Tashan

Tashan: another hyped movie from Yashraj Films was released on last Friday.

Just to inform my readers, due to some differences between the distributors and the exhibitors, this movie was only released in single screen theatres across Mumbai and not in the multiplexes…

Tashan, like many other movies, was not upto the expectations of the audiences; primarily due to its storyline. On the technical front, it’s a decent effort but lack of a good story and direction will definitely disappoint the audiences. I will not disclose the story here, since I always believe that Movie reviews are not meant to tell the story of the movie…

The acting of all the 4 leading actors is ok types… Anil Kapoor’s character is of a don but somewhat similar to the character of Javed Jaffrey of Salaam Namaste fame; where he tries to speak English on every occasion… Initially we laughed at his dialogues but as the film progressed it was a bit irritating too… Also it was unbelievable for me, that a modern day don will use a water canon or a fire pipe to defeat his enemies… Overall, Anil hadn’t been used to fullest of his abilities…

Saif Ali Khan does an average job, nothing extraordinary in his acting too…

Kareena Kapoor is looking gorgeous in her zero-size figure… And she looks extremely sexy in the parrot-green colored bikini, which she wore in one of the scenes; definitely it’s a treat for all the men watching the movie… She does a decent job but don’t compare this one with her performance in Jab We Met…

Akshay Kumar is as usual brilliant in this movie too… His comic timing, facial expressions and dialogue delivery are awesome. He is one actor to look for, in Tashan… Almost all the audiences present in the theatre clapped at his entry…

The music is average type but definitely not what is actually expected out of a Yashraj movie… Few of its songs have picked up slowly… Like all the Yashraj movies, the song-dance sequences and exotic locales are worth watching… Cinematography and background score are good. The film makers tried to make this as an action flick and were also a bit successful in doing that except for the final action sequence, which, in the present day scenario, seems to be more of a comedy rather than an action sequence…

Overall Tashan was a one-time watch movie and not that bad as most of the critics have rated it… According to me, only 2 things which may bring audience to the theatres are the hype associated with the movie and Akshay Kumar’s mind-blowing performance… And no doubt, that this time Yashraj made a big mistake by not releasing this movie in the multiplexes, since it would have brought more audiences to the theatres and hence lesser amount of loss to them…

The director of the movie, Vijay Krishna Acharya will have to think something better next time, in order to woo the critics as well as the audiences… If, I’ve to rate this movie, I’ll give 2.5 on a scale of 5 (1.5 for the movie and an additional 1 point for Akshay’s performance)…

Qualified Politicians required...

Blogathon today’s topic “How do we change the focus of politics from caste/religion to grassroot issues?” is both provocative and controversial…

If you ask my opinion to the question mentioned above, my answer is very simple: there is no way to change the focus of our politicians, till they are ready to change themselves, their focus and way of thinking…

I might be sounding as a pessimist, although I’m not; but according to me, changing politics and the politicians is a difficult thing, especially in a country like India.

Recently, I was reading somewhere that according to the World Bank data, the condition of Primary Education is even worse than most of the African countries. Arjun Singh, Hon. HRD Minister, who should address the issues of primary education, etc in the country. But he had done nothing except for creating caste differences amongst the people by introducing the quota for OBC’s… I don’t know, why he can’t understand that if the children have proper education (both primary & secondary), most of them won’t require any sort of Quotas for getting into any college of higher education.

Although the conditions of these Politicians or Netas, as we call them in India are not good but then too we may try changing their focus from the caste and religion based issues (actually their vote bank politics since decades) to some other important ones… Few things which we may try doing are:-

· The most important thing for any citizen in India is to exercise our Voting Rights. Whenever election happens in our country, we always find that voting percentage in most of the constituencies is not more than 50%; this simply means that atleast 50% percent of us don’t vote. By voting, we may choose the right candidate, who may actually do something concrete for us.

· We should strictly avoid listening to and voting for Political Parties and Leaders who encourage or are involved in caste based or religion based politics. If we, the people of this country ignore them, then they will have to think on alternate issues for continuing their presence in politics…

· We must also introduce some guidelines to become a Politician such as minimum educational qualificatio background check, etc.

· According to me, more & more young and qualified people should be encouraged to come into politics. Young people will definitely think over issues related to our country and our people and not just about caste or religion vote banks. I also think a retirement age for them is also necessary, may not be 60 but it should be there. If our Constitution also allows young politician then why is it necessary for a person to have grey hairs before becoming a politician?

Why don’t these Politicians don’t understand that the most important need of the common people are proper education for their children, adequate healthcare facilities for their families at cheap rates, good infrastructure in the country, low inflation, food and items of daily usage at low rates etc and not the admission for some of the backward class people in some prestigious institutes…

It’s high time that we all should become more responsible towards our country and discourages these types of politicians, who have the history of taking advantage of common people on the basis of caste or religion… We are proud to be living in a Democratic country and let’s behave like that…

How can we improve the traffic condition in our city?

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.

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 ???

