We need more Originals!

Figure: Used for Representation purpose only

While queuing at the billing counter of a local supermarket, I overheard the conversation of a couple with their 5-6 year old son standing in front of me.

The kid was super irritating and mischievous. His parents pointed out to someone else's son (that ideal child) who was in the other row and told him, "Look Son, you need to be like him!".

I just realized that the problem starts from there! 

That's the age when we start being someone else and later on in life when these kids grow up shit happens and they spend their entire life trying to figure out how that happened!

Why do we look for Steve Jobs v2.0 or Albert Einstein v2.0? 

Why don't we let those trouble makers and misfits grow up as there are and let them change the world with their own way?

Let there be originals! No one is born perfect but we do find our ways when we grow up! That's life!

Something to think about!

Photo source: http://www.mydestination.com/mumbai/travel-articles/721965/top-5-mantras-for-boarding-a-mumbai-train#

Few days ago, I boarded the Virar bound peak hour crowded Mumbai local from Dadar. A mentally retarded (Differently abled) person boarded the same First Class compartment. He had a weird look and wore smelly clothes. Looking at him, the passengers started abusing him but he didn't give a shit. He stood in between the two doors, people started panicking and moved aside. Some even started fighting amongst each other.

He remained calm and behaved like nothing happened as he enjoyed the luxury which every Mumbaikar dreams of- having a place to stand without being pressed from all four sides during peak hours. All this while he was also making weird faces looking at other passengers.

After few stops, he alighted from the train and everybody was relieved. When he got down, he looked back and said, "Tum sab yede ho, puri duniya yedi hai (All of you are idiots, the whole world is filled with idiots)".

What did I learn?
Bewakoofon ki duniya mein yeda hona jaroori hai boss!
(Being an idiot is the best way to survive in the world filled with fools boss)

Creative Mumbai-kars!

Creativity has no boundaries. Saw a sketch artist today while travelling back home in a Bhayandar bound Mumbai local train, who was sitting next to me.
He sketched the person sitting in front of him with ultimate perfection.
Within the chaos and madness of this city lies a creative charisma in every Mumbai-kar :)

Professionalism!

I was at a suburban railway station 'Borivali' in Mumbai yesterday when it was raining cats and dogs in the City. This tremendous amount of rain put the city infrastructure to test, causing water logging in low lying areas in the City. So, there was a delay in the local train timings.

Picture: Aerial view of Bandra-Worli Sea Link, Mumbai, India

Sometimes, its the beauty of this city that such incidents bring Mumbaikars much more closer and then strangers talk and discuss their life stories. There is a profound depth in the life story of every Mumbaikar. There is a story of work, love, hatred, friendship, struggle and success. In the 15 minute interaction with a fellow Mumbaikar in his 50's while I was waiting for my local train back home, I learnt of a short story about professionalism.

He was a typical local Mumbaikar with a square framed spectacle, tucked out shirt and a black shoulder bag. He worked for a Courier Services Company in Mumbai and was handed over the responsibility to personally deliver a parcel containing a pair of sports shoes worth around INR 16,000 (US$ 290) while it was raining heavily. I have a lot of respect for the courier guys, they really don't care if the weather is sunny or rainy but just do their work honestly. While walking down a lane, he told me that he came across a path which was completely water logged and couldn't even see the road properly. His feet were shaky because he was scared to put one more step further fearing it may be an open man hole or a big pot hole. He said, "I was not scared of falling down but I was scared about destroying/ damaging the responsibility which I was carrying (pair of shoes in his case)". It was his responsibility to carry the parcel and deliver it without any damage. He fearlessly stepped ahead and kept walking till there was a clear path ahead and delivered it to the destination. He took charge of the situation while risking his own stand. 

In this case, that person had a complete advantage of going back to his office saying, "No, I can't go, its raining heavily" or he could have just mishandled his parcel complaining the city water logging. But, he didn't complain. He was responsible for his work and about his professionalism. Its the same set of qualities we look for in the Corporate decision makers as well. That 'parcel' in this case could be the 'expectation of the Company stakeholders'. 

I forgot to ask his name or about his Organization name but I understood that he was a gem and his Company must be very fortunate to have him as its employee. After that I just left the station to think about other alternative route back home. But, I was happy that I had a small story to share on my blog. 

Be Courageous! Be Professional! Be Honest! Be Hungry! Be foolish!

