Happy New Year !!

Happy New Year everyone !! Well its that time of the Year to retrospect on the year gone by & look forward to a cheerful yeah ahead. Its also time to make the New Year Resolutions. I have faithfully adhered to the maxim that "All Resolutions are meant to be broken (!!)" till now and hope to break that jinx the at least in the coming year . I better break the jinx since I badly need a makeover .

Enjoy the New Year and let us hope 2004 turns out to be a Prosperous & peaceful year for one and all.

Peter Principle

A few weeks back I was having a discussion with a friend of mine about Work profile in US & India. In US we have colleagues who have been working as Tech Support guys for 25 years , pretty much doing the same thing over the years . Most of them do not want to get promoted and like what they are doing.

Whereas in India once someone has more than 6 + years of experience in IT he either becomes a Team Lead or PM . Now where is the justification that a good techie will make a Good Manager . Because in most cases these guys hardly know the nuances of Management and end up getting disparaged for no fault of theirs ( Most of them never asked for a manager promotion and would have been happy being a Techie ) . We rarely see people who still write Code at the age of 40 in India .

Reminds me of Peter Priniciple "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence" Here is a concise article on it.

Thayir Chadam ( Curd Rice)

Read this article in rediff and it struck a chord inside me. I feel as if I have written this article because it exactly conveys my feelings. Having been ( & still) a big Curd Rice fan , I identify myself with this article.

In fact my mom tells me a story when I was 10 years old , they had taken me to a party in Taj and I had insisted on having only Curd Rice even there !! Curd Rice still is my favourite dish and will remain so forever .

Picasso - The Confidence of Genius

Desmond Morris tells this amazing Picasso Story. Morris Writes " My favourite Picasso story concerns the time he went back to look at an old studio of his in Paris , and there , lying on a bench outside the gate , was an old tramp. Picasso recognized the man and asked what had happened to him.The old boy explained that he had fallen on hard times and now had nowhere to live. Picasso went over to a nearby rubbish-bin , pulled out a large piece of cardboard , did a quick drawing on it , signed it , and gave it to the tramp, saying : 'Here, buy yourself a house.'

Marlon Brando & Eccentricity

Just finished reading a book called Naked eye by Desmond Morris. Naked Eye is an interesting study in Human Behaviour. Found this piece interesting. Morris writes about his strange meeting with Brando. The eccentricities of Marlon Brando are Legendary. Arguably one of the Greatest Actors of 20th Century , he has had more than his share of Controversies.

Desmond Morris here writes about one of the eccentricities of Brando "Brando says he has no sense of time. Time means nothing to him. Once , he told me , he was buying drinks at a liquor store and had to pay by cheque. He did not know the date , so he said to the man behind the counter : 'It's the 12th? ''No," replied the man, 'it's the 5th'. 'Ah' , said Brando , 'the 5th April , thank you' .'No,''replied the man , 'the 5th of March.''Could you check the price of that bottle up there on the top shelf?'asked Brando . While the man climbed the ladder , Brando was able to sneak a look at the newspaper , lying on the counter , to find out what year it was.

FOGGY DELHI

I am getting used to the Cold of Delhi . Feel like a Iceman inside an Igloo wearing three layers of Clothing & Socks inside the apartment even while asleep . Its very difficult to get up early in the morning and the whole biological clock is going for a toss . The Outside Temperature at daytime is 12 c compounded by occasional drizzles & chilly winds. The night time temperature has dropped to 5c . Its been a few weeks since I have seen Sun's rays and now I understand why the westerners get excited on seeing the Sun.

Interview with Herb Kelleher
Here is an Interview in the Businessweek of Herb Kelleher , the former maverick CEO of Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines is an amazing company which revolutionized low cost flying in the US and has been profitable ever since 1973 amidst tumultuous years for the Airline Industry. Its business model has been one of most copied and its crazy tactics have kept the Airlines always in the spotlight.

Incidentally I am reading a book now called NUTS ! , which is about the way Southwest Airlines is Run .

Ad Space Hogging

Maruti apparently has bought the entire Ad space in The Week's new Year issue. Pretty interesting. Read on.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas everyone. I attended the mass at a Catholic Church in Noida on the midnight of Christmas. Carols were sung and the service was held in Hindi & English to mark the arrival of the 25th Dec. It was fun.

Website with a Difference

This is a wonderful website . It is News from India : of positive action, steely endeavour and quiet triumphs . It this kind of positive news about quiet acheivements , the nation needs to hear amidst communal chaos.

