Indians, the most avid bloggers...

Insightful numbers...

Signing off...

Rock, Paper, Scissors...

For the less informed, Rock-Paper-Scissors is a two player game...

The rules are fairly simple, each player can either show an open palm meaning paper or a closed wrist meaning rock or the victory sign (V sign with the first two fingers) meaning scissors...

Rock breaks Scissors,
Scissors can tear the Paper...
Paper can cover the Rock...

This being the context, look at the picture...



Signing off...

Get a Cash Advance

My 2 cents...

Check this site out...

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a tale of travails...

Hyderabadi 'Buddha'...

Apple's original logo...

Poster placement...

Bani 4 U...

'Bani' of Roadies-4 fame has been signed up by RBK as their brand ambassador...

Signing off...

Gmail tip...

I discovered something interesting about Gmail...

Say you e-mail id is:

JamesBond@gmail.com...

Any mail sent to:

J.amesBond@gmail.com or
Ja.mesBond@gmail.com or
Jam.esBond@gmail.com or
Jame.sBond@gmail.com or
James.Bond@gmail.com or
JamesB.ond@gmail.com or
JamesBo.nd@gmail.com or
JamesBon.d@gmail.com will reach the primary e-mail address...

Interesting, would you not agree...

Another thing being, the number of 'dots' in the id is of no consequence, for instance one can write the mail id as:

J.a.m.e.s.B.o.n.d@gmail.com and the mail will still reach the primary id...

This way with just one mail id one can have multiple screen names...

Additionally, one can embed random text to ones email ID using ‘+’ sign. That is to say ‘JamesBond+anythingyouwant@gmail.com’ can be used as the email address, as well...

Signing off...

For all CHESS entusiasts...

www.chess.com is an amazing site for all hardcore Chess fanatics...

Have been hooked on to it majorly off late...

Most recent rating is 1616...

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10 Interesting Mental Disorders...

Stockholm Syndrome
Lima Syndrome
Diogenes Syndrome
Paris Syndrome
Stendhal Syndrome
Jerusalem Syndrome
Capgras Delusion
Fregoli Delusion
Cotard Delusion
Reduplicative Paramnesia

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Decode it...

First published in '– Bizarre Notes and Queries, 1891'...

Clue is in the poem, happy decoding...

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Imagining the Tenth Dimension, DOPE...

Rare Boswell Rarer Johnson...

Devil Spotted, finally...

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled off was convincing the world that he does not exist...

The above line was said by Verbal while referring to 'Keyser Soze' in the movie 'The Usual Suspects'...

But this picture gave the Devil away...

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Salvadore Dali at his best...

Roulette...

I miss not being able to play roulette...

Hail Goa,
Hail Indian Macau...

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Blog...

Stumbled upon this blog...

Its author is a Delhi based guy who fell in love with Pakistan the first time he went there...

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Iraq answered...

A pint of blood...

I participated in a blood donation camp last week, Friday to be precise...

That is when i realized the reason why good deeds are so tiresome...

I have been meaning to do my bit for the noble cause for a very long time, but each time something or the other was conspiring against my act of 'soul cleansing', if it was the unhygienic set-up once, professional pressures on other occasions did their bit...

This time I decided that no matter what I have to do it...

The actual procedure took all of 5 minutes but the waiting for the medical check-up and post transfusion care took more than an hour...

All those hours in the gym felt worthwhile when I got to know my hypertension was under check and the rate at which my heart was pumping blood was reaching that of an athlete...

The passing out of two lady colleagues almost psyched me out, especially because both of them seemed fairly healthy...

Neway, I did at least one good deed in a while...

What amused me was that 350ml is the quantity of blood that is extracted, which in booze parlance translates in to 1pint...

Signing off...

Drink to Darwin...

Interesting Question...

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a car, the others, goats. You pick a door, say #1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say #3, which has a goat. He says to you: 'Do you want to pick door #2?' Is it to your advantage to switch your choice of doors?

The answer is even more interesting...

Signing off...

How POTheads are treated around the world...

India emulate Australia...

What a match it was...

