Why Taj Mahal is held as symbol of India why not other monuments in south india which is far far better than Taj Mahal ... The answer lies in this video ...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
One Life One Dream ... How it all started ...
It all started 4 years back in small common TV Room of Pearl Hostel in National Institute of Technology where my friend pandari and myself seeing the olympics. While we were seeing Isynbayova making olympic record in pole vault we talked that we should be seeing olympics in our life time. With no job or money in hand the thought might seem that of a college guys who says what ever they like but it was a dream for us.
And I forgot about this totally for the next 3 years. A year before when beijing olympics news start to hit the papers, pandari was the first to give life to our dream by calling me and another friend parthi. He tried several others but may be it was only us who had the same dream. We stuck together and we continued till the end.
The motto of olympics was “ One World One Dream”. Ours was “One Life One Dream”. All of the efforts to get event tickests was from pandari and parthi. We could not believe even when we were on the plane to beijing we could still not believe that we have made it.
Our enjoyment had no bounds. We were on cloud nine when we saw India winning olympic gold. We also saw isynbayova breaking her own olympic record in front of us, the record which she kept four years before which we saw in TV in our hostel.
The Dream Team who shared the vision of “One Life One Dream”
Pandarinathan (pan)
Parthiban (ban)
me (Ram)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Isn't it worth an effort ???
August 10, 2008
The day started as usual with me and my friend getting up late and having breakfast at McDonald's an usual routine with me having only French Fries and Milkshake. Slowly we moved towards the stadium where our favourite event is in progress. Though we did not have any tickets we thought we would get one, as some people will not be able to make it for the event. As we reached the stadium and started to wait for the tickets. To our frustration we could not find not even one. We waited more than 4 hrs outside the stadium hoping to find tickets even though the event has started by the time we reach the stadium. We were so crazy that we wanted to see atleast half the event and to have the glimpse of our sporting heroes.
At the end of this frustrating day we deviced a plan (a so called plan) where we will go to the ground early and find tickets either from people who genuinely want to sell due to some personal reasons or from guys who sell in black. Hoping to find two such tickets.
August 11, 2008
As per plan we got up very early around 6 AM in the morning even though we slept around around 2 AM only. We got ready and took train to the venue and reached the venue around 8 AM.
Since we are not that familiar with the native language of the place we had diffculty in asking people for tickets. Because there were lots of people who want ticket.
Time : 08:30 Hrs
With frustration slowly creeping as we failed to get tickets and the localites being proficient in the language got the tickets easliy. So we decided to cut time in asking people for tickets, so went to one of the Volunteer who works for Red Cross and asked her to write “We want Tickets” in native language. The preliminary one event starts at 9 AM and Final at 12 AM. And prelims of another event starts at 12 AM and goes till end of day.
Time : 09:00 Hrs
With that board in hand we approached people showing this. We could see lot of people who sell tickets in black (there was couple of females too). But none of them had the tickets for final. And there was only few who had the tickets for final and the price was 30 times more than the original. It was too too high for us. Cursing the people who pay such high price for the ticket we continued to look for the tickets for final. There were guys who buy at 5 times the price and sell at 10 times or more.
Time: 09:30 Hrs
We could see a lot of prelims tickets so we decided to buy those so that we could see atleast prelims. But even that price was very very High. We continued to look for the tickets cursing the people who sell like this and being oppurtunists without conscience. We thought how could a country does not even have a good guy who is genuinely want to sell it not for profit. We cursed the government not taking steps to prevent this.
Then we saw a man with his little cute daughter coming through the guys who were ready to pay high price such as 10 times or 20 times the original. With us standing last who could max offer twice that too for the trouble the buyer would had in purchasing the ticket and nothing more than that.
He waited seeing all the guys and what they are doing and came directly to us and gave the tickets and just walked away. We ran after him and gave the original cost but he declined to take the money. He smiled and said something in native and moved away. We were awe stuck. How could people give a ticket for free, if they were offered 20 times more money than the original buying prices. Hats off to that gentleman. If i would have been in his place i would have atleast got the original, definitely not for free. This is a revolutionary thought. I am glad i could meet such a gentleman.
Seeing us having the ticket in hand we were offered 5 times its price by guys who sell black tickets. But we did not want to sell it for any price. We wanted to respect the old mans's confidence in giving the tickets to us.
The ticket he gave to us is for the preliminary event. But we wanted finals. So we continued to search for the finals ticket. We decided if we did not get any finals ticket one of us will go for the prelims of the other events and another will go home :(
Time: 10:00
Still we could not get any ticket for final with the original price. At that time we could see a husband and wife rushing in looking for tickets of prelims where one of girl from their village is participating in the event. So they wanted to see the prelims event. So we thought since the ticket that ole gentleman gave us is of no use as we dont want to see the prelims we gave the ticket for free to them. They were surprised at this. I think we gave right respect to the old man's generours act.
We were totally frustrated and dejected. But still we continued to look for tickets.