INDIA & WESTERNISATION

Found these interesting quotes by two of India's leading global ambassadors.

" With all my love for India and with all my patriotism and veneration for the ancients, I cannot but think that we have to learn many things from other nations…. We cannot do without the world outside India; it was our foolishness that we thought we could, and we have paid the penalty by about thousand years of slavery. That we did not go out to compare things with other nations did not mark the workings that have been all around us, has been one of the great causes of this degradation of the Indian mind. We have paid the penalty, let us do it no more." -- Swami Vivekananda

"I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any." -- Mahatma Gandhi

Carnatic Music

The Carnatic music festival must be in full swing at Madras now. I miss all that action here and has to be satisfied with just CD's & cassettes. My father has been the biggest influence in me taking an active interest in Carnatic music. I remember when I was 10 years old we had this Raga Identification cassette series and my dad would identify Ragas in a matter of seconds and I would be left wondering how the heck is that possible ? He has been listening to the December season concerts for more than 30 years now and has an amazing knowledge on that subject.

I never pursued carnatic music completely although the interest hasn't waned over the years.Whatever I know is mostly from Cassettes & CD's and also I never miss an occasion if there is a live concert around where I live. Hopefully I will start off my Violin lessons from new year & do well .

TOI Vs HT - Farcical Game

Today's reports published by TOI (Times of India) & HT (Hindustan Times) Claiming themselves as No.1 in Delhi presents the most ludicruous battle in recent times. TOI claims to be No.1 from the NRS Survey while HT Claims to be the No.1 according to ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation ) survey in which TOI hasn't participated.

It was disgusting to read the Chest thumping in TOI which claims itself as the Newspaper of the elite & Intelligent (when its actually not ) and their self-gloating.. I don't read the HT much to comment on it . Its unfortunate that such cheap journalism has become a common occurence in these days when India is emerging as the World's knowledge economy.

FASCINATION

These days I am writing a lot of Essays for B-schools. The oft repeated question in these essays is "What are your hobbies & interests ?" . The answer I would have loved to give them is Everything interests me .

I remember reading a Book called Ändromeda Strain" by Micheal Crichton a few years back. The protagonist in this novel is a Nobel Prize winning Scientist named Jeremy Stone. I simply liked the way Jeremy Stone was introduced by Crichton . Crichton says "Jeremy knows everything and is fascinated by the rest ". I thought that one line said it all.

LOVE STORY - ERICH SEGAL

Was doing a Quiz today on first lines of famous Books,when I recollected this incident.

A few years ago when I was in the US , I had gone to meet my cousin in Salt Lake city. I was very tired after driving all the way from San Jose, California to Salt lake city , Utah. I asked her if she had anything light to read before I dozed off to sleep. Her Roomie gave me the book Love Story. But when I started reading it , I was hooked. The first lines of the Book just caught me by the scruff and I went to sleep only in the early hours of the morning after completing the book in one sitting.

Its a wonderful love story powered by the excellent narrative style of Erich Segal with some memorable dialogues first person narrative brought a whole new meaning & understanding to the book and will stand etched in my memory for years to come.One's understanding of love & life is likely to undergo a definite transformation once one has finished reading this book.No other book makes you Laugh & Cry at the same time and it leaves you with a multitude of emotions at the end.Oliver & Jenny will remain immortal forever as the Ultimate fictional lovers.

Here are the starting lines of that Book :

What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me. Once, when she specifically lumped me with those musical types, I asked her what the order was, and she replied, smiling, "Alphabetical." At the time I smiled too. But now I sit and wonder whether she was listing me by my first name-in which case I would trail Mozart-or by my last name, in which case I would edge in there between Bach and the Beatles. Either way I don't come first, which for some stupid reason bothers the hell out of me.

TOP 10 AD SLOGANS OF THE CENTURY

Was browsing the Ad Age website when I noticed this interesting Link. It lists the Top 10 Ad slogans of the 20th Century. There are the usual favourites like "Diamonds are forever (De Beers) , Just Do it (Nike) & We try harder (Avis) " .

B-School at Madras

I had written about an upcoming B-school at Chennai a few weeks back. More on it from ET. Big names like CKPrahlad (UMich), Bala Balachnadran(U Chi) , Mohanbir Sawhney(Kellogg),Raghuram Rajan (IMF) and Corporate heads like Narayanamurthy , Ratan Tata , Venu Srinivasan , Deepak Parekh Would be associated with it. Read on ........

