Uday Rana's Blog

What is Life and do we really understand it?

2010-03-01T18:56:00.006+05:30

What is Life? Where am i heading next in my life? What has destiny planned for me? Will i be able fulfill my dreams? What is the purpose of each human life? What happens after death?

Well, these are a some of the few questions that have been running at the back of my mind since long. Do all of us even think or care about these questions? Should we have answers to them.

Being a nomadic mind explorer by nature i would say, YES i want to know the answers to all these questions. I've realized over the years thinking about these things that i've matured as an individual to a great extent. My respect for life and it's creations has tremendously increased.

Some of the answers i could discover are that Life is short; Nothing except change is permanent; Destiny has to offer you things which you desire badly; The purpose of each human being is to accomplish a certain dream of his without which he is as good as dead; Life is like a mirror, you see good things if you are a good person and vice-versa......

Recently some sudden tragic deaths around me has led to believe no one will survive forever and for long as he imagines. The greatest truth of all is Every inidividual comes alone and shall leave alone irrespective of the extent of his material possessions.

We are the captains of our own ship and can steer it to any direction in the wide ocean of life.
My only suggestion to all out there is to enjoy life in any manner that you may deem fit for yourself. The time is ticking away so fast that we cant predict the next moment.
And the best way to stay happy would be to do take decisions of your life on your own and not get dictated by others. Be confident, gather courage and go for it friend.

But with freedom comes responsibility. We have to create balance such that our decision do no harm to any other and rather creates much more happiness around.

We should introspect our inner self's as soon as possible, before it would be too late. It's important to find one's burning desires in life for which one is passionate and execute them soon. You cant predict whether you'll be able to reach there but what if you can, think of that day and strive harder for it. We have a limited vision, so just keep moving. And don't wait for the results but enjoy the journey/struggle to achieve your goals (coz' that's what really matters). Don't forget to keep faith in a higher force to give you the power to fight all odds.

I'll close by saying that i've practically applied all these thoughts to my life and i find that my life has a direction and meaning to it. I'm running straight (not exactly maybe Zig Zag ;-)) for my GOAL/ Desire. Will keep all of u posted the day i reach there (if u reach earlier than me to your goal, do tell me too)............Best of Luck to all !!

This is what Uday thinks about how to live one's life.......

2010-02-28T18:33:00.003+05:30

It’s gotten to the point where it has become the norm in our society to complain about your job at the end of your day to your friends and family.

It’s normal. This is how it’s supposed to be. That’s how life is. There’s no other way around it. You can’t escape it. That’s why it’s called work they say.

Somewhere along the line it happened. It just did. You took a job and you got “stuck”, but you stayed with it even though you hated it.

You dread the thought of going to work Sunday evening. Your stomach sinks as you pull into the parking lot Monday morning. You count the seconds until the clock hits 5 in the afternoon.

How did all this happen? How did the young kid you saw in the family album, smiling ear to ear, without a care in the world, filled with hopes, desires, and dreams, how did it all go wrong? Where did it all go wrong? When did it all go wrong? Can we track our steps back to the source of the problem?

To do that, let’s paint the typical life that the majority of people go through.

You come into this world as a crying baby, you slowly learn how to walk, everyone tells you how cute you are, you go to school, you act in a school play, you play handball, you go to middle school, your body starts to change, you get curious about the opposite sex, you hang out with your friends, go to the movies, etc.

Then high school comes along and you start hearing the whispers from the adults.

“What are you going to do when you grow up?”
“What college are you going to?”
“What are you going to major in?”

The college conveyer belt begins.

“Get a degree and you’ll be set.”
“College is the answer to career success.”
“College will get you a high paying job and respect from the rest.”

With all this constantly being preached to our high school kids, and no other options being put on the table, they automatically begin to follow “the path”.

They get into college as an undeclared major or choose a “safe” major until they decide what to study.

This is where the paths of each student seemingly start to diverge, but in reality, are all part of the same path that most people go on.

Some students go to law school or med school because that’s what their parents told them to do.
Some students major in engineering for the money.
Some students major in computer science because it’s the current “hot trend”.
Some students major in liberal arts.

Case in point, all of them graduate and they begin to reap the seeds they’ve sowed.

The seeds of conformity.

And who can blame them? They don’t even realize it until its too late.

The student who became a lawyer or doctor soon despises it because it was not his choice to make, but he feels trapped due to the enormous amount of loans he has taken out to finance his education so he feels he has no choice but to press on.

The student who went for the major that proves to pay the most money, soon realizes it’s not all about the money. Money does not buy happiness. It enslaves people. It takes away time from them and their family. The MTV lifestyle he saw does not exist in reality.

The student who majored in the hot trend is a mix of the above two. He made the choice outside himself AND for the money.

Then come the students who major in liberal arts degrees, degrees that people on the outside deem as “useless” (i.e – “What are you going to do with a degree in philosophy?”) and they bitch and moan about how there are no jobs and soon realize that a college degree does not entitle you to anything. They find that work experience and marketable skills comprise of the other side of the “college coin” that nobody ever mentioned to them.

And one of the most unspoken things about the glories of college education that inevitably “shock” college graduates is the debt they incur and must pay back after they graduate. The average is roughly the same as paying off a loan used to buy a brand new entry level luxury vehicle with no money down.

Authority figures ranging from parents, to teachers, to counselors had good intentions when pushing students toward the college track because that’s what worked for them, for their generation, but not now.

Case in point, there’s a lot of post college disillusionment going on these days and rightfully so because most people felt they were “lied” to when they were young.

A couple months after they graduate from college, they sense that something was wrong with “the system”, that it did not deliver what it had promised them.

In an ideal world the educational system would be set up to “fit” each person with their ideal job/career. It might help identify potential entrepreneurs and encourage them to start their own businesses. It might help identify potential architects, designers, analysts, etc.

Using this approach, society AND the individual would benefit.

You would find the best fit for the best person while they are still young to set them on the right track and society in turn would get the best workers for the best jobs and the best entrepreneurs for the best businesses and the individual would be happy doing the work they were suited for, and doing a stand up job at it as well.

But again, that’s in an ideal society.

The educational system is outdated now. It is failing our children. It needs to be fixed. Colleges are proud of the fact that they don’t offer courses that will help in real life. And you’ll find that after talking with a lot of college graduates, that they never applied what they learned.

That’s not to say that all college is bad. College is great if you’re specializing in something – medicine, law, engineering and then there’s the intangibles of college that also help – network connections, job fairs, life-long friends, potential marriage mates, etc.

The educational system itself hasn’t failed completely; it’s just the mindset surrounding it that has failed as it has become outdated.

If the educational system has failed to keep up with current events, where can the solution be found next?

Again, in an ideal world, it would be the corporation.

The more corporations begin to realize that more than 80% of their workforce absolutely HATE their jobs, the more they realize this hatred leads to loss of time and money and productivity, the more that companies begin to realize that happy people are productive people and that happy people are those who like what they’re doing, the more they will start to invest in products and services geared toward fitting the right people in their companies with the right jobs within their companies, and the more happier both companies and workers, not to mention shareholders, will be.

Again, in an ideal society, all this would be great. But as we all know, we are not living in an ideal society. The world is changing too fast and the system can’t keep up.

Up to a certain point, you can blame the education system and all the proponents of it for putting you on the college conveyor belt.
Up to a certain point, you can blame the economy for putting you in a job you hate.
Up to a certain point, you can blame “the capitalist system” in general for your troubles.

But the hardest pill to swallow is that it’s up to YOU to find the job you love.

And that it was always up to you to do it. You were just too young to have realized it.

The trouble is nobody thinks for themselves and it’s hard to blame them because we are not taught to think for ourselves at a young age and it becomes that much harder to acquire this habit later on in life.

We are taught to conform. Individualistic thinking is discouraged. It’s dangerous to have people think for themselves in society.

And it’s not a conspiracy. It’s just the natural mechanics of any society. Look at any society and you will find this to be true.

Nobody is going to tell you the kind of job you love to do and in reality, nobody can do it for you because only you know yourself the best.

You need to take some time to do deep introspection. Look within first, then without to find something that matches. If you do it the opposite way, it’s a crapshoot. You might get lucky but chances are, you won’t find a match.

The common thread here on why so many people are in jobs they hate is because they conform in the sense they are taught the “look outside and automatically accept philosophy”, not the “look inside, then look outside to see what matches” individualistic type philosophy.

Imagine you’re in a shoe store and you buy a pair of rugged hiking boots that fit well above your ankles.

But you want to play tennis with these shoes. It’s not going to help is it? Plus the size of the shoe you bought is about 4 times too big.

Would it not make sense to decide FIRST what kind of shoe you want to buy based on the activity you plan to use it for?
To measure your size shoe to find the size that fits right?
To determine the color and style of it to match your own personality?

How ironic it is that we practice this “within, then without” philosophy when we buy our cars, our shoes, our clothes, but when it comes to something that we will be doing for half of our adult lives, we never apply the same philosophy.

Some people still don’t understand the importance of this “within, then without self introspection” philosophy and they start job hopping, wandering around, hoping it will all work out. Get some jobs as an administrative assistant, get a job in sales, marketing, customer service, hoping to find that “it” and while it may work sometimes, it takes a lot of time just because it’s like a blind man groping around every which way. True it may work and help, but it’s a long shot.

Still others cling to their jobs they hate like life jackets, afraid to take risks, to leave the safe job, and further compound their misery by piling themselves up in debt racking up purchases with their credit cards after being led to believe from advertisers that it will make them feel better about themselves. They still have the conformity mentality.

So what to do now?

Nobody is going to show you the way.
Nobody can really show you the way.
They can guide you, but it’s up to you to do it.

The system has failed. It’s up to you to create your own system.

The very first thing is to start thinking for yourself. Question things. Question the norm. Look within. Start doing things for yourself. This will be extremely hard because you’ve been conditioned your whole life to not do this. Go down paths you truly want to go despite what your friends and family will think about you.

