Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Saturn is Dying... !!!


In this recession, when General Motors are into tough times, they have decided to give a planned death to one of biggest sub-brands it used to have, "Saturn".

Saturn was a unique car,launched by GM to compete with the japanese cars. But with time,brand Saturn faded. Declining sales and cash crunch have compelled GM to end the brand "Saturn". If the brand would have been managed well, with all the sources upfront, then Saturn could have been the flagship brand of GM.

Saturn, a great product, a great idea, superb positioning, and a great brand.
Just lost its sheen, as GM didn't handled this brand consistently with time, neither provided it with enough marketing resources.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Can You Read This...???

"一个人呼吁上帝,和我坐在 !
在世界上的英明,我坐在这样的犯罪!

世界上说,让它成为一个人!
不爱他那么多,他让我们感到不安!
为了让别人高兴,我的所有生活,休憩的愿望为您!
在世界上的英明,我坐在这样的犯罪!

如果一个人的痛苦,另一方面是为了好玩!
Jkdha是连锁店,我得到的惩罚是严厉的!
现在只是在等待上帝,绝望时坐!
在世界上的英明,我坐在这样的犯罪!"


Guess what is written ???
Is this in Japanese or Chinese

This is the poem, "अपराध" (posted earlier) in Chinese language!

Translate any webpage and text using Google's Tool called, "Translate"
One can convert any language into someother language in moments.

Its something Wow!!!

Monday, February 23, 2009

World going GungHo... on "Jai Ho"

Congratulations to Mr.Rehman, Mr.Resul, Slumdog's Team!
Also, congratulations to the team of "Smile Pinki".
India rocked at the Oscars!!!

What if, this movie have been produced and directed by Indians?
I guess, there would have been no oscars!
Is this irony, tragedy, racism or what?
You Decide!

Nevertheless, I am proud of you Rehman!

And as Amitabh Bachchan says,'Rehman doesn't need an Oscar to prove that he is the best.He is better than the best!'

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Admit your mistake...!!!

I have always believed that there are three kinds of people in the world.

One, who does a mistake, never admits them, neither improve on them.These are offensive, arrogant and over-confident people. In the long run, these people are generally unsuccessful.

Second, who does a mistake, admits it, but never improves on it.They are humble, defensive and unconfident people. In the long run, these people live an average life, without risks.
As per me, I belong to category Second.And working on to become a part of Third category.

And Third, who does a mistake, admits it, and never repeats it. They are the leaders, who are confident as well as humble. They take risks in life and live a successful life.

Why is it so, that most of people lie in the category One?

Which category, do you belong to???

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

After Sky Scrapers... its time for Sky Villas !!!


Mumbai-based Lodha Group is all set to roll out Sky Villas in Hyderabad with an initial investment of Rs 900 crore. Despite recession in the financial markets, the group is developing sky villas, called Lodha Bellezza, which are themed on Californian style living and where the ownership comes by ‘By Invitation Only’.

Imagine about features such as these: a helipad atop the towers, personal elevator whisking you directly into your private lobby, each floor built as an individual villa and it fitted with motion sensors or facilities such as at a touch of screen, the doors lock, curtains part and air-conditioning comes on. Ushering in the concept of Sky Villas, the individual units will be completely autonomous, replete with a private pool, sundeck, home theatre lounge, private office and concierge on call.

And the project also brings to the city for the first time the concept of ownership "By Invitation Only". Priced presently at around Rs.2.27 crore, the units are not available for anyone who walks in. The Group decides who should be occupying the villas and accordingly sends an invitation to them.

The fully loaded club house at Bellezza will have a spa, gymnasium, aerobics/dance studio, indoor games arena, mini-theatre, reading and TV lounge, banquet hall, food store-cum-coffee shop, conference facilities, emergency medical desk and a wi-fi enabled business centre.

To know more, visit "Lodha Bellezza"

I am thrilled to know these endless facilities available but I have my doubts over the concept of "By invitation only"!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Interim Budget 2009: The Pros and Cons...!!!