Time: 10:30
Out of the blue a guy came to us and gave the ticket for the finals and refused to take money. We tried offering him the original cost but he told all are like brothers and stuffs like that and he went in to see the event, without even stopping.
We were deeply surprised to see such kind of guys that too twice in the same day. But we needed two tickets. We became highly confident to get another ticket too.
Time: 11:00
No success for another ticket. At that time a rich gentleman came to us with his wife and offered us a very very huge price. If we would have paid the guy who gave the ticket we would have sold the ticket at that huge price and we would very happily sold the ticket without any regret.
Since the ticket was for free we were morally bound not to sell it. So we politely declined his offer.
As the event was getting near i took the ticket and moved in to see the event. And my friend waited outside looking for tickets.
Time: 11:15
I entered the stadium and took a seat and i turned back to see my friend standing behind me with ticket in hand. He told me that he bought the ticket from the guy who genuinely want to sell it. He has paid double the price.
Rejoicing the success of our efforts and very moved by personalities of couple of guys we were seeing the finals. If we sold the tickets for the high price offered by the rich gentleman or gave up effort for searching the tickets we would have missed the red letter day in Indian Sporting History. We would have missed Ahinav Bindra winning his and country's first Gold medal in the Olympic History. After 28 Long years Indian National Anthem was played in Olympics. A moment which we could cherish rest of our life.
Bravo Abihnav Bindra ... Bravo India ...
Isn't it worth an effort ???
The day started as usual with me and my friend getting up late and having breakfast at McDonald's an usual routine with me having only French Fries and Milkshake. Slowly we moved towards the stadium where our favourite event is in progress. Though we did not have any tickets we thought we would get one, as some people will not be able to make it for the event. As we reached the stadium and started to wait for the tickets. To our frustration we could not find not even one. We waited more than 4 hrs outside the stadium hoping to find tickets even though the event has started by the time we reach the stadium. We were so crazy that we wanted to see atleast half the event and to have the glimpse of our sporting heroes.
At the end of this frustrating day we deviced a plan (a so called plan) where we will go to the ground early and find tickets either from people who genuinely want to sell due to some personal reasons or from guys who sell in black. Hoping to find two such tickets.
August 11, 2008
As per plan we got up very early around 6 AM in the morning even though we slept around around 2 AM only. We got ready and took train to the venue and reached the venue around 8 AM.
Since we are not that familiar with the native language of the place we had diffculty in asking people for tickets. Because there were lots of people who want ticket.
Time : 08:30 Hrs
With frustration slowly creeping as we failed to get tickets and the localites being proficient in the language got the tickets easliy. So we decided to cut time in asking people for tickets, so went to one of the Volunteer who works for Red Cross and asked her to write “We want Tickets” in native language. The preliminary one event starts at 9 AM and Final at 12 AM. And prelims of another event starts at 12 AM and goes till end of day.
Time : 09:00 Hrs
With that board in hand we approached people showing this. We could see lot of people who sell tickets in black (there was couple of females too). But none of them had the tickets for final. And there was only few who had the tickets for final and the price was 30 times more than the original. It was too too high for us. Cursing the people who pay such high price for the ticket we continued to look for the tickets for final. There were guys who buy at 5 times the price and sell at 10 times or more.
Time: 09:30 Hrs
We could see a lot of prelims tickets so we decided to buy those so that we could see atleast prelims. But even that price was very very High. We continued to look for the tickets cursing the people who sell like this and being oppurtunists without conscience. We thought how could a country does not even have a good guy who is genuinely want to sell it not for profit. We cursed the government not taking steps to prevent this.
Then we saw a man with his little cute daughter coming through the guys who were ready to pay high price such as 10 times or 20 times the original. With us standing last who could max offer twice that too for the trouble the buyer would had in purchasing the ticket and nothing more than that.
He waited seeing all the guys and what they are doing and came directly to us and gave the tickets and just walked away. We ran after him and gave the original cost but he declined to take the money. He smiled and said something in native and moved away. We were awe stuck. How could people give a ticket for free, if they were offered 20 times more money than the original buying prices. Hats off to that gentleman. If i would have been in his place i would have atleast got the original, definitely not for free. This is a revolutionary thought. I am glad i could meet such a gentleman.
Seeing us having the ticket in hand we were offered 5 times its price by guys who sell black tickets. But we did not want to sell it for any price. We wanted to respect the old mans's confidence in giving the tickets to us.
The ticket he gave to us is for the preliminary event. But we wanted finals. So we continued to search for the finals ticket. We decided if we did not get any finals ticket one of us will go for the prelims of the other events and another will go home :(
Time: 10:00
Still we could not get any ticket for final with the original price. At that time we could see a husband and wife rushing in looking for tickets of prelims where one of girl from their village is participating in the event. So they wanted to see the prelims event. So we thought since the ticket that ole gentleman gave us is of no use as we dont want to see the prelims we gave the ticket for free to them. They were surprised at this. I think we gave right respect to the old man's generours act.
