Springy mind

Story of a Reunion

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:32:00 +0000

I have studied my intermediate (Plus 2) at Jawahar Bharati College, Kavali during 1976-78. This was the first time I had to stay away from my home, in a hostel. In my life it was a curious period of living in a hostel, making your own bed, washing my own cloths etc.

Coming from a land holding and political family, had certain advantage in terms of allotment of a large room (bigger than what others had) an ever obliging roommate etc. However, it seems I was seen as a rich boy and people had generally kept away from me (a fact which I got to know when I was interacting with people for the reunion)

After the eventful two years, we all parted ways in April 1978 after the public exams. Now thanks to technology and in particular WhatsApp, we managed to start connecting with each other after 37 years and met on the 31st October 2015 near Kavali.

I was in touch with about 7 people from that period and had their phone numbers. Just formed a group with those numbers in WhatsApp and started interacting. Slowly people started telling where others are living etc. It was a slow process and getting the numbers was not that easy, it is almost like, people were holding them close to their chest. Most of the people were still on good old feature phones and didn't use WhatsApp, we had to communicate through SMS with those people.

Slowly the list of contacts started growing and local level interactions started happening. We had frequent get togethers at Nellore, Hyderabad etc, in small groups. It was catching up time and very interesting learning experience.

It was really heart warming when you get to know, most of your friends had passed various Public service exams and got them selves some good posts and some have chosen to enter the teaching profession etc. More heartwarming was the fact their children are now well educated and settled down in India or abroad.

Luckily some guys came up with the group pictures and to make life easier, I tried to number the people in the picture, which helped in identifying the person. With these pictures, first exercise was to name them and after that set the ball rolling for the search. Though people had few contact numbers, they were not shared earlier, probably for sheer lethargy, this delayed the process of getting to trace few more. As we had set the date long before, coinciding with a batch mate's visit to India, we were working feverishly to get more people on board. Luckily the tempo picked up in the month of September and October. Thanks to WhatsApp profile pictures, we were able to see their latest pictures, how they look today and compare from the group photo how they looked then.

We originally thought of having the meet at Nellore, the district head quarters and visit Kavali, but for logistics reason we decided to move it to Kavali itself. However the challenge was to find a place where we could have the reunion. One of our batch mates, offered his home for the meet, after looking at the option for suitability, we had to move it to a pace where a larger number could be accommodated. A strong feeling there will not be more than 30 for the meet was in the mind of most of the people.

However as we entered the month of October, the tempo started picking up rapidly, more and more effort was being put and more people were being located. Happily the new reconnects were more than happy to be part of the reunion. Those who confirmed for sure they will not make it, had a change of mind.

Few people made the extra effort to locate the batch mates, ideas started flowing as to what we should do after the meet etc. As we approached the 25th, had very strong indications the crowd is going to be more than 50. out of about 135 from the science groups, with 10 not living anymore, we were able to gather about 80 numbers and hope had increased for a better participation.

Couple of visits were made to Kavali from Nellore by our chief co ordinator and things were put in place. I decided to visit the place myself on the 30th, a day before the event. As i was talking to the hotel people on the likely number, our sponsor could not believe the numbers being touted by me could be true.

A program was made out, time was given from 8 AM starting with Breakfast, it looks like our Indian mindset will not allow people to believe others will be on time. While we landed up in two cars from Nellore by 8.15 AM, locals were confident it will not start on time. Breakfast that was to end at 9.30 AM, went on till 10.30 AM and we finally managed to start the program.

We provided two bigger size pictures of the group photos of the 1976-78 times, so that people can look at each other and see how much change had taken place. Numbers had surged and some surprise participants, who got to know about the program just the previous day having turned up. As we started we had about 50 people as the program got about few more joined.

We paid homage to those who are no longer with us and then asked the people to tell us their life progress since we parted ways. As one by one took their turn talking about themselves and their families, few made us laugh, Few got us tired with long speeches, few made us feel sad and few got us excited with their success and there was time for few apologies too for the behaviour in those days. Probably it is the story in every reunion as life takes its own turns (Clicktotweet). During this part, It was time for felicitation to few of us for forming the WhatsApp group and getting the reunion to happen. We took some group pictures at the venue.

We broke for lunch at about 1.30 PM and and reassembled by 2.30, in the meanwhile few more joined. Best thing was one of the participant joined us with her Husband (on our request, driving down all the way from Hyderabad after a midnight celebrations the previous day) and that the day happened to be their 31st wedding anniversary.

Post lunch we felicitated two teachers (who were able to make it) who were part of our learning days and then celebrated the anniversary by asking the couple to exchange the garlands and cut an anniversary cake. We distributed the mementos for each and every participant to remember the participation.

Then we headed to the college, interestingly college had an another program on that day and they had the Dy Speaker and a MP who is a old student of the college present for that event. We were able to catch up with them. One more round of group pictures and we started roaming about in the college. For us hostelries it was sad to see the hostel in such condition. We were served some tea and snacks by one of our batch mates on the campus. We had few more joining us at the college taking the total number to 60 participants.

Later in the evening we started assembling at the house of one of the batch mates, sans those who had to leave for various reasons. It was once again time for some fun and regale. He arranged some planting of trees in his compound and he also handed over one plant (picked up from the college campus) in a new pot to take it home as a memory. Those who chose to have few drinks were treated to it by our NRI batch mate who brought some Single Malt for this occasion. After a good meal, people started saying bye to each other with a hope for an early next meet.

While we had intentions to discuss the future for this set of Alumni of the college, we could not make much headway since the program was tight and got delayed due to the late start.

Everyone was happy to see 60 of their old friends again and catch up with the good old days. Learning's are how to handle egos, understanding expectations, getting people to handle things, managing the show without any contributions and only with sponsorship.

Shaandar - it takes time to recover

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 18:52:00 +0000

It is now 3 days since i saw this movie, it took this much time to recover from the after effects of this movie. It is a surprise the director of the much acclaimed and award winning movie 'Queen', Director Vikas Bahl made such a non cohesive movie. (Click to Tweet)

Produced by Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl & Vikramaditya Motwane and distributed by Fox Star Studios this movie is about a destination wedding of a Sindhi boy and a Punjabi Girl. Meant to be a romantic comedy, has turned out to be a game that was lost quite in the beginning it self.

Pranks apart and smart acting by the lead couple Shahid Kapoor and Alia and money saving cartoon narration when ever there was a flash back situation, this movie is loud and confusing. While a fat girl getting married to a 8.5 pack body conscious boy, a marriage of convenience turns out to be a fiasco, except for the beautiful castle and good songs.

Handling comedy is an art and if the director decides to trivialise the comedy it will turn out to be a disaster and that is what it was. With the desire of creating comedy in every scene and the need of two family elders to go ahead with a marriage, assuming the marriage will save the already bankrupt business.

Shahid Kapoor playing the role of a Event organiser was good and he carried out his role with ease. He was good in the songs. Forced comedy sometimes didn't evoke the expected response from the audience. Overall he was worth the money paid to him.

Alia Bhatt did her Job as the insomniac orphan role, sometimes when she giggles in the movie, don't know if the shot was planned or she giggled while the shooting was on and the Director decided to use the shot. She casually did her role and there was not much scope for performance.

Sanah Kapoor, the younger sister of Alia, whose wedding that was taking place, played the role of a fat girl well and her emotions were well captured. Pankaj Kapoor and Sushma Seth did their job well, Sanjay Kapoor who was meant to be loud, was more than loud, once again proved why he was not a successful actor.

The comedy that was centered around the wedding was mindless and didn't evoke laughter as such. Crowds were leaving the theater with dazed minds

Even the presence of Karan Johar in a Mehndi day event, didn't make much difference to the people's plight, probably added more.

one of the comments made by a viewer, "is movie ko 1 se be neech star kuch hai to dena hai", since there was some decent acting by the lead couple and good music, movie could be given a rating of 2 stars

మోడీ గారి శంఖుస్తాపన

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 04:38:00 +0000

అమరావతి కి తెచ్చావు మట్టి పార్లమెంటు ప్రాంగణం నుంచి
కానీ కొట్టావు మా ఆశల పై నీళ్ళు యమున లో మరీ ముంచి

హోదా పై లేదు ఒక్క మాట, ప్యాకేజి ఎందుకు ఆంధ్రులకు
చెప్తాను నాలుగు మంచి మాటలు, అన్నావు, వినండి నా ఆంధ్రులు

మీరు చాలా సమర్ధులు , ప్రారంబించండి స్టార్టప్పులు
మీ ముఖ్యమంత్రి తేగలడు ఎన్నైనా అప్పులు

మాయమాటలు విని మోస పోకండి నా ఆంధ్ర యువతా
నా కంటే ఎవరు చెప్పగలరు మీకు తియ్యటి మాటలు ఆంధ్ర జనతా

మీరు నమ్మండి మీ శ్రేయస్సు కోరే వెంకయ్యను
ఆత ను గీసిన గీత దాటని చంద్రయ్యను

చింత లేదు మీ పై నాకు ఎందుకంటే లేవుకదా దగ్గరలో ఎన్నికలు
ఎక్కడ ఎక్కడ నా మంచి మిత్రుడు, ఓహో లేవుకదా దగ్గరలో ఎన్నికలు

నన్ను ప్రశ్నించకు మిత్రమా, నాకు లేదు టైము సమాధానాలకి
చేయాలి టూర్ లు మరెన్నో దేశాలు, కావాలి వేదికలు వాగ్దానాలకి

సెలవు మరి ఆంధ్రులారా, భారత్ మాతా కి జై

బ్రూస్లీ ద ఫైటర్ - కి ఏమయ్యింది

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 19:00:00 +0000

శ్రీను వైట్ల దర్శకత్వంలో డి వి వి దానయ్య గారి నిర్మాణతలో విడుదలైన రామ్ చరణ్ తేజ్ బ్రూస్లీ ద ఫైటర్. సినిమా సరదాగా నడచినప్పటికి ఏదో అసంతృప్తి , అందుకే కాబోలు ఈ సినిమా ప్రజల మనస్సు కి నప్పక, ఆవరేజ్ టాక్ తో నడుస్తున్నది

ఈ సినిమా

చెన్నై లాంటి ప్రదేశంలో ఈ సినిమా కొంత రుద్రమదేవి చేతిలో దెబ్బతిన్నది అని చెప్పవచ్చు. నేను ఈ సినిమా 6 వ రోజు చూడడం జరిగింది మొదటి 5 రోజులు రెండు ఆటలు వేసిన ఈ సినిమా 6వ రోజుకి ఒక్క ఆట చేయబడ్డది, పండుగ సెలవలు వల్ల హాలు బాల్కాని నిండినప్పటికి ప్రేక్షకుల స్పందన అంతంత మాత్రమె.

శ్రీను వైట్ల మరియు రామ్ చరణ్ తేజ్ కాంబినేషన్ , చిరంజీవి గెస్ట్ అప్పియరెన్స్ ఏంతో ఆశలు పెంచాయి ప్రేక్షకుల మదిలో, శ్రీను వైట్ల తన ట్రేడ్ మార్క్ హాస్యాన్ని కొంత పాళ్ళు తగ్గించి, ఫైట్స్ కి ఎక్కువ ప్రాదాన్యత ఇచ్చినప్పటికీ, క్లైమాక్స్ ఫైట్ తప్పించి వేరే ఏది అలరించే లా లేదు.

తమన్ అందించిన కొన్ని బాణీలు బాగున్నాయి, పాటల చిత్రీకరణ ఎదురుచూసిన మాదిరిగా లేదు. 'రియా' మరియు 'లేచలో' పాట చిత్రీకరణ స్పెయిన్ మరియు థాయిలాండ్ లో మంచి లోకేషన్స్ లో జరిగింది హైదరాబాదు లో వేసిన పాటల సెట్టింగులు కొంత లో బడ్జెట్ వ్యవహారంగా ఉన్నాయి. అన్ని పాటల్లో రామ్ చరణ్ తేజ్ పడ్డ కష్టం బాగా కనిపిస్తున్నది .

