Pandora's ( juke ) box

How can you find more music that you like ?
Well here's a site , www.pandora.com, that helps you find it and i just love it.

how does it work?
Pandora ,Oakland based company , finds music similar to the particular pieces of music you already like, based on a labor-intensive analysis of about 400 characteristics.

They even raised some capital , Crosslink Capital led the $12 million third round, with participation from existing investors Labrador Venture Partners, Selby Venture Partners and WaldenVC, as per VentureWire.
Pandora is now partnering with retailers like Best Buy, where shoppers can use the service in stores.

But the catch is , its a lot of unknown artists and unknown music.Could this become an interesting way of launching new artists.

Then there is www.last.fm which offers similar service.
I just love pandora ,esp the interface , its very simple and easy to use, why dont you guys give it a try

All Saints High School in select group

This year is special for my school ( All Saints High School , Hyderabad) is into its 150th year of existence
Apparently only 20 schools in India can boast of such a long history.


All Saints High School in select group:

STANDING TALL: All Saints High School, one of the 20 oldest institutions in the country, has an impeccable record to boast of.

HYDERABAD: What is common between the wristy maestro Mohammed Azharuddin, `chicha' of Hyderabad cricket Abid Ali, suave bureaucrat Shravan Kumar gentleman officer M. Mahender Reddy, Marxists' most visible face Sitaram Yechury and popular English professor Isaac Sequeira?

They all had their grounding in All Saints High School, the grand old institution of Hyderabad that is all set to celebrate 150 years of its existence. It could now be counted among the select group of 20 schools in the country to cross this important sesquicentenary milestone.

"It is the school that made me what I am today," says Prof. Sequeira with pride. A member of Class of 1947, he has this rare honour of participating in the school's centenary celebrations in 1955 as a teacher. It was in this year that the school branched out to Little Flower, St. Paul's and St. Mark's Boys Town.

Set up in 1855 by Rt Rev. Daniel Murphy, the Vicar Apostolic of Hyderabad, its earliest name was the College of All Hallows, his alma mater in Ireland. The school at that time was meant for the English and Anglo-Indian boys and the wards of the Nizam's army. Rt. Rev. Mgr Caprioti was the first Rector.

When it was started 150 years ago, the school campus was not as sprawling as it is now. Nor the famous playground where the likes of Azharuddin and Venkatpathy Raju picked up the rudiments of cricket. .... moved to three different buildings before acquiring the present site overlooking Gunfoundry in 1874. The management of the school was taken over by the Brothers of St. Gabriel in 1932, the Order best known for promoting the cause of education.

First Indian Rector

The first Indian Rector was Rev. Bro. M. Paul and he developed it as one of the best secondary schools in the then Nizam's dominion. "That was the time when all the top ranks in the dominion were bagged by our school. Equal emphasis was laid on co-curricular activities," reminisces Prof. Sequeira, also the president of the All Saints Old Boys Association. "I got the Sturge scholarship for topping in arts and history," remembers Mr. Shravan Kumar, former Chief Secretary.

After the merger of Hyderabad State into the Indian Union, the Rector who dominated the era was Brother John of God.

He presided over the changing destiny of the school from its somewhat elitist leanings to a more egalitarian outlook. A sesquicentenary celebrations committee headed by Rector Rev. Bro. M. A. George has lined up yearlong programmes beginning November 12.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/11/10/stories/2005111017220200.htm

a habit of yours

Arun Shourie was in campus,and he was showered with some nice intros,all praises
( well deserved , of course) and when he finally delivered his speech he started off with an urdu piece

Ye teri Ankhon ka sukun
(The solace of ur eyes)

Ye teri saanson ki dhadkan
(This heaving of ur breath)

Ye sab kahin ek rangin shararat hi na ho
Jise hum samazh baithe hai pyar ka andaaz
(Which we have taken to be a token of love)

Wo tabssum
(that smile)

Wo takalum
(that way of talking)

Kahin teri aadat hi na ho
( is not ,i hope, a habit of yours, )

Sania needs check on her arrogance - 'Indian Express'ing Views or News

Here's an interesting news item from express webs site.
The title goes ---> 'Sania needs check on her arrogance'
Its all about interview of Peter McNamara, a trainer at Tennis Australia,who was in Delhi recently.
Now the point is nowhere in the article does Peter use the word 'arrogant' , but 'express' is arrogant enough to use a title like that for their news item.Maybe sania is arrogant maybe not ,but this is crappy journalism from 'the indian express'.

the article goes.....

