The Shifting Goalpost

SandeepMeher.com

2007-05-21T23:57:00.000+01:00

Moving to my new site SandeepMeher.com and try regular updates - this one had a last update on 5/Feb/07 - that is sad.

Cornwall + Eden Project

2007-02-05T20:10:00.001Z

No score for 5 wickets

2007-01-25T18:47:00.000Z

Check http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/india/engine/match/263125.html

Mumbai were 0 for 5 wickets down in the 2nd innings against Baroda in Ranji Trophy - 2nd Semi Final and still managed to win :-)

Not even extras scored during the fall of those 5 wickets.


Mumbai 2nd innings      R  M  B
SO Kukreja  c Pawar b IK Pathan  0  3  4
W Jaffer  c Shah b Patel    0  10  6
HN Shah  c Parab b IK Pathan  0  11  6
AA Muzumdar  lbw b Patel    0  10  2
R Sharma  lbw b IK Pathan  0  1  1

Fall of wickets:
 1-0 (Kukreja, 0.4 ov), 
 2-0 (Jaffer, 1.6 ov), 
 3-0 (Shah, 2.4 ov), 
 4-0 (Sharma, 2.5 ov), 
 5-0 (Muzumdar, 3.2 ov)

A rose on fire

2007-01-22T19:29:00.000Z

Angel

2007-01-01T19:28:00.000Z

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss

Lighthouse

2006-12-20T08:45:00.000Z

Me Maazaa

2006-12-17T20:54:00.000Z

Am I not a man and a brother?

2006-12-12T22:26:00.000Z

Well definitely not brother. There will always be difference between one human being and other. One person will always feel the others are inferior in some way or other (power, money, colour, caste, religion and if one is short on these, there are always morals to compare). It is the difference between people which actually translates into a parameter of comparison. Is there a place in the world where one can avoid this? Possibly no, everybody has to live with it.

I am watching Dom Jolly's Happy Hour on Sky One - and can feel the ridicule for whatever is different. Dom and Pete, looking for booze in and around the temples of Hampi, were purely offensive (atleast to Indians?). Of course, they did not think so.

On the BBC News at Ten, a news story to find out the cost of translation services for immigrants - the story ends in Brick Lane.

The title of this post is a very famous slogan representing the campaign against the slave trade.

Smirnoff - Ice and Fire

2006-12-09T20:52:00.000Z

A photographic experiment...

Mummy Pappa in UK

2006-10-17T19:13:00.000+01:00

Mummy Pappa and my car

Mummy Pappa arrived in UK for the first time. Photos to be found here ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandy_meher/

Pitch Black, Solaris ...

2006-08-20T09:58:00.000+01:00

Saw both these movies last week. I am not a big fan of sci-fi movies (hmm... I enjoy Matrix, Star Trek a lot - but I am sure that does not make me a sci-fi fan). But I liked both.

Pitch Black is like many of the space travel/sci-fi movies where a spaceship crashes or gets lost and then the crew/passenger tries to fight aliens. A few of them indeed deserve to die and some do not deserve, but still die and some who are supposed to save the remaining and do that eventually. Pitch Black has similar bits but it is different on many points, too. There is an alien here, but the powers have been balanced in an interesting manner. Without Pitch Black, the aliens are powerless, rather highly vulnerable. Watch it if you get a chance.

Solaris is based on a Russian story and you can make it out by the pace of the movie. No that is not a negative comment - the movie moves very slowly but that gives the viewer a lot to think about what's happening and believe me I cannot write a lot about it. The whole story is based on an almost abandoned spaceship where a doctor (George Clooney) goes to find out what's happening and, of course, gets involved in the happenings. This one is unmissable.

Trying my hand(s) at the Piano

2006-08-10T21:12:00.000+01:00

Found lots of Hindi film music notations on the web. But it would be great if somebody could give me some links to Marathi song notations.

Back on the blog

2006-08-01T01:03:00.000+01:00

... settled in the new place after a long time and hope to start blogging regularly.

What is in a name?

2006-06-04T21:05:00.000+01:00

Some discussion about Apple
.
.
.

9. What kind of name is Gundeep anyway? Can anyone with a name like that be trusted? I don't think so.

Posted at 11:38AM on Jun 3rd 2006 by Rob

.
.
.

11. quote[What kind of name is Gundeep anyway? Can anyone with a name like that be trusted? I don't think so.]quote

Well, it certainly better then "Rob," a word that as a verb denotes thievery.

As an aside, it is a Punjabi word

Posted at 11:52AM on Jun 3rd 2006 by Gandhi

... :-)

Web 2.0

2006-05-09T23:05:00.000+01:00

The dot com era is making a comeback. Last time it was e-commerce, this time the buzzwords are social bookmarking, tagging, folksonomy, rss, rich user interfaces, wikis, and, of course, blogs.

