DC v Punjab Preview

This is a semi-final decider!!

If DC wins, it enters semis. If DC loses, Mumbai gets thrown out of semis.
If washed out, Chennai enters the semi-finals!

Team	Current Chance	DC V Punjab
		DC wins	Punjab wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	96.88	98.44	95.31	100.00
DC	84.38	100.00	68.75	93.75
RR	60.16	64.06	56.25	64.06
RCB	32.03	32.81	31.25	31.25
PUN	25.78	3.13	48.44	9.38
MI	0.78	1.56	0.00	1.56
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

DC v KKR Preview

KKR has all teams' support for today's match!!!

Every team hoping to get to the semi-finals hopes that KKR wins today! (exception being Deccan, of course)

Team	Current Chance	DC V KKR
		DC wins	KKR wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	98.05	96.88	99.22	99.22
DC	70.31	84.38	56.25	68.75
RR	66.41	60.16	72.66	60.16
RCB	36.33	32.03	40.63	40.63
PUN	28.13	25.78	30.47	30.47
MI	0.78	0.78	0.78	0.78
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Mumbai v Chennai Preview

Chance table after Punjab's win over Delhi.

Team	Current Chance	Mumbai v Chennai
		Mum wins	Chn wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	85.94	73.83	98.05	94.14
DC	68.16	66.02	70.31	62.11
RCB	36.04	35.74	36.33	30.47
MI	19.63	38.48	0.78	17.19
RR	61.13	55.86	66.41	70.31
PUN	29.10	30.08	28.13	25.78
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Who wishes for whom?
For Delhi and Kolkata, it does not matter at all.
CSK, DC and RCB wish Chennai wins, as it increases their chances of getting into semi-final.
MI and Punjab wish Mumbai wins.
Surprisingly, it works out better for Rajasthan Royals if the match is rained out!! DC, RCB's stances are radically different. They wish for Chennai. Even if Chennai does not win, they hope at least Mumbai should win. They need a result in any case! Same is the case with Punjab, except that their first wish is for Mumbai.

Delhi v Punjab Preview

How are the chances going to change for the teams?

Team	Current Chance	Delhi v Punjab
		Delhi wins	Punj wins	No Result
DD	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
CSK	87.40	88.87	85.94	88.87
DC	71.39	74.61	68.16	68.16
RCB	38.28	40.53	36.04	36.04
MI	21.78	23.93	19.63	23.93
RR	64.45	67.77	61.13	67.77
PUN	16.70	4.30	29.10	15.23
KKR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

IPL 2009 - path to semifinals

The points table reads like this just after the end of CSK v RCB match today.

(please scroll down)

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Delhi Daredevils	10	8	2	0	0	16	+0.362	1408/177.5	1394/184.3
Chennai	11	6	4	0	1	13	+1.070	1631/196.2	1427/197.1
Deccan Chargers	11	6	5	0	0	12	+0.292	1654/212.4	1633/218.1
Bangalore	12	6	6	0	0	12	-0.309	1689/237.0	1735/233.2
Mumbai Indians	11	5	5	0	1	11	+0.543	1442/196.2	1340/197.0
Rajasthan Royals	11	5	5	0	1	11	-0.373	1306/193.1	1415/198.2
Kings XI Punjab	11	5	6	0	0	10	-0.570	1438/192.1	1518/188.3
Kolkata	11	1	9	0	1	3	-1.042	1306/189.2	1412/177.5

Only 12 more matches are remaining including the ongoing MI v RR match which decide who get to the semi-finals. In the mean time, I tried to predict who get to the semi-finals using simulation.

My assumptions:
1. Each match has equally likely outcome of win and loss for both teams. In others words, both teams have 50% chance of winning the match. (though that may not be the real case)
2. The relative position of NRR of all teams remain same at the end of the tournament.
3. No no-result matches.

The 12 matches generate 4096 possibilities and each combination decides 4 teams which enter into semi-finals. In case of a tie between 4th and 5th positions, NRR as on today is used to resolve the same.

This is the result I got.

(please scroll down)

Team	Chance of Entry to Semi-finals
Delhi	100.00
Chennai	86.96
Deccan	71.53
Bangalore	38.96
Mumbai	47.31
Rajasthan	38.28
Punjab	16.94
Kolkata	0.00

Pune Mumbai Express Highway

Today, I travelled in Pune-Mumbai express highway in a Volvo. Very good experience; I was sitting in the seat which is just next to the driver. So, I had the best view that can be possible. Clicked on arbit stuff all along.

It is really a thrilling experience to sit there with no seat belts on. எப்போ bus நம்மல கீழ சாயக்கும்னு தெரியாம உட்கார வேண்டியதா இருந்துது. Sudden brake அடிச்சான்னா, வடிவேலு மாதிரி முன்னாடி இருக்கற கண்ணாடிய ஒடச்சு கீழ போய், பாக்கிட்ல இருக்கற glass piece எடுத்து ஒதர வேண்டி இருக்கும்.

The surprising thing is that even the driver does not wear the seat belt. Whenever he wants to make a turn, he tends to get shifted from his comfort position and tries to hold the bottom of his seat in one hand and makes the turn. One moment if he misses - God knows what happens!

I asked him why does not he wear a seat belt (there is a provision and I suppose wearing seatbelt is compulsory) - that would make his life comfortable. He replied, "I do not have that habit."

Random clicks are here.

