Budhdhu, Mamta and Despite Mamta

"Budhdhu", "Mamta" and "Despite Mamta" where three names in consideration for naming the Lakh rupee car from Tata. Finally they decided to play it cool and small and called it Nano.

Not my joke, Ratan Tata's... Heard on TV just now. Pretty funny.

Loser Ponting

Ponting has proved to be the biggest loser in history of cricket. Just because he was not able to negotiate Bhajji's bowling on the field, he spins this web to get him banned from the next two test matches.

Incredible India?

So much for the incredible India campaign by the ministry of tourism. No tourist spot in India appears in "53 places to visit in 2008" by the New York times. I can not believe it, but Iran makes it to the list...

WTF?!?

For people who stood in the queue at 4:30 AM for the latest HP book, a huge and rude shock was awaiting them at home - the news channels promptly reporting the fate of Harry and Voldemort as "breaking news". The news channel like Times Now, NDTV and CNN-IBN were cool but some of the others like Zee News, Star News and that sabse-tez Aajtak did all they can to frustrate everyone. I have only one thing to say to them... A-holes, if you do not understand abc of journalism, shut shop and get lost. I hope I become a death eater and administor Cruciatus curse on you till you lose your mind...

Deathly Leakage

Yeah, HP-7 is indeed leaked. Someone has taken pictures of each and every page and posted them on the internet.
I have had a look at it and trust me, it is not worth it. You can make out only a few pages coz they are such low resolution pictures. If you have reached this page trying to find a copy to download, I suggest you stand in the queue in front of bookstores at 5:00 in the morning on 21st and purchase your copy.

Thinking

Saw that Hero Honda CBZ motorcycle's ad has a tag line "Thinking is such a waste of time...". This ad was being telecast on National Geographic, whose ad line is "Think again."
What do you think?

Moving nightmares

I recently shifted my house from one part of Bangalore to another. Mine is a typical two BHK house with basic furniture - sofa, bed, fridge, tv, washing machine, dining table etc. After talking to a few movers and packers, I decided to go with Kaiser Packers (P) Ltd. (http://www.kaiserpackers.com/) because they were one of the first to send a representative to my house to inspect and give me a quote. They claim to be an ISO9001 certified company and the first impression was good. I was very particular about the date and time of the move and had told them more than 10 days in advance. The representative agreed and promised that 5 packers would come to my house by 8:30 AM on the day and that entire process would be over by 4:30 PM.

Two days before the day of move, I get a call from the representative asking me if we could prepone the move to Friday. I refused.

On the agreed upon day, I get a call that the packers would come at 10:30 instead of 8:30. Finally, after umpteen phone calls, only 3 packers instead of 5 turned up at 12:30 PM and started packing. The material that they brought was not sufficient and a few items could not be packed. They had to be transported just like that. Instead of usual 2 hours, it took 4.5 hours for packing and then 2.5 hours for loading . During loading, we figured that the truck sent to transport the items was smaller and I had to carry a few things in my car. After reaching the destination, it took another 2 hours for unloading and that too after begging the driver of the truck to help out.

The move finally ended at 11:30 at night and I was left with a hole in my pocket, a badly hurting back and a broken washing machine.

नहीं, यह Deathly Hallows नहीं है

मुझे मेरे एक मित्र ने एक pdf फाईल भेजी जो की इन्टरनेट पर हैरी पॉटर की असली कॉपी की तरह बाँटी जा रही है। Times Now न्यूज़ चैनल ने भी इसी कॉपी को ले कर एक खबर दिखायी थी। पर जैसा की भारत में अक्सर होता है, मीडिया कभी भी कोई भी खबर दिखने के पहले जरूरी शोध करना तो उचित समझता ही नहीं और अपने दर्शकों को बेवक़ूफ़ भी समझता है। एक बार अगर यह वेबसाइट देख ली होती तो अच्छा होता।

Airport Tourism

This photograph is of the runway of Bangalore airport from Wind Tunnel Road. There was a lot of crowd was gathered there to look at the planes landing and taking off. Good to see that people in India find avenues of entertainment where there aren't any...

Ministry of Aviation should seriously collaborate with the Ministry of Tourism and consider developing tourism hot spots in and around the airports in India. The money charged for this display could as well be used for developing the much needed infrastructure in and around the airports in the country.

