In the corporate circles "Consolidation" implies the mergers or acquisition of one or many small companies into much larger ones. In other not so good to read words, the small rats agrees to be eaten by the big cat to the advantage of both the rat and the Cat at least, theoretically. Consolidation presents different perspectives, challenges and implications depending upon things like how big is the Cat/Rat (compared for numbers like turnover, employee count and all those financial number/ratios), is it a process driven industry like manufacturing or chemical or if it’s a people driven like information technology (IT), privately owned or public listed company.
Living successfully through the consolidation process triggered by a merger or acquisition is not only important for the cat but also for the rat, especially if the cat is not interested into eating the rat too soon. Expected outcome for the cat is to be able to get a fair return on the investment and the consolidation should be presented and viewed by the shareholders as worth while and successful. In recent times, so much has the Consolidation been happening in IT and ITES spectrum that it has developed itself as a growth model associated with a an inorganic quick growth mode. All the companies like Microsoft, Google, SAP, Oracle they all have been acquiring these small/mid-sized successful rats and adding them to there offerings – and who can forget the famous rats – PeopleSoft, Siebel, Compaq, i2 – so many of them. Some acquired to butcher and kill the competition, others to add a new feather to the CAT hat. If you can’t beat then – merge or acquire them. So much so that the companies could boast something like acquiring 11 companies in 10 years trying to sell a new acquisition deal one to the stock holders. From the looks of it everyone is up for grabs haven’t we heard the rumors floating around last week of Microsoft buying SAP and the Yahoo! negotiations are a reality for sure.
There are few things common to all the mergers and acquisitions – the announcement leads to chaos, confusion and a flow of a lot of negative energy into the organizations especially in the company being acquired. The process takes about 4-6 months and these are most difficult for the employees – emotionally. The question is what causes this and what could be done to avoid the short term immediate mental pressure for the employees of the company being acquired or merged.
Being through the four mergers and acquisitions in the last four years ironically all the time on the Rat side of it, the way the companies have handled it – there is scope for as much to be done that what all has been done. Usually, it starts with the announcement/press release. This is perhaps one of the most professionally managed and well orchestrated part – the information is crisp and happy for the stock holders of the cat company. The moment this information is published the panic strikes. This is usual and expected; employees are concerned with what will be happening to them – and then the CEO of the new company would send an Email -
"WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD"
A lot after this depends upon what’s the motive and intention of the Cat – she wants to kill the rat and stop the competition for good or she wants to have a rat to integrate with itself. First one doesn’t require much to be done or to be managed – just fire and trigger the layoffs in one two or three, wait for few years after delaying the new releases of products or replace them and then, finally announce that after some years the support would be fully withdrawn. Poor customers of the company would take it like there bad luck and here, ends the story. There are few variants of the story but that’s where all of them end.
The problem magnifies if the objective is to retain the company and the employees and try to integrate them into the mainstream after rationalization and realignment. Remember, we are talking about an industry where the biggest investment and asset of the company is either it’s intellectual property or the employees- this is the knowledge industry. Numerous meetings and discussions would be held discussing that we must focus on our deliverables, keep this merger thing out of our head and wait for information to come – there is no need to panic blah blah. These meetings have just the opposite effect – they bring these discussions into main stream and make the message even stronger – something wrong could happen. It’s almost like shifting focus from the glass half full to half empty.
When everyone is so certain that there is nothing going to happen – why doesn’t it come from the CEO's mouth and if they are not so certain why they want to convey the message. Would it change a lot if we all thought that our words were a measure of our commitment? The first things that should come out of the talk should be a fixed time frame – I guess that would comfort people and pull them out of the immediate panic. We all know human beings are much better at taking decisions out of panic and pressure situations. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to avoid and cut this panic situation by such an announcement?
“For the next six months or year – there are going to be no layoffs. Streamlining, realignment doesn’t mean it has to be started off with layoffs in such scenarios.” – What’s wrong with this message to be put across to the employees?
After about 10-15 days of the merger the address should come for the employees preferably in person – especially with concrete plans for the company and employees – better if this dialog is in person and doesn’t talk a lot about how good the rat is. These employees know how good it is – they had built the rat. Honor them and give them a breath of fresh air. Tell them a plan of the changes and share with them the vision. They are going to reject it on first day but may be if actions translate into words – they might agree. They are rational emotional people who have just lost something they had aligned themselves for years.
If possible, I would like to hear the news not from press but from the person who manages the rat before the consolidation. If he really is a leader, it’s his responsibility to answer and tell – if not before the press just after them and he should deliver the first message. I would love to do the same – that’s my responsibility to the people who aligned with me.
Consolidations are here to stay, and soon there would be professional change management consultants who would arrange and stage the process. Corporate is interestingly strange money making stupid looking amusing machine.
Let’s enjoy the coffee and get back to work and prepare for the plan B, just in case we need it.
Aug 16, 2008
Jul 16, 2008
Credit Cards !!!
Imagine a day without credit card?
