A random act of kindness

The summer was at its peak as the sun beat down the crowded streets of Jamnagar, GJ. A tourist would have fainted in the heat, but to her this wasn’t new. These were her streets, her village her people. For 20 years she had owned the place - every street, every corner, every turn has a story. But after 2 years in Houston it felt different. Everything was the same, but it just felt different - something had changed, may be it was her.

As she strolled down the Gandhi Marg, she passes by hawkers selling antiques, the road side food shows frying delicacies and then there were the deprived individuals asking for penny from every passerby. The streets were rich with culture but equally destitute of well-being - nowhere like the metropolitan Houston where everything was so organized and impeccable.

As she approached another intersection across the walkway she saw a familiar figure she hadn’t seen her childhood friend Lata in a while and it was a strange co-incidence. Circumspectly she approached her but the smile and surprise on Latas face confirmed, she too had recognized her. Lata was always the smart one in the class - great at studies and also the charming one. She came from a well-bred family and everything used to go her way back then. But now she seem to have endured a tough time, the clothes were ragged, hair dry and undone.... things didn’t look good - Naina also noticed that she was expecting a baby. After the initial greeting they decided to sit down at the nearby coffee shop and catch up...
Lata was impressed with Nainas departure to the US and the way her life had changed for all good and then began her own tale - After school Lata had tried to get her job, was doing well, fell in love with a guy and then got married to the love of her life. But then things started to fall apart - her husband apparently had an alcohol addiction which had never come to her notice before the marriage. He then lost the job and wasnt good to her. Food was hard to come by and she had to toil hard just to feed herself and keep the baby inside her healthy.

Nainas heart melted at Lata's plight and she prompty offered to help her monetarily. However Lata wouldnt oblige as it was killing her to accept money from her friend. Upon Nainas insistence they agreed upon a plan. Naina would arrange with her grocer to provide regualat supply of food and medication to Lata to help her bring her baby to this world. Also, her resident falily in Gujrat would take care of the cost of delivery and subsequent needs. Lata didnt know how to thanks her friend and was in tears. It was a very painful sight for Naina, but she departed with a sense of fulfilment having done something good for a friend. A fortnight later she departed for Houston to resume her now life with her family.

Years went by and Lata and Naina never saw one another as their lives lead them through their own vicissitudes. It was another summer when Naina was visiting her parents in Gujrat. The kids were enjoying the summer vacation and it was her time off from her daily chores. As she went around the market place one evening, she was approached by a man she had never seen in her life. But his expression seemed to say that he knew her from a long time. He addresses her Nainaji, how are you, with his hand together greeting her Namaste. She asked, if she knew him and he replied, probably not but she knew his wife Lata. Naina was surprised to see Latas husband and asked about her whereabouts. She was shocked when she learned than Lata had passed away soon after giving birth to her baby boy but what she heard later startled her no end. Badal informed her that he came to know about all she had done for her late wife and he was ashamed with himself. He was deeply touched with her kindness and she was the sole reason that he had his son. He had mended his ways and was taking all the responsibilities of his son. He had ridden himself of the addiction and was maintaining a good job. Apart from this he had started voluntary work at his son’s school and was thus making it possible for other students to gain education. He showed her a picture of child and Naina couldn’t control her tears.

As they departed, Naina pondered how unknowingly she was responsible for so many good things. She was sad to learn about Latas demise but a lot of good had happened. She was left to delve into the number of lives that had been affected positively with her one random act of kindness.

----
Inspired by a true story.....

Newale Misal

Its Diwali time and no wonder I am craving for some crazy spicy Missal – missal, so hot that it makes your nose, mouth and ears sweat and makes you cry like a baby.

This takes me back a few years when adapted this novel tradition of treating ourselves to super hot Newale Misal on Diwali day. By we, I mean my pals from downtown Yamunanagar Nigdi. If I recall correctly Ravi Apte and the Patil Brothers were at the forefront of the origination of this concept. Always ready to tag along were myself, Mahesh Papu Kawale, Subhash, Pravin, Sunil, Amit, Santosh and Zende Bros. So the ritual on Narak Chaturthi was to wake before sunrise, have a bath, burst some crazy loud crackers, head to the grounds for a couple of games of cricket and top it all up with super delicious Newale Misal for breakfast.

