of the cafe is a mixture of hiphop and retro. Music is awesome. The bar station is clad with lots of beautiful vodka batlis and is so big that there are two bar tenders. I asked them for something non alcoholic. He showed me the menu...there are around 5 options for non alcoholic mocktails all costing Rs. 185. Alcoholic shit costs Rs. 415 and you won't believe their Iced Tea is also alcoholic, contains some Rum!!! It was a huge cafe!!! Like a house...a villa actually! And also it was not dark like Pubs...good lighting..actually may be becuase I went at 4PM and it was all daylight,may be at night they would get in the Pub mode. I din't take the mocktail as had to leave for home and I thought..what the hell man...will come one day here with someone like Kesha and Megan Fox and spend all day here. Note, I am saying someone "like".... :)

 Oh boy...long post huh...also India won first ODI against NZ today..more importantly I am a proud owner of Samsung Wave 723!!!

The Ashes, World Cup and Manchester United

 How big are the Ashes? Enormous! Humongous! Huge! ...so say the OZ. No wonder as they have not been winning many in last few. The first test is currently going on at Brisbane Cricket Ground. England 171/0 and still trailing by 50 in second innings. Aussies bowling attack ain't no potent anymore for sure! Also England are much better team since a year..especially after winning the T20WC.

 What else going on? The tennis masters. Love this event where the top 8 seeds in men take on each other. Nadal beat Murray to set up a final clash with Federer who beat Djokovic. Another Federer-Nadal final. This time though, my money is on Fedex. I just hope he does not cry!!!

 Manchester United. Old Trafford. These two words are very close to me since last 6 years. I used see all their matches before I started working. They are a club with a great pedigree of players  like David Becham, Ryan Giggs, Van Nisterooy, Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo, Scholes, Van De Saar, Neville, Ferdinand...and I can go on and on. Some of them are not here anymore, but here is where they became superstars.Last year was all Chelsea...unchallenged and dominant. This year I hope ma club give them a run for their money. Yesterday Manchester United spanked Blackburn Rovers 7-1,  5 from Berbatov to take them top of the table.

  World Cup 2011. They say all good things come to end one day. This is gonna be last world cup for Sachin Tendulkar. Cricket without Tendulkar will be very dull and it will be an end of an astaunishing era and there are not enough words in the English language to epitomise the greatness and legend of Sachin Tendulkar. World Cup is 82 days away. To be held in the subcontinent. Having won by the OZ last 3 times, they not gonna win for sure this time. I bet on India, Pakistan, South Africa to be sure shots to reach the last 4. 4th slot is open.  India should reach the final at least and hopefully win it!!!

3 Evergreen songs of My Generation

Hehe...God Bless America! :)) . Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...year end is surely very good for Americans. It's the holiday season, festive mood there and more importantly less workload for us! So Thanksgiving week being going on...yesterday was good...so is today. Today I tuned in to some really rythmic songs, the ones which make you feel elated. Brings a smile on your face...and in your heart.

Taal....released during my school days. Wonderful days were those. The era of Aishwarya Rai. Taal and HDDCS, Ash was omnipresent. Taal had wonderful music and beautiful songs. All of 'em are fabulous: The Taal Theme, Ishq Bina, Taal se Taal Mila and Kahin Aag Laage. Songs for American holidays, where the mind is free and these songs add to the heavensterity. (Alert: Another word coined by Kartik Vyas). Below is the theme..boy it's skwanking (Alert: Word already coined!) Also meet the phenomenon: A.R.Rahman



Another song... from Delhi 6. Maula maula. Dunno why...but many people din't like the movie much. I liked it. I think my sis liked it too. No one else from the royal family I guess. This song is all Kailash Kher. Great voice. This is a beautiful song...too bad I am not in Bangalore where I used to give free nite concerts..here there are 50 folks compared to barely 4 there. Also Yes A.R. Rahman again!



Third one is from Guru. Very inspiring movie on how to be a Bijnessmen. Closely inpired by Dhirubhai Ambani. I love the movie and the character played by Ash in it. Dream of having a beautiful and loving wife like that :D. And yes, A.R. Rahman again, not for nothing that...he is called the phenomenon.

3 songs that touch my heart...

Not much work..so after a blog..a review and a tweet..another blog..hehe. Normally when I do raat paali, I listen to kesha, taio cruz and black eyed peas kinda music(head bangin type) to keep me awake. Today I am already awake and not much work so listening to some hindi songs.

I listen to old hindi songs in bad health...love their lyrics. In the new ones..these are the three which I like..and are close to me..



This song of Ajab Gajab..is here because of Katrina Kaif..was bongers over her during my college days. Also Priyanka Chopra was in bongers list. Katrina has the cute looks, good attitude, sweet...nice girl! :)Also Ranbir, the new sugar boy...they form good pair on screen.