Tim O'Reilly's What is Web 2.0 and Wkipedia article Web 2.0 are good starting points to understand this phenomenon.

As expected, Google and Yahoo are the big players in this game. But the innovation is oft led by start-ups which are then bought by these big companies. Try searching for "Google buys" and "Yahoo buys" in news search and you will get the point.

Flickr and Google Maps are often cited as examples of the rich user experiences. And they also known for their extensibility by providing API's(Google APIs and Yahoo Developer Network) for other developers.

Some of the names which are oft repeated in Web 2.0 articles and discussions are:
- http://del.icio.us/
- http://www.digg.com/
- http://www.technorati.com/
I am still trying to understand what these ideas are meant to deliver.

Also, if you are a Yahoo user, try the My Web 2.0 Beta(I think it is based on http://del.icio.us/, which it bought in Dec-05). And Google members can check orkut.

We all are affected, directly or indirectly, by these waves of technological changes and it would be interesting to see how long Web 2.0 lasts and what if finally evolves into.

Btw, don't forget to check the Webby Awards 2006.

Posting in देवनागरी

2006-05-07T07:49:00.000+01:00

A lot of bloggers are posting in देवनागरी - मराठी and हिंदी. Some of which I had stumbled upon:
मराठी साहित्य (Marathi Literature)
॥ उगाच उवाच ॥
Chayachitrakar - छायाचित्रकार

Superman - First Issue (1938)

2006-05-07T07:26:00.000+01:00

Unbelievable. http://dixi.blogter.com/?post_id=45670

Chaplin

2006-05-06T09:32:00.000+01:00

IMDB Plot Outline for Richard Attenborough's Chaplin - A film about the troubled and controversial life of the master comedy filmmaker.

After watching the movie, I disagree with the above - Chaplin's life was neither troubled nor controversial, as compared with so many from the entertainment industry. In the film, Robert Downey Jr. has done justice to his role as the great filmmaker. Anthony Hopkins plays the narrator.

Chaplin comes out to be a genius not only in filmmaking but also in managing his money (there is a reference where he says that he had sold all of his stock before the Wall Street crashed next year), managing the entertainment industry politics, managing his many affairs (he married four times and fathered 11 children), and managing his life. Born a British Jew, immigrated to USA, he refused to take up American citizenship and finally left the country in 1952 and settled down to a quiet and peaceful life in Switzerland. I didn't know anything other than his great movies - The Kid, Modern Times, Gold Rush, The Dictator among so many others. And this movie tells you what happened behind the scenes and much more.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

2006-05-04T15:29:00.000+01:00

NFAK is one of my favourite artists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusrat_Fateh_Ali_Khan
The range of music he has produced is immense - he has fused his qawwali with different genres and produced some mesmerising tunes. Here are few of my favourites (not in any particular order - but yes, the first two are special):

Tumhain Dillagi Bhool Jani
The Face Of Love (Dead Man Walking)
Tere Bin Nahi Lagda
Tu Mera Dil, Tu Meri Jaan
Yeh Shaam Phir Nahi Aayegi
Piya Re, Piya Re
Mere Haath Me Tera Haath
Mera Gam Aur Meri Har Khushi
Pyar Ka Diya
Aey Jaaneman
Ishq Da Rutba
Mera Piya Ghar Aaya
Afreen Afreen
Allah Hoo Allah Hoo
Tanhai
Tum To Na Aaye
Ab Kiya Soche
Shaman Paiyan
Soona Soona Din Lagta Hai
Yeh Jo Halka Halka Suroor Hai
Allah, Mohammed, Char, Yaar

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

2006-04-25T08:30:00.000+01:00

contrary to what i mentioned in one of the previous posts, 'a fine balance' is not just about a parsi (yes the first 100 pages or so were). it is an anthology depicting the lives of different people in india who finally converge in mumbai. mistry tries to touch upon many of the ills that the indian society has faced and for a long time. though some (including me) may find that it is a one sided view.
the novel is grim. it shows despair, kindles hope, and then pushes the characters in a hole. and these fluctuations in the fortunes of the characters takes the reader for a ride.
i am half way through the novel and would come up with a detailed review as soon as i complete it.

Being Cyrus

2006-04-23T22:16:00.000+01:00

i was expecting a comedy about parsis in mumbai. i don't know why? but somehow the way parsis have been depicted previously in the bollywood or for that matter even in 'pestonji', didn't many of us expect the stereotypes (especially with a title like 'being cyrus'? the movie is about a young parsi guy trying to be an apprentice with an eccentric artist in panchgani - and getting involved in the artist's family affair which spreads to mumbai - where the artist's brother and father and his money is. but it is the female characters, wives of the brothers, who are the prime force behind the story. the movie keeps you guessing right from the beginning and you never know what's going to happen the next minute. the only aberration being a shot where a stereotype parsi neighbour does come into picture to provide comic relief.

surprisingly, i am currently reading rohinton mistry's 'a fine balance' about a parsi in mumbai - set in 1970's - during emergency. more about it later.