Know that your path may look like a zig zag to yourself and to those close to you, but look at from sufficient distance and you will see it’s really a straight line leading you to where you want to be.

We have to think for ourselves. The sooner this is taught to our children, the better. Unfortunately, it’s simply not in society’s best interest to do this. Society functions well when there is conformity.

That’s not to say that the whole “go to college” mentality is bad. There is a glass ceiling for those without a college degree. Having a degree can open up a lot of doors and opportunities.

The point is to look within first, then without, in order to find a college and a major that matches accordingly.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with going college.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with not going to college.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with deciding to forge your own path after high school.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of the above choices provided it’s based on the inside - what you believe in, what kind of life you want, what you stand for, what you think you can do well, etc.

Some people lie down and give up, sticking to jobs they hate, and rationalize it any which way to make themselves feel better, but that proves to be futile. Who are you kidding? Your working life accounts for half your adult life and you’d be a fool to think it doesn’t impact other areas of your life. Your health, your friends, your family, relationships, finances, etc. It impacts all of it.

Would you spend half your day in an environment that is “toxic” to your mental, emotional, and even physical health and expect it not to impact your life?

I recently read on Yahoo that people spend $30,000 for a wedding. Keep in mind that a wedding lasts a single day. In fact, it lasts less then a day. They hire a caterer, wedding planner and plan for months, sometimes even years in advance and go all out.

Self introspection and the ability to truly think for yourself is probably one of the VERY best investments you can ever make in your entire life.

Don’t ever conform to other people’s wishes.

Look within and life will conform to your very own.

Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus - The Climb Lyrics

2010-02-17T18:24:00.002+05:30

I can almost see it
That dream I'm dreaming but
There's a voice inside my head sayin,
You'll never reach it,
Every step I'm taking,
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking but I
Got to keep trying
Got to keep my head held high
There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm gonna to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing,
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down but
No I'm not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm going to remember most yeah
Just got to keep going
And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on, cause
There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm gonna to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb (yeah)

There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes you going to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb (yeah yeah ea ea)

Keep on moving
Keep climbing
Keep the faith baby
It's all about
It's all about
The climb
Keep the faith
Keep your faith

Motivational Quotes

2009-06-09T22:16:00.001+05:30

* If you want to get somewhere you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never, never give up.
-Norman Vincent Peale
* Crystallize your goals. Make a plan for achieving them and set yourself a deadline. Then, with supreme confidence, determination and disregard for obstacles and other people's criticisms, carry out your plan. -Paul Meyer

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution FQ-400 - the fastest EVO ever

2009-06-03T16:07:00.005+05:30

For the last couple of generations of the Lancer Evolution, Mitsubishi Motors UK has been churning out even faster versions of this road going rally car in the form of the FQ models. Their latest launch, the FQ-400, based on the new Evolution X, takes the crown of the fastest Evo ever produced.

The real world isn't really a race track. It's a place where the roads are no wider than a single truck, where the turns are tighter than a gymnast's leotards and where surfaces can include bumps, broken tarmac, bits of gravel and wet patches. Low slung Ferraris and Lamborghinis, fast as they may be, will generally struggle to not ground their noses on such typical B-roads.

For over one and a half decades, one car has been the true champion of country roads, faster than any other when the driving leaves the confines of the race track. The car in question is none other than the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution - a car born from the rough and tumble world of the World Rally Championship, and specifically designed for near-supercar performance in the real world.

After ten evolutions of the Evolution over the last 17 years, Mitsubishi Motors UK has launched the fastest and most extreme version of this road going rally car ever produced - the FQ-400. The FQ-400's over-the-top performance, and even its name, comes from the tweaked up version of the lightweight aluminium 2.0-litre turbocharged MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve timing Electronic Control) engine under the hood, which now produces over 408 PS of power and an insane 525 Nm of torque.

And this means performance that can accelerate the car from 0 to 100km/h in a mere 3.8 seconds and rearrange all your internal organs while doing so. And the FQ-400 also becomes one of the rare inline-4 engined road-cars that actually have to be electronically limited to 250km/h. All this extra muscle is possible primarily because of race-spec high-flow fuel injectors and a higher spec hybrid turbocharger features low-friction bearings, a high temperature turbine and strengthened thrust bearing to increase response and reduce turbo lag. Of course, the gigantic turbo is backed up by an enhanced intercooler and a high-flow stainless steel exhaust system that does the job of feeding the turbo and purging hot waste gases respectively.

Of course, just going fast in a straight line isn't the Evo's philosophy and relies on the mantra of ripping your face off using high lateral Gs by going really, really fast around corners. The S-AWC (Super All Wheel Control) permanent four-wheel drive system in conjunction with the Active Stability Control, Active Centre Differential, Active Yaw Control and Sport ABS that give the Evo superb cornering performance stay pretty much the same on the FQ-400 model, but are more than up to the job of handling all the extra horsepower and speed.

Reading a list of tweaks and mods on the bone-stock FQ-400 is akin to reading a pro-tuner's Christmas wish list. And the goodies that Santa Clause has delivered on this car straight out of the factory include wider track and lowered suspension made possible using Bilstein shock absorbers with Eibach springs, lightweight 18-inch nine spoke alloy wheels shod with Toyo Proxes R1R tyres and an Alcon braking system which uses aerospace grade aluminium alloys and a floating sealed disc grabbed by high performance pads.

As if the current shark-nose Evo design wasn't aggressive enough, the FQ-400 wears a few more rally-car clothes and bears striking resemblances to the styling cues of the legendary Evolution VI. But the 'go-faster' bits aren’t all show and no go. The light weight composite front bumper incorporating Mitsubishi's trademark 'Jet Fighter' grille features carbon-fibre elements on its leading edges to regulate airflow over the front of the car, while a heavily vented hood helps to keep the high-performance engine cool under the extreme stresses. Composite side skirts, a carbon-fibre rear diffuser, a large rear wing with a gurney strip and roof mounted 'shark-fin' vortex generators all do the job of channeling air over the rear of the car to keep it on the straight and narrow.

The FQ-400 doesn't compromise on safety either, as the car has received the highest possible five-star Euro NCAP safety rating. The no-compromise theme follows on the insides with Recaro bucket sports seats, an FQ-400 liveried handbrake, a carbon-fibre gear knob, Bluetooth hands-free telephone connection, a CD-tuner with a 30 GB hard drive, DVD satellite navigation and privacy glass.

Performance like a supercar, all the practicality of a high-end four door saloon combined with the ability to handle nearly everything that real-world roads can throw at it - this is the philosophy of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution FQ-400. Truly an all-round performer!

BRABUS Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe (Stunning Beauty)

2009-05-26T14:15:00.012+05:30

With the recent launch of the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe, it was only a matter of time before the tuners at the famed German car modification firm, BRABUS, got their hands on it and released a host of cuztomization options for it.

Apart from the standard fare of visual mods that include a redesigned front bumper with aerodynamic aids, side skirts and rear bumper, BRABUS also offers performance upgrades on nearly all the engines available on the car ? right from the 5.5-litre V8 on the E500 (which is increased to 6.1-litres) to the inline-4 and V6 diesel mills. BRABUS also specializes in modifying suspension setups that offer the best of great handling characteristics combined with a comfortable ride-quality that is necessary in real world, non race track conditions, and as such, offer the same on this new E-Class Coupe as well.

World's Top Employer's for MBA graduates

2009-05-25T16:32:00.022+05:30

Internet search giant Google has emerged as the world's top employer for MBA graduates for the third year in row, according to the Fortune magazine.

The Top 100 MBA employers' list, comprising of firms where B-school students most want to work, was compiled by Fortune based on an exclusive survey by research firm Universum.

Here is the list of the world's top employer for MBA graduates....

Google
Rank: 1

Google has been ranked at the first place in the list of top 100 employers for B-school graduates, with over 20 per cent MBA graduates wishing to work at the firm for its stellar reputation and innovative work environment.

McKinsey & Company
Rank: 2nd

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm.

Bain & Co
Rank: 3rd

Bain & Company is one of the world's leading global business consulting firms, serving clients across six continents.

Financial services major Goldman Sachs Group
Rank: 4th

Despite the financial crisis fallout, Goldman Sachs has kept a golden reputation and continues to rank very high among MBA graduates ready to launch a career in banking.

Tech giant Apple
Rank: 5th

Apple Inc, formerly Apple Computer Inc, is US based multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and software products

The Boston Consulting Group
Rank: 6th

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm.

Walt Disney
Rank: 7th

The Walt Disney Company is one of the the largest media and entertainment firms in the world.

Nike
Rank: 8th

Nike Inc is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States.

JP Morgan
Rank: 9th

JPMorgan is one of the oldest financial services firms in the world.

Johnson & Johnson
Rank: 10th

Johnson & Johnson is a global American pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886.

PTI

Genpact clocked $1.04 bn In 2008 revenues

2009-05-21T09:09:00.001+05:30

Genpact, the only $1-billion plus India-based business process outsourcing (BPO) company is confident of achieving 10-15% growth in revenue for the 2009 calendar as provided in its guidance going by the traction it has been witnessing at the marketplace.

Genpact registered a revenue of $1.04 billion for the calendar year ending 2008 recording a year-onyear (YoY) growth of 26% and had provided a topline guidance of 10-15 % for 2009. “Around 80% of our revenue comes non-discretionary spend of our customers,” said VN Tyagarajan , COO, Genpact.

Non-discretionary spend in technology refers to must do investments in IT. The company which accounts for GE, Nissan, GlaxoSmithKline among its clients is also seeing around 80% of business coming from existing customers. Mr Tyagarajan said that annuity business of Genpact remains stable and claimed that it has been able to deliver value to the customers.

Tyagarajan said it has been able to mine its existing customers much better to get higher revenue and in the process moving up the value chain. Genpact also believes that its customers are keen on giving out more outsourcing contracts.