The missal was tasty to begin with, the first 3 bites tasted like heaven. Then the guys would refill the bowls with the KAT – super hot oily spicy floatation on top of the curry, and in no time all the pores on the body would start to sweat. The eyes would water, the ears would swell, the mouth would go ripe with saliva and the nose flow like a running tap. One half of the body would say I can take it no more and the other would crave for the delicacy of the Misal.

Crazy as the tradition was we looked forward to it every year, it was hard on every one – just the thought of the spoon full missal would make one sweat but we did it anyway.

I can’t be the part of the mania this year guys, but hope you all make it to Newales.

The logic behind Football Jersey Numbers

When it comes to football jerseys football (soccer) does it in a pretty irrational but very alluring way. In contrast American football follows avery methodical system ( as is the case with most of the Americal way of life). The NFL reserves a range of numbers for certain play positions. For example 1 - 19 are for quarter backs kickers etc. 80 - 89 are wide receivers. This seems to follow a herd numbering rule [ 1 through 10 are the black buffalos, 20 - 30 are the white cows :P ]

Anywho; now lets look at the interesting part - soccer jerseys.
In football the numbering is not governed by set of stringent rules even though you will find most goal keepers wearing #1. Jerseys are mostly alloted by players choice but there are certain special numbers and thats the topic of this blog.

#7 : This goes to the glamour boy of the team. Recommended player has to have flair and must be fashion conscious. Made famous by David Beckham while at Manchester United (yuckk)the jersey is deemed to be top seller for most teams. Cant help but think that 007 has to have some part in the fame of the number.

#8 : If David Beckham was responsible for #7, #8 is the courtesy of Chelsea's Frank Lampard. The jersey goes to the most reliable playmaker in the team. The player is expected to dictate the game from mid-field like a chess master. Most famous players wearing this number - Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard.....

#9 : Number 9 goes to the Star striker in the team. He need not be the main striker but has to be young. So he is the new fast dazzling up coming striker and is on the verge of taking over the role of the main striker. The most apt striker in this role is Fernando Torres of Liverpool when he arrived in 2007.

#10 : This traditionally goes to the most important player in the tem, who typically is a playmaker. However of late it has lost the charm as more and more #10's are failing to make the starting 11 these days. #8 is becoming the new #10. The truly traditional #10 would be Francesco Totti of Italy.

#11 : He is the main striker in the team (period) He takes #9 as his understudy and shoulders the load of scoring. The best example of #11 is Chelsea's Didier Drogba

That concludes the description:
One team that has these numbering horribly wrong is Chelsea FC.
#7 was worn by Andriy Shevchenko (typical #9) and now by Ramirez - not glamorous from any angle.
#9 is Daniel Sturridge who never makes it to the first team.
#10 Yossi Benayoun another bench warmer
However #11 is spot on and on Target always

First impression – definitely the last impression

Remember how you meet some one, and like them or dislike them initially and with time the experience is different and then opinions change! So, first impression - definitely NOT - the last impression.

However the same principle seldom applies to stock investing. A beginner investor in a stock market is highly driven by the initial experience. An early profiteer is sucked into the world of investing and rationale seldom precedes stock buying – the stock market becomes the holy grail of making money. On the other hand a loss in the initial investment and one could be driven away from stocks for life – Once bitten always shy. However most interestingly majority of the people are driven towards the world of investing when things are looking up and the market is in a bull run. That’s the human psychology and seeing peers and other investors’ profit from the soaring markets – an economy witnesses a huge influx of new investors. Sadly though this happens to the very peak of an economic cycle. So, 90% of the new investors see initial profits – turn into perennial bulls and then stare down the barrel of perennial losses.

(This is not an investment advice column or blog – please seek professional investing advice somewhere else :). I would recommend Lance Roberts of StreetTalk Advisors.

Footnote:
Did anyone invest in BP lately???


BP‎ - BP plc (ADR) (NYSE)‎
41.92 +0.40‎ (0.96%‎) Oct 8 4:00pm ET
41.99‎ +0.07‎ (0.17%‎) After Hours

Open: 41.50
High: 41.98
Low: 41.40
Volume: 5,998,836
Avg Vol: 9,790,000
Mkt Cap: 131.29B

Is the United States Right???