The game yo-yoed atleast five times before India emerged triumphant...

What started off as a bad day for the Indians saw a bit of consolidation later on from the Indians before the Pakistanis went off to a cautious yet effective start, situation somehow deteriorated over time for the neighbours only for Agarkar to give them 17 of the penultimate over and for Sreesanth who gave 11 runs of the last...

The scoreboard read '1 runs needed of 2 balls', this is when I got reminded of the Aus-SA game in the 1999 world cup when SA needed 1 run of 4 balls and Klusner ran himself out after a 'Zulu' assault on the Kangaroos. However the fact this was another year, another day and another team made little difference -> Pakistanis did exactly the same, got runout of the last ball to end the game in a TIE...

As if this was not spectacular what followed next would probably remain etched in the memory of all those who saw it and will hear or read about it...

For the first ever time in the hundred year cricket history there was a soccer like SHOOTOUT, beat that...

The rules being each team had to nominate five bowlers (could even be the keeper) and each bowler is supposed to bowl and hit the stump, the team with most number of hits in their alloted five shots is declared winner. In the unlikely event that even this ended in a tie then each team nominates a single bowler and the process is reiterated...

MSD (dhoni) was sharp enough to summon relatively less tired and more accurate players to shoot as against Pakistan who went the soccer way and had its lead bowlers do the job...

Unfortunately for Pakistan the lead bowlers did what they were hired for but the way they generally go about their trade, with queer run-ups (god only knows why) and tired minds got it way off target...

1-0
2-0
3-0

Game, Set and Match for the Indians...

Signing off...

'F1'asco...

It is in 2007 that a four-way fight is on for the Drivers Championship, something unheard off for someone who lived in the Schumacher era. Not considering the years when Schumi won the title without competition, most of the other years saw two-way battles between Schumi and whoever in the Scuderia era or the likes of prost-senna before him. Schumi has almost become like Jesus, there should be BM and AS or some such things to mark the years before and after him...

It is in 2007 that a seemingly mediocre rookie (atleast from past performances) drove out of the same pits as the current and two time champion and made the whole team unsure of as to who their number one driver is. Lewis Hamilton has been anything but the consistent performer that the world knows him as, he has hardly won any championship is the lower rungs. But he stunned everyone by not only finishing his first race on the podium but maintaining the lead at the championship halfway stage, giving himself a statistical chance of winning the title (historically speaking) but also wooing his Boss's daughter...

It is in 2007 that both drivers of the same team had to be shown by their boss who the boss is...

I could go on and on...


2007 has been a unique year for F1...

It is also the first time in a fair while that one of the teams had been criticized of spying (not the regular way) on their nearest opponent. The 'Spygate' controversy in which Mclaren was accused of getting thier hands on a confidential Ferrari dossier was heard by the apex racing body today. The judgement baffled me.

Their judgement was to fine Mclaren $100Mn (understandable, a heavy fine was anyway on the cars, er cards) and docked all thier constructors points (harsh considering the information was in no way used), the panel decided to leave the drivers alone -> this is what I have a problem with...

It has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that Mclaren was in possesion of a confidential Ferrari dossier (780 pages, can you believe it) and also that the document reached Mclaren just a day or two before they unveiled their new car so it is safe to assume that it would not have influenced their engineering much, which being the cased then why were they find...

If one were to argue that evidence suggesting Mclaren's misusing the information was unearthed and the car thus designed earned then their constructors points that is why the docking, my argument is that the same car was used by the drivers in the races they won and for the points they earned -> which being the case why were their points not docked...

The drivers might not be directly involved but the fact of the matter remains that they had an unfair advantage, them not being aware of it does not make it right...

One can read a lot of statements coming out of the Mclaren camp requesting the panel not to penalise the drivers in general and Lewis in particular, how appropriate is it considering that they got a head start owing to the dossier...

Signing off...

James Botch...

'Name is Bond, James Bond' -> Says the protagonist in the most popular spy saga of all time...

The more movies I see in the bond series the more I want to replace the word 'bond' with 'botch' (meaning blunder), what with the number of goof-ups and can I-do-any-worse-moments...