PLAGIARISM

On the FM Today , a latest hindi song caught my attention. It was from the movie Aitbaar . The tune was a complete copy of a Nusral Fateh Ali Khan Qawwali I had listened to a few years back. The most surprising thing was that they had even copied some of the lyrics too. But this isn't surprising for Bollywood which in the last 20 years has thrived on Plagiarism of all kinds. Here is a wondeful site on Plagirism in Bollywood & Tamil Filmworld. This guy has an amazing repository of the original versus the copied ones (audio files) and you can listen to them and find out how many of the popular songs of recent years have actually been inspired (isn't that the term music directors use ?) .

A JOKE FROM JAY LENO SHOW

President Bush said today when he was told that Saddam Hussein had been captured, he was up at Camp David reading a book. I don’t know what’s a bigger shock, capturing Saddam or finding out Bush was reading a book!

COLD DELHI

Delhi was extremely cold & windy today . The day temperature must have been close to 15c and it remained cloudy with hardly any sunshine showing. The next month is going to be really difficult as its going to get extremely cold (might even dip below zero) . Hope I scrape through my first Cold winter.

TOP 10 BRANDS IN INDIA

Brand building is an eternal exercise. Here are the 10 most trusted Brands by the Consumers in India (Courtesy ET - Brand Equity) . The most conspicuous by their absence are the Cola Majors - Coke & Pepsi . The top 10 is not much of a surprise and in fact I realised that I use 5 of the 10 in the list. HLL as usual dominates with 6 in the Top 10 list. Here is the list :

India's most trusted Brands :

1. Colgate
2. Dettol
3. Pond's
4. Lux
5. Pepsodent
6. Tata salt
7. Britannia
8. Rin
9. Surf
10.Close-up

India's Most visited tourist states

Here is the ranking of Indian states based on Tourist Volume.

1. GOA
2. KERALA
3.HIMACHAL
4.RAJASTHAN
5.UTTARANCHAL

RAHUL DRAVID

Cricket is a Religion in India . Its one of those few things which binds the nation together. India's spectacular win against Australia today has been made possible by one Man . They call him the "Great Wall of India ". He says "I don't have the Super Talent of Sachin or the flurry of strokes like Laxman ". That is Dravid for you . The ever modest Mr.Dependable . Life is not just about Talent. Its perseverance and Hard-work which can bridge the gap between Success & talent. Dravid has been the most consistent scorer for India in the last two years . Earlier he had the habit of getting into a shell which he has over come thankfully these days. A wonderful thinker of the game , I salute him for his consistency & hard-work. He deserves all the praise which is being reaped on him.

As Thomas Alva Edison said "Genius is 1% inspiration & 99% perspiration ".

Some Trivia .

Identify this person ?

On reaching England his equipment full of wires, batteries ,dials and condensor were destroyed by the customs officials as they feared that it was some offensive weapon.He spent his next couple of months assembling his equipment from scratch.He once said "My chief trouble was that the idea was so elementary, so simple in logic, that it seemed difficult to believe no one else had thought of putting it into practice. The idea was so real to me that I did not realize that to others the theory might appear quite fantastic".

On his death BBC went off air for 2 minutes.

ANSWER : Marconi .

HUTCH Ad & the Pugs

Hutch ad is now the toast of the nation. I had already written earlier about this cute ad. O & M has done a Terrific job. Seems the Demand for pugs ( The breed of Dog that appears in the commercial) has increased steeply ever since the Ad. Exams,bathroom,Soccer the pug follows him everywhere !! .... Great Concept,nicely conceived , wonderful music . The pug which acted belongs to a Farmhouse in Goa and seems the cute kid is from Bangalore.

I have the highest respect for O&M and Mccann-Erickson when it comes to creative advertising.

1000 Page Hits

My Blog reached 1000 page hits on friday. Its been almost 4 months since I started Blogging . I have to thank my friend Sudri (Sudarshan) who introduced me into the world of Blogs. When I started I had no idea what to write but now on retrospection , I feel I haven't done a bad job. There is still tremedous scope of improvement and a wide range of topics on which I would like to write. Thanks to all of you for your support .

