My plans of buying a car suffered another jolt when i heard that oil prices are again goin up. No point blaming the government, coz its happening at the international arena and from the news i gather that those big oil producing honchos are stubborn swines!!!
Our state owned oil companies are becoming bankrupt. Our oil firms have money only to buy crude oil till july and at the most till september.I will end up spending a fortune on quenching my car's thirst... zikes !!The big scientist blokes say that in the near future all the oil reserves will be depleted and then what?? How will i ride my bike ?? :(
I wish i were born in an era of hybrid hydrogen fusion engines and cars that run on cryogenic photon assimilator technology(i just made that up n shud get a Nobel for tht!!).I just hope that ONGC or the Ambanis strike oil soon somewhere in India and start selling petrol for ten bucks a litre !!
Yeah i know what a pointless and crappy post :P but do notice the bleak bigger picture which aint very far ahead. what the heck, screw the Ambanis i am gonna dig my backyard, what if i strike oil, i ll become a zillionaire!!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Breaking News !!!
I cant get my breakfast digested unless i read a copy of the morning Times, The Hindu or at least the super masala gossip suplement that comes with the Bangalore edition of Times of India - Bangalore Times. Lotta things happen around this little world and theres always this media eye watching and airing it minutes after it happens. The face of media has changed over the last decade. remember those overweight saree clad aunties and suited up uncles with colorful neckties reading out government edited news on the good old Doordarshan? To an average Indian the 8 pm DD news was the only source of information and the unlucky ones who missed it had to wait till next day's morning paper.
Now cable and satellite television have sparked off the birth of umpteen news channels vying for ratings and the top spot. But though the looks and the presentation have improved with corporate style attired newsreaders in their mid-twenties, the standards have terribly gone down especially in the Hindi news channels. These channels compromise on the quality of the news broadcasted whilst trying to reach the top rung of the ratings ladder.
Channels like Aaj Tak, Zee News, Star News(Hindi), India TV and others are ever ready to show utter crap news as "sensation" or "Breaking News" to gather viewer attention. The biggest crap of recent times is the coverage by Aaj Tak of what Mr Great Khali is doing in the WWE rings. If he so much as sneezes, snores or farts the Indian news crew is there to cover it. Wake up news junkies does Mr Khali compete for India in Olympics? Or has he got to do anything with the changing economy or global food crisis to be shown in primetime news overriding other national and international events?? BULLSHIT !!
Another hindi news channel was showing how a giant bald eagle picked up a little goat and soared up to its nest.This was being shown on prime-time and was being "analysed" by a team of animal experts. Now are they gonna compete with Discovery Channel and Animal Planet too?? "Some" news to be aired at primetime with a red tag on the bottom of the screen proclaiming "Breaking News".Sometimes these ratings savvy news channels make such hype out off worthless news which dont even qualify for a 60 second roundup.
And when little kids fall into uncovered pits/borewells and battle for life(now a frequent happening in north india)these channels add background music from Taare Zameen Par and market the news. This is sick. This is not journalism. This is pure moronism.
Now cable and satellite television have sparked off the birth of umpteen news channels vying for ratings and the top spot. But though the looks and the presentation have improved with corporate style attired newsreaders in their mid-twenties, the standards have terribly gone down especially in the Hindi news channels. These channels compromise on the quality of the news broadcasted whilst trying to reach the top rung of the ratings ladder.
Channels like Aaj Tak, Zee News, Star News(Hindi), India TV and others are ever ready to show utter crap news as "sensation" or "Breaking News" to gather viewer attention. The biggest crap of recent times is the coverage by Aaj Tak of what Mr Great Khali is doing in the WWE rings. If he so much as sneezes, snores or farts the Indian news crew is there to cover it. Wake up news junkies does Mr Khali compete for India in Olympics? Or has he got to do anything with the changing economy or global food crisis to be shown in primetime news overriding other national and international events?? BULLSHIT !!
Another hindi news channel was showing how a giant bald eagle picked up a little goat and soared up to its nest.This was being shown on prime-time and was being "analysed" by a team of animal experts. Now are they gonna compete with Discovery Channel and Animal Planet too?? "Some" news to be aired at primetime with a red tag on the bottom of the screen proclaiming "Breaking News".Sometimes these ratings savvy news channels make such hype out off worthless news which dont even qualify for a 60 second roundup.