Ponniyin Selvan

I just finished reading Ponniyin Selvan for the second time. I read it for the first time 6 or 7 years before when I was at my engineering college. Now, once again, amazed at the plot, characterisation and the way the author connects various characters and events. At no point of time, I felt the story is being elongated just for the sake of it. Often there are repetitions, but it helps one to remember what happened and helps to connect with the present.

One should remember that this is a historic novel and cannot take things as granted. Where there is a clear proof of character and incident, the author needs to adhere to it and when the picture is not so clear, he is free to ignite the imagination - this is a tight rope walk. Amarar Kalki says the same sentence in the conclusive part. I guess the conclusive essay must have come a few weeks after the story ended. Author addresses the concerns of the readers and answers their queries.

There are many characters in the novel. Some characters are given good characterisation and some are given only build ups. The brilliance of characters comes out in Vandhiyadevan, Adiyan, Anirudhha Brahmarayar. Poonkuzhali and Manimegalai will stay on in the mind of the readers for ever. Both have many similar qualities, the striking difference being Manimegalai is so innocent whereas Poonkuzhali is not. The greatest built up is given for Kundavai. But there are not enough incidents or decision making circumstances which validate the build-ups. Though Anirudha Bramharayar comes relatively only in a few scenes, the character's intelligence is clearly portrayed in almost all the scenes.

I heard that the original hero of the novel was supposed to be Arul Mozhi Varmar himself, but Vandhiyadevan is so interwoven with the story that the author could not dethrone him from the hero's pedastal even after the introduction of Arul Mozhi Varmar early in the story. The incidents that happen after Arul Mozhi jumps into the sea to save Vandhiyadevan get a supersonic speed. I feel that is the point when Vandhiyadevan becomes the hero of the novel.

One character which gets you stumped is Nandini. One never knows when she speaks the truth and when she does not. She displays cunningness with a "cool attitude". She is very determined and does not get tensed whatever the situation be.

I read the entire story this time on my laptop - the pdfs from Project Madurai. The pdf of the fifth part contained many missing lines. So, I had to go to wikisource for reading whole of the 5th part. While I was reading, I made a pdf of the 5th part and uploaded under GDL.

CFA this June

It has been a long time since I updated my blog. I am currently posted at Mumbai for my summer internship; will be here for the next two months.

I give CFA Level I, offered by the CFA Institute in June. Because of the legal tussle with ICFAI, the exam center was originally not in India. So, I chose my test center as Kathmandu as did some of my other friends too. I planned to start the internship as early as possible, finish and go home, spend a week and then proceed to Kathmandu for the exam and come back to Lucknow.

On Apr 2nd, Delhi high court ruled that June 2009 CFA exams can be held in India. In one way it is good that I do not need to travel a lot of distance. But, had I known this would happen, I would have joined the internship late so that I can finish the internship and give exam in Mumbai and proceed directly to Lucknow. I need not have incurred loss on cancellation of the flight tickets to Kathmandu. But even with cancellation charges, writing in Mumbai works out to be better both economically and logistically.

More about the legal battle:
Wikipedia on Indian CFA
What ICFAI had to say?
What CFA Institute had to say?

Both of them provide a picture as if they are correct and the other party is outright wrong.

Convocation or Commencement

This post has been a long overdue- but better late than never.

Our institute’s 23rd Convocation was on this Tuesday.



Coincidentally, on the same day, I read the following short story in The Hindu’s YoungWorld which I thought is worth sharing.

A martial artist, who had spent years mastering karate, was waiting to receive the Black Belt from his master, when he was told that he had to pass one more test. "What’s the significance of the Black Belt", asked the master. "If you can answer this question correctly, I shall give you the Black Belt." The student smiled confidently and replied, "It’s the reward for my hard work!" To his surprise, the master shook his head disapprovingly and said, "You are not ready for the Black Belt. You may return in one year."
A year later, the student went to his master. Once again the master asked him the true meaning of the Black Belt. The student was bewildered and answered, "It’s a symbol of distinction... the highest achievement in our art!" The master once again shook his head in disapproval and told the student to return the next year with the answer.
The following year, the student went to his master, looking very humble. "Have you understood the importance of the Black Belt?" the master asked him. "Yes, Master," relied the student. "I’ve realized that it is not the end but the beginning of a never-ending journey of discipline, work and the pursuit of excellence."
"Here’s your Black Belt," said the master, smiling happily. "You have finally understood its true significance."

Probably, that's why they refer the graduation day as "Commencement" in some universities.

All the best to the IIML class of 2009.

Car Lease

From many of my co-students here, I learnt that various software companies are following a unique incentive scheme - owning car through company lease. It works something like this. The company leases out to the employee the car of his choice. The car will be in the name of the company and the lease payments are cut from his salary. At the end of say 3 or 4 years, the employee has to pay the salvage value at that point of time and get the car transferred into his name.

As per the tax laws, the company provides conveyance to the employees which can be treated as expenses in the profit-loss account. Instead of charging it to expenses under wages & salaries, the company charges the expenses to the conveyance account. Or if someone wants to treat it differently, the car can be capitalized to fixed assets and can be depreciated every year over its useful life. Now, instead of the wages & salaries, the expenses are under depreciation.

This is just one part of the story. The other part of the story is that the income of the employee is reduced, because the lease payments are not made out of his pocket. So, the employee will be paying less income tax.