Without quantifying the exact amount of contracts in the pipeline, Mr Tyagarajan said it remains still strong, though the actual time of conversion would be taking a longer extending sometimes upto 12 months.

Currently, Genpact has around 36,500 people with delivery centres spread across 12 countries. Besides, Genpact has also been making a strong foray into the domestic markets of India & China and has been seeing certain strong traction.

Genpact, which was earlier a captive of General Electric still has the latter as one of its largest customer, accounting for 47% of its revenue in 2008. The BPO does not expect this to change any time soon as it is still getting more contracts from GE.

Worst cars in the world for gas mileage (Fuel economy)

2009-05-20T10:37:00.010+05:30

Lamboghini Murcielago

Least Efficient Two Seater: Lamboghini Murcielago. City 8 mpg, Highway 13 mpg. As Obama looks to boost fuel economy standards, a look at cars on the road with the worst gas mileages, according to the Department of Energy's FuelEconomy.gov web site.

Aston Martin DB9

Least Efficient Minicompact Car: Aston Martin DB9. City 11 mpg, Highway 17 mpg.

Bentley Continental GTC

Least Efficient Subcompact Car: Bentley Continental GTC. City 10 mpg, Highway 17 mpg.

Bentley Azure

Least Efficient Compact Car: Bentley Azure. City 9 mpg, Highway 15 mpg.

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti

Least Efficient Midsize Car: Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. City 9 mpg, Highway 16 mpg.

Ford Ranger Pickup

Least Efficient Small Pickup Truck: Ford Ranger Pickup 4WD. City 14 mpg, Highway 18 mpg.

Jeep Grand Cherokee

Least Efficient Sport Utility Vehicle: Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD. City 11 mpg, Highway 14 mpg.

Toyota Sienna

Least Efficient Minivan: Toyota Sienna 4WD. City 16 mpg, Highway 21 mpg.

Nissan Titan

Least Efficient Standard Pickup Truck: Nissan Titan 4WD. City 12 mpg, Highway 17 mpg.

(Disclaimer : The above given article is courtesy of Reuter News and its copyrights shall remain with its respective original owners)

SUPERSONIC SENSEX (INDIA STOCK MARKET) CREATES HISTORY WITH LARGEST INTRADAY JUMP !

2009-05-19T08:41:00.005+05:30

Monday was an action packed day for the Indian stock market. All the investors were exepecting a big rally due to the victory of the congress led UPA in the recent elections. I was guessing a run of around 1,000 points on the sensex a day earlier on sunday.

In the morning as i left for office at 11:30 AM, i switched on my radio in the car and was shocked to hear the news of circuit being applied in the stock market due to sudden upsurge.

Nearly all market participants had expected the key indices to rise 8-10% in early trade following the UPA’s convincing win in the recent elections. But only few had expected the gains to sustain till the end of the day.

IT WAS a frenzy unprecedented in the history of the Indian stock market. Investors scrambled to buy stocks as if there was no tomorrow, almost certain that the emergence of a stable government at the Centre would solve all the ills dogging the economy. In the mad rush, circuit breakers on the upside were triggered, and trading had to be halted from 12 noon onwards. This is the first time that trading has been suspended after the upper circuit breakers were breached.

The 30-share Sensex ended the truncated session at 14,284.21, up 2,110.79 points, or 17.3%, over the previous close. The 50-share Nifty ended the session at 4,323.15, up 651.50 points, or 17.74%, over the previous close.

Monday’s spectacular rally has benefited only those who are already invested. Traded turnover on both exchanges combined was barely Rs 3,000 crore, indicating that few traders or investors got a chance to participate in the upswing. Foreign institutional investors managed to make net investment of just Rs 45 crore.

Indications are that the market could rise further on Tuesday, but there will be profit-booking at higher levels, as brokers are advising their clients to take profits while they can.

The rupee moved in sync with stocks, and posted its biggest single-day gain against the dollar in more than 11 years when it closed 3% higher at 47.88 on Monday. Gold, however, lost its sheen by Rs 385 and closed at Rs 14,440 per 10 gram in Mumbai.

There was some confusion early on, as the indices breached the first 10% circuit breaker without trading being halted. The Nifty had risen more than 14% and the Sensex close to 12% when trading was stopped a few minutes after 10. When trading resumed at 11:55 am, indices quickly shot past the next trigger levels (in terms of points) prompting exchanges to halt trading for the rest of the session.

DECODING CIRCUIT BREAKER

> What is a circuit breaker?

A circuit breaker helps check abnormal movement in indices, and also stock manipulation. The breaker is applied in three stages of movement — 10%, 15% and 20% — either up or down.
How’s the circuit limit fixed?
A circuit limit is fixed on the basis of the indices’ closing values at the end of the previous quarter. Monday’s limits were based on the closing values of the Sensex and the Nifty on March 31, 2009.
> A MINUTE IN HISTORY

• For the first time in Indian stock market history, trading suspended for hitting the UPPER CIRCUIT
• Only 845 companies were able to trade on BSE while the number on NSE was just 587

BioData Of Dr Manmohan Singh (PM) Must Read

2009-05-16T20:55:00.001+05:30

EDUCATION /Qualification :

1950: Stood first in BA (Hons), Economics, Punjab University , Chandigarh ,
1952; Stood first in MA (Economics), Punjab University , Chandigarh ,
1954; Wright's Prize for distinguished performance at St John's College, Cambridge,
1955 and 1957; Wrenbury scholar, University of Cambridge,
1957; DPhil ( Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India's export competitiveness

OCCUPATION /Teaching Experience:

Professor (Senior lecturer, Economics, 57-59;
Reader, Economics, 1959-63;
Professor, Economics, Punjab University , Chandigarh , 1963-65; Professor, International Trade, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi,
1969-71; Honorary professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University ,New Delhi,
1976 and Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi ,1996 and Civil Servant

Working Experience/ POSITIONS:

1971-72: Economic advisor, ministry of foreign trade
1972-76: Chief economic advisor, ministry of finance
1976-80: Director, Reserve Bank of India ; Director, Industrial Development Bank of India ; Alternate governor for India , Board of governors, Asian Development Bank;
Alternate governor for India , Board of governors, IBRD
November 1976 - April 1980: Secretary, ministry of finance (Department of economic affairs); ! Member, finance, Atomic Energy Commission; Member, finance, Space Commission
April 1980 - September 15, 1982 : Member-secretary, Planning Commission
1980-83: Chairman , India Committee of the Indo-Japan joint study committee
September 16, 1982 - January 14, 1985: Governor, Reserve Bank of India ...
1982-85: Alternate Governor for India, Board of governors, International Monetary Fund
1983-84: Member, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister
1985: President, Indian Economic Association
January 15, 1985 - July 31, 1987 : Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
August 1, 1987 - November 10, 19! : Secretary-general and commissioner, south commission, Geneva
December 10, 1990 - March 14, 1991 : Advisor to the Prime Minister on economic affairs
March 15, 1991 - June 20, 1991 : Chairman, UGC
June 21, 1991 - May 15, 1996 : Union finance minister
October 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam on Congress ticket
June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the ministry of finance
August 1, 1996 - December 4, 1997: Chairman, Parliamentary standing
committee on commerce
March 21, 1998 onwards: Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha
June 5, 98 onwards: Member, committee on finance
August 13, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on rules
Aug 1998-2001: Member, committee of privileges 2000 onwards: Member, executive committee, Indian parliamentary group
June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
Aug 2001 onwards: Member, general purposes committee

BOOKS:

India 's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth -Clarendon Press, Oxford University, 64; also published a large number of articles in various economic journals.

OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Adam Smith Prize, University of Cambridge , 1956
Padma Vibhushan, 1987
Euro money Award, Finance Minister of the Year, 1993;
Asia money Award, Finance Minister of the Year for Asia, 1993 and 1994

INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS:

1966: Economic Affairs Officer
1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD
1972-74: Deputy for India in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform
1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings
1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting
1982: Indo-Soviet monitoring group meeting
1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Cyprus 1993: Human Rights World Conference, Vienna

RECREATION :

Gymkhana Club, New Delhi; Life Member, India International Centre, New Delhi

Name: Dr Manmohan Singh
DOB: September 26, 1932
Place of Birth: Gah ( West Punjab)
Father: S. Gurmukh Singh
Mother: Mrs. Amrit Kaur
Married on: September 14, 1958
Wife: Mrs. Gursharan Kaur
Children: Three daughters

Our Prime Minister seems to be the most qualified PM all over the world.

Rahul Gandhi - Star of India Election 2009

2009-05-16T17:29:00.010+05:30

Today was the final day when the world's largest democracy would see the results to its future. And almost all the media covered the event enthusiastically. I watched almost all the channels surfing through every piece of news coming from across all parts of india. It was not a surprise for me to see Congress leading from the front in the election results. This is what i had expected and also voted for. Congress is winning big. This result is the better than 1989 results.

In my constituency alone, the congress candidate - Ramesh Kumar for whom i had voted for won and Congress also won all the 7 seats from delhi.

But the only disappointing news was that Congress lost 4 seats to BJP in Himachal Pradesh. Since i originally hail from Pragpur in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh wasn't a good news. Even after congress working so hard for people out there, voters went for BJP. Schemes like National Rural Employment Gaurantee Scheme were supposed to be a great hit amogst residents.

Just one day earlier to the counting day, one exit poll after another showed the UPA edging ahead of the NDA. The BJP was quick to rubbish the findings, saying that exit polls were notoriously unreliable and would be proved wrong on May 16. The exit polls were indeed proved incorrect. But unfortunately for the BJP, they had in fact severely underestimated the strength of the UPA. BJP's agenda of "Mazboot Neta, Mazboot Sarkaar" in this election campaign went bust. The main problem i believe BJP's campaign faced was instead of focussing on the welfare issues and the work that they intend to do if they won the election, they focussed more on making Advani the PM (remember : PM in waiting). This made the voter wary, that maybe BJP is more interested in making a PM rather than working for them.