MAGNANIMITY

This is Continuation of my earlier post. I had gone to a Slum to distribute clothes to the kids. I stepped out of the car & found this 7 year old girl who was looking at me with curiosity. I took out a frock to give to her but realised it was too small for her. She cutely went inside the Hut and brought a 3 year old to whom the frock was an exact fit. I asked her what her name was & she said Gori. Gori was not even expecting another piece of frock from me nor was she sad that the earlier frock didn't fit her. I was moved by her Magnanimity ( Beacuse a few minutes earlier at another place people were litreally plucking from our hands clothes of all sizes irrespective of whether it fits them or not) . I offered her a bigger frock and she became so happy that she put it on immediately and started Dancing . I have taken a nice photo of it and the sheer joy on her face was unparalleled. I learnt a valuable lesson : Great people not necessarily need to be rich or educated or aged.

Satisfying Day

As a member of the Social Services Committee at my work place we undertake community projects on a regular basis. We had undertaken an old clothes Drive , through which we collected close to 400 Clothes from all our employees . I had gone today to distribute those clothes to a Slum near DND Flyover & Ramakrishna Mission . At the DND Flyover we distributed close to 100 Sweaters to the kids most of whom were bare-bodied with hardly any clothes on them . It was a very satisfying & productive day and I was glad that I could help in a small way in making a difference to these people's lives.

Google's R&D Centre in Bangalore

The Fastest Search Engine is setting up a R&D centre in India . Read this article for more details.

TIME MANAGEMENT

I do not know if i am good at Time management but all I know is I am very poor at prioritising. Also in most cases I don't know how to say no and end up taking too many responsibilities and over-working myself. Suddenly over the last few days I have been busy as hell . I have taken a few additional responsibilities at my workplace and have been fighting hard to find time to balance everything. Its good in a way that my time gets utilized properly (with little idle time) & my productivity increases. But then I have a feeling that Life is leading me rather than I leading my life.

I remember John Lennon's (Beatles) famous quote " Life is what Happens to you when you are busy making other plans".

TEDDY

Today is the Birthday of my Dog - Teddy . She has been with us for the last eight years & is an integral part of our family. Although I have been away from my family the last six years , I still adore her & she still Considers me to be her absolute master.

It was in the first week of Jan'96 when my uncle asked if we wanted a German Shepherd pup since his boss's dog had just given birth to six pups. I had always been a big lover of pets , but it was my brother who made a strong pitch and the next day we found this cute little pup amidst us. I didn't know what to name it , but it looked so cute and resembled a Teddy Bear straight out of the Shop with Black Coat & brown legs that I decided to name her Teddy . The initial months were difficult but she adapted quickly to her surroundings and has ever since been a Loyal & disciplined dog. She still fusses over food a lot & craves attention much the same way we humans do.

In 1997 she gave birth to seven cute looking pups and I can never forget the next two months when my entire household turned into a circus with eight dogs roaming all around.

But to have a Dog is an ultimate pleasure in life. I have never known what unconditional love is until having a dog of my own. Its an immensly satisfying experience playing with her or talking her for a walk . I have terribly missed her over the last few years and always feel elated when I have to visit Madras.

One piece of Trivia : The entire Tamil nadu celebrates her birthday because afterall its Rajinikanth's Birthday too !!!!

VOLKSWAGEN & VIZAG

The German Auto Giant has decided to set shop in the Coastal city of Vizag after months of Delibration. It would be a 1700 Crore Assembly Plant. Its a big Victory for Naidu who has managed to usurp this project from traditional Auto favourable states Like Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu . Here is the Report.

ANBE SIVAM ( LOVE IS GOD)

Saw the Tamil Movie Anbe Sivam this weekend (*ing Kamalhassan & Madhavan) . It was a very good movie portraying the verbal duels between a Communist & a Capitalist . The dialogues were Razor sharp ( Thanks to Madan of Anandha Vikatan) & the movie ends by saying "Goodliness is Godliness". The title isn't surprising Considering that Kamal himself is a self-confessed agnostic. As always , the movie was not a big success at the box office , I later learnt.

DELHI ZOO

Visited the Delhi Zoo this weekend. Its a fairly big one with lots of Animals although the maintanance leaves a lot to be desired. I was lucky to spot two playful Leopard cubs having a whale of a time playing with each other and got a few good snaps of their merriment. Also since it was Winter we saw ample water Birds like Cormorants,egrets,herons,storks & pelicans.

The attitude of people was shocking . Couple of guys standing next to me were throwing stones at a Lion and people were also seen teasing the monkeys & the Tiger. I had to shout on a Group to stop throwing stones & I really felt sorry for those wonderful animals to be amidst such cruel Humans .

