Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Movie Reviews

New York (Hindi movie) - Being in U.S. at time of collapse of twin towers, I had got the chance to gauge the feelings of americans very nearly.. I was in Phoenix at that time & few of my colleagues were in NY & saw the plane hitting towers live & escaped narrowly in timing of coming out of WTC. After effects in terms of resentment & racism were there but never came right on to the face to us luckily. In one of the incidence, after couple of weeks has passed from 9/11, me & my room mate Ashutosh were driving in his Convertible Ford Mustang by keeping the roof open & playing music. Then one car having group of young guys passed us & they started shouting bad words at us & we were quick to realise our mistake that sentiments of these people are badly affected coz of incidence & better to maintain low profile for few more months.... Movie is also trying to say the same thing that it was the situation which was the problem & not the people or FBI... To protect interest of larger class of civilised people, a small set of suspects have faced injustice & poor treatment... Same way as innocent Shikh people were poorly treated after assasination of Indira Gandhi in India coz of resentment...

Love Story 2050 (Hindi) - Part before interval is in Adelaide, Australia. Then imagination of Mumbai in 2050 is shown. Shown some flying cars, robots, T.V. in air, interactive microwave etc. Nothing great in movie but good to see Adelaide city & have a feel of future technnologies.

Singh is King (Hindi) - Its bit comedy movie but personally didn't like much.

Cast Away (English) - This one has some unique story. Fedex Cargo plan crashes in Sea & one survivor lands up on a lonely island. There his fight for life begins & he lives for 2 & half years in Adam's age on that lonely island before returning back to his country. I liked the way they've shown him struggling hard to create fire & jumping with joys on succeding when fire gets generated after hours of hard work.

Born On July 4th (English) - This one is on Vietnam war & how injured army men gets poorly treated in U.S. hospitals. Also covers abt friendly firing & killing of innocent civilans n kids in the war.

Born to Free (English) - This movie is based on one true story in Kenya. Forest officer n his wife makes lion cubs as their pats after killing their parents who have turned man eaters. Whole movie is pretty cool. When 3 cubs grows, govt. asks them to shift to zoo. They send 2 & still keeps 1 until that lioness grows very young. Once she creates problems, so again govt. asks them to shift to zoo but officer's wife wants lioness to free in forest. So she can live more natural life. Then they starts trying hard to train lioness in hunting & making compatible for forest environment. So she can survive on her own. After 4-6 months of hard work they succeeds on same. Good movie to show it to kids.

Wolf Creek (English) - One of the state in Australia is western Australia where many people gets reported as missing every year. This movie is about story of 4 tourists who wants to explore wolf creek area in Western Australia. They come across a cruel psycho man who kills people by applying cruelty. There are some horrific scenes in the movie.

Cliff Hanger (English) - This one is a cool movie. Some bad people hijacks the plane carrying money & while transfering bags to other plane, it falls down in icy mountains. They try to chase for money & tries to use local rescurers for same by instilling fear of death. Eventually local rescurers win in fight against them. Some good scenes of rock climbing.

Gorillas in the Mist(English) is a 1988 film which tells the true-life story of naturalist Dian Fossey and her work in Rwanda with Mountain Gorillas. It was nominated for five Academy Awards. A Kentucky woman, Dian Fossey, is inspired by an anthropologist Louis Leakey to devote her life to the study of primates. Travelling into deepest Africa, Fossey becomes fascinated with the lives and habits of the rare mountain gorillas of the Rwandan jungle. She becomes so preoccupied with her vocation that she loses the opportunity of a romance with National Geographic photographer Bob Campbell. Appalled by the poaching of the gorillas for their skins, hands, and heads, Fossey complains to the Rwandan government, which dismisses her, claiming that poaching is the only means by which some of the Rwandan natives can themselves survive. She rejects this, and dedicates herself to saving the African Mountain gorilla from illegal poaching and likely extinction. To this end she forms and leads numerous anti-poaching patrols, and even burns down the poachers' villages and stages a mock execution of one of the offenders. Fossey is mysteriously murdered on December 26, 1985, in the bedroom of her cabin.