It is not surprising that movie series like Jonny English and Austin Powers have done so well...

In this series I will elucidate the nincompoopery of the spy in the Queens service...

Signing Off...

Travelogue...

The difference between a 'traveler' and a 'tourist' is that the former will see whatever the place shows him and the latter will only see what he set out to see...

Neither of them is superior to the other, they are just different mindsets...

This thought occurred to me on the way to a paradise called Coorg...

A break, if one can call it that considering the fact it lasted all of 60hrs (two days and three nights), most of which was spent in some mode of transport...

Two 12hr train journeys (sleeper class, owing to me declaring August a cost cutting month) and two almost 7hr SUV journeys and another 4hr car journey -> for the numerically challenged the above mentioned numbers translate in to 42hrs of hydraulic help...

The other 12hrs more than compensated for the endurance course like travel...

Be it the Abbey Falls or the Tibetan Monastery, for that matter even the makeshift bonfire played its role in making the trouble worthwhile...

The Tibetan Monastery in question was built on the 400acres of land given to a set of Monks for a period of 100years almost 40years ago, the monastery - the pristine prayer halls - the bollywood styled corn fields - the students who when not in red and white robes can be found zooming around in the meanest of machines - the shopping zone buzzing with activity ->
take you hundreds of miles away to a beautiful country called Tibet...

Now the Falls, it actually took us a while for the whole scene to sink in. Be it the gushing sound of water or the brute force of the falling water or the vain attempt of stones (boulders would be more appropriate) to tame the ripples (read water tides), it was not one for the faint hearted. It was one of those moments when a person feels an association with something that she/he has never seen or experienced before. I could not even begin to imagine how I would react to Niagara falls if this is what Abbey Falls can do to me...

It was a travelers delight. I always wondered how can people just sell their cars, rent their houses and backpack their way around, the answer dawned on me the moment I jumped off the last step and swerved right to see what I had only imagined before -> it is these instances of ecstasy that drive people to do what is unthinkable to most -> just walk away with no destination in mind...

I almost forgot to mention that I came very close to missing both trains, albeit for different reasons...

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Ponder...

Legends are a lot like Lingerie, the most popular ones are seldom seen but immensely imagined...

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The new richest person on earth...

Carlos Slim Helu with an estimated wealth of $68Bn has surpassed Bill Gates who is stting on a fortune worth $59Bn...

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The Obvious...

'Obvious', an often used word...

Always used with reference to a specific phase of time...

Today got the word to fore thrice, but on each occasion with a different frame of reference...

If one was with the last few months as the time of reference then the other was an annual affair and third one has crossed the dimension of time...

Lewis Hamilton standing on the podium every other week for the last 3 odd months has become an 'obvious' certainity...

Roger Federrer winning the Gentlemen's event at Wimbledon has been an 'obvious' occurance for the last five years (record levelling, if I may add)...

Taj Mahal being accepted as a wonder is by far the most 'obvious' thing that has happened over the last couple of centuries or more probably...

Well that said, after today 'grass' will give Rafa that much more high...

Today he not only joined the league of extraordinary gentlemen who pushed FedEx to five sets but also earned something that most players around the globe dont even know exist -> The Swiss Sensationz Respect...

'He is only 21 and has a long way to go, good that I'm winning my slams early', Roger saying this for someone and that to on his favourite surface is a testament to the fact that not only is Rafa good on grass but more importantly has realised it...

I really want to see whether Roger would win the French Open first or Rafa would win the Wimbledon first, I defenitely want the latter to happen...


Signing off...

Wimbledon - Twenty O Seven...

Its that time of the year again...

Almost a month since French Open finished, its the last week of june...

So close in terms of geography but so far not only in nature but also spirit -> for one the nature of court but more importantly the people whose name features on the invitation to the Champions Ball...

As Im sure you would have guessed by now, I am talking about the Wimbledon...

Its almost amusing that only four guys have held both these Grand Slams in the same calender year. Wimbledon over years has had a trend of heralding the same guy year after year after year and whats more every subsequent guy has held it for a longer period than his predecessor...