Sunrise

The Sun has finally risen. Aruba Networks debuted on NASDAQ - ARUN and got a warm reception.

Hutch Ad, anyone?

Is it time to run the ridiculous Hutch ad featuring Rahul Dravid again? Please see my earlier post on Rahul and the Hutch ad for clarification...

Amitabh's UP ads

Those who have seen Amitabh's ads on Uttar Pradesh will understand what I am trying to say to him:

सजन रे झूठ मत बोलो,
खुदा के पास जाना है.
वहाँ न बैंट्‌ली है न रौयस है,
वहाँ पैदल ही जाना है...

Oh dear, please don't lie. Afterall you have to go to His place one day. There is no Bentley or Royce to take you there. The only option is to walk.

Disclaimer...

Saw this at Mysore Lancers Pump House near RT Nagar on Thursday. One of the best disclaimer messages I have seen in recent times. Couple of guys from inside the office saw me taking this picture, but I was on my scooter and managed to quickly pull away.

:-)

Person of the year

Celebrations!! I have been declared Time magazine's person of the year. But don't be jealous and lose heart, so have you been. Check it out.

Harry Potter and the...

Deathly Hallows.

We at least now know the name of the book that we are all waiting for. When it comes out, I will shun all human contact - letters, phones, mobiles, chats, emails, newspapers and shut myself in the house - till I finish it. Coz the last time, I reached office and there was a chat window from my brother that said - "XYZ killed ABC!!!". Man, I was pissed. I cannot do that to him for book 7, because he too is a Harry Potter fan and more so because there would not be a Harry Potter book after this one (as claimed by J.K. Rowling herself).

The guessing game about how Harry is going to finish off Voldemort has been going on for some time and will continue till the final book is published. I too do not want to be left behind. Here is my take on it -

<speculation>

Voldermort will end up in St Mungo's Hospital, Fourth floor, Spell Damage section. He will be admitted to the same ward as Prof. Gildroy Lockhart, next to Neville Longbottom's parents. People will no longer be scared of him and would not be scared of speaking his name either. JKR has given ample indications that she does not want Voldemort killed. Towards the end of Book 5, Dumbledore tells Voldemort and I quote: 'Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has been your greatest weakness -'.

Naturally, Harry has to die. The prophecy says so and also JKR has said that evil does not target extras; it goes after the main characters. Remember, the real hero of these books is not Harry. He is one of the main characters. The main character is Lord Voldemort. He is the one who chose Harry.

Apparently, the last word in the last book is scar - and it will not be Harry's scar. It will be a similar scar on Voldemort's forehead.

</speculation>

Joke of a case

What was CBI thinking when it brought about a case of disproportionate assets against Lalu Prasad for just 46 lakhs? Its a joke of a case since CBI itself would have spent more than this amount on prosecuting Lalu. What is 46 Lakhs anyway now a days? In Bangalore you cannot even get a flat in a nice locality for 46 Lakhs.

Need some info from readers (with citations, of course)... which Harayana minister said that 1400 crores is a small change in politics?

Nuclear Deal

Whats the deal here? I am tired of seeing continuous "Breaking News" banner on all the television channels and the amount of time being alloted to this. Take a look at Washington Post and the New York Times web pages in comparison. Need I say anything else?

Spam in Gmail and Windows Live

Has someone noticed that the amount of spam coming in Windows live is much much less that in Gmail? There seems to be a difference of almost 1:50.

Has Microsoft managed to develop a genuine spam killer -OR- have spammers lost interest in spamming hotmail/msn accounts because they think nobody uses them anymore? :-)

Rahul and the Hutch ad

Need to find out who conceptualized the new Hutch ad about Rahul, the Cricket world cup and a clueless guy who is the winner of the Hutch contest. Unfortunately, the ad is not available on Youtube yet for those who are not in India.

If the ad is supposed to be funny, then I must say that the creator of the ad has a weird sense of humour. I am not sure what he is getting at. Maybe the only reason why the person in the ad cannot recognize Rahul Dravid is because it is World Cup 2011 and the Indian team no longer qualifies for such tournaments.

Sikh nahin, Sick...

Mr Jethmanali, it was not a sikh man who shot Jessica Lall, it was a sick man who did so. And you too are a sick man who is trying to spin such stories.