Not much of a problem you can say - yes it is so but sometimes its just quite embarrassing to explain and things just stop when you don't have a credit card. Imagine a 28 year old person in India- obviously his wallet is loaded with cash and debit card but how can one miss the omnipresent credit cards - visa or master whatever especially when there are not very strong norms in India like Singapore to prevent young and financially overburdened people to fall in the credit card trap and worst of all they are for free - for life time or free for 10 years or they give you cash back or they want to give you a $100 voucher - it's a bloody story here. Just pump credit cards up the asses of masses :P
When you don't have a credit card or you use a debit card in India - you are forced to pay a surcharge. I know how banks works and the debit cards require no extra 2-3% but still people like to extort money everywhere - just like the autos in Bangalore on a rainy day or Monday hours. Maniacs isn't it - may be if you have internet in India to read this blog you will never feel what I say you probably have a credit card in your wallet.
Somethings you can't do without a credit card
a) book something online - reservation over phone/online to a hotel
b) pay pre-authorization amount - which credit cards only can pay
I never thought credit cards were mandatory !!
PS: I have lived comfortably in Singapore for more than three years only on debit cards. The government doesn't promote credit cards and you are required to have a minimum annual income of 25000 SGD to take a credit card home.
Banks readily issue debit cards for a fees of about $20 per annum if you do not spend about 1500-1600 SGD in a year trough the gateway.
They have there own private interbank payments gateway called NETS which is accepted all over Singapore by retailers and everywhere so that VISA and MASTER don't earn for every cent transacted.
Basic common sense or rather business sense.
Not much of a problem you can say - yes it is so but sometimes its just quite embarrassing to explain and things just stop when you don't have a credit card. Imagine a 28 year old person in India- obviously his wallet is loaded with cash and debit card but how can one miss the omnipresent credit cards - visa or master whatever especially when there are not very strong norms in India like Singapore to prevent young and financially overburdened people to fall in the credit card trap and worst of all they are for free - for life time or free for 10 years or they give you cash back or they want to give you a $100 voucher - it's a bloody story here. Just pump credit cards up the asses of masses :P
When you don't have a credit card or you use a debit card in India - you are forced to pay a surcharge. I know how banks works and the debit cards require no extra 2-3% but still people like to extort money everywhere - just like the autos in Bangalore on a rainy day or Monday hours. Maniacs isn't it - may be if you have internet in India to read this blog you will never feel what I say you probably have a credit card in your wallet.
Somethings you can't do without a credit card
a) book something online - reservation over phone/online to a hotel
b) pay pre-authorization amount - which credit cards only can pay
I never thought credit cards were mandatory !!
PS: I have lived comfortably in Singapore for more than three years only on debit cards. The government doesn't promote credit cards and you are required to have a minimum annual income of 25000 SGD to take a credit card home.
Banks readily issue debit cards for a fees of about $20 per annum if you do not spend about 1500-1600 SGD in a year trough the gateway.
They have there own private interbank payments gateway called NETS which is accepted all over Singapore by retailers and everywhere so that VISA and MASTER don't earn for every cent transacted.
Basic common sense or rather business sense.
Jul 12, 2008
thats what u call good chinese food !!
"Mainland China" near the domulr flyover is the place if you want to eat good chinese food. Not like the popular chinese food but more like the authentic ones. having lived in Singapore for a few years,the tastebuds kind of long for the authentic cusine and here at most places the chinese food is like Indian Chinese served at restaurants on racecourse road in Singapore.
Mainland China experience was very close. Servings of Jasmine tea really bought back memories of chrysanthemum and jamsine tea served especially in Spas. What followed in the form of black pepper shredded rice and white rice was quiet close to what the corner shop in the Yew Tee food court used to offer.
The difference how ever is the price :(
What was so affordable there (black pepper chicken rice used to cost there about $4), here costs about INR 250 for the chicken and 120 for the rice. However there were no green chillies in vinegar to compliment.
But overall a really heartwarming mouth watering experience.
Rating 9/10
Location Near TGIF, next to Nandni just towards Indiranagar.
Mainland China experience was very close. Servings of Jasmine tea really bought back memories of chrysanthemum and jamsine tea served especially in Spas. What followed in the form of black pepper shredded rice and white rice was quiet close to what the corner shop in the Yew Tee food court used to offer.
The difference how ever is the price :(
What was so affordable there (black pepper chicken rice used to cost there about $4), here costs about INR 250 for the chicken and 120 for the rice. However there were no green chillies in vinegar to compliment.
But overall a really heartwarming mouth watering experience.
Rating 9/10
Location Near TGIF, next to Nandni just towards Indiranagar.
Jul 4, 2008
Lost Traveller and his Navigator reach Lepakshi
Internet opens up such a vast knowledge bank at the click of the search button on Google that it can lead to so many interesting things in life. Something similar happened last weekend – looking for a getaway from Bangalore we found out a place not very far off – where there were ample opportunities to shoot and a long ride to enjoy. For the city dwellers a smooth tarmac is good enough opportunity to enjoy and we got the best of everything – location, weather, birds, history, and food and last but not the least good time.
