Why orkut lost out to facebook??

Only last February, i didn't have a facebook account. But i did have an orkut account and all my friends(at least most of them) were pretty active on it.
And today,most of my friends quite like me, wont even check their orkut accounts and thats certainly not because there was a sudden realization they should be spending more time with their friends in person rather than 'scrapping' them. Its just that they decide write on their 'walls' instead.

Social networking quite clearly, is here to stay. I read a statistic somewhere that if facebook where a nation, it would be the second largest. Kids from primary schools to old -retired -grandpas have facebook account today.

It also now holds the credit for lending out a helping shoulder to the Egypt revolution. After all, it was all triggered by a 26 year old lady who shared a video of herself asking people to come to Tahrir square. What happened since is history.

So why did orkut loose out to facebook?? Quite clearly orkut had an early lead. The same thing happened when gmail was launched. Most of the people who had yahoo mails then switched to gmail and this was despite of the fact that gmail then really have any extra features to cause such mass migration.It was the brand effect. However in this case, brand effect was just one of the many reasons

Lets analyze some of the reasons why facebook overshot orkut in terms  user popularity.

1. Psychological factor:

Any human would want to be noticed. Thats human nature.
The only way you would be noticed in orkut is putting up your snaps. If that be removed, orkut is just about saying hello to your friends.
Facebook on the other hand presents you with ample of opportunities to be noticed. You write on your wall, which is liked or commented upon. The comments and like tempts similar people to do the same. And we being humans, its always nice to be noticed.

2. Games:

I joined facebook just to play Mafia wars. It was the same with lot of my friends. Like with anything monotonous, i gradually lost interest and so did most of my friends, but now i had a facebook account and as such i started logging in once in while, untill i became a daily user.
The whole point is that though you wouldn't have the same interest in those online games after a while, it serves its job of bringing more users. And once they join, the other features of facebook ensures that they stay.

3. Better brand:

I am not aware of a single celebrity who has a orkut account. On the other hand, there were many tv anchors, actors both big and small had facebook accounts. And as such, it has come to define a class in itself. Today  its  fashionable to say 'i am not on orkut, but am there on facebook'.  And who would mind if you get a better brand for without having to pay anything.


4. Better product:

Facebook is a far more quality product than orkut is. Many of the users who aren't active commentators on facebook just login to see the videos shared by other users. And once you share a video, it appears as news-feed so you don't have to each of your friend's wall to see what they have done. And that's just one of the feature. Facebook has got plenty of them and  that is perhaps the most important reason why its way ahead of orkut today. You can have all the above mentioned things in your favor, yet if you don't have genuinely good product, it will eventually not sell.

5. Regular Upgrades

Even the mightiest fort wouldn't survive if they don't adopt to changing trends and keep itself repairing. Not that Orkut didn't do, it was just that facebook was far better foresighted than them. They kept fixing their privacy issues, bought better games, better interface and they still continue to do it at a faster pace than their counterparts.


The above mentioned factors would pretty easily be the reason for any company's success over its counterpart. Kodak lost out to its peers because they were able to foresee the changes in the field of photography. Not just they didn't foresee, they refused to accept the changes even as its peers were busy spending millions of dollars on the new technology.

I read somewhere, that there is a lot of room at the top, yet no place to sit down. Orkut sat down for a moment and it lost out.

Traffic rules not just for people on wheels!

Its sad that in our country pedestrians tend to get away with all the traffic rules that they violate. They never care to think twice as they cross the roads even  when the signal is green, happily talking in to their handsets. They seem too busy to be bothered by deafening sound your horns would make. They just don't care. Even if its highway with no signal, they just raise their hand in an indication to stop, and cross the road.

Its high time traffic rules accommodate a few provisions for such kind of unruly behavior by  all those people who tend to think that these rules are just for people on wheels. A drunk pedestrian is as dangerous as a drunk driver. You might be driving in your top gear when this fellow collapses in front of you.

How many times does it happen that a someone waiting at the side of the road jumps in-front of your vehicle in an attempt to cross the road and then with a sudden realization, return back to where he was,leaving you completely guessing on what his next actions would be.

Not that all pedestrians are careless and all people on vehicle, traffic rules obeying citizens. But its very fair to have same yardstick people breaking the law irrespective of whether he is on a vehicle or not.

Mr. Ponting, you need a break!

Just heard about Ricky Ponting's spat with the empire which is one of his many incidents of unruly behaviour on the filed. And the question asked was 'Is Mr. Ponting cricket's Mr.Shame?' which is of course, a very valid and reasonable question.

Was just wondering, that  a majority of the veteran cricketers and game experts agree that in the foreseeable future if there is anyone who has the slightest chance of  getting close to Sachin's record of maximum tons, its Ponting. And yet so much difference in the way people see these two cricketers who are undoubtedly the best in their business.

Some people are able to keep their feet on the ground despite their huge success, and may be thats what separates the greatest from the pack of greats. And the fact that Sachin was able to do it from an age of 16 is quite a remarkable thing and truly beyond words.

Confusing argument

Binayak Sen's life sentence has raised a quite a lot of eye brows. Some term it as pretty harsh and some, as complete failure of Indian judicial system.

