jAck Of All trAdEs

the Ant and the Grasshopper

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:17:00 +0000

An Old Story:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Indian Version:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhat Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

Mayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.

The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.

Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.

CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later....

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley, 100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India,

....AND

As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers,

India is still a developing country

More SCREENS plzzz

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:16:00 +0000

This Thursday when I made a visit to Ameerpet Bigbazaar which houses Adlabs on the top floor, I was stunned to see a serpentine line in front of the Ticket Counter. The advance booking has just begun and people started thronging the place like some mad gold rush.

People have really accepted the Multiplex Cinematic Experience. But the saddening thing to be noted here in Hyderabad is the presence of only 4 Multiplexes with combined screens of 17+1 (IMAX). Unless you book tickets in advance or thru Internet, it is really impossible to get your hands on the tickets for a new release.

The demand has really picked up. Recently Prasads has opened up another screen taking his tally to 6. The market has also made a Popular Cinema (Narshimha) to use his 2 adjacent stand alone theatres as Multiplex and branding them as “TALKIE TOWN”.

Still I find the infrastructure to be lagging the demand. And today when I visited Adlabs again to get my tickets which were booked from my mobile, the same scenario!!. It took me more than 30 mins.

Is Adlabs enjoying the collection due to its prime location? We cannot be judgmental so early. Getting tickets in Prasads is even tougher. And so are PVR Cinemas. The impact of “PLACE” can be answered with the opening of CINEMAX at Banjara Rd # 1 and the one at the GVK ONE. But I feel people here won’t really mind the distance if the probability of getting tickets is high.

One thing which I am still unable to understand is why this culture/experience so slow in the city where more than 400 movies release every year, city where the favorite time-pass of majority of the crowd is watching movies and most of the students who bunk classes prefer watching movies. Taking their purchasing power into account and the presence of more than 20 engineering colleges and Post Graduate colleges there must have been hundreds of screens across.

So is there some good real opportunity in this Business field here in Hyderabad? Well there are 30 screens ready to mushroom across the city and their fate could decide the further existence of Multiplexes and the business related.

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noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:48:00 +0000

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after a BREAK

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:59:00 +0000

After a month break I am back to this site. A long break actually. I even forgot that I have started blogging again. One of my friends just reminded me. Out of thoughts; I am just trying to fill up some space.
Last month got over in a jiffy with mixed bag of experiences, starting with those bombs setting off in Delhi. Boarding an Auto at 6:20 pm at Karol bagh for H.Nizamuddin Stn when a bomb exploded at 6:25. The driver insisted that he will take a long route to stay away from high traffic jams. I agreed as I had lots of time to kill thus avoiding the usual route of Barakhamba Road and Rajeev chowk. I was completely surprised when I reached the station with Police personnel and heavy security screening everywhere. A call from my aunt n mom gave me my answers. I just couldn’t believe my luck. This was first week of September.

After reaching Hyderabad, I had to rush again to Bangalore to attend an interview with Cargill India Ltd. I needed to switch from my present job desperately. They offered me some interesting job description to which I couldn’t say NO. But shifting to Bangalore made me sad. (It’s painful when you just have to move away from a place where your girlfriend stays at a distance of 1 km). but career>>gf, right. This was the second week.

In the third week, a trip to Nagarjuna Sagar on my girlfriend’ b’day. The decision was made so quick that I hardly remember how the idea had come up. But we had a great weekend. With the dam full and the opening of all the 26 gates the view was amazing.
The last week passed away with applying for my resignation, meeting the department heads and then pacifying my Home Minister (my GF loves when I address her that way).

I really don’t know whether the decision of switching my job to Cargill was perfect one especially when Power Sector is booming. But the profile according to my perception wouldn’t add any value to my CV. And I had to find some ways to kill my laziness which was eating up my productivity and this was indirectly related to my previous employer.

I don’t really know how this new company would be. But I am PREPARED, and
I still need some force to shake me up and get me out of this laziness.

