A load of crap from an idle brainPersonal, Movies, Music, IT, India, Singapore, Politics, Fun

1. Completed my MBA. Finally.
2. Went Bangkok for Valentine’s day
3. Visited Velankanni church and fulfilled a long pending desire of mine.
4. Celebrated our first Wedding Anniversary at Hyderabad among friends and family.
5. My brother got married.
6. Moved my blog from WordPress to a self hosted domain.  Went with the WordPress recommendation of Justhost as the service provider; and their service has been superb.  Havent had any issues with them yet.
7. Completed 5 years of blogging. Non-stop.
8. Completed 9 years in Singapore.  Never believed i would last so long here.
9. Increased my investments in the stock market. Took the crash in the begining of the year as an opportunity to buy into some good stocks at cheap.  And when the market recovered a bit, i was into profits already.
10. Didnt fall sick even a single day the whole year.  Thank God for small mercies. Hope it stays that way.
11. Wifey joined me here in Singapore.  Loving it.
12. Started off slow, but in the last 2 months of the year, read 4 books.  Hope to continue into the new year.
13. Watched almost 150 movies in the whole year. Managed to document only around 120 of them in the Movies page

In 2008

I have always wanted to have a new page for my investments and its tracking.  So, this was long pending wish, fulfilled.  I have added another page to the site called “Investments“.

Have tried to put up a pictorial representation of the logos of all companies invested.  Have a few things in mind which i want to work on.  As of now, its all fuzzy.  As things clear up, you will see more information on companies, investments, economy, movement of stocks and stuff on that page.

Since my biggest hobby Movies , already has its own dedicated page, it was time my second biggest interest, Investments also had its own page.

More as time goes by.

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First a trip to smelly and dirty Chennai, then a trip to equally smelly and extremely dirty pilgrim town called Velankanni (with the famous shrine of Mary) and finally to an extremely clean, cold and windy Hyderabad.

Chennai was sweltering hot, i sweated buckets.  Coupled with that the scarcity of water and a city that is used by its citizens as a garbage dump.  You wonder where the municipal workers of the city are?  If at all they are doing the work.  Whether you are the middle of the city or at the outskirts, one thing that defines Chennai is the consistent crappy smell in the air.  The air stinks in Chennai and uniformly so.  Dont know why and how.  This is in addition to the dirt and filth all around.  Wonder which moron decided to name it a metro.

Velankanni was equally dirty.  For a piligrim town with such a potential for tourism, there are hardly any good lodge/hotels.  The only good ones are the dorms run by the church, but they too offer you rooms for the next day only.  And if you are the ones (like me) who just drop into the town with no reservations, hoping to stay at some hotel, be disappointed with the kinds of rooms you get there.  As for the restaurants, stay away if you dont want to come down with some extreme case of food poisoning or diarrhea.

If you have any plans of going to Velankanni, stay at Nagapattinam, a town near Velankanni.  Take a bus in the morning to Velankanni, see around and come back to Nagapattinam.  This was advised by my friends after i did my trip much to my exasperation.

Took a train from Chennai to Hyderabad.  Was travelling by the Indian Railways after more than 11 years and loved the experience.  Reached Hyderabad early morning around 6am on the 14th (our 1st wedding anniversary).   Was amazed at how clean the city of Hyderabad was at 6 in the morning.   Either the roads were swept clean or at some places the cleaners were hard at work.  Kudos to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the people who work for them for keeping the city reasonably clean.

It was drizzling all through and there was a nice cool breeze.  Loved it. Since we were tired, we preferred to rest.  There was not much celebration for the anniversary as all plans were for wifey’s birthday which was 2 days later on the 16th.  Had a get together at home for friends and family for wifey’s birthday.

Later on in the week, went to the new mall in town, GVK-1.  Good place to hang out, but there was something lacking in the place.  I prefer Hyderabad Central or City Center.  Also the mall is pretty new and the shops are only coming up.  Maybe it will be good once it fills up.

Saw the movie New York.  Not bad i thought.  Better than the crap that Yash Raj is famous for churning out. Saw the movie at the new INOX multiplex at GVK-1.  The seating is good and so is the sound system.