The rain, cream and strawberries are an integral part of the whole deal is what they say, the almost century old history and the tradition that goes along with it and not to forget the exclusivity factor is what creates the whole legend that WIMBLEDON is...

It is claimed and with substantial evidence that there are only two ways to get a WIMBLEDON membership, the first being most of the existing members approving your candidature or the more easier option of winning the tournament...

It is again touted to be a l Nadal <-> Federrer l final again and I am backing RAFA to become the fifth player to hold both FRENCH and WIMBLEDON slams in the same year...

Signing off...

Tabloidz at their best...

F1 in INDIA, finally...

India has been awarded an F1 race, popularly known as Grand Prix...

A letter to this regard has been sent by Bernie Ecclestone (F1's kingpin) to Suresh Kalmadi (President of IOA)...

The first race would be stages in 2009, so its time to vroom...

Signing off...

Sivaji...

All set to watch SIVAJI tomorrow, cant wait...

Signing off...

Blackle...

Google is an amazing invention, it has done a gazzilion amount of good to a lot of us (especially MBA grads, who cant even dream of attending the convo without help from Google and Wikipedia)...

At the postulation level it is a path breaking concept and a very plesant one at the tangible level...

It has a soothing white background, real easy on eyes...

Did you ever wonder what if the background was BLACK...

It has actually been researched and rather deeply at that, the findings suggest that if all the WHITE in google was to be converted to BLACK then the power consumption would reduce dratically, i will spare you the technicalities...

The bottom-line being BLACK Google is better than WHITE one, so 'what now' you ask ->

Ladies and Gentlemen -> www.Blackle.com -> the black google...

You can view it either by pasting the link or clicking on the title...

Signing off...

Vote for 'TAJ MAHAL'...

It is not everyday that we get a chance to have our say in shaping history...

this is one instance where you actually can actually alter the very meaning of the word 'wonder'...

Taj is already in the top ten with just 5% votes, but that is not sufficient, right up there is where we want it...

go ahead and vote for the symbol of love...

07/07/2007, is when the list would be revealed, so you have time -> go ahead, stand up for our TAJ...

lets make sure the world says in unison, 'WAH TAJ'...

you can either paste the below given URL or click on the title...

http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php?id=409&L=&L=0
or
u can even vote using ur cell phone.....
sms TAJ to 4567

Signing off...

Social 'Animal'...

It is said and rather popularly so that man is a 'social animal'...

If only people stop interpreting it figuratively and ponder over its literal meaning, the mystery behind the three 'Os' will be revealed...

Before your hormone level start to soar, the three 'Os' that I am referring to are 'out of shape', 'over weight' and 'obese'...

There is tremendous hue and cry about the spike in the average weight of mankind in general and teenagers of developed countries in particular...

When was the last time that you saw an out of shape feline or a canine. An animal is designed to be on the move, be it to hunt or to protect itself from getting hunted...

Taking the point one step further, an out of shape animal is always a sick animal. It's sickness restricts its motion...

So by all means socialize but alongside also get your animal instinct to the fore...

Signing off...

Microsoft, SURFACE...

Is it a table, is it a television -> it is Surface...

Microsoft's latest offering, a table PC -> literally...

MS has come up with a touch screen PC that can be used by multiple users simultaneously...

Click on the title to reach the official website...

Signing off...

Will History repeat?

Setting -> French Open...

Year
=> Then -> 2003, Now -> 2007...

Players
=> Then -> Justine Henin-Hardenne & Serena Williams, Now -> Justine Henin & Serena Williams...

Stage
=> Then -> Semi-Final, Now -> Semi-Final...

Crowd Favourite
=> Then -> Serena Williams, Now -> Justine Henin...

Winner
=> Then -> Justine Henin, Now -> ???

My Prediction -> JUSTINE HENIN...




In 2003, Serena was unstopabbale both virtually and figuratively, she was three victorys away from picking her fifth consecutive grand-slam. This is when she ran in to Mauresmo in the quarters and blew her away, naturally this did not go well with the local crowd and they strongly rooted for Henin in the semis...