Beautiful Switzerland

2006-04-19T07:47:00.000+01:00

we r back from one of the most mountaineous regions in the world, switzerland to the flattest regions, norwich :-). exploring switzerland is such a philosophical experience - you suddenly realise that nature has so much to offer in abundance. whatever wonderful thing one hears about the swiss alps has not a pinch of exaggeration in it. it is indeed impossible rather than difficult to capture the whole experience in words or photos or videos - you have to be there to immerse in the beauty that is alps.

Leaving Norwich in a Fokker 70

we landed in zurich in the noon. zurich is just like any other european city. lots of places to shop. from the airport, we went to zurich hb, which is a main station from where trains to all the parts of the country and beyond depart (i think there are 28 platforms). there is another station zürich oerlikon which is between the airport and zürich hb, so visitors sometimes get confused.

Zurich airport transfer

buy the swiss pass - it is a necessity, not just convenience - you are entitled to travel throughout switzerland on trains, buses, trams, and boats(!). there are only a few special routes where you need to buy tickets (and with the swiss pass, you get a 50% reduction) e.g. if you are going to jungfraujoch, highest rail station in europe, interlaken to grindelwald is free on the swiss pass, grindelwald to kleine scheidegg and kleine scheidegg to jungfraujoch and return is not, but you get 50% discount on the tickets and yes these tickets are expensive, so a 50% discount is lot. the swiss pass can be bough online from http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisen.htm

In the train from Zurich - Luzern

the swiss trains are legendary for their service (timings, connections, frequency, views) and i had planned to cover at least a couple of special routes and one of them was the zurich-luzern-interlaken-montreaux-geneva which is called the golden pass route. luckily, i had selected a hotel in interlaken for all the three nights and i think it was a very good decision (interlaken is perfect if you plan to travel a lot on the trains to various other parts of the country). after luzern, we were treated with the breathtaking views of the swiss alps from the panaromic trains. the train windows are huge, clear and look out through them from any seats in any direction and you will see the numerous lakes (clear, clean and huge) and mountains all around (snow capped, waterfalls) and the vast expanse of greenery. small towns with different types of houses (those made out entirely of wood are beautiful) scattered far flung.

Golden Pass Line from Luzern to Interlaken

tip #1: if you are going to land in zurich and stay in interlaken or nearby, avoid the train via bern (it might be faster, but you will miss the golden pass), instead take the train via luzern.

And the postcard views start

Another one...

tip #2: don't forget to collect the train timetables from the main stations or the stations that you will be using often to take the trips. each of these timetables have the train times for all the main cities in the country and if you also get the train map, it is very easy to plan journeys.

interlaken has two rail stations - interlaken ost and interlaken west - yea, you guessed it ost means east. our hotel was just a few minutes walk from interlaken west, so planning the trips for the next 3 days was easy.

One of the many small stations along the way

In a green valley...

And then suddenly on top between snow

Die Post bus

Nice and Sunny in Interlaken

Main road in Interlaken

we expected cold weather but it was rather pleasant and sunny. late evening, got some beer and had a large dose of kebabs. there were around 20-25 channels going on in the hotel tv, but only 3 of them were english. and to my surprise, one of the german channels was showing kareena kapoor's asoka (oh yes, shahrukh also features - but i was just watching the songs which were in hindi, whereas the rest of the movie was in german).

though german is the most spoken language here, most of the people do speak english (and some also greet indians in hindi - the bollywood effect) and it is very rare not to be able to communicate. after checking in the hotel, we went out to explore this very famous (and rightly so) tourist town of interlaken. there are lot of souvenier shops and restaurants around. the shops were open late and lots of choice of places to eat - from kebabs to authentic swiss cuisine. coop and migros are two superstores (and some small outlets) if you need one (they dont give out plastic bags for free though and i thought that is a very good way to avoid too much use of plastic bags - esp. when you compare the supermarkets in uk - anyway, it is a good idea to have a couple of carry-bags with you).

the next day, i had planned the round trip .... jungfrau, top of europe, in the first half of the day and a boat ride on the burnisse lake in the later half. heck, that is not very easy - you could do that if you start very early. anyway, had a good breakfast (plenty of coffee, bread, salami, cheese, eggs[the shells are coloured :-)] ) at the hotel and then started for jungfrau. on the train journey from interlaken to grindelwald, a japanese girl perched her legs on the front seat and the ticket checker who came just shouted sternly 'SHOES OFF THE SEATS PLEASE' startling her and then you understand why interlaken is so spic and span. on the way to grindelwald, there are numerous touristy towns with hotels aplenty and you can spot a lot of them. when we got down at the small station at grindelwald, we were amazed to find the crowd - a variety of them, many with the skiing gear and soon we realised that we are going to a very cold place completely covered with snow. well...