Friday, June 12, 2009

On Optimizing Organization

* For increasing the overall productivity of an organization, focus should be made on increasing the utilization, efficiency & effectiveness while dealing with resources.
* Management by objectives should cover following 8 areas:
1. Marketing objectives
2. Innovation
3. Human resources
4. Capital resources
5. Physical resources
6. Productivity
7. Social Responsibility
8. Profitability
* Organizations tend to focus only on needs of customers but one should remember that ratio of non-customers to customers is always much more higher. Even for large empires like Walmart its 87:13. To increase market share its very important to identify needs of non customers also.
* Theory of business is based on assumptions about environment, mission & core competencies of Organization. Unless its not enlarged, organization can't grow much.
* 90% of results of organization are based on 10% activities. Effective executives should try to identify that & take few important decisions which can cause impacts. He should know when it should be based on principle & when pragmatically.
* While making people decisions: 1. Think thru assignment 2. Look at no. of qualified people 3. Think hard abt how to look at each candidates 4. Discuss each candidate with several people 5. Make sure appointee understands the job.
* While dealing with idea: 1. must meet rigorous test of practicality 2. must have economic validity 3. meet test of personal commitment
* While making decision don't go for specific. go one step further & take generic decision & go one more step further & take preventive measure.... e.g. in restaurant customer tells waiter that salt is less in curry. Waiter coming & solving his problem is specific decision. Waiter informing to the cook & cook adds salt to whole pot of curry to correct problem is generic decision & cook changing the recipie book for that item is preventive measures.... This way of taking decisions will save lots of time.
* Don't go for changing any process without doing root cause analysis & studying about its implications. Try to pin point the flaw & apply correction there. Don't start any new process without giving much thought. It may eat up lots of time. Stop the processes which are not giving effective results. That will help in freeing up the resources which can be used some where else.
* Innovation is work rather than genius & effective innovations start small.
* Management needs to find better ways to increase productivity of knowledge workers. A country which will lead in that will be the next economic power.
* It costs just as much to do the paper work for a small order as for a larger one.
* Studies reveal that revenues & efforts allocates them to 90% of events that produce practically no results.
* Managers should concentrate their efforts on smallest no. of products, product lines, services, customers, markets etc. which will produce large amount of revenues.
* Channelise staff efforts on very few things that are capable of producing significant results.
* Apply effective cost control on very few areas which will have significant impact.
* Allocate resources to activities which provide opportunity for high economic results.
* The area of greatest potential for opportunity should be given the fullest resource support in quality & quantity before next promising area gets any thing.
* Source of wealth is something specifically human: KNOWLEDGE. If we apply knowledge to tasks we already know how to do, we call it "productivity". If we apply knowledge to tasks that are new & different, we call it "innovation". Only knowledge allows us to achieve those 2 goals.

R-City Mall

Just to give a bird's eye view abt stores n wat products are of interest:

Ground Floor map



First Floor map



Second Floor map



Third Floor map

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Croma Electronics:
* Apple Macintosh desktops & laptops - I've seen & used it before at State Library, Melbourne but first time I've seen it in any store in India.
*Samsung LED TV (latest technology)
* iSqueeze Foot massager (costs some 20,500Rs.) - its Singapore based co. & personally I've used it at Singapore airport for first time.
* other n no. of massagers are there. Chk that out. Its pretty cool...
* Black & Decker Vacuum cleaner
* Pianos, iPhones, landline phones, paper shredders, laptops, PCs, Printers, Handy cams, digital cams, printer papers, web cams, key boards, mouse, headsets, washing machines, refrigerators etc.
* 50,000Rs. kit for wedding gift
Odyssey (Book store, greeting cards, gift items, Office stationary)
Marks & Spencer (U.K. based store)
Life Style
Globus
Pantaloons

Lush body care
Reebok
United Colours of Benetton
Jack & Jones
Foresight Optics (Free eye no.s testing - buying of frames not compulsory if no.s get detected)
Mom & Me (Free play area for kids)
Ethnicity
Big Bazar
Raymonds
Levis
Reid & Taylor