Serene had to bite dust against Henin and her walk of shame was amidst boos and jeers...

Now unlike then Henin is the favourite...

Signing off...

Abstinence...

21st Feb 2007 <-> 28th May 2007 <-> 100 days <-> sans nicotine...

Signing off...

Macau...

Macau Special Administrative Region is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, along with Hong Kong. Administered by Portugal until 1999, it was the oldest European colony in China, dating back to the 16th century. The administrative power over Macau was transferred to China in 1999...

The above information would not interest many but the fact that it has overtaken Las Vegas in terms of Gambling revenue and that it is predicted to double in the next three off years would surely raise your eyebrow...

It is also said to have many historical Chinese and Portuguese world-heritage relics...

Though many forms of gambling are legal, the most popular game is baccarat, which generates over two thirds of the gaming industry's gross receipts...

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$1-Trillion...

India became the last of the BRIC economies to hit the $1-trillion mark...

Riding on the bouyant rupee resurgance crossed the mark...

India is only the 12th country to have done it...

It is also believed that if all NRIs were to be taken in to consideration then it would easily double...

Signing off...

More On 'Carlos Slim Helu'...

To find out more onabout the guy click on the title...

Signing off...

Ali Sina...

Ali Sina is a egyptian with very strong views, especially about relegion...

Click on the 'title' to visit his website...

Ali Sina Vs Zakir Naik...

http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates/ZakirNaik.htm -> visit this link to know more about this clash...

Signing off...

DISCLAIMER : I'm completely objective about the whole deal, I neither 'sneer at' nor 'second' his views ...

To each his own...

Carlos Slim Helu

Does the name sound familiar, if it does nothing like it but if it does'nt -> get used to it fast...

This guy is pitted to overtake Bill Gates as the richest human on the third rock from sun...

Any superstiotious guy would have predicted it even before the list was out, this is the 13th year for William Henry Gates III at the helm of the list...

The guy in question is a Telecom tycoon based out of Mexico, he is said to have a near monopoly over the South American Telecom industry...

A controversial guy with amazing instincts...

This is actually my 100th post, HAIL ME...

Signing off...

First Vs First Amongst Seconds

Today the wannabes face off with the champions...

Sri Lanka Vs Australia...

Me is rooting for the Lankanz for the office, still working...

Signing off...

Super hero Nomenclature...

Hello, Wizard.

Character Stats:

Rogue (11)
Warrior (8)
Wizard (15)
Paladin (12)
Your Profile:

You're intelligent, educated, and just a bit superior to everyone you know. If you're still in school, you probably make A's, if you're not too bored to waste the effort. If you work, your annoying boss relies on you to solve the problems no one else can figure out. You've never met a puzzle you can't solve. When it comes to leisure, you'd rather read, play a strategy game, or surf the 'Net than run around getting sweaty. You're a brainiac, and you're not ashamed to admit it.

Above all, you're a mastermind and a great thinker. You see the unknown as territory to be conquered, and the mysterious as something to be systematically unraveled. You don't have time for fools; you only spend your time with people who can comprehend your obfuscatory convolutions. You enjoy amassing knowledge, both useful and trivial.


What Next:

Don't know a Rogue or a Warrior? Maybe you do, but just don't yet know how to properly classify them. To discover the heroic archetypes of all your colleagues, display the following on your web site to arouse their curiosity:



My Inner Hero - Wizard!





There are many types of magic, but all require a sharp mind and a cool head. There is no puzzle I can't solve, no problem I can't think my way out of. When you feel confused or uncertain, you can always rely on me to untangle the knots and put everything back in order for you.



How about you? Click here to find your own inner hero.

Dr Zakir Naik

Dr Zakir Naik is an Indain Citizen and whats more lives in India holds an Indian Passport and is still alive, cant really think of it happening in many other places around the globe...

Mera Bharat Mahaan...

Signing off...

Fightz on...

want something -> being denied the same -> in relentless pursuit -> up against a powerful nemesis -> giveup, never -> adversary acting foxy -> i choose not to give in...

