German Trip....

So finally i decided to pack my bag and move out of Aldershot...Enuf! Or should i say it happened all thanks to Aarushi who made me go out...:) aaaha...But i must say...Thanks Buddy...it was just too good!

So the journey started Friday night itself 2300 hrs and i was off to London Gatwick. And i thought people must be in bed but come Clapham and i was confused...2345 hrs or 1145 ....0019 i managed to get in the train...managed..yeah..thanks to two people behind me who pushed me in the already completely jam packed train. Stood on 2 fingers :) and was in Gatwick....Tym to sleep on floor...aaha...this was an experience!

Early morning wake up call and i was on my feet..Banana Shake and tym to wait for flight...nd the wait continued....flight was late by 1 hr...so when i landed in Munich i was late and had to run...(first run. of trip..) to catch the train...Welcome Munich.

Went around and walked all the way to see Munich...Platz Platz and Platz :) but it was nice and then the beautiful road with all the big brands...you name it and they had it...Versace, Armanis....wow...And the place was abuzz...real nice place i must say and luckily rain stayed away.

So tym to leave for Frankfurt....ICE - Inter City Express. Fast ...Fast...nd Faster...Experience i must say and 1900 hrs i was in Frankfurt. Went to hotel...a hot shower and back...wonderful weather, walked for some 2 miles and was in heart of city. The best city i have ever seen i must admit. River, History, Class, Buzz, Industry...Frankfurt has it all..Tribute to Michael Jackson at Romer and i was chilling out with nice food around the rhine...river :)

Slept nicely...nd then took Intercity...not express...so the old age train nice sweet compartments and i was on my way to Dusseldorf. Another beautiful city...another river...beautiful ..church, museum, fashion, arts...the place was all energy...Rhine, TV Tower, Marx Platz...walked all around and was back to London Gatwick :(...Run Lola Run..caught one train ....run again...caught another...an run again..finally dropped dead in Aldershot.

Top 50 Young Entrepreneurs Under 30

There are those who keep working their ass off and get some dollars, pounds or INRs and when they look at honda citys of the world ... they dream. And then there are those who work their pants off but take that extra bit of risk, go out and do what they want and ....these guys drive porsche, wear hugo boss, holiday in spain.....What makes them different.

Check the list of "Top 50 Young Entrepreneurs Under 30" at http://www.retireat21.com/top-young-entrepreneurs/

What's the difference between these guys and others..like us...:) Can we "gather" the guts to take that risk .... atleast end of the day we wont say we didnt try....And mind you "No Indians" in the list. Its high tym - Wake up India!

Educate or Immigrate

When Nanadan Nilekani said "Outsource or Immigrate" the title suited well for the corporate world in US, UK & European Market. But i think the basis of his thoughts (not refuting his thoughts) is primarily IT Industry and not how the overall economy can grow in the developed countries. Outsourcing will surely help corporates get more value for money, access to talent pool and make them more and more competitive and hence outsourcing is a good option, against the public opinion and Obama's harping.

But is that a long term solution for these economies to continue their poweress. No because the more they outsource the more they become dependant and the more these shoutings will prevail without any logical solution to the problem. Immigration could be a good option as that will help these countries get educated talented resources to burden the responsibility of growing the economies. But again there's a major problem with that and that is the more you immigrate the more hostile your own public becomes and you end up creating unwanted scenes.

So the only solution and as correctly pointed by Obama also is to Educate. Let the young generation in US & UK & Europe wake up to the challenge and face the fact that there's an Indian Population and not just Indian but Asian Population who is well educated and is no more coming from the world of snake charmers! And if they still want to live in disbelief of their supremacy then its just a matter of few years when they will regret the lost time! So from my end - "Educate or Immigrate"!

Back!

Dont know if i m writing just to write and say i m back or i m now again gonna write, but there's a feeling to write again and so i m back!

Now next question is who cares whether i write or not? Yeah, makes sense but then its good to announce i will again write even if there's no one looking forward to see me write :) All said n done "Hum likhenge"

Was listening to "K for Kishore" dont know how many of you know about the program but i love it not because of the singers but because of the fact that they sing Kishore Kumar! Awesome songs....my fav song found place in the show - "hamhe tumse pyaar kitna...." fun!

Could interest rates go negative?

Found this interesting article on BBC. Read the complete article on BBC News

If the Bank of England cuts interest rates on Thursday could the interest paid on our savings fall below zero? Negative interest rates, where the bank charges us to look after our savings, have been seen before.

In the 1970s Swiss banks charged foreign customers rather than paying them interest to hold their money. But one economist said "it is not impossible but as close to that as you can get. Zero percent is a possibility for a brief period."