Monday, June 1, 2009

Music Videos

Hindi Songs:
1> Tu hi to meri dost hai - Yuvraaj http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BGH1ZVNGeU
2> Nahi Saamne - Taal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOLztuvNy-E
3> Tum Se Hi - Jab We Met http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sUh4RBD-5E
4> Ishq bina - Taal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmdAzWuvtX8
5> Kehna Hi Kya - Bombay http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8dac0QRn8k
6> O Sanam Mohabbat Ki Kasam - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI68bs0zgO8
7> Bheegey Hont Tere - Murder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjvbAcyCtxQ
8> Mere haath mein tera haath ho - Fanaah http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkellxuv_zs
9> mere humsafar mere paas aa - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6LnF0HRlPM
10> Mere Rang Mein - Maine Pyaar Kiya http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxd6po6wL4w
11> kabhi kabhi Aditi - jaane tu ya jaane na http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl2edsoWzRI
12> Sach keh rahaa hai deewana dil - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYSs7jhe7ZI
13> Sochenge tumhe pyaar kare ke nahi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJRwb4yLS5o
14> Where's the party tonight? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2O9LFG134U
15> Jiya dhadak dhadak - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfSuwqmR9rs
16> Afreen Afreen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfxzY00q2To
17> Taare zameen par - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf7YK7ipkVk
18> Chhod aaye hum wo galiyaa - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyKAzw_PZiQ
19> Jab deep jale aana, jab shaam dhale aana - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGoERx8-x1o
20> Doordarshan's hit song "Ek Anek - Suraj ek, chandaa ek, taarein anek..." during 80s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaTYLy1Jgio

English Songs:
1> Its the final countdown - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_ro2aerQg
2> Tearin' up my heart - N sync - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6n7bW-s7TI
3> Ricky Martin - She is all I ever had - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEjqZ0v6Azc
4> Ricky Martin - Let your private emotions come to me - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKhPbtuDzB0
5> Bryan Adams - Every thing I do - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFD2gu007dc
6> Backstreet Boys - Larger than life - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UtfMiQ5bP8
7> Backstreet Boys - Quit playing games with my heart - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7TQoTBoh8k
8> Nelly Furtado - I'm like a bird - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzZWMWhSA-E
9> Linkin Park - I tried so hard & got so far but in the end it doesn't even matter (My favorite one) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP-bAlOJzWc (with Lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX54sVwU3iY
10> This one by MJ... Song has deep meaning.. Its like Moon/Mars addressing the people of earth... When you have n no. of problems like homeless people, diseases, drugs, corruption etc. then instead of addressing that why you want to make costly trips on me?
Michael Jackson - Why you wanna trip on me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09gkQ3N-5BM

Thursday, February 5, 2009

My 6 months old picture


Jokes

********************************************************************************
Q1. RAM SITA HAI ... TO RAM KAUN HAI ??
Ans - . TAILOR ( darzi )

Q2. SITA RAM HAI TO SITA KAUN HAI
Ans - . Sita MEMORY hai (RAM: Random Access Memory)

Q3. Prasad ask's Kumble to bring a pepsi... Kumble brings a bottle of pepsibut goes directly to Tendulkar.? why ?? why ?? :-)
Ans:- Tendulkar is an opener

Q5. Woh kya hai jo Dil main hain, Mann main hai par Dhadkan main nahi?
Ans:- aarey Aamir Khan !!!!!!!

Q6. What will! u call a person who is leaving India ??Socho...............
Ans:- Hindustan Lever (Leaver).

Q7. Kalidas ka ek bhai joote banata tha us ka naam kya tha?
Ans:- adidas

Q8. Luv and Kush are going to a village & in between comes a well. Luv fallsinto the well. Why ?
Ans:- Because Luv is blind!!!!!
Now Kush also jumps inside. Why?
OK lot's of head scratching done.
Ans:- Luv ke liye saala kuch bhi karega!!!!Want one more...

Q9. Jackie Chan ki saas ka naam kya hai?.. nahi pata..??
Ans:- D'Cold chain ki saans !!!!!!

Q10. Whats the common colour between Lord Ram & Krishna?
Ans:- Green (Hare Rama Hare Krishna both has Hare)

Q11:- Sardar was cleaning the wall using an ear bud... Why?
Ans:- Diwaro ko bhi kaan hote hai....

