Terminator Salvation

Right now I am slightly pissed! It has been raining for like EVER! And three of the movies that I was so desperately waiting to watch did not release in Bangalore with  the rest of the worl. Yeah yeah, maybe you must have saw my tweets…frustu huh! Well if Star Trek, Angels & Demons and Terminator 4 are the movies all your friends from the USA are bragging about, and you have to put up a sorry face. So i turned to Youtube instead….(dint have much to post today… so posting this T4 trailer… courtesy Youtube)

PS: I am desperately waiting for Sherlock Holmes and Transformers 2 as well……enjoy!

Mumbai and the Indians

My neighbor is playing  ” All things bright and beautiful, all creatures big and small….All starts bright and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.“

And guess what, I am now reading how Mr. Raj Thackerey and his MNS played an important role in the recently concluded General Elections , 2009 or  #indiavotes09 like its more popular. What I found interesting in the new emergence of MNS as a stronger ‘Sena’ than any that ever existed is that it turned the fate of existing ’so called’ sarkar-raj upside down, allowing the Congress and the NCP to make small break aways especially in Mumbai and Thane. When Raj headed out of the Shiv Sena after claiming to have found his passion in salvaging the Marathi Pride, no one would have thought that the MNS can stand tall on a very electrifying performance in the polls. Though the Shiv Sena seems to be flagging under the soft-spoken Uddhav, while Raj is the new Pinch Hitter, the cosmopolitan image of ‘ the city i d like to be in right now’ (Mumbai) seems to be up against an odd chalenge. Raj might have asked for the ‘ChhatPuja’ to be stopped in Maharashtra, or Marathi Boards and Hoardings be put everywhere or the North Indians be damned for the ill fortunes of the city, but one thing is for sure……he is hereto stay!

Speaking of Mumbai, I was ardently supporting the Mumbai Indians this IPL. Cant help it, I grew up watching Sachin Tendulkar grow…sometimes your loyalties grow with you and you are not even aware. Even though I consider Hyderebad to be my hometown, and since I work in Bangalore…it was not a very very hard decision for me to support the Deccan Chargers once the Tendulkar Brigade were ousted. Now that the IPL is finally over, and I get back 1900 hrs to 2330 hrs of my everyday life…i look back at what the IPL has done, and I tell you it is tremendous. Even though the competition was shifted to a different country altogether, it did not deter the fans to emotionally connect to their franchise, which is by far the most vital factor in such an event. Kudos to the SouthAfrican people!!! The first season an exciting affair when the team which was the least expected to win took away all the glory, and the second season topped all the excitement when the ‘last two teams’ from season one fought it out for the Gold…boy o boy!! Another highlight of the second season was that the typical ‘it is a big-hitters game’ notion was shed to a small extent, when the cold weather, frozen-hands-dropping-catches and some quality spin bowling changed many a games at crucial junctures. Hyper-commercialization was slightly controlled this year, with the television viewers being lucky to see the ball actually leave the bat and reach the fence, and then began the ‘ZooZoo‘ ads, tell me about controlled broadcasting!!!!

O great! Now my neighbours playing..” There shall be showers of blessings, this is the promise of love….“  So let me stop at this note. Dont forget to check out my HomePage : http://www.sidharth.me/

Public Office Inheritency!

Let me begin by Congratulating the Deccan Chargers for winning the DLF IPL 2009 , cricket T20 competition. If at all they proved something, it is that Adidas is right… ‘Impossible is Nothing’, though their sports wear sponsors are Puma.

Some strange and fascinating things have been going on around me….

What the Hubble Telescope having visitors from the Atlantis during those five space-walk sessions, and loads of repair work that went into it, meant that it now has a life upto 2014 with a 70-fold stronger ‘vision’….things in the newly elected Indian Cabinet got a touch groovy. Now coalition government might not be a new thing in India, but for many of the ‘youngistan’ generation, might not have seen a single party performing so well as the Congress did in #IndiaVotes09. Usually one would associate hassles with the post election-results-are-out-yay day, with parties desperately trying to form coalitions that would eventually allow them to take ‘that-coveted-oath’. But this time around, I felt it was different. The Congress has all the strings in its hand. The most interesting thing that happened, I think, was with the DMK.