రకుల్ ప్రీత్ సింగ్ తన వరకు నటన బాగా చేసినది. ఆ అమ్మాయి అందచందాలను దర్శకుడు శ్రీను వైట్ల యువ ప్రేక్షకుల మదిలో కలవార పరిచే విదంగా చిత్రీకరించాడు. నా లాంటి వయసు

మళ్ళిన వాళ్లకు 'లెగ్ షో ' కొంచం ఇబ్బందిగా ఉన్న కూడా, యువత కు మనోరంజకరంగా ఉంటుంది.

రావు రమేశ్, తనికెళ్ళ భరణి తమ పరిదిలో బాగా నటించారు. మిగతా నటులు నాదియా , కృతి కర్బందా , ఆలీ, వెన్నెల కిషోర్ , జయప్రకాష్ రెడ్డి (ద్విపాత్రాభినయం), షాయాజీ షిండే, ముకెశ్ రిషి మిగతా నటులను దర్శకుడు బాగానే ఉపయోగించుకున్నాడు.

శ్రీను వైట్ల సినిమాలో బ్రహ్మానందం తప్పని సరి. నటన కు పెద్దగా ఆస్కారం లేని ఒక పాత్ర, తనని వాడుకోవాలి కాబట్టి, ఒక సీన్ లో కోతి హావభావాలు పిల్లల్ని నవ్వించెదుకు బాగా ఉపయోగ పడ్డాయి. మిగతా సినిమాల్లో మాదిరి "చించేసాడు" అని చెప్పుకొనే పాత్ర మాత్రం కాదు. విలన్ ని ఎక్సపోజ్ చేసే సీన్ లు మాత్రం బాగా చేసాడు.

ముఖ్య విలన్ గా అరుణ్ విజయ్ బాగా నటించాడు, సంపత్ రాజ్, అతని సెక్రటరీగా పోసాని కృష్ణ మురళి, పృధ్వీ మేము ఉన్నాము అని వారి వారి పాత్రలు నటించేసారు.

రామ్ చరణ్ తేజ్ ఈ సినిమా కోసం బాగా కష్టపడ్డాడు, నటన కూడా బాగా చేసాడు అనే చెప్పాలి. డాన్స్ విషయంలో అది స్ప్రష్టంగా కనిపిస్తుంది, ఫైట్స్ చాల ఎక్కువ కాని, బడ్జెట్ లోపం బాగా కనిపిస్తుంది .

శ్రీను వైట్ల ఈ సినిమాలో చాలా వరకు ఫ్యామిలి డ్రామా పైనే దృష్టి పెట్టి హాస్యాన్ని తగ్గించాడనే చెప్పాలి (ఆగడు ఫైల్యూర్ ఒక కారణం అయ్యి ఉండవచ్చు). 'ఎలాగెలగా' డైలాగ్ ని బాగానే పండించాడు. రామ్ చరణ్ తేజ్ ని ఎమోషనల్ సీన్స్ లో బాగా నటింప చేసాడు. బడ్జెట్ లోనే సినిమా ముగించినప్పటికి, సినిమా ని ప్రేక్షకులకు పూర్తీ సంతృప్తి ఇచ్చే రకంగా తియ్యలేదు అనే చెప్పాలి. సినిమా అంటే లాజిక్ చూడకూడదు అంటారు, కాని హైదరాబాదు నుండి షిర్ది కి వెళుతున్న కార్లో నుంచి బందిన్చాపడ్డ వాళ్ళు కొద్ది సేపట్లో ఒక షిప్పు ఎక్కడం అనే సీన్ మాత్రం లాజిక్ పదానికే లాజిక్ లేకుండా చేసింది.

కధ టూకీగ: ఇద్దరు బిడ్డలకు మంచి విద్య ఇప్పించలేని ఒక మధ్య తరగతి తండ్రి బరువు తగ్గించాడాని కోసం, హీరో తన చదువును తక్కువ చేసుకొని తన అక్కను కలెక్టర్ చెయ్యాలనే కోరికతో స్టంట్ మాన్ గా చేరుతాడు. ఒక అమ్మాయిని రక్షించేందుకు జరిగిన సీన్ లో పోలీస్ డ్రెస్సు లో హీరోయిన్ (రియా) కి కనపడటం, ఆ అమ్మాయి, ఆ సీన్ ని ఫోన్ లో వీడియో తీసి ఫేస్బుక్ లో పెట్టడం, రియా ని నిలదీయడానికి వాడు, ఆమె పై మనసు పారేసుకోవడం, తన తండ్రి 25 సంవత్సరాలుగా పని చేస్తున్న కంపెనీ యజమాని ఒక దుర్మార్గుడు అని తెలుసుకొని, అతని ఆట కట్టించడం.

ఈ సినిమా కు 3 (త్రీ) స్టార్ రేటింగ్ ఇచ్చాను

ఈ బ్లాగ్ లోని ఛాయా చిత్రాల హక్కులు వాటి యజమానుల వి అయ్యి ఉన్నాయి

వాట్సాప్ లో ఎమి జరుగుతోంది?

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 19:43:00 +0000

మన దైనిక జీవితంలో ఇప్పుడు వాట్సాప్ లేకుండా ఊహించలేని పరిస్తితి వచ్చింది అంటే అసలు అతిశయోక్తి కాదు, దాని వాడకం, ఉపయోగాలు తెలుసుకొనే ముందు, దాని చరిత్ర కొంత తెలుసు కుందాం.

వాట్సాప్ 2009 సంవత్సరములో ప్రారంభించబడి మొట్టమొదటి సారిగా నవంబర్ మాసంలో ఆపిల్ ఫోన్ లో

ఉపయోగించ బడినది. మొదట ఫ్రీ (ఉచితం ) గా ఉన్న ఈ ఆప్ వాడకందారిని గుర్తించడం కోసం (వెరిఫికేషన్ ) అయ్యె ఖర్చులు రాబాట్టు కోవడం కోసం 'పెయిడ్' (కొనుగోలు) ఆప్ గా మార్చడం జరిగింది. జనవరి 2010 లో, ఈ ఆప్ బ్లాక్బెర్రి ఫోన్ లో కూడా లబింపచేయ బడినది . 2013 ఫిభ్రవరి మాసంలో 20 కోట్ల మంది వినియోగదారుల సంఖ్య చేరుకున్న వాట్సాప్ అతి తక్కువ సమయంలో రాకెట్ వేగంతో డిశంబర్ మాసానికి 40 కోట్ల వినియోగదారుల సంఖ్య చేరుకున్నది . ఫేసబుక్ కంపెని, 'కౌం అండ్ అక్టన్' చే స్తాపించ బడ్డ వాట్సాప్ కంపెని ని రూ.1,19,000 కోట్లకి కి కొనుగోలు చేసే సమయానికి ఈ వాడకం దారుల సంఖ్య 50 కోట్లకు చేరుకున్నది.

ఇక్కడ చెప్పుకోదగ్గ విషయం ఏమిటి అంటే , భారత దేశం లో వాట్సాప్ వినియోగదారులు ప్రపంచం సంఖ్య తో పోటి పడుతూనే ఒక కొత్త వరవడిని సృష్టించారు. మన వాళ్ళకు బాతాఖానీ వేయడం అంటే బలే ఇష్టం, అది ఎస్ ఎం ఎస్ ఖర్చు లేకుండా ఫ్రీగా చాటింగ్ చేసుకోవడం అంటే, అరటి పండు వలిచి నోట్లో పెట్టినట్టే మరి. వాట్సాప్ వాడకం మన దేశంలో ఎంత బాగా అల్లుకొని పోయిందంటే, ప్రపంచ వాట్సాప్ వాడకం దారుల సంఖ్య లో మన వారి శాతం 9-10% ఉంటుంది , భారతీయ సంతతి ని కలుపుకొంటే అది 12% వరకు ఉంటుంది. భారత దేశంలో ఎక్కువ మంది వినియోగదారులు ఆండ్రాయిడ్ ఫోన్ లను వాడుతారు, ఇప్పటి వరకు వాట్సాప్ ఈ తరహ వాడకందారులకు ఎటువంటి చార్జీలను విధించలేదు, ముందు ముందు ఒక వేళ చార్జీ విధిస్తే ఎంత మంది ఈ వాట్సాప్ ని వదిలేస్తారొ చూడాలి మరి?

'ఈ రోజు మనము అందరం వాట్సాప్ కి బానిసలము అయ్యాము అంటే అతిశయోక్తి లేదేమో . ఒకప్పుడు ఒక ఈ మెయిల్ పంపించి, దాని జవాబు కోసం ఆశగా ఎదురు చూసే వాళ్ళము. ఇప్పుడు స్మార్ట్ ఫోన్ యుగంలో ఈ వాట్సాప్ కి మనం ఎంతగా అలవాటు పడ్డాము అంటే ఒక మెస్సేజ్ పంపించి, ఎప్పుడు ఒక 'టిక్కు రెండు 'టిక్కు లు గా మారుతుందా , అది తిరిగి 'నీలం రంగు గా మారుతుందా అని చేతిలో ఉన్న ఫోన్ ని అలాగే చూస్తుంటాము. 'బ్లూ రంగులోకి మారిన వెంటనే , హమ్మయ్య అని ఒక నిట్టూర్పు, దాని తరువాత తిరిగి జవాబు ఎప్పుడు వస్తుందా అని ఎదురు చూపు, ఇది మన పరిస్తితి.

ఈ బ్లూ టిక్కులు చాలా మందిని ఇబ్బందుల్లో పడేస్తున్నాయి, ఎందుకంటే మనం చూసాము అని ఎదుటి వాడికి తెలిసినప్పుడు , బొంకే అవకాశం చేజారి పోతుంది. కష్టాలు వస్తే కట్టగట్టుకొని వస్తాయి అంటారు, అలాగే, ఇంకొక ఇబ్బంది కూడా ఉందండోయ్, అదేమిటయ్యా అంటే, 'లాస్ట్ సీన్ (చివరి సారిగా మీరు వాట్సాప్ ని చూసిన సమయము) అని ఒక సమయం (టైమ్) చూపిస్తుంది, మనం మన మిత్రుడి సందేశాలను చూస్తున్నపుడు , అలాగే వాళ్ళు మన సందేశాలను చూస్తున్నపుడు. ఈ సదుపాయాన్ని మనం కావాలి అంటే 'ఆఫ్ (నిలిపి) ' చేయవచ్చు, కాని, అలా చేస్తే, మనం కూడా వారి 'లాస్ట్ సీన్' చూసే అవకాసం కోల్పొతాము. అయితే, చూస్తె నాకేమి గాక, అనే దృక్పదం తో మన దేశం లో వాట్సాప్ వినియోగం రోజు రోజు కి ఘననీయంగా పెరుగుతుంది.

వాట్సాప్ లో ఉన్న సదుపాయాలు చాలానే, అందుకే కాబోలు మనం ఈ అప్ ని ఎంతగానో ప్రేమిస్తాము, ఇంతే కాదండోయ్ ఇప్పటికిది ఫ్రీ ఆప్ కాబట్టి ఇది మరీ ప్రీతిపాత్రము. వాట్సాప్ లో ఉన్న ఇంకొక ప్రత్యేకత 'ఎమోటికాన్స్' (హావభావచిత్రం) వివిధ రకములుగా ఉంటాయి. హావభావాలు (నవ్వు, కోపం, చిద్విలాసం, ఏడుపు, నిద్ర, ముద్దు, ప్రేమ, ఇంకా ఎన్నో) మొదలుకొని, జాతీయ జెండాలు (మొదట భారత జెండా ఉండేది కాదు, మన వాడకాని మన్నించి, మన జెండా కూడా చేర్చారు), నిత్యం ఉపయోగించే వస్తువులు అన్ని చిత్ర రూపంలో మనకు అందుబాటులో ఉంటాయి. వీటిల్ని మనం పదములకు బదులుగా వాడుకో వచ్చు.

ఈ మధ్య నే ప్రవేశ పెట్టిన ఇంకొక సదుపాయం, మన చర్మ చాయ ని బట్టి మనం కొన్ని ఎమోటికాన్స్ ని, మనకు పసందయిన ఛాయ ని వాడుకోవచ్చు.