At the time of writing, we still have mostly leads and indicators, and few final results. But it seems fairly clear that the UPA is coming back for another term. The good news for Congress is that the Left has no significance now. After being decimated in Kerala, and suffering a severe setback in its bastion, West Bengal, the Left - purveyor of an obsolete ideology - now has little leverage left at the Centre. There were incoming comments from leading industrial houses that this was a great news for the economy that Left would have no interference in the government making this time around. Comments from Rahul Bajaj, Bharti Airtel , L&T, etc. were positive related to this news.

The biggest loser, though, is possibly L K Advani, who now appears doomed. It's hard to see him leading the BJP in another Lok Sabha election. His moment has passed. Now, expect BJP's Gen Next to start asserting itself. There were mutterings even during this election about anointing Narendra Modi as the BJP leader. Some news are clearly indicating that this election might be a loss for BJP but this has helped Narendra Modi establish himself as the next big thing.

The BJP can derive some relief from the fact that it performed reasonably well in the states where it claims of providing good governance: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. But there are still large parts of the country where it is completely unacceptable to the voter. It can only achieve its ambition of once again holding sway in Delhi if it manages to stage a dramatic revival in Uttar Pradesh. But that seems an increasingly difficult prospect, especially now that the Congress has put up a stunning show in that crucial state. The secular "hindutva" agenda of BJP is now not acceptable to the public.

The BSP has fared much worse than it expected to in UP, which effectively checks Mayawati's prime ministerial aspirations for now (even as sighs of relief resound in millions of middle-class drawing rooms). In the neighbouring state of Bihar, Nitish Kumar has been richly rewarded for energising the hitherto dysfunctional state machinery. It seems that the Hindi heartland is finally looking beyond identity politics and casteist rhetoric, and yearning for the benefits of good governance. If that's true, then it's undoubtedly good news for India as a whole.

Congress has benefited from the efforts of several other leaders and chief ministers. Andhra Pradesh was crucial for the Congress, and YSR has held his own. In Delhi, Sheila Dikshit is going from strength to strength.

Incidentally, Rahul Gandhi had a big role to play in the Congress's gamble of going it alone in UP (remember, his own constituency is in that state). Now that it has paid off, his political stature will rise by leaps and bounds. Also, he was without doubt the star campaigner for the Congress, clocking the most miles and addressing most rallies. Rahul Travelled 87,000 kms. all over india in approx. 120 constituencies. Thats far more than any other Neta. And out of 120 constituencies he visited, congress won in 70 of them. Great Work.

People might debate about the dynasty politics that congress plays, but it is a fact that the Nehru-Gandhi family have played a crucial role in laying the foundations of India. India's public shall remain indebted to these families forever. This time round, Rahul has certainly kept his side of the bargain. And the person who worked the hardest for the Congress in UP was probably Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, which is only going to further strengthen the family's grip on India's Grand Old Party. Priyanka's new style of dressing up like her grandmother, Indira Gandhi has been a hit all around. People have been found talking that she resemble sMs. Indira to a great extent.

In retrospect, the Congress took two huge gambles - breaking with the Left, and going it alone in UP. If either, or both, had failed, it could have cost the Congress the government. Instead, they succeeded spectacularly, perhaps beyond even the most optimistic expectations of the Congress itself. It is coming back even stronger then before, minus the baggage of the Left, with potentially troublesome allies like Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan now humbled and in no position to throw their weight around.

The UPA has a shot at another five-year term, and Manmohan Singh is not getting any younger. Sooner or later, expect a passing of the torch to Rahul and his trusted team. I would predict that one day, a Rahul-led Congress would battle a Modi-led BJP for the heart, mind and soul of India. Today, I believe that prediction is more likely to come true than ever before. But for now, the star that's shining brightest on the Indian political firmament is undoubtedly Rahul Gandhi. Jai Ho Congress ! Jai Ho India !

Review of the Schweppes AD with Arjun Rampal and Nicole Kidman

2009-05-16T09:15:00.006+05:30

Friends i would like to start off by saying that both Nicole and Arjun are undoubtedly one of the best looking people on this planet. I adore both of them.

Now recently Schweppes, the beverage maker decided to do a commercial ad with both of them and Rubina Ali of slumdog millionaire fame. The commercial has been shot wonderfully in the beautiful locales of Udaipur, Rajasthan (Hotel Lake Palace).

Everything looks perfect in the commercial but the only thing missing in the commercial was "creativity". Nicole comes close to Arjun and then runs away to have a schweppes beverage, seems a bit odd. Just a show of glamour. Nothing great about the concept. It could have been made much more exciting. Talent wasted, i must say.

In the last frame of the commercial, after running away from arjun, nicole comes in a room undressing her clothes and then picks up schweppes drink and says to rubina "what were you expecting?". Well first of all the schweppes drink looks odd at this point and rather she should have opened a champagne bottle. Maybe that would have looked classier and sold more bottles than a schweppes. Coz myself being a marketing person, after watching the commercial i don't feel an urge to go and buy a schweppes drink. Cant say about the rest of the people but Not convincing enough !

But never mind, enjoy watching the two stunners, Arjun & Nicole !

Review of Vodafone Zoo Zoo Commercial

2009-05-15T17:12:00.015+05:30

Being a Vodafone corporate mobile phone no. holder i thought it was necessary to review the new Vodafone commercial "ZOO ZOO".

You must have noticed those cute and funny and seemingly animated characters which many mistake for alien like creatures in the advertisements of Vodafone on tv during IPL 2 Season.

One distinct feature of these characters is the white overall’s , fat bellies, disproportional heads and limbs, and dots for eyes n mouths.

But as a matter of fact, these Zoozoo characters which are used for ads of various value added services of Vodafone are infact Real people dressed up in costumes. The whole ad is not an animation and has been shot such that it gives an impression of being an animation film.

In a first in the indian advertising industry, Ad film maker Prakash Varma [ Nirvana Films] chose a unique and innovative concept straight out of the book i.e. focusing on the product and the services being offerred rather than getting lots of glam and glitz who actually take away the ad’s focus towards themselves. Varma who has directed these commercials and reveals that the Zoozoos were a big challenge to create, and mostly women stage actors and occasionally children were used .

The important aspect is that since Zoozoos speak gibberish and walk in a particularly funny way which mimics humans in a variety of ways often exaggerating what real people do. The practical aspects of how they will move, talk, gesticulate and emote were very important. Hence, costume design and artwork were crucial elements.

The backdrop of these ads is fairly simple to avoid attention being diverted to other subjects.
Such is the craze with Zoozoo that Vodafone ads are among the most watched videos on YouTube and there are over 50,000 Zoozoo fans on Facebook.

Vodafone has been innovative in its ad campaigns , every1 still remembers the cute lil pug in the Hutch ads which “ goes wherever you go “. I would confess that i always wanted to buy a pug, after seeing this ad. I had a german shephard dog earlier to this.

In contrast to Airtel which offers better services and is a much larger market share holder and bigger player, Vodafone inspite of being a new entrant has done something which people are actually taking notice of.

We do remember the Airtel jingle which A.R. Rahman composed which was very very hummable , but apart from that getting stars / celebs to do ads doesnt work wonders for products at the end of the day.

Great going VodaFone........All the best!!!

Berkshire Hathaway (WARREN BUFFETT) at a glance

2009-05-15T12:33:00.004+05:30

Reuters

Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, US, that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. Berkshire Hathaway's core business is insurance, including property and casualty insurance, reinsurance and specialty nonstandard insurance.The Company averaged an annual growth in book value of 20.3% to its shareholders for the last 44 years, while employing large amounts of capital, and minimal debt.Buffett, 78, took over Berkshire in 1965 when it was a struggling textile mill. Berkshire now owns close to 80 companies and has a market value of roughly $145 billion.The following information about Berkshire and its investments is drawn from the company's 2008 annual report and its website:

Financial information :

2008 net income: $4.99 billion
Change from prior year: down 62 per cent
2008 net income per share: $3,224
2008 revenue: $107.786 billion
Cash and equivalents at year-end: $25.54 billion
Common stock investments at year-end: $49.07 billion

Selected companies owned :

Benjamin Moore Iscar Metalworking
Borsheim's Fine Jewelry Marmon Holdings
Clayton Homes MidAmerican Energy Fruit of the Loom National Indemnity
Geico Nebraska Furniture Mart
General Re NetJets
International Dairy Queen See's Candies

Major stock investments as of December 31, 2008 :
American Express - 151,610,700
Coca-Cola Co - 200,000,000
ConocoPhillips - 84,896,273
Johnson & Johnson - 30,009,591
Kraft Foods Inc - 130,272,500
POSCO - 3,947,554
Procter & Gamble - 91,941,010
Sanofi-Aventis - 22,111,966
Tesco PLC - 227,307,000
US Bancorp - 75,145,426
Wal-Mart Stores Inc - 19,944,300
Washington Post - 1,727,765
Wells Fargo & Co - 304,392,068

Also has holdings in Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp and Moody's Corp carried at "equity value," equal to cost plus retained earnings since purchase, minus taxes that would be paid if the earnings were paid as dividends. Accounting treatment usually required when ownership tops 20 per cent.

(Note : The above information/data have been gathered from secondary sources such as official websites, etc. and the copyrights of the logo/data is held by their respective owners.)

Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG (The Family Car - Review)

2009-05-12T13:16:00.008+05:30

There are fast cars and then there are some really fast cars. AMG has always been associated with making the three pointed star into blazing comets and the latest to come out of the AMG factory is the all new E 63 AMG. Just shortly after the launch of the new E-Class, the high-performance brand within Mercedes-Benz Cars is presenting the new E 63 AMG.