Honsle woh honsle kya jo sitam se toot jaye...

Signing off...

Winner takes all...

'to the victor belong the spoils' (1)

-> 'the victor gets the spoils' (2)

-> 'to the victor go the spoils' (3)

The first statement was popularly used by William L.Marcy (a New York Senator) during a Congressional Debate in the year 1831...

The topic in question was the 'spoils system'...

'spoils system' -> the winning party appointing its members or loyalists or voters for the jobs being held by followers of the ousted party...

the second and the third statements are variations of the first statement which also stood the test of time to become a proverb...

Tale of 2 Citiez...

Was in Chennai yesterday...

Got Visaed...

B1...

Signing off...

Cup Behind Animal...

Over years Marketing has added many dimensions to itself...

What used to be just 'marketing' went on to get furthur classified based on geography, actors, medium, genre,. so on so forth...

It is safe to sat that, today we have reached a state where our minds can take any kind of marketing shock...

imagine a marketer marketing his product as 'From Cat To Cup', what would your first choice of the product be...

-> milk, lion milk (sher ka doodh thypes)...
-> energy products, both genuine and quackish => wild cat bones packaged to enhance performance...
-> Tigers win the World cup, now that the world cup fever is on anyway...

Well I can go on and on, but the fact of the matter is that this is the tagline of a special variety of COFFEE...

Before today the only thing i thought Catz and Coffee had in common was the C, probably my company effect...

But as it turns out there is a connection and for number freaks, the connection actually makes the coffee THOUSAND times as expensive...

They call this coffee the LUWAK coffee, for the well informed Luwak is the name of an animal belonging to the Cat family...

Luwak is supposed to be some kind of a connoisseur in the field of Coffee, he is so good at judging the quality of Coffee that he can actually do it even before the coffee is made, heck before the beans are found, damn ever before the flower is plucked...

Luwak can actually smell and identify the flowers which are likely to have avon grade beans...

Now is the time for the faint hearted to stop reading ->
The animal eats the coffee fruit (only the ones selected as before mentioned)...
The animal is said to have some kind of enzymes in its system which act on the fruit and purify it, the enzymes are said to kill the bacteria which actually bitter the coffee...
The beans (attached to one aother) are dropped and are collected there after to pack...

Well being a coffee aficionado myself, I found the info interesting...

www.animalcoffee.com

Signing off...

Today was a decently eventful day...

Slept late (4ish) so needless to say, got up late (10ish)...

Saw a 'Desamuduru', liked the movie -> decent music, sleek action,
picturisque locales, cute heroine (studying in 9th standard so
probably should be in the vicinity of 14, must admit she has the knock
to reverse the blood flow), lively dances and for a change no
melodrama...

What else would one want from a movie...

Honestly, therez nothing more off putting then a movie which is both
arty yet artificial...

After the movie went to my bank for some statements, took forever ->
despite that the work was only half done, nevetheless the staff were
very helpful...

Then met up with a newly wed friend of mine...

Hit the gym first followed by home...

Now to the most memorable part of the day...

Saw JOHN NASH being interviewed by Pronoy Roy...

Mr.Nash the inspiration behind The Beautiful Mind...
Mr.Nash the propounder of Game Theory...
Mr.Nash the Nobel Laureate...

Arguably the smartest guys alive...
He spoke of some amazing experiences, one of them being his rendezvous
with another genius whose first name was Albert...

One very evident thing was his active state of mind despite his age...

Signing off...

GOD...

'veridical', should have been his middle name...

Signing off...

Future readz...

'My Life and Work' by Henry Ford...

'Open Society' by George Soros...

'The Wealth of Nations' by Adam Smith...

'When Genius Failed' by Roger Lowenstein...

'Napolean' by Emil Ludwig...

Signing off...

First Anniversary...

This blog is 1 as of 22nd Feb...