"Aashiqui"- The Brand Extension

'Aashiqui' is a hindi word describing 'love'. Before I talk about the Brand development strategy of a recently released Bollywood Movie 'Aashiqui 2', let me ask you to just enjoy this amazing video of the song called, 'Tum hi ho' from the movie. 

Source: Youtube video of the song 'Tum hi ho' from the movie 'Aashiqui 2'

I suppose, you must have really enjoyed this romantic melody. This song has become a massive hit among different demographics in India and has topped the charts across various media platforms. It's being played everywhere, be it a local laundry shop or an expensive coffee house. Its being shared massively on Facebook and other networking sites as well. It is also one of the reasons, the movie became popular and has been declared as successful. In Bollywood, music has a great contribution in the success of a movie and this history is being repeated year after year. 

Picture: Movie Poster of the 1990 released movie 'Aashiqui'

Now, let me come to my point of discussion. 'Aashiqui 2' which was released in the year 2013 is a sequel to the 1990 released movie 'Aashiqui' which was commercially and critically successful mainly because of its popular music. There are many such movies which have released their sequels and have been really successful. Some great examples of Hollywood movies are Spiderman, Batman and Harry Potter. This is a perfect example of 'Brand Extension' where the existing brand name of the movie is extended to a new and modified product (its sequel or a completely new story). In other words, the brand name 'Aashiqui' has successfully leveraged its already established brand name to launch another movie with a completely different story  but the essence of 'good music' still being intact. Here, the biggest advantage is that the cost of expenditure in advertising and making the audience aware of their core competency can be reduced. 

Picture: Movie Poster of the 2013 released movie 'Aashiqui 2'

Brand Extension can sometimes be really very risky and can cannibalise the brand name. Like in this case, when the audience heard about 'Aashiqui', the first thing they remembered was the music of the Original movie. A perception was created in their minds about the good and appealing music which the brand will carry with it to 'Aashiqui 2'. This perception was carefully preserved by the movie makers and it delivered its promise with good music and it was a success. 

Now, if the producers of the movie use 'Aashiqui' as a brand name to make more movies to extend their brand and suddenly decide to drop all songs from them and make it a thriller without any melodious music, it can create a confusion in the minds of their audience because, then they can no longer associate good music with the brand name 'Aashiqui'. 

Some brand extensions in Bollywood and Hollywood have been really very successful but some have even failed miserably, but this hasn't stopped movie makers on using this formula of brand development strategy. Its a great and perfect formula for movie makers if they really wish to reduce their expenditure on creating a brand name but 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' review by the audience is difficult to predict due to changing demands and expectations of different market segments in domestic and international markets. 

Let us keep a look out on how movie makers can leverage the brand value of their original flicks to create new movies, with innovative ideas. 

Grab your seats!

Picture taken at Thane S.T. (State Transport) Bus Stand, Thane, India

Found this picture while clearing the old files in my system. Had clicked this picture way back in the year 2007 while on my way to College. 

There is always a huge queue of people to catch the 'Thane- Bhiwandi' Bus in the morning. These people are however trying to break the queue and getting in from the emergency exit door to grab a seat. Smart!! The monkeyness in humans is still present.

Al though, it may seem funny, but its the depiction of a common man in India. A Common man in India spends his entire life trying to cross the limits just to grab a seat in a bus or struggles to find a fourth seat in the second class compartment of a crowded Mumbai local train (my fellow Mumbaikars will definitely understand what 'fourth seat' means). I seriously think, a common man deserves more than that!

The present infrastructure in India needs to be revived. This may be the deterrent for GDP growth in India. The current infrastructure isn't sufficient or satisfactory for the 1.2 bn + population in India.

Mind your feet!

I had been to South Mumbai last weekend. While waiting for my train, I just thought of clicking this picture. Had been thinking about it since so many years.

Figure: Picture taken at Santacruz Railway station in Mumbai, India

Just take a close look at the platform gap. It is around 12 inches in this case. I have even observed a platform gap of around 15 inches in some suburban railway stations in Mumbai.

For a young and energetic person like me, it quite cool to jump of the train when it stops or board the train very easily but, what about our elders and senior citizens? Can they jump like youngsters? The answer is definitely NO! I honestly think, something should be done. Consider the plight of the senior citizens when they have to board or get off the train during peak hours. It must be so very bad. There have been so many accidents in past years and even few months back when people just slip off while boarding and end up even loosing their feet.