One look at the new car and you know it means business. The front aspect is characterised by 17 mm wider wings bearing 6.3 AMG lettering, the new AMG front apron with large air intake apertures and the AMG-specific daytime driving lights using LED technology. In conjunction with the standard Intelligent Light System, the E 63 AMG is equipped with tinted main headlamps. The striking visual presence is further enhanced by the AMG side skirts and AMG rear apron with a black diffuser insert. As a hallmark of the brand, the AMG sports exhaust system has two newly designed, chrome-plated twin tailpipes which speaks of the cars devilish intent.

Step inside the car and you're welcomed by a blend of high-grade materials and functional sportiness. As a completely new feature exclusive to the E 63 AMG, the AMG selector lever has one-touch logic. Directly adjacent to it in the centre console is the AMG DRIVE UNIT, which provides adjustments for the MCT sports transmission, the ESP functions, the suspension set-up and the AMG driving modes. Standard equipment also includes high-grade nappa leather upholstery in three different colours, the AMG instrument cluster with an AMG main menu, door entry sills with AMG lettering and a sports pedal cluster, both in brushed stainless steel.
The real deal however lies under the hood. Equipped with a 6.3-litre V8 engine in the new E 63 AMG develops a power output of 525 hp and a torque figure of 630 Nm, matching the outstanding figures of it bigger sibling, the SL 63 AMG. It also borrows the SL's AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT 7-speed sports transmission. In conjunction with the four individual driving modes, the throttle-blipping and RACE START functions, the resulting, direct connection to the powertrain bestows the car with performance that is unheard of. Slam the throttle and the quick revving, naturally aspirated engine with a displacement of 6208 cc hits the ton in just 4.5 seconds going on to hit an electronically limited top speed of 248 km/h.

To handle the twisties with the straights the AMG RIDE CONTROL sports suspension copes equally well with the agile manoeuvres of the racetrack and more comfortable, sedate driving. While new steel spring struts are used on the front axle, the rear suspension features AMG-specific air springs. The front spring struts ensure more sensitive responses while the rear air struts with their automatic level control system keep the vehicle at a constant height irrespective of the load. So what you have is a track oriented family sedan.
For more direct responsiveness, the speed-sensitive rack-and-pinion steering is also a new development. The steering ratio of 14 : 1 is 22 percent more direct than in the standard production models, while a more rigid steering column plus the reconfigured characteristic mapping of the speed-sensitive servo assistance ensure better steering precision and improved road contact. Sportscar for the family then? You bet!

3G: The future is here

2009-05-12T09:24:00.002+05:30

3G is known as an ITU (International Telecommunications Union) plan for third generation mobile communication technologies. Generally, UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) is referred to as 3G, which is broadband, packet-based transmission of text, digitised voice, video and multimedia at data rates up to or higher than 2 Mbps. Mobile phone users can enjoy a consistent range of services irrespective of their location in the world through 3G.

MTS, based on the GSM communication standard and endorsed by major standard bodies and manufacturers, is accepted as the planned standard for mobile users around the world. When implemented fully, it facilitates uninterrupted internet connectivity for PDA and mobile phone users on the move. Access to the Internet while roaming, is made available through a combination of terrestrial wireless and satellite transmissions.

Besides, 3G services also allow high-speed data connectivity on mobile phones, which makes various activities such as watching a movie, playing interactive games, and downloading data from the World Wide Web possible on roaming. A host of value-added services and applications such as video-on-demand, unified messaging, mobile commerce, etc. are also provided through 3G networks.

3G is perceived as the natural extension of the evolution of mobile services. The world's first launch of 3G was in Japan, by NTT DoCoMo, in October 2001. Currently, the largest 3G subscriber base is in Japan, served by two 3G operators. Commercially, the 3G-technology choice, Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) is available on number of networks worldwide. The widest WCDMA 3G deployment has taken place in Europe so far, and networks in Asia Pacific region have already started implementing 3G.

In India, cellular operators still use 2.75 G or 2.5 G with technologies such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) or EDGE (Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution), but most of them are gradually shifting to the third generation mobile communication technology to be able to provide 3G services. The commercial launches are likely to happen in 2009. The service promised by third generation networks requires considerable infrastructure investment. Cell density is one of the areas that need to be increased to provide additional bandwidth. New transaction-based billing methods will have to replace the current time-based billing system. However, the operator can benefit from the savings generated from a packet-network, which will more than negate the cost of the laying of the network.

The state-owned MTNL floated a Rs 1000 crore-draft tender to extend four million mobile lines on 3G technologies. GSM operators like Airtel, Hutch and IDEA, besides others, have already applied for the radio frequency required to launch 3G services.

If Ericsson, the Swedish telecom equipment maker is to be believed, then the rollout of 3G telecom networks in India will help operators reduce costs, offer an array of services to users, and connect millions in rural areas who have never used a phone. 3G technology is said to be more advanced and efficient as well. Other equipment vendors such as Nokia and Motorola are also gearing up to meet the demands of the Indian market. For instance, Nokia is developing a High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), a natural evolution to 3G that will bring even higher data speeds with a simple software upgrade.

A study conducted by Ericsson has found that almost 50 per cent of users in metro cities are expecting services beyond voice and SMS. According to the study, India will have 200 million mobile phone users by 2009, and at least 10 per cent will subscribe to 3G services. Besides generating revenues, 3G will also introduce efficiency in spectrum usage.

CDMA operators enjoy an edge over their GSM counterparts when it comes to 3G deployment because most CDMA networks in India are already 3G-enabled. For instance, Reliance Infocomm is in a position to start offering 3G services with immediate effect as soon as the spectrum is allocated, whereas GSM operators need to set up a parallel network with their existing 2G networks to offer 3G services.

3G presents video on demand, high-speed multimedia and mobile Internet access as just a few of the possibilities for users. With 3G services, the possibilities of content rich information and communication become possible. However, the main benefit of 3G systems one can expect to enjoy over 2G is substantially enhanced capacity, quality and data rates.

Social networking site Facebook welcomes its 200-millionth user

2009-05-12T09:12:00.003+05:30

Just a few months after its fifth anniversary, Facebook Inc. on 08 april 2009 reportedly welcomed its 200 millionth user.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post yesterday morning that the social networking site was on track to welcome its 200-millionth user before the day is out. To celebrate, the company has hooked up with 16 charities and advocacy groups that have created virtual gifts that users can buy for one another. Zuckerberg noted that 90 to 95 per cent of the proceeds go to the charities, with the rest going toward administrative costs. None of it, he added, goes to Facebook.

"More broadly, technology has made it easier and faster for people across the world to share more and more - from the daily activities of their lives to events that impact their communities," wrote Zuckerberg. "At Facebook, we want to build the best service in the world for people to connect with and share everything that is important to them, whether day-to-day or world-changing."

Facebook, which celebrated its fifth anniversary on 4 February, has stormed past rival MySpace.com, the pioneer of the social networking phenomenon, in monthly page-view counts. Facebook, once thought of as the up-and-coming social network, had almost 222 million unique visitors in December, while MySpace had 125 million.

"Growing rapidly to 200 million users is a really good start, but we've always known that in order for Facebook to help people represent everything that is happening in their world, everyone needs to have a voice," wrote Zuckerberg. "Creating channels between people who want to work together towards change has always been one of the ways that social movements push the world forward and make it better."

Zuckerberg pointed out that it took 20,000 years for the world population to get to 200 million people. For Facebook, it was just under 5 years. In January, Facebook's community was at 150 million, and grew to 175 million in February. To put things in perspective, 200 million is more than the combined populations of Russia, Brazil and Japan.

This proves the exploding popularity of the Internet in general and social networking sites in particular. Only last month, video-sharing site YouTube had notched up the 100 million user mark.

As part of the celebration, Zuckerberg also announced the creation of the Facebook for Good space on the site. The page, which already has more than 600 fans, was designed as a place where people can share stories of how the social networking site has helped them reconnect with people, give back to their community or make a contribution.

My review of "Nainital" as a tourist destination

2009-05-11T16:00:00.013+05:30

This weekend on 09 and 10 may 2009, i made a visit to the hill destination "Nainital". I recollect this trip sitting in my office in gurgaon as a pleasant one. Had fun along with my best friend at Nainital's Mall Road. So i thought why not introduce this place to other people who have not been to this tourist destination and would want to go sometime.

Car Journey from Delhi -to- Nainital (Total Distance close to 310 kms)

Visual description of the road journey :

The things just got better for the Nainital seeker with the opening of Moradabad and Hapur bypass.
> Take the Ghaziabad bypass to leave Delhi and cross the river Hindon before taking the Hapur bypass (unless you want to buy the 'hapur ke papad' or the fancy towels in the town).

> One can stop at Gajraula for some sumptuous paranthas at this industrial town.

> Next when you see a lot of mooddah stalls on the highway you have reached Garh Mukteshwar. You can visit the Ganga ghat here for a dip or a boat ride.

> You have to no longer tread through crowded and narrow lanes of Moradadbad as you can pay just Rs.15 as toll to glide over the excellent dual carriageway of Moradabad bypass.

> After that reach Haldwani via Rampur and Rudarpur.

> The hilly road starts after Haldwani and then all the way to Nainital's Mall passing Kathgodam on the way.

Let me first give you some background info on the hill destination "Nainital" :

The hill state of Uttaranchal was carved out of Uttar Pradesh recently. It comprises of two two regions of Kumaon and Garhwal with Dehradun as the state capital. The state is blessed with lots of natural resources and splendour of scenic beauty. The new government is doing a lot to promote tourism and lots of tourist friendly measures are being taken to attract people from outside the state and foreigners too.
Nainital, one time contender for being the state capital the city has probably benefited by losing out , seeing the state of Dehradun after getting this status. Nainital is named after the Naini lake which means an eye, as folklore has it that the eye of sati Parvati fell here. The lake is also called lake of three sages after saints who meditated here to form it. The whole area was once called 'chakta', land of 60 lakes, though most of them have dried up now.

General Info :-

Altitude : 1900m

Weather : Summer temperatures range between 10 & 25 degree C, while in winter they are 2-15 degrees. Rainy season- July, August.