B’lore blast…

Was in B’lore (Bengaluru, hope I got the spelling correct) for the weekend…


Hit ‘ATHENA’ on the Saturday night after which went to ‘CITRUS’ -> the former a night club and the latter a coffee shop -> both located in ‘LEELA’…
One of the best hotels I have ever been to…
Whats more, the prices in ATHENA are very affordable, even the cover charge in not very high…
The surprise of the evening was at CITRUS where I was given a hand written bill -> imagine a 7*Hotel handing out hand written bills a la Darshiniz…


Saw MUSIC & LYRICS, decent movie, DREW B was rocking…


One of the lunchz was at 3 Quarter Chinese, the moment you step in the first thing you notice is the sheer size, its huge…
Good food, fair prices, decent service…


Shopped at FORUM, GARUDA and CENTRAL…


Signing off…

Happy ValentineZ...

Campus Recruitments 2007 – Great Lakes, Chennai

Illuminating the Path to Success

Highlights of Placements 2007

• Total Companies Recruiting at Great Lakes – 63
• Total Offers made over 225
• Offers per student - 1.45
• Number of Students who Participated – 154
• International Offer (PPO) – 1 by Frost & Sullivan
• Highest Domestic Offer – Rs. 17 Lakhs p.a. by Cognizant
• Median Salary (CTC) – Rs. 8.00 Lakhs p.a.
• Average Salary (CTC) – Rs. 9.03 Lakhs p.a.
• Minimum Salary Offered – Rs. 6 Lakhs p.a.
• Pre Placement Offers - 8
• 25.1% increase in Average Salary over Last year
• Number of Recruiters visiting for the first time – 23
• Number of offers above 9 Lakhs p.a. – 65

Some of the New Recruiters include British Petroleum, Frost & Sullivan, Computer Sciences Corp., Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp., Grow Talent, Langham Capital, Accenture, Pioneer Investment Corporation and many others



Overview of Placements 2007 – Great Lakes, Chennai

Great Lakes continued its journey towards being one of the best Business Schools in India with a successful campus recruitment season that concluded on 5th Feb’ 2007. In its third year, Great Lakes’ was able to achieve, what most B- Schools would only dream of. Not just 100% placements but each and every Great Laker was placed with the choicest of companies, desired profiles and most importantly, deserved compensations and benefits.

With companies competing to recruit Great Lakers, the entire batch was placed within hours, with quite a few recruiters going back empty handed. This clearly demonstrates the faith the corporate world has put in Great Lakes’ growing brand equity. Among the praises showered by most of the recruiters visiting Great Lakes, one comment seemed to be common from all of them, that Great Lakers performance was far above their expectations and hence they ended up making more offers than they anticipated making on Great Lakes campus.

Companies like British Petroleum made in all 3 offers to Great Lakes students, which is almost half the number of offers they anticipate to make across all Indian B-School campuses this year. They were so impressed with a student’s performance here that they went ahead and created a profile in Strategic Planning for this Great Laker. Infosys, one of the star recruiters, offered a profile, which has never been given in any Business School campus in India so far. Computer Science Corporation visiting Great Lakes for the first time was highly impressed with the quality of students and ended up giving more than a dozen offers.
“Placements 2007” at Great Lakes is just another feather in its cap, and yet another step forward in its journey towards being the Best of B-Schools.

Our Key Recruiters
Some First Time Recruiters
Computer Sciences Corp.
HSBC
Accenture
Langham Capital
Frost & Sullivan
Pioneer Investment Corp.

IT
Computer Sciences Corp.
Infosys Technologies
HCL
Tata Consultancy Services
IBM
Cognizant
Satyam
Photon Infotech
Virtusa
Accenture
ITC Infotech
Covansys
Wipro Technologies
Ramco Systems
Wipro Infotech

Consulting
Frost & Sullivan
MindTree Consulting
Deloitte
Mercer
Grow Talent
Tricolor Consulting

BFSI
HSBC
HDFC Bank
ICICI Bank
Centurion Bank of Punjab
Kotak Group

FMCG & Retail
DSCL
Godrej
Henkel India
British Petroleum
Sab Miller
Pantaloon

Manufacturing
Tata Motors
TVS Electronics

Investment Banking
Pioneer Investment Corp.
Langham Capital

Some other Recruiters
String Infosystems
VSNL
Vistasoft
The Hindu
Genpact
DSCL
Marg Constructions
Tejas Networks

"he was crazy and could be grounded. all he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. he would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. if he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to."