Sania needs check on her arrogance'
Express News Service
Posted online: Thursday, November 24, 2005 at 1245 hours IST

"New Delhi, November 24: Peter McNamara, an elite trainer at Tennis Australia, is here to give the under-14 kids some vital tips in Aussie methods, to develop skills both on-court as well as off it during the Asia-Pacific training camp at the DTA this weekend.

Advertisement
This will be part of the Aviva ballkids contest where over 300 kids from the country will participate to have a shot at next year’s Australian Open.

During a chat with media persons, the Aussie, who watched Sania Mirza from close quarters last year at the Open, said the Hyderabadi had the potential to be among world’s top 10 by early 2007: ‘‘I won’t be surprised if she achieved it before next year-end.’’

On the obvious issue of her being arrogant to media, McNamara said that is something she should stop doing. ‘‘Players world over know that it (the media) makes them the stars. So, taking them along is the right way to making progress.’’ He said Sania has both the charisma and talent on court. ‘‘But she should also have the talent off it to handle the media. Naturally, there will be some uncomfortable questions. She should be prepared to answer them, though it may not be easy always. She cannot shy away from it because some personal questions are asked. She must understand that the public would want to know what a celebrated player like her has to say on certain things.’"

Source: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=58846&headline='Sania~needs~check~on~her~arrogance'#compstory

Arun Shourie @ SPJIMR

“Bureaucrats like to take things easy but not at this ministry”. In official circles his ministry was described to be one where "everybody has to burn the midnight oil without any attendant perks or powers."

He has published seventeen books till now on topics as diverse as Economics, Politics, Religion, Hindutva, History, Communism, Journalism etc., He is currently working on a new book “Turning India Towards the Future”. Some of his famous and controversial writings include “Worshipping False Gods”, ”Eminent Historians”, ”Mrs. Gandhi’s Second Reign” and “Missionaries in India”, “Indian Controversies” and many more.

Arun Shourie , one of the most dynamic leaders of this era , is credited with introducing a new style of aggressive, independent investigative journalism in India. As editor of the English-language daily, The Indian Express, Arun Shourie exposed major scandals and government corruption, including what is known as “India’s Watergate.”

Arun Shourie would be visiting SPJIMR campus tommorrow

Topic of Discussion: Nexus between Business and Politics : What is and What should be.

Some of his speeches , interesting site

MBA student batters girlfriend to death, gives himself up

some sad news..

MUMBAI: It could be frustration, obsession or family pressure but it resulted in the death of a young woman. On Monday night, Pratik Gupta, an MBA student clobbered his girlfriend Megha Doshi to death with a stone and then coolly walked down to the nearby Juhu Police Station with bloody hands and clothes to surrender.

The bizarre incident occurred at around 9.30 pm near NM College, Vile Parle, Mumbai on Monday. The police have registered a case of murder against Pratik. He has been remanded to a fortnight's police custody.

Pratik is a Second Year student of the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), while Megha had passed out in 2004. She was working with a broking firm, MK Share Brokers.
.......................................
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=10039

Analysis of Global Imbalances

The following are the key reasons analyzed by our team , as part of our group assignment in macro-economics and also followed by suitable remedies to solve the global imbalances.A timed assignment this was,and more importantly ,the conditions were, google free and limited number of words ( no long stories),and,boy,we did score pretty high.

The major reasons for CA deficit of US are:

• US savings rate are very less.
• Foreign funds financed the difference between US savings and investment.
• Value of dollar decreased vis-a-vis Euro but Asian countries prevented their currencies from rising.
• Slowdown in the economy during 2001-02 leads to decline in CA deficit because of slowing imports.
• Slowdown of economies of major trading partners.
  

Reasons for high Forex reserves with Developing countries, Japan and the EU

1. Exports driver of economic growth
2. FII and FDI
3. Local demand catered to by local industries
4. Depreciation of US$ temporarily arrested by growing forex reserves of developing countries who invested heavily in US T-bills.
   

Effects of high current account surplus of Non-US countries:

1. Inflation due to increased money supply
2. Increase in real estate prices leading to possible burst.
3. Low return on investments in US Treasury bonds.
   