I really don't know whether he is guilty, but the charge on him was of sedition which if proved right has to have a harsh statement. One can debate over the authenticity of the evidences and logic of the prosecution's argument, but once proved guilty, i don't think one has to expect any mercy for that serious charge.

And the argument that i get to hear repeatedly, is that why is he given such a cruel statement, when the rich and the powerful are getting away with their crimes.

Two things are to be noted here.

One, just because some people with influence are getting away, it makes no sense to let loose the less powerful people to what they want. No system is completely fool proof. We can work to improve it to catch the rich, powerful and the influential. But that doesn't mean we can turn our back on the smaller criminals till then. We need to keep filtering with filter that we have till we get a better one.

Two, the charge here was for sedition which is by far a very serious crime compared all the scandals the we ve had in the most scandalous year in the history of Independent India. The judgment has to be just and also act as deterrent for other people from joining enemy forces to conspire against the nation.

I only hope that if Binayak Sen innocent, he be freed with an apology. And if he is not, his sentence be upheld.

After dreaming for almost 8 years, I have finally my own bike. And trust me, it’s a wonderful feeling.

I finally have my Pulsar 180. Certainly not the most happening bike around, but definitely the most happening I could get in my budget!!

And also, once you own a bike, it’s like getting married. You have to love it no matter what. 

Though am not allowed to go above 55 kmph, am still loving it.

There were so many thoughts before I got the key in my hands. To buy or not to buy, 180 or 150, blue or red, but now with the key in my hands, am a happy man.

I remember it all started when Bajaj fellows aired the ‘Definitely male’ ad.  Those days, Plusar was by far the most stylish bike around with round headlight and a ‘raging bull’ look.

As a school going kid who had just learnt to drive a bike, I was completely fascinated by what this bike had to offer. And not just me, I guess it was on the wish list of all the guys in the neighborhood. 

8 years of waiting and I finally own one. Pulsar has come a long way since then. So have I.

Another stage of life completed. One more on the list of things to do before I die, accomplished.

I stand by you, Sir

I completely agree with Chidambaram’s statement about migrants in Delhi. Ignoring the facts completely to be politically correct is what Chidambaram refused to do and in my opinion, rightfully so.

I never saw any visual where he pointed to any particular community, yet Lalu comes up and says that his comments were an insult to Biharis is not just worth a ridicule but also very amusing. 

Chidambaram is by far the most elegant and well mannered minister India has ever had. He has shown his class in any portfolio he has handled, be it the Finance ministry or the Home ministry.

People like Sitaram Yechury and Lalu Prasad who have done basically nothing except giving ‘bhaaashans’  all their life ,don’t have any moral responsibility to point a finger on Mr. Chidambaram.

I d never to Manipal again, i would prefer Apollo

I am one of those guys to whom visting doctors is as tempting as it is for atheists to go to temple. But then at times, you are really left with no option. It was one such occasion and to minimize trauma, I chose to go to a hospital which claimed that ‘they care’. They had put posters everywhere outside the fences, just in case anyone didn’t know that some monthly had put them in the list of the best hospitals in India.

Yes am talking the famous Manipal Hospital, near Domlur in Bangalore. 

As I entered the hospital, it was quite evident that there was nothing good about this place, and unlike to their motto they really ‘didn’t care’.

Queues at the reception were empty though the main hall looked similar to a scene from HAL market. The lady at the counter, without even asking for my preference for the mode of payment, generated cash bills. When I said that I would have preferred payment through card, she said a loud and unapologetic ‘sorry’ as if she was telling me ‘get the hell of here and don’t teach me my job!’.

The file was given to me and I was supposed to carry this to the doctor. They also gave me card like one of those ATM cards. Till now I couldn’t figure out what purpose it served. For if it was just a proof of registration and nothing else, they could have done better with a plain bill. Those electronic cards can do a lot more than just use as registration card. May be the self proclaimed ‘India’s one of the best hospitals’ didn’t know that!

The experiences with the doc were no good either. Despite poking down my throat all the metal things that they had at their disposal, they couldn’t really find out what actually is my causing me discomfort. I wish they had only let me say it. They held my tongue with a cloth and asked me to say ‘eeeeeeeeeeeee’. 

How can u say ‘eeeeeeeee’ if your tongue is held by some one? And when I was almost on the verge of throwing up, she quiet efficiently transferred the blame of her inability to diagnose my problem on to my not being able to say ‘eeeeeeeee’ when my tongue was held by someone else!!  Its like Ashish Nehra saying that he couldn’t hit a century because somebody was walking by the side screen!

It cost me almost 890 bucks for the whole thing including blood tests which I had already done outside. And what did I gain in the end, nothing!

They send me home with a bunch of paper (Yes they kept the file with them). They could have at the least put all the reports in an envelope so that everything stays together.

Compare this to Apollo Hospitals (Not the Sagar Apollo)

You register; the file is taken by the secretary of the doc whom you want to see to them. You wait  for your turn in a very clean and neatly maintained lounge. When you are done with the doc, you file automatically reaches where you might have to conduct your tests. You don’t really have to know anything. At the end of visit, they hand you over a very neatly filed diagnosis report for the next follow-up.