వాట్సాప్ లో ఉన్న సదుపాయాల్ని ఒక్కొక్కటిగా పరిశీలిద్దాం :

భాతాఖాని ( చాటింగ్ ): ఒకప్పుడు ఎస్ ఎం ఎస్ ద్వారా పంపుతున్న సమాచారాన్నే కాకుండా, ఈ మెయిల్ ద్వారా పంపే సమాచారాన్ని కూడా ఇప్పుడు మనం వాట్సాప్ ద్వారా పంపుతున్నాము. ఇదే కాకుండా, హావభావ చిత్రముల ద్వారా మన భావనలు (ఫీలింగ్స్) తెలియ చేస్తున్నాము. ఇంతే కాదండోయ్, కొంత మంది ఔత్సాహిక కారులు ఈ ఎమోటికాన్స్ ని వాడి, క్విజ్ మరియు పజిల్స్ కూడా తయారు చేస్తున్నారు, మన సమయాన్ని వీటిపై వెచ్చిస్తు మనం మన మెదడు కు కూడా పని పెడుతున్నాము. వాట్సాప్ లో ఎమోటికాన్స్ ప్రసిద్ది పొందాకే మిగతా వాటిల్లో (ఫేస్బుక్, వైబర్ మొ॥) కూడా వాటిని ప్రవేశ పెట్టడం జరిగింది

చాయచిత్రం (ఫోటో): వాట్సాప్ ద్వారా 70 కోట్ల ఫోటోలు ప్రతి రోజు మన స్మార్ట్ ఫోన్స్ కి చేరుతున్నాయి అంటే అతిశయోక్తి కాదండోయ్! ఎటువంటి చిత్రాలు అంటే అది మీ ఊహకే వదిలేస్తున్ననండి, అప్పుడె పుట్టిన పాపాయి నుండి పెళ్లి ఫొటోలవరకు, కార్టూన్ చిత్రాలు మొదలుకొని, శుభోదయం (గుడ్ మార్నింగ్) అని పూలతో కూర్చిన చిత్రాల వరకు. మన వాళ్ళు దేవుడి బొమ్మలు పంపడమే కాదు, వాటిని ఇతరులకు పంపకపోతే అనర్ధం అని బెదిరింపో / అభ్యర్ధనో తెలియని విధంగా అవి తిరిగి మనం ఇతరులకు పంపే రీతిలో ఉంటాయి. ష్ ... ఇవే కాదండి శృంగార భంగిమలు కూడా విపరీతంగా వాట్సాప్ ద్వారా మార్పిడి చేసుకుంటారు

లఘు చిత్రాలు (వీడియో): కాపీ చట్టం ఉల్లంఘించకుండా ఎక్కడయినా చీకు చింతా లేకుండా వీడియోలను పంచు కోవాలి (షేరింగ్) అంటే అది వాట్సాప్ లోనే సాధ్యము. కాని ఈ షేరింగ్ కి కొన్ని ఫైల్ సైజ్ (ఎం బిస్) నిషిద్ధాలు ఉన్నాయి. రాబోయే రోజుల్లో ఈ నిబందనలో కూడా సడలింపు ఉండే అవకాశాలు ఉన్నాయి. రియాల్టి షో లు, వార్తా క్లిప్పింగులు , శృంగార చిత్రాలు, గురు భోదనలు, పాఠాలు ఇటు వంటివి ఎన్నో వాట్సాప్ ద్వారా ప్రతి రోజు మార్పిడి జరగడం చూస్తున్నాము. చింతించవలసిన విషయం ఏమిటంటే, కంప్యూటర్ మాదిరి ఇక్కడ ఎటువంటి నిరోధకాలు (పెరంటల్ కంట్రోల్) అమలు చేయలేము, అందు వల్ల యువత మరియు పిల్లలు ఈ శృంగార చిత్రాలు చూడకుండా నిరొదించలెము, ఇది ఒక ప్రమాదకరమైన పరిస్తితి.

శబ్ద సందేశం (వాయిస్ చాట్ ): 'వీచాట్' అనే ఒక ఆప్ ఈ వాయిస్ చాట్ మూలంగానే మన దేశం లో కొంత మంది వాడకందారులని పొందకలిగింది. ఎప్పుడైతే వాట్సాప్ లో ఈ సదుపాయం కలుగాచేసారో వీచాట్ తన ప్రాముక్యతను కోల్పోయింది. ఈ సదుపాయం పిల్లల చే మాట్లాడించడానికి లేదా వారి చే ధన్యవాదాలు (తాంక్స్) చెప్పించేందుకు మరియు పెద్దల చేత మాట్లాడించేందుకు (స్మార్ట్ ఫోన్ లో టైపు చేయలేని వారికి) వాడుకోవచ్చు. ఇప్పుడు ఛాలా పాటల మరియు శబ్ద పోటీల లో పాల్గొనే వారిని ఈ సదుపాయాన్ని ఉపయోగించి వారి సామర్ద్యతను నిరూపించు కోమని ప్రకటనలు వింటుంటాము.

సమూహము (గ్రూప్): ఫేస్బుక్ మాదిరి కాకుండా వాట్సాప్ గ్రూప్ లో మన సన్నిహితులతో చిటికెలో సంభాషిన్చుకోవచ్చు, కంప్యూటర్ ముందు కూర్చొనే పనిలేదు మనం ఇప్పుడు ఎక్కడ ఉన్నా మన స్మార్ట్ ఫోన్ ద్వారా ఏక చెక్కా, మనకు కావాల్సిన వాళ్ళందరితో ఒకే సారి భాతాఖాణి వేయవచ్చు. ఈ సమూహాలని మనకు ఇష్టం వచ్చిన రీతిలో మనం ఏర్పరుచుకోవచ్చు. కుటుంబం (ఫ్యామిలి), స్నేహితులు, సహా విద్యార్దులు , సహోద్యోగులు, సంఘ సభ్యులు, ఇలా ఎన్నెన్నో రకాలుగా ఇప్పుడు గ్రూపులు ఏర్పాటు చేసుకుంటున్నారు, ఈ మధ్య కాలంలో నేనే కొన్ని, కుటుంబ, సహా విద్యార్ధుల (ఆలుమ్నై) గ్రూపులు ఏర్పరిచాను, అతి తొందరలో మా ఆలుమ్నై తో ఒక రీయూనియన్ కూడా జరుపుకోబోతున్నాము. ఒక విధంగా చెప్పాలంటే కాల గమనం లో విడిపోయిన వారిని కలుపు కొనేందుకు ఈ సదుపాయం బాగా ఉపయోగపడుతోంది.
మంచి తో పాటు చెడు కూడా ఉంటుంది కదండి , కొంత మంది ఈ గ్రూపుల ద్వారా వారి ఉత్పత్తులను అమ్ముకోవడానికి ప్రయత్నిస్తారు, అటు వంటి వారిని నిషేధించడం తప్ప మనం చేయగల్గింది ఏది లెదు. ఇక్కడ ముఖ్యంగా గ్రహించ వలసిన విషయం ఏమిటి అంటే, ఒకే విధమైన్ భావాలు/ అనుభందం లేని వారిని ఒక గ్రూప్ లో ఉంచడానికి ప్రయత్నం చేయకూడదు. ఇప్పట్లో ఒక గ్రూప్ లో 100 మంది సభ్యుల కంటే ఎక్కువ ఉంచలేము.

దూరవాణి (వాయిస్ కాలింగ్): టెలికాం కంపెనీలకు అస్సలు ఇష్టం లేని వాట్సాప్ సదుపాయం ఏదన్న ఉంది అంటే ఈ వాయిస్ కాలింగ్ ఒక్కటే వారిని ఇబ్బంది పెడుతుంది. ఈ సదుపాయం ఏర్పడ్డ వెంటనే, టెలికాం కంపెనిలూ వారి గొంతుని పెంచ ఆరంభించాయి. ఇదే సదుపాయాన్ని వైబర్, గూగుల్ హాంగవుట్స్, అయిమో వంటి వారు ఇచ్చినా కూడా, వాటి ఉపయోగం తక్కువైనందు వల్ల పెద్దగా పట్టించ్చుకోనని టెలికాం కంపనీలు, వాట్సాప్ వల్ల వారి రాబడి తగ్గుతుందని బయపడుతున్నాయి , ఆ కారణం తో నే వారు డాటా చార్జీలను పెంచసాగారు .

మొదలు పెట్టిన కొన్ని రోజుల వరకు కొన్ని సాంకేతిక ఇబ్బందులు తలెత్తినప్పటికీ, వాటిని అధికమించి ఇప్పుడు వాట్సాప్ వాయిస్ కాలింగ్ సదుపాయం బాగా వాడకం లోకి వచ్చింది . వాట్సాప్ కూడా ఈ సదుపాయాన్ని, 'వై ఫై' లేని 'లో బాండ్ విడ్త్' (తక్కువ సంకేతం) ప్రదేశాలలో కూడా పని చేసే విధంగా ఇప్పుడు ఎర్పరిచారు.

విస్తృత ప్రసారం (బ్రాడ్కాస్ట్): ఈ సదుపాయం మన మిత్రులకి ఒక్కసారిగా ఒకే విషయాన్ని తెలియచేయాలి అంటే ఉపయోగించవచ్చు. 256 మంది వరకు ఒక్క సారిగా మనం సందేశం పంపవచ్చు. ఇది పెళ్లి సమాచారం, పుట్టిన రోజు ఆహ్వానం లేదా ఏదైనా అందరికి సంబందించిన వార్త లేదా చిత్రం (పిక్చరు) పంపవచ్చు. కాని ఈ వార్త మనం పంపే వారి ఫోన్ కి చేరాలి అంటే, మన నంబరు వారి పరిచయ జాబితా (కాంటాక్ట్ లిస్టు) లో నమోదు అయ్యి ఉండాలి. అలా లేని పరిస్తితిలో ఆ సందేశం వారికి చేరదు. ఇది ఒక మంచి పరిమితి (రెస్ట్రిక్షన్), ఎందుకు అంటే మన ఫోన్ కి స్పామ్ రాకుండా నివారించడానికి వీలవుతుంది. బ్రాడ్కాస్ట్ ద్వారా పంపిన సందేశాల నివేదిక మనకి , ,  వెళ్ళింది ఎదుటివారికి చేరింది వారు చదివారు ద్వారా తెలియచేయ బడుతుంది

వెబ్.వాట్సాప్.కామ్ (Web.whatsapp.com): వాట్సాప్ వెబ్ సైట్ కి వెళ్ళాము అంటే అక్కడ మనకు ఈ లింక్ కనిపిస్తుంది. ఈ లింక్ వల్ల మన స్మార్ట్ ఫోన్ మరియు లాప్టాప్ లేదా కంప్యుటర్ అనుసానింపబడుతాయి. మన ఫోన్ లో వచ్చే సందేశాలను మనం కంప్యుటర్ లో చూసి అక్కడి నుంచే బదులు ఇవ్వడానికి వీలు అవుతుంది. ఈ సదుపాయం పని చేయడానికి మన ఫోన్ మరియు కంప్యుటర్, వై ఫై ద్వారా పనిచేస్తుండాలి. ఇది ఆఫీసులో ఫోన్ వాడకం వీలు లేనప్పుడు వాడేందుకు బాగా ఉపయోగపడుతుంది.

ఈ వాట్సాప్ వాడకం ఎంతగా పెరిగింది అంటే, ఈ రోజుల్లో వయసు మళ్ళిన వారు (సీనియర్ సిటిజన్) కూడా సులభంగా వాదెస్తున్నరు. నా 74 సం॥ ల వయసు తల్లి తన చీరల వ్యాపారానికి వాట్సాప్ వాడుతుంది. కొత్త డిజయిన్ చీరల ఫోటో లు దుకాణదారుడు పంపితే వాటిని చూసి అర్డర్ పెట్టడం అలాగే తన కస్టమర్లకు కొత్త చీరల పిక్చర్ తీసి పంపడం ఇలా సునాయాసంగా జరిగి పోతుంది. ఇలాగే పెళ్లి సంభందాలు జాతకాలు, బయో డాటాలు, ఫోటోలు అన్ని వాట్సాప్ లో పంపించి, తాళి కట్టడం తప్పించి అన్ని జరిగిపోతున్నాయి. మెడికల్ రిపోర్టులు, ఎక్సరే బొమ్మలు కూడా సునాయాసంగా వాట్సాప్ ద్వారా పంపి వైద్య సలహాలు పొందడం జరుగుతోంది. ఈ మధ్య కాలంలో మనం వినుటు ఉంటాము " ఫోటో తీసి వాట్సాప్ చెయ్యి" అని.