USD : the global currency

• USD is the choice currency of international trade , deriving its strength from economic and political clout of US.
• US Fed follows a flexible exchange rate mechanism and avoids interfering in the forex markets.
• 
  
• 
  

US Debt:

1. The external debt of the US government has risen to more than 25% of the GDP and is growing at an increasing pace.
2. This will continue to grow with higher interest payments, even if the trade stabilizes.

Emerging Euro:

• Euro is fast emerging as a long term potential substitute to USD.
• However strength of Euro will depend on the stability and growth of EU.
• ECB follows similar policies as US – Fed. i.e a flexible exchange rate mechanims.But ECB is not agaisnt the idea of defending Euro.

Recovering Japan:

• Japanese economy is showing signs of recovery after slump over the last 5 years.
• JPY is maintained at a flexible market determined rate,however Japanese central bank has interfered in the past ,in 2003, to maintain competitiveness of Japanese exports.
• But Japan has free capital mobility.

China’s growth:

· China pegs its exchange rate artificially ( at 8.28 ) and is hugley undervalued w.r.t to USD.· Reasons for China peg are due to large trade surplus with US, fuelled by export growth ,and usefulness of peg during ASEAN crisis.

India:

India maintains a flexible exchange rate , with intervention by RBI at times.

SUGGESTIONS / GUIDELINES

Recommendations for India and China:

• Diversify trading partners – will minimize risk associated with US as main trade partner. Eg: EU, Australia
• Also expand forex baskets – Maintain reserves in a diverse range of complementary currencies to reduce dollar associated risks.
• Regional treaties and understandings to increase regional trade relationships – promote regional co-operation and development and trade.
• Reduce purchases of dollars and deregulate exchange rate – allow depreciation of US$ by encouraging trade with other strong currency blocks.
• This will help them free of burden of large reserves.
• Greater freedom in monetary policy .
• Allowing more imports into their countries, resulting in a more balanced global economy.

Recommendations for USA:

• US on its part should avoid a narrow focus on exchange rate as the sole reason for trade imbalance.
• US should make an attempt to reduce the cost of doing business and educate and retrian its workers to move into other roles up the value chain.
• US should move towards a gradual increase in interest rate.
• Reduce Fiscal and Current account deficit – by reduced spending
• Increase taxes – reverse the tax breaks.
• Increase interest rates to combat inflation. This will counterbalance depreciation of US currency, and inflationary tendencies in the US economy.
• For reducing the current account deficit the US exports (major EU and Japan) should increase at a faster pace than their import.
• The tight monetary policy of European central bank and restrictive labor and trade regulation in EU are not allowing US exports to grow.
• Permitting more immigration of skilled population will reduce the dependency ratio of the population which will curtail transfers and increase revenues.

How an amount of 200$ changed Manikyamma's life

Manikyamma - Kirana Shop : Muchavaram - Khammam

BASIX disbursed a loan of Rs.10,000 to Manikyamma, for her Kirana shop at Muchavaram village. The loan was through the SHG - Sarojini Mahila Mandali.

Her husband is an electrician and earns around Rs.500 per month. They have two school going children. They have agricultural land of two acres from which they get an income of 15,000 per annum. This year they have not sold their rice as the prices are quite low and they are waiting for them to go up. This is the case with most of the farmers who are waiting desperately for the prices to go up hence the payment to the SHGs also is delayed due to this reason.

Manikyamma is a quiet woman. She shyly tells you that she has had her education upto the 7th standard. The kirana business is mainly taken care of by her. One finds that the provision in her shop is in full stock which she has arranged decoratively. Her daily income is around Rs.150 and during season i.e. January-March it increases to Rs.300. Women find it very convenient to operate from home because they can take care of their household duties also at the same time.

diwali

Well, Diwali vacation it is ,but sadly no rest ,am kind of running around ,too many things on personal front
probably my worst diwali - not a single firecracker on the big day :)

whats wrong with a quick nap at work !

hectic lifestyles, repetitive tasks, stuffy environments , stress
whats wrong with a quick nap at work?

take a quick survey please

Yusuf Mehrauli Village Industries

Raireshwar

Trek : Raireshwar ,
Base village - Korle ,
Western ghats
Tot time : 5 hrs

Why did the chicken cross the road !

Sounds like the old boring and repeated story !,not exactly ,someone mailed this one today and must admit a good one ,esp. if anyone out there is interested in consulting.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

XYZ Consultant says:

Deregulation of the chicken's side of the road was threatening its dominant market position. The chicken was faced with significant challenges to create and develop the competencies required for the newly competitive market.