There are few compelling reasons to wake up to and travel I guess tops my list. Waking up after 5.30 AM after a hot water bath carrying our cameras – my good old S3IS and Avi’s D40, lots of water bottles, edibles, clothes and road maps were all we took and hit the Bangalore roads for the day out. It was an overcast sky and the thoughts that gripped our mind were – will we Get blue skies or will it rain?
It’s interesting to see milk vendors planning to distribute the milk stacked into plastic crates and believe me the city roads (Airport Road – Domlur – MG Road) never looked any better. Within no time we passed Yelahanka, IAF Station and ITC cigarette factory. Believe it or not with in 30 minutes or so we were near the new Bangalore Airport on the NH7 (Bangalore - Hyderabad Route). It was a nice 6 lane highway till Devanahalli. There was only one diversion where there some flyover construction. The 4/6 laning work was completed even about 10 odd kilometers after the Nandi Hills turn as part of North-South corridor of NHAI. It was exciting to see the wheels spinning in motion so that with in almost two kilometers from home we took this
Last to last week I went on a bike trip to Nandi hills testing the engines and feeling the warmth. So until the Nandi Hill turn it was a well known territory. After that the road trip really started. About 10 KMs after Nandi hills we stopped to click a few pictures just like that to put the cameras in order and to feel that we had really escaped out of the city before the traffic to catch us.
There is a small left turn just after the Andhra Pradesh RTO – be very careful it’s very easy to miss as it is a very small road. There are few petrol pumps on the left side just before the turn. Keep on heading the road until there is a statue of two birds on your left. This left road leads to Veerapuram. Keep driving on this road for 11 KMs. You will need to come back to this place to reach for Lepakshi which is about 20 KM from this place. After Lepakshi, another 15 or so KMs and you reach Hindupur. National Highway is under construction but overall the road allows you to hit 100 and beyond quiet a few times.
Just before entering Veerapuram we shot some pics of a man who was ploughing his fields. Not sure why but he got offended at us and was almost willing to hurl some stones at us .
We expected Veerapuram to be a happening village – lots of birds around some water body. So much so that we overshot the place by almost a KM. We parked our car at a corner and started to strain the cameras. The villages were cop-operative and even allowed us to use there roof tops. At 10 AM in the morning not many people were there in the village and we really looked like tourists.
We headed back to the road where we found the bird statue and look a left turn to Lepakshi, but the place was so beautiful we just stopped to click few pictures.
The red soil changes to black as we headed for Lepakshi and the huge Nandi announced the arrival to us. The Nandi is the biggest in India – 27 Feet wide and 15 feet high carved out of a single stone.
Just in front of the Nandi behind the few houses we saw a huge elevated structure and we thought it was a temple. Asked for the directions and almost struggled to climb it up only realizing later that there was a well carved out way to go up. It turned out to be a good adventure to go up – though there was no temple on the top. These local guys helped us go up but we couldn’t understand there language so not much I can tell about them.
Folk Lore Town – history, mythology, religion, culture and everything are all mixed up in Lepakshi. The place is called Le-Pakshi litereally meaning “rise” – o –“bird”. The story goes that when Ravana the King of Deamons kidnapped Sita; Jatayu fought with Ravana and this place and was brutally injured. When Rama and Lakshmana were looking for Sita – they came to this place and saw this bird lying down; Rama said “Le Pakshi” and the name stuck.
There are footprints on stones which people say belong to Sita in the main temple. We walked wrong way as expected on a trip with me to enter the temple from inside the village. The moment we reached we realized there was a wide road to the temple entrance and we walked to get our car to the parking.
The temple is dedicated to Lord Veerabhadra said to be another form of Shiva and Devi Shakti or Durga as she is popularly known. The temple is about 500 years old and the architecture is Vijaynagar Kingdom styled. There are beautiful painting and sculptures carved on the pillars.
Hire an English speaking guide and it will be an interesting story telling session that you would be enjoying. There is story and detail in every wall that is worth paying every penny. Our guide didn’t ask for anything and said its up to your satisfaction and we paid him Rs. 200 only for about an hour of service.
The marriage hall is still incomplete and the story goes that the finance minister who was building the temple was accused by the King of mis-appropriating the funds. The King ordered to remove his eye and when he came to know about it he just took out his eyes and threw them on the wall. The guide showed us marks on the wall and holes claiming that it has been tested by British and concluded to be blood. Anyways, they looked more like rust stains to me.
The marriage hall was never fully constructed and really would have been a beauty considering the details with which the construction was being carried out.