We shall come back to the company’s side now. Since the company is providing car with fuel, maintenance etc (that’s what the scenario as per the accounts), the company is liable to pay the FBT at the rate of 20% over 20% of the expenses which works out to be a net of 4% on the total expenses. If this option is not provided by the company, the company would not have needed to pay this 4%. So, logically this has to be passed on to the employee. Also, if this option is not provided, the employee has to take a loan for his car at the market rate or pay out of his pocket. Adding to that, he will not be able to save the income tax. So, naturally the lease rent payable will be greater than the market rate. That is because the company is under no obligation to provide this option. Since it has designed such an exotic option, it wants to have its pie too.

I have made a simple calculation taking car’s price to be INR 400,000 and recurring expenses of INR 2,500. If someone decides to use the car for a 4 year period, one can save around 18% of total expenses under the lease option. The company also earns a 10% in the present value terms. This calculation is based on some assumptions which are also clearly stated in the calculation.

Excel sheet is uploaded.

Money behind IPL

I stuck upon an interesting and informative article regarding IPL in the BusinessLine. It is quite old (published: May 2008), but worth reading.

The author talks in detail about the financial model of the IPL. Who owns what? Who owes whom what? etc. There is so much of money involved at different levels in the IPL: team franchise, broadcast rights, player contracts, official sponsorship, team and player sponsorships, stadium rents, tickets, to name a few. This is the direct money which is at play when the Kings, Challengers, Riders and the like are at play. Apart from this, IPL creates a lot of indirect money in the form of travel, promotion, advertisements etc.

Understanding IPL’s financial levers

In the previous of IPL (2008), only 2 teams saw profits. We shall see what happens this year and the years to come.

With the busy schedule of the international players participating in the IPL, the timing is the most critical factor. If IPL misses to hold the event due to some externalities, there are several parties waiting to get a hole burnt in their pockets. Let us hope for some good entertainment this season.

Jogging

I have been jogging / cycling regularly for a while now. This is not a new year resolution, in fact I started jogging 3 days ahead of the new year. No need to have some special day to start something new. It has been around 2 and half months now in which I missed to jog only on 2 days. I started with a small stretch initially with just over 1 km which has now improved to one full round on the ring road of the IIML campus (2.7 km). I have never believed I could run such a distance non-stop. The secret of jogging lies in controlling the breath. If you do not feel that you are making extraordinary efforts to breathe while jogging, you are well in control and can jog comfortably. One of the most important things I realised in this jogging exercise is that, if one believes he can. Remember KungFu Panda? It may sound like a cliched message, but truth sounds like that always.

One of the shots on the course of my track:




More Photos. All of these photos are taken inside the campus.

Intelligent Ad!

I received an ad from a cinema multiplex. The message is quite interesting!

Don't miss to read the conditions. Very Clever!




The offer is open for children till class 8 only, which means they will most probably be accompanied by parents and contribute to increased sales. Offer is valid only in the weekdays as the cinema house does not want to lose the premium seats on weekends. Offer closes on April 15th which is probably just the start of the vacation - again it does not want to offer free seats during vacation peak time.

Th overall objective is to attract the future potential movie goers, with the side benefit of increased sales on the slump weekdays. (or vice versa)

If you peruse carefully, you know who's ad is this.

ARR wins Oscar

People say "Slumdog" is definitely not his best for which he should win an Oscar. Agreed, but one should remember that Oscar is not awarded to "the best music or the best song" produced in the given year. There are certain eligibility criteria set by the Academy (AMPAS) and the best score or the song is chosen (or rather voted) from the entries which make it to the eligibility list. Slumdog happened to meet the eligibility criteria and subsequently voted as the best for original background score and the song.

From now on, the tamil film producers would be tempted to put the film credits as "ஆஸ்கார் A. R. ரஹ்மான்"

CAT Result

Even the big names make some silly mistakes. If the same mistake had been done by a candidate in CAT, he would have lost his marks for the question and attracted penalty too!

(Click on the picture for a better resolution)

Educational Loan

I am studying a course on Financial Management as a part of our third term here at IIM Lucknow. In that, we get acquainted to concepts like present value, discount rates, cash flows etc. I just thought about applying these principles to an educational loan.

Below, I make a comparison of paying out now v taking an educational loan.

Assume that you have taken an educational of Rs 2,00,000 on 1st Jan 2009. The interest on educational loan is calculated assuming simple interest till the course gets over and after that the interest is compounded. Lets us assume that the course gets over in March 2010. So, the interest accrued at the end of March 2010 is Rs 25,000 (S.I @ 10% for 15 months). From April 2010, the principal and interest = Rs. 225000 has to be repaid in EMI. Suppose, if the tenure of repayment is 5 years, the EMI (compounded monthly) comes to be Rs 4780.59

As per the existing Income Tax rules in India, the interest on educational loan is tax exempted. Taking that into account, the present value of cash outflows from our hand is Rs 184862.6. If it has to be paid out now, one has to pay Rs 200000. This means, one saves a little over Rs 15000 as on today’s value by taking an educational loan of Rs 200000

I have made a simple model of the same in google spreadsheet.

Views, comments and criticisms are invited.

Monster - You need to read news!

This ad is featured in my homepage of orkut!