Blogathon India

(click on image for official site)

Blogathon means a combination of Blog and Marathon, where bloggers across India will blog throughout the week (starting Sunday 20^th April) on the given topics.

The topics for Blogathon India are:-

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 India?

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 India?

To participate in Blogathon India, all we have to do is choose the topic/s we’re going to blog about, do it on that particular day & then add these Technorati tags to our posts blogathonindia, blogathonindia1

So get, set and start blogging in Blogathon India !!!

Trip to Shirdi & Shani Shinganapur...

On Friday 9^th February, I went to Shirdi and 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…

One day suddenly, Hemant and Nishant came up with the idea of going to Shirdi… Few of us agreed to go with them. So, we decided to invite all our team members (both present & ex team members) and I sent the mail invitation to all of them, for our Trip to Shirdi but finally only eight of us (Hemant, Nishant, Pankaj, Pavan, Sumant, Siddhant, Vikas and me) opted for coming on this memorable trip…

On Friday midnight, we left Mumbai and the journey began with fultoo masti & fun… The special attraction of the night was Sumant and his stories of Mumbai, Gujarat, etc… Those stories kept us awake almost the whole night and along with laughter, it brought stomach ache too…

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 Shirdi Temple… I also liked the museum inside the temple which showcases the photos, portraits of the Sai Baba and various things used by Him…

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).

For visiting Shani Shinganapur temple, there is a custom that all the male devotees have to first bathe and then wear only a dhoti in order to do the Puja (offering prayers) there, as women are not allowed to do Puja there…

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 Marathi Village… We all chose to eat their specialty, the Marathi Thali… The food was delicious and also it tastes yummy, when you are actually eating something for the first time in the day…

Finally we reached back Mumbai around 4 a.m. in the morning…

Before concluding this post, I would also like to mention about few people without whom this trip wouldn’t have been such wonderful: Vikas Bhai who was the trip manager and also took care of the finance department, Pavan for his funny one liner’s, Pankaj who didn’t sleep for more than 1 hour on the whole trip which took approximately 30 hours… And also others who made this trip a memorable one for me…

The Poha Party

The Poha Party - it wasn’t the usual party which we people generally have but it was something different...

Friday 22^nd 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...

Next day, almost all the invitees, who were expected there, reached on time… Although the party delayed by 1 hour since the dish wasn’t ready but it was definitely worth waiting…

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…

The people who enjoyed these delicious dishes on a Saturday evening were Ankit, Bhavana, Mayank, Mohit, Niraj, Sakshi and me. And now after viewing the pics, guys don’t be jealous of us…


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...

An encounter with "Bollywood Ka Boss"

In October 2007, I went to give the written test for a Bollywood quiz show on Filmy Channel, “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 India, to write the test at 16 test centers…

I reached the venue, i.e. Rang Sharda Auditorium, Bandra around 4:30 in the evening. There were already 500-600 people waiting to get the entry, I too waited outside for few minutes before they started the entry process…

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 Boss”. Sorry, I forgot to mention that the prize money for the winner is Rs. 50 Lakhs; yes you heard it right its 50 Lakhs…

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 !!!

The 53rd Annual Filmfare Awards: Nominations

The following are the nominees of the 53^rd 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 (Om Shanti Om)
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 Rai Bachchan (Guru)
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! India)
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! India)

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

Indian Stock Markets: Still A Good Investment Opportunity

Markets crashed & markets bounced back, a bit… But still the impact of the blood bath, which took place on the Dalal Street, continuously for 2 days, can be seen on the faces of the investors, traders, arbitragers and also the markets watchers…

Some people have lost not only thousands or lakhs but crores of rupees… It’s sad that market had fallen so badly and lot of people including me, have lost their hard earned money but for me it’s part-n-parcel of life… Some of us might not invest from now onwards and may also have to bear the cost of that mayhem for their entire life…

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, India will continue to be a terrific story for years to come…

PS: The above mentioned content are my personal views and may vary according to the markets...

Two Years of ... ...

Sunday 28^th October’07, we again had a party after a long-long time…

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 7^th November, 2007. Hence, there should be a party…

Frankly speaking, this party wasn’t to celebrate the two year stay but this was to celebrate two years of knowing each other and two years of our Friendship…

The initiative or the idea for the party was suggested by Bhavana; she suggested that we should have a party before Diwali as most of us won’t be there in Mumbai on the Anniversary day, that is, on Wednesday 7^th Novemeber’07… Instead of postponing further, Niraj & I decided to have the party on Sunday else there wasn’t a day, for next two months, on which everyone was free… (You know, these days how busy we all are???)

Any guesses about the venue this time?

What “Pop-Tates”… No, this time it wasn’t the Pop-Tates (PT)…

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 Japan, Narayanan (this was also a reason to have party on that day since he was also in town...)

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…)

Later we had dinner and the lot of masti… We surely missed our other batchmates (Anshul Sharma, Rakhi, Rohit & Tammy), who all were here last year when we celebrated our 1st Anniversary…

I was Happy in Happy Singh… I mean, WE all were Happy in Happy Singh…

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...