Major positives of this budget are:

•Major growth drivers this year would be agriculture, services, manufacturing, education & defense
•Increased Rural road development is positive for auto industry
•More emphasis on education by allocating Rs 40900 crore for Bharat Nirman Scheme
•JNNURM will be spending about Rs 11842 crore in this financial year
•Rural Jobs scheme would be provided with Rs 30100 crore in this financial year
•Steps to encourage private placements in infrastructure via PPP
•Interest subvention of 2% for export heavy industries like textiles, handlooms, gems & jewellery, SME and marine products have been extended till September 2009
•The government has relaxed the Fiscal Responsibility Budget Management (FRBM) targets to counter global economic slowdown

Major negatives of this budget are:

•It will be difficult both for domestic and foreign investors to raise money as no reforms have been laid out
•Infrastructure developments had been levied only to government institutions leaving out no specific scope for private investors to raise money easily out in this market
•Industry reforms were missing especially for various sectors like infrastructure, manufacturing, banking, exports which led to a steep fall in stock market for two consecutive days correcting to about 5.5%
•Finance Ministry has relaxed fiscal responsibility and budget management standards reflecting that its not going to be a progressive year
•During crisis or slowdown taxes should cut to relax the burden of common man but it’s not an aam-aadmi budget
•Additional plan expenditure has to increase by 0.5-1% a post poll which is next to impossible and it is expected to go up by 4-5% atleast
•Budget revenue deficit seen at 4%, fiscal deficit at 5.5%-currently at 6%
•Budget plan spending is very limited need to be increased after elections
•Industry production fell by 2% in 2008 & left out completely and is expected to a major fall in this period
•Challenge related to FDI & FII capital flows along with meeting inflation target of 4%
•Industrial growth fell by 2% on yearly basis still nothing much has been done in this budget

What Interim Budget holds for India?


Where on one hand, the industry didn’t have much expectation from this four month period- interim budget and on the other hand; it had few adverse effects on the economy and especially financial markets. The interim budget gave away nothing yet left many asking if this was indeed the time to play it safe, politically. This interim budget had opened up new gates for the next fiscal and monetary policy by RBI in the coming period which might live up to high expectations towards economy. But looking at the current market conditions it will be difficult for RBI to make extraordinary changes. It’s an extremely dry budget as the major emphasis was on agriculture only. The hard-hit real estate sector had been leading the call for fiscal sops for it. This budget came as non-event for the entire corporate world as it would lead to one more year of uncertainty and investments.

The government had left out many things and is indirectly dependent on RBI & stimulus package, which might not be a luxury for economy. The government is mainly looking at new pump-priming, interest rate cutting kind of solutions; and they are not looking at new solutions for a new crisis. The government could declare excise holidays for items which are in great trouble like cars or even can add a special interest rates subsidy for new house buyers and many other things. Accordingly this government is handling this economic downturn and it is believed they would be able to handle it better than any new government coming up with various experiments, thus Dr. ManMohan Singh, the ball is still in your court.

Analysis Done by : Mr.Manik Gursahani

Saturday, February 14, 2009

TRP of life...

One should always take care of three things in life:

1) Trust

2) Relationships

3) Promise

Because, they don't make noise, when they break !

Happy Valentine's Day once again to all.

Bandra-Worli Sealink: India's engineering excellence !!!

Bandra Worli Sea Link Project has been one of the most highly recommended project of all the transport studies done for the metropolitan region. The Bandra Worli Sea Link will be an 8-lane, cable-stayed bridge with pre-stressed concrete viaduct approaches, which will link Bandra and the western suburbs of Mumbai with Worli and central Mumbai.
The Sea Link will enable speedy travel between Bandra and Worli, cutting travel times up to one hour.The eight-lane flyover will have capacity of carrying about 1.40 lakh cars per day. Large multi-axel vehicles and two-wheelers would not be allowed on the sea link. Speed limit would have to be maintained at 100 km/hr.

The Bandra-Worli Sea Link is an engineering marvel.It weighs as much as 50,000 African elephants, the tallest tower equals a 43-storey building and steel wires that could be lined up to form the circumference of the earth have been used to make it.Putting it all together was a feat in itself.Each of the concrete girders weigh more than 150 metric tonnes. The massive gantry cranes help move these girders. A 96-wheel trolley helps carry the enormous structure to fit one into another and form a continuation of a bridge that will go on and connect to the other end.