Play Safe

FBI to let India prosecute Mumbai attackers

This is a clear strategy of playing safe and escapism by U. S. It does not want to take the issue head-on with Pakistan. So, it says, "It is a major tragedy for you. So, you take charge of the situation. I will provide you support." It is to be read as "This is your problem, you do whatever you want and we do not want to get our hands dirty on this." Pakistan will interpret the statement as, "U. S. has come out of the issue. Now the deal is only between Pak and India", which is what U. S. also wants to tell to them.

Dead Cat Bounce

Thought of blogging about some interesting or new words and phrases that I encounter.

I heard of this term "dead cat bounce" from John Authers' Short View on 8th Jan 2008. The actual phrase used is "Even a dead cat will bounce if it is dropped from a great height".

Seems like this phrase is commonly used in market's parlance when some stock or index temporarily rise in the course of its fall. There are examples given by John Authers and he fears rise now could be a deadcat bounce.

One typical example in the recent period would be Satyam's stock decline.

Satyam - Troubled Story

It is so unfortunate to see a company which commanded high stature till a few weeks ago to go down. It is not a single day aberration, but a series of accounting fraud committed over years which have come to public, just because there is no more opportunities to hide them now. This is clearly evident from Raju’s letter. It is a classic case of broken-window concept.

The fact that is both surprising and shocking is that this fraud has been continued for years now without the notice of the audit firm, PwC and the independent directors. With that being said, either the (un)ethics or the incompetency of these parties would have been the accomplice. Or, Mr. Raju is very clever to keep both of them blind. How can a company survive for years with imaginary cash balance? There are two scenarios here. 1. The cash were not generated at the first place or 2. The cash which got generated suddenly disappeared. With media highly speculating on Raju’s obsession with the real estate, scenario 2 above cannot be eliminated. In fact, the authors in one of the livemint’s columns say that one should take Raju’s letter with a pinch of salt. And, we know the truth only when the results of the investigations are out. Till then, Wait and Watch.

Bad Debts

This is rather an interesting imagination, but there is a possibility. In the past, I had irritating experiences with some telecom providers and banks during closing of accounts. One of my friends has also shared a similar experience. Even after giving the request for disconnection, the connection or the account has not been closed. In the case of a mobile phone service, the monthly rental and the late charges have been charged every month for a connection which is supposed to have been closed months earlier as per the request.

There might be some customers like me who are bothered about this and keep pestering the company regarding the closing of the account. But, I believe not everyone does so. Once they give instruction they are not further bothered.

I thought this was a sheer lack in the customer service but during one of our discussions, my friend Karthikeyan and I figured out there could be a hidden agenda behind this whole story.

The situation goes like this. The company keeps charging rentals and late charges for a definite period and subsequently closes the account writing off the amount accrued on the same. As per the records, they have provided “service” to a customer who defaults on his payments forcing the company to close the account and write-off the balance on his account. In reality, there is no service provided at all and no loss made by the company.

In curiosity, I just had a look at the annual report of one of the major telecom providers. It had written off an approximate amount of about Rs 2 billion in the FY 2008-09. Well, there could be some real instances where people used up the services and defaulted creating bad debts to be written off. But one cannot eliminate the possibility of intentionally creating bad debts and writing off the same.

Assume that about 10% (some random percentage, as I do not have any basis to come with a closer guess) of the bad debts are created in this fashion which is Rs 200 million. This reduces the taxable income of the company by that amount. For ease of calculation, assume that the income tax is charged at 30%. Let us have a look into what each party gains or losses.

Company: Tax on Rs 200 million = Rs 60 million saved for the company, but has to pay the service tax (say 12%) on Rs 200 million = Rs 24 million. Therefore, a net gain of Rs 36 million.

Government: A tax of Rs 60 million lost, but gains a service tax (say 12%) on Rs 200 million = Rs24 million. Therefore, a net loss of Rs 36 million.

Customers: Lending their names unknowingly in evading the income tax.

Colors of taste

I was in Rasipuram last week. After having an opportunity to taste home food, now back to the mess where Mr. Potato is very prompt in making his attendance every session in his varied appearances. Mr. Gobi and Mr. Paneer have already strongly cemented their places in the menu.

Adade!

One specialty that I like about cartoons is the “brevity”. One need not write a lorry full of words to send the message across. Cartoons facilitate the reader to grasp the opinion that the author wants to convey much quickly. In that sense, cartoons are one of the greatest time-savers.

Adade-1 by Mathi is the first of the six volumes of cartoons compiled and published by the NHM. All the cartoons are based on the then current affairs in one of the following forms: conveying the news, mocking at them, offering opinions and reflecting public’s perceptions. The cartoons originally appeared in the first-page of “Dinamani”.

I would not say all the cartoons are excellent. There are some clichés like mocking the books-bag that children carry to school, jokes about robbery etc. Still, there are many other good cartoons which make me rate the book good in an overall level. It would have been an added value if the date on which the cartoon originally published in the newspapers is also given. The cartoons cover various topics including madras–eye, floods, midnight-arrest, coalition politics, Veerappan, drivers’ strike, elephant–camp, Kannagi issue, inflation and unemployment. In all of these, I liked the Kannagi series and the elephant series most.

I was not able to sync well with the cartoons as I had forgotten some of the news. What would have triggered a lot of laughter when read in the context would not do so if you are out of the context. That’s when, a small hint about the news and the date would help. Though the cartoons are arranged based on various categories, the system is not followed strictly as many cartoons are scattered randomly inside which belonged to no particular category. I feel those could have been put under a separate section. I am not sure how the volumes (total of 6) are categorized, but it would be great if it had been categorized based on the years, as it would offer the diversity of cartoons as well as be related to one another.