A TALE OF TOO MANY CITIES - MUMBAI

The second in a Series of articles on Cities where I have lived (first one was on Madras) .I lived in Mumbai for two years . First one Year at Andheri and later one year at Ghatkopar.

LIKES : I just Adore Mumbai. Its a city brimming with life & vitality and definitely one of my most favourite city . Its a Great city for working people with a professional Outlook and people in General are very nice & friendly in Mumbai. I love the Crowds & the Trains of mumbai . The trains are the lifeline & I used to wander all across Mumbai from Borivali to Andheri to Dadar to Chembur to Thane in those crowded trains. South Mumbai is spectacular with its beautiful seaface & Marine Drive. The Food in Mumbai is Great . From the Vadapaavs/ Bhelpuris / Paani Puris / Lassis to Magical South Indian joints in Matunga & Chembur , mumbai has it all. Whenever I see the ad of Citibank saying "The Citi Never Sleeps", I think of Mumbai.Great Infrastructure with 24 Hr Power Supply , No water/Road problem & perhaps the best public transport I have ever seen in the world.

DISLIKES : Cost of Living , Exploding population , Big gap between Rich & poor .

PLACES TO SEE : Gateway of India , Juhu & Chowpatty beaches , Mahalaxmi & Siddhivinayak temples , Queen's Necklace , Elephanta Caves , Sanjay Gandhi National park , Crawford market , Powai lake.

Strengths : Financial Capital of India , Gateway to the West , Home of Big Business houses , Professional Work Culture , Great Transport system , Wonderful amenities (power,water) management , Cosmopolitan Population , Natural Harbour , Biggest inflow & outflow of International Traffic , Entertainment Capital of India (Bollywood!!) .

Weaknesses : High Real estate costs , Exploding population , More of an old-age than a new age city , Traffic Jam nightmares.

Oppurtunities : Areas of Banking & Finance , Financial Outsourcing ( Investment Banking Analysis & research) by Wall street firms like Merrill Lynch , Lehmann Bros , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan etc , Entertainment (Globalisation of Bollywood ) , Healthcare , Retail Trade , IT/ITES ( Has a few big names like Accenture, EDS but got to promote its English speaking population more) .

Threats : Mafia & underworld , Poor State govt support & performance (The earlier Mumbai detaches itself from Maharashtra the better it is for the city ) , Need for quicker management of Roadways ( Flyovers to grapple traffic mess), New age Cities like Hyd,Blore attract chunk of FDI , High cost of Living.

Mckinsey & co has submitted a 32 page Report for Turning around Mumbai . If the Govt doesn't want Mumbai to become a Dead city I guess they need to take most things in that report seriously. Bombay is Bombay anyday its the face of India.

SAFFRON SWEEP IN HINDI HEARTLAND

The Election results came as a bit of surprise with BJP Capturing power in three states from the Congress. While the Victory in M.P was expected , the margin was huge than predicted by any opinion polls. The Rajasthan win was a big surprise because Gehlot's Govt wasn't that unpopular ( To give them Credit , both Gehlot & Digvijay had done a Decent job during their stint ) . Delhi gave a Thumping Majority to Sheila Dikshit for all the Good work she has done in the last few years. Chattisgarh was embroiled in controversies from day one and turned out to be a surprise for BJP.

One good thing about this election was it was fought on a Development Platform ( Bijli , Sadak , Paani) rather than the Hindutva plank which shows a remarkable maturity .

More Jokes from Jay Leno Show

1. President Bush hosted NASCAR drivers at the White House yesterday. Bush is a huge NASCAR fan. Well, NASCAR is a lot like Iraq – you begin really fast, go around and around in circles and end up the same place you started.

2. Oil prices are now at their highest levels in 20 years, so today Exxon declared the war in Iraq a complete success.

3. The New York Times reported this week that Michael Jackson is $200 million in debt and his financial advisers have ordered him to cut back on spending. Let me tell you something, if you’re $200 million in debt, the first thing you do is fire the financial advisers!

4. The president’s staff told him nobody would suspect that he’d fly off to Iraq. And Bush said, "Well, sure, since it’s Thanksgiving everybody will think I’m going to Turkey."

5. He gave quite a stirring speech to the troops in Baghdad, saying "We will stay until the job is done." He then hopped on a plane and flew back to Texas.

INDIA - The Next Superpower ?

