Interesting charity model

Check out rang de. They provide a platform for individuals to become "social investors" and the money invested will be used for providing micro-credit to needy borrowers. You can also choose the kind of people you want your money to be loaned to. At the end of tenure, you get back your money with an interest of 3.5%. Agreed, its not comparable to any other investment option in terms of monetary returns. But then again, such options are investments and by no stretch of imagination can they be labeled charity.
Hope such innovative schemes work out and (quoting from their site)provide a sustainable alternative to charity for the needy.

Favourite comedy shows

- Seinfeld.. Kramer rocks.. George irritates sometimes .. but still this is
- That 70s Show - Kelso and Fezz.. Mrs. Foreman rock ..
- Friends - Its Joey, Chandler and Phoebe's show
- Frasier
- My wife and kids

Hindi

Dekh bhai Dekh
Office Office

Kannada

paapa pandu
silli lalli

Of random thoughts..

Alighting the escalator this time was different. The usual set of people handing out fliers were accompanied by a old man, whose profile was C shaped, a wooden stick hand and a plastic cup with a collection of few coins. You do not see that many of these people in hong kong. The reaction of the people coming down the escalator ranged from nonchalant to extremely generous. I observed a $10 coin when I dropped mine. There were no thoughts just action of dropping a dollar. I never do this frequently in bangalore. It usually would be the first one for the day or the last one for the day, or someone who really looks very bad and doesnt approach you personally (never to the ones in the traffic signals)..

Then continuing on to the MTR, and no company the mind really wandered. Instantly the thoughts were about Gini c0-index, the index which measures income disparity. Having checked the index there were a few observations.

Communist/Socialist countries have the worst income disparity
Capitalist and free market proponents are the next inline
democractic and regulated markets follow
some european countries do really well

i never believed in capitalism .. its a system of/by/for the rich with a fake ideaology that they are helping the others along, where in reality is they are robbing others more than what they actually contribute. i am not a fan of hugo chavez either.. the human nature is naturally egoistic.. and a homospaien with undisputed power, will always be able to convince he is doing in the best interest of others..

That leaves democracies (good ones) with good regulations .. these have either been lucky or have experienced problems of the capitalists or socialist countires.

i believe its a right of every human being to live decently and the govt's basic functionality is to create measures to achieve this. Not just to have policies driven by senseless capitalists ... i am one of these senseless capitalists to be ...?????? or am already one??

Ah..finally..some good news to start my day..here and here

Import import

If you listen to the TOP 20 songs in Kannada charts right now, you will find most of the hits are from music directors NOT from Kannada Music Industry!

Yes, all the big names from Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam are all in the Kannada Industry.

Devisri Prasad, Premji Gangai, Vijay Anthony and the mallu director Jessi Gift are all in Kannada.

Kannada Industry seems to be following the fact from India Inc. : If you can't match them because of demand, get them!!!!!

Of course the other industries are doing the same : getting Gurukiran, Harikrishna, Mano Murthy...

Whatever, the result is pleasant music.

Devisri Prasad is like Rahman of Telegu movies. "Sangama" title song is amazing. The Veena(or sitar?) is sounding haunting...I have to see the movie for the song itself.What melody!

The Boss and reviews

have you wondered what's the main work of bosses or generally managers ..

I think its 'Review'ing.. They are born to review all the stuff done by the people under them..

create a report.. submit to your boss and you are certain to get some review comments.. if he/she is a brit, the english changes from american to brit english.. now incorporate those and submit to his boss.. now if he is a NAcan then the mode of english switches back to NAcan and you shall again get some comments.. and this goes on till you reach the CEO ..

now after doing all the changes as suggested by a dozen people, give it back to your boss (without mentioning that its been reviewd by the CEO and changes have been done accordingly).. you shall get a second round of changes (anulling the changes suggested by CEO).. and you can literally go on like this for months and years if wanted ..

to stop all these chakravyuhas .. I think you should directly go to the highest authority who will sign off your reports.. (lets consider the CEO in this example) make all the changes and send it to all those involved between you and the CEO.. saying i have created this report which is approved by the CEO.. let me know if you require any changes.. and do include THE CEO in the CC list ..

all you shall receive back is congratulations for creating an excellent report .. and use these to get your bonus ..

Christmas in October ..

If Christmas is all about gifts, then this year Christmas is certainly in October..