Towards Jungfrau

Enjoying the views

Train crossings

Another one

Welcome to Grindelwald

Bahn

Chor Police

Snow everywhere

From Kleine Scheidegg

Bollywood style :-)

it was not covered with snow, it seemed the mountains were made with just ice and snow. skiers were having a fantastic time. we did not take the jungfrauch train immediately, instead explored kleine scheidegg for an hour. mili was excited with all the snow around and we did the normal tourist's rites - taking lot of photographs. i am not a skiier, so cannot speak for the facilities there, but it did seem to be good ones with lots of cable trolleys taking the skiiers up the mountains from where they can ski down.

Skiers arrive

Another song

Skiers arrive

Ice Palace

the trains which take steep rides up are cogwheel trains, they have a special track in addition to the two for the outer wheels. the weather of the top of europe was a let down, it was snowing heavily and cloudy so could not see any of the breathtaking views as expected from the top. but it was amazing how easily the trains take you 4000m on snow topped mountains in ardeous conditions. how else can we mortals (non-snow-mountain-climbers) have an experience of what goes on at that height. it was great. the facilities provided at that height are great, and it is money well worth spent. the last train from the top leaves at 16.55, so you understand why it is very important to start early for jungfrauch.

Double trouble

Jungfraubahn

On top of the world, er, of Europe

Puffed crisp packet - due to the low pressure at the high altitudes

Amidst the snow

Postcard

Interlaken Ost Station

Interlaken West

I like Colours

General-Guisanstrasse - our hotel is the one with the coloured top

Hotel Lotschberg where we stayed

The original Swiss beer - seriously don't know much about this

View from the hotel room

Another one

the next day we started a bit early for the boat trip (you can either take one on the lake thurn or lake brienz, guess why the region is called interlaken), but again it was not as early as required as we missed the boat to thurn (from interlaken west) and i was sure we will not make the brienz (from interlaken ost) one. so we decided to take the train to thurn and catch the boat back to interlaken west. it was a good decision. the 2 hr boat ride is an altogether different experience.

Waiting for the boat in Thun

Boat ride

we also got down in the small, quiet and serene village of merlingen and got a taste of what an alpine village looks like. after an hour of exploring, we took the next boat to interlaken west.

Approaching Merlingen

In Merlingen

Bells

Romance blooms

Award-winning photo :-)

In the woods

View from Merlingen

Dining area on the boat

Enjoying the Sun

now we had a complete afternoon to do something worthwhile, so decided to go to bern (1 hr ride from interlaken) and check out what the capital city looks like. bern is a typical european city - we took a tram and went around. snapped a few nice photographs and bravely decided to take the golden pass from montreaux. now bern to lausanne and lausanne to montreaux was a 1.30 hr journey but we had seen how the swiss train system works and how they are never a minute late. we made it on time to catch the golden pass train back to interlaken. fantastic. reached late night in the hotel and picked up a pizza from a local shop.

Interlaken West

Bern Station

Bern Station

Me in Bern

Singer machine - don't know what it was doing there

And all fall down

Vineyards, town, lake and the mountains

Panaromic views from the train

on the last day, after some quick souvenir shopping in interlaken, we caught the golden pass train to luzern, enjoyed the last opportunity for enjoying the beauty of swiss alps and then headed towards zurich.

Shopping in Interlaken

Enjoying the Swiss beer

After just one drink

Me and my house

at zurich hb station, we spent half an hour for finding lockers or airport check-in (unfortunately the airport check-in didn't have facilities for klm). so we found the lockers and dumped our luggage there and took the couple of hours to explore zurich in the trams

Mili on the bridge

Zurich

the klm norwich to zurich and return flights are via amsterdam. and i found this very amusing - people trying to get in a plane like a mumbai local train (well, not that bad :-))

Catch the plane, literally

sensex survey

2006-04-07T07:26:00.000+01:00

i conducted a very small, unscientific survey of a few IT colleagues to guage the interest in the stock markets and what they thought about it, and how their investment habits have been affected by the sensex rising. the results are startling - majority are 'not interested' even answering the questions - forget about investing in the markets - some are possibly considering mutual funds investment but not giving very serious thought.

most are feeling left out of the boom and have decided that it is too late to get in now. even a correction of 2000-3000 will not lure those who have not at all invested in the market in these last 4 years. actually with such a drop in the index, they will grow strong in their coviction that they were right not to invest in the stock markets. for those, who are already invested and if their investment starts giving negative returns, will try to average out.