We were totally frustrated and dejected. But still we continued to look for tickets.
Time: 10:30
Out of the blue a guy came to us and gave the ticket for the finals and refused to take money. We tried offering him the original cost but he told all are like brothers and stuffs like that and he went in to see the event, without even stopping.
We were deeply surprised to see such kind of guys that too twice in the same day. But we needed two tickets. We became highly confident to get another ticket too.
Time: 11:00
No success for another ticket. At that time a rich gentleman came to us with his wife and offered us a very very huge price. If we would have paid the guy who gave the ticket we would have sold the ticket at that huge price and we would very happily sold the ticket without any regret.
Since the ticket was for free we were morally bound not to sell it. So we politely declined his offer.
As the event was getting near i took the ticket and moved in to see the event. And my friend waited outside looking for tickets.
Time: 11:15
I entered the stadium and took a seat and i turned back to see my friend standing behind me with ticket in hand. He told me that he bought the ticket from the guy who genuinely want to sell it. He has paid double the price.
Rejoicing the success of our efforts and very moved by personalities of couple of guys we were seeing the finals. If we sold the tickets for the high price offered by the rich gentleman or gave up effort for searching the tickets we would have missed the red letter day in Indian Sporting History. We would have missed Ahinav Bindra winning his and country's first Gold medal in the Olympic History. After 28 Long years Indian National Anthem was played in Olympics. A moment which we could cherish rest of our life.
Bravo Abihnav Bindra ... Bravo India ...
Isn't it worth an effort ???
Photos
Abhinav Bindra on the podium
Indian Flag soaring high ...
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Greatest Management Decisions that changed the world
Some of the greatest Management Decisions ...
- Walt Disney listened to his wife (poor chap ... what else he can do :) ), Lillian, and named his cartoon mouse Mickey instead of Mortimer. Entertainment was never the same after Mickey and Minnie debuted in Steamboat Willie in 1928.
- Around 59 B.C.,Julius Caesar kept people up-to-date with handwritten sheets that were distributed in Rome and, it is suspected, with flyers that were placed around the city. The greatness of leaders has been partly measured ever since by their ability to communicate. This might be the first government advertisement ???
- In 1950, Frank McNamara found himself in a restaurant with no money and came up with the idea of the Diners Club Card. The first credit card changed the nature of buying and selling throughout the world. Truly, Necessity is the mother of invention. His necessity was to dine without any money :)
- Ignoring market research, Ted Turner launched the Cable News Network (CNN) in 1980. No one thought a 24-hour news network would work. It did.
- Sony chief Akio Morita noticed that young people liked listening to music wherever they went. He and the company developed what became the Walkman, first made in 1980. There was no need for market research. "The public does not know what is possible. We do," said Morita.
These are few extracts which i liked from the bigger list The 75 greatest management decisions ever made.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
My Favourite poem - "IF"
[IF]
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
A Leader Should Know How to Manage Failure
This video is a interview with APJ Abdul Kalam. A good one ...
My Favourite book - "To Kill a mocking bird"
When i first saw this book with a name "To Kill a mocking bird", my regular apetite for detective and suspense novel arose. So I bought the book without bothering to even give a cursory glance on the storyline. It was among bunch of Agatha christie's novels. Once i reached home i saw that this book was a pulitzer prize winner. Shocked ... According to me these kinds of books were non readable with full of bombastic words which needs dictionary for each word.
Cursing my negligence and laziness i threw it away. But the 300 bucks i paid for it made me to take it and read the first page. But i was surprised to see that it was with a very simple english.
It was a story narrated by a 10 yrs girl, who is putting forth her views on her father, her town, and its people. In her view her father is a dull lawyer who has not won any case, non athletic, not so good in checkers so and so ... She also knows that her brother also think the same way as her about her father.
An incident happens in her town, in which her father was a part. Though she is not able to understand clearly about the incident she could understand who her father is and who her father was. By the end of that incident her perspective about her father undergoes a sea of change. She could also see her brother's view also changed. It was authors very nice narration to show the change in the girl.
I felt it so well written for even guys like me. I loved this book from the beginning to end. This was my first novel of this kind that i have read and loved.
Cursing my negligence and laziness i threw it away. But the 300 bucks i paid for it made me to take it and read the first page. But i was surprised to see that it was with a very simple english.
It was a story narrated by a 10 yrs girl, who is putting forth her views on her father, her town, and its people. In her view her father is a dull lawyer who has not won any case, non athletic, not so good in checkers so and so ... She also knows that her brother also think the same way as her about her father.
An incident happens in her town, in which her father was a part. Though she is not able to understand clearly about the incident she could understand who her father is and who her father was. By the end of that incident her perspective about her father undergoes a sea of change. She could also see her brother's view also changed. It was authors very nice narration to show the change in the girl.
I felt it so well written for even guys like me. I loved this book from the beginning to end. This was my first novel of this kind that i have read and loved.
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