Year gone by...

Well I wanted to write this for loong.. started a few times.. nd left it...

Its been an amazing year or so... and I have been looking back and thinking about what if's and what not's ... Since I was forced to bid adieu to AGSPL, my previous employer, I have had an tremendous learning year...

I think a what if... what if I was still with AGSPL... I would be happy working under a manager... doing financial research and modeling... looking at the things are improving and thinking of a jump... bride hunting would have been at its highest point if I was unable to find any1 till now... I would have a car.. everything seems rosy... and may be not quite sure and may be not that focused to attain my career goals...

Now looking at what not's... what would I have missed if I was at AGSPL.. well quite a few things for sure... for starters I would still have been a non-swimmer.. I wouldnt have been able to write for a sports website.. tht too on F1.. I would hav never done real hardcore brainstorming about a business while trying to chalk out a B-plan... never would have made effort to hunt for info nd talk to zillion ppl abt various things... my network would have been half of what it is 2day... I would never had tht much respect for markets, traders, jobbers, etc... I would have never done anything related to business development.. and believe me.. its tuff nd needs lot more patience than we think...

Past year or so.. the learning has been tremendous... How to get things done with the limited resources.. how to connect to ppl nd get info.. how to be upbeat and relentlessly try and achieve your goals.. and how to make many more fckups so the same can be avoided hence forth...

Its been truly amazing.. I still cant say I enjoyed it or not.. nd this is better than being at AGSPL.. not being at AGSPL was completely worth so.. only for my mom... cant thank more AGSPL for kicking me out... In the initial days out of AGSPL... my jiju told me.. its better tht I am struggling so early in my career.. well at tht time I thought it was one of those cliched lines... but I hav realized... he might b right after all..

Well this isnt a gyan kinda post.. its just what i think nd feel.. most things might not make sense to readers.. but so be it.. I finally want to make a list of 5 things w/o which the year gone by wouldnt have been so...

1) Family.. yeh the cliched one.. but the truth of life.. its the most imp life line.. which keeps u going.. motivated.. etc... mom-dad-sis-jiju.. all have always been there

2) AB.. and our e-talk on gtalk... I have single handedly eaten his brains out vn I was frustrated nd moody... but his support has been relentless in jst abt anything... 1 odd thing in my life has been tht.. past 2-3 months.. has the highest rate of movies/week in my entire life so far.. nd he has been the companion in most of them...

3) MS.. and our tête-à-tête... well she has been there all through.. she got the same treatment frm as AB got.. and in return I got a fair nd square reply... vch sometimes gives a reality check.. nd vch helps me a lot in making most imp decisions..

4) VK.. super super super senior.. strtd working with him since abt 5-6 months... he gave me an opportunity to work on things which i jst love to do... this period has been the most enjoyable of the past year..

5) JC.. well this is a special note.. he allowed me to spent time at his share trading office.. where I developed some liking to the markets and jst respect it for life..

Red Bull Racing gave me WINGS !!!

6th oct 09... mamma's b'day... v finished our dinner nd walking bck home... nd i get a call frm a unknown number... it was KG.. one of the owners of isport.in .. the website on which i write for on F1.. he broke the news tht on 7th there is this assembly of F1 car by red bull at JW Marriott and i would like to join him or not... I was like ... HELL YAAAA !!!! a mad scramble for a camera at the last minute nd i was ready for 7th !

reached on time by 10.30... was in lobby.. another 1st for me... i was at a 5 star !! soaking in the ambiance... couldnt help but notice.. tht pooja bhatt has grown so fat.. she was sitting at the adjoining table discussion some set... well then KG came.. nd v proceeded to the place whr assembly was gonna happen...

v took the briefings.. a CD vch contains a video of a Redbull F1 factory tour .. then greeted by few over enthu red bull chicks... asking us to guzzle a few red bulls!! lol... quite a few ppl gathered there... print, TV nd web media in full force...


the covered car lay in front .. nd i was like... aaaa.. this seems like most assembly is already done... well yeh.. it was .. the critical assemblies like the transmission, suspension, breaks etc was done... only the nose, the tail wing... few chks.. nd the engine cover was to be done... even then.. the feel to be so close to the real deal was exciting enuff for me ...