I have stayed in Singapore for more than a year and travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as well. I just observed how careful these countries are towards their senior citizens. These countries have the basic infrastructure which I feel, not only senior citizens need but we youngsters need as well. They have Air Conditioned stations and Escalators and even travelators to save the travelling time and make the journey less tiring. It is good because, the amount of energy we spend in climbing the stairs and sweating out in the heat can be put to proper use in school or at work. Also, the platform gap is just negligible in these countries but still they keep on announcing in the MRT's and LRT's over there to mind the platform gap. We need to have such announcements over here as well. Maybe, someone's feet could be saved!

If not the Air conditioned stations or the Escalators, I think there should be some initiative to at least amend the platform gaps at different stations in Mumbai and also the responsibility lies with people to protect the public infrastructure from getting damaged. We need to think about our parents, elders and senior citizens right now! There is no point in duplicating the world class cities in other countries to build our infrastructure if the basic necessities of our elders aren't safeguarded!

I am sure, if these small issues are rectified which I don't think is impossible, together we can move towards a sustainable city and a nation!

Lets all look up towards the shining India.

Officially M.B.A.!

Happy for being officially conferred the Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree from the Chancellor of James Cook University- Australia, Lieutenant General John Grey AC (ret'd)

Now, looking ahead to begin the next exciting phase of my life!

Cheers!

Celebrity Spotted!

Picture taken outside Trident at Nariman Point, Mumbai, India where the players from IPL teams- Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab stayed 

Throughout my life, I have seen people gathering around a Bollywood star's house or when a Cricket player visits a certain place in the city just to catch a glimpse of their favourite star. I used to be really amazed thinking what joy do they get looking at them (they are the normal people whom we see on TV and movies, what's so special about them to create a fuss)

Today. I couldn't resist myself. I was walking through the busy street of South Mumbai when I spotted people gathering near the entrance of a 5 star hotel with Z level security around. I asked one person standing there and he told me that the team players of IPL (Indian Premier League) are moving from the hotel to play the match at Wankhede Stadium, which was scheduled later in the evening. The match between the home team 'Mumbai Indians' and 'Kings XI Punjab'.

I stood there and tried to catch a glimpse of the cricketers amid the tight security. I have finally understood the joy, a common man dervies when he catches a glimpse of his favourite cricket star or a Bollywood star. I could see the joy, the excitement in their eyes.

A Common man always dreams of becoming rich or a star or a famous cricketer or maybe witness their life but sometimes it isn't possible practically. A common man who sometimes survives on less than $3 a day cannot full fill all his dreams and aspiration. So, whenever he gets an opportunity to see someone famous, he tries to get a glimpse of him and gets entertained and inspired.

A Common man's life is sometimes quite complex but he tries his best to be happy with what he has!

A salute to the Common Man! I am glad that I did my best to understand him!

Being Different!

One of my friends recently posted a quote by Tina Fey on Facebook, which says "You can tell how smart people are by what they laugh at".

I remember one incident during my Junior college days. It was the beginning of a new semester and we had Founders Day celebration. The highlight of the celebration was a Fashion show. I always wanted to be a part of a Fashion show to experience the feeling of standing in front of the crowd and fearlessly present myself. So, I registered myself for the Fashion show without giving any second thoughts or thinking about who my competitors will be. 

Finally, the day arrived. I dressed up in my usual Jeans and half sleeved shirt. I went there and did my best to walk up to the ramp and answer the random question from the panel of judges. I was overwhelmed by the crowd which consisted of our College founder and Principal, the teaching and non teaching staff and the Students. It was a life time experience. But, my answers did sound a bit naive to some of my classmates and they laughed at me telling me that I made a fool of myself participating and answering the questions in an inept and stupid manner and that I was nothing in front of the other participants. I did accept that criticism sportingly but laughed back at them because they could just laugh at me and never experience how it feels to stand there in front of the crowd. 

Now, whenever I watch any fashion show on Television; I can understand the feeling of the participating contestants because I have experienced it. It makes me feel happy. 

I want to convey a message from this part of my life. In life, there may be incidents where you may be trying something which you have never done before. People may laugh at you. Now, it depends on you whether you take their criticisms negatively and be where you are or go and do what your heart says. I might have failed to win that Fashion show but it was a life time experience for me. Doesn't matter if I failed in it; at least I tried. 

Do something unconventional, try something new everyday. Don't just follow what others do. If you win, you become an inspiration for others and if you fail, you still become an inspiration for yourself.

Your success may be delayed because you are trying all permutations and combinations with your life but in the end you will succeed. Even if you don’t, be happy that you at least tried and didn’t follow the negative criticisms and didn’t settle for mediocrity!!

