How can we improve the traffic condition in our city? It’s actually a million dollar question for the residents as well as the commuters in Mumbai…
Lets first discuss the situation of traffic in Mumbai, the Financial & Entertainment Capital of the country and also the city of dreams for many, including me… The traffic condition here in Mumbai is really pathetic and is getting worsened by every crossing day. Imagine the time one requires, to travel from Borivali to Bandra or Chembur to Goregaon and that too, if he/she is traveling in the peak hours then it will be like an added advantage disadvantage… State / Local Government may be trying to resole these problems, but having said that I would like to mention that till the time these solutions are in place, by then the condition will deteriorate more badly…
Lets analyze, why the traffic conditions are deteriorating, primarily because of our growing economy; as the economy grows, the citizens will become more rich thus buying more and more cars and two-wheelers… As the population of Mumbai is increasing, the government has to increase the number of buses, since BEST buses are one of the most used and preferred way of transport throughout the city and also the number of taxis and auto-rickshaws are increasing day by day, hence increasing the chaos in the city…
I lived in NCR for more than 4 years before moving to Mumbai; if we compare the traffic conditions of both these cities then NCR is far ahead in terms of having better traffic conditions than Mumbai… The conditions there are better, not because the people there have less number of vehicles or the people traveling from the buses are less… So what’s the reason behind the better conditions, the reason is simple: the government had managed the traffic good and also they had taken the necessary steps on time…
According to me, what exactly is needed in Mumbai to improve the traffic conditions are as follows:-
Ÿ Infrastructure is really the need of the hour… More flyovers, skywalks, dedicated bus lanes, Metro rail system, better local train systems, etc. I agree that government had already sanctioned 50 skywalks to be built in the city including in Thane and Kalyan, also the work for 2 Metro routes had already started but Mumbai doesn’t only need 2 Metro routes and 50 skywalks but lot more than that… Why can’t we think of building the Metro network across the city including the suburbs like Thane, Navi Mumbai, etc? If Delhi Metro is taking their routes to NOIDA and Ghaziabad, why can’t we replicate such a system in our city?
Ÿ The second step needed is better and timely execution of the ongoing projects. Projects should not cross their allotted deadlines. Project delays also cause lot of chaos and even till the time they keep going they worsen the traffic condition of the area. If people working in the private companies can match their deadlines, why can’t people working in these government project?
Ÿ More public-private partnerships are required in developing the necessary infrastructure. Private / Corporate involvement is necessary since those are the people, who know how to execute any project in a better way and in less time too.
More such steps could be taken, which may actually prove effective in improving the traffic condition of our beloved city - Mumbai.
"Sucess is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
Sunday, April 20, 2008
How can we improve the traffic condition in our city?
Saturday, April 19, 2008
IPL: Cricket ka Karmayudh
Yesterday was the day, when the IPL (Indian Premier League) finally started…
Since long time, I’ve been reading, hearing and watching lot of news and gossips related to this “IPL: Cricket ka Karmayudh”… A lot had been said and written about the big moolah involved in this… From the very first day, people had been questioning the Twenty20 format of the game and also its effect on the original format of the game, that is, Test Matches… Even some analyst, commentators and ex-players have also commented that Indian players were not able to perform up to the mark because of the hype and commitments of up-coming IPL…
Personally speaking, somehow I’m very optimistic towards this IPL thing; although I don’t have the same views and regards for its counterpart ICL (Indian Cricket League, owned & started by Essel Group). My reasons for this optimism may differ from others; but everyone has its own reason to believe in something, so am I…
Few reasons, why I’m optimist and looking forward towards this tournament are:-
· Twenty20 is a shorter format of the game which will easily get over in 3 hours, so more & more people will be interested in watching this game, without affecting their busy schedules. The entertainment factor involved in these games may bring more people closer to the game.
· The IPL had started the Club format in Cricket, on the similar lines of English Premier League; which in turn will be a good thing for promoting and developing the domestic as well as the international cricket. This will make our game of cricket, Global.
· In IPL, it’s necessary for a team to have 7 Indian players and 4 foreign players; hence this is extremely beneficial to our domestic players who weren’t able to find a place in the Indian Team. Even the ex-players, who are no longer part of the Indian team, will find a place in the IPL teams like Sunil Joshi, etc.