Rainfall : All the year round, maximum in monsoons, July-August

What to see :

Naini lake : The lake is the heart and soul of the city with everything centring around it or in reference to it. The green colored water body has an ambience that strikes you as soon as you enter the city. You can enjoy the lake by having a boat ride either in self driven paddle boat or the one driven by the boat man. If you go with a boat man do enjoy his fables about the lake and the city itself. There is also a yachting club attached to the lake and a yachting festival is held every year in October which is a treat to watch with burning torches on the lake. Walking along the lake in itself is a great experiences the flora and fauna of the lake, and if you get tired you can rest on the benches provided all along the way. At one end of the lake is the Naina Devi temple, dedicated to goddess Naina. The devotees ask for grant of their wishes by tying a bell at the temple, so the place is studded with bells of all colors and sizes.

The Mall : The Mall runs adjacent to the lake for most part starting from Tallital,the lower end to Mallital, the higher one. One can buy all sort of things on the mall including woolens, handicrafts, variety of eatables including fresh fruits and vegetables at Mallital. The speciality of the place are decorative wax candles which come in all shapes, sizes and colors. In peak season the mall is closed to vehicular traffic making it convenient for the tourists to stroll around and enjoy the surroundings. One can also take a horse ride on the mall and for exploring the adjoining areas.

The Ropeway : Another attraction of the station is the ropeway that takes you to the Snow View point at the height of 2270m and affords views of snow capped mountains around Nainital including the Naina Devi peak. Other vantage points for snow views are Laria Kanta, China peak, Alma peak Camel's peak etc. Most can be reached on foot or horseback. The last motorable point is Land's End with Tiffin Top nearby, a beautiful picnic spot to spend a day.

Hanumangarh temple ,St. John's Church, the State Observatory, Sanjay Park, a botanical garden and Gufa Mhadev close to Sepoydhara are another places one can have a look at. Try the buransh sherbat made from a local red rhododendron flower, available at many place in and around Nainital. The one available at govt. outlets are hygienically prepared and last much longer. The drink is said to be good for heat stroke, asthma, hypertension etc.

What to buy :

Wollens, which are reasonably priced. Local handicraft made of wood. The best thing of course are the decorative candles. Fresh strawberies and mulbery in season. Try the buransh sherbat made from a local red rhododendron flower, available at many places in and around Nainital. The one available at govt. outlets is hygienically prepared and lasts much longer. The drink is said to be good for heat stroke, asthma, hypertension etc.

My Trip Diary :

Me and my friend left from Delhi on Saturday , 4:00 am for Nainital from Dwarka, New Delhi. My friend had got his Ford Ikon Car (Black) for the trip. By the way this guy is a Speed Freak. I also consider him a "Human GPS" coz he has good knowledge of Indian roads.

By 6:30 am we had reached near Garh Mukteshwara but we got stuck in a major traffic jam which went for about 30 kms and 3 hrs. This was one of the worst traffic jams i ever saw on a national highway. Actually the jam was due to a "Ganga Snan Mela" ahead at Garh Mukteshwara. We came out of the jam only after crossing Gajraula.

After crossing the newly constructed Moradabad Bypass flyover after paying the toll of Rs. 15/- the drive went smooth and we accelerated to cover up the lost time. We were also lloking out for some good place to have lunch, but we discovered that this whole highway has no great restaurants to have food. Thats really strange. Finally we found a restaurant on the highway near to a closed reliance petrol pump. The name of the restaurant was "A1 Food Plaza". This was owned by akash group. The restaurant is quite big in size. The ambience was clean and OK. The food was of good quality and the service was also OK. Nothing great about the whole restaurant but it was clean.
Well, we couldn't spot any other good restaurant either ahead or back of this restaurant, on the whole trip.

The drive ahead is smooth to some extent and gets much better as you start moving further ahead towards Nainital.

We reached Nainital by 4:00 pm. The place looks good in the very first view and is able to maintain that image throughout the trip.

The whole place is full of touts/agents of Hotels, cars, trip advisors, tour operators, restaurants, etc. Jut look around and you can find any service suiting your budget. Kindly bargain to get a good deal.

We finally found a hotel to stay on the mall road itself at a reasonable price.

By 6:00 pm we freshened up in our hotel room and went for a boat ride in the Naini lake. That was fun and the cold wind was flowing all over which was a great relief from Delhi's polluted environs.

After 7:30 pm we headed to have a walk at the Mall Road to discover what it was all about. Nothing great about the shops out there but yeah you might consider purchasing some local articles, etc. Well i headed to a Video Game shop to play some games and have a good time.

We had our dinner at a restaurant called "Mezbaan" which had the menu for chinese and indian food. There was a waiting for the table out here at around 10:00 pm. We had chinese here, which didnt enjoy much. But maybe the indian food would have been better, cant say.

The next day was Sunday and we checked out of our hotel room by 9:00 am. In nainital most of the hotels have a check in and check out time of 10:00 am.

We had parked our car in the municipal parking near the mosque and the cricket ground after the naini lake. The parking charges are Rs. 50/- for a day's parking but you have to move out your car from here after 9:00 am in the morning if parked a day earlier. Or you need to pay Rs. 50/- more.

We took the ropeway cable car to the Snow View Top and park. The view while traveeling in the cable car is just thrilling. Good view.

On the top there are some food stalls and game activities such as Go-karting, Free Fall Ride, snow-ride, Binocular viewing of mountains, Car driving, rappling, mountain climbing, etc.

We finished the activities on the top and headed back to the Mall road through the cable car.
Once i reached back to the mall road i saw some vendors selling fresh strawberries. I purchsed some and found them to be sweet and worth it.

Finally we took off from nainital and started our drive back to Delhi, which was much smoother this time.

I would like to sum up by saying that a Nainital Trip is a recommended one. Have a great trip.

New Pension Scheme (India 2009)– Small Step, Giant Leap

2009-05-08T12:55:00.004+05:30

The Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority of India (PFRDA) is the regulator for one of India's most important financial products - the Pension Fund, through the New Pension Scheme (NPS). With no safety net for the unorganized, and the terrible service standards that those investing through EPFO endure, this is indeed a breath of fresh air.

By announcing that April 1, 2009 would be Day 1 of business for NPS in its expanded form, the regulator has finally opened long term financial planning for the Aam Aadmi.

What makes Pension Funds worth rooting for :
1. It is truly long term : Investors can plan their retirement with investments in the new Pension Fund. That's a clear 30-40 year time horizon for new entrants.
2. It is well structured : PFRDA has appointed 6 Pension Fund Managers (PFM), a Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) and Points of Presence (PoP - basically distributors). The CRA acts as the interface between PoPs, PFMs, Banks etc.
3. It is extremely low cost : Pension Fund Managers have been appointed at the lowest cost (less than 0.010% per annum as management fee). This is MUCH LESS than what Mutual Funds charge for managing even liquid funds and a small fraction of what insurance companies charge. NSDL, the CRA for the NPS, would charge Rs. 280 as annual maintenance fee per subscriber and Rs. 6 for every transaction. This is amazing cost-efficiency.
4. It offers choice : Investors can choose from Equity Biased (E), G-Sec Biased (G) and Corporate Debt/Fixed Income biased (C) models. Investors can also indicate a mix amongst all three. Equity Investments are restricted only to the NIFTY 50 index. This Passive Investment diktat makes sense, as this represents an adequately diversified portfolio and also keeps cost of fund management low.
5. It offers mobility : Investors can change their PFM of choice, by indicating the same to the CRA. With the CRA issuing all subscribers a unique PRAN (Permanent Retirement Account Number), hopefully this number would make all record-keeping easy. Issue of PRAN will ensure portability across geographies as well as jobs.
6. It offers convenience : With several PoP (basically PSU Banks), reach is not a problem. And with NSDL taking care of the back-end, there would be no opaqueness that the present EPFO is notorious for.
7. It offers transparency (hopefully) : While there is not much information about disclosures and reports, there is hope that there will be portfolio disclosures, toll-free numbers (for customer service) and updated account statements after every transaction, or atleast a consolidated one every year.

With a new Defined Contribution model (unlike the present Provident Funds, which are Defined Benefit), NPS is all set to revolutionise the Pension planning scenario. If successful, then this would be as pioneering as the introduction of mutual funds or the entry of the private sector into insurance.

THE SCHEME
It is a centrally operated portable pension scheme. Initially there are 23 Points of Presence (POP) consisting of banks and other financial institutions, who act as the front end interface with the public. These POP facilitate account opening and other transactions. NSDL (National Securities Depository Limited) is the Central Record keeping Agency (CRA) and there are 6 fund managers, who will manage the funds. You may open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) with any of the POP and you will be allotted a unique account number valid for life. So even if you change employer or place of residence, you may continue to operate the same account.

You have the option of contributing monthly or quarterly, but a minimum of 4 contributions in a year is mandatory to inculcate the regular saving habit. There are 3 fund options namely E (Equity), C (Corporate bonds) and G (Government bonds) and you may choose any or a combination of these options to deploy your funds. There is also a default “auto choice” fund which would be a lifecycle fund and the asset allocation would be adjusted according to your age. The equity exposure will be 60% till age 35 after which it will reduce by 3% every year till it reaches zero by age 55. You have the choice of selecting your fund manager and the CRA would transfer your funds to the desired manager.

Initially the NAV (Net Asset Value) will be declared once in a year and you would have the option of changing your fund manager only once a year. The performance of the fund managers will be reviewed every 3 years and replaced if necessary.

The tier 1 account is purely a retirement fund with no withdrawals permitted till age 60. But in case of a critical illness or for the purpose of buying a house, withdrawal is permitted. At the age of 60, you may opt to withdraw up to 60% of the fund as a lump sum and buy an annuity with the rest. There is also a proposed tier 2 account likely to be launched at a later date which would act as a normal investment account, permitting investments and withdrawals at will. But you need to have a tier 1 account if you desire to open a tier 2 account.