Teachers from Mahabharat

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:03:00 +0000

On the occasion of teacher's day, here are some less popular stories from Mahabharat about teachers and their students.

Parashuram and Bheeshm:

Lord Parashuram was the teacher of DevVrata. DevVrata was the only Kshatriya prince ever taught by Parashuram.
Due to a terrible vow of celibacy he has taken, DevVrata becomes "Bheeshm". When the king of Kashi (modern Banaras) brings the proposal of marriage of his sister with Bheeshm, he declines this offer and the Kashi king takes it as serious insult of his kingdom. Bheeshm's half-brother Vichitraveerya was crowned as the king of Hastinapur. At that time the king of Kashi organises the swayamvar (ritual for bride to choose groom of her choice) for her three daughters, Amba, Ambalika and Ambika; he did not invite Hastinapur. This infuriates Bheeshm and he attacks the kingdom of Kashi alone and abducts the three princess for his brother. Ambika and Ambalika agree to marry Vichitraveerya while Amba refuses as she was in love with king of Salwa. When Bheeshm comes to know this, he apologises to Amba and sends her respectfully to Salwa king but the latter refuses to accept her as she had been abducted by other man. Amba then asks Bheeshm to marry her, who refuses because of his vow. Amba, thus enraged goes to all powerful kshatriyas present at that time and asks them to fight for her against Bheeshm. But everyone was so afraid of Bheeshm that no one helps her. Then, in the end, Amba goes to Parashuram and complains to him about his student. Furious Parashuram calls Bheeshm for a fight at the famous Kurukshetra.

When Bheeshm comes at Kurukshetra on his charioteer, he see that Parashuram did not have a chariot. He asks his Guru, "How can I fight with you teacher? I am on a chariot and you are on ground." Parashuram replies that the mother earth is his chariot. Bheeshm gets down from his chariot and then the great fight begans. After a terrible fight, the gods from heaven ask Bheeshm to stop the fight as there was no end to that war, as Bheeshm was capable to defeat his own teacher. Parashuram is pleased with his student and says, "O great Bheeshm, you have made me proud today. But I cannot leave the battlefield" to which Bheeshm replies, "And I cannot disgrace my guru by defeating him so I will leave the battlefield". Parashuram is pleased. He blessed Bheeshm but warns him that he had to pay the debt of the injustice he had brought upon Amba.

Parashuram and Karna:

King Shoorsen had a daughter named Pritha whom he gives to his brother, king of Kuntibhoj (somewhere in modern Madhya Pradesh) who had no child. King Kuntibhoj renamed that girl as Kunti. Once the sage Durvasa comes to Kuntibhoj and he is very pleased with the attendance he recieved from Kunti. He gives Kunti a boon that she can call various Gods from heaven and can get children from them. Excited Kunti tries to experiment that boon and calls God Surya (Sun). At once the God appear and grant him a son born with an aromour and earings attached to his body. Kunti gets frightened as she was still unmarried that time. She puts that child in a basket and throws it in the river Ganga. The basket is spotted by Adhirath, a Suta by caste, and who was the charioteer of King Dhritrashtra (elder son of Vichitraveerya) of Hastinapur. He names the child as Radhey, but he later becomes famous as "Karna".

Great archery teachers like Dronacharya refuse to teach Karna as he was Suta by caste. Karna then goes to Parashuram to learn warfare skills. He knew that Parashuram hates Kshatriyas. He lies that he is a brahmin and begans his education. Parashuram becomes so impressed with Karna that he starts comparing him with Bheeshm.