The Bandra Worli sea link project has certain unique features. These include:

1)An 8-lane bridge with 2 lanes dedicated for buses.
2)Unique bridge design for the Link Bridge to emerge as a land mark structure in the city.
3)Single tower supported 500 metre long cable-stayed bridge at Bandra Channel and twin tower supported 350 m cable-stayed bridge at Worli Channel for each carriageway.
4)Modern toll plaza of 16 lanes with automated toll collection system.
5)An intelligent bridge with state-of-art systems for traffic monitoring, surveillance, information and guidance, instrumentation, emergency support, etc.
6)Development of promenade and landscaping to enhance the environment.

World-Sourcing... !!!

India has reached a critical juncture in determining whether it will shape or be shaped by globalisation. It’s now faced with the daunting challenge of moving toward becoming both a net producer and consumer of high-value intellectual property.“Worldsourcing” can help set India on a new course to prosperity and its fair share of the global economy.

Worldsourcing, in short, is a business strategy that smart, ambitious companies use to take the underlying forces of globalisation and shape them to maximise the value and quality they deliver to customers worldwide. At the same time, it makes maximum use of all the dispersed resources of a company, from talent to intellectual property to manufacturing muscle.

The distinctions between the so-called emerging and developed markets are rapidly fading, a trend that began with the emergence of information technology and global communications. This made it possible for billions of people in every part of the world to join a rapidly growing middle-class.Those consumers, no matter where they are, demand access to high-value products and services. This means producers must increasingly reach and sell wherever profitable markets exist, anywhere in the world. Thus, a worldsourcing company can create value 24 hours a day, following the sun.

There are crucial differences between worldsourcing and outsourcing. Outsourcing is a centralised, top-down strategy designed to save money on non-core operations by handing those operations to a third party evaluated by a single criterion: the lowest price.
Worldsourcing, by contrast, is a global, decentralised strategy designed to drive greater value and quality by distributing an organisation’s core functions — management, operations, processes, and production — across multiple global hubs of excellence located wherever the best resources, talent, ideas, and efficiencies exist or can be created.

Yang Yuanqing, CEO, Lenovo, coined the term Worldsourcing,in an article,where he referred Lenevo as a Worldsourcing company.

February... The 14th !!!

Friday, February 13, 2009

A Lizard Story...

"In order to renovate the house, someone in Japan breaks open the wall.
Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls.
When tearing down the walls, he found that there was a lizard stuck there because a nail from outside hammered into one of its feet.

He sees this, feels pity, and at the same time curious, as when he checked the nail, it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built.
What happened?
The lizard has survived in such position for 10 years!!!
In a dark wall partition for 10 years without moving, it is impossible and mind-boggling.

Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 10 years! without moving
a single step--since its foot was nailed!

So he stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it has been
doing, and what and how it has been eating.
Later, not knowing from where it came, appears another lizard, with food in its mouth.
Ah! He was stunned and touched deeply.

For the lizard that was stuck by nail, another lizard has been feeding it for the past 10 years..."

Imagine? it has been doing that untiringly for 10 long years, without giving up hope on its partner.

Source : Ms.Niyati Priyam

ANGER MANAGEMENT


Your close friend, suddenly shouts on you, yells at you!
He/she criticizes you, condemns and complains, in public, of no reason!

How should you react???

Generally observed behavior suggests, that there are two ways to react.

First,tit for tat! Give your friend a nice, harsh reply, so that it never happens again. Teach him/her a lesson, so that he/she may never ever dare to repeat such behavior!And again if he/she reacts,make sure you win "The War of the Words".

Second, listen calmly, and try to clarify.If the situation gets heated up,leave the topic and just don't react. Later, try to understand the reason, and try solving the issue. If its your mistake, go and say "Sorry"! Try to clarify your reasons and patch-up. But if its your friend's mistake, make him/her realize it, politely, when he is calm and ready to listen.

As per me, I prefer the second one! I found it more mature, logical, and effective.

But, why so, that most of the people around us, chose to follow the first method?

First method, will surely led to an end of relationship. And even if the relation doesn't end, there would be no mutual love and respect.
Second method, will solve the issue once for all.Moreover, relationship will get strengthened. And even if relationship ends, you will always retain a level of respect.