There is another big foot print inside the temple about 20 times bigger than my feet. When Ravana’s was fighting with Jatayu, the balance of the (airplane) tipped off and Sita just set her one foot on the ground – it’s her foot mark and as per the guide the feet always has water around the toes may be a source of water somewhere underground. Interesting isn’t it There is a story behind everything the kitchen, the plates marked in stone, the lime, the small tortoise carving on the corner wall, the paintings on the temple, the hanging pillar, the cement on the big lings because of the evil eye of the mother, pictures of Shiva's boar hunt and Arjuna's battles, picture of Kishna’s eyes which follow you where ever you go, Viranna and Virupanna.
After spending almost two hours in the temple we headed to Hindupur. We ate at the place called Palla’s – Rs 100 for two meals and water bottle and egg bhujiya followed by Rs 8 for two paan before we headed back and hit the roads.
Return trip was marked by ugly traffic on outer ring road because of an accident and we reached home at around 7 PM. A perfect trip and contentment filled our hearts and we opened up laptops and Photoshop: D.
Route Details
Total Distance: 280 Kilometers (Trusting the Maruti Swift readings)
Travel Route from Bangalore – Red Streak on the Map(Bangalore – Chikaballapur – Bagepalli – Andhra Pradesh Border (RTO) – Veerapuram – Leepakshi – Hindupur)
Return Route From Hindupur – Blue Streak on the Map
Hindupur - Gouribadinur - Dodaballapur.- Yahalanka – Bangalore
Once you are on the road from Hindupur, there is no chance you will confuse yourself or miss any turns. The road is bad just for a stretch of about 10 KMs or so but it’s not as wide as the National Highway. The road is still comparable and much more beautiful.
Every trip has something special in its own ways. When we have a good patch of tarmac we drove fast and when there were lean patches or we were into villages we drove cautiously and slowly – stretching the time we spent on the patch.
Life is like that – that’s what just came to my mind. When we have a good patch in life we just rush through it faster and faster without really enjoying it fully at times and when we hit the rough patches we feel “Oh! It’s gone too soon”. On the bad patches we can’t accelerate and struggle spending a lot more time.
Isn’t it interesting?
If you intend to do this trip do let me know your experiences.
There are few compelling reasons to wake up to and travel I guess tops my list. Waking up after 5.30 AM after a hot water bath carrying our cameras – my good old S3IS and Avi’s D40, lots of water bottles, edibles, clothes and road maps were all we took and hit the Bangalore roads for the day out. It was an overcast sky and the thoughts that gripped our mind were – will we Get blue skies or will it rain?
It’s interesting to see milk vendors planning to distribute the milk stacked into plastic crates and believe me the city roads (Airport Road – Domlur – MG Road) never looked any better. Within no time we passed Yelahanka, IAF Station and ITC cigarette factory. Believe it or not with in 30 minutes or so we were near the new Bangalore Airport on the NH7 (Bangalore - Hyderabad Route). It was a nice 6 lane highway till Devanahalli. There was only one diversion where there some flyover construction. The 4/6 laning work was completed even about 10 odd kilometers after the Nandi Hills turn as part of North-South corridor of NHAI. It was exciting to see the wheels spinning in motion so that with in almost two kilometers from home we took this
Last to last week I went on a bike trip to Nandi hills testing the engines and feeling the warmth. So until the Nandi Hill turn it was a well known territory. After that the road trip really started. About 10 KMs after Nandi hills we stopped to click a few pictures just like that to put the cameras in order and to feel that we had really escaped out of the city before the traffic to catch us.
There is a small left turn just after the Andhra Pradesh RTO – be very careful it’s very easy to miss as it is a very small road. There are few petrol pumps on the left side just before the turn. Keep on heading the road until there is a statue of two birds on your left. This left road leads to Veerapuram. Keep driving on this road for 11 KMs. You will need to come back to this place to reach for Lepakshi which is about 20 KM from this place. After Lepakshi, another 15 or so KMs and you reach Hindupur. National Highway is under construction but overall the road allows you to hit 100 and beyond quiet a few times.
Just before entering Veerapuram we shot some pics of a man who was ploughing his fields. Not sure why but he got offended at us and was almost willing to hurl some stones at us .
We expected Veerapuram to be a happening village – lots of birds around some water body. So much so that we overshot the place by almost a KM. We parked our car at a corner and started to strain the cameras. The villages were cop-operative and even allowed us to use there roof tops. At 10 AM in the morning not many people were there in the village and we really looked like tourists.
We headed back to the road where we found the bird statue and look a left turn to Lepakshi, but the place was so beautiful we just stopped to click few pictures.
The red soil changes to black as we headed for Lepakshi and the huge Nandi announced the arrival to us. The Nandi is the biggest in India – 27 Feet wide and 15 feet high carved out of a single stone.
Just in front of the Nandi behind the few houses we saw a huge elevated structure and we thought it was a temple. Asked for the directions and almost struggled to climb it up only realizing later that there was a well carved out way to go up. It turned out to be a good adventure to go up – though there was no temple on the top. These local guys helped us go up but we couldn’t understand there language so not much I can tell about them.
