Wedding Rings

O Man is it true?

Certainly yes! Being close to the Beniwal family i had the privilege to be a part of the ring ceremony:bringing you this ultimate Kodak moment!

Such a beautiful couple they make.

On 6th Dec Arun calls and breaks the news, i almost jumped out of my seat "what???"

I could sense hesitation & happiness in his voice when he told me about the engagement (which was to be on the 9th) - it indeed is a big affair in one's life.

And knowing Arun for over 14 years now, I personally think it is one of the best decisions of his life.

And let me also tell you the wedding day isn't too far.

So what are you waiting for? Congratulate him now (9999-33-0661) know more about his fiancee and lets party everyday... lets celebrate! I am so so happy.....

Another friend Mani got married recently so happy he was on the day - these weddings are so much fun

.......

My Take on Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

Fantastic movie for a Sunday afternoon, good 2 & half hours spent after a heavy brunch.

Cast: Abhay Deol (this guy is improving), Archana Puran Singh (as witty) & Paresh Rawal (true actor) & others - don't know their names but m sure they would definitely shine after OLLO!

Starts off really well from a sardar family living in one of those crowded bylanes of Delhi. Lucky is from this typical lower middle class family: wanting to impress a girl, would flick money from dad'd kurta, lead his gang of friends to mischievous acts etc... naughty & nasty but smart - street smart.

He is an aspiring individual who loves the good things in life and is inspired by the lifestyles of the rich and affluent Delhi families, flicks anything he gets his hands on.

The end - i think is the weakest part of the film, could have been better but since its based on a true story i guess the director did not have much of a choice.

Abhay Deol impresses with his performance yet again, Paresh Rawal is brilliant.

Music is catchy - specially the punjabi rap that keeps playing in the background, it's really nice - got to hear that once at least.

All in all it's worth the money - If you liked Johnny Gaddar u'll like this one too.

Let me know what you feel about the movie - wanna know if our tastes match!

Maj Sandeep Unnikrishnan - Hero (Operation Black Tornado)

It has indeed moved me to know what an officer of the Indian Army, who served in the elite National Security Guards (NSG) gets on sacrificing his life while fighting terrorists in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, a braveheart soldier of the Indian Army chose to wear the uniform to protect India and more importantly it's citizen from evils of the world - and he certainly did it even when it came at the cost of his life.

I mean just imagine, he also could have chosen an easy life like ours - e-mailing friends, chatting about the attack, discussing unnecessarily , blogging, etc... but he chose to beat the daylight out of those sons of bitches (pardon my language - got no better words for them) and for this the entire nation salutes him today.

But the question is how long would you & me remember this name and what about his family?

I m not sure if u remember even 1 name from the list of martyrs in Operation Vijay - if you have a defence background you might remember 1 - that's the case, we forget with time.

About his family, he was the only child - can't even fathom the pain his parents are going through. His mother's tears would weigh more than what I have cried in 24 years and i bet you too. Go here and see how the Chief Minister reacted post his death - will shock the wits out of you.The Kerala government did not send any representative to attend Maj Sandeep's funeral.

Another thing that comes to my mind is the compensation to his family - can you guess it?

Let me give you a hint on the kind of money our govt gives to our heroes - Abhinav Bindra got 3,00,00,000 (INR 30 million) on winning a gold for the country - indeed a moment of glory.

Maj Sandeep Unnikrishnan's family gets only 5 lakhs.

 I am sure his family doesn't want money, the point i am trying to make here is about our govt - 

'A gold medal is valued 60 times more than a soldier's life sacrificed at war-zone.'

I salute all heroes of Operation Black Tornado:

1. ACP Ashok Kamte
2. Hemant Karkare ATS Chief
3. Vijay Salaskar - IPS (encounter specialist)
4. Havaldar Gajender Singh

You are the real men of honour - sons of the soil

Upload your phonebook online : Easy & Safe

Have you ever lost your mobile and with it all the contacts? 

Have you faced problems transferring the entire phonebook to your new phone?

If the answer is yes then you need to visit zyb.com now!

Using ZYB you can

1. You can create a back up for the entire phonebook on your mobile.
2. Zyb automatically updates your contacts, on the phone and internet, whenever you or your friends change or add information.
3. Also, you can view updates from your social networks like facebook, twitter, myspace, YouTube, etc...  