One day when Parashuram was sleeping with his head on the lap of Karna, a blood sucking insect comes there and starts sucking blood from Karna's thigh. The pain was unbearable for Karna but he still bears it as even a little jerk could disturb his teacher's sleep. When Parashuram wakes up and looks at the blood stained thigh of Karna, he asks him why he didnt defended himself. Karna replies that this could have disturbed your sleep. Parashuram gets furious. He says, "No brahmin can bear such pain. You are definitely a Kshatriya, you lied to me. I curse you that you will forget all what you have learnt when you will need it most"

Kripacharya and Yudhishthir:

Kripa was the chief Guru of Hastinapur, but he was never biased towards any of his student. His sister Kripi was married to Dronacharya, but he was not at all partial like Dronacharya was. He taught martial arts and vedas to the 100 Kauravas (sons of King Dhritrashtras) and 5 Pandavas (sons of younger brother of Dhritrashtra, Pandu whose wives were Kunti and Madri) princes alike. Yudhishthir, the eldest Pandav, was the eldest among all 105 brothers. Kripa was very much impressed with his righteousness and his inclination towards Dharma. He later advocated the right of Yudhiishthir to be the king of Hastinapur.

The eldest Kaurav prince Duryodhana however was jealous of his cousins Pandavas and one day he decietfully humiliates them all and their wife, Draupadi. This results in a war between Kauravas and the Pandavas in Kurukshetra. Bheeshm, Karna and Kripa had to fight from the Kauravas side.

Before the war, Yudhishthir goes to all the elders Bheeshm, Dronacharya and Kripacharya. Bheeshm bless him, "Victory will be yours Dharmaraj, ask for a boon" Yudhishthir asks, "How can we defeat the mighty Kuru like you who have defeated his own teacher?" Bheeshm replies that "when my time will come, I myself will tell you how will I die". Yudhishthir then goes to Dronacharya for benediction. Drona says, "Victory shall be yours Yudhishthir, ask for a boon" Yudhishthir asks the same question to him. Drona replies "I can only be killed when I will leave my weapons and when I will hear lie from a man who always speaks truth" Yudhishth

ir then goes to Kripa. Kripa says "If you hadnt come to me for benediction, eldest son of Pandu, I would have cursed you with defeat. But I am pleased with you, ask for a boon". When Yudhisthir looks up to his first teacher's face, he suddenly feels ashamed of himself. Tears start gushing out from his eyes. He could not speak more.

The wise Kripacharya realising what he was trying to ask, says, "Dear Yudhishthir, I cannot be slain in this battle. I have to fight from Duryodhana's side and also have to obey the commands of our commander-in-chief because our Dharma says so, and you too should follow your dharma. So go ahead and fight against me. With every rising sun I shall pray for your victory"

In the Kurukshetra war, all warriors defeated their teachers (Pandavas-Drona and Kripa, Abhimanyu-Kritvarma), which ultimately means victory of the teachers.

For the first ten days, Bheeshm was the commander-in-chief of Kauravas. He did not allow Karna to participate in th

e war under his command as he was suta by caste. Bheeshm created havoc for nine days as he was invincible. On the tenth day, Arjun, the third among the Pandavs, took the shield of Shikhandi, brother of Draupadi, and attacked Bheeshm as advised by Bheeshm himself on the previous night. Shikhandi was actually incarnation of the Kashi princess Amba disgraced by Bheeshm long ago. Bheeshm recognises Amba inside Shikhandi and did not attack him as it was against Kshatriya dharm to fight against a woman. Bheeshm thus paid the debt of Amba as instructed by his teacher and was slain by Arjun.

After Bheeshm's fall, Dronacharya becomes the commander-in-chief and Karna too joined the war. By that time he knew that Pandavas are actually his own brothers but he still had to fight from Duryodhana's side as he was his friend. On the thirteenth day of the war, Drona forms a military formation called Chakravyuh and Abhimanyu, the son of Arjun, is killed mercilessly by six warriors including Drona, Kripa and Karna. Drona himself is killed on fifteenth day.

After Drona's death, Karna becomes the commander-in-chief and decides to take on Arjun on 17th day of the battle. A night before he saw his guru Parashram in his sleep. He asks his guru, "O teacher, please relieve me from your curse just for one day" to which Parashuram replies, "The coming day is the only day for which I cursed you. Dear Karna, you have already paid the debt of friendship of Duryodhana by asisting in unjustful killing of Abhimanyu. Now you should accept your own fate".