· The players will get to learn about the cross country cultures and also will get an opportunity to learn from seniors Icon players.
· Last but not the least, the much talked-about moolah which is involved in IPL will definitely make the cricketers richer and may also prove beneficial for the game of cricket in our country, in terms of infrastructure, coaching standards, etc.
Even the normal citizen of India will be benefited since they will be able to see the live matches at very cheap rates; as the owners of some of these teams like Shah Rukh Khan are selling the tickets of Eden Gardens, Kolkata at prices as low as Rs. 100/-, cause they are looking at quantity rather than quality.
One important point which I missed is that IPL is also beneficial to Indian Actors and Actresses, since they get hefty amount of money (more than what they usually get for doing 1 movie) and that too, just for dancing in 1-2 videos like Hrithik Roshan, who featured in the music video of Mumbai Indians Team. While in some cases, they just have to attend their Team’s (the team which hired him/her) matches or their press conferences like Akshay Kumar for his association with the Delhi Daredevils Team…
I would like to Congratulate the BCCI, IPL Committee and especially Mr. Lalit Modi for planning and organizing such a fantastic tournament, which will make the whole nation crazy in days to come…
I also liked the video “Cricket ka Karmayudh” which came on Television… Even the other advertisements made for IPL are good but the best one is the one which says “Manu-Ranjan ka baap kab aayega?”
Although I missed the fabulous opening ceremony of the tournament and also the Innings of my favorite team of IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders but then too I’m looking forward to watch an exciting tournament for next 44 days of my life…
In yesterday’s match, I liked the placard of one of the spectator saying, “I‘m here to watch the girls dancing. And not for Cricket”. Thoughts like these show that the traditional game of cricket, a game which is a Religion in the country like ours, is changing… And changing may be for its betterment…
My favorite team had already won their match and what about your team ???
Friday, April 18, 2008
Blogathon India
Blogathon means a combination of Blog and Marathon, where bloggers across
The topics for Blogathon
Infrastructure: Sunday, 20th April 2008
How can we improve the traffic condition in our city?
Politics: Monday, 21st April 2008
How do we change the focus of politics from caste/religion to grassroot issues?
Entertainment: Tuesday, 22nd April 2008
Does Bollywood overshadow regional cinema in
Media: Wednesday, 23rd April 2008
Why are Indian news broadcast channels not as mature as their International counterparts?
Gender: Thursday, 24th April 2008
What are the challenges that society faces in accepting the concept of alternate sexuality? How can we address them?
Sport: Friday, 25th April 2008
Are ‘media’ and ‘commercial interests’ in cricket the only reason that are killing other sports in
To participate in Blogathon
So get, set and start blogging in Blogathon
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Trip to Shirdi & Shani Shinganapur...
Trip to Shirdi was special to me for 3 reasons: Firstly, I’ve never been to Shirdi. Secondly, since our last Trip to Lonavala I’ve not been to anywhere outside Mumbai, so I was sort of bore with my daily routine and definitely needed a break… Lastly and most importantly, it was the first trip with my team members…
Next morning, one of the most difficult tasks for us was to wake up Sumant… At one point, we decided to let him sleep till the time we comeback from the temple. It wouldn’t be fair if I don’t mention Siddhant’s words here “Yeh sahi hai:- khaya, piya, pakaya aur ab so raha hai… (He is great, he ate, drank, talked and now he is sleeping…)”
Anyways finally he woke up and we did the Darshan (prayers) in the
Later on our way to Shani Shinganapur, we enjoyed the fresh Ganne ka Juice (Sugarcane’s Juice)… It was something which I was witnessing for the first time in my life, that is, Ganne ka Juice taken out by a Kohlu ka Baail (An Ox tied to a lever which is generally used for taking out juices and oils).
Initially I was a bit uneasy with the idea of wearing only a dhoti but it felt superb after trying something different and that too a dhoti … Actually Siddhant helped me in wearing it in the typical style hence it was looking better…

Later we went to Trimbakeshwar Temple, Nasik; we reached there approximately after 10 minutes of closing time of the temple. Hence we weren’t lucky enough to visit that temple; so only options available to us were to click photographs and do shopping outside the market and we took the advantage of both these options…
On our way back to Mumbai, we halted at Sanskriti Resort for dinner; the setting there was of a typical
Finally we reached back Mumbai around 4 a.m. in the morning…

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The Poha Party
Friday 22nd February, 2008, Ankur sent a formal mail inviting all of us to his place for this party … What I really liked in that mail was its subject line, which said “1 saal puraana vaada kal poora karna hai…” Actually last year, he promised us that soon we’ll get a chance to eat poha cooked by him...