Folk Lore Town – history, mythology, religion, culture and everything are all mixed up in Lepakshi. The place is called Le-Pakshi litereally meaning “rise” – o –“bird”. The story goes that when Ravana the King of Deamons kidnapped Sita; Jatayu fought with Ravana and this place and was brutally injured. When Rama and Lakshmana were looking for Sita – they came to this place and saw this bird lying down; Rama said “Le Pakshi” and the name stuck.
There are footprints on stones which people say belong to Sita in the main temple. We walked wrong way as expected on a trip with me to enter the temple from inside the village. The moment we reached we realized there was a wide road to the temple entrance and we walked to get our car to the parking.
The temple is dedicated to Lord Veerabhadra said to be another form of Shiva and Devi Shakti or Durga as she is popularly known. The temple is about 500 years old and the architecture is Vijaynagar Kingdom styled. There are beautiful painting and sculptures carved on the pillars.
Hire an English speaking guide and it will be an interesting story telling session that you would be enjoying. There is story and detail in every wall that is worth paying every penny. Our guide didn’t ask for anything and said its up to your satisfaction and we paid him Rs. 200 only for about an hour of service.
The marriage hall is still incomplete and the story goes that the finance minister who was building the temple was accused by the King of mis-appropriating the funds. The King ordered to remove his eye and when he came to know about it he just took out his eyes and threw them on the wall. The guide showed us marks on the wall and holes claiming that it has been tested by British and concluded to be blood. Anyways, they looked more like rust stains to me.
The marriage hall was never fully constructed and really would have been a beauty considering the details with which the construction was being carried out.
There is another big foot print inside the temple about 20 times bigger than my feet. When Ravana’s was fighting with Jatayu, the balance of the (airplane) tipped off and Sita just set her one foot on the ground – it’s her foot mark and as per the guide the feet always has water around the toes may be a source of water somewhere underground. Interesting isn’t it There is a story behind everything the kitchen, the plates marked in stone, the lime, the small tortoise carving on the corner wall, the paintings on the temple, the hanging pillar, the cement on the big lings because of the evil eye of the mother, pictures of Shiva's boar hunt and Arjuna's battles, picture of Kishna’s eyes which follow you where ever you go, Viranna and Virupanna.
After spending almost two hours in the temple we headed to Hindupur. We ate at the place called Palla’s – Rs 100 for two meals and water bottle and egg bhujiya followed by Rs 8 for two paan before we headed back and hit the roads.
Return trip was marked by ugly traffic on outer ring road because of an accident and we reached home at around 7 PM. A perfect trip and contentment filled our hearts and we opened up laptops and Photoshop: D.
Route Details
Total Distance: 280 Kilometers (Trusting the Maruti Swift readings)
Travel Route from Bangalore – Red Streak on the Map(Bangalore – Chikaballapur – Bagepalli – Andhra Pradesh Border (RTO) – Veerapuram – Leepakshi – Hindupur)
Return Route From Hindupur – Blue Streak on the Map
Hindupur - Gouribadinur - Dodaballapur.- Yahalanka – Bangalore
Every trip has something special in its own ways. When we have a good patch of tarmac we drove fast and when there were lean patches or we were into villages we drove cautiously and slowly – stretching the time we spent on the patch.
Life is like that – that’s what just came to my mind. When we have a good patch in life we just rush through it faster and faster without really enjoying it fully at times and when we hit the rough patches we feel “Oh! It’s gone too soon”. On the bad patches we can’t accelerate and struggle spending a lot more time.
Isn’t it interesting?
If you intend to do this trip do let me know your experiences.
Jun 25, 2008
The FCUK Word
Last weekend was having a conversation with my little niece about the cool, hip and popular words talked amongst her school mates; not surprisingly a lot hasn't changed over the years. I was in the same grade as her in 1994 or 1993 (not sure about her grade for sure but some where there she should be - what lousy fellow I am and how short lived is my memory).
The most popular word still remains the "the F word". Not sure about the reason though, why humanity and especially teenagers have such strong affection for this word. Biologically speaking, it's one of the most important and overly enjoyed act, families are in a way based on it and if that sound's like an overkill let it be. Will surely acknowledge that there are many more important factors/causes whatever - for those who are thinking this is too much - but that's not what is the question.
The question still is what's so special about this F word?
So popular in itself that a brand has such a good recall because it's called FCUK - French Connection United Kingdom. Interestingly, the way humnas raed wodrs maeks it smae for us to read FCUK and FUCK in almost the same manner. Just in case if you doubt it just read through the previous line once again - notice the mistakes that have been deliberately put in. You can surely read it easily.
Some one has an answer? Please enlighten me.
The most popular word still remains the "the F word". Not sure about the reason though, why humanity and especially teenagers have such strong affection for this word. Biologically speaking, it's one of the most important and overly enjoyed act, families are in a way based on it and if that sound's like an overkill let it be. Will surely acknowledge that there are many more important factors/causes whatever - for those who are thinking this is too much - but that's not what is the question.
The question still is what's so special about this F word?