Q12:- Vimal & Bimal waiting for bus at bus stop. When bus comes Vimal gets in but Bimal don't.. Why?
Ans:- Behind the bus there was an advertise banner "Only Vimal"

Q13:- Whats opposite of Jogeshwari?
Ans:- Jogesh Don't Worry...

*************************************************************************
Do you know of a Sardar who parked his car infront of board which said FINE FOR PARKING
-----------------
A drunk was hauled into court.Mister, the judge began, you've been broughthere for drinking..
Great, the drunk exclaimed. When do we get started?
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Can you do anything that other people can't?
Sure, I can read my handwriting..
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When a wife was asked: What book do you like the best?
She answers: My husband's cheque book..
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Girlfriend: And are you sure you love me and no one else?
Boyfriend: Dead Sure! I checked the whole list again yesterday.
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My father is so old that when he was in school, historywas called current affairs.
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Teacher: Now, children, if I saw a man beating a donkeyand stopped him, what virtue would I be Showing?
Student: Brotherly love.
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Teacher: Now, Sam, tell me frankly do you say prayers before eating?
Sam : No sir, I don't have to, my mom is a good cook.
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Manager: Sorry, but I can't give u a job. I don't need much help. JobApplicant: That's all right. In fact I'm just the right person inthis case. You see, I won't be of much help anyway!!
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Dad: Son, what do u want for ur birthday?
Son: Not much dad, Just a radio with a sports car around it.
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Teacher: Desmond, your composition on "My Dog" is exactly the same asyour brother's. Did u copy his?
Desmond: No, teacher, it's the same dog!
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Diner: I can't eat such a rotten chicken. Call the manager!Waiter: It's no use. He won't eat it either.
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Diner: You'll drive me to my grave!
Waiter: Well, you don't expect to walk there, do you?
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Husband: U know, wife, our son got his brain from me.
Wife: I think he did, I've still got mine with me!
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Man: Officer! There's a bomb in my garden!
Officer: Don't worry. If no one claims it within three days, you can keep it.
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Father: Your teacher says she finds it impossible toteach you anything!
Son: That's why I say she's no good!
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Should women have children after 35
No, 35 children are more than enough!
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No one has ever complained of a parachute notopening..
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Living on Earth may be expensive, but itincludes an annual free trip around the Sun..
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*****************************************************************************
funny questions & answersQuestion : You are in a boat in the middle of a river. You have 2 Cigarettes and have to light any one cigarette. You don't have anythingelse with you in the boat? How will you do it?
Answer: Take one cigarette and throw it in the water. So the boat willbecome LIGHTER........using this LIGHTER you can light the otherCigarette
another deadly answer. Scroll down a little.....

Anoth! er solution: You throw a cigarette up and catch it. Catches winMatches. Using the matches that you win, you can light the cigarette

If that was not enough, one more deadly answer.... scroll down.......

Take water in your hand and drop it drop by drop...(TIP - TIP)
"TIP TIP barsa Pani.
Pani ne aag lagayee."
us aag se hamne cigarette jalayee".......