At last, the delicious poha was ready to eat and we enjoyed it a lot… Everyone asked Ankur to cook poha atleast once in a week…
But guys, party wasn’t over yet, Ankur had one more dish in-store for us – Halwa.
After eating the poha, he immediately started cooking Suji / Rava ka Halwa for us, in which Bhavana too helped him out but then too all the credit goes only to Ankur. The halwa too was very delicious…
PS: All my female readers, if you want to learn “how to cook Poha”, then please contact Ankur and I’m sure he’ll mail his poha.txt file to all of you...
Monday, February 11, 2008
An encounter with "Bollywood Ka Boss"
The selection process started almost 4 months back when I sent a SMS to some special number and later got 9 questions, one after the another (did I mention that I got all the answers correct).
After few weeks, the organizers decided a cut-off and called approximately 9000 people from across
I reached the venue, i.e. Rang
In the meantime, I observed few fellow participants; the participant list included everyone from teenagers to senior citizens, from house makers to professionals like me. Some people came there, to support their children while some couples brought their kids along with them. I also listened to the conversations amongst few of them...
While standing outside, some were tensed while some were excited, by the thought of clearing the written test then try their luck and knowledge for the huge prize associated with the title “Bollywood Ka
While standing outside, I saw one gentlemen taking out his laptop, the other guy with him was taking out the Reliance Data Card while the third one was just trying to remember the names of some of the Filmi websites. As soon the laptop started, the thinking man came up the idea to search on indiafm.com while other one suggested some other names. But the gentleman operating the machine opened Wikipedia.org and started searching something. I was simply amused to see such fantastic use of technology…
Looking around, I found people revising something from their registers and notebooks; I still can’t believe that people prepared notes for this contest. Even some people were reading Filmi magazines and newspapers like Screen…
People were also busy in discussing the cut-off scores, which would have decided one’s candidature for the written test and also about the pattern of the written test, which was yet to take place…
Once the entry was open, the mob was on fire. I’m using the word “mob” since everyone was so tired waiting outside and at the same time also excited, eager and in a hurry to get in that we all behaved like a mob… During this entry process, someone just asked the question, “Who was the actress in Hunterwali???” Few people tried hard remembering the name of the actress while few made wild guesses. One of the guys searched his book and was disappointed that he had wasted hundreds of rupee by buying that book… (FYI: Nadia was the actress in Hunterwali)…
While standing in the queue, one of the gentlemen gave an offer to the volunteers that if they allow him to enter then he’ll give them Rupees Fifty Thousand out of the prize money of Rupees Fifty Lakhs, which he’ll be winning soon…
After struggling for more than an hour, I finally got the entry into the auditorium. The scene inside the audi was no different from outside; here too, people who got the entry at the starting, were shouting at the volunteers and the organizers, everyone was asking the same set of questions: “What time the test will start?”, “What’s the pattern of the test?”, “How long will the test continue?”, “Where’s the washroom?” and the most common one was “Will the test be conducted today itself?”
Meanwhile, the guy sitting beside me shouted a slogan several times, “Filmy flop hai, Star Plus top hai…” (Filmy is a flop channel while Star Plus is at the top). Different people were shouting different kind of slogans…
Finally Boman Irani, who is the host of the show, entered the auditorium and then all those who were shouting, again started shouting but this time, in his praise. Few called him “Lucky Singh” while others called him “Dr. Asthana”…
After Boman left, the test finally started and I too completed it before time since I knew the answers of only, half of the questions. I knew that I’ll not be selected since it had been proved that there exist more ardent fans of Bollywood than me...