వాట్సాప్ మూలంగా ఇప్పుడు రతికేళి (సెక్స్ వీడియోలు) చూడడం బాగా పెరిగింది. అరచేతిలో ఫోన్ పెట్టుకొని మనకు అనుకూలమైన ప్రాంతములో కూర్చొని, వంటరిగానో, జంటగానో, మిత్రులతోనో, ఈ వీక్షణ బాగా పెరిగింది. ఇది చిన్న పిల్లల దగ్గర నుండి యుక్త వయస్కులలో మితి మీరిన వ్యవహారంగా మరిన్ది. అడ్డు ఆపు లేని మన దేశం లో ఈ ఒరవడి కొంచం చేటు కు దారి తీసే అవకాశం జాస్తి గా ఉన్నది.

చెప్పుకో దగ్గ విషయం ఏమిటి అంటే, వాట్సాప్ తన వినియోగ దారుల పట్ల చాల భాద్యతతో వ్యవహరిస్తుంది. ఈ వాట్సాప్ గ్రూపులు ప్రారంబం అయ్యాక, మన బాతాఖాణి అలవాటు వల్ల మన బందు మిత్రులు విదేశాలలో ఉండె వారికి (టైం డిఫరెన్స్) నిద్ర చెడగొట్టే రకంగా సందేశ అగమన (నోటిఫికేషన్ ) శబ్దం తో ఇబ్బంది పడే వాళ్ళు. కొంత మంది అయితే గ్రూపు లో నుంచి నిష్క్రమణ అయ్యే వాళ్ళు . ఇప్పుడు కొత్త సౌజన్యంతో ఈ నోటిఫికేషన్ ని మనం నిశ్శబ్దం (మ్యూట్ ) చేయవచ్చు.

ఇదే తరహాలో వాట్సాప్ ఆప్ ని దుర్వినియోగ పరచడం సమర్దించదు. మనం ఏదైనా ఒక సందేశాన్ని మన నంబరు వారి పరిచయ జాబితా లో లేని చాలా మందికి పంపేందుకు ప్రయత్నిస్తే, ముందు ఒక 4 గం॥ ల మనం వాట్సాప్ ఆప్ ని వాడకుండా నిషేదిస్తుంది, తరువాత కూడా, అదే విధంగా ప్రవర్తిస్తే మన వాదాకాన్ని పూర్తిగా నిరోదిస్తుంది. అందు కనే కాబోలు, మనకి ఎక్కువగా వాట్సాప్ మూలంగా పెద్దగా ఈ స్పామ్ సందేశాలు రావు.

ఈ నా ప్రయత్నం వాట్సాప్ ను వాడుతూ దాని లోని సదుపాయాల గురించి పూర్తిగా తెలియని వారికి తెలియచేయడం. నా తరువాతి వ్యాసం లో వాట్సాప్ లోని ఎమోటికాన్స్ గురించి తెలుసుకుందాము , ఇక సెలవు మరి.

మీకు ఈ వ్యాసం నచ్చితే మీ మిత్రులకు షేర్ చేయడం ద్వారా గాని ట్వీట్ ద్వారాగాని తెలుప వచ్చు

Singh is Bling - A laugh riot

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 04:03:00 +0000

PrabhuDeva's latest directorial venture turned out to be a laugh riot, drawing crowds even on a 10^th day for a full house in a place like Chennai. Produced by Grazing Goat Productions, which is owned partly by Akshay Kumar himself, who had earlier produced Oh MyGod and Fugly in addition to few critically acclaimed regional films.

Storyline is a simple Punjabi puttar, being sent on a punishment to Goa, falls in love with a girl from Romania who is in search of her mother in Goa and brings her back to Punjab as a wife (Click to Tweet). Usage of the cast has been done quite well by the Director.

KayKay Menon, did a decent job as a villain, since it is a funny movie, his character was also made out to throw up comedy and few laughs. Yograj Singh and Rati Agnihotri did a good job of being the parents of Raftar Singh the hero. Kunal Kapoor (wonder why these Kapoor's put on so much weight once they are out of movies) who acted as father of the heroine Sara, had a very limited role to play. Pradeep Rawat as Kripal Singh had been used well.

Lara Dutta had a good role as Emily but called 'Imli' in a comical way, did an excellent job acting as a translator caught between an angry Sara and probing Raftar. She created enough ripples for those who understand both English and Hindi, but, sub titles would help if her translations were contradicted by the original dialogue.

Amy Jackson, had a good role, particularly in a Khatron ka khiladi movie, playing a tough girl, beating a mob of strong men into pulp, when Raftar is helplessly looking at the villains. Amy emoted well and played a good role. Her limited dialogue, still managed to evoke enough laughter, thanks to Emily's translation.

Akshay Kumar, a job less youth in hinterland Punjab, who believes in good times only is sent to Goa by an angry father who wants him to understand his true potential. On reaching Goa, being made in charge to protect Sara and not knowing English to converse with her, what he undergoes, is the primary story. Akshay carried out his job quite effortlessly, but sounded unconvincing, when it came to his lame duck posturing in the fight sequences, allowing Amy take all the mileage.

First half was a laugh riot, and as the pace picked up in the movie in the second half, there seemed to be some disconnect, but had been well managed by Prabhudeva. Songs were very well picturised and overall camera work had been excellent. Aerial shots have been well executed, giving a vast and impressive scenic beauty of both hinterland Punjab and the international locations.

Would rate it 3.5 Stars

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Trending – Selfie in the Nude

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Sat, 03 Oct 2015 17:47:00 +0000

What happens in a bathroom is a private affair. We have had unfortunate instances where videos of Film personalities disrobing or having bath going viral. (Click to Tweet) While this is clandestine in nature captured by hidden cameras, there is a brand new trend for self or selfie destruction.

Recently we have read news reports about a neighbour fixing a pen camerain a bathroom with intention of capturing his friend's wife’s bathing/disrobing.'This is another way of technology being misused for voyeuristic pleasure.

Sherlyn Chopra

I had talked about the increasing trend in an earlier blog (Porn for Indians – Taboo says the deciders) about the way women are allowing men to shoot them either disrobing or in the sexual act and these videos going viral most likely without the knowledge of the woman concerned. These women are not professionals in the mold of Sunny Leon or Sherlyn Chopra who are posing for camera's and are willing to be shot in nude and earn money for the same. These are ordinary home makers, school/college kids etc being gullible or naive.

Sunny Leon

What is really disturbing is the fact that from hostel videos where top less girls are shot on video by a mate, dancing around as fun, trend is now moving into the selfie mode. When a young girl decides to shoot herself in the buff, what is her intention, show of her body to another friend or enjoy looking at her body when she is free. This is the problem area. One should not have any issues with a girl wanting to shoot her selfie in the buff, but what precautions, she is taking about the clip falling in the wrong hands.

Increasingly, girls nude pictures and videos are going viral, which are self shot there is absolutely no force nor coercion. While writing this article, just checked on the net, there are even blogswhich tell the girls how to prepare themselves for selfie videosn picture in the nude. Of course there are few smart ones who will take you around for a visual treat without showing their face.

While some videosare self uploaded it is possible most of them remain in the phoneor in the memory card, either when a phoneis lost or sold or given for repair these images & video clips are getting in to the wrong hands and going viral, in the liberal world it may not have any impact, however in some traditional homes this exposure can create havoc and can lead to some extreme steps too.

It is possible boys are doing this too, but these pictures or videos do not get circulated much for the simple reason, no man likes to promote another and create a competition for themselves. If the girls are at it, then, kudos to the generation 'now'.

But internet is full of these 'Selfie in the buff' pictures saving the trouble of having to pose in front of someone but showcase yourself to the world. India is slowly catching up with global standards for 'Selfie in the buff'.

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Subrahmanyam for sale - is it worth buying ***

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 19:18:00 +0000

Well known producer Dil Raju and mixed luck Director Harish Shankar present an entertainer with many twists and turns. This Sai Dharam Tej movie is very patchy when it comes to family drama in spite of strong star cast.

Movie story is predominantly narrated in the USA, Music by Mickey J Meyer is not bad. Telugamte sounds good in spite of a loud picturisation.

Director Harish Shankar tried to establish his Hero in many occasion, by introducing many unnecessary fight sequences. Villains almost tuning out to be comic, kind of dilutes the Hero's portrayal. While he had an array of artists he hardly used them, probably a waste of producers money. Family drama, was too loud but lacked in substance, probably it is not Harish's strength, but taking pot shots at a very popular and successful family drama 'Brindavanam' was not necessary.

This story revolves around one, two or three, no four marriages, so we are expected to keep track of who is marrying whom or why they are not marrying. So be prepared for this. We have most of the songs being shot in US background. Guvva Gorinka song with Grand Canyon background gets diluted with the Hero aping his maternal uncle Megastar Chiranjeevi.

Sai Dharam Tej the Supreme Star, seems to think only way he will have acceptability, is, if he copies his uncles Mega Star & Power Star. It is high time he changes this if he wants to succeed in cinemas, with so much competition from the Mega family. I suppose it is necessary to believe that i am just a starter and have to be humble, not act like the 'Supreme Star'. Some stylist will have to work on his face, probably people will never get to see his original face if he continues to sport the bearded look. He is getting good chances it is up to him to ensure he gets to be known as a star unto himself, just like a Nani.

Regina Cassandra looked good, acted well, could improve her dances. She made the best of the weak story and excelled in scenes where she was seen crying. For Adah Sharma after Heart Attack, it looks like a come down and had made her look like a vamp.

Bramhanandam, looked much slimmer, did make best out of the chance he had, dominated where he could. With big heroes avoiding him like plague, it looks like he needs to settle down with the next gen heroes. Naga Babu

as NRI Rajasekar over acted with his 'Bangaram' line. Wonder why this name cropped up, unless this is a pet name for the hero at home. Suman, Ajay, Pradeep Sakthi (After a long gap) Naresh, Jhansi n others had done their job, but felt Suman was wasted.

Songs picturisation, with romantic songs being shot without any Jr artists and the foreign locales could have been done better.

Entertaining in patches, too many fights, lack of family drama etc hamper the movies success, could get a rating of ***

Akshardham - Monument or a place of worship

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 09:28:00 +0000

Akshardham temple, This place, it looks like has the unfortunate fame of the terror attack in 2002, than its own architectural splendour.

Well built and well managed temple. Public are generally encouraged to go through an educational process of learning, in how this whole sect of Swami Narayan has come about and what are its core concepts.

We are shown a 45 minute video on Swami Narayan and later an exhibition where Ramayan and Mahabharat are depicted, all these are at a price (tickets need to be purchased for these shows) It is better to watch these otherwise you may not understand much about this place. (click to Tweet)

Sanctum is well maintained, we see people sitting quietly and praying, there are no regular rituals like in a Hindu temple, while it is a Idol, no clear idol worship is visible, it is more in the lines of Buddhist temples.

After the terror attack, there are lot of restrictions including carrying your mobiles inside the temple. We have to depend on the professional photographers in this zamana of Selfies to get photographed.

Since you are not allowed to go in to the temple with your footwear, elaborate arrangements are made to store the foot wear of the visitors in an underground area on both sides of the sanctum.

It is closer to Gandhinagar the capital of Gujarat, though address will show it as part of Ahmedabad. Visited this place in March 2015

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What's up WhatsApp?

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 07:22:00 +0000

In November 2009 WhatsApp was launched on the iOS platform as a iPhone app. It was converted from a free app to a paid app to cover the costs of verification which WhatsApp does. By January 2010 it was made available on Blackberry too. From there on there was no looking back for this app. It reached the 200 million user mark by February 2013 and rocketed to 400 million users by December 2013. When Facebook took over the company formed by Koumand Acton by paying 19.5 billion USD it had touched 500 million users.