The united states has no business, poking its nose in other countries affairs or world affairs: A feeling shared by many and me too until very recently.

Vietnam war, Afghan war, Iraq war, army in Japan, South Korea, missile shield in eastern Europe - the US's desire to be ubiquitous on the world stage is very angering to many.

Evil plans of world domination, desire to quench the insatiable thirst of oil or as the conservatives say "bringing freedom to oppressed lands" the reasons put forward for the US's ever meddlesome behavior have been plentiful. Whatever the reasons may be, the question is; is this right?

Look at North Kora for instance the country has been rules by the Kim family even since it was established by Kim Il Sung, the father of current ruler Kim Jong Il. Soon this control would be passed on to the son of the current ruler, which without any outside intervention would most probably go on for another 40 years. In the meanwhile the millions of North Koreans are forced to live in utter deprivation. Food is a luxury for these folks. The government concentrates all the efforts on acquiring or developing arms and competing with the "evil" west. Farmers lands are acquired for military purposes and no on has a say; except for the Kim family. Last year the government changed the currency without forewarning to the public. Under the new system, an old 1,000 North Korean won note will now be worth just 10 won. A limit was set on how much old currency can be exchanged - one report says each adult can cash in only 100,000 won - thus wiping away all the hard earned savings. It seems, that the North wants its people in poverty and suffering.

Under such circumstances who wouldn't crave for an outside intervention. An war by the South and the US combined can come as nothing but a blessing for the general public. On top of that if you are an Indian, you can totally understand the agony associated with political domination by one party or one family. Every body wants a change. The north may finally get lucky, get a war and get rid of the Kim family rule - but will the general Indian public ever get rid of the Gandhi family and Congress rule? With the prevalent democracy and cozy relationship with the US that seems out of question.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575469870821636664.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8394987.stm

Information generation

Information generation!!

When I was growing up I remember our generation was termed, GenX, neXgen or something like that I recall from the bombardment of the plethora of ads showered upon us by the multinationals vying the Indian consumer market. but that’s the topic of a bygone era..

The next in-thing is the Information generation - this is the breed of next generation youngsters who have all the information in the world at the tip of their fingers by means of device they prefer calling smart phone. Mind you the important word here is "information", which is far far from "knowledge". I was sitting at the DMV today and the only thing I could see people doing is accessing internet from their phones [lets leave the smart out of it for now]. Gone are the days whne people would plan in advance for long queues by brining along novels newspapers or something creative to do.

There was 40 year lady trying to use her blackberry small screen, a guy in thirties on his samsung and then this teenager on his nokia browsing facebook. The guy had his dad talking to him all the time but not once did he peep out of his smary device. Texting his friends, messaging them, talking in the cryptic messenger language [ttyl, brb, gtg and what not] - was very abyssmal to say the least.

I was reading an article in the wall street journal a few weeks ago. A nice argument on : is internet the best way to assimilate information and gain knowledge. The argument against the internet went something like this "when you research information on internet, you are faced with a huge amount of information which is most of the time superficial. Also the number of links for any topics are so many that the mind wanders from page to page and grasping is at a very amateur level. The probability of this information being retained is significantly lower. " In a more traditional way, when the information is obtained from books, the understanding is in much more depths because of the power of concentration.

This brings me back to the information generation and its future. Convinience is one thing, but if people start spending spare time facebooking and twittering on 3inch screened smart devices, they are going to develop the attention span of a racoon. Technological enhancements are going to make things easier for us, but what are we going to end up with?

Smart Phone and Dumb People ??

{PS: guy who invented the smart phone is no doubt smart, but just check out if he spends as much time on it as the genX who are more likely going to be dumb enough to pay for his smart device}
 

Peak Money and Manchester City FC

If I were Sheikh mansoor I would either have total disregard for other people wasting my money or I must be totally naive in terms of money management. Ever since billionaire sheikh mansoor has bought football club Manchester city , the city management have gone into an reckless profligate spending expedition. City doesn't blink before spending exorbitant sums on average players. Money is not their problem; their problem is soccer superstars not wanting to Join them.