Not just about the process they follow, they have excellent doctors. I went to Apollo for almost the same reason I visited Manipal.  For lesser cost, Apollo gave me quality service and what’s even more important, a lot more better treatment!

I swore that day, if I have to I would never ever go to Manipal again. 

The 'panchayathi' verdict

"I am proud belong to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions are true."

In the September of 1893,Swami Vivekananda's address to The World Congress of Religions in Chicago had opened the doors of India's philosophy to the western world.

Afer hearing the Ayodhya verdict and the reactions of the so called guardians of Hindutva, i wonder if this the same religion that Swami Vivekananda preached. 

A place of worship was vandalized. Instead of bringing the culprits to the book, Indian judiciary  try a compromise formula so that every one is happy. And some say, the court have shown 'courage'. i unfortunately cannot see any courage in verdict.


Funny that people kill to reclaim the land that they believe is 'Ram Janmabhhomi' and forget to follow the concept of sacrifice that the Lord symbolized. On the contrary, some of them go on record asking the Muslims to surrender even the 1/3rd of that land that has been allocated to them.

Many learned people have already commented on the unjust nature of the verdict, but what gets my goat is the fact the jury of the so called "wise men" took 16 years to deliver this "panchayathi" formula. Even an ordinary Indian housewife would have delivered this verdict in a week's time.

As a Hindu, i believe that all religions are true and all of them lead to The merciful. Vandalizing a place of worship is a crime not just by my faith but also by the rules of my land. The crime was witnessed by more than a million people on their TV sets and still the so called wise men of our society are bothered about the temple which may or may not have been demolished at a time when the Indian constitution itself did not exist. What about the demolition of the mosque?

As an Indian am disappointed and as a Hindu at heart, am ashamed. Because my religion teaches me to respect others' beliefs as much as i respect mine.

On this Independence day....

How many people here think that democracy is the best form of government??

I don't.

Democracy is perfect form of governance in a ideal sense. By ideal scenario, i mean where people are mature, intelligent,patriotic and economically sound enough to understand whats good for them as a nation.

Does a  real democracy exist in the current world?  

No it doesn't!

Is India not a democracy?? 

Yes it is, but not a complete democracy.

The president isn't elected.Neither are the governors! Even the election commissioner is not elected!!  There is still a provision for invoking emergency. There is a provision for invoking President's rule.

Is 100% democracy achievable??

It might be, but its not very practical

Then what is the best form of government?

I would say democratic dictatorship!

For example: US is a perfect example of democratic dictatorship. You elect the dictator and he is answerable only to a another select few dictators.

These are elected representatives, then why are they being called as dictators?

Because once they are elected, they become dictators till next elections. They are not punished for not following the manifesto, they can only be 'not elected'.

Once they are elected, people do not have any power to remove them unless there is a next election.

Which means, that if they want they can go on free run. But then they are elected and can be removed in the next term. But still they have powers till next term.

Is India an example of democratic dictatorship??

No, India is an example of dictatorial democracy.

Oh really?? so who is the dictator here?

There are many dictators here. Caste system is one dictator, Religion another. Corruption,Poverty,illiteracy, unemployment are other dictators. Similarly there are more less powerful dictators here and there.

Ha ha ha ha ha.....how can you call these as dictators?? They are just some of the problems that we face. These are the problems that any third world country would face. They are not dictators!

Yes they are. And they are more powerful than any other dictators the world has ever seen.

They are dictators, because its on the basis of these factors that we vote. We rarely dare to rise to disobey these dictators and think as a nation. We cry for our jawan when the nation goes to a war at Kargil. Our blood boils when our national symbols are taken hostage. Just when we think, we are going to break free from these dictators, they strike back. And ultimately they win. And we.....we forget all these and get busy with our daily chores!

They are dictators because they dictate the voters' mind. The guy from the backward caste votes for the guy who promises to increase their quota at the cost of merit. A religious die hard votes for the guy who promises to build temple on the disputed land. An impoverished labour who doesn't have enough money to serve his family a day's meal votes for the person who gives him 500 rupee note on an election rally!!

If these are not dictators, what are they??

Oh really, then how do we break free of these dictators?? You think these dictators can ever be eliminated??

Not unless we try.

Try....Try...huh? Do you think corruption can ever be eliminated??

No.

So you mean to say that these dictators will always be there??

Yes

So as per what you say, we can never be a perfect society?

No

So what can we do??

STRIVE

Strive to achieve a perfect society. Corruption cannot be eliminated. It can only be brought down. Bring it down. Resist whenever possible.

Educate people to think ahead of religion and caste.

Of course like the Rang de Basanti guys, you cannot go and shoot at corrupt politicians or organize a mass gathering.

Use the skill that you are gifted with, to do your bit.

Writers write blogs and books encouraging people to think as a nation. Painters, paint beautiful and meaningful pictures showing how good it be if can conquer these ghosts. People with good speaking skills, talk....talk talk till ur throat is dry on how we can play our role in nailing these evils.

Similarly people with other skills, do your bit.

Do something,

Even if its something as elementary as creating a facebook page, do it! Even if one guy is inspired out of it, he can be a source of inspiration to others.