XYZ , in a partnering relationship with the client, helped the chicken by rethinking its physical distribution strategy and implementation processes. Using the Poultry Integration Model (PIM), XYZ helped the chicken use its skills, methodologies, knowledge, capital and experiences to align the chicken's people, processes and technology in support of its overall strategy within a Program Management framework.

XYZ convened a diverse cross spectrum of road analysts and best chickens along with XYZ with deep skills in the transportation industry to engage in a two-day itinerary of meetings in order to leverage their personal knowledge capital, both tacit and explicit, and to enable them to synergize with each other in order to achieve the implicit goals of delivering and successfully architecting and implementing an enterprise-wide value frame work across the continuum of poultry cross-median processes.

The meeting was held in a park-like setting, enabling and creating a impactful environment which was strategically based, industry-focused, and built upon a consistent, clear,and unified market message and aligned with the chicken's mission, vision and core values. This was conducive towards the creation of a total business integration solution.

XYZ helped the chicken change to become more successful.

The biggest grossing films of all time

Free polls from Pollhost.com

The biggest grossing films of all time ,compiled by Screen Digest,so which one is your fave' among these ?

1. Gone With the Wind, $1.26 billon  2. Star Wars, $1.11 billion  3. The Sound of Music, $890 million  4. ET, $887 million  5. Ten Commandments, $819 million  6. Titanic, $802 million  7. Jaws, $800 million  8. Dr Zhivago, $776 million  9. The Exorcist, $691 million  10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, $681 million.

SPJIMR shines during the Autumn Placement

After rigorous academic pursuits for one and half years, the batch of 2004-06 was in full shine and honor for the Autumn Placements. SPJIMR was abuzz with celebration, having experienced a deluge of a different kind. 50 coveted companies set the SPJIMR campus ablaze with top notch offers flooding in at mind boggling rates: With companies vying neck to neck to bag some of the best talents in the country, the rate of offers' inflow which clocked a rate of 1 offer every 6 minutes during the first 5 hours, sped up to 1 offer every 5 minutes during the next 4 hours and then shot up to 1 offer every 3 minutes for the remaining 3 hours. This resulted in 188 challenging project offers for 147 participants.

Participants of the PGP 2006 batch of SPJIMR hailing from four different specialization streams walked away with projects in different sectors of the industry: IT companies bagged the lion's share, making 35% of the offers followed by FMCG-21%, Banking-13%, Finance-11% and Consultancy-8%. The largest recruiter was HCL -14, followed by IBM-12, Citibank-11, Wipro-9, E&Y-8, Aditya Birla Group-7 and P&G, Asian Paints and I2 Technologies making 6 offers each.

Ensuring smooth conduct of the proceedings by effectively handling 50 companies was a Herculean task. However, the students and faculty members of SPJIMR did a stupendous job and pulled off a brilliant show devoid of any glaring glitches. Their well-thought out planning abilities were exemplified by the abundance of volunteers, directions, food arrangements and punctuality witnessed during the placements. Nishant, a participant in the autumn placement, says - "a mind boggling number of companies in a very short span. Excellent handling of the placement process...But more than the number of offers or the terrific profiles offered, it was the sense of unity, the sense of bonding and the feeling togetherness that was more gratifying...A great memory to cherish indeed...."

Software Maintenance: a perspective from Mr Baru Rao, CEO Cap Gemini

Meet Mr.Baru Rao, CEO Cap Gemini, India.

He was in campus yesterday evening and shared his views on "Software Maintenance" in a simple and unjargonish way as possible.He started off the session telling us that he was an engineer and not an MBA , and we were not to expect words like 'leveraging' or 'core competency' from his session. Considering that there were many engineers in the batch , he made an instant connection.

The session was interesting and insightful. Probably,the best so far ,this year at SP.

Nuggets from the wise man:

"Don't get 1 year experience 15 times , try to get 15 years of experience"
( software enginers should relate to this!)

"Outsourcing to India happens because we are cheap,cheap not as a derogatory term,but
as lowest cost suppliers"

"Companies come to India for cost and ,of course, quality"

"Managing indirect costs in software industry will be the greatest challenge for future managers"

"India's cost advantage could start eroding after 5 years if the manpowers costs continue to rise "

"IT pros like technologies,be it cobol or java,because of the opportunities that exist "

" A devt company in Hyderabad has a swimming pool in campus,some other company has basket ball court ,a meditation room ..., very soon software companies will be doing everything but software development."