Fees and Charges
Account opening charge: Rs.50 per account

Annual maintenance charge: Rs.350 per annum which will gradually reduce to Rs.250 as the number of accounts increases to 30 lakhs.

Transaction charge: Rs.10 per transaction which will gradually reduce to Rs.6 as the number of accounts increases to 30 lakhs.

Fund management charge: 0.0009% per annum on the fund value.

Open to NRI
NPS is open to NRI who continue to hold Indian passport. The contribution should be in Indian rupee and the scheme is non-repatriable.

The positives of the scheme
Simple: Once an account is opened, you may continue to contribute till you reach retirement.

Portable: You need not open a fresh account every time you switch employment or residence unlike the present EPF (Employee Provident Fund)

Low cost: NPS offers an extremely low cost retirement plan when compared to the other alternatives. The significance of lower cost will be felt when compounded over a long period of say 15 or 20 years. The following illustration will drive home the benefit of low cost.

Negatives of the scheme
Tax treatment: The returns are fully taxable unlike EPF and PPF (Public Provident Fund) where the returns are tax free. This obviously looks to be an error and does not sound logical because all similar investment vehicles have to be given the same tax treatment and let’s hope that this would be set right in due course.Disclosure: Initially the NAV would be declared annually so as to minimize churn between fund managers. Hopefully the disclosure is made more frequently over time enabling better fund manager assessment.

What should you do?
Certainly NPS is a good alternative to the investment schemes available right now in India and merits consideration. But stick to your present investment plans for now till there is more clarity on the scheme and the initial hiccups are overcome. I shall update the details once the scheme is up and running.

India Election 2009 - My Life's First Voting Experience in Delhi

2009-05-07T18:44:00.013+05:30

So finally the D'Day has arrived for Election ' 2009. All that we could see for so many days in the media was election debates and election campaigns running advertisements on news channels. The indian media covered the whole election campaigning in a detailed fashion. Every neta's daily routine was shown to the audience by our Super Active Media Channels. From the time the Neta gets up in the morning, brushes his teeth, wears his designer khadi kurta with rayban aviator sun glasses and rolex gold watch, has breakfast, does his pooja for good luck, rides a chopper/ SUV, greets old/young admirers, has energy drinks on the way, talks about changing the life's of poor people, waves hand to his supporters who are seeing him for the first time around in so many years (5 years) after the last election, gives speech at rallies claiming himself to be the "Farishtaa" either for Muslim/Hindu voters (depending on the constituency), riding back on his chopper/SUV and heading back to home. Nothing was left to the imagination by the media channels.

So i watched many such media coverages by various news channels and tried to understand the political clout in India. Well i would like to confess all this didnt help much but only gave me an idea that " How rich (crorepatis) all these netas were? and How poor i was? and How education was not the only means to gain super success in life? ". Also got to know that most of them were not educated enough to even understand anything (example, Mrs. Rabri Devi, Pappu Yadav, etc.) persay, but were ready to change the present and future of their constituencies OR maybe their own lives, i should say. Well whatever maybe the case, the only thing that was certain was "CHANGE", isnt that what they promised.

Recently BJP ran an SMS campaign saying that "25 lakh crore rupees are parked illegally in the tax haven swiss banks outside India. They resolved that if BJP came into power they would bring back the money."

Well i was thinking that isnt a large part of this money of our own beloved NETA's too. Are they implying they want to get their funds investigated? So actually this issue is good to raise but would never reach its final destiny of justice as ex-CBI director of india in one of his interviews said that even CBI (India's most prestigious crime investigation agency) does not have the status to deal with this issue. Maybe a new organisation will have to be formed with autonomous rights and freedom to work without political interventions. Its a sweet dream, i must say ! Keep dreaming...........It's India........Kyun Netaji !

The politicians talk about money........well if you would just check out my blog last week i had posted an article qouting a national newspaper headlines saying that 68 % of the Neta's who declared their asets running in multi-crores did not even hold PAN cards and that the income tac deptt. was trying to establish their source of income and tax liabilities with fine. Now forget Swiss Banks, our Neta's are so fearless that just to show their might in their constituencies (MONEY POWER) to attract voters, they were ready to declare some part of their black money too without paying taxes. Height of CONFIDENCE, i must say. But lets see how many of those 68% Neta's not having PAN cards go behind bars. NOT EVEN A SINGLE, i believe !

In the MNC company i work for, there was a campaign being run along with the "JAAGO RE" activists to enroll more and more voters and to ensure their participation in the voting process in Election '2009. I would say that this was a great effort being carried out by all such activists. I joined the "Jaago Re" campaign too and got myself registered online.

But i already had my voter ID card before joining the group. This group somehow motivated me to vote through their active publicity campaigns. I got the felling to vote this time. Would like to confess it that this VOTING was going to be my first ever. But better late than never. I didnt want to be Pappu this time.

The day arrived (07 May 2009) when voting for election '2009 was to happen in Delhi. My constituency was (37-PALAM). I took out my voter ID card and kept it on top of my reading table. Suddenly, i got a letter mail delivered to my mailing address by the Congress Camp. Along with the pamphlet stating the name of the local candidate, there were voting details of my family in a chit format providing details of election timings, polling booth address, voting ID details, etc. My family has been a congress supporter since long.

I saw this pamphlet and analysed that none of the Campaigning candidates had sent any details regarding their profile to any voter, except for this pamphlet by the congress party candidate. This took effort on his part and i decided that i wanted the leadership of educated people/leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Chidambram, Sheila Dikshit, etc. So, i got ready and head straight to the polling booth. Remember it was my first voting instance. The polling booth looked quite peaceful i must say when i went there, opposite of my expectations of being crowded. There was almost no waiting for my series of voter id card. So i went straight inside , showed my Voter ID and pressed the button on Mr. Ramesh Kumar (Congress South Delhi Candidate).

Finally, when i came out of the polling booth and saw the permanent blue ink mark on my finger, i felt proud of making a decision and participating in the largest democratic event of the Indian Democracy.

Would like to close this article by saying the final lines : "Jai Ho India !!"

The Haunting Experience in recent Shimla Trip

2009-05-06T15:47:00.024+05:30

In April 2009, one of the weekends happened to be a long one. i had 3 holidays covering friday, saturday and sunday. So family and friends decided to visit Shimla. The plan was an instant one. I took my own car for the trip. In all we were 5 people going for the trip. My parents and my best friend along with his sister.

We started the drive on Friday morning. The total distance between Delhi-Shimla is approx. 370 kms. The drive was a smooth one and the highway covering the distance between Delhi-Shimla is a smooth one. Recently the authorities have completed the construction of the bridges being built on the highway leading to decongestion of the roads.

When we reached Shimla on the friday night, we had to first find a suitable hotel close to the Mall Road. We did finalise on one of the hotels and checked in there. The hotel had a connecting lift to the Mall Road. We checked in the 8th floor room of the hotel.

It was already night and the Mall road closes as early as 8 pm, so we decided to rest in the hotel room till morning. But then me and my friend thought of having a walk on the mall road at night just for fun sake. So we both left the room for the walk. From the 8 th floor of our hotel room, we had to further go to 4 floor above. At the top we had to walk to a connecting building and then take lift for another 2 floors. Then we had to take some steps to finally reach the connecting road to Mall Road.

Since we were new to the place, both of us had no idea where we were going? But the weather was chilling and we were wearing our jackets. The crowd was not much at that point of time (11:30 pm). We started moving in the dark corridors of the place. We came across a building which had a british architecture and is supposed to be some govt. building now. The structure looked great in night.

My friend was joking in the night that since Shimla was a british colony at one point of time, so it still has "Ghostly/Spirit Activity". And that the place still has some mortuaries. We had read stories by the famous author "Ruskin Bond" about "Shimla Hauntings" during our school times. We were laughing out at each other on the weird talk we were having at mid night walking amongst the woods of Shimla. Then suddenly we saw some NOTICES painted onto the walls saying : "SMOKING AND LITTERING ON ALL PUBLIC PLACES IS FORBIDDEN BY LAW. ANY VIOLATION IS PUNISHABLE WITH A FINE UPTO Rs. 500/- - by order/commisioner M.C. Shimla"

We thought of clicking some pics at that point as we were enjoying our cigars in the night. First i stood against the wall notice and my friend clicked my pic with his camera phone. The lighting over us was of a lamp post, so the picture came quite clear.

Next, my friend decided to stand in the same spot and get a pic clicked in the same pose. So i took his camera phone and clicked his pic in the same pose with the same lighting. But as soon as i clicked the pic i observed a white cloud in the pic. I asked my friend not to puff before the pic but he showed me that he hadn't taken the puff and he stood still for the pic. I asked him to come over and have a look at the pic. He was amazed to see a white cloud like formation in the foreground of the pic. it was a spooky thing. Both of us then got scared of the spot and discussed how in the movie "Shutter" the ghost were captured through the photograph clicks and even they appeared as white clouds in it.

We decided to move away from the spot and as we moved ahead we saw an old guy walking alone in the night moving steadily. I went ahead and asked where Mall road was and he told us we were heading in the wrong direction and should move in the opposite direction. So we did as he told us and finally after a 15 min walk reached Mall Road. The place was good and was almost empty in that hour of the night.

But the spooky event in the night of Shimla made this trip a memorable one for me and my friend. The line with which i can end this experience is : " MAANO YA NA MAANO........ "

Now here below i shall be stating facts from a well known book named "Ghost stories of Shimla Hills - written by Meenakshi Choudhary"

Ghosts are timeless. Whether you like it or not. You can never really get it rid of them. Minakshi Chaudhry's book, "Ghost Stories of Shimla Hills" (published by Rupa) is a good read, preferably at night when trees, roads and dim corners of rooms can throw up sinister shadows and diabolical shakes take form in the confused mind. But Minakshi's ghosts are something more than this. They are the ones who still wouldn't let go of their beloved Shimla.