One disappointment is that out of the 150 cartoons, there are not many cricket-based ones which would be fun to read any day. If I am not wrong, there is only one which is also very old – about the book fixing controversy. More range of news could have been covered if they had gone for chronological arranging rather than the manual compilation based on different categories.

Another thing which does not go well is the “one-page-one-cartoon” concept in the book. It is definitely a huge space dedicated to a single cartoon. In fact, 4 cartoons a page would have been a very good proposition in many ways: get all the cartoons related to a theme within a few pages, less turning-around of pages and of course less pages (eco-friendly! :-)).

Final Word: Add to your library!

Book Link

Banking

New Videos added on the topic "Banking" by Khan Academy.

Previous post.

Happens everywhere

See the news from Chennai, 2005
See the news from New York, 2008

I can see a lot of similarities between these two. People started queuing up long before the scheduled opening. Once the commotion started, they showed no concern for anything else. Most importantly, the crowd did not care for the fellow human beings.

What is the motivation behind standing in those long queues?
I could think of the following 3 reasons.
1. Perceived “necessity”.
2. Limited resources and fear of being the last and to be shown the door.
3. Intention to come out of the queue quickly.

One should think about the risk in terms of the cost of time and money involved in standing in the queue and the benefits that they gain from successfully coming out of the queue. Once he is clear that the perceived benefits outweigh the cost in terms of money, unpleasantness associated with standing in the queue, time etc., only then he should proceed to stand in the queue.

The second reason is what it happens once the person is in the queue. This means he has already invested and he does not want to go empty handed and wants to get the maximum out of the investment. This is where he forgets about the ethics and everything else. This has a close association with the third reason. Since, he perceives that standing in the queue is so unpleasant he just wants to come out of it at the earliest possible time.

In this scenario, if the queue breaks up slightly for whatsoever reason, every individual will try to take advantage of it. He does not want anyone who entered the queue to go ahead of him and at the same time, if there is an opportunity he wants to make use of it. The same logic applies to every individual and this creates a chain of chaos and commotion. Remember that, the person who critically analyses point 1 will never stand in this queue, because he knows that the cost outweighs the benefits.

Two ways to overcome this problem:
1. Change the mindset of the people.
2. Better crowd management system.

Point number 1 is easy said than done. Forget it. Lots of investment required and no body will guarantee the output. Point number2 can definitely be implementable. Better queuing system with proper information about when does it start, what is the approximate time of standing in the queue etc will certainly help people make an informed decision. Also, if there are some features in the queue aimed at keeping people in the queue engaged, they may not feel that the time is wasted unproductive. Those features really depend on the context of the queue.

Khan Academy doing a great work!

Recently one of my friends (Arockia) forwarded a playlist @ youtube about the recent financial crisis, MBS, CDOs etc.  Here is the link.

The way the instructor explained the concepts behind all those in simple terms and with apt analogies is really awesome.  Not only they talk about this financial crisis, banking etc, but also about various other basic and advanced concepts ranging from algebra, trignometry to physics.  One might be interested in going through their site.  It is a non-profit initiative by the duo - Salman & Jonathan.

May We Help You

I noticed that I have not been receiving my airtel bills for about 3 months in a row. Usually, I go directly to their website and pay using my card. Today, when I did, I noticed the link saying "May We Help You?". Yes, Of course. So, I went there and it gave me a screen.



I promptly filled in the relevant fields and gave a detailed description of my problem. Then clicked on the submit button. Then came this screen.



Great!! It had deleted all my text and presented me with the blank box again. And just look at the text-area given for the description field for “150 characters”!!

But still, I went ahead and logged in my complaint only to get a message saying that they would revert back on Dec 1 (11 days from now).

I thought I should not have asked for the “help”.

Matrix Spoof

Truly hilarious!

The White Tiger

The book is written as a single long letter by a "self-made entrepreneur" in Bangalore to the Chinese President Wen Jiabao. The entrepreneur Balram Halwai, calls himself as "the white tiger". He takes through his life describing his notorious journey from the Darkness (that’s the name he gives to the Gangetic plain region) to the Light (the likes of Delhi and Bangalore).
The author, Aravind Adiga, portrays a picture of India in its true(!) colour. He touches upon many things: the pathetic condition of the poor people in the rural North, the cunningness and dominance of the rich and the land-lords, irresponsible behavior and actions of the government officials, the plight of the construction workers in big cities like Delhi, meanness of the masters and the unquestionable servility of the workers, corruption at different levels etc.
Balram starts his story from his village Laxmangarh. He then goes on about his experience in the school, how he was stopped schooling, his days at the tea shop, his experiences as a driver of Mr. Ashok in Delhi, his escape to Bangalore and his "entrepreneurship" in Bangalore. The sharp contrast in attitude of Balram from being a driver to being a master is vividly presented.
Author stands out with his sarcastic comedy throughout the book. Some of them are,
Oops! Thirty-six million and five-!
How does the enterprising driver earn a little extra cash?
Balram saying to the Toyota dealer, "I want to drive your cars".
Beating down the entire family of the unfaithful servant, asking the driver to go to prison for the accidental murder by the master, meanness to give driver some money on his marriage, doubting on the driver for a single rupee, comparison with rooster coop - These are some classic extracts from the book trying to bring view-points which may go unnoticed.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

CDOs and other 3 letter bad words....