The next day, Karna fought against Arjun. But suddenly the wheel of his chariot gets stuck in mud. He gets down from his chariot to lift the wheel. Lord Krishna, the charioteer of Arjun asks him to shoot an arrow at Karna, as he had killed defense less Abhimanyu. Karna realising that Arjun is going to slay him tries to call his Brahma-astra but he forgets it on such a crucial time as he was cursed by his guru. Arjun takes out his Anjalika-astra and chops off Karna's head.

On the eighteenth day of the war, Duryodhana is also killed but before dying he makes Ashwattama, the son of Drona, his commander-in-chief. The only three survivors from the Kauravas side were Aswatthama, Kritvarma (Lord Krishna's cousin) and Kripacharya. Ashwatthama plans to kill the remaining army of Pandavas that night. Though Kripacharya pursuades his nephew not to commit such a horrendous act, he finally had to aide him. The three warriors destroy the remaining army of Pandavas while in their sleep and inform it to dying Duryodhana. Only the five pandavas along with Lord Krishna and his cousin, Satyaki survive.

Lord Krishna curses Ashwatthama to wander on the earth forever alone. Kritvarma is forgiven by Krishna. And Kripacharya not only returns to Hastinapur, he is also made the chief advisor by Yudhishthir after he becomes the king.

Now the question is, what was the learning?

1. Parashuram was a wise and knowledged teacher. He knew that even a Kshatriya like Bheeshm had to pay for his deeds which knowingly or unknowingly had affected somebody else's life. Thats why he fights with him for Amba to show that one of the most important duty of a warrior is to protect the respect of a woman.

2. Parashuram also knew that mighty warrior Karna who lied to him was not aware of the story of his birth at that time but still he cursed him that he will forget his knowledge at the time he will need it most. This is because a true teacher is one who knows his student well. And Parashuram had knowledge that when the war between dharm and adhrama (right and wrong) will happen, Karna may side with adharma.

3. Kripacharya was a wise old teacher. He was accepted by Pandavas as their teacher even after the war and even after being involved in killing of their own sons in the sleep. This is because of the impartiality he showed throughout his life. While he was a teacher of both Kauravas and Panadavas he supported Yudhishthir to become king but while in war, not only he fought fiercely for Duryodhana, he was also involved in killing of Abhimanyu and Draupadi's sons. He was respected throughout for his unbiasness and has been granted immortality. He is believed to be still alive.

Great are the true teachers and greater is the aura of knowledge they emit!!

(pics drawn and story narrated by Mrinal)

Stand Out; BE MORE

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:01:00 +0000

How many of us still live our dream or still want to follow one. What were our dreams in our childhood? We had always wanted to experiment with our lives. We always wanted to make some difference. We wanted to ‘be MORE’.

Year on year we keep on updating our Resume/CV but only the Experience List and not the Hobbies. One deep look into that and you will realize that those were the ones which you picked in your Childhood. Why haven’t we picked up any during these days? Leave about picking up a new hobby or interests we aren’t even trying to find some time for the old ones. Too busy, huh?
I realized this after watching the latest TITAN “Be more” ad and more recently “Rock ON!!” movie. In that movie Farhan Akthar (Aditya Shroff) didn’t even realize that he was leading a Mechanical life, discussing Work even on his surprise birthday party!! His mind gets it when his wife hints him. It connects to our life too. He along with his friends was part of a rock band “MAGIK” where he was the Lead singer and a gr8 poet. But 10 years down the lane, he doesn’t pen down lyrics but Stock Prices and the Investments in the country.

As an Investment Banker he is the regular guy who just feeds on the Stock Prices, but it is his passion for music and his creative writing (lyrics) which makes him to stand out in the crowd. The characters in that movie are lucky as life gives them a second chance.