A Customer !

Its been almost a year since I came to this wonderland called Singapore. I am done with my Masters in Business Administration. My curricular and extra-curricular involvement helped me to identify my passion towards Marketing. With the advent of globalization and many countries liberalizing international trade, customers are getting more options and customer loyalty is becoming an alarming issue. Companies are spending millions of dollars to gain customer loyalty. My question is can customer loyalty be gained by respecting them??

I would like to share one incident with you. I had been to this Indian Restaurant Mr. XYZ (named changed to protect identity) in the afternoon to have some Indian vegetarian food; this place is near my hostel. I sat there and ordered my food. My order was:

 1. Chapati with dal worth S$ 3
 2. Chana Masala worth S$ 2
Total with GST (Goods and Service Tax)= S$ 5.40

 I was having my meal and saw a man in his 30's; he was a contract labour working on the ongoing MRT expansion project who came there to have food. When that man ordered his food he was told to pay his bill first and then have his food. Maybe the Manager thought since he looks poor and didn't wear expensive clothes; he would run away without paying the bill. Was this discrimination on the grounds of colour? clothes? futile worry of the restaurant manager? Anyways, he paid the bill and then enjoyed his meal; I could see the satisfaction of having that meal in his eyes.

Meanwhile, I completed my meal and went up to the cashier to pay my bill. It showed this:

 1. Chapati with Keema worth S$ 4.50
2. Chana Masala worth S$ 2
Total with GST = S$ 7.00

I was surprised and I told the cashier/ manager that I hadn't ordered Chapati with Keema but Chapati with dal and my bill is supposed to be S$ 5.40. He didn't believe me and called the waiter to check it and to my surprise the waiter said I ordered chapati with keema and to prove me wrong he even went to the extent of checking my plate to see whether it was dal or keema? I just told the manager, S$ 1.60 isn't a big deal for me and if he wants to charge me more I will pay it because I was insulted and then finally he said I think you are right and your bill is S$ 5.40.

How would I feel when the waiter when to the extent of checking my leftover plate to see whether I am lying?? I as a customer? Yes I am a student and S$ 1.60 would matter to me but here I just wanted him to charge me for the food I had.

Will I go there to eat again? NO!! Will I give good reviews about that place to my friends? NO! Did that restaurant lose one customer and all other customers related to me? YES!

Companies spend plethora of money to build their brand and sell their products to the customers. What if the customer is insulted by the way he is treated? My advice to all companies and hotel chains out there, would be to learn how to respect the customer. when I was a kid, I always used to read this quote in one of our regular grocery stores, "Customer is God!" In order to gain customer loyalty, companies first have to earn the respect of their customers. Respect isn't gained, its earned.

Do not discriminate your customers on the basis of colour, clothes or profession.

Its the customers who make and break the market! Respect them!

First 10 seconds..

"Life ain't about sunshine and rainbows, there is a cruel world out there waiting for you to fall so that they can keep their foot on your head and rise above you."

I would like to share with you a small story. This story revolves around the life of a boy named Felipe. He was born and brought up in the western part of Germany. He was a very obedient child. Education was always his primary focus. When he was in school, his life was occupied with the thought of scoring the highest marks in the academics. He never even thought of making friends. There was no such word like 'socialize' in the mini pocket dictionary fitted in his heart. He always thought, if he studies very well, the world will respect him. He had a perception that, his simplicity and innocence will get the world attracted towards him. Then he entered high school. His attitude was the same, not even an ounce of it changed. He went on to study medicine. He studied very hard. He used to study for around 7 hours everyday, just because of the millions of dreams he was carrying in his small pocket. Moreover, his thirst for success and the willingness to do something big in life made him pursue his post graduation in London. He was very happy, he had a faith in mind that success was at his doorsteps. He started working much harder and at the same time he used to see other students from his university, partying and socializing and think what idiots they are!! "We come here to study so we should only do that." After spending few months at the University and burning the mid night oil, he decided to attend a speaking club at his University. This had fellow members from all over the world. They used to go out and socialize at restaurants and bars. Nevertheless, he also started joining them. At this junction of time, he realized that he wasted his entire life reading about the world in books. He started experiencing the real practical world over there. When he couldn't manage to socialize in the crowd of people, he started feeling isolated from the crowd. He saw that the world out there is very different as to what he had read in books. The real challenge to him was throughout his life he hadn't given any importance to socializing. He had classmates who had few years of work experience and had confronted the real world and he just observed them as to how they manage to talk to people in the group and Felipe who was so proud of his hard work, just sat in between two groups who were busy talking; and was unable to even talk to one person. People started ignoring him. Just at that instant one of his classmate uttered these words, "The real way of assuming something about anyone is just done in first 10 seconds of his presence." Felipe then realized that the first 10 seconds of his presence in front of someone was like an introvert; and people didn't find any pleasure to talk to him. That day he came home with a frustrated mind, he had tonnes of questions in his head. After few hours of stress reduction session, he decided to change as a person. He thought, "What if people didn't bother to even look at me today. I will try to learn from them. There is no point in envying others. To be the change, I have to modify my attitude towards life." Felipe was very happy with this realization and he went to sleep waiting for a new sunrise in his life.