What is significant is, in India the growth has been phenomenal and has not just kept pace with the overall growth of WhatsApp but probably set a trend by itself. We love to chat and if it is free then we can do it for hours together. It is estimated that 9-10% of the overall WhatsApp users are from India and if we include the PIO's probably we would be about 12% of the overall user base. Indeed we will have to wait to see what will happen when WhatsApp goes subscription model, which it hasn't on Android platform

Today we have become slaves for WhatsApp. There was a time when we sent a mail we used to sit and eagerly wait for the reply. Today thanks to the smart phone revolution we are totally been enslaved by WhatsApp. We send a message look for the second tick to appear and then the waiting is for the 'Double Tick' to change its colour to Blueto indicate to us that the message is read.

The Blue ticks have made many a person's life miserable because they would be questioned as to why they didn’t respond even after seeing the message. Other problem is the message 'Last seen' that appears just below the name or number of the person. This instantly tells us that when our contact was online in WhatsApp. In spite of these small irritants the usage of WhatsApp has been very extensive in India and uses have been innumerable.

WhatsApp has got features which make us use it extensively, on top of all this no cost for sending messages or chatting. Cool thing about this is to add variety of Emojis for flavour. Latest release also helps you choose the skin colour which you might feel comfortable with. Have you checked it or not? They have about 5 shades to choose from depending on which part of the world you are from, i.e. in case you wish to choose.

Let's deal with some of the features one by one.

Chatting: today a lot is said by using the right emoji of WhatsApp than typing, Imagine quizzes n puzzles are being designed using the emoji's and it is a big pass time for the users, un-raveling the mystery of the emoji based questions.

Photos:There is a whole lot of pictures (700 Million at the last count) being shared everyday on WhatsApp. Range of pictures is left to one's imagination, it could be a cute new born to a cartoon to a Good morning picture with a bunch flowers in the back ground. We Indians love to share the God's images in plenty. Erotic pictures too get shared in the process like other pictures.

Videos: Today if there is one place where you need not worry about copyright violation and share a video it is only on WhatsApp, however there are or some constraints on the file size, however that might be changed in the near future. Talent shows, News stories, Sexual videos to speeches and discourses of Guru's are all shared on this platform. Biggest worry is the lack of monitoring on the content unlike in the case of a computer (Parental Control) makes the viewing of sexual videos on WhatsApp easy and this is a threatening feature.

Voice Chat: This is one feature which helped 'Wechat' app to establish it's presence, however once

this was introduced in WhatsApp, it took the steam away from their campaign. This actually helps when you want your kid to respond to some wishes or a grand parent Who cant type on a smart phone.

Groups:Unlike in Facebook, WhatsApp groups help people to connect more instantly since smart phones have become part and parcel of our lives. There are any number of innumerable variety of groups. I myself have set up multiple family groups, simply choosing how wide you want the audience to be. Family, Friends, Alumni of College/ School, Job, Association you name it, people have groups being formed and enjoying the fellowship. It has actually helped connecting the disconnected lot.

We do see some amount of misuse of this group feature by people, who want to carry out marketing activities. One way is blocking such people and reporting them so that WhatsApp can take care of them at their end. Today group membership is restricted to a maximum of 100.

Voice Calling: This is the most disliked feature of this app by the telecom companies. The moment WhatsApp announced this feature, telecom companies increased their voice, which they didn’t when the same feature was available on Viber, Hangouts

etc, simply because it was not threatening their income. WhatsApp calling after the initial glitches has picked up clarity and is being extensively used. WhatsApp has even come up with, low bandwidth enabling so that you can talk even on 2G bandwidth and not just Wi-Fi broadband.

Broadcast:This is a feature meant to make announcements, send out wedding/event invites to many (256 people) at one go from your contact list. Only requirement is the recipient should have you in their contact list, otherwise, this message will not get delivered. This is in a way good red-herring, so that people don’t misuse this feature for marketing activities. Any message sent through 'Broadcast' will be delivered like a regular message, with , , markings to tell you whether the message you sent has been seen, read etc.

Web.whatsapp.com:This is a feature to integrate PC/Laptop with your phone so that you don’t miss out on WhatsApp activity. This is particularly convenient when you want to send some attachments from your computer, which you do not wish to have on your phone. Integration is a simple procedure, however for this feature to work effectively phone has to be connected by Wi-Fi with your PC.

With WhatsApp, even senior citizens are getting into the play. My 74 year old mother, shops sarees for her business when the supplier sends the images by WhatsApp, similarly she sends the images for those who seek to buy from her. Marriage proposals have been made, by sharing pictures & profiles on WhatsApp. Medical reports including X ray images are shared on WhatsApp. Uses are left to your imagination these are just but few examples. You would be commonly hearing people telling take a picture and send it on WhatsApp.

Thanks to WhatsApp voyeurism has increased with sexual videos, pictures being shared rampantly, the convenience of viewing in privacy, sharing without any worry etc make this app a handy one for the youth and those who are young in mind. This indeed is a worrying factor.

WhatsApp is seriously concerned about the user, their recent version includes a 'Mute' option for silencing notifications, in case you find a person or a group sending you too many messages and you don’t want to get disturbed at your work. This problem is faced in a different way when you have members of your group living in USA, your constant messaging disturbs their sleep due to time difference.

Similarly, it doesn’t encourage spamming, if you try to send messages to too many numbers from your phone, where you are not listed in their contact list, automatically you will be barred from using WhatsApp for a period of 4 hours and if you continue to do it, then your number could be deactivated for WhatsApp activity.

This is an effort to share info which might be useful for many who use WhatsApp but don’t know about many of the features in it. We will talk about WhatsApp emojis in my next blog.

Screwed by the Government

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 18:20:00 +0000

This is an interesting story of a prime property in Hyderabad city, which has seen many a twist and turn.

During the famous rule of Sri YS Rajasekara Reddy as CM, then government of AP decided to auction various properties of Hyderabad and it's surroundings by public auction for development into various categories. Only issue, as realised much later by the successful bidders, with these auctions was the lack of clarity on the background of these properties and or no clear vision on the likely impediments for the planned development.

LANCO hills has the issue of WAKF land sitting around its neck, where politician after politician using the blackmailing tactics on the developer irrespective of the fact it was a government auctioned site, which is supposed to be a clean sale. Similarly the land that was auctioned in Kokapet by the government, which got later embroiled in litigation on ownership, the buyers are not even able to get their monies back from the government for the reasons best known to all of us 'Speed money demand'.

I am more keen to discuss the famous triangular plot in the heart of the city. Here lies a plot measuring about 6 acres abutting the famous green corridor KBR park and positioned in the 'Çheck post' junction of Jubilee Hills.

The plot was put up for auction on 21^st Feb 2006 with offers from bidders having stopped at Rs.1,35 lakh per Sq. Mtr, they opened the sealed bids which surprisingly had a bid for Rs.1.42 lakh per Sq. Mtr (Which roughly translates to Rs. 1.18 lakh per Sq. Yard), which was the highest transaction value in those days in the given area.

Government having got a sale value of Rs.333.70 crores from this sale, was quite happy. The successful bidders were told they can do any kind of development in that place. Bidding consortium being Nagarjuna Construction Company, Maytas, ICICI. The consortium then started working on the project and wished to build a high rise commercial complex.

Problem 1: Being a prime piece of land that was auctioned with a 'Áll Go' statement by the government, the bidders went without a worry and offered the highest price. Once they firmed up their plans and sent the plan for approval to the competent authorities, they were told they cannot have a building higher than 3 or 4 floors, this being in the funnel of the air traffic of Begumpet airport, the then primary airport of the city.

Problem 2: One of the consortium partner Maytas went into a huge turmoil after its associate company Satyam founder chairman B Ramalinga Raju, confessed to accounting malpractices in Jan 2009 in a letter t the SEBI.

Google Earth Images of the said property from 2005 to 2015

The Begumpet airport became only a VIP and Air force airport from March 2008 after the opening of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad. However considering the 'Funnel' route there was no improvement in the plan sanction. Meanwhile Maytas started going into further problems with its accounts being seized and assets being attached etc. Maytas was taken over by IL & FS and named as IL&FS Engineering company.

Finally Mantri Developers of Bangalore walked into the consortium as a developer in December 2011 and decided to change the plan to a high end residential complex and targeted a price of 13 to 15 k per sq. Ft of constructed area. Building height was reduced to the statutory needs and construction work started in right earnest. Other builders / developers were waiting for the success of this project as it would have created a new benchmark for pricing in the heart of the Hyderabad city, the much wanted improvement in a city which went through the separate state agitation and suffered in brand image.

Luckily the pace of work picked up in 2014 as the new Telangana state was formed and the new government was in place. Here started the travails for the consortium. The new government had its own vision for the city and the new state. In the process the CM of the state Sri K Chandrasekar Rao wanted to make the city of Hyderabad a no signal city by building flyovers across the city where today there is congestion.

Jubilee hills near the Check post^thof May 2015 asking for stoppage of work at all projects where (Including the ones where plan approvals are in place) these flyover projects are proposed to come up.

junction happens to be one such place where government wants a new flyover. They issued a fresh GO on the 30

Now this project is one of those affected by this GO, for the consortium as they are licking their wounds of 2006 this bolt from the blue, is a bigger threat, as until government decides on the design of the flyovers, they cannot progress on their plans. Even some of the luxury apartments they managed to sell will get delayed.

Would you call this triangular plot a 'Jinxed' plot or something else and would you not categorise it under the 'Government f**ks me' category as far as the developers are concerned. They could be big and might be able to manage their way, but the interim delay cannot be compensated by anyone.

(This article is based on inputs from industry players)

Teacher's Day Special! - By an employee of Amazon

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 07:44:00 +0000

Is it really worth being a teacher?

I mean...There were times in school, college when I used to think, these people have no other work! You know...the amount of homework, tests etc. which were given to us. I despised them! Then, I used to mock them whenever they missed out on an error in my test or homework.

That used to be my opportunity to ruin their credibility! Going around the class, spreading nasty jokes and never losing a chance to gain attention! Whether it's intentionally cracking silly jokes between lectures or unfortunately forgetting to do homework, I did it to annoy the teacher! Not my fault, most of them were scary, strict and what not! I respected very few teachers for the kind of effort they put in class after class. But, somehow, always felt they were annoying and jobless too!

It all turned around when I got into Amazon's training team! I love training. I honestly do, however the kind of sacrifices we as trainers make, are sometimes not really advisable. That's when I realized that my teachers also would have made similar sacrifices, if not more! Let me give you a glimpse.

The first sacrifice starts with their income! A sacrifice of free time, a sacrifice of family time! Did you know most teachers are an integral part of a family? They are home makers. They sacrifice their family time just to complete corrections and assessments on time for which they'll anyways be criticised! For me, it's just my notebook/test paper that I'm concerned about. For them, there are 25-30 such students in my class alone! Yet I complained when they step into the class, why can't you do your work on time!? We want to know our scores now!!!! I ensured to keep a disappointed face and not allow the class to happen.

You know exactly how that scene is. However, In the corporate world, we don't have that pressure, but I sure can relate to it now. The sacrifices don't stop here. Teachers sacrifice staying in a physical shape. Most of them are under/over weight, stressed, bald, wrinkled, dark eyed, dull, under dressed!

Ever wondered why? No, cos we were too busy mocking them. All this aside, there were a few teachers who came and inspired us within a few minutes! They very quickly became our favorites! They used to entertain us, yet teach us! They concentrated more on our moral values and our methods of studying than our A+ scores! They made us achieve wonders. Taught us more than just subjects. Hmmm...why the difference? Why couldn't the others do it? Inexperience? Unwillingness? Or is it because WE never gave them a chance for them to show us their complete potential?

Think about it, when did we behave like the best students? Only during that one awesome class or throughout the day? Let me tell you a secret, when a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower! By being a good student and creating an atmosphere to learn, you'll bring the best out of any teacher! That's exactly what these awesome teachers did! They didn't change you! They changed the environment around you which in turn made learning so much fun and brought the best out of you! Now, back to the question, is it really worth being a teacher?