And when little kids fall into uncovered pits/borewells and battle for life(now a frequent happening in north india)these channels add background music from Taare Zameen Par and market the news. This is sick. This is not journalism. This is pure moronism.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Paintball – Combat Evolved
It is really fun watching Hollywood action stars jump off helicopters and going gung-ho firing all kinds of weapons made on this planet. It would be really fun to feel like Bruce Willis of “Die Hard” or Tom Cruise from “Mission Impossible”, at least for a day. Well, for us software junkies this is a far cry. 
But if you wanted to be in he army at some point of time in your life or flunked your NDA examination, then as a mark of retribution you can always try playing Paintball game on a hot sunny weekend afternoon.
I never thought India could be a home to seriously Yankee type adventure game like Paintball, that was until last weekend when Jerry invited me to join his group for a Paintball game. I was thrilled to hear that we had Paintball Arena in Bangalore and jumped the opportunity. For those who don't know what Paintball is... its like splitting into two teams and shooting your opponents with guns
loaded with spherical pellets with paint inside, hence the name Paintball !! This is the closest thing to actual combat with the real feel but instead of blood spilling we get splattered with PAINT!! It could be regarded as the Holi of modern times !! ;)
So on the D-Day we set off to the Paintball Arena on Banarghetta Road about 10 kms from Diaries Circle. We reached the place when the sun was smiling at his devilish most. We got a small debriefing by the organizing guys:
Rule 1: Always follow safety regulations and wear ur safety gear all the time.
Rule 2:No other rules except rule 1.
The guns(which are pretty heavy) are known as markers, powered by a compressed air canister at its butt. We were shown how to fire the markers and use the safety catch on it. Then we padded up for the game. We had to a wear very uncomfortable vest with an attached neckguard, combat gloves, and a skull cap. After posing for some John Woo style “demo” pics we went into the fight-yard and discussed the war-cries, strategies and tactics to be used while engaging the enemy.
After pledging our allegiance to the Gods of Paintball, the referee blew the whistle and we released the safety catch of the guns and attacked the blokes in the opposite team. Kaashif was the suicide squad leader with his sole motto being “kill or die”. While me and Jerry grouped up and used some stealth tactics to sneak up on the enemy from
behind. It was pure rush and fun dodging bullets, running like crazy, dashing, rolling and sliding on the ground. The stamina meter went terribly low by the end of third round and we monitor-staring- corporate blokes were dead meat in no time. We continued for two more rounds and called it a day. The experience was far too exhilarating to be put in words. You need to actually feel the rush. After a sumptuous lunch at 5 in the evening from a nearby dhaba we headed back home worn out and totally wasted. Three days have passed since we went for the game, the cramps in my body are still there and i cant walk or climb stairs. So much for my fitness levels, guess the game should ve been titled "pain"ball for me. But these cramps aint gonna stop me from goin back there again for another day of Paintball !!!
But if you wanted to be in he army at some point of time in your life or flunked your NDA examination, then as a mark of retribution you can always try playing Paintball game on a hot sunny weekend afternoon.I never thought India could be a home to seriously Yankee type adventure game like Paintball, that was until last weekend when Jerry invited me to join his group for a Paintball game. I was thrilled to hear that we had Paintball Arena in Bangalore and jumped the opportunity. For those who don't know what Paintball is... its like splitting into two teams and shooting your opponents with guns
loaded with spherical pellets with paint inside, hence the name Paintball !! This is the closest thing to actual combat with the real feel but instead of blood spilling we get splattered with PAINT!! It could be regarded as the Holi of modern times !! ;)So on the D-Day we set off to the Paintball Arena on Banarghetta Road about 10 kms from Diaries Circle. We reached the place when the sun was smiling at his devilish most. We got a small debriefing by the organizing guys:
Rule 1: Always follow safety regulations and wear ur safety gear all the time.
Rule 2:No other rules except rule 1.
The guns(which are pretty heavy) are known as markers, powered by a compressed air canister at its butt. We were shown how to fire the markers and use the safety catch on it. Then we padded up for the game. We had to a wear very uncomfortable vest with an attached neckguard, combat gloves, and a skull cap. After posing for some John Woo style “demo” pics we went into the fight-yard and discussed the war-cries, strategies and tactics to be used while engaging the enemy. After pledging our allegiance to the Gods of Paintball, the referee blew the whistle and we released the safety catch of the guns and attacked the blokes in the opposite team. Kaashif was the suicide squad leader with his sole motto being “kill or die”. While me and Jerry grouped up and used some stealth tactics to sneak up on the enemy from
behind. It was pure rush and fun dodging bullets, running like crazy, dashing, rolling and sliding on the ground. The stamina meter went terribly low by the end of third round and we monitor-staring- corporate blokes were dead meat in no time. We continued for two more rounds and called it a day. The experience was far too exhilarating to be put in words. You need to actually feel the rush. After a sumptuous lunch at 5 in the evening from a nearby dhaba we headed back home worn out and totally wasted. Three days have passed since we went for the game, the cramps in my body are still there and i cant walk or climb stairs. So much for my fitness levels, guess the game should ve been titled "pain"ball for me. But these cramps aint gonna stop me from goin back there again for another day of Paintball !!!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
ah..ummmm..hmmm... naaaah !!