Hats off to these guys for putting up such a neat site with awesome UI and 'out of this world' site navigation - this is by far the best example of web 2.0 for me and i am yet to meet someone who would disagree on this.

let me tell you these guys won the award for outstanding digital service design, presented by the Prince of Denmark - view here

Also what zyb encourages is the concept of open id - basically open id lets you use the same username and password on many different websites like flickr, yahoo, wordpress, basecamp etc... so less confusion and easy to remember - coz its only 1 username and password that you need to memorise.

Barclaycard sucks!

Had a good start to the day, went to the airport to drop Jasmine (O by the way she is very excited about an auto expo / fair in Bombay for which she would be representing her company, Apollo Tyres) and on my way back it was a nice highway drive, also i spoke to RJ Sarthak...hit 95 fm and played the nine second nail biter - in which i had to unjumble a word in 9 seconds - was done successfully.

But it was only for a couple of hours that i was happy until i got a call from barclaycard executive.... now the story starts..... lemme tell you how Barclaycard sucks!

I have been a Barclaycard holder for almost 2 yrs now with a decently high credit limit.

My total outstanding amount on 3rd nov was around 12k, so logically speaking if i subtract 12k from my total credit limit, i was still left with a healthy available credit limit. Keeping this in mind i went shopping and i was billed for about 15k. The sales person at the store was also very happy to serve me as it was a good enough billing from a single customer and that too early in the day.

 I happily took out my Barclaycard, pushed it over the counter and went back looking at some more stuff that i intended to buy next week / month for winters. And usual he started up-selling......

About 5 min passed - poor chap on the counter kept trying and finally asked me "sir koi doosra card hoga? Decline dikha raha hai"

Highly embarrassed barclaycard holder had no other card and obviously not that much cash, finally managed with online money transfer but with immense pain.

Why do i hate Barclay's - 

1. I receive my bill after the due date  - so i am charged a heavy late fee
2. No sms / email on purchases - this is a simple service which even a small enterprise uses.
3. There is no way you can contact Barclays customer support. try their helpline (0124-6752222) i bet you cant connect.
4. There is no way you can find out your outstanding amount due or the available  - nothing based on sms, Internet, voice.
5. The only time i have spoken to Barclays representatives is when they have called me - so its a one way communication.

Simran, if u happen to read this - i apologise man! just dont like the company you working with.

Breathtaking riverside

Every time i promise my self to blog daily - i fail to find time for it. 

Since my last post (which was actually the first in this series) till today - lots of things have happened, will dump it all in this post.

Barog trip (7 - 11th oct) - was full on adventure, started from office late night in a bus that was well stocked with chilled draught beer and other substances of intoxication. We were a big gang as teams from all other territories had flown in for this trip + the sales review + most importantly it was the final chance for most people to spend time with Kumar Apoorv but not me. haha!

Barog is really a beautiful place, but only if u love nature, are prepared not to bathe under the shower - rather jump in a river. Just try and imagine this:

• You go from a place like Delhi which is hot and humid
  
• Land up at the river side where water is so clear that you can see the pebbles on river bed
  
• You step in the chilling water, Ly down.... cold water streams stiffening your muscles....above you is the clear sky with hills running on both sides of the river and the reddish sun going down the hills.....my one hand holds a beer and the other one helps me trip!!
  

 Trippy Barog it was !!

Bang !

About 3 hrs back, brijesh & me were happy over something.

In his car on are way to office, just 100 m away from office is a crossing which brijesh always thought was dicey and accident prone.

We must have been at 50kmph - sounds slow for a lancer but when it bangs side on with a honda city at the same speed the damage tells the story.

Though it wasn't as big as other accidents i have been involved in - i surely had i heart in my mouth for a simple reason that had we been a bit faster say @ 55 k's or the honda city had been slower say @ 45k's, the co-driver in our car:which was me would have seen everything fading away....

God's grace!!

Re-start

Hi guys,

Its been very long since my last post (you cant see them as i deleted all).... hmmm... i guess it was more than 6-8 months back or may be an year! But the time has come to start afresh!! here i am.

Have deleted my last 8-10 entries (anyways they were crap) since i wanted to be a sensible blogger this time. So this one's gonna be about what i learn everyday, my likes, my dislikes, my interests - technology, gadgets, internet & mobile space - startups and lots more..... hope it makes sense!!

You'll see the first post soon.
Now time for some tea with a stick.