So popular in itself that a brand has such a good recall because it's called FCUK - French Connection United Kingdom. Interestingly, the way humnas raed wodrs maeks it smae for us to read FCUK and FUCK in almost the same manner. Just in case if you doubt it just read through the previous line once again - notice the mistakes that have been deliberately put in. You can surely read it easily.
Some one has an answer? Please enlighten me.
Jun 17, 2008
alama !!! HTC Touch problem
OMG !! that's what "alama" means in Malay. That's what happens when you buy a phone in Singapore and don't think about where you are going to use it and how easy is the service for the same going to be.
I skipped a few beats when the device started to shutdown immediately with Airtel in last three days.
Shit !!
That's what comes to my mind. Browsed the internet only to find out that the problem could be as easy as a simple glitch which should be fixed by a hard reset to something as big as a motherboard issue - which needs replacement. Being a techie myself who likes to play around - decided to go ahead with hard reset. That didn't fix the problem. Now what is to be done !!!
The phone is not under close scrutiny and am keeping my fingers crossed. I don't want to go to HTC service center and try something. Pray for me.
Technology Can Hurt and some times it does !!
I skipped a few beats when the device started to shutdown immediately with Airtel in last three days.
Shit !!
That's what comes to my mind. Browsed the internet only to find out that the problem could be as easy as a simple glitch which should be fixed by a hard reset to something as big as a motherboard issue - which needs replacement. Being a techie myself who likes to play around - decided to go ahead with hard reset. That didn't fix the problem. Now what is to be done !!!
The phone is not under close scrutiny and am keeping my fingers crossed. I don't want to go to HTC service center and try something. Pray for me.
Technology Can Hurt and some times it does !!
Jun 1, 2008
Gtalk on Mobile (HTC Touch II )
What's the point of having a Windows Mobile device if you can't get the most of it.
Have been trying to play around with the Windows Mobile 6 powered device and was surprised to find that GOOGLE didn't have a mobile version.
Oh even GOD didn't have answers - they might not have the solution but they can find it for you. Tried installing a lots of things but none of them worked for me.
There are so many results when u search for it. I decided to try out few. Google expects us to use the IE or any other browser and use the gadget for chat. Somehow I tend to disagree - matter of personal preference you can say.
Then i tried Octrotalk - well works fine. You can chat :) and even better if you don't have any bandwidth issue wow you can do voice chat as well. Wi-fi connectivity makes it even easier to do. Imagine sitting in some airport terminal without your laptop and being able to do that :) feels good
Have been trying to play around with the Windows Mobile 6 powered device and was surprised to find that GOOGLE didn't have a mobile version.
Oh even GOD didn't have answers - they might not have the solution but they can find it for you. Tried installing a lots of things but none of them worked for me.
There are so many results when u search for it. I decided to try out few. Google expects us to use the IE or any other browser and use the gadget for chat. Somehow I tend to disagree - matter of personal preference you can say.
Then i tried Octrotalk - well works fine. You can chat :) and even better if you don't have any bandwidth issue wow you can do voice chat as well. Wi-fi connectivity makes it even easier to do. Imagine sitting in some airport terminal without your laptop and being able to do that :) feels good
Apr 18, 2008
Amzing Thailand II - Street Markets - Songkran Fest
Day Four
Hotel Lobby
Q:Can we deposit our bag in the lockers?
A: No Sir. It can't fit in. You can't leave it here.
When you are expecting water on the streets what do you do?
Anyways we decided we will take the MRT to the weekend market and thus, save the water on the streets. Awesome idea !! So we buy tickets from Hua Lampong (just outside our hotel) to go to Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Imagine a place..about 9000 shops...selling everything under the sun -almost everything- fake designer stuff, antiques, food, amazing stuff, books, electronics,fluffy dogs, pets,..u just imagine whatever that could be sold or has ever been sold and am sure it would be here. Hordes of people mostly foreigners. Chatuchak has it's vendors employing every trick in the book to sell - those lanes covered under colored plastic sheets. A terribly hot day - sweating but interesting to walk around and see what all the market offers. We spent almost 4-5 hours picking up T Shirts - those lamps were so tempting but I can't carry most stuff to India so resisted the temptation. The real charm of the Chatuchak Mattel lies in the fact that you can-and should-bargain with each stall you are interested in. Whether you will snare a bargain or not is a test of your own negotiating skills. So, don' t be surprised if the same goods bought by you and your friends from the same shop carry different prices.
And out on the streets this was happening !! Street gangs with water guns fighting it out.
On a hot day buying water all the way looking out for a decent place to eat. We could only see the JJ Mall which we thought would be at least a respite from the scotching heat and air-conditioner should be available in the mall.
And we managed a Songkran special performance from a band and a dancer.
Sumptuous meal followed by an sundae ice cream (check out that corner ice cream shop near the exit) and then we walked to the MRT again - difficult walk in the SUN after the air conditioned comfort - how luxuries have spoils us :D
Day Five
Woke up really late.