As Ruskin Bond rightly remarks in his Foreword, "Mussoorie is not the only hill-station with a generous sprinkling of ghosts. Shimla, it appears, has more than its fair share... (judging from the tales in the book), there are almost as many ghosts as people parading on the Mall or under the deodars... Kipling started it with his Phantom Rickshaw...and since then there have been any number of phantoms haunting Shimla's old schools, hotels, cemeteries and places of entertainment. In 1947, the British departed but left their ghosts behind.

The Forest Road is one spot where British ghosts wander. An ideal place for cavorting teenagers because of its seclusion, there used to be five benches at the top of the spur. Aman resides in the U.S. club, Shimla and goes for long walks along this road in the morning and evening regularly. This has been his routine for more than two decades. He is an artist and the walks not only uplift him spiritually and make him physically fit, they also make him more creative in his work. On one such evening, about a decade back, when he reached the somewhat flat portion where the five benches were, he stopped and decided to rest. Admiring the beautiful vistas spread out before him, he was approaching the benches when he felt something coming up from behind. Thinking it was someone else on a walk; he paid no attention but moved forward. Seconds later he felt someone overtake him. Unlocking his gaze from the mountain ranges he looked in front and then behind him. There was there. Puzzled, he sat down on a bench and got the shock of his life! He was sitting on someone?s lap! With a shriek he jumped up, embarrassed. But the bench was empty, there was no one there. Then he felt cold, very cold. Aman did not try to figure out what it was; he literally ran from the five benches. It was only after a few weeks that he could bring himself to cross that area alone again. After that first experience, Aman has felt someone walking alongside him on several occasions when he passes the five benches. Though he has never had the courage to sit on a bench again, he has slowly got used to his eerie companion.

It was around midnight and Shyam was driving back home. Shyam's mind was on an important legal case. About 100 metres away from his car he saw a woman waving her hand gesturing him to stop. She was clad in a red saree. It flashed through his mind that she must have been attending a wedding because of the way she was dressed. He stopped the car and was about to stop when he saw that thewoman was no longer there. He looked ahead. There was she. About a hundred metres away. Baffled, he drove on, again slowing down as she approached him. She was now waving her hand frantically. Shyam was?nt sure what he saw first-her hand or her face-but it made him drive away as fast as he could. Her hands were turned inwards and her face had been terrifying-big lips with long teeth protruding out. Her howls and screams followed him as he sped past her. From that day, he has never travelled on that road late at night again.

If anyone of you reading this article has ever experienced any haunting, please put it in the comments section - so that all of us can know more about these paranormal activites.

How good is PGDM / MBA course of Amity Business School, Noida ?

2009-05-06T13:29:00.011+05:30

Well friends, i have already done my PGDM from Amity Business School, Noida (2005-2007). This course was an AICTE approved course and the course fees was close to 4.5 lakhs for 2 years (4 semesters). I got into the course through the test MAT (Management Aptitude Test) with a 93 percentile.

Earlier to my PGDM i had done Mechanical Engineering (B. Tech) Degree which was a 4 year course (8 semesters) from I.E.C. College of Engg. and Technology, Gr. Noida. My schooling had been from Delhi Public School, Mathura Road (2001 batch)

I would like to start off by saying that the PGDM course being run by Amity Business School, Noida was one of the best courses in Delhi/NCR. The infrastructure that Amity has is unparallel. The whole campus is Wi-Fi enabled. All PGDM students used to get Laptops on admission itself. The faculty is quite experienced and knowledged. Some are full time faculties while others are visiting faculties, but both of them are best of the best.

The first thing that Amity teaches you is to be disciplined in life to face the corporate pressures. The strenous routine of a typical PGDM student is hard to face. You feel the stress overpowering you once the pace of the classes build up. Some of the students at this early stage start feeling that probably they are not cut out for such extreme study work. Well i would like to confess even i at one stage thought so. But then i realized that this ruthlessness is wat i'll encounter once i leave the campus, so i needed to be strong to face it all. It's mandatory for all 1st year PGDM students to wear Amity Ties and wear formal attire to campus. No options are provided and thorough checks are conducted to make sure you turn up the same way everytime. No casual dressing is allowed on campus. The only ones wearing casuals in Amity campus are the young BBA crowd. These are identifiable from a long distance. By the way the girls in this course is what keeps everyone motivated in the Amity Campus !

The classes are well designed and are Air-conditioned. Colour Projectors are used for delivering classes by the faculty. Most of the faculty carry their own laptops to teach. The faculty forwards the presentation slides to students through common groups or amity email Id's. Thus you can always get back to the lesson the faculty taught when u go back to home.

The timings of the daily classes start from 9 am in the morning and would end by 7 pm or 8 pm.

Each day is an action packed day with lots of activities to do. Well you also have to be prepared to give 2 presentations on an average each day for 2 years. There is always lots of group activities going on in the classes.

Exams are always round the corner as Mid-semesters and internal tests keep happening on a routine basis.

Learning at Amity is more of learning and gaining practical knowledge rather than cramming up books. Every faculty will advise you to move out of the books and learn from every possible source of knowledge available either on the net or through books. I remember always "googling" data and watching "CNBC Marketing Video Series" played by our marketing professor.

We used to present reviews of many well known business books in our classes.

Well good looking girls are a rare commodity in this course. But i had somehow managed to spot one girl for myself in the 1st semester itself. But somehow things didnt work out with her for long, so came back to square one of leading a bachelor life.

One thing that this institute will give you for sure is "CONFIDENCE". You come out of this college feeling proud of your stay here and being associated with such a reputed institute. Well i cant say about others but friends i do feel proud of this college even when i'm out of it now. I am currently working for a leading MNC in gurgaon having revenues of $1.2 billion as a business analyst.

Amity is active in arranging Seminars and Corporate events which gives it high exposure to corporates and high recall value. The institute has formed good links with corporates and this helps placements in the end of te course. Every other day you will discover that either Amity is sponsoring an event or Seminar. THe good thing about all such Seminars being held in 5 star hotels is that world renowned speakers take the podium in such events and Amity students have free access to all such seminars. Great effort by the management i must say.

Every next day in the campus we used to see some or the other event were corporate leaders would come in to share their life experiences with us. It was compulsory to attend and conduct all such seminars on a regular basis.

The campus is quite large as all other courses and Amity school share it. So you'll find a mix of students out here, which is a good thing actually.

There used to a usual hang out spot for all batchmates of Amity called "Pramod Chai Waala Stall". Well i had lot many maggi's, cigarrettes and tea's out there. Well it was a perfect spot outside the Amity Campus to conduct informal discussion on things other than studies :-)

This is all about Amity Business School, Noida. It is one of the best MBA colleges in Delhi/NCR for sure. I recommend this college to all freshers seeking admission in MBA courses. Good Luck to all.

Finally the PGDM course i was in ended in mid-2007. I remember the farewell party. I participated in a fashion show in the event and was given "Mr. AMITY DON" title for the night. Good memories !!

Linkin Park - In The End lyrics

2009-05-06T12:25:00.006+05:30

I've been listening to linkin park music for quite some years now and their songs are so meaningful and addictive. I never get bored listening to their tracks. They are like energy pills and fire you up, whenever your feeling low in life. Keep it up guyz. Linkin Park Rockz !!!

Linkin Park - In The End lyrics :

It starts with one thing

I don't know why

It doesn't even matter how hard you try keep that in mind

I designed this rhyme

To explain in due time

All I know

Time is a valuable thing

Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings

Watch it count down to the end of the day

The clock ticks life away

It's so unreal

Didn't look out below

Watch the time go right out the window

Trying to hold on, but didn't even know

Wasted it all just to watch you go

I kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart

What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when

I tried so hard

And got so far

But in the end

It doesn't even matter

I had to fall

To lose it all

But in the end

It doesn't even matter

One thing, I don't know why

It doesn?t even matter how hard you try, keep that in mind

I designed this rhyme, to explain in due time

I tried so hard

In spite of the way you were mocking me

Acting like I was part of your property

Remembering all the times you fought with me

I'm surprised it got so (far)

Things aren't the way they were before

You wouldn't even recognize me anymore

Not that you knew me back then

But it all comes back to me (in the end)

You kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart

What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when I

Chorus

I've put my trust in you

Pushed as far as I can go

And for all this

There's only one thing you should know (2x) Chorus

Protect Yourself and Your Family From INFLUENZA A (H1N1) / SWINE FLU

2009-05-06T10:04:00.003+05:30

We have been hearing all kinds of news since some time now related to the spreading of Swine Flu and how it is impacting many ocuntries. Yesterday in the news, it was reported that this viral infection has spread to 22 countries now. I thought ill gather some information on the Swine Flu and share it with everybody so that it can be detected in time and cured.

Influenza A (H1N1) is causing an epidemic among humans in Mexico and has spread to Austria, Canada, China (Hongkong), Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, SPain, Switzerland, UK, and USA.
Influenza (H1N1) is transmitted from human-to-human by infected particles in the air and is not transmitted by pigs.

Influenza A (H1N1) has not affected India. DO NOT PANIC!

Necessary medicines are available and measures are being taken to limit the entry of the disease in India.

Symptoms :-
Influenza (H1N1) symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat and difficulty in breathing.
If you detect such cases in your family or neighbourhood with history of travel to the affected countries in last 10 days, immediately contact :

Outbreak Monitoring Cell, National Institute of Communicable Diseases OR
call 011-23921401

DO'S :

Cover your mouth and nose with a handkerchief or cloth while coughing or sneezing.
Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and water, before and after touching your nose, eyes or mouth.
Avoid crowded places.
Keep at least an arm's distance frrom people affected with symptoms of Influenza A (H1N1) like fever, cough, sore throat and difficulty in breathing.
Sleep well, stay physically active and effectively manage stress.
Drink plenty of water and eat nutritious food.

DONT'S :

Shake hands, hug and kiss socially, or use other contact greetings.
Take medicines without consulting the physician.
Spit in public places.