"When employees ask for hike , you can't tell them to go to hell,because they will ..."

The Q&A that followed was even interesting ,here are some of them i remember

Student1: Is Cap Gemini into consulting , 'proper consulting' ,now that you bought off EY?
( obviously 'proper consulting' was a slip of tongue from the student )

Ans: Cap Gemini is definitely into consulting (16%of revenues) , i don't know if it is proper or improper.


Student2: Cap Gemini ,off late,is talking about RightShoring ,you have nearshore centres in Polan and offshore in India and China ,How do you plan to balance ?

Ans: We hope to balance it in favor of India.
(as you can guess , a thunderous applause followed ,btw, student2 was me)

SPJIMR presents The Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2005

SPJIMR is organizing the annual “SPJIMR Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2005” to recognize the significant contribution made by companies in the field of Supply Chain Management.

Cases short-listed for final presentations:

1. Asian Paints Industries Ltd.
Demand Planning for Business Advantage
2. Cummins Diesel Sales & Service (India) Ltd.
80:20 not always enough!
3. Hindustan Lever Ltd.
Building a Responsive and Cost Efficient Supply Chain
4. Maruti Udyog Ltd.
Achieving 30% Cost Reduction in Three Years turns Maruti Supply Chain lean and more responsive than ever
5. Tata Motors Ltd.
Early Vendor Integration
6. Trinetra Retail Pvt. Ltd.
Process Reengineering of Supply Chain


The presentations will be adjudged by an eminent jury panel consisting of:
Mr. Ramesh Srinivas, Partner, IBM
Mr. Shrikanth Balachander, VP- Commercial, HLL
Mr. Hemant Pariawala, Sr. Director, i2 Technologies
Mr. Kaustav Mukherjee, Senior Principal, AT Kearney
Prof. G. Raghuram, IIM Ahmedabad
Prof. Rajesh Tyagi, Kelloggs School of Business
Prof. Suresh Mony, SPJIMR

AASARA

Not just another Independence day

How is your independence day celebration usually like?
Let me guess , flag hoisting,a classical dance , throw in a few patriotic bollywood songs , smattering of green and safron to add to the hues , chocolates and disperse..... It's probably no different than what we've been seeing for the last 20 years , maybe a different organization ,different school , or undergrad college , the theme is same and the events are the same , and this one event is supposed to inspire us and keep us going till the next independence day celebration !

This time around we did it a bit different.Yes,we did have the usual formal and official events.There was one addition ,absolutlely unofficial, initiative from first year MBA grads.

We approached an organization called AASARA, a small time NGO which works for street kids in various areas of bombay like - New Mumbai/Kurla/Thane/Neral, one of our batch mates had worked with them earlier. We asked their requirements and came up with a final list of food grains ,books,sports equipment for kids etc.The entire 1st year batch chipped in and our collection was three times our initial expectation and add the invaluable, enthusiastic support from volunteers at every stage, the execution had to be perfect and flawless it was.

Frankly,i don't remember what i did for indep' day last year or the year before or the year before ... This time it was not just another Independence day for me.

This one I'll remember for years to come .

Imagine a million flamingos : the greatest bird spectacle on earth

I just finished watching 'Out of Africa' and the movie brought back some lovely memories of Lake Nakuru , my last destination in kenya. After masai mara ,i was not really interested in going to nakuru,didn't sound like an exciting place at all. However, Nakuru proved to be a pleasant surprise,the weather and sceneries were stunning.If you love birds then probaly nakuru should be top on your list of must do things before you die.Imagine a million flamingos on a serene blue lake,and from a distance like a painting on a lake ,and as if the artist ran out of blue and used pink to finish the painting. Locals say there was time when the entire lake was covered by flamingoes,now that sounded like a fairy tale,that would mean easily 10 million more No wonder the famous ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson called it "the greatest bird spectacle on earth".

This scenery was used in the movie "Out of Africa". Remember the scene where Robert Redford is flying over vast flocks of Flamingo, the rumor goes that it was shot here at Nakuru.Sadly, along the past years flamingos have vanished sporadically to reappear later in a similarly weird way, but flocks are now greatly reduced.You can see literally thousands of flamingoes and pelicans and many other beautiful birds,most of them i don't even remember the names. The guide was just chattering throwing out names for each of the bird. I can't tell the difference between impala and a tommy gazelle,how can i remember the names of birds ...