There is an interesting article in Hindu some days back. This details an "experienced" person's position w.r.t the current financial crisis. You may find it interesting.

The 3 mistakes of my life - Review

Chetan Bhagat has the knack of appealing to the spirits of the audience, especially youth. That's what the trend in his first two books, the first one about the life of 3 guys @ an IIT and the second book about the nocturnal BPO employed generation. Now comes the third one which combines cricket, love and religious fanatics.

The story takes off with a good momentum, especially supported by the author's (characteristic?) prologue. The story has the background in Gujarat in early 2000s. Immediately, when the protogonist encounters the unfortune in the wake of the earthquake disaster, you know what would come next. But, the author maintains the story interesting till the end. The inhuman incidents which followed the Godhra ruthlessness are captured alongside.

There are some logical glitches, though.
1. A student of 12th standard with a middle class background would not have had a mobile phone in the year 2000.
2. How many years Vidya has been preparing for her entrance exams? She finishes her XII by 2000 and goes on preparing till 2002. Quite possible, but there is no mention to support the fact.
3. Ish praises Hayden like one of the legends. Of course he is, but at least he was not one in the year 2000.
4. Ali's unique ability is his reflex and not his arm power. This logic not fit when he hits the ball inside the bank in the climax scene.

'Grave' error

Steve Jobs obituary had been mistakenly published by Bloomberg .  Of course, it is removed now.

See the news items.

Telegraph 

CNET 

Check

Bold move by Tata!

Taste Banana in a Orange!?

Mind-boggling breakthrough:

Genetically Altered Flavor.

We have started breaking all rules of nature.  We accept that as long as it gives benefit in the short term, it is fine for us. 

Is it in the right direction? I feel this invention has a potential to turn the ecosystem upside down.

Read here

Mobile Magic

What have you done in mobile banking till now?  Checked balance, booked tikects, paid bill etc.,   Have you ever withdrawn hot cash using your mobile? 

 

Airtel is on a pilot project for the same. Here it goes...

 

As per this article, it may serve as a convincing reason for many people to open a bank account to use this facility.

 

And, another news is about the AdRBT - Ad Ring Back Tone.  Instead of the caller tunes, you can set this and whoever calls you will listen to an advertisement instead of the usual ringtone/caller tune till you pick up the call.  It is a kind of profile based targeted advertisement.  And, I hope the person stands to gain something from the mobile company (as a part of ad revenues that it makes) in return for the curse of his friends and relatives.

 

Dasavatharam

I saw Dasavatharam today.  After that, I have been reading reviews.  One thing I found amazing in the reviews which I have read till now.  Either the people praise the movie most or chuck it most.  So, before being distracted by the reviews,  I want to record my views of the movie.

Overall I found the movie good, except for the theatre which is very clumsy and sultry.  I liked some of the shots like the gopuram being shown bottom-up and top-down.  Not all the songs are good, but the Mukunda-mukunda and Kallai-mattum are catchy with both music and lyrics.  I felt relieved when I found that "Ulaganayagan" song is not in the main story-line.  

There is no solid reason why Kamal should do 10 different characters in the movie.  But the answer - that is something different and Kamal felt it is worth giving a try.  That's good, but not all the 10 characters are characterised well.  The "Khan" character and the entire group associated with that character(?) is not at all characterised well and is definitely redundant, except for that without that character the film will not be Dasavatharam.  Kamal has taken a lot of pains in doing  those characters, but whether the efforts will fetch the desired results is yet to be seen.

KS Ravikumar was being interviewed in CNN-IBN and he told it is definitely not possible for him to redo the film in any other language just because it is a humongous effort and he will be bored if he does it again.  That is definitely understandable with a single person playing all the important characters in the movie and the background work associated with taking each and every scene, especially if it involves more than one character.

The special-effects in the climax scene are awesome.  The fight between the American and the Japanese is worth watching.  It is just on the margin of becoming unrealistic. 

Talking about the protagonist, Dr Govind's story line, he's after a virus which he developed which may prove to be extremely dangerous to the mankind.  In a mix-up, the vial containing  the virus and himself have been couriered to India from US. With him, follows the villain Fletcher and the chase sequence starts from there.  In another mix-up, Asin joins Dr. Govind and runs with him till the end.  The story is similar to many of the Jackie-Chan movies where the hero runs constantly and the villain chases.  With all these, there are other Kamals like the police officer Balram Naidu, Poovarajan and Avtar Singh coming in the middle.

Kamal's dialogue delivery for Balram Naidu and Bush requires a special mention.

Loose ends in the movie are kept loose for us to tie them and make a meaning out of it.  So, those who are unable to tie them would find themselves lost.  Finally, it is yet another Kamal movie where nothing is said explicitly and most of the things are left for our interpretation.

Klean Kerala

I was on a trip to Guruvayur last week and happened to stop at Trichur Railway station. I was amazed at the cleanliness at the station. Compared to the Salem, Chennai and Bangalore, Trichur station looked clean and tidy - good chairs at waiting hall, clean rest rooms, neat display systems with LCD TVs and LEDs at various places.
I ordered a cup of tea from one of the local tea vendors at the station. After giving me a cup of tea, he showed me two dust bins in that vicinity to throw the used cup into!!

Splash of colours on the sky

Last week, it rained in Bangalore!