my feeling is that those who had the risk appetite already entered the markets with cash when the 'sensex was at 4500 - 7500' (i am going to abbreviate this as SWA4.5-7 and similarly in the rest of the article). out of these a few made an exit when SWA6.5-8.5. those who 'finally' took the plunge, invested in mutual funds. at the current levels, there might be very few retail investors who will start afresh. those who have continously made money in the boom are willing to take more risks and they are the ones who also like to shuffle their portfolios.

the current market movements are totally dependent on the foreign money coming in and all the analysts sitting in india cannot say now (nor could they say it when SWA6-7) when the inflow is going to stop (and when the outflow will start). all the discussions about crude oil price, dollar value and u.s. interest rates have been taking place since SWA6-7. at that time there was also a story going around about how the hedge funds were bringing in hot money and that that was the reason of the increase and will also be the reason of the crash (that never came). these days there are even fewer stories about these hedge funds.

i have been reading about the japanese boom and bust in the 1980s-1990s and trying to find what analysts used to say in those days. i am sure there is a comparison to be made with the current indian scenario. e.g. '... will be the leading power in the world'. in 1985, the blanks had 'japan', now 'india'.

btw, the 9 questions were as follows:
1. how much is equity a part of you asset allocation?:
2. the equity market is at all time highs and seems to be overvalued, are you inclined to increase/decrease equity as part of your assets?
3. do you think the sensex will fall (rise) in the next 6 months and to what levels from the current 11500+?
4. on the downside at what levels do you think the sensex can decline to (lowest) in the next 1-5 years?
5. on the upside at what levels do you think the sensex can touch to (highest) in the next 1-5 years?
6. if you have not entered equity at all, do you feel you have missed the bus or do you smile and say this is going to fall like a pack of cards and then i will have the last laugh and possibly re-enter?
7. did you ever think that the sensex will never go beyond 5000, 6000, 9000, 10500 etc.?
8. do you think a scam is going on?
9. which sector are you most optimistic about? (e.g. metals, manufacturing, fmcg, telecom, IT etc.)

sensex: where are we heading?

2006-04-05T08:04:00.000+01:00

sensex has reached dizzy heights. some call this the 'last leg' of the 'bull run'. well that has been said many times on the previous life-time highs. i thought of checking some world indices and how they have behaved in the bull or bear phases and how long these phases were. i think the history of japanese markets can provide some answers.

the japanese nikkei was 10000 in 1984 and touched 38000 in 1990 (i.e. 400% returns in 6 years). this proves that the current dizzy heights are nothing compared to the nikkei run-up in 1990.
from there it fell to 18000 in 1993 (i.e. lost more than 50% in 3 years)...
jumped to 20000+ 5 times between 1993 to 2000,
fell to 7000 in 2003 (i.e. lost more than 50-65% in 10 years)
and is 17200+ (i.e. gained more than 150% in 3 years) now.

lets check the indian sensex
4000 in 1997 to 3000 in 1999 (i.e. 25% loss in 2 years)
3000 to 6000 in 2000 (i.e. 100% gain in 1 year)
6000 to 3000 in 2001 (i.e. 50% loss in 1 year)
3000 to 6000 in 2004 (i.e. 100% gain in 3 years)
6000 to 11600 in 2006 (i.e. 100% gain in 2 years)

i am not sure whether we are in a similar situation as japan in 1980's - world was in awe of japanese manufacturing and we were in school then :-). but somehow i feel there is a semblance with the indian outsourcing story (not just limited to IT, but also in motor parts, call centres, and a lot others and in addition there are all the other things about the huge middle class consumers and increase in demand for everything imaginable).

i will discuss the american indices later.

over the last 10 years (1996-2006) sensex has already given a return of 300%. another 100% gain and it will take the sensex to 22000. but the point i would like to make is you cannot rule out sensex touching 6000-8000 again. and at such levels you should have cash to invest, so dont allocate more than 25% in equity. but just don't wait on the sidelines - you have to have invested 15% in equity at all the times [why would you like to stay out in a scenario like the japanese nikkei moving from 10000 to 38000 or 7000 to 17000). and you can ask me why would you want to be in when it goes from 38000 to 7000, well the answer is 'to buy' of course.