Well, yes….in modern history

"Well, yes….in modern history”
- J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1952, at a meeting at Rochester University answering the question if his bomb was the first nuclear bomb to be detonated in history.


Manhattan Project chief scientist Dr J. Robert Oppenheimer was known to be familiar with ancient Sanskrit literature. In an interview conducted after he watched the first atomic test, he quoted from the Bhagavad Gita: "'Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.' I suppose we all felt that way."

blunders in Financial Management

Mid-term Financial Management exam yesterday and the day before our 'guru' (Mr. Sandeep Gokhale) had one piece of advice for us.

"If you do any of the following blunders i will personally ensure that
you get a grade 'D' in FM:
1.Giving tax shield to equity source of funds, when calculating cost of capital.
2.Showing depreciation in cash flow statment.

For those into fin or accounts , you will agree with him.

Luckily , the exam was , relatively ,easier.

Guess i'll die another day. It's not my time to go !

Hyderabadi Classic

Enjoy this..it is really funny if u know Hyderabadi Hindi
slang. One of the classic hyderabadi jokes. ( Non - Hindi speakers , forgive me )

In Hyderabad we have our own little Johnny. His name is Chotu. His father is ambitious to educate Chotu.
Chotu goes to school located in Tappachaputra. Its principal is educated in Urdu high school and claims
that he passed tenth class! There is a school inspection thenext day and the conversation is as follows :

Teacher: Kal inispector ayinga. Kochchanaa (questions) puchinga. Sab achchaa padkey aau. Koi galath answer deengaa naa tho main uske pairaan thodtoon.

Chotu: Iski maakki. Kyun aara inispector? Kaam nai hai usku? Kya kochchanaa puchta kathey?
Teacher: Abey tereku kaiku re, tu kal school aanaaich nai. Tu tera moo khola to gaaliaan nikaltay. Tereku main absent nai daalthaun. Ghar pe baithkey gotiyaan khel. Tu school aayingaa to inispector ke saamney mere izzat
ki biryaani karke khaaingaa tu.

So our Chotu is excited, goes home and tells his father that he is not going to school the next day.

Father: Yeah kyaa hai..ischool hai paan dabba hai? Gaand pay maartoon saale tu ischool nai gaya to.

Chotu: Arey Bava, mera teacher bola nakko aao bolke.

Father: Usku akhal hai! Begum suno! Chotu ischool nai jayinga kathey kal. Agar ino ischool nai gaya to
kaise padhinga? Chotu, agar tu kal ischool nahin gaya naa, tere haathan pairaan thod daaltaun.

So Chotu cries and finally agrees to go to school. Next day at inschool,

Teacher is very upset to see Chotu back:

Teacher: Arey teri maakki. Nakko aao bole to bhi kyun aaya re?

Chotu: Mera bava gaand phodtaon bola ischool nai gaya to.

Teacher: offo?! Tera bava bola? Theek hai chal. Last bench pe baith aur inispector aya to chup jaa. Dikhnaich nai. Kuch bhi gadbad karinga naa meri noukri gaand lag jayingi.

So Chotu goes to sit in the last bench hiding behind a tall guy.

Inspector comes for the visit.

Inspector: Adaab.

Teacher: Adaab saab. Bachen acha padrain saab. Kochchanaa puchey to answeraan yun bolte.

Inspector: Abaa? Offo! Ithney kilever(clever) hai aapke bachchey? Achchaa, ek bahuth easy sawaal -
Hamarey body mein sab se nazook cheez kaun si hai?

Teacher: Arey Imtiyaz tu bata rey!

Imtiyaz: Saab, Kaleja saab..

Inspector: Aisa! ...... woh kyun?

Imtiyaz: Saab, kaleja hai to sab kuch hota. Agar woh gaya naa, kuch bhi nahin hota saab.

Inspector: Abaa, kya tez potta hai rey! Aur koi?

Teacher: Arey Akram, tu bata re.

Akram: Saab bheja saab. Bhejey ku khuch bhi hua to kuch yaad nahin rehta saab. Haathaan pairaan kaam
nai karthey,iscooter ku kick bhi nai maar sakthey saab.

Inspector: Abey Teacher, kya kya padaaraa re inku tu. ****iye ke jaiseich answeraan bolrai naa!!

In the meantime Chotu is trying very hard to hide but Inspector sees him. He thinks Chotu is hiding
because he does not know the answer.