Being M.B.A. !!

"At the graduation ceremony, when you get your M.B.A. Degree in hand and realize that this degree has not changed you as a person you were before joining this course; indicates that the University has failed in its mission of educating you"- Prof. Mogan Swamy, Lecturer for 'Managing Entrepreneurial Enterprises' at James Cook University, Australia at its Singapore Campus.

Attended one of the most inspirational lectures in the University today. In M.B.A. we generally study about big terms like Market Segmentation, Consumer behavior, 4P's and 7P's. However, this is not at all sufficient to be a successful M.B.A. graduate. Prof. Mogan shared one of his experiences with us. During his youth when he was working as a waiter at French Restaurant, his owner used to check the plates which Mogan used to pick up from the table and drop it for washing. Whenever he used to find any leftover food, he used to ask the reason for it to Mogan. Questions like, "Did it taste bad?", "Did the customer complain?","Has the customer given any suggestions for improvement?". He would go to a extent of tasting the left over food to check the reason why the customer didn't eat it. This is what it takes to be a successful Entrepreneur or a successful manager in general. It takes a lot of pain to understand the customer.

We usually look at rich Businessmen owning big houses and expensive cars and feel that it is so good to be successful. However, we do not consider the amount of hard work and sacrifices they must have made to reach that position.

Getting a 'High Distinction' grade in exam indicates that an individual is a good student but that doesn't prove that he has understood all the lectures and is bound to be successful in life.

Few days back, as a part of Volunteers Club in JCU; I had been to a Junior College in order to talk to the A- level students about pursuing Psychology, IT and Business courses at our University. There were 4 Universities present on that day over there- Nanyang Technological University(NTU). National University of Singapore(NUS), Singapore Institute of Management(SIM). At first I stood there as an M.B.A. student of JCU to market the University and convince the students and I didn't succeed in convincing the students to at least come and visit the University promotion stall, However, I removed my ID card and kept it aside. Now, I was just a marketer standing there leaving the pride of being a M.B.A. student and guess what IT WORKED!!! To understand what M.B.A. is, go and stand there in the market and try selling your product instead of making 100 page analysis reports!!!!

I do not have formal work experience as such and was skeptical whether the decision of career shift from being an Engineer to a MBA graduate is good. Nevertheless, I have discovered that I DID THE RIGHT CHOICE. Engineering taught me how things work and M.B.A. is teaching me how things will work for me.

Hey you are a Bastard!! I will kill you....

SHOCKED?? Yes, this is what people usually tend to say when they are angry. Today I just have a story to share with you all.


This is a story about two people who were pursuing their Masters in Business Administration. Their names were 'Tom' and 'Harry'. Tom always valued people and his relationships and was a bit reserved in his behavior with the outside world. He would talk and be friendly to everybody but would always try to maintain a 6 feet distance from people who used to talk to him in a loud tone. He used to hate that tone because he was a firm believer that people who try to talk with a loud tone in order to force their ideology on others are basically weak at heart and lack the audacity to face the truth. Whenever he didn't like talking to someone, he would just walk away without saying a word. Whenever he had any kind of personal problems he would just keep it to himself and never mixed Personal and Social life.

Moreover, Harry was an angry young man. According to his school of thought, if a person talks in a loud voice and tries to suppress others with his point of view is a real life hero. He believed the only way to survive in this world is a loud voice and an angry tone. Whenever he had any personal life issues, he used to mix his personal and social life and try to insult anybody who used to confront him at that instance.

It so happened that Tom and Harry studied in the same class for their course.They were good classmates, NOT FRIENDS as such. Tom and Harry had clashes many times but Tom just tried to ignore it because, he felt that it was not his duty to show a right path to morons in this world. Nevertheless, he had other important things to do in life rather than wasting time to straighten a Dog's twisted tail, which is a donkey task .