And last but not the least, follow what you preach!

Perfection can only be pursued. It may never be acheived, but its definitely worth giving a try!!

A few good men(Software engineer's version)

The other day i recommended watching the movie, "A few good men" to my roommate. Little did i know, that it would have such impact on him. Now he recites Jack Nicholson's climax dialogue even while he is asleep! For those who haven't seen the movie, this is the scene that am talking about.



Its one of the best Jack Nicholson performances i ve ever seen. I don't think anybody could have portrayed the ego of a person who takes this amount of pride in what he does, better than him.

Coming back to my roommate, this thing happened the other day, while we were returning home after having our breakfast and he was repeating the Col. Jessep's lines for nth time(it was just 9:30 in the morning and he had already recited it enough times to make me think its logical not to count it), i thought that some where those lines had got embedded deep in his unconscious mind. And given a similar situation, the dialogues would flow of him even without his knowledge.

But he or rather we, cannot be working in a more different situation than Col. Jessup. We are all software engineers! We cannot possible encounter such a situation ....a situation where these lines would flow spontaneously of him.

And then i thought about the quality guys in my company!




Now read below:


                                                            SCENE 1
************************************************************************************

 Characters: Software engineer(SE) and Service Delivery Manager(SDM)
 Scenario: Conversation between a SDM and a developer(SE). Software engineer is accused of missing the deadlines by  SDM
 Location : Conference room 1

************************************************************************************
SDM: Any chance that you were not aware of the deadlines?

Software Engineer: Not aware of the deadlines?

SDM: Any chance that your colleagues ignored deadlines?

Software engineer: No

SDM: Any chance that you ignored the deadlines?

Software Engineer: Have you ever worked in prodouction support?

SDM: No

Software Engineer: Have you ever solved a Severity 1 issue?

SDM: No

Software engineer : Have you ever tested another man's code, asked him to test yours??

SDM: No

Software engineer: We follow deadlines son,
                        we follow deadline, or managers get screwed! Its that simple. Are we clear??
                    
SDM: Yes sir

Software engineer: ARE WE CLEAR

SDM: CRYSTAL!!




                                                             SCENE 2
************************************************************************************


 Characters: Software engineer(SE) and Service Delivery Manager(SDM)

 Scenario: Conversation between a SDM and a developer(SE). Software engineer is questioned for NC(non compliance) in the quarterly quality report
 Location : Conference room 1


************************************************************************************



Software engineer: You want answers??

SDM :I Think am entitled to

Developer: You want answers??

SDM: I want the truth!

Software engineer :

"YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH!
Son, we live in a world thats run by softwares. And those softwares have to be developed and maintained by men with brains. Who's gonna do it? You? You, QA in charge?
I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for a non compliance and you curse the developers. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that this NC, while tragic, probably saved time. And my logic, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves time...

You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at team meetings, you want me to write that code. You need me to write that code.
We use words like process compliance,peer review,customer-satisfaction...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent developing something. You use 'em as a punchline.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very code I write, then questions the process compliance of my code! :-)

I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a workstation and write your own code. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!"
:-) :-) :-)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FACEBOOK IS A STUPID IDIOT

Very meaning full song!

How to make a good Blog curry

Welcome to phalana ttikaaana.

Today we will see how to make a good blog curry. Blog curry is an extremly delicious easy to make curry with lots of medicinal values and has known to cure diseases like boredom,loneliness,solitude,insomnia etc..

The ingredients to make this curry are

50  mg Ideas(Original)
10  mg common sense
10  mg English grammar
250 mg humor
Finely ground sarcasm according to taste.

Fry your ideas till they become golden brown.If you don't get any original fresh ideas, borrow it from other blogs!(Now a days Plagiarism is seen more as a virtue than an offense) Add chopped common sense to it and stir continuously till they become a homogenous mixture. Add a mix of nicely dried humor and melted sarcasm to it and allow it to boil till it becomes thick. Finally garnish with some good English grammar and allow it to settle.

Aur swaaadishhtt blog curry taiyaaaar! Best when served hot.

IF YOU THINK THAT THIS IS THE MOST STUPID DISGUSTING AND OBNOXIOUS BLOG YOU EVER CAME ACROSS,WATCH THIS:



JUST TO PROVE THAT THERE ARE THINGS IN THIS WORLD THAT ARE WORSE THAN THE BLOG U JUST READ :-)

And the mallus, watch this as well:

Food for thought!!

Why in most of the love stories mother agrees and father disagrees??

Because mother knows what is love.......and father knows what life is!!

A white paper on best practises of boozing!!

This blog is a result of 'kadi tapasya' done by me and my friends over a period of 6 years. This has been tested in bars from Kothamangalam to Amsterdam(Jaggu..hope you are reading this) and on brands ranging from 'Jawan' which cost 120 per liter to Jack Daniel's ( i dont know the price, i never paid for it :-)).
Readers(if any) are welcome to put their own research theories and also contradict with us provided that they meet the basic criteria which is given below.

1.Must have the ability to drink at least 6 pegs without puking.
2.Should have experience in this field for minimum five years without a gap of not more than 2 months.