One of my friends has joined Guitar Classes now after landing on a job. During our college days she was just amongst us but today she stands out; why? She knows how to play a guitar!! Standing out doesn’t mean that you have to become a Abhinav Bhindra or a Dhoni or a Celebrity. Even a small difference from your friends/colleagues makes you special.

One way to stand out from the crowd is to take time to do the little things right. The old saying goes that if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Well, that’s not necessarily true. What about me? Did I join the Guitar classes or the Swimming Classes? There are some easy things most people don’t do because they just don’t think that these could make any distinction.

Do the things which other people are not interested in doing it. What do you normally do when one of your friends is down? Motivate him, right. If given a chance would you do it in a large scale; to a big number of people with talent but down with motivation and lack that drive which would catapult them among big leagues? I bet that 80% of the answers would be a big “NO”.

One would need motivational skills to do that and everyone is not fit for that job. But the skills that we possess might compliment to those of his. Help him, appreciate him and his work. We all know that he wouldn’t become a Shiv Khera but atleast he is doing his part. /*LIVING LIFE*/
Some people are content just to be another face in the crowd. And those who want to stand out from the crowd find themselves cruising through after some initial hiccups. We neither had the commitment to stand out nor the appreciative attitude towards the people who want to get out of the crowd.

The funniest part of all: What do I do to be little different? I don’t buy things which are very common among the crowd. Nokia is always out of my list (b it N96 or the E series). So are Pulsar and Hero Honda bikes. And the list goes ON and On

Best of E-Mail Auto-Replies

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:48:00 +0000

Again from my mail:

The Best of "Dilbert Out-Of-Office" E-Mail Auto-Reply:

1: I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position. Be prepared for my mood.

2: You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at all.

3: Sorry to have missed you but I am at the doctors having my brain removed so that I may be promoted to management.

4: I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from vacation on 4/18. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.

5: Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first ten words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.

6: The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and try sending again. (The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many in-duh-viduals did this over and over).

7: Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queueing system. You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.

8: Hi. I'm thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.

9: Hi! I'm busy negotiating the salary for my new job. Don't bother to leave me any messages.

10: I've run away to join a different circus.

AND,

FINALLY, THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE -------------------------------------------------

11: I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons. When I return, please refer to me as 'Jennifer' instead of 'Steve'.

US Economy

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 09:00:00 +0000

Another interesting piece which i want to share:

Dr. Marc Faber concluded his monthly bulletin (June 2008) with the Following:

"The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate.

If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China .

If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs.

If we buy a computer or a software it will go to India .

If we purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala .

If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany .

If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US.

I've been doing my part."

refreshingly different

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 05:43:00 +0000

With Yahoo and Gmail full with unwanted spam and forwarded mails, I was looking for creating a new and clean account. One of my friends suggested me a short, different and something refreshing site www.in.com

Powered by the Network 18 group, this mail has loads to offer. It helps you to find the best of News, Videos, Games from more than 16,000 websites, and search for the best prices on Flights, Hotels and Products. Apart being the web's shortest mail address.

It has also got a Google Reader like feature where it brings down all your feeds at one place. But this one is most irritating of all as the reading window is too short which displays only 2-3 lines.

Rest of the features are good enough for someone who is looking for creating a new mail account. there is no clutter unlike in Yahoo or Gmail. In my opinion i feel this site to better than Yahoo Mail. i would like these guys to provide an all-in-one chat application just like Meebo.

Duties of Traffic Police

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:45:00 +0000

Yesterday evening on my way to Gym, i found the traffic at Paradise Circle completely out of gear. No one is bothered about the lights and so are the traffic constables. One can imagine the situation especially at that time when people return from their work and the policemen are completely mindless in minding the traffic. When I tried to search for the policeman, I found one busy chatting with the security guard of Paradise Take-Away counter.

Well Mr. Commissioner, what is your explanation to this. I think the time has come for you to step out of the plush A.C room of yours and start taking some serious actions on both the drivers and the cops. And please don’t say that the particular location belongs to so and so Commissionearate. Do you still think that being soft to the offenders would help in changing their minds.
And What about the Citizens, don't they have the basic responsibility in following the rules. Because they know that they can easily fool the traffic police without being caught.