But, one day Tom's threshold of tolerance was penetrated by Harry and he decided, its time that he should stop talking to him. He started ignoring him and was quite successful in it. Now, Harry became aware of this and started bugging him saying, "WHY THE HELL YOU DON'T TALK TO ME?". To this Tom replied. "Dude, I don't like people talking to me in a loud tone, so I have decided that its better we keep safe distance". Harry confronted by saying, "How dare you tell me that! I have the same attitude since last 24 years and I wont change my attitude for you".

Tom replied by saying,"Now that is up to you whether you want to improve or not but remember one thing in life, Don't try to amalgamate your personal and social life, If you do that I assure you that your life will be in deep shit one day. For Example, If you are a head of an organization and one day you've had a quarrel with your family, you go to office and some employee comes in front of you to ask for your help, will you insult and fire him from his job?". To this the brave Harry replied, " Yes! I will fire that employee from his job. I will never work for any Organization, I will be a entrepreneur and if some employee comes in front of me at that moment I will definitely fire him and wont even bother that even that employee has a family to look after because when this is my tone and behavior when I am angry and I don't bother what others think".

Moreover, Tom said," Ok fine, you keep your attitude with you and god bless you for your bright future". Harry was fuming at this instance and started vomiting abuses at him. And that was it, from that day onwards Tom and Harry never tried to even look at each others face.

People, I would like to highlight one important point over here. This life is too short for hatred. Where will you take this hatred? Why can't people be gentle in life? Why can't people pacify their anger and see this world in an optimistic manner? WHY? Why do people think talking in a loud tone is a symbol of bravery?

WHY? WHY? WHY?

Who knows tomorrow you may meet with an accident and die at the very moment or will be suffering on a hospital bed begging God to let you die. Will you take your anger with you to the grave?

This was just a fictional story, but please think on it. Try practicing love and spread love everywhere. This world is a beautiful place and one smile and a soft tone will spread peace and love everywhere. So that, when the day you are counting your last breath you can pacify yourself by saying, "God! I never gave my contribution for increasing hatred in this world. My deeds never caused anybody to feel sad."

The snow is melting out there and there is increase of global tension in the form of hatred and terrorism. Can you give your contribution to this world?

Singapore lah!!

Hello People!!
aaarrgghhhh.. It seems as if I haven't blogged since a life time. Months of struggles, that ended with getting my Bachelors Degree in hand that too with a FIRST CLASS. Thereafter, on 16th October 2011, I landed in a wonderful country "SINGAPORE" to pursue my Masters in Business Administration!! TRUST ME IT IS AN AWESOME COUNTRY!!

The first day to college and I wasn't knowing anybody around. Today, it is 24th November and I know around hundreds of people. THAT IS THE POWER OF NETWORKING! People are very very friendly over here. You ask for help to any person on the street and he will be very pleased in helping you, even though he might not know you.

The streets are clean, the town planning is awesome. Apart from town planning, the success of any city-country depends on the level of intellect and behaviour of its citizens. SINGAPORE HAS IT!! People are broad-minded, people are always happy over here. You wont find any person who is sad which is just opposite to what happens back in India, where people worry about their future 24/7. Throughout their life they live a donkey's life and at the old age they live a dog's life.

My University campus is wonderful, the facilities are world class. I have classmates from countries like Germany, Sweden, China, Japan, America, Malaysia, Indonesia and INDIA!! It feels very good when you walk and people whoever comes in front of you, knows you. I am fortunate to have wonderful people who teach me about Management.. MY PROFESSORS!! They are willing to help you at any extent. They share their personal experiences with the students, the most embarassing ones too, only because they want all the students to have a magnificient life ahead and dont want them to repeat the mistakes which they ever did in life.

Life over here is very fast. I miss home sometimes but thats a part of life. I want to prove myself.

HAHA I am flooded with research papers, assessments, presentation, case studies.. phew... thats fine I like this life and I am thankful to god for giving me such a great life giving me such wonderful eyes through which I am able to see such wonderful things around me!!!! atlast I would just like to say... HEYYY I AM HAPPY!!!

So, This is Abhishek Keni signing off from James Cook University!!

Pachhas paisa!!(Rs 0.50)..