Travelled back to Singapore via Chennai again.  From the superb airport of Hyderabad to a garbage can called Chennai Airport is a perfect example of what the private sector can do to our economy while at the same time, the Chennai airport run by the inefficient babus of Airports Authority of India have really screwed it up.

There were no seats at the international departure.  They simply disappeared.  For someone who’se flight is yet to start check-in, they simply have to stand there waiting for the counters to open.  Can you believe that?  What about the elderly and the people who need to rest?  Have the airport authorities ever thought about their comfort?

And the cafe’s selling stuff in Chennai airport are nothing but daylight robbery.  Tea is sold for Rs 30.  A samosa / aloo bonda costs Rs 60.  Whereas you get a good Cafe Coffee Day coffee at the Hyderabad airport for just Rs 15.

I can go on and on about the pathetic situation at Chennai airport, but its a waste of time.  Its a perfect example of why the airport needs to be handed over to a private player so that they can do a better job of the same.  Anyone with doubts can look at Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi and Bombay airports and compare them to the ones run by AAI.  There is simply no comparison.

Back at office and a mountain of work stares me in the face.  Time to get going.

Chennai picture courtesy: I’m seeing green ;  Hyderabad tank bund and NTR gardens picture courtesy: Hyderabad

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I have passed the one paper that was giving me a headache.  Quantitative Analysis.  And with that, i complete my MBA (Marketing). 3 and a half years of perseverance has paid off.  Am now eagerly looking forward to my certificate from IGNOU.

Staying alone in a place away from home, working, doing household chores and then finding time to do my assignments, projects, studying for exams, taking leave for writing exams… it was never easy.  It could be easy for many.  But for me, its been real hard work.  At the end of the day, the satisfaction of having passed all the 20 papers in their first attempt (the QA paper took 2 attempts to pass…or is it 3 ? i forgot) with all the extra hassles has been worth the effort.

Iam going to pamper myself over this weekend with some movies & pizza.

And then, its time to start studying for some other exams.  IBM-Lotus certification, Certified Financial Planner, NSE Exams (NCFM), here i come

Above image source: Photobucket

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No matter how much some intellectuals tried to wish it away, Slumdog Millionaire like a bad dream comes back again and again.  It created history by sweeping 8 oscars.

Meanwhile, AR Rahman scored another massive victory in an impressively star studded career with 2 Oscar awards.  One for the original background score and one for Original Song (Jai ho) which was written by none other than Gulzar himself.

Am awesome day at the Oscars for India as the documentary, Smile Pinki, a heart-warming tale of a poor Indian village girl whose cleft lip made her a social outcast won the award for the best short documentary.

Many people look at Slumdog as poverty porn.  I look at it as the coming of age of Indians who by sheer determination and hard work are making a mark in the world.  They dont crib over their poverty and hardships; instead work hard to rise above all that life has to offer.  There are millions of examples around us and we just need to look around.

A perfect example of the same is AR Rahman.  From having to support his family as a young man after the untimely death of his father, he took to music and his dedication to his craft has brought him to the place where he is today.

“I want to thank everyone. The essence of the film is optimism and hope. All through my life I had the choice of love and hate…I chose love and I am here” an elated Rahman said.

The composer was overwhelmed and interspersed his speech with Hindi as well as Tamil on receiving the coveted trophy.

“There is a dialogue from an old Hindi film,”Mere paas ma hai” – which means I have nothing but a mother. My mother is here, I have her blessings. I am glad she could be here” said Rahman.

He ended the acceptance speech by saying “God is great” in Tamil, something he says after winning every award.

Meanwhile, sound engineer Resul Pookutty became the third Indian to bring Oscar glory for India by winning the award for sound mixing in Slumdog Millionaire.

“I dedicate this award to my country. This is not just a sound award but a piece of history that has been handed over to me” a beaming and emotional Pookutty said while dedicating the trophy to a billion Indians.

“I come from a country and civilisation that gave the world the word that precedes silence and is followed by more silence. That word is ‘Om’. So I dedicate this award to my country” said Kerala-born sound technician.

Pookutty shared the honours with colleagues Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke.

“This is unbelievable. I share the stage with two magicians, who captured the noise and cacophony of Mumbai to create the soul stirring artful sound of Slumdog Millionaire” he said.

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