Day calculation

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:03:00 +0000

have you ever wanted to know the day a particular date falls on.. Here is the trick

SERIES--> 0336 1462 5035

If you want to calculate the day the following date falls

20-08-08

2008

- 1900 Subtract the year by 1900

----------

= 108

+ 27 Add the quotient of 108/4 (no. of leap years from 1900)

--------

= 135

+ 20 the Date

-------

= 155

+ 2 Aug is 8^th month, 8^th number in above series is ‘2’

------

159

Now divide it by 7, the remainder is 3

1-->Monday

2-->Tuesday

0-->Sunday

All you have to do is to remember the above Series. Think logically when you are finding out the day of dates of January and February in a leap year. You have to subtract ‘1’ from the final Sum.Why??

Quiz

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:45:00 +0000

i have been following some quiz blogs (Rohit Nair, Moving Hands, quizkreig etc) quite lately just to get equipped for the next year' TATA CRUCIBLE.

here are the list of questions which i found interesting in this week:

1.
Contrary to the popular belief, this brand of Ice-cream is American and not European. It was established by a Polish named Reuben Mattus in The Bronx, New York in 1961. Mattus used a tactic called "Foreign Branding" in marketing. He came up with a name that was made of two fictitious words meant to look European to American eyes. He used the spelling system that is mostly used in the Scandinavian countries. He even included an outline of Denmark on early labels to reinforce the Scandinavian theme. Ironically, of the 700 outlets in 54 countries, none of them is in any of the Scandinavian countries. Which brand?

2.
This word in the English language means 'a fresher/new- comer'. It takes its name from certain pieces in Chess that are almost always played towards the end of the game. Which word?

3.
This cup is the most 'jinxed' cup in the history of Soccer with no holder ever defending it successfully. The first competition was held in 1960/61 season and Fiorentina won it. However, it was abolished by UEFA in 1998/99 season and Lazio was the last winner. Which Competition?

4.
The song "Aayegaa, aayegaa, aayegaa aaane waalaa" is considered to be one of the biggest hits in Lata's career but Lata is yet to be paid for this song. What is the funda?

5.
In test cricket, which batsman holds the record for most runs in his career without a hundred?

7.
Warner Bros advertised this movie on the Red Bull Racing Formula One cars for the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix. The advertisements were there along the rear wing of the car and even the dress of the drivers was according to the theme. David Coulthard, one of the Red Bull drivers, managed to get the team's first podium that day as well. Which movie?

8.
Contrary to the popular belief, kissing in Bollywood movies started long before Murder. This is probably the first such instance, in the 1933 movie Karma, where a prolonged kiss created a sensation at that time. This is a story of a maharani falling in love with a neighboring prince was described as a 'sort of American romance done against an Indian background'. Identify the actor and actress involved in this famous scene. (Pic:given)

Crowdless Beauty

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:46:00 +0000

The most famous and the common place for hanging out in Hyderabad is the HUSSAIN SAGAR. You can always spot huge gatherings on two sides of this magnificent historic lake. One is the Secunderabad main road which connects the twin cities and the other being the famous and the favorite one “Necklace Road”.

If Sec’bad Road is famous for its beauty and elegance due to the presence of statues of famous leaders, visionaries and other greats; Necklace Road gives a tough competition with the presence of EAT STREET, Necklace Rd Station, MILESTONES ( we call the couples sitting at a the parks near the road at an equal distance as milestones). All together they add to the beauty of the Necklace Rd.

Yesterday to have a break, I made a small visit to the same. I was completely taken aback with its beauty without the usual crowd; pleasant, serene, composed.

I then realized how a place changes with the absence of crowd.