Here is what I think happened. The DMK thought that like the last general elections, the Congress is desperate for a coalition. In 2004, the DMK had had a clean sweep of the state assembly seats. And hence Karunanidhi could force, or assuage the Congress to give them Key Ministerial Berths. The DMK must ve been in Newtons 1st law…O Mother! Inertia….and demanded the Congress gave it the same preferential treatment like in 2004. Not even realizing the fact that this time around it is the DMK that needs the Congress support in the state. Nice play huh!!! Karunaidhi believes in the doctrine of his Family members (atleast 3 in this case) inheriting the Public Office. But PM Singh seems to have read the googly well and was quick to get into position to fend off the attack. Smart.

By the way, I think Rahul Gandhi will get a berth in the next round of expansion. Do you?

Check out my HomePage if you havnt:  http://www.sidharth.me/

Mind Mapping

I attended an in-house training today on how to unleash that innovator inside you. Dunno if it really worked for me but the one positive thing that I came across today was Mind Mapping technique.

Mind Mapping is a diagramatic or pictorial representation of various ideas or themes based on a particular Central Theme. Tony Buzan might not have a wikipedia entry yet, but this chap is solely responsible to develop the mind-mapping techniques. He is a pioneer in Radiant Thinking and believes that our Brain is a Lock and the mind map is a key to it.

I found an interesting video in youtube…I though you should see it. (slightly long…sorry)

PS: Had to sleep early last night, so could not post…

PPS: Posting it right from my office desk, a dream come true, I  never though I d blog from my desk ……

P!

Well I just got off a very long days work, and it turns out that today’s newspaper was not delivered. I guess the credit goes to the heavy over night showers in Bangalore. So I have nothing ‘current’ to write about.  What the heck, let me share some gyaan.

P! : Must be quite a funny heading to start with, isnt it? Well I read it as ‘The P Factorial’ or simple the ‘P’ factor.

I was reading something interesting the other day and it suddenly came to my mind, a beautiful concept, so I thought I should share it with everyone. What I am referring to in here is the four characteristics that takes to be successful in …err…in life ( Big picture…Ho toh Big Ho!). Its not everyday that one might get an opportunity to start something new, maybe like a business, or a hi profile project. The 4 P Rule really pumps up to the individuals advantage in such conditions.

Purpose: I really don’t want to put in any effort to explain abt Purpose. This single word speaks volumes about itself.

Passion: I am an ardent believer in doing  what ever it is that your doing, with utmost  Passion and character. A sense of urgency can sometimes help. Also, you need to feel good about your work. You need to sometimes get attracted to your work. This will help you maintain your Focus.

Persistence:  This coming from me must be sounding absurd, but hey, you must ve seen bigger hypocrites. Persistence is all about making a habit. Following a daily routine, to play to your advantage. So all of you who always wanted to go jogging at 6am, stop thinking about it. When the time comes, just put on your shoes and go. Don’t think about it. It is going to be tough at the beginning, but I assure you that after a few days, it will happen automatically. (To let you in on a secret, I called myself a hippo-cry-te, bcz I always wanted to go jogging in the morning but I don’t. At least I always wanted to blog daily and now I have started doing that.)

Patience: And this one is a toughie. Many people preach that Success is not Instant, and that you need to keep working towards it constantly, I am not very successful in life YET….but anyways the preaching sounds logical. So lets leave this to that.

Did I say ‘this to that’…yeah have been using these ‘this is that’ and ‘that was that’ very often now. The clock is ticking pretty fast now, and I think I have lost my ability to think now. I poured whatever was present on the top of my mind. I guess its time i hit the sack. Laters.

PS: This is my first post with no typographical errors, some sort of personal achievement. Thankyou…Thankyou!! God Bless.

Stock em’ up!!

Yeah yeah, I now know what General Elections can do to the Market. Monday 18th May 2009 saw the Sensex jump by over 2100 points, and the Nifty by a staggering 650. Many of us think that this event of the Congress Party doing exceedingly well in the General Elections might bring in some ‘much needed’ stability and reforms. After all the unbridled enthusiasm shown by the Market participants might not quite be supoorted by the change sin fundamentals. It is the foreign funds that have been flowing in, which will mostly keep the markets buyoyant for some more time. Good for us.

Even though the Congress might not rope in any Market Freindly reforsm immediately, especially after showcasing the Rural Development programmes, and riding on it to a much needed victory in the #indiavotes09 , there are positive vibes goin on around us. Before the markets become mindful of subtelities of this environment, like the Disinvestment policy, or the Labour Laws and Capital account convertibilty ( phew!! big terms..i know)….the markets would strive if the Govt were to act upon the slowdown and control this financial rectitude. I only hope that the Govt can redefine its economic reforms in a very broader prospect and help us pass this darker times. ( too much analysis even before the Finance Minister is selected…yeah right!).