City would be willing to pay 90 million pounds for kaka, 70 million for Fernando torres, 50 million for zlatan ibramovich 30 for John terry; but non of them are remotely interested in joining a team incapable of providing either champions league football or an iota of past glory offered by the big boys of footbling history. As a result of that city are willing to pay mega fees and atrocious salaries to benched players on superteams or star players from teams facing bankruptcy.

One can understand these desperate attempts as city needs all the improvemts they can muster just to break into the top 4 of English footaball. However it is difficult to understand thoughtless expenditure on players just because they are available .

Robinho arrived a couple of years ago for a British record transfer fee. But within a year he was loaned to local brazil team. City would be lucky if they recover even a fraction of the cost spenc on him. This summer superstars David silva and yaya toure have arrived who will most likely replace players who cost millions last summer. German youngster boateng was signed as a left back for 12 mil. He will replace Wayne bridge, a player signed for 9 mil for that very position.
It has all culminated into a guessing game that the manager and the support staff seems to have taken upon the find the right combination has leftto win. In the porcess the club has sidelined promising homegrown talent bred at a fraction of cost. Daniel sturridge has left; stephen ireland and shaun wright phillips are unsettled and on their way out.

If not tamed in the near future; this gross mis-management of money will turn into the biggest flop bussiness endeavor that Sheikh mansoor would have taken up.

The curse of being England

Watching England perform in todays world cup game against Algeria was heart breaking to say the least. Even the non English vicarious English football fans (read Chelsea, United, Arsenal fans world wide) were at pain watching the Brit display of football. No one expects swash buckling blitz kreig soccer, but we expect the pros to complete passes to their team mates. It is hard to explain the dismal showings of the English teams year after year in the world cups.

The way a German shirt inflates an average German player to rise above the ordinary and put on a passionate performance, the curse of the English shirt seems to have the exactly opposite effect and deflating the superstars of English football.


England 0-0 Algeria

Simão | MySpace Video

FIFA World Cup 2010 Diaries : Day 1 – 3

The world cup is in its 3rd day and only one team has impressed so far. The way the Germans are dissecting the Aussies is laudable. Is it the utter german superiority or the abysmal Aussies sporting their oldest squad, it’s a question but the Germans are mercurial.

The English have lived to their reputation of flattering, but the finishing qualities of Lampard, Rooney and Heskey let them down. It is difficult to win World cups without superior goal keepers unless you have attacks to steam roll any opposition defense. So the progress of the British beyond the Quarters seems difficult.

The French too have begun on a traditionally cold note. Unless Grandpa Domenech shows some valor and attacking intent with 2 strikers, none of the French strikers seem capable of piercing opposition goal on a stand alone basis.

Still we have to see the Brazilians, Spaniards and the Dutch and the Azzuris in action, but Germany have stated their intent in this world cup like no other team.

Fond memories.......................

With the world cup just 7 days away here are the moments from 2006 that was a dream , and still feels like a dream....
How did that Italian team did it, beats the hell out of me.....

Chelsea FC Treasured Moments. 2010 Premier League Win

Managers or Gamblers?

Clearly, when it comes to investing and managing football (soccer), gambling is not the way to go! Leave investing aside and let’s look at the art of managing football teams. It best serves the managers, if they stick to the fundamentals and play the game on technique, skills and with the best available team. When I say best available, not merely the quality or reputation of the player but also physical fitness. But akin to their counterparts on Wall street football managers seem to have fallen to the lure of greed and quick success. Fear or failure drives these managers and they ultimately pay the big prize. Look at 2 big examples in the last 2 days - 2 gambles that fell straight on their faces.

Champions league quarter final Arsenal v Barcelona:
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger chose to play Cesc Fabregas who hadn’t fully recovered for the home leg of the quarter final. Fabregas picked up a yellow card ruling him ineligible for the 2nd leg. To make matters worst he injured his foot again making him unfit for the rest of the season. Agreed that Arsenal were intimidated by the prospect of facing Barcelona, but a fit Fabregas would have given them a great chance of winning the league. Throwing away the chance to win the league was too much of risk-to-reward ratio. If Arsenal fails to win the league, Wenger will rue his gamble big time.