And after school (shala)... college, obviously

2006-04-03T20:24:00.000+01:00

five point someone by chetan bhagat seems like a sequel to milind bokil's shala (and i am happy now that i read shala first). on literary (and few other) parameters, there could be no comparison. shala is way ahead of fps but then fps also has its own style. fps is supposedly very real to how life on campus is in iit. and as for students everywhere, there are a lot of distractions around for them to lose the focus from studies. but indian politics, bollywood, cricket do not figure in fps. yea, gulf war does provide one out of campus distractions - maybe that is a difference between iitians and mortals - they are distracted for sure, but possibly by much more important issues.

some incidents seem to be bollywood inspired - a completely dch shot (yes, filmy very filmy - maybe chetan had a fps film in mind anyway and gave a shot at the novel first), hari's first meeting with his future girlfriend, the one about her father ... okay, i will not spoil the fun. the story is about how three very different characters become friends after getting in iit and the four tormenting years of an engineering college (well not an engineering college... one of the top technology .... yea yea yea) that follow. iit has always been an enigma for many (mostly to those who gave a go at the iit-jee and got depressed but this book allows us a sneak peak at what goes on there (only an iitian can tell me how close to truth that is). just like everywhere in life, there are toppers, average, and losers and the losers there have the same (or similar or relatively speaking) insecurities as (losers and average - spot anything?) elsewhere. gpa's are not just a part of the iit, they are everywhere.

frankly, it seems a slightly more than a refined blog - but maybe that is one of the reasons it is utterly enjoyable. i finished reading fps in one and a half day - that just proves it is unputdownable, a must-read. for non-engineers, it might feel a bit like auto-rickshaw ride with some bumps - i mean if a chartered accountant-author tries to interspread some details about his CA studies in his novel, that is how it would feel to me.

what next... a novel about starting work after engineering, compromises in work, frustrated in work, and suddenly attaining nirvana in work?

Shala - Milind Bokil

2006-04-01T18:29:00.000+01:00

Marathi novel 'Shala' by Milind Bokil is a wonderful journey in the world of adolescence. It is a story of a group of friends who gather on a building under construction before going to the school - throwing tantrums at the other school goers (students and teachers alike) and falling in love (many would like to call it crush but I don't mind saying love) among other many other things one does during the years 12 - 15 of life. I was sure reminded of my school days and badly so. It was difficult not to imagine the pictures when reading the novel.

The Comic Project

2006-04-01T18:23:00.000+01:00

If you have read Indrajal comics during your childhood, you will love to visit the Comic Project at http://thecomicproject.blogspot.com/ and if you have your own Indrajal Comics collection, I envy you. It seems one of the pappus had around 500 of these comics and one fine day sold off in raddi - that must count as one of the ultimate tragedies.

TPG

2006-03-27T21:25:00.000+01:00

So finally Raj has launched his new party. And pappus have launched The Pappu Group which can on fine day grow into a big political movement - you know the kind which you plan to do when your see a movie like Prahaar or recently Rang De Basanti ---- naaaah, TPG, The Pappu Group also stands for FTP, Full Time Pass and the pappus only like to ridicule others, don't expect any great acts from them. Given a chance, we will just have our CPP (Chai Piya Piyega) in a nice and comfortable corner and comment on the rest of the world. I don't promise they will not disappoint anybody but I promise they can make a few people angry and some merry. Enjoy the power of TPG!

My Stock Picks

2005-12-07T22:22:00.000Z

Chambal Fertilisers has been one of my favourite stocks and I was delighted when it finally crossed 40. The way the promoters have been buying for the past one year, I had expected a higher price since long. But it has never made big jumps during the recent bull run. Of course, everybody who has interests in the Indian stocks knows that Chambal has been a very good dividend yielding stock. Hopefully, it will remain above 40 and touch new highs.

Biocon and Tata Teleservices are my other top picks for long-term, that is at least for the next few years.

Biocon has a charismatic leader, and biotechnology is considered to be the next big thing. Also, the share price is drastically down as compared to the prices during the initial hype. There have no changes in the fundamentals of the company since then. Only the shares are cheaper now - that itself is a strong argument to buy.

Tatas do not like to remain in any spot other than number one or two and they have started making huge plans for Tata Teleservices. The publicly held TTML will be merged with Tata Teleservices when it goes public and it will go public when Tatas become number one or two in the Indian telecom industry. I know that seems a wishful thinking with the other players in the market but you have the examples of TCS, Tata Motors, Tata Steel or Tata Tea.

I also have had high hopes from iGate. I have been patient enough to hold it for the last three years while it had remained range bound when all the other stocks were having a great time. Anyway, I have decided to hold it till Phaneesh quits.

The share picking logic that I follow is to find ones which are fundamentally sound companies and those which have not had huge run ups in their share price recently. The downside of this logic has been that these shares don't participate in the frenzied rallies and are thus termed as market laggards. But I have been reading Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham and I believe that investment is for a lifetime. I have been part of the stock market scene only for the last 3-4 years and I don't want to judge my investment decisions in such a small timeframe (doesn't mean that there were no spectacular gains).