at around 11 they strtd.. 1ce uncovered it.. then there was template at place to make sure bodywork is not damaged during transit.. tht was removed... then the nose was fitted.. they strted letting ppl inside the marked area to take pics nd stuff... but by then my camera battery was dead... i went in anyways... the odd thing was radiator was fitted with fan... vch normal F1 car doesnt hav.. its speed blows the air so fast tht no need of a fan... but here the car wud b driving half the speed.. a fan was a must (see pic below)



looking at those parts so close was sum feeling... i particularly was glued to their performance monitoring software.. nd the kinds of indicators they were looking at... well.. to b frank i understood nothing.. nd it struck me.. i hav moved quite far off frm my mech engg and into the big bad world of finance... i aint complaining till isport helps me in venting out my thoughts through articles :)

then.. the car was finally completed... a few photos ops vth the car nd the mechanics... TV media goin crazy... vn 3rd or 4th grade presenters whu didnt even hav a clue of wot is F1... sum1 even forgot script written by himself !!! lol... (stay away frm 9x news .. lol )

then after an intv vth the support team manager, Tony Burrows... v proceeded to the buffet lunch... i had heard vth buffets at 5 star's frm my sis, SB nd few others... they were either talking abt morning breakfast... or late night 1's... also i had a notion tht 5 star food is bland.. well i was wrong..

the buffet was good... nd i particularly enjoyed my thai curry nd rice :) ... while leaving.. v were handed 4 cans of red bulls as merchandise...

all in all an amazing experience... more to be experienced and explained... for me.. Red bull Racing gave me WINGS !! :D

Pyaar with PR !!

Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics.(Source: Wikipedia)

In past 1 week I happen to notice quite amazing PR generated by organisations or atleast attempt to do so !! The most buzzing event of this week... atleast for me.. was Schumi's return!! ppl got crazy... i didnt... i went wild... jumping here nd there nd shouting to the pt tht folks thought tht I had lost it!! but well thts a different story... Ppl strtd givin out info to each other.. Facebook was abuzz... News channels were abuzz tht night... newspapers too.. even today TOI has a 3/4th pager on Schumi... tht helped Ferrari generate massive PR and got a spark to their dismal championship campaign so far. The sponsors wud b happy.. the investors wud b happy.. looking at the public interest generated... Schumi's return no doubt gr8 for thr sport but... even better.. it made a lot of business sense.

Now few more events closed to home... Anilbhai... yeh .. telecom walla... he has been all other the media's channels... After the emotional bombshell at AGM... he has been giving news bites every where possible... I dnt want to discuss whether his pt is right or not (though i believe he was hard done by) .. but he was able to generate significant PR... every newspaper carried a full pager direct interview vth him... he might hav got sum success vth wot he wanted to generate!

Now getting more closer to home... Mumbai's Taxi's ... sum loocha goin on @ airport... but our dear MM newspaper... they carried a series for 3 dayz back to back... to compare black-yellow taxi's.. cool cabs.. nd meru cabs... concentrating on the pt tht Meru's r cleaner neater.. nd taxi r filthy n smelly... well not tht v agree or not agree.. but gr8 PR for Meru cabs... i wud say chance pe dance... mostly not a free PR.... most of the newspapers walla are paid well (thts wot i was enlightened by AK-frm fmcg to banking products walla)

So.. the Pyaar vth PR continues and how brands fight for every space available...

Balance is the key to everything!!

Keeping one's balance is the key... vn v walk.. do things... its important thing... imagine standing on a heavily banked road... if v start feeling awkward.. v mite feel a little bit of pain in joints after some time... or take example of a loaded bag... if its hanging on just on of our shoulders... v feel the pain after sumtime... thts y a bag-pack is preferred of a carry-case... bag-pack is balanced...

Simply apply this thought to our lives.. relationships like frndship nd stuff.... here also a balance is ought to be maintained... imbalance leads to awkwardness leads to pain !!

"Walk while you talk"... Sum ppl hav no other choice!!!

Lately.. since 2-3 weeks.. i hav the pleasure of travelling through the Andheri-Ghatkopar belt... well.. pleasure.. lol... u may say unfortunate compulsion... The tall,wise,old man.. AB used to always crib abt the belt.. terming it as $h!T H0Le... I always used to think... the guy is exaggerating!!!

but traffic does get denser during peak hrs... but its ok .. a 45mins distance turns in to a 1.5hr journey.. well thts normal for all mumbaikars !!! but this friday... was crazy... I travel from Mahakali caves road to ghatkopar... take a normal bus or rick from there depending who is paying ;) .. so u can figure out.. wot i do when..

me and dad were together.. got a lift frm a fellow till chakala.. nd then v were to catch a rick... but none was stoping by... v saw a clog ahead... thot .. "arrey.. aage signal tak hoga.. v wil walk till there".. strted walking... v passed tht signal.. then the jb nagar signal.. then the airport signal.. then the marol signal... finall reached walkin till Saki naka signal... covered in abt 35-40mins.. passed atleast 10-12 ghatkopar bound bus... nd yeh.. v were ahead of all of them walkin !!!
v thot.. v hav walked enuff time to catch a rick.. again no 1 agreed... took sum bus at sakinaka signal... jam packed.. but saved ourselves frm walking !.. @ snails pace.. it reached to asalpha... again to got stuck... v thot enuff... rather standing lets walk... got down... strtd walkin till home !!!
in total it took us 1.5hrs to reach... if v had sat in bus... definitely not b4 3-3.5hrs !!! it was tht crazy!!