As they put it - The battle of Greats!

With SRK's Rab ne .. & Aamir's Ghajini releasing at almost same time, most people have pu it rightly as "Battle of Greats"!

Watched Rab ne.. & Ghajini in last two days and i must say both the actors played their roles brilliantly. The stories for both the movies looked very oridinary to me though! On one side Rab ne...had SRK playing dual roles of simple oridinary guy alongside a today's generation folk. SRK performed the two roles fantastically and really brought glamour in an extremely simple character - i doubt if any one could have done that. On the other hand, Aamir played a role of a killer, living only to take revenge - brilliant acting - dont think any one in industry could have done better.

Rab ne... & Ghajini though went very slow on story and i felt so many times like forwarding it!

All said & done, must watch and not always do you find a "winner amongst the greats"!

Mumbai - Terrorism, Politics, Pakistan & Thackrey!

More than 50 hrs since the fight against terrorism is on in Mumbai - 150+ killed, 350+ injured...

All this while our Politicians are busy making strategies and playing games - Manmohan Singh & Advani couldnt even meet and come together in Mumbai, Modi comes up with a dramatic politic behavior..yet again. No message/strategy on how to stregthen our security! The state of the country is horrible!

Imagine a constable with a "stick" or a "1970 gun - which would take some 10 mins to load a bullet and fire" fight against the terrorism. Thats the state of a country which is investing heavily in building a nuclear bomb which they cant use all their lives. Look at the police in UK/US and compare them with what we have - can they fight against terrorism. Why cant our respected PMs come up and announce a 100 cr investment on making every policeman a commando. They would never - it would make more sense to these corrupt and foolish and selfish politicians to take home that 1 cr and sit in those lavish 7 stars (luckily the MP came out safe - god bless)

There are so many proofs of Pakistan being involved in the attacks - What happened after 9/11 - Bush & US went after Iraq/Afghanistan/Iran and whereever they could and didnt allow another 9/11 to happen. Our respected politicians will sleep and relax and watch TV commentary on how the attacks are being done but not go out and kill the root. They wont! Wake up before its too late.

And, wheres Mr Bal Thackrey - the uncrowned king of Mumbai! He will come out on streets only on valentines day! I just saw this message on NDTV and was so apt - "Where's Bal Thackrey - Tell him that its the 200 NSG from Delhi - incld North & South and not Marathis and its these guys who are fighting and risking their lives so that you can sleep peacefully in your 5 star room" Well said...

I am just hoping & praying that some sense prevails or else it will happen again and again and again....till India dies!

Tough Times

Its been time since i wrote, but couldnt resist writing on the recent financial crisis.

On one hand there were some celebrations in US with Obama's victory and on the other hand there were these n job losses. Now the number n doesnt matter because its high and by the time you read it and the next reader reads it this number would change significantly.

The worrying fact is its slowly hitting India and its effect is not just felt by IT companies as was thought initially. Naresh Goyal managed to bring back 1000+ Jet crew and brought smiles to many families but there are 35 expats who have been asked to leave now. TCS, Infosys came out in open and said they wont fire any one but Satyam fired some 30 people with reasons like fudging of bills etc. If you thought companies with major financial services focus will be the only ones hurt, L&T Infotech which primarily delivers for manufacturing clients has started forcing its employees to resign.

The buck doesnt stop there 7,00,000 people have lost jobs in Textile industry in last 2 months and another 5,00,000 will in one month. Most of these being daily wage workers. 50,000 lost jobs in Surat - Diamond Workers! Whose gonna buy diamonds at this time when countries like Iceland doesnt have food to eat. Tata Steel has fired some 400 and runs 2days a week; no one need steel these days.

Ripple effect flows on B Schools also with IIMs inviting twice the number of companies to de-risk and this year Middle East & Asia is what US & UK were last year. And dont forget the firing of HR consultants who used to supply resources for accounts like Lehmann, Goldman Sachs and others.

So that was India Inc. who initally thought it wont get effected by death of Lehmanns, Freddie Macs and other financial institutions of the world.

Now what....?? Is there a way out...Have we reached the bottom? How many more and where all? ....CSC...???Sales...?? ... I dont have answers to any of these & neither do i think any one has...I sleep with these questions daily waking to see another question added in morning! Reports from NASCOMM and others seems to prove themself wrong every 3-4 days...so i think we can just wait and watch and ofcourse....

To all those who earned million of bonuses - Thanks for this wonderful gift for your greed has brought down million of families and brought many kids/families on road!