So anyone who matches the above two criteria is all welcome to put up his hypothesis on this blog.

GOLDEN RULES OF BOOZING:

1.Never booze when upset. Booze only to celebrate.

2.Boozing is never addictive. So don't even try!!(to get addicted)

*. Never booze alone.

3.Call up your GF after the third peg. Tell her how much you love her and how nothing else matters to you other than her. When you ve had your third peg, you have this strange ability to speak as if there is no more blood flowing in your veins but alcohol and yet manage to be in control of what you speak.Girls are more often than not fool enough to believe that when a guy drinks, he speaks nothing but truth. Exploit this to the maximum!!

CAUTION:
Never call your GF after the 6th peg. Who knows you might just start speaking the truth!!!

4.Booze slowly and steadily. Booze to be on the high and not to tumble down and puke all over. If you just wanna sleep, try sleeping pills instead!

5.Never go by the society rules of taking sips. If you feel uncomfortable with the taste, gulp it down immediately. After all, the whole purpose is to get the kick! If its the taste that you are looking for, try ice cream!

6.Dip your finger in the spiciest of pickle, rub it on your tongue and exhale as soon as the liquor traces its way down your throat. Helps to overcome jerk which might be a result of resistance offered by your body. This may not be correct scientifically, test it your own risk.

This is applicable only if you are not a seasoned drinker!! For a seasoned drinker, there is no jerk in the first place!

7.Now this one is scientific .Drink a lot of water! Alcohol has a dehydrating effect on your body. So compensate for the lost water by drinking more(water of course!!)

8.Your liver generates in every 6 months(My friend says so and generally he is right!). So no matter how much u drink, you can always take break and start again!

To be continued......

Where is the passion??

Starting something of my own has always been a dream for me. And when you have a dream that you see with your eyes open everyday, your mind unconsciously works towards achieving it. At least i believe so.

I understand the risks involved in leaving a high paying job in one of the biggest IT companies to start-up your own business especially when you are just a 'toddler' in the industry with no previous experience in business. But then, that's how everything started. Those who succeeded were not exceptionally great men. They were also once like us who just believed in their dream.

Yet, there are so many people around who are convinced that i can never make it big. Why, because i am just 2 yrs old in the field. Because i will not get clients. Because i don't have initial investment. The list is unending.

But then without all this, so many companies started, and some of them managed to become "the changing face of India" and their leaders, "New gen enterprenurs".

"You will not understand the benefits of being in a job. You will understand it later" said a very matured friend of mine. Yeah i wouldn't understand. I can sit in this company and have people who i know are not half as capable as me, deliver me lectures on the process i should follow here. I really don't understand it, please help me understand.

"There are so many advantages of being salaried professional". I am sure there are! But they don't interest me. Ships would never drown if they stay in the harbor, but is that why ships are made for?

"Hey N, look Anoop is going to start a business. Why don't you invest some money?" V called out sarcastically to N

"What am i mad or what? Business...hhmmm. The guy is out of his minds. Dont worry he will be alright as he begins to understand the world"

Its always easy to take the easier path. The path that has been traversed by so many people before you and and will be traversed by so many after you. Does that excite you. Not me. I read somewhere that a very famous university conducted a study on two groups of people. One who wanted to make money, another who pursued what interested them. And they found that 20 years later, it was the latter who were richer than the former.

Its not about money. Its about doing what i feel like doing. Its about driving your own show. Its about eliminating all that i think is just a waste of time and resources and putting a better and more efficient working model.


A is a nice guy and happens to be my roommate. A is what you call a satisfied person,contented in all sense. His daily routines revolves around three 'S'. Sleeping, sex and shitting! He spends as much time in lavatory as he spends in his bed. And when he is not sleeping or shitting, he is thinking about sex. So much, that if mind-raping had been a punishable offense, he would have been awarded death sentences each day since he attained puberty.

Just before i started writing this blog, i had a big argument with him. As he got up from his 16 hour long sleep, i advised him to get up and do something with his life. He said he is thinking about it. He said he doesn't feel passionate anymore about anything. He blames it on his failed love. Nothing irritates me more! He said how he was passionate back then and since she left her, he lost interest in life. With this he walked to lavatory to experience what he says is a divine pleasure. One and half hours later he emerged with a satisfying look on his face. This was probably 5th or 6th time he had been to "London"(that's his code word for lavatory).

Then he advised me like a grand old man "There is more in life than this work"

Yeah i see that.He had kept the door of the bathroom open,just in case he wanna go back in, he need not take extra effort to open it!

"For you, starting your own business is a passion. But what after that. While you die, you cant take anything with u rite?"

"What nonsense" I was in no mood to give up. "At least i will not regret that i didn't do what i wanted to. Its not what you take with you while you die, its how you have been living your life till then. Life's is a journey and death is the destination. If i pursue my passion, i will enjoy my journey and embrace my destination without any regrets". I was rather surprised by own philosophical spontaneity. Lately i have become quite a philosopher. J would agree!

"That is your view point,Anoop. Just like you enjoy dreaming about the unachievable(sucker!! i wanna give a punch rite on his nose), i enjoy my sleep. I enjoy my food. Ultimately what matters is whether we are happy or not. Living my life like this gives me happiness." He has a point there and i cannot deny that!Though i simply cannot believe that anybody can be happy by living a life like that.