The last few week's been hectic, funny, entertaining, enthusiastic and quite educational. It's been more than a month since I joined SAP AG, and al I know about the place is its expansion and my pay package. Being aware about my “exceptional” knowledge about the organization and is products, my manager (female) advised me to go through some presentation slides and documents for the next 4 days. The analytical room of my usually vacant top floor quickly calculated the total number of slides and the days in hand – 227 slides per day !!! What the heck !!!!!! Are you kiddin me ???
Caught up with my old buddy and went for a movie the other day. I was going through a streak of bad dumbass movies for the last three months. If this one were a dud too, I would have given the Bangalore Royal Challengers a serious complex.
But the jinx broke and “Iron Man” turned out to be one awesome movie. No this ain't a patriotic documentary about our iron-man, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It's a superhero movie, with lotta nail-biting moments and some fresh, hilarious and sarcastic jokes which will actually make you laugh. The character is not your cliché underwear-over- pants superhero who is saving people, whilst managing a love-life and other personal problems. This guy here is a filthy rich inventor who at the same time is a complete asshole, but an asshole whom you ll love !! For all the movie buffs out there, watch this movie... it's money well spent !!
IPL IPL IPL IPL IPL
The three letters that have taken the nation by storm. This “manoranjan ka baap” has given all the prime time soaps a run for their money. After the recent footballizing of the otherwise boring game of cricket, suddenly T20 is the new mantra.
Take the regular old cricket, chop down the overs to 20, add some fun elements, some imported cheerleaders, movie stars and VOILA!! cricket becomes the most promising business opportunities of all times !!! Of late there have been controversies of players getting slapped by opponents, cheerleaders doing much more than cheering, Dada and Warney locking horns etc. But what the heck, as long as it rains sixers and cheerleaders shake their legs, an average cricket fan like me would me more than happy !!!
Today I had my first team meeting at office where some big blokes from Germany, Singapore etc came over tele-conference to discuss about development plans, deadlines, task planning, global warming, oil crisis, George W Bush's lost underwear etc etc... at the end of two hours they declared that the meeting was successful and were looking forward to a better tomorrow blah blah... It was quite fruitful to me too... see below to find out how I spent those boring hours...
Caught up with my old buddy and went for a movie the other day. I was going through a streak of bad dumbass movies for the last three months. If this one were a dud too, I would have given the Bangalore Royal Challengers a serious complex.
But the jinx broke and “Iron Man” turned out to be one awesome movie. No this ain't a patriotic documentary about our iron-man, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It's a superhero movie, with lotta nail-biting moments and some fresh, hilarious and sarcastic jokes which will actually make you laugh. The character is not your cliché underwear-over- pants superhero who is saving people, whilst managing a love-life and other personal problems. This guy here is a filthy rich inventor who at the same time is a complete asshole, but an asshole whom you ll love !! For all the movie buffs out there, watch this movie... it's money well spent !!IPL IPL IPL IPL IPL
The three letters that have taken the nation by storm. This “manoranjan ka baap” has given all the prime time soaps a run for their money. After the recent footballizing of the otherwise boring game of cricket, suddenly T20 is the new mantra.
Take the regular old cricket, chop down the overs to 20, add some fun elements, some imported cheerleaders, movie stars and VOILA!! cricket becomes the most promising business opportunities of all times !!! Of late there have been controversies of players getting slapped by opponents, cheerleaders doing much more than cheering, Dada and Warney locking horns etc. But what the heck, as long as it rains sixers and cheerleaders shake their legs, an average cricket fan like me would me more than happy !!!Today I had my first team meeting at office where some big blokes from Germany, Singapore etc came over tele-conference to discuss about development plans, deadlines, task planning, global warming, oil crisis, George W Bush's lost underwear etc etc... at the end of two hours they declared that the meeting was successful and were looking forward to a better tomorrow blah blah... It was quite fruitful to me too... see below to find out how I spent those boring hours...
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