My best wishes to each and every participant of the show and I hope that this show becomes a HIT !!!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
The 53rd Annual Filmfare Awards: Nominations
The following are the nominees of the 53rd Annual Filmfare Awards and the ones which are in bold font are my personal choices for this year awards…
BEST FILM
Chak De! India
Guru
Jab We Met
Om Shanti Om
Taare Zameen Par
BEST DIRECTOR
Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par)
Anurag Basu (Life... In A Metro)
Farah Khan (
Imtiaz Ali (Jab We Met)
Mani Ratnam (Guru)
Shimit Amin (Chak De! India)
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (MALE)
Abhishek Bachchan (Guru)
Akshay Kumar (Namastey London)
Darsheel Safary (Taare Zameen Par)
Shahrukh Khan (Chak De! India)
Shahrukh Khan (Om Shanti Om)
Shahid Kapoor (Jab We Met)
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (FEMALE)
Aishwarya
Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om)
Kareena Kapoor (Jab We Met)
Madhuri Dixit (Aaja Nachle)
Rani Mukerji (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag)
Vidya Balan (Bhool Bhulaiyaa)
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (MALE)
Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par)
Anil Kapoor (Welcome)
Irrfan Khan (Life in a... Metro)
Mithun Chakraborty (Guru)
Shreyas Talpade (Om Shanti Om)
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (FEMALE)
Konkona Sen Sharma (Life in a... Metro)
Konkona Sen Sharma (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag)
Rani Mukerji (Saawariya)
Shilpa Shukla (Chak De!
Tisca Chopra (Taare Zameen Par)
BEST MUSIC
A R Rahman (Guru)
Monty Sharma (Saawariya)
Pritam (Jab We Met)
Pritam (Life in a... Metro)
Vishal-Shekhar (Om Shanti Om)
BEST LYRICS
Gulzar (Tere Nina - Guru)
Javed Akhtar (Main Agar Kahoon - Om Shanti Om)
Prasoon Joshi (Maa - Taare Zameen Par)
Sameer (Jab Se Tere Naina - Saawariya)
Vishal Dadlani (Aankhon Mein Teri - Om Shanti Om)
BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (MALE)
A R Rahman (Tere Bina - Guru)
K K (Aankhon Mein Teri - Om Shanti Om)
Shaan (Jab Se Tere Naina - Saawariya)
Sonu Nigam (Main Agar Kahoon - Om Shanti Om)
Sukhawinder Singh (Chak De - Chak De!
BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (FEMALE)
Alisha Chinai (It's Rocking - Kya Love Story Hai)
Shreya Ghosal (Barso Re - Guru)
Shreya Ghosal (Yeh Ishq Hai - Jab We Met)
Sunidhi Chauhan (Sajanaji Vari Vari - Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.)
Sunidhi Chauhan (Aaja Nachle - Aaja Nachle)
PS: What are your choices this year do let me know...
Source: Bollywood Hungama
Friday, January 25, 2008
Indian Stock Markets: Still A Good Investment Opportunity
Everytime when the markets crash, we hear all sort of news like people mortgaging their assets, becoming bankrupts or even committing suicides… I do not doubt the authenticity of these news items but according to me, most of the people who face such crisis are not the actual investors… And they are actually day traders, Futures & Options (F&O) segment players or arbitrators, who end-up losing such huge amounts of money because of their greed to earn more and earn fast …
People who think that stock market is a place where one can make quick money are generally wrong, those peoples are the ones who actually suffer the most in these crashes… I’ve no doubt that F&O segment presents a wonderful opportunity to earn money faster than the normal investment; but for that one should be aware of all the risks involved with F&O trading and also he/she should have a good knowledge about the technicals and fundamentals of these stock markets…
In the short span of my investment career, I’ve been lucky / unlucky to see 2 such market crashes, after which people were startled and stumped. Personally speaking, it had been a great learning experience for me… It taught me, how to be cautious when everyone around the corner is bullish on the markets and also how to book profits at regular intervals, so as to have some liquidity… Although till date, I had not followed the second point by myself but I plan to do so in the near future...
For me, the stock market represents a very good opportunity to multiply my savings… I’m a firm believer that if one invests logically in equities then he/she will definitely get better returns than any other mode of investment, whether it’s Mutual Funds, NSC, PPF, Fixed Deposits, Bonds, etc.
Udayan Mukherjee of CNBC fame wrote in one of his articles, "Lessons from January 2008" on moneycontrol.com, “You are happy to put money in a bank FD and then wait for one full year to collect that measly 8%, aren't you? Then why does the stock market need to give you 20% every month?”