As i pen this,i don't know if he is really happy or he said that just to win the argument(he is in lavatory,anyways) but i am not happy. Am not at all satisfied. I cannot spend my whole life like this. I want to do what i love to do and not just "work".

And with a belief that someday i will be able to prove all these people wrong, i conclude.

PS: A is not as bad as he would seem in this post. He is a real nice person,rather a gem of a person.Just that, he is one big lazy bum and is suffering from never ending stomach disorder.

Nostalgic Videos!!

As i was youtubing around, i found this video. This was one of those good old NFDC presentation which would keep me glued to TV sets back when i was studying in primary school.



Now this led me to do a bit more youtubing in search of similar nostalgic videos. And then i found this one. I remember not missing a single episode of this 'MOGLI'.



More searching and i came across some of the good old ads. One of them is the "Hamara Bajaj" campaign. I remember back then most of Bajaj scooters would have "You just cant beat a Bajaj" caption on their Stephenie cover.As a kid, i used to stand in the space between the driver's seat and the handle with a lot of pride!



And the Lifebuoy ad: "Tandooristhi ki raksha kare Lifebuoy, Lifebuoy hai jahaan, Tandooristhi hain wahan"




And finally how can any Indian not have seen this video. The remake of this video by a popular production house was as disgusting it can get.In fact,to say it was disgusting would be a understatement. I didn't see a single word of praise from any one over the cyberspace for the newer version except the makers themselves and the actors in the video who claimed it be historical.Reminds me of sprite ad caption "logon ko paisa do, kuch bhi bol daalte hain"!



And now the remake version of this. This video seemed to me more than about achiever's kids than acheiver's themselves.The most disgusting part is when the song is retuned on the notes "aati kya khandal" for Aamir's screen presence.For me that was the lowest point. But then there are plenty of blunders in the video for every one to have a pick of their own. Shirtless Sallu, Deepika in minies...i wonder how they missed out Rakhi Sawant!

Kill IPL !

"An embattled IPL commissioner Lalit Modi refused on Saturday to resign from his post and dared BCCI to sack him at Monday's IPL governing council meeting. While the BCCI brass went into huddle to chalk out a strategy to remove him,Mr.Modi showed no signs of backin down"--The Hindu

Two weeks after setting in motion a sequence of events which would lead to the resignation of the man who is no stranger to controversies,Mr. Shashi Tharoor , Lalit Modi himself finds in troubled waters.Such is the impact of introdouction of Kerala team.  And here am thinking that malayalees have no role to play in IPL!!

For the past three days, IPL controversy has occupied the front page of all major news papers except TOI which chooses to put some sex scandal and pictures of bikini babes instead!Thats what i like about the TOI :-).

From allegations of rigging in the team allotment process to match-fixing, IPL seems to be unfolding enough melodrama to put Kavitha Kapoor's saaas-bahu soaps to shame. And its just started!

As a person who was very passionate about his cricket in his teens, i ve come to understand my cricket and hence  appreciate the beauty of a classic stroke play.For me batting is a bit more than bang bang.
In a 50 over match, you need to save your wicket and cannot throw your bat just at anything. Thats when the batsman's true skills are tested. In IPL, you just need to be bothered about 20 overs, which means there isnt a lot of need to save your wickets. Its just hit as much as you can or die doing so.

Thats not the only reason why don't like IPL.i dont feel the same passion seeing IPL that i get when i see India taking on Australia(forget Pakistanis, Australians are our new enemies!).

Sony's IPL campaign showed picking up sides in IPL as trendy and soon people started choosing their teams for support. The element of glamor involved also played its part in making the IPL popular. But do my hairs stand up like it does when Sachin faces Shoaib....naaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! I am a big time Sachin fan and hence i support MI, but even when they lose, i dont get that dejected feeling that i get when India loses to Australia. The only time i clapped hard was when Bhajji slapped Sreesanth! He long deserved one :-) didn't he?

And the fuss about IPL being a wonderful concept and a unique business model is again baseless.
It was ICL that came up with this idea in the first place. If not for BCCI's arm twisting and cut throat techniques to establish monopoly, IPL might have been a different story altogether. They didnt follow ethics of fair competition from day 1, but now when Shashi Tharoor come gate crashing to Modi's party and demanded that he give his state an IPL team, Modi's plans of making a few extra bucks for himself by allotting the ownership of the new teams to a premier industrial house of the country took a beating. An outraged Modi questioned the Tharoor's ethics, which triggered a chain of events which led Tharoor to resign from his ministerial post.

At least now he can tweet in peace!!

Little did Modi know that, his actions were to backfire on him sooner than he anticipated.Now he is on the brink of losing his job as IPL commissioner, if he hasnt already. And now BCCI is going to setup all kinds of enquiry commissions that you can possibly imagine (and some that you cant possibly imagine :-) ) against him. Poor Modi! Is this what you call "apne pairon pe khuladi maarna" ?

People who live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones at others.