But... surprisingly... this entire ordeal.. v wherent the only 1... there were loads for ppl... huge crowd... walkin vth us... nd.. i think.. most of them were regulars.. walk for 3-4 km regularly jst to reach home early.. (actually definition of early has been chnged... being on-time is knwn as coming home early !!!)

ITs completely crazy... i agree.. IT IS A $h!T h0Le.... and yeh.. ppl do "walk while they talk"... they dont hav any choice.. atleast on this belt !!

Break the Inertia !

Inertia(def.) - A body stays in the state of rest or of uniform motion unless it is acted upon by an external force!

I vividly remember this definition frm my school dayz.. But never found it more relevant now.. albeit in a different context. Have myself experienced in past and also saw my few of my close friends in the state of inertia recently.

We tend to get into routine and feel comfortable w/o understnding... do v like it... r things goin how v want.. v jst ride along vth it... get into a cycle of things... wake up.. go to work.. come bck.. bitch abt sumthin.. praise the other... etc etc

This I define as inertia... v continue to be in this state... but this state is broken when an external force is acted upon... vch happend to ppl like me... but... the need of the hr says... v need an internal force to break this inertia!!

internal force... a drive to do things.. stretch boundaries... achieve unthinkable.. do things v want to do... break the cycle... break the inertia !!!!

More than what meets the eye !!!!

Yesterday nite v had oscars - mother of all awards in motion picture industry... Slumdog millionaire won a landslide 8 awards in various categories including picture & director.. our very own A R Rehman won it for superb original score!! no wonder the movie is gettin all the accolades it is!!!

But it puts 1 question to me... y slumdog only... and not other movies like chak de, lagaaan... vch show india in its other... more beautiful shades... my frnd has also raised this question in his post.

One of the conspiracy theory i can think off is... India is the nxt BIG thing in the world... the huge potential market not withstanding the financial crisis... makes india very attractive... oscars to a movie based out in india can expose indians to foriegn genre of movies.. ppl wud also want to queue up for other international flims vch mite find it a difficult goin in western countries... basically it jst opens up a potential market...

v can draw parallel's vth indians winning beauty contests a decade ago... ash, sush, etc etc... had won major contests close to each other... tht opened up indians to beauty and beauty product... n then started the journey of big names into india...

I dont say tht Slumdog didnt deserve to win... it sure did... but so did past flims... there can surely be more than what meets the eye !!!

Marketing physcology

in my locality i hav 3 odd general stores.. FS, FK n BB..

FS positioned itself as premium .. catering to upper middle class n higher class audience. So the products stored had huge vareity... apart frm the general day to day items.. it stocked imported chocolates n stuff... diet farsan.. n stuff... vth barcode payment counter..

FK was a normal general store vth normal items... but aft the advent of FS.. it underwent a major renovation n tryed to reposition itself to giv competition to FS... but the product they stored didnt match FS... wot happend is tht ppl strt percieving it as a high end store n were reluctant to go in... so they strtd goin to BB.. vch is a very basic store... ppl strtd precieveing the normal mrp items also to b costly there n hav frequented BB... upper middle class ppl kept goin to premium store FS.. n.. FK has strtd loosing ground..

Close Shave !!!!

Since lately i hav joined swimming to kill time now-a-dayz... and learnin how to swim.. initally SM used to accompany me and teach me... and was goin good.. but he stopped lately.. i also stopped few dayz later as the water was damm cold..

Restarted 2day... and strtin whr i left... could swim like half the width of the pool... used to do "laps" in around 3-5ft deep water...

jst 5 mins away frm session gettin over, i was in the middle of the pool at around 5 ft deep water... so thot will reach to the ladder laid whr the dept is like 8ft deep.. as i cud do this distance... and then come out and take an early bath...

I strtd and... say abt 12 ft away frm bank... i jst cudnt swim... and cudnt touch the bottom w/o keep my head above water... i paniced.. and no1 was around... not a single soul.. thot am in big soup...

strtd jumpin and thrustin.. w/o makin much progress... suddenly i heard a wistle... thank god.. life gaurd saw me !!!!!...

a chap whu was closest to me and cud swim (lol) ... came to my rescue... b4 i drank another 4 ltrs of chlorinated water !!!

Close Shave !!