Champions league quarter final Manchester United v Bayern Munich:
Man Utd. Manager Alex Fergusson (I won’t call that moron 'Sir') had his star striker Wayne Rooney injured last week and was supposedly out for 2-4 weeks. Yesterday Fergusson said, he has 'no chance' of playing. When the teams were named there he was Wayne 'No Chance' Rooney leading the united attack. Are united so helpless without Rooney that they can’t beat Bayern by one goal without him?? So, Fergusson took the gamble, united were leading by 2 in first 7 minutes, and Wayne Rooney was hobbling in 10. Subsequently Rooney had to be substituted after 50 minutes and United lost the Quarter final on the away goals rule. Now what’s happened to Wayne Rooney’s ankle? Is it severely injured, is it minor strain, no one knows. Eventually we will find out, and also find how much this gamble will hurt United’s chances of winning the league.

Anil Kapoor is no more (on Fox 24)

8:59 PM on April 5th 2010 Anil Kapoor was executed by terrorist organization, with a live feed on the internet, an event viewed by over 20 million people world wide. That brought to an end a great legacy left behind by President Hassan for world peace. He laid down his life for the good of humanity and his Kountry (as he used to say).

The gruesome murder brought tears to the eyes of President Taylor. Anil Kapoor has left behind a legacy that no Indian actor has matched. His portrayal of President Hassan can be the image changer for Islamic nuclear regimes world wide. He not only sincerely portrayed the ice faced president but brought Bollywood drama and emotion to the small screen on Hollywood. He wasn’t a conventional president and wasn’t afraid to take the gun when there was a need. He delivered effective presidential speeches, repented like a illicit husband and fought the terrorist shoulder to shoulder with Agent Jack Bauer.

Anil Kapoor may be no more amongst us but he has immortalized himself in the world of Hollywood through his portrayal of President Hassan.

Of course we are talking about the character of President Hassan, and this is not Anil Kapoors obituary. Anil Kapoor will live on, he will be a regular in Hollywood now on!!

Sahara Pune IPL Team Name

Here is a question to all Punekars, and all would be fans of the Pune IPL team?

Should it be more traditional or make it more Westernized?

Should it incite red hot patriotism or incite the energy of the youth?

So throw out all possible names and hope Sahara Chooses one of it:

This is ‘un’officially the first survey to determine the Pune IPL team name.

Here we go………..

Possible Pune IPL Team names!

Pune Peshwas
Pune Bajiraos
Pune Marathas
Pune Royals (please no)
Pune Wizards (tribute the citys intellect)
Pune Panthers
Pune Patriots (that would be brilliant)

We were there!!!

It was fun being at the Rodeo. My first rodeo in Texas was worth all the effort of making it to Reliant Park. The mood was dampened by the rainy day, and the rush hour traffic leading to Reliant Park. However once inside the stadium it seemed worth the long drive.

Bull riding, roping, mutton busting was amazing, but the event was special for one more reason. It was the last performance of country legends Brook and Dunn!

On August 10, 2009, Brooks & Dunn announced that they would be retiring. They informed fans by releasing this statement on their website:
"After 20 years of making music and riding this trail together, we have agreed as a duo that it's time to call it a day. This ride has been everything and more than we could ever have dreamed .... We owe it all to you, the fans. If you hear rumors, don't believe them, it's just time.

We will release our #1's and then some on September 8th and come see you all one more time in 2010, with The Last Rodeo Tour”

And the tour they did – they performed for the last time and we were there!

- [Mahesh & Rajashree, March 20, 2010]

Hyundai and Plagiarism : Go hand in hand!!

Its fascinating how Hyundai manages to roll out one version after another of the Sonata model that are imitations of popular accord or camry models of the past.

Here is the 2010 Sonata a copy of the Camry of a generation ago.



Also comparison of the previous sonata with the Accord of 2 generations ago.




And here is the old old sonata with the Amoeba headlights from ??? i dont recall exactly, but ive seen them on a car from the past....

The Plight Of Indian Olympics

I was deeply shamed watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics Vancouver 2010 when the Indian contingent arrived. The number of athletes - 3 and the staff way beyond this number. And the announcer was full of mockery - " a country of 1.1 billion represented by 3 athletes" . I somehow finally digested this fact when i realized that the country did not experience significant winter to compete in winter olympics. But , hey Iran had more than 3 and a lady in Burkha too ;)
However the following news in BBC truly shocked me.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indian Olympic team get donated uniforms in Vancouver!!!