Kapil Dev and the entire ICL team would be watching the events with a lot of interest.And why not,BCCI issued threats of bans and used its influence with the cricket boards of friendly countries to burn down ICL to ground. They should have something to cheer about after all.

A read from Neo's blog! Awesome!!!

Why it is meaningless to say you’re proud to be an Indian

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama.

“More than you know it I’m aware,
Of this connection that we share.
I know it seems like sometimes I don’t care,
But you are the colors that I wear” – “3 AM”, Poets of the Fall.

“I’m proud to be an Indian ” – Twitterer, January 26th, 2010.

“You were an Indian in America, and now you’re an American in India. Always confused.” – Neo’s Uncle Abhay on Neo, January 26th 2010.

“What time is Lost?” – Neo, moments ago.

*

On Republic Day, Uncle Abhay kept trying to get Neo to enjoy the parade, but Neo was more interested in spending quality time with his Google Reader, podcasts and wine – only two things were “dry” on Republic Day at Neoville: the municipal water supply, and Abhay’s throat because he couldn’t stop talking.

Uncle Abhay finally gave up: “Are you even an Indian? What the hell are you doing in India? Why did you come here? Aren’t you proud of being an Indian?”.

No.

Neo has plenty of time to listen to Raga Marwa, or wait for his turn at the traffic light, but he has no time to waste watching parades, waving the flag of any country, chanting slogans or reading @nevervotes92’s tweets on how he’s proud of being an Indian. Saying that you are proud of being an Indian isn’t much different than saying you’re proud to be born on a Monday – being an Indian is just a fact, not an achievement to be proud of. Would you be less proud if you were born Romanian, or on a Tuesday ? You could say you’re lucky to be an Indian – millions of Bangladeshis would agree.

The ridiculously sloganeered and caricatured shows of patriotism that occur in India (and every other country) on “national holidays” are an insult to the intelligence of its citizens. What happened to the thoughtful, deep India ? When did we choose gaudy weddings over happy marriages, not-stalgia and past glory over reality, rutty careers over our real aspirations, pretentious religious ceremonies over what they actually mean, deep-fried over grilled, elder-worship over thinking for ourselves, the display of money over tastefulness and rote-memorized slogans over an intuitive understanding of civic duty ? You can get a kid to recite “Mera Bharat Mahan” or the sugary-sweet “All Indians are my brother and sisters” until his face is blue, but he’s still not going to stop throwing his fucking candy wrapper on the road until a parent teaches him to.

And have you noticed ? Around the world, the more pathetic the condition of its citizens, the grander and more pretentious are the patriotic celebrations and the forced, fake statements of pride. If the Martians were watching the parades on TV, they’d think North Korea was the leader of the world. The lipstick on a prostitute gets more garishly red as dawn approaches, or as the drugs wear off.

A few of Neo’s family members and friends serve (proudly) in the Indian armed forces. None of them are impressed by the Facebook status updates, tweets and blog posts proclaiming pride for India on national holidays or disasters. This Republic day, Neo’s friend said “We serve in the army so the rest of you motherfuckers can be safe and change India, not so you can sit around forwarding patriotic songs and feel happy.”

How about we replace all the parades, speeches and sloganeering with a simple ceremony that honors the men and women who would run towards a gunshot rather than away from it ? The ceremony can end in a simple wish – “we honor the Indians who died for our country this year, and we hope our enemies will soon have the opportunity to die in very large numbers for their country.”

Hello, and welcome to Neo’s blog. He is Indian, and he’s proud of many things. But he’s not proud to be an Indian. He just is an Indian.
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Source url: http://neoindian.org/

Random Thoughts:State of journalism in our country!

Past few days news papers have been buzzing with Shoaib-Sania marriage. To add more fuel, Mr. Thackarey, the self declared guardian of "Bharatiyatha" went down to threaten Sania for falling in love in with a Pakistani. Man, this guy comes right out of cartoon network!!

A veteran journalist and a self proclaimed "Mr.Right" tweets about professional ethics of a journalist when he sees Shoaib Sania saga in the front pages of all major newspapers. And what does his channel do, they show live pictures of NSG commandos landing on the Nariman house.In his defense,he asserts that Govt. must have restricted them. There is no denying the fact the govt. and the army should have cordoned off the area, but does it take anything more than pure common sense to understand that showing live pictures of military operation can end up in a disaster? Its so obvious,that you have to be Rajdeep Sardesai not to have  foreseen that!! Did he forget the term 'collective responsibility' which he uses so often while he grills the top notch politicians of the country.No intentions of finger pointing at the gentleman, just wanted to say , if you cant do things right, go easy on preaching!

The media, in the present day, is just a medium to sell whats hot! Open up the middle page of the very famous TOI and there wont be a day when you wont see a bikini clad model there.There may not be anything wrong with that, but do you have to go to that level to increase your circulation. And we were the ones who screamed when FTV was launched in India.

Headlines Today is more about whats happening in reality shows. They seem to be more bothered about Shweta Tiwari wore in "Mujhe Jungle se bachao" or how "Rakhi ka swayamvar" is shaping up. Aaj Tak holds its own survey and always rates itself as the no.1 news channel. They seem to have taken a lesson from a very famous "management guru" who also runs a business school which also rates itself as better than the IIMs :-)

There was this incident when one of the very famous lady journalists in the present day, ventured into Kargil to show the world what women are capable of ! And she did show what she was capable of. Two jawans lost their life, when she flashed her camera at Pakistani forces, disclosing their position and making them a clean sitting duck. And God, did we see any remorse from her.