Happy Republic Day...

Roadies 4 On Orkut...

Slightly late in the day yes but what the heck, better late than never...

1 ) Bani ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=13474194226169099165
2 ) Rupali ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=17037017910289208473
3 ) Raj ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=15319200347521627362
4 ) Shaleen ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=15825926690098254776
5 ) Sahil ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=5080182997090035591
6 ) Sonam ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=17095907385125230913
7 ) Swati ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=16010672265176248256
8 ) Rishabh ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=5668483558725558641
9 ) Anthony ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=10499721014981710748
10 ) Poonam ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=10566819649408963550
11 ) Priya ->
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=16487756489530041451

Signing off...

IIM-A Vs HBS...

It is said and with a decent amount of accuracy that CAT is the most competitive exam on the third rock from the sun and the reason for the same being that more than .15Mn test takers are potentially competing for 1500 seats (actually for one of the 250 IIM Ahmedabad seats, if one comes to think of it)...

It would be safe to assume that more than 95% (a highly conservative estimate) of the test takers would opt for IIM-A if given a choice between IIM-A and any other B-School...



Harvard claims that it gets anywhere between six to seven thousand applications for a batch of a little over thousand students...

Considering the two above mentioned arguments it is only logical to assume that it is probably a hundred times more difficult to get in to IIM-A as against HBS...

Statistically speaking ->

For IIM-A
95% of 1,50,000 is 1,42,500 => 1,42,500 students vying for 250 seats => 1 in every 570 students actually makes it...

For HBS
7000 applicants slug it out for 1000 seats => 1 in every 7 makes it...

Statistically speaking it is 60 times more difficult to get in to IIM-A than HBS...

Staggeringly true but surprising especially considering the fact that HBS is the best B-School in the world as against 60 something ranked IIM-A...

There is an inherent flaw in the reasoning, the same being that the basic premise itself is wrong...

Just as most CAT takers would want to get in to IIM-A given a choice the same relation also holds good for GMAT and HBS -> given a choice almost all GMAT takers would want to get in to HBS...

Now look at the odds for HBS
On an average more to 2,00,000 aspirants take GMAT ever year across the atlas...
With more number or seats it is as difficult to get in to HBS as it is to IIM-A, remember nothing has been said about the quality of applications till now...

Now that statistics are out of the way lets look at the quality of intake...

Accepted IIM-A takes the best of best from a large pool of aspirants and HBS does the same but one has to keep in mind that HBS has the whole world as its fruit basket, from which to pick and choose the one's which have the most potential...

IIM-A carries the Indian B-School flag in the International scene but everyone knows who the biggest of them all is...

Signing off...

January Journal...

Ten things of consequence I did or will in most likelihood do this month ->

1) Learnt Zippo tricks...

2) Got down to learning Chinese...

3) Pumped decent iron...

4) Started reading after a good month or so...

5) Got hooked on to my I-Pod like never before...

6) Worked late in to the night, hell almost till morning on a couple of occasions...

7) Travel completely (flying, staying, hogging and hopefully partying) on company's expense...

8) Hit an all time low of one movie in a month...

9) Was part of a team that won the Pitch Presentation contest at the Pathfinders worshop at Golkonda...

10) Earned 210 Wah points, a personal record in a single month...

Signing off...

Travel Ready...

Procrastination -> this one word would perfectly explain the lack of progress on my blog for the last three weeks...

My tryst with harcore travelling will transgress all tangible targets...

Will be flying off to Madras tomorrow for a workshop, which will eat in to half my week-end...

Two days of being 'grounded' and then will head off to Bangalore for a couple of days for 'mera yaar ki shaadi'...

After enjoying the Hyderabadi climate for half a day will leave for Amalapuram for another friend's marriage...

Sure seems fun...

Signing off...