Inspector: Woh last bench pe yun jhuk ke baithaa naa woh pottey ka naam kya hai?

Teacher: kaun saab? .......Woh! (iski bhain ku, kaiku dikhaa re tu) Woh Chotu hai saab.

Inspector: Chotu? Ye kya naam hai? Kahan-kahan se lagaathey re bhai naamaan! Chotu, woh lambu ke peechchey kaiku chchup raa tu?

Chotu: Saab main moo khola to teacher maaringi saab.

Inspector: Tereku yaa mereku??

Teacher: Arey kya baath kar reh saab, main kaiku maarthaum aapku. Ye potta ekdam badmaash hai saab, jhoot bolraa. Abey Chotu, answer maloom hain to bol nai tho khaamoosh baith jaa mere baap tere pau padthaum.

Chotu: Saab answer Gaand hai saab.

Teacher: Allah!! Ino moo khola to meri gaand lag gayi re!!!

Inspector: Abey kyaa to bhi bolra re! Sharam kar badon ke saamney aisaich baathaan karthey! Yeich
sikhaaye tumhaarey amma-bavaa? Gaand kahaan kaa answer hai re?

Chotu: Hau saab, gaand ich sabse naazook cheez hai. Kaiku boletho wahaan pe dilli mein baamb
phata....Yahan Hydrabad mein apni gaand phat thi....Yahaan old city mein gadbadaan shuru
hothey....wahaan new city mein sabki gaand phat thi gadbadaan wahaan phailtey kyaaki bolkey. Uttaa kyoon
saab,main yeh answer bolraun naa, mere teacher ki gaand phatrai dekho!

Darkest thing about Africa

Darkest thing about Africa ........................ is the ignorance of Africa

Every time there is a discussion on Africa, i find myself in a 'one man army' struggle trying to convince / inform my friends,batch mates that africa actually has airports, roads, cars, etc and most importantly that Africa is not a village but has 53 countries…and i was fortunate enough to visit 4 african countries ( unfortunate enough to miss others )

Africa does have it's share of problems,in fact,more than it's share of issues,more than it can handle,but ignorance of africa is not the way forward.I met Asians who can tell the cities on US east coast from west coast , number of presidents of US or some obscure statistic about europe , but show complete ignorance of bare basic facts of other third world regons ,especially Africa !

Here are a few facts to get you started:

1,000 ++ languages are spoken in Africa

The world's biggest hospital is in Soweto , South Africa

Somalia is the only country in the world where all the citizens speak one language, Somali

Lake Victoria is the world's second-largest freshwater lake

Lake Malawi contains the largest number of fish species of any lake in the world

The Namib is the world's oldest desert

Smallest African country is The Seychelles Africa, second-largest of the Earth's seven continents

The world's largest diamond was the Cullinan, found in South Africa in 1905.

Rain Gods are angry over mumbai !!

As Bombay recovers from the heavy rains of 'terrible tuesday' ,areas like kurla kalina and bhandup still under darkness ,water shortages in navi mumbai and thane,disturbed train services (bombay's lifeline as you know is the local train network),delayed flights thanks to paralysed airport , the odd unclaimed corpse floating , overloaded garbage cans - ticking time bombs for mass epidemics and we get the news of predicted downpour for the next 48 hours which goes like this

"VERY HEAVY RAIN WITH STRONG WINDS FORECAST FOR MUMBAI, KONKAN AND GOA"

I'd say the gods are not just angry but pissed off.

As for our college , they cancelled Fin Mgmt session (taught by Mr.Sandeep Gokhale , more about the gentleman later on , you can always google for "sandeep gokhale vedanta" ) , postponed mid-term test in oper. mgmt , as for me ,am tuned to techno mp3's in the morning :) , what a way to start your day !@#$ , is it that i can't tell the days from the nights anymore !!

Bombay limping back

Bombay literally became an island ,over the last few days ,thanks to the record breaking rains. Staying in campus shields you from the life outside , we had no clue about the loss of lives and property outside.No power supply , mobile networks were down and ,of course, our lifeline - internet was down till today morning .

Bombay ,meanwhile, is getting back to normalcy;the spirit of 'mumbaikars' is what makes bombay special , you have to be here to believe it ,elsewhere there is talk of replacing bombay as the fin capital of india after the recent rains and the infra issues , i feel no other city can probably replace bombay as the financial capital of india ,it's not the infrastructure , it's the people stupid!