As experts suggest, I too believe that these crashes are excellent buying opportunities for a long term investor; it gives a chance to enter the market as well as to average out your portfolios… According to my personal experience, buying bluechips or large caps stocks is a good idea at such dips since they recover faster than the mid caps and the small caps, and by any chance don’t buy penny stocks at such times…
And one thing is clear, I still believe in the Indian Markets. Whenever these experts or our Finance Minister says that the long term investors shouldn’t be worried because the fundamentals of the markets haven’t changed, I agree to them… Indian economy was, is and will grow at the rate of more than 8% per annum, the corporate will continue to deliver better results quarter by quarter and hence our markets will remain good place to invest and earn better returns…
In short,
PS: The above mentioned content are my personal views and may vary according to the markets...
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Two Years of ... ...
We never had parties without reasons (just kidding, we don’t need reasons for parties instead we only need venues), so we had one reason for this one too: - We all will be completing two years in our company on 7th November, 2007. Hence, there should be a party…
The venue for this special party was “Happy Singh (HS)”, it’s a sister concern of Pop-Tates and is just next to it… The difference between the two is that HS serves only the Indian cuisine and waiting time is zero…
So the party began with our usual masti & bakar over the drinks… The bakar was in full flow for more than three hours… In middle of all this, we were joined by our special guest from
Just like our every party, one special bakar happened in this too… Atleast it was special for Ankur and me, we got 19 & 18 out of 20 respectively for our decency level… Actually it started when Niraj, in his words, “wanted to expose me in front of all the ladies…” Then I asked both of them present there, to rate me for my decency between 1 and 10, 1 being the lowest… To my surprise, I got 9 out of 10 from both Sakshi & Bhavana while Ankur got 10 from Sakshi & 9 from Bhavana… Although there is no competition with anyone but then I’m happy to get 9 on an average… (Point to remember: Anyone who is interested in giving me more than 9 marks is welcome…)
PS: Today is our 2nd Anniversary, for which we had the party… Congratz to all my Batchmates for acquiring atleast 2+ years of IT experience… And Thanks to them for being such good Frndz...
Friday, October 12, 2007
Political Marketing
Ganpati Festival - is celebrated in one of the most grandiose manner’s in Mumbai… What I’ve felt in the past two years was that many people actually wait for the whole year, just for Ganpati to return back… People celebrate this festival at their own homes or in common pandals…
One may find lot of Ganpati pandals of all sizes and statures, everywhere… These pandals are open for common public and organized by a committee / team of people. They manage everything by the help of the sponsorship and also the donation they get from various political parties, residents and shopkeepers of the adjoining area and also from the devotees…
Outside most of these pandals you’ll find a big board or hoarding with the name of the Ganpati’s Pandal name, etc. Out of which, most of them will also have the name, flag and the photos of the leaders of these
According to Marketing Principles, if some individual or company sponsors some event then they may like to see their name and logo on the hoardings… I agree that if we can have the name of “Reliance Communication” or “Airtel” on any Ganpati pandal hoarding, then why not the name of any political party; they have also donated money from their accounts but is it justified to cover the 75-80% of the hoarding by sponsor related details? Some of these hoardings have photos of these leaders, which are bigger than actual size of that leader… I’ve even seen few hoardings where these photos covered almost 90% of the area and the Ganpati picture was merely covering 5-7% of the hoarding… Till date, I may not have seen many events or such festivals but from what I’ve seen, I always found that not more than 10-20% of the total space of the main hoardings or backdrops was covered by the sponsors…
During this festive season if you go out anywhere in Mumbai (I’m not talking about any other city because I’ve not see the Ganpati Festival there), you’ll always find lot of such hoardings on roadside and actually they help you to locate the Ganpati pandals… When I came to Mumbai first time, it was Ganpati time; initially I thought that some sort of elections must be round the corner that’s why so many political hoardings are present everywhere… But on close observation, I realized that these were not the political hoardings but they were the Ganpati Pandals’ hoardings… This is what I call “Political Marketing…”
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Who says “Marriages are made in Heaven” ???
Who says “ Marriages are made in Heaven ” ??? I don’t say so, atleast after what I’ve seen yesterday… Yesterday I went to a doctor’s cli...
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This is one of my favorite poems, written by a very famous poet Kumar Vishwas. कोई दीवाना कहता है कोई पागल समझता है मगर धरती की बेचैनी को बस...
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Ga npati Festival always excited me, especially after coming to Mumbai. I don’t know why and also can’t figure out any rational behind it… ...