Thought Chinatown could be rescue from the water everywhere and came across street warriors of bangkok.
walked out to the Lumbini Park. Another chance to catch the Songkran Special performance by Thai Artists - its interesting how close the dance is to Indian dance - even noticeable even by the Japanese tourist sitting next to me. By the way, it's interesting the guy had seen more of India then me !!
went back to sukhumvit and saw the Thailand's most vibrant festival and night crowd..perfect mix - festive spirit - brotherhood - hospitality - crowd - water - jasmine powder and beers !!!
Happy New Year !!! Cheers !!!
Day Five
Pack bags leave for airport - 400 Bhat for the trip- cool and one sleepy comfy landing at Changi.
Check out here for all pictures from the trip - FLICKR
Hotel Lobby
Q:Can we deposit our bag in the lockers?
A: No Sir. It can't fit in. You can't leave it here.
When you are expecting water on the streets what do you do?
Anyways we decided we will take the MRT to the weekend market and thus, save the water on the streets. Awesome idea !! So we buy tickets from Hua Lampong (just outside our hotel) to go to Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Imagine a place..about 9000 shops...selling everything under the sun -almost everything- fake designer stuff, antiques, food, amazing stuff, books, electronics,fluffy dogs, pets,..u just imagine whatever that could be sold or has ever been sold and am sure it would be here. Hordes of people mostly foreigners. Chatuchak has it's vendors employing every trick in the book to sell - those lanes covered under colored plastic sheets. A terribly hot day - sweating but interesting to walk around and see what all the market offers. We spent almost 4-5 hours picking up T Shirts - those lamps were so tempting but I can't carry most stuff to India so resisted the temptation. The real charm of the Chatuchak Mattel lies in the fact that you can-and should-bargain with each stall you are interested in. Whether you will snare a bargain or not is a test of your own negotiating skills. So, don' t be surprised if the same goods bought by you and your friends from the same shop carry different prices.
And out on the streets this was happening !! Street gangs with water guns fighting it out.
On a hot day buying water all the way looking out for a decent place to eat. We could only see the JJ Mall which we thought would be at least a respite from the scotching heat and air-conditioner should be available in the mall.
And we managed a Songkran special performance from a band and a dancer.
Sumptuous meal followed by an sundae ice cream (check out that corner ice cream shop near the exit) and then we walked to the MRT again - difficult walk in the SUN after the air conditioned comfort - how luxuries have spoils us :D
Day Five
Woke up really late.
Thought Chinatown could be rescue from the water everywhere and came across street warriors of bangkok.
walked out to the Lumbini Park. Another chance to catch the Songkran Special performance by Thai Artists - its interesting how close the dance is to Indian dance - even noticeable even by the Japanese tourist sitting next to me. By the way, it's interesting the guy had seen more of India then me !!
went back to sukhumvit and saw the Thailand's most vibrant festival and night crowd..perfect mix - festive spirit - brotherhood - hospitality - crowd - water - jasmine powder and beers !!!
Happy New Year !!! Cheers !!!
Day Five
Pack bags leave for airport - 400 Bhat for the trip- cool and one sleepy comfy landing at Changi.
Check out here for all pictures from the trip - FLICKR
Apr 14, 2008
Amazing Thailand Revisited
The travel bug bites again and this time an almost unplanned trip took us to the same country whose hospitality and warmth touched our hearts when I went to Phuket almost two years back. This time we flew jet star asia (amazing ticket price SGD15 though the to and fro ticket with taxes was about SGD180 - too much tax I know but still too good to miss) on Wed 9th Apr and landed in Bangkok around 10 PM and that started off with a journey which was truly amazing like the Thailand itself.
While flipping through the in flight magazine the real surprise came up - the visit coincided with the Songran Festival - the THAI NEW Year. Little bit for the back ground; Songkran is a Thai word which means "move" or "change place" as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac. It is also known as the "Water Festival" as people believe that water will wash away bad luck. So, before we landed we knew there was somethign exciting to happen on the streets of bangkok and with the 2 cameras = motu's DLSR and my Canon P&S, laptop we knew things could be tricky.
Landed at Swarnabhumi Internaltional Airport
Big and spacious airport and the sheer size of the bangkok city invoked an interesting thought and just after immigration we realized that Thai people ain't that good at Engligh and our benchmark of expectations PHUKET truly was an exception. It was hard to locate the conveyor belt because the displays switched languages between Thai and English and there were far too many flights listed at that hour.
Next, big task was to locate a CAB to travel to hotel and we thought most reliable way to escape the touts and cheat taxi drivers would be to take the AOT Official Taxi. The price quoted was whopping 1350 Bhat !! and when I said thank you the lady replied 1050 Bhat !! - official bargaining without intent. A lesson at the airport itself there is room everywhere for bargaining in Thailand.
Finally we located the Public Taxi and the guy took us to the hotel for around 400 Bhat - genuine metered taxi plus we had to pay for the TOLL and all. Highways are impressive though Singapore standards are too high to meet.