More surprisingly, this issue was never given due importance by the media.Did we see a discussion on "Big Fight" or "We, the people" whether journalists should be allowed on war front or not?
You spare nobody, but when its cases of  lapses on your own side,you play it down! How easy!

Quite recently, i saw this program 'Being a Muslim' on one of the premier news channels. They showed how they are the only ones in the entire country who treat muslims as our fellow brothers and the rest all of us working for their annihilation.I feel that particular feature would have done more good for to the terror recruiters than to anyone else.

There is no denying the fact that muslims do at times get subjected to stringent security checks. But we need to be aware of the fact that this is more required to in national interest and not aimed at creating a divide. In fact this is eliminate those who are hellbent on creating a divide. If we want to get away with stringent checks, we should make it a point that we don't blame the security agencies with terms "Intelligence failure" which is first thing the common man in the street speaks of, should he hears about a bomb blast. How easily we ignore how many of 26/11 s were avoided and nipped in the bud by our good guys. But that never seem to excite the  media nor the general public. .

'Tehelka tapes' were undoubtedly an important chapter in the history of Indian journalism. It showed the difference the media can make when it comes to exposing corruption to the public. Since then numerous sting operations have been undertaken, some genuine and some not so genuine ones. One good thing about the sting operation is that it brings about instant response. Today sting operations have also turned spicy! No am not referring to "Emotional Atyachar"!! Out of the 10 sting operations carried today, 6 are  to expose sex scandals. Not that these guys feel a lot for morality, its just it adds up more masala, more audience and hence a better TRP rating. Mission accomplished!!

The latest figure to be caught with his pants down was none other 'Baba Nithayananda'! Unlike all other times when the feeling was more of outrage, i felt rather amused by this episode. I mean the people who trusted this Godman or any other Godman for that reason, didn't deserve anything better. I feel pity for the "bhakts" but you asked for it, and so you got it! Nobody to blame.

Random thoughts on religion!!

Spirtuality is all about connecting to God and how do u do that? Simple, by connecting to your ownself. So do have to be in saffron and chant mantras to do that? No. Then why do people do that?


All religions have symbols,practices and beliefs. How did these beliefs come into existence. Once upon a time, there were so very intelligent people who found the path to connect to God. Like true scholars, they wanted other men also to discover this secret of life and attain moksha. When i say moksha, i donot mean anything thats after your death. You attain moksha when you discover the purpose of your life.

Since these people found that the common folks didnt have the bandwidth to understand their teachings, they tried to explain it to people by telling them a story.Its like your physics teacher explaining you nuclear reacton by linking the neutrons to Arjun's arrow which would multiply over the flight to its target. And the story covered all aspects of life. It stressed on all the values that all of must have heard from so many priests and swamys. Its a waste of html space to list them here.

And like the students we were, instead of understanding the core concept of God, the disciples of these great men gave more importance to the story and its characters. And so Ram,Allah,Jesus came into existence. The scholars , created characters in a way that ordinary people would relate them to their own local environment. To make it easy, they wrote the so called holy books. And thus, Quran,Geetha ,Bible and more holy scriptures came into existence.

There is always some essence of knowledge lost when you pass it to the next generation. Its like the game thats played most of the personality development classes, the instructor lines up people in a line and to the person standing first, he would whisper a message in his ears and would ask him to pass it down the queue in a similar fashion. The last person in the queue says the message loud and more often than not, its completely different from the original message.

Similarly generations later, the original message the true scholars had intended to pass on somewhere got lost and a completely different set of concepts emerged. The dumb disciples started respecting the scriptures,the characters and all the symbols that they thought identified them while completely ignoring the core message which the scholars had intended to deliver. The religion united people and with it came a false pride which seeked to destroy anyone who would question their practices. Soon there was a strong sense of competition between religions with their heads taking a dig at each other's traditions. Heads ordered,the disciples
obeyed and nobody dared to question.This happens to a lot of extent in the present age also.

As Imeperialism started showing its ugly side, the so called disciples took up a mission on civilzing people by passing on their misunderstood values and beliefs to the so called 'barabaric tribes' across continents. These barbarians on the other hand were more civilized as they had learnt to respect nature and to live in harmony with it where as the so called reformists were going on complicating their environment in attempt to make their life easy and in the process ended making it even more complicated. Rightly said in the movie "Gods must be crazy" as a result of that his children are sentenced to spend more than a decade in school and
college just to learn how to survive in the complexity.

Religion was no more about connecting god. It was now more about who dominated. The think tanks now spent more time on how to get people from other religions to to accept theirs and they didnt hesitate to use all possible means to do so.

And this continues till date.

Pray before you sleep, do what u feel is right and try not to hurt anyone, unless its a case of your own survival. I guess thats all u need to be spiritual. Saffron is just a colour and so is green and white. Bothering about them is just a waste of time. I d rather blog than thinking about it!!