Shall we tell the President - Review

This novel written by Jeffrey Archer in 1970s is of suspense genre. On March 3rd, Mark Andrews, the special agent of FBI gets to know about a plot to assasinate the President. But except him, four others who know this plot are murdered the same night. Only thing he knows for sure is that a senator is involved, and the assasination is planned on March 10. The story is about how he and the Director of FBI, Tyson put together the pieces and solve the puzzle. Within the first twenty pages, the story gears up with the top speed which it maintains till the end. Especially as the D-day comes closer, Mark takes the story in the jet. I would recommend the readers to gather the facts as the story goes on and try finding out the culprit even before the author tells who it is.

Animal Farm - Review

Recently, I read this book by George Orwell. It was written in 1940's. But still the subject seems to be very relevant even today. Not only today, I think it will be as interesting as it was anytime. The story goes on like this. The animals in a farm feel they are extracted maximum work by the human beings and are fed too little. They conspire and successfully overthrow their Master and go on to manage their own business. Slowly, the intelligent animals (pigs, as the author writes) take over the reins and become masters. The not-so-intelligent animals are deceived and extracted to the most, again. Orwell brings out the cunningness of the crooked people through Napolean, a pig who eventually becomes the dictator of the Animal Farm. The character of Squealer was clearly portrayed as a middle man who spreads the dictator's message across in the most persuading way.

Beautiful Bangalore

Today morning, as I woke up early, I had an opportunity to see Bangalore minimum traffic. I was surprised that I had not even once noticed the fragrance of eucalyptus when passing along the Lalbagh in RV Road all these 3 years. I am not sure whether it was because of my ignorance or the pollution's effect. But certainly today I enjoyed riding on the road in my RX-100, further down to the rose-garden road after crossing the south end circle. With the wind breezing on to the face, enjoying the picturesque parks on either side, it was a wonderful experience.

Tata Nano

Finally, the one lakh car is out.

This is what Ratan Tata had to say about making of the NANO. It must be a great sense of feeling for him to have achieved a feat which had faced and is still facing a lot of criticism. Here he talks about the inspiration, challenges faced, potential customers, future trend and competitors.

This NANO is all set to revolutionise the Indian roads.

Click on the pics to follow the articles.

Path to the semifinals: Group E

With England kicked out of the World Twenty20 tournament, now the contest is among SA, NZ and India. NZ has a W/L ticket, SA has an RAC - almost through to semifinals unless it does something haphazardly to kick itself out of the tournament. NZ can just wait and watch. It should hope for India to lose the match or win convincingly against SA, in the first case India will be kicked out and in the second case SA will be kicked out based on NRR.

India will have to go for the tatkal, as a win in today's match will get a conformed berth in the Semis. This is the current scenario. NZ has an NRR of 0.05. SA, even if it loses to India, has to ensure that its NRR after the last match of Super-Eight does not fall below 0.05. Till now it has scored 312 in 39.1 overs and has given 288 in 40 overs. So, it comes down to

If India bats first and wins, and 'x' and 'y' are the scores of SA and India, then SA has to ensure

(312 + x) / 59.166666 - (288 + y) / 60 >= 0.05

Or, if SA bats first and makes 'x' runs, and India finally wins in 'k' overs, it has to ensure,

(312 + x) / 59.166666 - (289 + x) / (40 + k) >= 0.05

And if India loses, SA upgrades the W/L ticket of NZ to a conformed one and books a hassle-free air ticket for India to head home. This post had been written yesterday by this time, and in an eagerness to watch the match, had forgotten to post it.

Sivaji

Sivaji
Originally uploaded by rectarun.

Sivaji Trailer released!! Have the flash version here.

Got the news yesterday itself from Filbert and Avyukta. At office, when I tried opening the flash and mpg links in megashare as given by Filbert, could not download the entire content. Only some 20 seconds of data got downloaded. The first task coming home was to download the trailers and watch. But there was some problem with the IE, and it could not play the flash format. I did not intend to watch the "mpg" file format as Filbert recommended the flash version is of better quality. So downloaded the flash player, which also did not fix the problem. Lost hopes with IE, went to Mozilla, downloaded the flash plug-ins for that browser. It also failed to play. Finally, I tried the "Brahmastra" -- Restarting the computer. Yes, It worked!

Rajini, as usual, looks young. I would have already watched the trailer some 4 times. Movie seems to be nicely packed with theme, action, stunts and excellent BGMs. There are some awesome scenes: 1. Rajini dodging an attack simultaneouslycatching a chewing-gum. 2. Signing in both the hands 3. The way he brings the revolver from one hand to another around
the neck. Too good!

All I say is get ready for the big-show. Sivaji count-down starts!!

Photo Courtesy : www.galatta.com

Wayanad Pics

These are some of the scenic pics taken in Wayanad. More pics here

checking

This is just a check message. Just to see how the photo upload from picasa works. Seems like good!

Wayanad-Bike-Car-Trip

Marvellous Road

Just like that, 11 of us from our office started on our bikes and car to Wayanad, an adventurous trip. We took 6 bikes and my car. The most unbelievable part was that we planned leave Bangalore on Sat. morning by 4:00 am, and really left at 4:30 am itself. We reached Mysore by 7:15 itself. Most of the way, the speedometer showed over 100 kmph. Had breakfast in mysore and Reached Gundulupet around 10:30 am and reached the initial destination Sultan Battery around 12 noon. Ok, I should not say "destination" as there was none such. We were always on the road travelling from one place to another. While going from Gundulupet to Sultan Battery, the jungle stretch is too good.