This is a big concern for us Indians. We always try to avoid those places which are over crowded

because we can’t really enjoy but cannot stop ourselves in going over there. We are unable to enjoy the drives because the roads are over crowded; we cannot take the public transport for the same reason. So Infrastructural Development is indirectly proportional to Population.

India does have some beautiful places but the crowd is blocking its beauty from our view, just venture out in the middle of the night in your city. You will know.

i need freedom

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:50:00 +0000

One more Telugu movie and I ll go crazy, completely crazy towards the extreme. On 15^th August India got its freedom from the British but when will these Telugu movies get its freedom from the timeworn, stereotypical formulas of making a movie? Is there anyone who could help me out of this?

Yesterday along with 2 of my friends went to watch BALADOOR (an aimless fellow, useless fellow in local parlance) expecting it to be good as it was from Suresh Productions’ Banner. The movie right from the beginning was out of proportions with over dose of nonsense, idiocy and meaningless songs all over and all of a sudden. Nothing new with this movie or any previous Telugu movies. These directors don’t have a word called “Experimentation” in their formula book. If a director comes out with a good subject, others follow the same with some slight changes in the cast.

A small peek into this movie “BALADOOR” or any Telugu Movie:

Hero beating up 10 villains at a time even tough he has a bullet or a dagger is in his stomach (as usual). His friend always knows the location where the hero is being beaten up, as if he is equipped with GPS or something!!! Light years far from Reality. Hey James BOND you are still lagging from our TOLLYWOOD movies. You need more than 10 mins and some futuristic gadgets to locate whereas our dudes do that in seconds and that too without any gadgets. Howzzat????

I really don’t understand why these directors are sticking to the same old tried tested formula? Aren’t they able to follow up with the audience and their tastes? Well the crowd is also to be blamed. Movies like Iqbal, Being Cyurus were at least noticeable in Hindi, if the same movie was to be made in Telugu? God only knows. Directors like RGV and Nagesh Kukunoor have moved away from this Industry with no signs of coming back.

However with some new off time directors and their movies like these (CELL: poster given below) provide some relief to people who want some change.

Well I have decided that I won’t watch any Telugu movie again until I get good reviews from the movie.

MOVE ONN

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:05:00 +0000

Technology has got some weird impacts on our daily life, on our behavior, and even on our daily routine jobs. I am gonna quote on such an instant which was happening for long but could realize only recently. Yesterday I went to Archies to get a Teddy to gift my sis on Rakhi. The moment I entered the store some nostalgic feelings got wrapped around me!!! Just a second, Archies is quite synonymous with GREETING CARDS right? Do you remember the last time you bought a greeting card? I am still scratching my head. As far as I remember I didn’t give a card to my girlfriend on her last b’day also. GREETING CARDS which I always preferred them to GIFTS just got undetectable by my eyes, brains. ufff BY MEEE… I always enjoyed shopping/ selecting cards for my friends. It used to be a platform to showcase my Calligraphic Skills, my taste related to the quotes (which according to me was important reason to get a particular card). I still remember, I used to scribble on my notebook the new fonts to be used for the new card to be purchased. In this regard I was really a big hearted guy helping my friends in selecting a card and giving them final touches. I always enjoyed doing this stuff and was very passionate too. It was one of my favorite hobbies and the letter ‘S’ being my favorite. I even spent more than 500 bucks for those calligraphic nibs. Times have changed now, now thanks to the internet and SMS no one bothers for a CARD and double thanks to these free fonts available on net and various Photoshop actions for text effects, calligraphy has taken a back seat. Finally and Frankly, it HURTS. It may not be a big deal, but deep inside me, it does. Then I realized that one needs to MOVE ON with the technology and therefore I picked up Photoshop. During my calligraphic stage, I was just focused on TEXT and Fonts but now with Photoshop, I started playing with pictures, editing it my own way. Its fun actually, though time consuming. The end product makes the time spent/wasted worthwhile especially when people around you shower some praises on you. And with the startups like ZOOMIN helping you, you are a happy geek all again At the end of the day I was able to create a small niche again which I used to enjoy 2-3 yrs back. So technology really does helps. I don’t know what the umpires have to say. Their decisions are now under scanner. It helps when Steve Bucknor is on the fields. Hoping Simon Toufel gets the least reviews made by the players.