If that was not enough, one more deadly answer.... scroll down

Start praising one cigarette, The other will get jealous & "jalneylagega"
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Tax structure in India..
1) Qus. : What are you doing? Ans. : Business.Tax : PAY PROFESSIONAL TAX!
2) Qus. : What are you doing in Business?Ans. : Selling the Goods.Tax : PAY SALES TAX!!
3) Qus. : From where are you getting Goods?Ans. : From other State/AbroadTax : PAY CENTRAL SALES TAX, CUSTOM DUTY & OCTROI!
4) Qus. : What are you getting in Selling Goods?Ans. : Profit.Tax : PAY INCOME TAX!
5) Qus. : How do you distribute profit ?Ans : By way of dividendTax : Pay dividend distribution Tax
6) Qus. : Where you Manufacturing the Goods?Ans. : Factory.Tax : PAY EXCISE DUTY!
7) Qus. : Do you have Office / Warehouse/ Factory?Ans. : YesTax : PAY MUNICIPAL & FIRE TAX!
8) Qus. : Do you have Staff?Ans. : YesTax : PAY STAFF PROFESSIONAL TAX!
9) Qus. : Doing business in Millions?Ans. : YesTax : PAY TURNOVER TAX!Ans : NoTax : Then pay Minimum Alternate Tax
10) Qus. : Are you taking out over 25,000 Cash from Bank?Ans. : Yes, for Salary.Tax : PAY CASH HANDLING TAX!
11) Qus.: Where are you taking your client for Lunch & Dinner?Ans. : HotelTax : PAY FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT TAX!
12) Qus.: Are you going Out of Station for Business?Ans. : YesTax : PAY FRINGE BENEFIT TAX!
13) Qus.: Have you taken or given any Service/s?Ans. : YesTax : PAY SERVICE TAX!
14) Qus.: How come you got such a Big Amount?Ans. : Gift on birthday.Tax : PAY GIFT TAX!
15) Qus.: Do you have any Wealth?Ans. : YesTax : PAY WEALTH TAX!
16) Qus.: To reduce Tension, for entertainment, where are you going?Ans. : Cinema or Resort.Tax : PAY ENTERTAINMENT TAX!
17) Qus.: Have you purchased House?Ans. : YesTax : PAY STAMP DUTY & REGISTRATION FEE !
18) Qus.: How you Travel?Ans. : BusTax : PAY SURCHARGE!
19) Qus.: Any Additional Tax?Ans. : YesTax : PAY EDUCATIONAL, ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL & SURCHARGE ON ALL THE CENTRAL GOVT.'s TAX !!!
20) Qus.: Delayed any time Paying Any Tax?Ans. : YesTax : PAY INTEREST & PENALTY!
21) INDIAN :: okay, okay !! can i die now??Ans :: wait we are about to launch the funeral tax!!!

Whats new?

May 17, 09
Check out my article "FAQs (Frequently asked questions) on Time Management" http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/shah.html

April 26, 09
Just purchased CD of 8 oscars winner movie "Slumdog Millionaire"... Movie has shown some hardcore realities. At some places it seems bit exagerrated like taking out eyes & all.. Overall it reflects the dark side of struggling life... Movie truly deserves the oscar as it touches many aspects of life...How religious conflicts leads kids to be orphans.. How struggleful the life is for orphans & basically it covers all negatives sides of human beings which arises in absence of money & love.. I also liked the fonts they've used for movie name in end... Its like english name with over line (way we do in hindi script)....

Feb 24, 09
Came across some sites for taxation & laws ->
http://incometaxindia.gov.in/
http://www.taxindiaonline.com/
http://www.tax4india.com/
http://www.tax4india.com/wealth-tax-india/wealth-tax-india.html
http://www.indiataxes.com/
http://www.laws4india.com/itl.asp

Feb 17, 09
I watched Ghajini few days back & then came across this site http://www.atithi.org.in/ promoted by Aamir. Well personally I didn't like Ghajini.... Its quite sick movie... This web site is a good initiative by him..

Feb 9, 09
I was watching one show on T.V. few days back. One desi guy has implemeted sort of garden using 6-7 PVC pipes. He has made holes in pipes to make space for plant to penetrate. Amazing thing was that all the plants were grown without soil. Only water & air was getting feeded to the plants. Same water was getting circulated thru all connected pipes using small electric motor & with help of gravitational force. The plants grown were really looking very rich... Later on while searching on net, I came to know about term Hydro Culture.. Its the technique which guy has used.. Couple of sites on same are:
http://www.hydro-culture.net/
http://edu.udym.com/growing-house-plants-in-water/

Feb 5, 09
-> Upgraded quality of Cable TV... Cursing MTNL for losing internet.... Catching up with fren from U.S. visiting India on phone...

Feb 3, 09
-> Wasted time in reading Mhada's marathi instruction manual to conclude its useless scheme as one can't sell that property for 7 years & its a dead investment....

Feb 2, 09
-> was bit hectic day with work... Delivered work to the Client.

Feb 1, 09
-> Been to Oberoi mall & bought couple of Jeans from Central store.
-> Had gala time with family at Ruchi hotel near Royal Challenge.