Vancouver's Indo-Canadian community has rallied to provide funding and uniforms for India's three-man Winter Olympics team, local press reports say.

The owner of a sports shop donated track suits for the opening ceremonies, saying the rush was on to get the Indian flag embroidered onto the gear.

And a local Punjabi radio station is raising funds for the team - made up of a luger and two skiers.

The luge used by captain Shiva Keshavan is also donated - by lawyers in India.

Five lawyers chipped in 450,000 rupees ($9,700; £6,200) after Keshavan's old luge - held together by duct tape and screws - broke during training in November.

Alpine skier Jamyang Namgial and cross-country skier Tashi Lundup round out the team.

'You're kidding'

TJ Johal, the owner of Sports Unlimited in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, told public broadcaster CBC that he was shocked to hear the team did not have proper uniforms for the opening ceremonies.

"My first reaction was, you're kidding me. They're from India, the land of clothing, and they have no clothes to wear? But that's just how it is in Third World countries," he said.

Shushma Datt, the owner of radio station RJ1200 - which bills itself as Vancouver's Bollywood Station - told the BBC it had raised 8,000 Canadian dollars (£4,875) at an impromptu fundraising event on Wednesday night, and that donations were still coming into a bank account set up for the athletes.

Team captain Shiva Keshavan, 28, who is competing in his fourth Winter Olympics, said he was grateful for all the help.

"To feel this kind of support from our community on the other side of the world from India, it is such a great feeling," he told television network CTV.

Mr Keshavan said he received his first funding of $20,000 (£12,800) from the Indian government last year, after more than a decade of competing.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8513201.stm

A farce called American Capitalism

When it comes to defining world largest economies China stands out as Communist and the US is perceived as the Capitalist. Capitalism defines the spirit of entrepreneurship where people are encouraged to be industrious and build organizations. However the American capitalism makes this definition a sham. American capitalism represents some evil design to concentrate wealth in the hands of a few affluent that keep getting wealthier.

The legal and financial obligation and enormity of setting up a business will often scare away anyone with entrepreneurship ambitions. Take a few examples of costs involved in setting up a small business
Gas Station – $250,000
Barber shop franchise - $60,000
Burger Joint - $ 200,000
Tutoring - $50,000

These are some of the examples of businesses one with limited education and a desperate individual would like to do – but he does not have the luxury of setting up such a business all he can do is serve in one of these business taking an hourly paid job. However in a developing nation like India a similar individual could start up his fast food joint or barber shop and earn all the rewards for his hard work and build his own business.

Moving to the higher strata of the society look at the most successful sports franchise the NFL. The NFL is highly successful as an entertainment organization but even more successful in filling up the coffers of the owners and the organization itself. The way the NFL works is it inducts players through a draft and deals with all the players as a whole at the organization level. This frees up the owners the hassle of negotiating contracts with individual players and thus having to pay exorbitantly. The players don’t have the choice of dealing with multiple teams to seek better opportunities until they become free agents. Even worse is the NCAA where each game may rake in upto$2m in tickets alone but the players don’t get anything more than the tuitions. – Now compare this to the Soccer leagues in Europe where players draw massive transfer fees and weekly salaries based on theirs skills and market value.

The examples are multitude …. Hence there is more to this blog…..

Anil Kapoor: Slumdog to the real Dawg in Foxs 24

Anil Kapoors fame from Oscar littered Slumdog Millionaire has landed his ass into Foxs exciting mystery thriller 24. Season 8 opened with a bang with the first name of Kapoor flashing across the screen. Playing one of the lead characters of President Hassan, head of soon to be nuclear middle eastern state Mr Kapoor has landed in a cool glamorous Hollywood role. Who is going to be the first big bollywood hit in Hollywood was the question. Naseeruddin shah (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) / Aishwarya Rai in Pink Panther have tried to make it big with their lead roles but Anil Kapoor could have hit the Jackpot. 24 has one of the biggest viewership amongst US primetimes and a 24 week symphony will out Kapoors mark not only in North America but also across Europe and south America. Mr Kapoor is on his way to become the biggest actor from South Asian Peninsular.