workin' on SA(d)T'day

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:01:00 +0000

I normally hate working on Saturdays and today was no special. Started bitterly, I had to wake up all of a sudden remembering that water needs to be pumped into the tank. I found the fan to be switched off, may be my room mate switched it off as normally he does every chilling morning. Without giving a second thought I ran towards my kitchen balcony only to find that there was no power (why?? Fuse blown up) gosh!!! This was enough to make my brain go loony and stupid.
Then it was followed by a brainless quarrel with my girlfriend. Gr8 and awesome morning to begin my lazy day. I tried to be positive but for the idiotic traffic chaos and an irresponsible constable.
These things still lingering in my mind made me to sit frustrated. After a long chat with my boss about Indian Engineering and the lack of Long term thinking amongst just, I headed for my room again to watch Sehwag’ innings. The moment I switched on the TV, he was OUT the next over!!!!! WTF!!.. Is today really turning terrible for me? I tried to get hold of the DVDs of F.R.I.E.N.D.S but of no use. I misplaced them.

Now I am back to my office, sitting idle, waiting for my GF’ call so that I can hit on the roads, go for dinner and at least hope to have a wonderful and fantastic evening.

RUCKING FULES

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:55:00 +0000

I saw it last month, but I thought 1^st July is celebrated as “TRAFFIC VIOLATION FREE” Day. But today on my way to office when I saw these PLACARDS again, I asked the cop standing carrying a sandwich ad. He replied that this was a new initiative taken by the Hyderabad Traffic Police in spreading awareness regarding the traffic Rules.

Hmmm.. I couldn’t stop giggling. Back to my office I explained the reasons to one of my colleagues. Here they go:-

First of all, we all are aware of the Traffic Rules. Aren’t we? We just don’t give them a damn. After all we are living in a democratic country yaar. We have that right to drive as we wish.

The other thing is that we cannot curb this Traffic menace by being very soft to the violators. You just can’t give a rose to the violator saying “thank you for breaking the rule”. Was Kamaudi (Traffic Commissioner, Hyderabad City) inspired from Munnabhai? May be or may not be. The fact is that we need to get harsh on them. Serious punishments have to be imposed.

During my MBA classes I was taught about NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT. Why that model cannot be applied here. After all we are making the offender not to repeat the offence he has made, right?

The other thing which I have noticed is that these constables are not serious about the work they are doing. I was asked to mind my own business when I pinpointed a guy who was violating the rule just in front of the constable. Even if the constable gets hold of that guy, he manages to win over him in a verbal duel. So if you are too soft to them, will they able to realize their responsibilities of proper citizenship? I don’t think so.

We are just worried about our own transport and really don’t care how we do that

It will take years or to be more specific decades in improving our road infrastructure, and millions of generations to improve the mindset of citizens.

Gr8 Ads-1

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:02:00 +0000

FRESH@

noreply@blogger.com (ravikiran.s.v.desaraju) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:22:00 +0000

Finally I found the day to re-start my blog. After an unsuccessful first attempt last year, I never thought that I will give another try. This may be because writing/ blogging was very unusual to me. But I wanted a platform to express my personal views. I have been writing to magazines and newspapers but they didn’t satisfy my objectives.

The other reason for my failure is my forgetfulness. I even tend to forget some daily repetitive tasks (except personal & hygienic of course!!). Well here I am with a new beginning. Giving another try and very positive that this would go thru.

WISH ME LUCK

I still don’t know which topics I would blog. You know not being a specialized person there are some problems. Hence I have named my blog as JACK OF ALL TRADES. Because I believe in Width rather than Depth. I still don’t know when this would be very advantageous to me.

And for all those who can’t remember URLs, remembering mine will be easy.