Following the $700 billion gift oopsy.. "the bail out" from Santa Paulson , there are similar attractive "gifts" announced by almost every developed country's Santa Claus- UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Japan etc

well what a bounty... but for who?? the benefits of these are always Pyramid shaped with the top few benefitting the most and the masses getting a dollar or two..

The bail out might sounds good for advanced countries where more than 50% of population has investments in terms of stocks, bonds and CDOs whose value has collapsed around 30-50% depending on which country you are... So these people indeed will benefit from the rescue, if at all stock markets bounce back .. but with a global economic recession this would largely help. The markets are staging a come back this week. Wait till 3rd week, when most of the countries announce their GDP numbers and you shall observe the technical recession, which will send the stock markets to their bottom again.

In countries like China and India where 75% of the population doesnt even have a clue about what a stock market is, all this bail outs, liquidity will do any good to them..

Now the real beneficiaries are the top 2% of the people..the wealthiest and the richest.. as usual..

I am generally of the feeling Governments always serve the interest of the rich first, middle class next and the poor at last (if they have time and concern)..and this is one such case....

HK updates

there are a few things to be reported..some of them are very serious issues .(the first one)

1. Sleep has been disrupted in the past few months due to hurricanes and typhoons .. and i hate this.. the ''ooooo' sounds are terrible ..

2. Been the 'last man standing' for a couple of times. this is very common if you are in cities like bombay, hk, ny and take the train to office. Of the cities i have travelled HK is still the safest for public transport. I have consciously avoided Shanghai trains (but the MegLev is impressive @ a max speed of 410Kmph). It is not so fun clinginig on the last sq inch on the train and trying to avoid the doors slamming your back(to save a minute or two).... not that much an hassle when u consider mubmaikars avoiding the walls of houses and electric poles. The NY trains are no better.. some of them had open doors/broken doors.. the best experience is to use the SFO BART .. u always manage to find a seat and can also have a view of the lush green landscapes..

3. I have taken a big deliverable off my list .. rather have it moved from pre-marriage to post-marriage and hence have become so lazy that I am late on my other deliverables ..

4. shopping is in swing .. i never knew watches could be so freaking expensive.. and tag heuer, omega and rado form the bottom of the list of the expensive watches.. i was so surprised to see the prices that i started reading the product descriptions closely, to see if they have found some costlier metal than platinum and used in the watch.. alas most of them were still stainless steel.. but some were interesting time pieces.. created by old men with no modern machinery.. now i really dont want that ..whey would i trust the old men .. its like trying to buy a car from the workers who worked on the first ford.. these watches arent for me for certain..

5. fashion conscious HK.. HK might rank 3rd/4th behind paris, tokyo, NY/london in fashion.. even men carry Gucci Prada bags in here and makes life difficult/uncomfortable.. btw, i got a backpack for myself.. its a Samsonite, finally moving out from the wildcraft, naturecraft, Nike/adidas/reebok years ..feels really Unclish types to own a samsonite ..

6. Finally finally managed time to get an haircut .. i always find these sessions fascinating .. u have to make sure u dont go to a cheap saloon.. else u might repent for the next few weeks of your life. Here is this guy, who works on your head like a sculptor .. you can understand the initial parts completely.. cuting the long messy hair, and after a while it becomes a one way affair ..its the barber's world. All you have to do is to try and avoid sleeping so that he does not cut too much hair .. and a word of advice, please always order one size more than your intended size .. if you want medium hair length, say long and so on and so forth.. barber's have such a penchant for cutting your hairs ..they always prefer the shorter way out, though it is harmful to their buiness (they really cant think business when they are working on a piece of art)

Uncle v/s 3 year old niece

Setting: It is 11 pm in the night, and the niece is still up and about. The parents and uncle are all tired after a long day, and want to call it a day. Uncle takes charge in sending the girl to her room.

U: hey, are you a good girl or a bad girl?
N: I am a good girl.

U: Do you know that good girls listen to their mommy, and go to bed early.
N: [ ignoring uncle ]

U: [ Nonplussed for a moment, that his immaculate logic isn't getting through. ] So aren't you going to sleep ?
.....
.....
.....
N: Today I am a bad girl.