What's your call on it?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

An Army of Beasts...!!!

Just don't forget to read this article by SHOMA CHAUDHURY of Tehelka.com.By this article she tracks the underlying psychology of vigilantes across the country.


"In Mangalore, they beat women for drinking. In Pune, they tear priceless manuscripts because they feel a historian has insulted Shivaji. In Delhi, they spit on a man at a podium because they feel he is a traitor to the nation. In Bhopal, they break a school because they feel the principal has violated the national anthem. In Bombay, they raid and pillage because they feel outsiders are stealing jobs and thwarting their mother tongue. In Orissa, they burn houses and kill people because they feel their faith is in danger of dwindling. In Gujarat, they rape and kill thousands because they want to teach a community a lesson. They pull artists’ hair, threaten writers, slap women, hit men, burn paintings, ban films, tear posters, pulp, burn, rape, kill, beat. As a matter of routine, they spill into the street.

This is not an army of beasts in some futuristic film. These are contemporary ‘keepers of tradition’, ‘protectors of society’. Zealots driven by such fierce rage and selfrighteousness, they see no irony in cannibalising the very culture, religion and nation they claim they defend."


Read the complete article here.
"The Idea Of Indignation"

Monday, February 9, 2009

Dr. Manmohan Singh... My next PM...!!!


Yes! I believe, in Congress. Led by,a qualified person like Dr. Manmohan Singh, is the best choice for India as PM.
Before that, first lets follow the link to the Resumes of both the candidates:

Dr. Manmohan Singh

Shri. L. K. Advani

Clearly, in terms of experience and qualifications, Dr. Manmohan Singh is way ahead of Shri L.K.Advani.
In Congress, there is long list of highly experienced and qualified politicians like Mr. P.Chidambaram, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee etc.Adding to it, there is Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, handling politics very well,just to keep politics out of governance.

Moreover, Congress has more no. of promising young politicians like Rahul Gandhi, Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot etc who could lead India in future.BJP led NDA clearly lacks on this front.

Even if,I consider the fact that BJP can give a better or equivalent governance, then also, I don't believe them coming into power.Reason,their ideologies i.e. Hindutva!
This moral policing and the idea of "Hindutva" will ruin the Indian society.

Whom you are voting for???

9 year... Apple iPhone Programmer !!!

Believe it or not! A 9 year kid, named Lim Ding Wen from Singapore,who is in fourth grade, writes applications for Apple's popular iPhone. Lim, is fluent in six programming languages, started using the computer at the age of 2. He has since completed about 20 programming projects.

His latest, a painting program called Doodle Kids, has been downloaded over 4,000 times from Apple's iTunes store in two weeks.The program lets iPhone users draw with their fingers by touching the iPhone's touchscreen and then clear the screen by shaking the phone.Amazing !

When I read about this kid, I felt, we all should learn from him. At the age of 9, he is whizkid and above all a self-motivated person! Like him, we should be a step ahead, and should keep on working upon our strengths and weakness. There is lot to learn, lot to read and lot to do.There is no time to waste, life is short, and much to do.

Source: www.Tech2.com

अपराध !!!

Earlier, in my engineering days, I used to write poems in Hindi. But all those habits withered away with time. After a long gap, I have tried to write a poem. I know its bit kiddish, but hopefully you all will appreciate the effort.

एक इंसान को खुदा बुलाने की, हिमाकत कर बैठा हूँ !
इन समझदारों की दुनिया में, मैं एक अपराध कर बैठा हूँ !!

दुनिया कहती है, इंसान को इंसान रहने दो !
इंसान परेशान हैं, उसे परेशान रहने दो !!
किसी को ज़िन्दगी भर खुश रखने का, लिए अरमान बैठा हूँ !
इन समझदारों की दुनिया में, मैं एक अपराध कर बैठा हूँ !!

जहाँ एक इंसान का दर्द, दूसरे के लिए मज़ा हैं !
बेड़ियों में जकड़ा है, मिली मुझे ये कठोर सज़ा हैं !!
बस अब तो खुदा के इंतज़ार में, बेताब बैठा हूँ !
इन समझदारों की दुनिया में, मैं एक अपराध कर बैठा हूँ !!