Hi people!! hope you liked the new layout of my blog! As the saying goes "A penny saved is a penny earned", "chutte paise(change)" is what we MUMBAIKARS face severe penury of.. Let me begin with an incident in my college ki savari "TMT"

>passenger 1: oo master..ek passport office dya (gives him a Rs 20 note)
[the actual fare is Rs. 17.50]
>bus conductor: hey ghya (gives him the ticket and returns Rs. 2..actually he had to return him Rs. 2.50)
>passenger 1: master mazhe pannas paise dhya..
>bus conductor: sutte nahi aahet..challa gapp basa..
>passenger 1: oooo MASTER...mazhe 50 paise dhyaaaa!!!!!!
(the fellow pessenger started giving side commentary)..jaane do naa bhai..50 paise ki hi to baat hai..

The point behind stating this conversation is ummmm ok! one more example our most trusted newspaper THE TIMES OF INDIA costs Rs. 4.50..when you give Rs. 5 to the vendor he gives you the newspaper and stays quiet, when you ask him..BOSS 50 paise!!!! he will give you a weird look.

People, we have started earning in lakhs, so basically we don't know the importance of a 50 paise..NO NO..don't take me the other way round I m not miser..or kanjooos as you may say. I just want to highlight the fact that even the 50 paise coin holds a value.

If the bus conductor or the newspaper vendor says the same thing to 20 different people, he gets the EXTRA Rs. 10 in his pocket. Similarly 2 crores of 50 paise coins can lead to Rs. 1 crore Y??? can't we retaliate?? I also think that it is on the part of the government to either keep a track of such nuances or fix the prices of bus fares to a round off value.

We never know the value of something until it is no more..go and ask someone for 50 paise on the street of Mumbai and he or she will reply you with a MIDDLE FINGER!

A piece of advice especially for my engineer friends..soon we are going to earn in lakhs and millions and billions may be,if the almighty is kind enough..DO KEEP A NOTE ..Of SUCH SMALL ISSUES..So!!!..the next time when a bus conductor or newspaper vendor refuses to return that 50 paise..DEMAND IT!!!..

YES SIR!!

Hi friends, I m back again, but this time I want to tell u a short story which has been inspired by real life incidents of an IDIOT. Names of the characters been changed to protect their identity.

There was a boy named Sanjay(name changed). He wanted to do something great with his life. Inspired by his thoughts, he decided to join engineering. He was unable to cope up with the pressures of engg. and had difficulty in understanding the transition between the study pattern of junior college and engg., he got 2 KT's in the semester 1 university examination. He was shattered, but his family gave him courage to do better and improve his mistakes. He was strong, he didn't cry. Instead he took his failure positively. With his sheer hardwork and determination to do much better, he superceded all odds to get a FIRST CLASS in the second and third year of engineering.

After sometime he thought that now he should start thinking about WHAT NEXT?? He aimed at completing his masters from a pioneer institute. While collecting the documents for the same. he came face to face with a person, the Principal Mr. Tamboora(name changed) of his college. This person made a great satement looking at his marksheets. He said,"You are just making big talks, Look at your marksheet of sem 1.What contribution do you have in your result?? Are you worthy of doing your masters??(hindi translation--teri aukad hai kya masters karneki??)", This was the first time in his engg life when he had tears in his eyes.

People, Life is meant to be lived. Bad things are meant to be forgotten. During this small lifespan, we meet a plethora of people who try to discourage us by reminding us about our failures in the past. That's the time when you should say,"F%&^ Y%$". Move ahead. You know, people who have no work to do keep think about their failures in the past. Forget your past, live your present, plan your future!!

In search....

Look into you
do you really want to know who you are?

I want you to touch it
feel it,
know it,
got it !!got it!!got it!!
still frozen??
its your search,your search,your search!

got up early in the morning, found your soul missing,
its your name, your identity!
no one else feels it, its you who feels it!
its because you forgot even you could see
its because you forgot even YOU could BE

I want you to touch it
feel it,
know it,
got it !!got it!!got it!!
still frozen??
its your search,your search,your search!

trying to convince yourself that it dosent matter or bother you?
discovering all of your moments at a time?
nothing can stop you, you are never satisfied
its because you take what you want, refuse to be denied
its because you are living the moment, your present has declined

I want you to touch it
feel it,
know it,
got it !!got it!!got it!!
still frozen??
its your search,your search,your search!

you are lost in a prison- your old thoughts,
they are hunting you while you are been trapped
what shall they find in a useless body??
its because you really don't want to know who you are
its because you really don't want to know why you are


I want you to touch it
feel it,
know it,
got it !!got it!!got it!!
still frozen??
its your search,your search,your search!

Public Transport Analysis!!...