Suddenly the nation is filled with an overwhelming optimism. The Stock markets are at a all time High, Business are doing extremely well (Both Old & new economy) , The rainfall has been good this monsoon , Service sector jobs have seen a tremendous growth . So are we now what Japan was in the 60's & 70's ( On the Threshold of Superstardom) ? Here is a Quick analysis by me :

1. IT , ITES , BPO : There never has been a greater time to be in this sector. Every MNC wants to outsource to India and the Indian talent is being glossed over by the Western Media & MNC's. In spite of the nascent backlash in the US , things look quite upbeat . The best thing about IT jobs is that the quality of work is amazing in India these days ( TI,Intel,Oracle, Motorola ) .

2. Pharma : The Indian Giants are spreading their wings Globally . Ranbaxy,Dr.Reddy , Sun Pharma , CIPLA , Wockhardt all are fighting for a share in the Global markets & competing with low cost drugs . Even on the R&D front we aren't far behind. More than 50% of revenues are from Global sales.

3. Automobile & Manufacturing : City Rover is Tata Indica. M&M tractor sales in the US are impressive. TVS Group is the only second non Japanese company to win coveted Deming prize twice. Moser bear makes optical discs which are used by 11 of 12 big manufacturers. GM,Ford,Chrysler are looking at outsourcing parts worth $1.5 Billion from India .

4. Textiles : Arvind Mills and other Denim successes and Reliance in Polyester & yarn.

The list goes on & on & on(Oil , Cement , Entertainment) ............ So can we make it ? What are the Hurdles curtailing India ? More on it later.

MIGRATION OF BIRDS

One of the most fascinating study is about the Migration of Birds. Science is yet to find a Definitive answer as to how Birds find their Direction when flying such a Long Distance. The siberian Crane flies from Russia to India and the mightiest of them is the Arctic Tern which flies from Arctic to Antarctic and back every year . Amazing !!

The Book "Trials of life " gives some interesting inputs on this phenomenon. The scientists for a long time thought its the position of Sun & stars which provides them the Direction. But experiments on a Cloudy day or with Opaque glasses fitted to Birds have proved that most of them still found their way back !! . The other explanation is that the earth's magnetic field acts as a Guidance to the Birds ( A fact corroborated by traces of magnetic material in Birds and also when magnets strong enough to deflect earth's magnetic field were placed in the Birds they lost their way ) . So now scientists beleive its a Combination of the Magneto-astrnomical forces which help the Bird in its trajectory.

Its amazing the way these birds find Direction so easily travelling thousand of miles where we Human beings have to look for Driving Directions to places where we have been so many times !!

KHNH & DHOOL

I saw two movies this Sunday Kal Ho naa Ho (*ing Shah Rukh , Saif , Preity Zinta) & a tamil Movie Dhool (*ing Vikram , Jyotika) . Kal Ho Naa Ho was a typical Karan Johar movie ( Though he didn't direct it) with foreign locales, kitsch dresses , Good songs & loads of Sentiment. It reminds you of Anand ( Though its nowhere close to the Classic ) . The appreciable aspect of the movie is the underlying humor throughout the movie. The movie inspite of all its weaknesses is worth a one-time watch.

Dhool was a typical tamil masala movie. Its breezed past very fast with some songs, action by Vikram. it was very tautly directed and having seen very few tamil movies in the last few years , it was a refreshing change for me.

DELHI METRO

I travelled in the Delhi Metro Rail on Sunday & been very impressed. It boasts of State of Art Infrastructure (Trains, Stations,Parking ) and gives you a feeling of almost being abroad. Delhi Metro looks very similar to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in San Francisco , which I used to commute a few years earlier. The Doors are automatic and the announcements are very well made and if the entire project is completed , it would be a great Boon for the city of Delhi and its suburbs.

World MBA Fair

The World MBA fair was held on Saturday in Taj Mahal Hotel , Delhi. Some of the best B-schools like Yale , Tuck , Stern, U-Mich , U-Chicago, USC, NUS, INSEAD, Melbourne Business School had participated in the fair. I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture by a Gentleman who was an Alumni of Wharton. He discussed about the scope & career oppurtunities of MBA , Avg salraries , emerging trends / markets , Application & selection process of a B-school . His lecture was excellent and very enlightening.

IS INDIA TOURIST FRIENDLY ?

Are we a Tourist friendly country ? Inspite of our rich historical & cultural wealth , we neither haven't branded ourselves well nor has the Govt been responsive in reducing Red-tapism & undue taxes. Here is an Article which raises some pertinent questions .