A 'Brief' Story

What all men have to sacrifice when their personal finance is not so good and the economy is also not helping!!!

Men cut back on underwear purchases in bad economy. According to former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's theory, behaviour in underwear purchases is an economic indicator. Amazingly it seems to be true when I analysed my own undie purchase behaviour.

After a 12 month 12% decline through the end of Jan 2009 underwear purchase in U.S has seen 4.8% rise showing that economy is in recovery mode.

Inglourious Basterds

If you like Quentin Tarantino's movies for the extra-ordinary & unexpectable dialogues, for taking the story with a stylish & unconventional way of screenplay, for the great & subtle way of opening of the movie and for the abrupt and making you feel oh-is-the-movie-already-over endings then you must watch Inglourious Basterds. I am sure you will enjoy.

2 States

'2 States - the story of my marriage' - Chetan Bhagat's latest book.

This is the best of CB's four novels so far. Better than his earlier best work 'Five Point Someone'.

What's with the numbers and Chetan, why does he always give title with numbers? The other two are 'The 3 mistakes of my life' and 'One night @ the call center'. I guess probably his next book will have 'four' in its title!

Coming back to '2 States'. A simple love story written in a very very funny way. I am sure someone will make this a movie. A tamilian girl and a punjabi boy fall in love. The struggle they go thru to get married is the story. There are only a few books that you can't wait to finish and once you reached the last page you still don't want to put down wanting to continue to read more. This is one of those books. I am sure you will enjoy. Do read it.

Married Life

"Married life is just like in 'Everybody Loves Raymond'. But only difference is life is not funny" - Heard in a movie in HBO.

What would you do?

If you were given more than sufficient money to manage your life and socio-economic status & were asked to retire & choose to do a job/business that is close to your heart with no worry about the income/profit what would you do?

Assume that you have:

- no liabilities

- no peer pressures

- no fear of failures

- no real pressure to make money

PS 1: if you choose not to do the same job that you are currently doing, don't worry you are not alone.

PS 2: whatever you choose to do - that's what you are passionate about. Aim & go for it. Good luck.

PS 3: if you don't know what you really want to do at this situation, well you are not alone either. Just think deeper & try to find out what would make you more happy with no constraints.

PS 4: Whatever is the case make sure you log that in the comments section.

Stress vs Sleep & Hair

I am becoming so worse at managing my stress now a days (that doesn't mean that I was any better before). I have even started physical activities like going for a long walk just to manage my stress level. Though a good thing to do that's not helping me much. I think it is time I learnt yoga & meditation. Stress is impacting the number of hours of my sleep. Lesser I sleep in the night higher the stress level next day. More stress again induces more sleep deprivation. It's becoming a spiral effect. I am losing so much of hair lately. I must blame it on the greater stress level and lack of sleep.

How do you manage your stress?

Who is liable?

Need judicial opinion on a situation.

There was a theft incident in the house that I am residing. INR 2000 worth of iron cover for man hole was stolen by some low life creatures. Moral dilemma is who is liable to replace this?

Is it the owner because he did not see this as a risk and secure the iron cover properly?

or is it me because I am residing in the house and am responsible for all the items that were provided in the house when I rented?

Don't suggest to get that low life creature. You know I can't.

Are you waiting?

Anyone waiting for this?

Back to 72...yippieee...!!!

Feeling so light after so long. Lost about 7 kgs and I am now 72.

Still couldn't get rid of the belly though. Six packs are hidded inside one huge pack. :(

Spitty Spitsville - A Gross Story

The other day I was travelling to Mumbai from Pune in a bus. On the way bus stopped at a motel. Guy sat next to me got down and came back with mouthfull of pan. The bus started the journey again. I was a bit curious how he was gonna spit. After a few minutes he showed me his intelligence. Only thing was I had to move as far as I could every time he did his intelligent act. He had an empty water bottle and started spitting right into it. I couldn't control myself looking at the way the water bottle was getting full. Ewwwwww.....GROSS...!!!

Well I don't want to tell that sometimes he missed to spit into the bottle & sometimes I had to see his mouth overflowing. Ewwwwww.....GROSS...!!!

Oh God why couldn't I just close my eyes and think something else?