Investment has not been totally risk-averse though. I believe that animation and special effects outsourcing might become the next big thing after software in India. And I have picked Color Chips in this area. Also need to study something in the ready food products area. Agro Tech might be a good choice.

But I would agree that having a few good index shares might have been a good idea.

Pappus

2005-12-07T22:21:00.000Z

Not sure where the name came from - possibly some bollywood movie with a character called 'pappu mobile'. The pappus are a group of friends from a software company in Mumbai with a whacky sense of humour. The humour sometimes borders on the line of irritation, ridicule, or tragedy; depends on the listeners capacity to take it. Rakesh and Vaibhav are the irritators; those who have taken a taste of their humour might be ready to call them the terminators. Vinod and Rajendra are the ridiculers who are ready to find wrong with anything in the world - the subject could be as valid as George W. Bush, Sourav Ganguly, or Mandar and as unacceptable as Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan; but I think the favoured subjects are the bright ideas of managers they work or don't work with.

Each from the group gets a name e.g. 'pappu vilaayati' for somebody who has been to onsite very often. The pappus had a very dynamic member (and interestingly never called a pappu) called 'major'. Wittingly or unwittingly major provided a lot of ammunition to the pappu reign of terror (aah, as they say... those were the days). All the pappus miss major a lot as one fine day fate played a cruel game and major was out of the company. Major visited the pappu group once in a while - he was also very depressed with having to leave the pappu group. But now the whole pappu group is joining major's company. And that is major's power.

Vaibhav introduced a lot of TLA's to the pappu dictionary. Yep, Three Letter Acronyms. I am sure he can speak complete meaningful sentences using TLAs (great idea to rename Vaibhav as the 'pappu TLA'). A couple of the all time favourites are CPP (Chai Piya? Piyega?) and LKK (Lunch Khaya? Khayega?). The pappu group was so used to these TLAs that some may have used it at home to some astonished faces. No surprises though if somebody at Vaibhav's place give a call for DKK (you may have guessed what that means by now).

Grilled Chicken and Potatoes

2005-12-07T22:18:00.000Z

Last Sunday, I took up the task of cooking lunch to provide some respite to Mili who has to slog all the week. For a very dumb cook like me, you would think microwave is the greatest help. But I haven't mastered the microwave art - it has been limited to warming up leftovers. But I use it to thaw the frozen chicken. For a half kg. chicken (four drumsticks), it takes around 15 minutes in the defrost mode.

Depending on your preference, you can leave the skin on or remove it. For coating the chicken prepare a mixture of 1 tablespoon fine semolina (or ground rice), half teaspoons of chilly powder and turmeric powder. Take an egg and break it in a bowl, mix the yellow and white well. Add a pinch of salt to both the coating mixture as well as the egg. You can also apply a bit of salt on the chicken directly. Dip the chicken drumsticks one by one in the egg and then coat with the semolina mixture. Cut the potatoes in four pieces (leave their skin on) and similar to the chicken pieces, coat them too. Things are ready to go in the grill now. Add some oil on the chicken and potatoes and put them in the grill on medium heat for 6-7 minutes. Turn everything once and continue grilling for another 6-7 minutes. Check if it is done and continue grilling for 2-3 minutes, if required. That's it, ready to serve and make your wife/partner/friends happy.

Please let me know if you were ever to try this and any variations you may do.

Mile by Mile, India Paves a Smoother Road to Its Future

2005-12-07T22:15:00.000Z

An interesting article on the NYT on the Golden Quadrilateral project in India and the changes it is bringing in India http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/international/asia/04highway.html
The slashdot article where I found it and the discussion is available at http://slashdot.org/articles/05/12/04/1812205.shtml?tid=126

Obsession with Apple

2005-12-03T11:04:00.000Z

From the day I was able to afford my first Apple Mac - an eMac, Apple has induced me into spending continuously. I have since then bought an iPod Shuffle, an iPod photo, Mac OS X (Tiger) and now succumbed to the temptation of the iBook. But sense prevailed and I got a used one from eBay. I had doubts whether a 3/4-year old G3 would be able to handle the latest OS, but the doubts have been laid to rest. It is unbelievably smooth. [Imagine Windows XP on a 500Mhz machine]. And it looks just fantastic. Icy white and apart from the letters on the keyboard and the name iBook on the lower portion of the screen, there is no color other than white.

I am not sure whether it is the hardware or the software which makes Apple devices better than anything else, but possibly it is due to the flawless design in either of them. There are no rough edges on either the hardware or the software. This lack of rough edges is what makes the products so unique. Smooth and sharp go hand in hand in all the Apple products. Each product looks so complete that you think that this cannot be improved anymore, and then Steve Jobs comes up with a Keynote announcement.

