My new love

It was love at first sight ;-)

General Motors’ Chevrolet Aveo hits Indian roads tomorrow, March 23 2006. Priced at a lucrative 5.54 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi) for its base model, this premium mid-segment sedan will compete against existing cars in its category such as Honda City and Ford Fiesta, the segment top-two. GM, having a tough time to uphold their global number 1 position against Japanese car manufactures like Toyota and Honda, is aggressively targeting emerging markets such as India to maintain their revenues. The car is available in 4 variants with a deluge of advanced features. I particularly liked this color. :-)

In between I found this article about the history of Honda Motors. It’s an interesting read.

Holi Crap!

This photo appeared in Hindustan Times on March 14, 2006, released by PTI, taken somewhere in Gujarat during Holi celebrations. For some it may seem to be the efficient artwork of an unknown photographer who successfully captured the essence of Holi in all its vividness using his camera. But for a few it may seem to be the colorful flare-up of immorality unknowingly captured by the photographer, unnoticed by PTI and inadvertently published by the newspaper. After all it’s Holi. It’s a religious festival. Its fun! And no one has ever defined the boundaries of fun. So what if some had gone for a six!

‘Post-Navaratri abortions’ (a rise in the number of abortions past Navaratri celebrations) were something which was a serious concern to the officials till recently. But this year the number of abortions came down drastically, only subsequent to a ‘25 ~ 50%’ increase in the sales of condoms during Navaratri period. Well, people are more aware of ‘such’ things these days. TOI also says, If this is not enough, volunteers deployed by NGOs at garba venues are only waiting to hand you that free sachet tied with a 'red ribbon' to drive the message of safe-sex, right home. In fact, this is the first time that HIV volunteers have put up stalls inside garba venues where they don't mind handing out a condom along with those leaflets. Can't quite believe that this happens in a religious festival!

Reading these somewhere it feels that religion and religious practices had turned to nothing but a meager wrapping to depravity. Donno when the self proclaimed moral police of India, cosseted under the umbrella brand of the leading political party would realize these things in their spree to deport Valentines Day celebrations from India. After all it happens only in India, where irony has become nothing but a buzz word these days!

And it ended

Today I had my last exam. With this my two year course in management has formally come to an end. Looking back, I should say that it was an interesting ride that I had in the last two years. I have gone through lots of experiences, learnings, self-realizations etc. Yes I have changed a lot. But not quite sure whether these changes are for good, as it already started reflecting adversely in a few things I care about. But then lemme see what future has in store for me. I already have a job offer from a company through laterals and I am quite happy with the kind of job profile they offered me. So I accepted that offer. I won’t be sitting for the final placements. I don't want to feel the pleasure of owning multiple offers playing with someone else's chance. So, over and out. :-)

On a Valentine's Day

“Dey, I’ve to do a small shopping. Are you coming with me?” When Shaks asked me this at 5 in the evening, I was just woken up from a not so small slumber which I started after my morning class at 8:45. With quasi closed eyes I was contemplating about the possibilities of starting a ‘non-Valentines’ day from this year onwards. Might be the aftermath of a dream I had in which I was riding on a black stallion with 14 red roses in my right hand and seven in my mouth, but not finding anyone to sell those. Yes! You read it correct. Sell it is! Actually in that dream I was a sales guy who sells red roses to valentines! Too much of a dream and I felt it as an insult on my conscious mind by my subconscious mind, which generates all such arbitrary dreams! And then I decided to start a ‘non-Valentines’ day. Don’t know why St. Valentine forgot about such a huge majority in his shore up for people who love each other. We, the majority were always there, but still.

Shaks and me left our dorms within half an hour and we reached the factory outlet in another 15 minutes. He did all the actual shopping and I engaged myself in checking whether the shop owner had applied all the retailing and layout principles taught in our retail management elective.

“Hmm... not up to the mark” I told to myself.

“What?” a lady who was busy selecting shirts near the shelf, shot up all of a sudden.

“I mean, the shelves are not up to the mark.” I replied and then with a sheepish grin moved on to where Shaks was standing.

He was trying to make a choice between two shades with the same checks and in between, haggling on the discount they were offering for that particular range. Anyways he didn’t take much time to arrive at a decision.

It was at that time that Shaks noticed the lady whom I just had an eye-fight.

“Dey, she is a TV actress. I have seen her many times on television.”

“You sure? I haven’t seen her anytime.”

“I’m sure yaar. Ok let’s go and ask her.”

“Hmm… wouldn’t that be too much?”

“You should always be proactive man.”

Next second I saw him near the lady, about to ask her something.

“Are you an actress? I have seen you on television. I am a great fan of yours!”

“What? No I don’t act. By the way, I have seen both of you at the institute. I am wife of Prof. R. P Bhatia.”

Had I got a camera that time, I would’ve taken a snap of Shaks' face. It would've definitely won popular photography awards due to the presence of the maximum number of expressions in one face at one time.

Incidentally Prof. Bhatia teaches us Retail Management.

An Interesting Situation

Got this picture while surfing the internet for images of skateboards. The question is simple. If the power cord is connected to a plug and the fan is turned on, where does the skateboard go? Towards left or towards right? Ok lemme make it simpler. Whether the skateboard move or not? Assume that both the screen and the fan are fixed on the board. Once again, think and answer. :-)