So many people in the city where I live now don't hesitate to spit their pan at all. If they get the urge to spit THEY SPIT. They don't even look around or think a second before spitting. With so many people using pan, there were a few incidents where I almost came in between the spitter and road and had a narrow escape. I am sure one day someone gonna spit just right on me. Picture courtesy: Alchemistpoonam

So What?

It's always hot; it has only three types of weathers - hot, hotter & hottest; it's very humid; it's so big; it's so polluted; it's so crowded; it doesn't respect elders;

So what? I love Chennai. I haven't loved any other cities so much. I miss Chennai.

From Spitsville - Seeni

Mask of Sorrow

Four more swine flu deaths in India, toll 64

Very bad time to be in Pune. Unfortunately I am in Pune. Couple of weeks ago, when the swine flu topic was very hot (still it is), I travelled to Chennai from Pune. That time there were hardly any cases found in Tamil Nadu. I could see how bad our health ministry officials are in taking proactive steps to prevent. There were no pro-active checks, nothing at the Chennai airport. Now the virus is spreading across the India. The states are opening their eyes only after a few deaths. Pretty scary times.

Okay to jump ship?

Although my previous post sounds as if still there is plethora of opportunities out there, to make a career move I am still not sure whether it is okay to leave current employer and choose a new one.

Is it safe to jump ship at this (still) troubled time?

Need suggestions; Pour in please.

So much for the recession year...

Looks like recession hasn't been that worse as far as Indian IT recruitment is concerned.

Indian IT industry directly employed approximately 2.2 million professionals during the last fiscal year. The year saw an increase of almost 10 per cent over the previous year. A commendable growth considering the tough times the industry went through due to global economic turmoil.

So, who were the biggest IT employers in the country in terms of numbers during the year 2008-09? Nasscom has released a list of top 20 biggest IT employers in India. However, the recession pangs are clearly visible across the companies in the list. While there were job cuts at some companies, other went for salary cuts. Salary freeze has been announced almost across the board.

Above News in TOI surpirsed me. Top 3 Indian Software giants were the top 3 recruiters.

New Kid on the Block - Australia

Australia on brink of recession after economy shrinks unexpectedly.

Mercy, please...

Amidst failing banks, falling currency value, being in recession, and xenophobic strikes even mother nature is throwing her stunts to erode the Britain's economy.

Recent News:

Few centuries old banks fail.

Economy in recession in 16 years.

Pound has hit a 23 year low.

Worst snowstorms in 18 years.

(7.5 sani for UK?)

God Show Mercy, Please...

Nothing But Official...!!!

UK is in recession, officially.

Situation now seems to be more or less the same as 1980 except that pound is becoming more weaker.

Recap of 1980 recession in UK is here.

God save the Queen...!

Welcome Mr.President...!!!

Welcome Mr.Obama...!!!

A fine speech; a bit dramatic; I felt goosebumps. I liked the speech. No wonder, the speech was in preparation for nearly three months with review by historians, speech writers & who not.

I think this economic challenges are much more tougher to handle than 'war on terror'. Lets wait and watch what he has in store.

Opinion from NY Times on Obama's speech.

View the world reactions to the swearing in here.

Click here for the inaugural speeches of presidents of the past.

Four Years & One Funeral

How would you feel losing someone who you knew for about 4 years, who spoke with you & whom you spoke with many times throughout the day, who travelled with you almost everyday, who slept with you almost every night, who woke you up almost every morning, whom you played with for hours and who was like a bridge to all your friends & family members?

I felt helpless & miserable when I lost someone like this just before New Year. I felt so lonely; I felt like an isolated island; I did not even want to celebrate the New Year; I could not talk to my friends and I could not talk to my family members.

I never thought four years would make me so attached to my Nokia 6610. I felt I lost someone very close to me. When the battery burnt and when I couldn't replace it and when I realized that that's the end of my cell phone...I can't explain in words how miserable I felt. With my poor brain memory I always depended on my cell phone memory to register the phone numbers. I lost the contacts of all the people I have maintained in my cell phone.

I even spent such an amount with which I could have bought atleast two new cell phones to replace the battery. But all in vain. I had to bury him. Let his soul rest in peace among the other souls of e-wastes.

Amen!