I think this iBook will chug along for the next couple of years and that is really good value for money. I hope I can keep away from the temptation of getting a new one with Intel chips next year. Anyway I already have made a couple of plans if I couldn't resist it then.

Comments on issue of Raj...

2005-12-03T10:58:00.000Z

It was good to see that my blog did start a healthy discussion within the Pappu group (more about Pappus later - suffice to say they are a close group of friends with whacky sense of humor).
Vinod was angry because of the recent issue of Shiv Sena and Kannadigas over Belgaum. Rajendra, being from Konkan, had a view of Rane and Raj getting together but not in Congress. Whereas Rakesh had important suggestions about bringing quality processes in the management of a political party. Though the suggestion was made in a lighter vein, I think it does have certain merit.

The following are the excerpts from the chain of mails:

I agree with you on most of the points, BUT it was true when Balasaheb was in full swing. Now the TIGER being quiet old and Shiv Sena is being run by four clerks as said by Raj recently. I am no longer in favour of Uddhav led ShivSena. Lets see whether Raj is going to Start a new Party and how many existing ShivSainiks join him. Also I think it would have been better if Rane and Raj had decided to quit together and started a new party.

Existence of some political party that stongly acts in the interest of Maharashtra is must, may it be Shiv Sena or Shiv Raj Sena. Balasaheb Thakare had such party, but all power was concentrated in one person, and now when that person is planning to resign from active politics, existence of the entire party has become a concern. One of the point in CMM is that the organisation should not be person dependent. Even in the project management sessions it is thought that if dependency on one person increases then conduct knowledge sharing sessions and create a strong backup for that person. So that in absence of that key person the project is not sufferred. Similar logic can be applied to a political party.

So as per Vengu's logic we can expect Partys such as Congress CMM level 5, Shiv Sena CMM Level 3 , Rashtravadi Congress ISO 9002 etc by the next election and Voters (Client) will decide whom to give the Nation (Project) depending on their certification.....

Actually, not sure if political parties (at this point in India) can be compared to Projects… the level of transparency is the key as many other factors as execution/delivery commitments/penalties if breached and many others. Of course, common thing is sacking…

Rakesh's idea of quality based process can really provide a good start to Raj Thackeray - no kidding. But I disagree on the not to depend on a personality / leadership point. Because good managers can be groomed/created with defined processes, leaders cannot - leaders have to be born. I think history can provide lot of these examples - not just in politics or religion, but also in the industry.

Raj: The final blow to Shiv Sena...

2005-11-30T23:51:00.000Z

maybe not...

As an avid Shiv Sainik, I think this may actually be the beginning of a new era (Raj).

Would Maharashtra have been better without Shiv Sena? I don't think so. I say so because of personal reasons. I stood first in Palghar taluka of Thane district in the SSC examination of year 1991 - no other organisation had congratulated me, whatever the reasons - but me and my family have always thought it was due to us belonging to a lower middle class family without any higher class or intellectual group connections. One fine day, I received an invitation from Shiv Sena's Anand Dighe for a felicitation by Balasaheb and that's it - the function that had followed was one of my unforgettable moments of life.

The following year, while in Mahim, Mumbai, studying for my XII standard, I witnessed one of the most horrific riots in Mumbai's history. Those who know Mahim, know the demography of the area and can possibly imagine the situation. Again, without the Shiv Sena there, it would have been bloodier for us - the lower middle class families living in the one-room kitchen chawls.

When I applied for a passport after being employed as a software engineer, since we were staying in a rented place, there was nobody to accredit my application. Again the local Shiv Sena corporator, Milind Vaidya, helped me with the supporting letter without any questions. I would stress, I didn't go with any political connections.

A long time has passed since then but my repect for Balasaheb Thackeray has been etched by these experiences with Shiv Sena. I don't deny and justify the goondaism that has been attributed to Shiv Sena. But this goondaism has been the trait of every political party in India - be it BJP, Congress, Communists or the other regional parties. It is a problem with the Indian political system and if anybody thinks that it is just limited to Shiv Sena, they are wrong. But yes, there is a need to cleanse the system out of such kind of political violence.

Now to the current situation - like many others I think Raj Thackeray was a much better successor to Balasaheb than Uddhav Thackeray. He had demonstrated his leadership qualities with Bhartiya Vidyarthi Sena (BVS). I guess even other Shiv Sena leaders knew this - but I am sure, they were too afraid to tell this to Balasaheb. And the problem may have started there itself. But now I think, Raj Thackeray has got a solution. And now we will see a new Shiv Sena. It is secondary whether it will be the same name or a new name, but no doubt a new Shiv Sena is being born. And this Shiv Sena will be a much better one if it learns from its past mistakes.

The lower middle class in Maharashtra needs a Shiv Sena and it will be a sin to deny them one.