This could be you dear reader, in a few years time :).

early wee hours

blogging at 3:30 am sucks .. another disturbed night.. another wrecked day tomorrow..
its become so common now that i have to finally vomit/admit on the blog..

living with typhoons is no mean task .. the incessant 'oooooooooooo' sounds of the wind .. the rattling of windows .. the doors shaking everything can drive u nuts .. and ppl talk about man damaging the environment crap ..here is nature spoiling my sleep ..probably for the dozenth (not sure if this is a word.. but at 3:40am it becomes one) time in less than 3 months..

i am here complaining about it so strongly and the wind still makes that 'oooooo' noise shamelessly.. btw .. where do we lodge an official complaint against these absurd noises..

crapppppppp............even the laptop fan makes a terrible noise ..looks like most of the things are exercising 'freedom of speech'......... having blurted out like a mad man let me see if i can gather some sleep now

10 Random Things

0. Life in the cab as usual is fun. I am using a Tempo Traveller instead of the TATA Star Bus which I used in Sasken.

1. There is one really fat loud guy who sits next to me in the cab. He wears Rayban glasses and sits in the cab and he yaps non-stop on his mobile until I reach MGRoad.

2. His mobile has Rangeela's Tanha Tanha ring tone. The starting flute sound of Tanha Tanha. He is also crazy about ringtones. Another guy has a "sweet-sounding" bird's ringtone. Some people like it. But for me, the sound gives me a sensation. The sensation of a squirrel nibbling your ears and squeaking with delight as you wither in pain.

3. Our office is gonna shift to Infantry Road....Embassy Icon near Indian express building

4. My dog's vet was upset with me because I was using the leash to drag the dog. He likes animals more than he likes human beings.

5. The actors in use case diagrams look really funny. Arms are stretched and so are the legs. Mostly the guy who conceived The Use Case Diagram was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. But he forgot to draw the Actor's Johnson ;-)

6. I was reading about some technology which uses Refraction of light. Really interesting stuff.

7. Chitranna song in Budhdhivanta is tooooo goood. The tune is a copy of a tamil song. But the lyrics are good - courtesy Uppi. By the way the actress "Suman Ranganath" is back in the song. She is looking good.But I think she must be at least 35 or even 40 (the last time I saw her, she was paired opposite with Shankar Nag.)

8. I like to watch the new World Movies Channel. It is good!!!!

9. What should we really DO in life ? What do we like ? Who will evaluate us ? Why should we be evaluated ? Finally what is the meaning of all this in life ?

Sex ranks 7th in Indian men's life priorities

and still Men get all the blame for being u know what.. (its not even in the top 5)

btw, the ones which took the top six positions were ..
Family life, spouse, work or career, being a parent, financial well being and physical health.

for details read this http://in.rediff.com/news/2008/oct/01sex.htm

i dont know if this true during kamasutra days..
a big improvement .. or detrioration.. depends on the magnifying glass you use..

Federer v/s Roddick

Came across this question recently.

Part 1:
Earlier, the probability of Federer winning against Roddick was > 4/5.
Now it is < 4/5.

Does there necessarily have to be a point when it was exactly 4/5, during the transition from > 4/5 to < 4/5?

( The probability was determined on the past record of the players against each other )

Part 2:
Does your answer change if, earlier it was < 4/5, and later it was > 4/5, and you are asked the question:
Does there necessarily have to be a point when it was exactly 4/5, during the transition from < 4/5 to > 4/5?

adda .. for fun ..

i propose that "adda" be made an exclusive "fun postings" site ..
no more serious stuff .. yen heltira .. enuff of work related, wall street economy etc..
lets get some quirky, off-the-beat, ridiculing and poking fun types stuff ..
life .. philosophy na swalpa avoid madona ..its everywhere .. lets make adda the escape place ..

back to hong kong ..
in hong kong .. there are two things which are very prevalent ..

"Managers" and good "calf muscles"..
everyone in hong kong is a manager / consultant .. u go to a restaurant .. u have a server manager, billing manager and i think in a salon they have hair stylist consultant.. thats the way it works here .. and i am a product manager as well :-)

coming to more serious issue .. calf muscles ..i dont know if it is genetic or absolute trained from childhood.. calf muscles rock in hong kong .. and it cannot be the "heels" effect .. since guys and girls both compete on good calf muscles in hong kong ..

Steinbrueck Says U.S. Will No Longer Be `Superpower' of Financial World German

hmmm .. I seriously hope so ..
but on the other hand this is a complete joke isnt it ...???