By the way, most of you must have made merry today ! The important question still remains….is this a good time to buy?

LTTE : RIP

There is so much happening in the last few days, that it has become difficult to keep track of the big ‘Events’. Never the less, it did not take me long to grasp that one important event for the day. It was today that the Sri Lankan military campaign that began in August 2006 against the LTTE reached its climax. After having stripped the rebel militant group of its leadership and management, and decimating the entire organization of its capabilities and various assets, the LTTE regime that saw twenty five years of struggle and scores of thousands of lives lost, finally came to an end.

The organization that started way back in the 1970s, with a bleak political vision soon turned into a very cruel regime with no regards to human values, leave alone human life whatsoever. This terrorist  organization is infamous for its role in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The rising graph of LTTEs militarism and uncompromising secessionism had no parallel in Sri Lankan history. And hence greater the responsibility of the Govt. to secure the integrity of the local people and rehabilitate those unfortunate villages which the group used as their human cover for protection. The current Sri Lankan Govt , having achieved which no other previous Govt. could achieve, should now hold fort and craft enduring political solutions for the Tamil people.

RIP……LTTE……Born: May 1976, Died: May 2009, Terrorist, Murderer, A Nightmare to the society.

The Winning Recipie.

Whatttttayyy day. As if the news of Roger Federer defeating Rafael Nadal on a clay court, and Machester United becoming English Champions yet again was not enough, the Kolkata Knigh Riders surprised everyone by defeating the Chennai SuperKings in the DLF IPL 2.

Too bad I am not writing about any of those spectacular events right now.

In lieu of the recently concluded General Elections in India, the Congress party seems to have surely rolled on to its juggernauts. But one interesting scenario popped up in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Though conditions were not as jubiliant as they were after the party performed a ‘clean sweep’ in the 2004 elections, but this time around, they would take pride for it was the victory of Performance over (fake) Promises. I could not help wonder how some hard work with a pinch of Good Fortune can make the winning recepie for you. Indian politics is such a spiderman’s web that Hard Work alone will get you only 10,000 votes (Sharath Babu, Chennai, Independent) but not that sweet taste of victory.

Perhaps one would like to argue about the fact that the Congress in AP exceeded expectations because it could successfully retain its support in the rural areas, kudos to the various Health Insurance Schemes for families below the poverty line, or the goodwill generated by schemes that raised agricultural productivity. But all the hard work done, it was that pinch of Good Fortune that made the TRS seem like an opportunist for tagging along with the TDP when the latter has always opposed with the ‘New State’ separation policies, or the Telangana issue failing to strike a chord with the vast majority. Then came the icing on the cake, with an Actor that superseeded most GodWorship myths, who dug deep into the TDP  vote banks.

Now that the YSR led congress has reaped benefits form the ‘Pinch Hitting’ by Praja Rajyam, being the single largest party in the state should mean a lot more than just coming back to power. For, a sharper focus towards poverty alleviation and poverty reduction should be considered the prime objective of the new Govt in Andhra Pradesh. Sweet Taste of Victiry it is….hope it brings prosperity to the people.

One thing that the British taught us well is ; Kabhi Matt Bhool: Divide and Rule. I planned to write two posts everyday, but then a random brainwave just helped me figure out that I would nt wanna over crowd this place. So friends, please visit my TumbleBlog for another interesting read for today.

Where was I?

Before I almost began to Hate myself, for not being able to write in here, I decided I have had a long hibernation.My passion for writing in this space has taken a back seat in the recent past. Well I am to blame, effective time management has never been my ‘bowl of kheer’. I was sucked away deep into the whirlpool of work. Work life balance took a toll. Duh!!!!!

I have always had a dream. That I would have a notebook where in I would write the summary of  the ‘editorial’ passages from ‘The Hindu’. Because I always wantedto stay abreat with whatever was goin on around me. More so  it would help me write and fill that void, and help me save that so called ‘ Evangelist’ in me, who now seems to have been fading away.

It then struck me that I could use this space as that ‘Scratch Pad’. Jot down what I think about some current issues at hand. It would also help me save some notes about some current affairs, which might help you or me. So here I am, with zeal  taken from that last flickr of  hope,  changed over to The Hindu from Tims Of India, and pledged that I will read the days newspaper before 12 midnight everyday, and post my summary here.

Wish Me Luck.