As Paas Hai Khuda...Anjaana Anjaani. Movie was crap...super crap. However, all the songs were real hit. Till recently...I was only bangin head on title track..till I heard this carefully...this is actually an inspirational song, the lyrics. Again Ranbir and Priyanka.. :)



Bin Tere..from I hate Love Storys...again this song is feeling type..also one of those days of Sonam Kapoor BEFORE she went crazy with Deepika on Koffee with Karan. Sonam is cute...sweet girl. Someone you can show to your parents kind...remember Sonam only before she reaches Koffee with Karan show ;)

Speaking in Business Terms

If you can earn 3lakhs per month doing the same thing you do for 30 grands, why not give it a shot! Business, if done properly with careful planning and risk analysis along with adequate domain knowledge can easily lead to high revenues.

In every domain there are two things, service and manufacture. More often than not manufacture is the one with more profit. If you consider the IT industry, especially the Indian IT industry, the top companies are mainly in service domain. The top two companies TCS and Infosys have only one product, the major part of revenue comes from providing IT services.

And so, I was thinking I am Computer Engineering and a damn good one at that :) , more than two years in the IT industry, time to make the leap? Why not, having your company before the age of 25!!! definetly makes me happy!!! :))

Good thing, about the IT industry is, only investment is a good rig and loads of time. You need to code and code like hell...and be hell good at that! Also having knowledge about system security is important and most important is creativity.

So, what's the point at the end of it? IT company before the age of 25??? Bring it on!

Diwali 2010, My

Come Diwali 2010, 5 day trip planned to Mumbai. I was in Hyderabad on Microsoft project, needing a respite from the hectic work and I was looking forward to it. It was a wonderful trip and here it goes.

For those who have missed any flights before they would no how important it is to be early at the airport, desolately I am one of them. Reached the airport 3 hours before the flight, damn I was so early the airline guy said I will get boarding pass after one hour. So just rested for an hour as I had done raat pali the day before.

Did get the boarding pass and I went inside. Hyderabad airport after long time, first thing is it does look like an airport…last time I checked it looked like a mall! Neways I did the security check and was wandering. A book shop ne where is an ideal time pass for me and there is one at the Airport and I went right in, checking out some books. I was already carrying Freakanomics to read, but still I feel like home in places like big book shops and library.

I found a book called “Love, Life & a Beer Can” by Prashant Sharma. Pretty catchy name for sure. Started reading it, read some 8 pages and then I thought, what the hell..it’s just 100 bucks and pretty cool book, I bought it. After than I was feeling hungry, normally I don’t feel like eating idlis worth 75 bucks and parathas worth 120 bucks, but I was damn hungry and Pizza Hut looked inviting, I had a Spicy Veg meal. Damn there were lotta chilly in it and barely any veg, had to remove the chillies which left me with only chees . Ne ways the meal was worth it as after boarding I had a good nap in flight..partly due to meal and partly due to my night shift. First time I believe I have slept while flying.

One thing which is always good to come home is the wonderful home food. This time no different…Dal dhokdi, muthiya, undhiyu, basundi, Puri, Gulab Jamun, etc. Also this Diwali was good because I meet lot of relatives, especially Dhruv bhai after long time. Had got gifts for everyone and glad everyone liked it . Wanted to see Golmaal 3 but didn’t find time, also I am longing to see Oberoi mall since last three trips but am unable to :( .

Obama has come to India and his trip has been pretty good for India as well as him. Today there was an official meeting after which Obama and Manmohan Singh addressed media and answered media questions. There was one question on outsourcing and Mr.Singh said and I quote: “We are not in the business of stealing jobs!” This line is like…I dunno simply magnificent. He is close to Obama but to make such a statement openly, kudos to Prime Minister. Also Aaj Tak went crazy…their headlines were like “Manmohan ne mara maidan!” ……..ROTFL. Many agreements and deals were signed. Obama also said, India is already an emerged super power! Sounds nice to the ears.

I travelled in local trains of Mumbai after almost 3 years, went all the way to Thane form Vile Parle. Went in the afternoon, so was not that crowded, but still felt good to travel, in the lifeline of Mumbai.

One of the great days in history for Indian cricket, India 85 for 6 in second innings with one whole day to go. Harbhajan Singh slammed his maiden test ton today…what a time to do it too!! India saved the test match and man of match was Bhajji. Also Liverpool are back, back and how, beating league leaders Chelsea 2-0. Newcastle beat Arsenal 1-0. Hope ma club MAN UTD can capitalize on this. It was Red Bull 1-2 in the pen ultimate race of F1. I believe they have sealed the constructors championship.

Overall, it was a very good diwali, quality time with family, great food, some most needed rest, some travelling….and yes I did download Kssha and Taio Cruz songs!!! Also saw Top Gun…that’s one of my all time movie! Also the new LCD in hall is awesome…everything going well :D.