In all we visited 5 places in Wayanad
1. Jain temple
2. Edakal caves
3. Another dilapidated temple (on the way from Panamaram to Kuruva islands)
4. Kuruva islands
5. Muthunga wildlife sanctuary.

Edakkal cave is amazing. It is believed to have formed out of earthquake before some 6000 years and inside you will find inscriptions by stone-age people. It is like two big rocks on either sides balancing another one on the top. It is very chill inside the caves. Just to experience that, you wont repent trekking for about 1.5 kms.

One more thing worthy to mention is the road to Kalpetta (the one that you see on the image). On either sides, you see the tea plantations and the road is excellently maintained. It is like you love driving and driving in those roads.

One more experience which had taken me in amazement is when a middle aged lady residing in one of no-so-high-profile houses near the roadside exchanged "welcome" when I said "thank-you" for her voluntary-offering of a bottle of paana-thanni (mud-ka water)

Kodaikanal - Place for Summer

The Lake

This summer, surprisingly visited the cool location. The most interesting part was my car driving up and down the Kodaikanal hill. Got some expertise in the hill driving too. Actually it is more thrilling to drive down hill than to climb.

There are some good places to visit in Kodaikanal like Pine forest, Guna cave(but it is properly fenced and you will not get the same picture as you saw in Guna movie), Pillar rocks etc. We missed something called cocus walk. Boating would have been a fun, had the rain not played the spoilsport. You get bi-cycle for Rs10/hour and can go around the lake, downhill and enjoy riding. I did feel difficulties in riding a bicycle almost after 3 years. The last time I was regularly using it was when I had Hero Impact in college. Seems like I have become a full time software engineer.

It is an approx 20 km ride around the hills where you can cover all the above places. And near the lake, there is Bryant Park which is full of different colorful flowers. Nice place to spend time. There is Silver Cascade on the way uphill to Kodaikanal

Best strategy would be to reach Kodaikanal in the evening(around 3), go around for boating and Bryant park, have some shopping of spices/oils if you need, towards the night and start the next day early, take a guided tour. You can get more information in the hotels about the tour plan and places to visit.

Before buying anything, it is always better to ask in atleast 4 different shops. In our general experience, we found that the woolen blankets, oils were cheaper in Kodaikanal. But for getting oils and spices, it is better to go to the government outlets.

Potential Yeman

I was on the National Highway 7 driving my Santro from Bangalore to Rasipuram on Friday night, when the water bottle that I kept on my dashboard slipped suddenly due to some turn or bump on the road.  It went under the pedals.  I noticed when it fell, but for a minute, I did not actually care.  Then I thought what if it goes under the brake pedal and blocks it from pressing against.  I decided to take that out, applied brakes, lowered the speed, tried lowering the gears that's when I  realized I could not apply clutch.  But somehow managed to bring it to neutral and stopped the car on the road-side.  If it had got under the brake-pedal instead of clutch, probably I would not have posted this now.

Srirangapatna

Dhariya Doulat Bagh
Originally uploaded by rectarun.

Planned a visit to Mysore last saturday. Due to time and health constraints, after visiting Srirangapatna, came back home. But, Srirangapatna alone is worth one full-day visit. What you see is Dhariya Doulat Bagh which was Tipu's Summer place now converted to a museum.
First I should say about the road from Bangalore, except for some 5 km stretch scattered in-between, the road is very good. Srirangapatna is on the Bangalore-Mysore highway, roughly 10 km before Mysore. On the way, there is a Kamat hotel at Lokkurichi(at about 50th km from Bangalore) after crossing Bidadi and Ramanagara. A good choice for break-fast. Otherwise, I heard there are some good eating places in Maddur.
Here is a list of places to see in and around Mysore and Srirangapatna.

Srirangapatna Temple
Very similar to our Srirangam temple in Trichy. Infact Srirangapatna itself is an island in Cauvery river just like Srirangam.
Timings : 7:00 am to 1:00 pm and from evening 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm (Car parking : Rs 20)

Dariya Daulat Bagh
Timings : 9:30 am to 5:00 pm (Free car parking). Has lush green fields and shadowy trees.

Tipu's Gumbaz
Timings : 8:30 am to 6:30 pm (Car parking : Rs 20). Again a huge place, nice gardens. The buildings are proofs for excellent Mughal architecture. Built by Tipu himself for his mother, seems he also had deserved and reserved a place for him too.

Sangam
Timings : till 7:30 pm. This is a place Cauvery meets two other rivers, whose names I forgot. Not a great place in the non-season if there is less water.

Ranganthittu
Speciality : Birds. Season : June to October. Boating is also available here. Timings : 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm. This is at a distance of about 5 km from Srirangapatna.

Palmuri falls - 6km from Ranganthittu. Timinsg might be in line with others.

Brindavan Gardens
Everyone knows what it is famous for. But it is closed temporarily due to Kavei-issue. Best time to enter is evening 5:00 o'clock. Entry is not allowed beyond 6:00 pm.

At Mysore, one can visit the Palace and the Zoo, both open between 9:30 am and 5:30 pm. If you get hold of any person in Infosys Mysore, the campus there should be in your must-see list.

Chamundi hills
About 16 km from Mysore in a different route (not the one towards Bangalore or Brindavan gardens). Speciality : Devi Temple, Timings : Morning 8:00 to Evening 8:00

More photos