YES!! Oh the joy, when people come to you and say, "if it wasn't for you, I would've hated English" or dedicate an award saying "I'd like to thank my trainer for all the efforts he's put to make me graduate!" - inexplicable. Sometimes, just seeing a student grow successfully, fills our hearts with immense happiness. In fact, the more I train, the more convinced I become that teachers are a powerful force in students’ lives with the ability to inspire greatness in our children! So, here's to wishing all the real superstars in everybody's life! For without you, we'd all be incomplete in one way or the other! Happy teacher's day! Stay blessed

(This is a post made by Bezawada Sri Prakruth an employee of Amazon.co.uk in Facebook, since he is my son and i was impressed with post decided to share it with my readers)

copy right of the pictures used in this blog rests with the respective owners

Bhale Bhale Magadivoy – Is he?

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Got to see Bhale Bhale Magadivoy on the first day late night show at Chennai. Predominant male audience, almost a full balcony. Interesting to note that Nani the self made hero has a good following, considering the number of whistles and hoots we could hear.

Maruti Dasari the director had a fresh subject, good producer and probably a limited budget. He did his best to complete an entertainer without forgetting for a minute that his hero is a forgetful guy, which could have been better, but not a bad boring movie.

Story revolves around a man who has the habit of forgetting the job on hand the moment he is accosted by another job. It is scary to even imagine being like one, considering the ill effects, theme has been well emphasised by the Director till the end.

Nani, had a good scope to act, but the thought that he has become a “hero” seems to be getting in to his mind, some scenes, he seems to be showing that forgetting he is an actor.

Lavanya Tripathi looked pretty, well picturised. Her predicament of the hero's forgetful nature was well documented. Some scenes her acting could have been better, probably the problem is the understanding of the language or explanation for this Miss Uttarakhand 2006.

Murli Sharma as the father of the heroine, had a full length role unlike his typical villainy roles in the Telugu films. He could deliver as he was expected to.

Naresh, Sithara, Kishoreetc had their own part to play to make the movie interesting. Ajayplayed the role of Cop/Villian role effectively. There were many actors whose presence was there but didn’t have much of a role, wonder why they were hired.

Songs are OK, picturisation was budgeted, they had to complete with low cost it looks like. No fancy cars, bungalows all taken care of to ensure movie is completed within the given budget. Marketing of the movie was done very well, innovative slots taken on television making the announcement look like a new serial coming or a new premier show happening on the TV.

Movie had a climax to ensure heroism as shown in the tollywood movies. My 10 year old daughter who is a big fan of Mahesh, was almost disappointed that there was no action till almost the end. The twist in the movie was well presented.

Bhale Bhale Magadivoy – Rating given by me 

(Copyright of the pictures used rests with the respective owners)

Is the location, best for your business

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 18:49:00 +0000

What is in a location, when I have a great concept and people will flock, where ever I am, this can be a killer thought, literally. Where your business is located is going to be a very crucial.

Having worked with a Brand which was in to franchising of spoken Englishclasses, the need to locate the centres at the right place was always dwelled by me to the people who were getting the franchisees on board. We had few very successful centres, each one of them ideally located. One near the Bus terminus & Suburban station in Chennai, Near Dadar Station in Mumbai, One at the busy SR Nagar bus stop in Hyderabad and another at Maitri Vanam in Ameerpet, Hyderabad.

First two being closer to the railway stations, the centre was easily accessible to the learners, SR Nagar is a busy location and a centre close to the Bus stop was just the place. Maitri Vanam was where hundreds of training institutes were located and what better place to be. You may be located at the 2^nd or 3^rd floor of a building without a lift, students will still come, same thing cannot be said if your target client is elderly, they will simply stay away.

All these places you would get lot of walk ins without much publicity. This fact has to be remembered depending on the business we select. Today in T. Nagar Chennai, you start a textile shop or a gold souk, you are sure to get business, simply because the place got recognised for these two. Similarly the various Khao Gallis in various cities, start a cart or a shop in this location to serve any variety food, you are sure to find business. It is unfortunate, our governments don’t try to encourage Khao gallis or food courts like the Singapore government did.

I have a case study of two confectionery outlets which started setting up their outlets about the same time in Chennai. One went boldly and started choosing locations which are on prominent roads, with parking and the other started where ever they could get a place irrespective of the fact whether the outlet is visible n accessible. I am sure you would have known the result the one which didn’t go for proper location had to shut shop soon, in spite of serving better variety.

It is also important how you position yourself. There was this place on Ormes road, Chennai, where many a restaurant was started and soon shut shop. Then came Murugan Idly who opened in this so called 'Jinxed' place and today they are going strong in that location, simply because, they were a best option for many a vegetarian household (north Indian community) in that locality and it is doing well. This had prompted many fresh Vegetarian only outlets to come up in the vicinity, all doing well.

One famous garment brand opened an outlet near a flyover in the second floor of a building in T. Nagar, with an entrance which needs to be searched, soon they had to shift out and start it on the main road, wonder why in the first place the franchise owners allowed them to open the outlet in the first location.

Sometimes your brand or offering might get you crowd where ever you are located but, being better located can get your more business, unless you are someone, who makes only 50 dosas in a day and sell them each at Rs.250 a pc and still be happy (Avenue Road, Bangalore)

Today biggest problem in the cities and towns is the parking, however much you have perfect valet system in place, people would be mindful, if you have sufficient parking, based on which they would like to visit your outlet.

Keeping this fact in mind, many an outlet is being set-up in malls, simply because there is plenty of parking available. Walk-ins are assured, but how do you convert the crowd in to business is up to what you have to offer. UB city, Bangalore, is an exclusive place for up market brands, however their restaurants are flocked by youngsters, who are wanting a good time. In this place one should not get carried away by seeing the crowd and start an outlet, as the restaurant going crowd is most unlikely be the buyers for your offerings.

What can be concluded from all this is, you have to have an ideal location for your kind of business, for this, it will be very worth while to spend time understanding your clientele and how best to reach them.

You want help in choosing a good location for your business, call 9840429384

(Copyright of the pictures used in this blog rests with the respective owners)

Regularisation of the rot

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 16:08:00 +0000

We keep reading about various schemes that are brought out by state and central governments, periodically talking about 'Voluntary disclosure scheme' or 'Building / Land Regularisation scheme', (BRS / LRS) these are indeed steps to encourage dishonesty and a punishment for the honest.

Let's look at VDIS, a scheme that was announced in 1997 by the then Finance minster Sri P. Chidambaram. This facilitated a payment of 30% Income tax voluntarily on the previous decades income, with no questions asked. Many a person took advantage of this scheme, with one Ex. CM's son reportedly declaring about 500+ crores under this scheme, the so called biggest conversion of ill gotten money. Those days also we have heard many a murmur about how incorrect of these schemes which encourage people to be dishonest, waiting for the next amnesty. Fortunately nothing more had come after this as far as Income tax is concerned.

There were some effort in asking people to come out voluntarily and declare evasion of Excise duty/ CENVAT or sales tax after this. The success of this has not been publicised much.

We have the Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS), wherein a builder who violates the building construction, set back rules, can, by paying a penalty, regularise his/her misdeed. We have seen many a building which violates the rules, which are likely to be benefited by these BRS schemes. There was this hospital, which violated or never had a building plan permission and they have raised a multi storied Hospital in Chennai. Madras High court asked for it's demolition in Jan 2014 and i see this building still there and hospital is still functional. Only saving grace is out of the 5/6 floors, top two floors are incomplete and are not in use. Even the CMDA had been admonished by the HC for not acting for last 10 years.

I know of many a builder who has put up more than a floor than what his plan sanctioned, and made illegal profit and put their buyers at peril. I had faced this brunt, where in i had difficulty trying to sell the property, because the floor where my flat was, is an extra floor and an illegal one. Had to compromise, since the builder never even got it regularised during these schemes nor bothered to inform the buyers to do so.

I have known people who were privy to the information of impending GO of a BRS scheme, over night putting up a slab and regularise the illegal floor(s) under the scheme that will be announced. Most of the time the excuse given by the government is they don't

have the required manpower or wherewithal to demolish the illegal buildings, for introducing these schemes. Unfortunately our citizens also take these periodic schemes into consideration and wantonly violate the rules with impunity. Biggest threat of these violations is the danger to the super structure. While the original building was sanctioned for say 2 floors, when the additional floors are added, naturally it weakens the structural strength and there is a good chance of the building collapsing.

In another blog of mine Holistic - Who lives where, i had talked about how to cut down this menace, by monitoring the building plan sanctions at every level by linking it to the usage. Instead of having chawls like construction in every part of the town, wouldn't it be better if we have some kind of orderly development, where everyone follows the rules and not wait for the next B R Scheme.

Another threat factor is the approach to the courts and illegal buildings continue to thrive simply because, our legal system is enamoured with many a case which will take 10-15 years for them to see light of the day by clearing all the available options. after all that will be the political intervention citing humanitarian consideration, since people have been living there for decades.

Illegal constructions are sometimes protected by putting up a religious structure, once the religious structure comes up it becomes very difficult to law enforcement agencies to do much and inevitably the illegal construction gets protected. It is another matter that today one can take the help of Google maps to see when the building came up, but no body would want to do that since that exercise will not yield any income either for the exchequer or the individuals.

Land Regularisation Scheme (LRS) is another bigger menace to an orderly development of cities. When there is so much emphasis is given for 'Smart Cities' and Digital India, we keep seeing dwellings in small lanes, once a panchayat layout but now part of a mega city. Many of us would have come across nomenclature like, Revenue plots, Panchayat layout etc., these are nothing but unapproved illegal layouts, which can result in one not getting proper drainage and power connections too. Housing loans will be difficult to get and living conditions will start deteriorating once all plots have buildings in it (most of them likely to be violated buildings). With increased earnings and affordability most of those living in these 20' road streets start owning cars, we can see the daily fun of traffic jams and quarrels etc.

Very rarely we will find illegal layouts being destroyed, simply because there is always a middle man who would have taken the land on agreement from the farmer and sold it to gullible buyers, no politician would like to hurt a potential vote bank, he will some how see that the layout stays put and we get to see these LRS coming up once in a while. However there was a situation in the newly formed state of Telengana, where they wanted to regularise ownership of land by asking people to pay the penalty based on the current market value, since the market value was so high none of the illegal owners wanted to regularise under this scheme, since they had no threat to their living as such.

Can this be a citizen participatory movement to stop both illegal layouts and buildings. Status of land can be made available on the web with the zoning information. If i as a citizen see a new building / layout coming up, i should have an option to upload the info into a government server with no option for the recipient to delete the same from the server. Probably with such situations our officials would be forced to act and report, what action was initiated on the illegal activity. Since all these are revenue yielding activities, government can even consider outsourcing the verification work (in the lines of Passport issue) and keep the regulatory control in its hands.

(Copyright of all photos used with the respective owners)

Kick II – Is it better?

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 11:15:00 +0000

Director SurendarReddy had a tough task of making a sequel and retain the interest like the first movie. In Hindi some of the movie's have had a successful run of sequels like Krrish, Dhoom, Dabangg, Munnabhai etc. However Telugu had not been so. Shankar Dada it self couldn't repeat it's success. In the case of Arya 2, Director took a different tune from the original.

If it was 'Kick' which was the theme in the first part, it is 'Comfort' in Kick II. Connecting both was done effectively with Shyam and some bit of animation. The story according to the titles says is happening most of the time near Jaisalmer, but all the vehicles at Jaisalmer seems to carry Bihar (BR) number plates. This is either because director forgot what he used in the script, probably due to the long gap between the completion and release.

It is surprising that original producers didn't do the sequel, it is the turn of Kalyanram to produce this sequel. He didn't seem to have worried much about the budget for the movie. He did seem liberal, a delight for any director of a movie.

Coming to casting, wondered why a lot of Hindi actors were chosen for this movie like Rajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra etc., in addition to the villain. Of course the Villain trend from Hindi industry is nothing new, but comedians and character actors makes you wonder if this is being planned for a release in Bollywood too.

Director Surendar Reddy did a decent job of using the theme 'Comfort' however it seems to have worked partially when it comes to the viewer response. May not be a very comforting thought to the producers.

Ravi Teja looked good as RobinHood with his new slim look, but almost the same look for his father character, didn't suit. He was at his best with Bramhanandam who played the role of Pandit Ravi Teja.