Even after the crisis things wont change.. here are some of the reasons

how many brouses around the world have you seen going against the Dow Jones trend??
By what %age does global commodities change in Asian/ European trading +- 2% ,
where the same in US trading can change like 10% + on a single day. why?? Asians dont like Gold/Crude/Rice/Wheat is it??

US still calls the shots and everyone follows. Thats been happening for a while and will happen for a long while. All these regional demand, powerhouses is a dumb concept. Japan, Europe, the BRICs whoever we combine together have no clue in terms of taking bets or assessing what price u need to pay for what .. we always look towards the fatherland/ uncle Sam for clues so that we can blame someone when things go wrong

Mr. Steinbrueck dint you see German banks losing billions in US housing market ?? what were you doing then buddy .. busy bailing out them?

I personally believe the hi-flying days of wallstreet are over .. though Paulson is trying very hard to not affect executive compensation, people will generally not pay high for investment banking services. But still US will set the pace of the broader industry (asset management, hedge funds, PE, VC blah blah blah) .. others are just followers .. mere followers who just dont have the guts to take bets , but have the guts to take on what the US bets and go under water coolly.. (esp the countries in the 2nd and 3rd positions like Japan and Europe .. compared to the likes of China/India etc)

Hmm my first post from my new company.

First impression has been good...Work is still to begin(which is gonna be C++ and Object Modelling and Design Patterns and all, which I don't have a good idea abt.).The cubicles are very close to each other and I am used to the majestic FAC-Z cubicles.

I can see the view of MG Road from my cubicle and I hear that my office will be shifted to Infantry Road. Meanwhile having an office in MGRoad is good because good access to eatables and anything! Tender coconuts, groundnuts buffet at a place called "Oye Amritsar!" ... Life goes on

There is a cab ( :-)!) and the timings are also good...

Tintin

I finished one round of going through all the Tintin comics after a long time. I have special memories of all the tintin comics. I remember the circumstance when I first got the each of the book and how good / bad it was.

What do I find so special about tintin comics ? At that time it was the style of cartoon, and the pleasant writing font which was used unlike the Marvel or DC comics. Even the Asterix style of cartooning is different. And it was the humor of Captain Haddock which had me glued.

Now as an adult reader, I liked the political references in the Blue Lotus, the amount of research which has gone into the work of Tintin and even now it is the style of cartooning (which is clean , neat and clear). I also found that some themes are recurring across various books written on Tintin.

My favorites in Tintin continue to be The Blue Lotus, The Calculus Affair, the Secret of the Unicorn, The Broken Ear, King Ottokar's Sceptre.

It seems Herege's favorite was Tintin in Tibet. It is too emotional for a Tintin comic and a little different because it was written when Herge was going through a personal turmoil. And my favorite character in Tintin is Tintin himself. Apart from Tintin I like Thomson and Thompson who can actually be differentiated by their moustaches!!! The humor is very french in nature.

Among the least liked ones :- The Lake of Sharks (no creative input by Herge),Castafiore Emerald(nothing happens), and thats it !

I heard that Spielberg's making a movie on Tintin. I hope does justice for fans like me!!

Blasts in Delhi ?

Blasts in Delhi ?

I heard that there are some blasts in Delhi ? Wtf ?

This is too much man ...

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/sep/13delhi.htm

How many blasts in a year? Very disturbing ....

Seriously how do you prevent and whom do you check to stop all this nonsense ...

Hmmm

I moved out of Sasken yesterday. It was a wonderful company. From my point of view, more than the company, it was the team and the people. Team maketh an employee's professional life.

CorePCU is a lively team. Also an eventful one for me :-

a) I moved into our new house when I joined the team.
b) My sister's marriage.
c) My Paris trip.
d) My Ottawa trip.
e) My marriage.
f) My aptmt

Needless to say, I really enjoyed working here. Now I've stepped out of its umbrella, to venture into other things. I feel like a Columbus today, venturing into new waters, this rainy season.

Needed : Swalpa josh and Swalpa hosh.

Current Song : Eno ondthara

ie and ei ..

i hate those words which have both ei's and ie's in them.. i never get when to use "ie" and when to use "ei".. thanks to auto correct features which often helps me out..

my chemistry prof once advised that if a word in which the "ie" pair sounds "e" then the "i" would precede "e", and if it sounds "i" then "e" would precede "i" and immediately cautioned there were numerous exceptions to this rule..

some examples which follow these rules are field, believe, rein etc..

i had some exceptions in my mind .. but its buried in somewhere