Here I m "breathing easy" after a stressful week of attending lectures in college and today i've taken a day off from college and now back to my favourite passtime "blogging" which is the best way to communicate with you all!!
I just remember an incident which happened last Friday. Last Friday was complicated from the start, I won’t deny it. The day started with me getting late to college (as usual) not because i m not punctual but my Bus is too adamant to be on time. I spent my day snoring during lectures ,enjoying with college mates, giving idiotic looks and playing pranks on the fellow "human beings" in college and in this way it was 4.00 p.m. and it was time to bunk the lecture and be back home.
Now I was on my way back from the college gate towards the station and suddenly I saw my "life" out there "My TMT bus no. 57" and guess what?? it was leaving ,and this sight was enough to put my tail on fire and forcing my legs to take-off and run as fast as i can to go and catch my "life", and yes, yes ,yes, yes I jumped into it and thank god I got a seat (which i don't usually get), pulled off my cell phone and started listening to some soft and slow music.
At one of the stops, 2 kids got into the bus, they caught my attention the moment I saw them. They had a squalid(dirty and wretched) appearance. The bus was not very crowded and there were quite a few vacant seats,but they were too shy or rather afraid to sit next to any passenger. Most of the passengers did not want them to sit next to them, an aged woman who was sitting alone on my neighboring seat shifted to the edge of the seat, so that those two kids couldn't sit beside her. Since I was sitting alone, I asked them to come and sit next to me. They were talking in a language I couldn’t understand, maybe they were talking telugu or something,. The little child was carrying a packet of 'bingo-potato chips' and apparently he wanted to eat it, but his elder sister,'akka',as he called her, was trying to convince him not to eat that ( may be she wanted to save that to eat later ).After a few stops a beautiful young chic boarded the bus and as expected people made a place available for her to sit beside them.
Life is actually made up of binary opposites – good/bad, day/night, rich/poor, beautiful/ugly, permanent/temporary and so on.
Just as life, the bus stops at various places. Then again after a halt, life gains momentum. Sometimes the road is bumpy and smooth at other. The journey by bus offers a close contact with humanity (of which we are partially deprived normally).All of us get so engrossed in the mundane issues, that we hardly have time to rise above it and notice other things. We people usually look at things differently . You and me, rich and poor, living and non-living, beautiful and ugly, etc all were created with the same hands of that almighty and we start looking things on the basis of beauty and money.
So people, the next time you travel by bus or train just try to "SEE" things around you and i assure you you'll definitely come around such incidents. I remember a dialogue from "AVATAR" which say's "nobody can teach you to see"!! I totally agree with this quote by W.H davies :"What Is This Life If Full of Care;We Have No Time to Stand and Stare".....

"We are still here!!".......and counting.........

First of all I would like to thank you all for appreciating my posts!! It gives me exuberant pleasure to know that my style of writing is being liked by "beautiful" people like you all. Thank you so much!!
Today is a "moment", a moment of joy , a moment of a myth, a moment of music, a moment of sorrow, a moment of excitement and we are still counting it Why is it so ?
Has anybody ever been on a journey that went badly wrong?
Have you ever got lost?
Well, the answer to these questions lies in your amygdala(an almond-sized and -shaped brain structure, has long been linked with a person's mental and emotional state). Its there, hidden deep inside your thoughts. Just try to trigger your brain . Sorry !! for being so technical.
We often blame others for that, and then the young bud for hatred grows!! I have experienced copious number of people in my life, some like to live their own life ,some like to live life at the cost of downfall of others while some like to spread happiness,love,joy!!I just want to ask you people,"when will the hatred among us end??" "why do we often hate the fellow human beings so much??" This is todays international issue (in the form of terrorism),a national issue(in the form of religious fights) and also an issue among WE people. We unknowingly start hating people, don't know why?? Let's plant a small hope of LOVE so that it gives lots and lots of happiness in the form of laughter, literacy,I m talking about literacy over here, it has nothing to do with your educational qualification but yes it has something to do with your knowledge of understanding your fellow beings. If we start at our personal level to kill the enemity among us we can definitely do our "bit of help" in curbing the global hatred. Thats what I want to tell you through my post!! I remember a line from Michael Jackson's song "heal the world" which says "......And The Dream We Were Conceived In Will Reveal A Joyful Face And The World We Once Believed In Will Shine Again In Grace...."
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end,you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying. The world should cry for you just because you were the one who contributed in spreading some "love" ,don't count the years-count the memories...........