Rakul Preet Singhlooked good in the songs. Dancing was so so. Someone took good care of her costumes. Probably we will have a new series of 'Kick2' Sarees.

Tanikella Bharanidid a very good character, playing a caution master all the time and ensuring the climax he had a good role which he delivered with aplomb.

Bramhanandam, seems to be getting stereo typed. The days of very subtle acting have gone and every director wants to use his time to make the best out of it. Movies like Loukyam & Race gurram had taken his short roles to a peak, but here his presence seems to have been not utilised that well. Probably it is a challenge to the directors for creating a unique role for him.

Ravi Kishen the king of Bojpuri, played the role of the villain very well, in some scenes he excelled, his "son of God" cry is quite powerful

Photography was good and overall the movie is not boring but, you don't come out of the theater feeling satisfied like you did for the original.

I would rate this movie 3.2

(Copyright of the images rests with the respective owners)

Persistence pays off

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 04:24:00 +0000

While I wouldn’t call my self a good practitioner of what I am going to write about being persistent, it is a lesson that I have learnt over the years and had to rue many a hasty decision. It is very important that one pursues what they are confident of achieving.

In every business there are going to be hard times only those who are finding a way out within the business can have long term success. Many of us give up or start looking at greener pastures elsewhere, this inevitably leads us to look at greenfield businesses or something we are new for. I have a couple of case studies which i could share.

This is a story of two business people who are in real estate developmentbusiness in Chennai. Around the same time both started putting up apartments in early 80's. One started with his brother and another with a set of partners. Both later became independent owners of their respective businesses after parting with their erstwhile partners.

Person 1, had a successful business in promoting residential apartment buildings, he was very much successful in the JV route and continued to build apartments each building having about 6-8 apartments mostly.

Person 2 also chose the JV route and started getting good offers and was into buildings with 10-20 apartments per building.

P1 continued to leave his brand on many buildings with his property owners getting him more JV partners due to timely delivery, with low inventory to sell, he was able to accomplish more finished projects and more goodwill.

P2 decided to go public and get his company listed, for this purpose he signed up few mega projects. He managed to get his public issue subscribed and he had money to develop the projects, he wanted. Unfortunately few bad apples upset his plans and his plans started going haywire. More over the property market went into a recession mode. Most of the big projects got struck with unsold inventory. Forcing P2 to start looking at other means to shore up his revenues.

Meanwhile P1 continued with his build small model and was able to whether the recession and was smiling all the way to the bank when most of his peers were struggling with unsold inventory.

What tells us here is persistence to the business and finding a niche can help the business person weather the short term bad times in the business, in this period if we start looking at other ways to ensure revenues or become too ambitious, then the result will be like the person 2.

Similarly there is another story of continuation which paid off in the case of one and how it affected the other in Liquor wholesale business in Bangalore.

Businessman 1 who was a first generation entrepreneur, managed to come close to the management of a Liquor concessionary in Bangalore and was able to get a good patronage, he built a house for himself and started seeing good cash flows.

Businessman 2 who was an employee in a liquor wholesale, took up an agency from the same concessionary and started establishing his business, he used to even accompany the consignments and ensure prompt delivery.

Suddenly the concessionary changed hands from one business house to another. Both the persons referred above were able to build bridges with the new concessionary and continued with their business. B1 was bit by a bug and wanted to start a steel re-rolling business, which looked very profitable at that point of time (Mid 90's). He went about establishing the same along with a technocrat. When the technocrat left in the midway, our man started focusing on this new venture more. Leaving the liquor wholesale to his trusted boys back at Bangalore. While B2 with focused approach was able to increase the volumes and was able to earn more profits. B1 with cash flows from liquor business getting diverted to the steel business naturally lost favour with the concessionary and was given less preference in terms of supplies.

B2 built a house, bought more properties established his brother in IT business. B1 languished with the jolt given by P Chidambaram as the FM to the steel re-rolling industry in the United front govt and lost both the liquor business and in steel business.

Both are real stories, which goes to show how one could flourish even in adverse situations if they stick to their core business and what will happen when we start thinking of riding two horses at a time.

While we could ape Dhirubhai or his son Mukesh in thinking about expansion or backward or froward integration, we have to remember, there has to be a scale to think and also one business which can give us the stable revenues to pursue the new businesses. This is more important in the case of Indian businesses, since our thinking is in terms of our kids running the show or ethical values being what they are, Only when systems and values and accountability rule the roost,

One has to be very careful about expansions and diversification's, it might be just good to stick to what you are good at.

(Copyright of the images used rests with the respective owners)

Srimanthudu - reiterating a theme

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 15:09:00 +0000

Exactly after one week of its release, went to see the movie Srimanthudu.

After two badly run films, this movie is a big relief for Mahesh n his fans. Theater balcony was full even after 7 days of release in Chennai for a Telugu movie, speaks good for tollywood that to immediately after the success of Bahubali.

Movie didn't have dragging scenes, presence of Ali n Kishore didn't add/ contribute much to the comedy track. After 1-Nenokkadine this is another movie of Mahesh without a huge posse of comedians. Maybe tollywood hero's don't want to surrender the movie success credit to comedians like Bramhanandam.

Jagapati seems to be in a dilemma whether he is still a hero, emoting as a parent or villain he needs to watch Prakash Raj more often n better himself. Sukanya makeup seems to have done her in, with make-up person being caught in her 'Indian (Bharateeyudu)' style of dumb expressions or a rich man's wife. She could have been made to perform better with less makeup.

Villains only the 'Sashi ' character impressed, Mukesh Rishi was wasted. Climax could it have been better, probably the Hero's dialogue towards the end, sums it up.

Songs, Charuseela song was very well executed, feeling fresh. Rama Rama song, choreography was good, could the director have convinced the hero to remove his shoes for the song picturisation being a song performed near the pandal of the Lord. Even the last song was well pictured with rural murals in the backdrop.

Sruthi Hasan in many scenes looked very weak with her zero size. in the recent times she seems to be getting good amount of footage in comparison with the hero (last being Race gurram). She is able to perform, probably being the child of two very good actors.

Mahesh, the self proclaimed directors hero, did his best. Be it fights (my friend was commenting director Siva or the stunt master seems to be a European football league fan ), dances, standing up to his father etc. Mahesh satisfied his fans.

Director Siva did well to bring some of his favourite themes, family bonding, village development, sacrifice for your mother land to the fore n executed a watchable movie. After Mirchi, he has more or less struck to these, however the treatment was different. Hope he will not be bracketed. He should ensure he is able to extract maximum output from senior stars like Mukesh n Jagapati

I would rate this movie with 4 stars

(Copy right of the pictures used in the blog rests with the respective owners)

Creating a tourist attraction

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 18:23:00 +0000

I happened to be at Ahmedabad for a short visit for medical purpose, which got extended to a long stay due to a medical negligence. Having a 10 year old with you, one needs to keep her occupied. First visit was to this very interesting place was immediately after visiting Sabarmati Ashram, a place not so exciting for a 10 year old.

Before talking about the facility, let's dwell into the history of this place, Kankaria lakeis situated in Maninagar area of Ahmedabad. This was built by Sultan Qutbuddin in the 15th century. The facility later used for bathingof the rulers, was completed in 1451 ADand was known as "Qutb Hauz" or "Hauz-i-Qutb". It had a water purification system but it has been lost with the time. At one point of the circular lake, there opens a walkway which later leadsinto a garden called Nagina Wadithat is located in the middleof the lake.

In the year 2008 in the month of December this lake was thrown open to the public after creating various facilities. Every year in December month 'Kankaria Carnival'is held in a colourful manner over a period of one week.

As we walked into the place, the vastness hit us. We took a train ride immediately after entering, which took us around the periphery of the lake giving us an overallidea about the various facilities and entertainment availablein that location.

Having come from Chennai, this was a surprise package, number of activities for the kids n youngsters was mind boggling.

My daughter was delighted at the choice and made an attempt to try as many as possible.
After 7 hours of continuous activity n still few more to see /participate we called it a day keeping it for another day, In one amusement park they measured the height n gave tickets for the rides, in another, they send you in on a general ticket n later tell you can't go on this ride, important rides get eliminated. Wondered why it couldn't have been pre-told.

It took my daughter four visits to this facility to get satiated with the place with so many options to choose, it is no wonder a place visited on daily basis by thousands and during the weekends over 10000 people.

Zoo, Kid's city,Hot air balloon, Tree walk, Segways, variety of boat rides including Bubble Ride, Butterfly park, Desert Safari, Multiple amusement parks, Mini Golf course and many more.

Kid's city is a very informative project introducing to the kids various public services and how they are operated, Fire service, BRTS, Ambulance, Publishing, Radio Jockey, Banking, Video shoot, NCC etc.

While i am not here to review the facility had to give a glimpse of vastness of the project. It is a project converting a lake into a virtual money spinner. This is what has been successfully done in many a location abroad.

Most of our cities have these kind of lakes either inside the city or in the suburbs, probably each one of them can be converted to these kind of tourist hot spots. Interesting aspect in this project is a very minimum entrance fee into the lake area after that every ride or visit is charged separately by the operators, who are private and are motivated by profit and ensure the proper up keep of the equipment. Pricing of the rides is probably regulated, all tickets are generated electronically. Safety of the facility users is kept on top of mind and Helmets, Life Jackets etc are provided wherever required.

While Kankaria lake has about 7 gates public transport is made available at every gate. A key factor to enable visitors to reach the venue without much worry.

Every city probably has a lake which could be made in to a tourist spot not only for the visitors but for the city dwellers who are desperate for outings.

(Copyright of the images used is with the respective owners)

Porn for Indians – Taboo says the deciders?

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 14:32:00 +0000

As I have been contemplating writing about a new trend among Indians of filming themselves in their sexual acts, came the news of banning few porn sites on the insistence by the Supreme court by the Govt. of India. Liberals feel, it is treading on their feet by the powers to be and conservatives / hypocrites feel it is the best things to happen to the land of Kamasutra.

While I would like to stay clear of this decision of the Supreme court, based on my conviction that they think for our good, like in the case of making wearing of Helmets & seat belts compulsory.

Let me talk about what I was intending to write for a while, that is the trend to shoot our achievements or conquering a pursuit. I have been 'privileged' to look at some of the videos that are circulated on social media, which apparently were either clandestinely / secretively shot or with the persuaded consent and in some cases self shot.

Apparently when you look at the location, most of the time it is hotel rooms, some in the home environment, some very desperate places like fields and bushes or internet cafe cabins. When someone shoots an act without the knowledge of the players concerned, probably it is used more for voyeuristic pleasure or to blackmail the players concerned.

More concerning factor is the clandestine shoots with the hidden camera by one of the players, don’t see any other intention but to blackmail the other player. Some of the films will show the shooter (mostly men) trying to plead / goad the partner to disrobe n pose to the camera. Wonder what is the purpose, most likely the stated fact is to 'enjoy her beauty post the act for personal pleasure'. Women are apparently falling for this plea and give their consent and pose to the satisfaction of the shooter.

There is this other category of girls dancing to the glory with their chest exposed probably in the dorms or PG rooms. Videos that are shot for fun but finding their way into the internet universe.

What I felt very sad and scared was the increasing participation of teens and kids in either participating in the sexual act or agreeing to be shot on camera. School going children, disrobing their uniform is a trend which should worry their parents in particular and all of us in general.

Now if we are getting to watch these videos on social media, it is apparent someone is uploading them and how this is happening, there could be many reasons. Jilted lovers, Blackmailers who couldn’t get satisfied, Conquerors showcasing their achievement, without any concern for their conquest. In some cases, theft / loss of phone or people having access to the internal memory of the phone or the SD card, getting to see the videos and deciding to show the same to the rest of the world is also another possibility

Many suicides could be for this reason. These videos could break many a marriage and even potential alliance. For all this the origin of the problem is the desire to be video-graphed in the buff and fallout can be very dangerous.

A simple advice, don't pose to a camera in nude unless you want to be a porn star, simply because no one knows where these videos will end up.

(picture copyright ownership rests with the respective owner)

APJ Abdul Kalam - A small Homage

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 18:35:00 +0000

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam is a person who through his life has left a mark of how one could be simple in

spite having achieved humongous success in life. APJ Abdul Kalam as better known to all of us was a very simple human being curious to know and learn through his life.

He was the President of India because he successfully lead the Indian Missile program and ensured India carried out itssecond and more powerful nuclear test. These are his well known facts and He never entertained a thought to throw his weight around, he was a simpleton before he lived in Rashtrapathi Bhavan and he continued to be a simpleton after demitting office.

My friend's son was selected in the NASA conducted test and he gets a call from Mr. Kalam, while he was residing in the Anna University campus and expresses his desire to meet the young man. My friend fondly remembers the close to 2 hours time spent by Kalam ji with this budding young man. The curiosity with which he chatted with this young man shows how committed a learner he was through his life.

His love to meet the young minds during the office and before and after the same, only goes to show, how he wanted to ignite the desire to dream in the young Indian minds. Probably his term is the only one where there was always a preference for young people to visit the residence on Raisina Hill compared to regular politicians who throng there.

No less than 40 universities have bestowed their Doctorates on this one man, which goes to show, how well lettered and knowledgeable he was and still so simple n humble through his life. Recently we had a Chaiwala becoming the PM, but we had a Paper boy becoming a Nuclear Scientist and a President of a nation earlier in the form of Sri APJ Abdul Kalam, indeed it is a tribute to our democracy and its traditions of honouring the best n the noble.

When ever there was this news that circulated about his illness and media ignoring it on Facebook and Whatsapp, Iused to feel, how ignorant are people. Today when Iheard the news about his demise and the spontaneous out pour over the social media and elsewhere,Icould feel the tremors of the nations love for this one man. I have never seen so much respect and love cutting across all walks of life to any otherperson. Probably there is no throat which is not parched today and no heart which had not shed a tear.

This is what I believe is leaving a mark in the minds of people, only achieved by great people and indeed today India had lost a great son and a true Indian, he belonged to no region, no religion, no caste, he is the universally accepted MISSILE MAN OF INDIA & a PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT

Salute sir, keep blessing us from up there and there are 1.3 Billion Indians who are going to miss you.

Money Money Money – Is it growing on the net

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 09:53:00 +0000

Coming from my last article, which talked about making money online, some friends said, “LOL, what is this new business idea of yours”, now if you start feeling shy about this whole idea and start having second thoughts, then you are digging your own grave.

For any thought to fructify it takes it's own time and any amount of criticism that it can attract. If all the scientists were shy of their failures or inventions, we would not have reached this stage of reading this article on the world wide web probably on your smart phone. So keep your head high and pursue what you set out to do.

We talked about few successful people who have been making good income writing on the internet in my last article, What makes them successful is the fact they write consistently on the subjects in which people are interested in or want to know about. Now how do we get to know who wants to know what. Very simple, this is something we need to ask the 'Know all' of the world Google.

Google has many tools in the internet, through which we can get to know who is interested in what or what is happening around us Google Trends is one and another is Google keyword planner. Both the sites require you to sign in to deliver the best results. While Google Trends gives you a wider perspective of how each key word is performing over a period of time in the regions selected by you, Google keywordwill help you understand how each keyword is in demand and how they are priced, indicating the popularity. This would help you to understand the perspective of the browsers in the internet in terms of what they are searching and how you can help yourselves in providing the same.

When you try to select your key word it is important that you select in such a way it helps in understanding the seriousness with which people are searching for it. Google defines High, Medium & Low, which primarily tells us, how people who search goes for action. If it is a blog, reading the same, e-commerce buying the researched goods etc. Based on search n action the keywords get ranked and their Adwords price bids are fixed accordingly.

I am talking about all these, because unless you know where to start and what to write, you will never be able to make an appeal to the reader of your blog. Let's look at some keywords 'Making money online' Adwordsfor this keyword is quite high. There are regular n frequent searches regarding this, which goes to show the interest of the browsers across the world in this mode. Even the cost of promoting in the

People tend to follow-up with action hence it gets 'High' rating for action, which means people read the articles written about ways n means of making money. Imagine a situation where all of us start writing about 'Making money online' then naturally reader will be following someone who is more successful among us and will tend to follow their writing.

It does not mean we cant write on other subjects, there is so much information on the net and people tend to get confused with 'the information overdose. If we can analyse and make it easy for people to comprehend the information they seek, then we have got for ourselves a good follow-up. Lets deal with this in my next blog.

Making money online – A Myth or for Real

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 17:45:00 +0000

When a friend told me you can make money online, I took at as a joke and tried to brush him off. While I have not made any money so far, thought I can tell you what others are doing to make money.

It is not all hunky dory when it comes to making money online, it is indeed a persisting task which can help you make money online. Each one of us has been endowed with a skill and it is up to us to put it to good use to earn some money online.

What could I do, probably writing, if writing, on what? It is very important that we write about things which people want to know or seeking info. Let's say i am taking the first step in that direction.

Most important principle in trying to make money online, there is no need to feel shy about it. Yes I have set out to make some money by writing about things which people want to know/hear about. If we set out with this approach we are likely to be more successful rather than trying to beat around the bush and hide behind niceties.

Similarly if someone wants to develop apps or websites, they have to be clear about their approach and make their terms clear. In the online business we cannot afford to have bad mouthing by our clients/readers.

Having decided to make money online, it is very much important we establish our credible presence online. That could mean we telling the world that we exist. For a writer like me it could be a blog, for a tech person he needs to announce his presence in a site like Fiverr. But just being present does not ensure we re noticed, we have to start making our presence felt. Let's say a writer like me has to keep writing on subjects of peoples interest and for a tech person, they need to ensure their presence is noticed by those who visit the site like Fiverr.

Some people have really made their presence felt and are reportedly making lot's of money. Among Indians Amit Agarwal ranks on the top with reported earnings of USD 50000 with his website labnol, Ms Shradha Sharma USD 15000/Month with her website Your story and this list goes on. When you look at these sites, it might sound too easy to earn the money, but it has been years of hard work, through which they have reached this level.

I have been a regular patron of Your story and have read many an article from that site. The interesting way they are presented and the success stories they pick up and share with us, is really an appreciable effort. Amit Agarwal of labnol who is a IIT n IIM alumni writes a blog on tech issues in limited words and useful manner. Let's realize both of them deal with info, for which people are looking for. Only when we satisfy the person seeking the info, can we expect him to be visiting us once again.

While the reality is there is scope to make money on the net, it is not a bed of Jasmine and with that realization we have to move forward.

(Picture courtesy http://privlechenie-deneg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/invest-300x200.jpg

Government – Schools – Students – The Aadhar connection

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 16:51:00 +0000

When i got the circular from my daughter's school seeking her Aadhar number, the immediate thought that came to my mind was , why couldn't they adopt a similar method which was adopted by the Election commission, PAHAL the LPG subsidy site.

Apparently there is a huge gap between the above two programs and the schools info. First two are more or less Central govt projects and there is some primary data available, where as the schools coming under state subject education, we have to go through a long process of making this info connected.

However, if it was done the way the central issues were linked with Aadhar, there could have been lot more transparency for the parents. Not that they are providing some confidential information. What i have in mind is simply the following.

Government will first list out all the recognised schools in a designated website, listing out the permissions granted up to which class they can operate, category (Aided, Unaided, partly aided etc), which board (State board/CBSE/ICSE etc) they are authorised to offer, medium of education permitted and location where the school is situated in, The organisation which runs the school (usually trusts if the school is private) etc. After this the school would be provided access to the website to upload their student data.

Schools, on obtaining the access to the govt website, will start uploading the data of their pupils, class, section wise. Since the data will be based on school records it will be more or less accurate. Once this exercise is done, the schools will ask the parents to link the child's Aadhar number in this website. Parents can authenticate the input through a OTP (One Time Password) that will be sent from this site while updating the child's Aadhar number.

Parents will visit the site and select the school, class, section and identify their ward name and input the Aadhar number after getting a OTP. After doing this, it would be easier for the parents to verify the permissions the school has got and whether they got the permissions where their child is studying in specific. There are instances in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, where schools have been operating branches with one single license, a status which can put the child's education in danger if the authorities decide to disallow students of the branches which are not permitted.

This Govt. website can also capture the info and Aadhar number of the teaching staff. It is possible many a Govt. Teacher is teaching in a private school drawing double wages and depriving the Govt. school students of a proper teaching. Particularly it is more likely to happen in rural areas. Even parents can verify this info, if photographs and education qualifications are also listed.

This whole exercise will help bring in transparency in the education system, where parents can verify the schools permissions, staff qualifications. Govt will have total input on the schools admission process, RTE admissions (they could ask the schools to categorise the admissions) even fee structure prescribed to that particular school could be displayed, helping the parents to know whether they are being over charged by the school.

When a student is leaving the school, both transfer certificate (TC) and Marks list can carry the child’s Aadhar number, so that next institute can record the same while admitting the children be it at school level or higher studies. Even for a Banker while disbursing education loans this school record would be handy to know, whether the loan seeker has the required qualifications to pursue the next level of studies.

What i am writing about may not be too far from implementation and could be easily done under Digital India as visualised by the PM.

Aadhar - the card that will change our lives

noreply@blogger.com (Sreenadha Reddy Bezawada) — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 15:03:00 +0000

Aadhar the UID project, the baby of Dr Nilakneni, is now becoming all pervasive. I, as a votary for this could not visualise how this is going to make our lives so much more difficult to hide from the Govt.

I just got a circular from my child’s school asking us to provide her Aadhar number', because government wants it. I am liking this, simply because, it is going to be much easier for the Govt. to connect all this info and know, how many unique children are studying in which school, in case they need to deliver any benefits, they can do so by looking at the linking done by the social welfare department, who again are seeking the same info from those enjoying reservations, scholarships etc.

Similarly all land owners are being asked to provide their Aadhar number in the land records like Patta/Adangal/RR etc, this will help government to know how much land is held in an individuals name, they can then see if the individual is holding land beyond the Land ceiling Act norms. Not only this they are going to connect the fertiliser subsidy to your Aadhar card, so that they know how much subsidy to be provided to each individual based on the land holding.

While enrolling ourselves in PAHAL, we have been asked to connect out LPG connection to the Aadhar card and also then connect our Bank account through the same Aadhar card. There is one more info to the Govt., whether we are also drawing Kerosene (Ration card holders have already been asked to provide their Aadhar numbers) by any chance, then they can ask us to give up one of them for getting subsidy. Look at how much money the Govt. is going to save on subsidies, since there are many people who draw both. Wherever Aadhar linked ration delivery has happened they have noticed substantial drop in off take of heavily subsidised goods like Kerosene. After PAHAL introduction Chennai city has witnessed a surge in the usage of commercial cylinders by 50000 cylinders, about 1.34 crore on subsidy saved per month by OMC.

I am sure most of us have been getting SMS alerts from our bankers asking us to link our Bank account with the Aadhar number. Once done government knows how many bank accounts we hold solely or jointly or in the capacity of a signatory. This info then would be used by the IT department to check if we use any account for hiding incomes. This in particular is going to be used in the case of Fixed Deposit's (FD), where many people put their unaccounted income in FD's to either please their banker or for their own reasons like avoiding TDS deduction. All this welath will now be tagged to the Aadhar number holder and naturally he will be expected to start being more truthful to the Income tax department.

We have already started linking our Voter ID with Aadhar number, this will eliminate number of duplicate votes, sometimes within the same city or elsewhere including another state.

IRCTC is asking us to link our passenger list with Aadhar numbers, this would help the Govt. to know how often we travel, which class we normally travel and if required to even check if all this travel is reflected in our income and expenditure statement. This might become a necessity for those who are going to the counter to book the tickets over the days.

I had even written an article about linking Aadhar numbers with the place of living, this will then tell the Govt., how many properties each individual is holding, at some point of time the old circulated joke about a guy trying to place an order for a Pizza and his whole life is read out to him by the order receiving agent.

There were many sceptics who criticised the idea of the UID and went hammer and tongs by writing many an article, i had seen this as a very powerful tool and now it is proving to be more than what i imagined. If you ask me it is for the good of this nation where we by habit try to hide lot of things other than income.