Center Hotel, Bangkok
At SGD300 for 5 nights and buffet American breakfast any hotel would be good enough but for the scorching heat of Bangkok at least air-conditioner must cool the room and precisely that's what didn't happen and I couldn't sleep for the night; even after repair and next morning first option was to move to 6008 from 6003.
There after at least the hotel was not a problem and proximity to Hua Lampong MRT and Chinatown (Yaorawat) both proved to be good.
First shopping - must buy multi lingual 99 Bhat Bangkok City Map - first time in my life we followed the MAP all the way around and it was fun.
First Dinner - Hong Kong Noodle - four servings required for the appetite of two Indians - do we eat that much - I don't think so.
Day Two: Shopping Malls - mission buy sandals and see bangkok first hand
Guided with the Map - we took the streets to head for the Bangkok sight seeing - the Lost Traveler(Copyrighted 2008) Way and managed to walk through streets to reach the markets. Bangkok traffic reminded us of India but people in India understand more English for sure but hospitality and service is the strength of Thai People. One gentleman drove us to our destination just because we asked him for directions in his Mercedes - and all I could convey was - am tourist first time in Bangkok and he said "Welcome to Bangkok".
Tokyu - Siam Paragon - Discovery - Zen - Isetan -Central and many more malls- these are all cuddled together in the main shopping area of Bangkok - all from Designer stuff to luxury cars like Lotus, Maseratti, BMW. Spyker and what not - you have moolah spend it here - I just bought my Sandals for 1450 Bhat from Central. Interesting to see VAT refund and special discounts for foreigners - looks like people spend more on holiday mood because the process are almost the same as in other countries for these branded - designer stuff.
Lunch Out - KFC (Never try that in Thailand - Mirinda tastes like cough syrup !!). They also serve rice here in KFC like Malysia
Dessert - "Mango Bar" - combo of Mango Pudding, Ice cream and Fresh Mango
First Thai Massage - Well the SPA was awesome just cross the street and they have there operations in the Airport as well - for 1 hr only 300 Bhat - so relaxing that I slept while the reflexologist treated my tired feet. It must have been entertaining while a young guy snored amongst at least 10 people while a lady massaged his feet. I swear that really relaxes.
Taxi Ride - Quote from Bhat 2000 -100-80-70-60 - still not sure if we overpaid !! Taxi guys are not all very honest in Bangkok - be prepared for them.
China Town(Yaorawat)
Another walk from hotel - another body massage - a struggle for food - I don't know what -CHANG BEER with some Chinese sausage (mom says no to pork and beef has to be avoided) and rice. Chinatown is an interesting place to see in any city; I guess after seeing many of them now. Being in Singapore they kind of feel like related now. And the masseuse was an old lady - really good and cost only Bhat 300. Awesome way to end a day with a walk to hotel and sleep - Thank God the air-con was working !!
Day Three - Bangkok The Old City
Tuk Tuk - auto's travel in Bangkok everywhere and they will quote anything !!!
Beware of them and there offerings of Massage means Lady Massage with Happy Ending - so don't get trapped !! Walked all the way to experience the Bangkok alternate route - the river. Fast and really exciting way to travel. Very popular and integral part of the cities supply chain and commuting network.
Destination - "Thang Chang" - thang means pier just like "Thanon" means road.
We walked to the nearest pier and took the 15 Bhat express ride to Thang Chang to visit the Grand Palace.
Beware of the auto drivers claims - palace is closed let's go here and there which are open and exhibitions and blah blah - they are paid by exhibitors with petrol vouchers when they bring tourists in for exhibitions and factories. Trusted people are police men - though they rarely speak English and the information counters.
The great walk to the palace - Emerald Buddha and Wat Phao - all are better described with the pictures and the sweat because of the heat. Just one word - it's magnificent and the blue skies with white clouds give the impression of everything into gold like from a fantasy comic tale or an animation movie.
Millions of words will be spoken by the pictures soon.
Lunch at Chinese Restaurant - Tom Yum Soup - Shrimps replaced with Chicken, Omelette and Fried Chicken with Basil Leaves and Pepsi served in glass bottled with straws instead of CANS !
Our auto driver ditched us in one of the Wat's without telling us and claiming Bhat 40 but we later on realized he made money over the two exhibitions we visited and hence didn't care. Thus ended our only Tuk Tuk ride and by the way BEWARE of the SECURITY guys in almost all places they have ties with these AUTO GUYS !!
This paved way for the great walk across the RAMA IV statue to all the way to Khao San Road. Bangkok's interesting places are coincidently all red light districts - and the streets all packed with people - pubs, street food stalls, used stuff (thanks to budget backpackers) - fake T-shirts accessories and what not. Bargain it works well - walk grab a beer spend some time, watch the crowd.
Tank Full - petrol bunk converted into an open air restaurant and pub - fairly silent and no-nonsense pricing. Though I decided to be on Beer and Onion Rings diet rather than indulging in the curries and spice.
Drive Home - Tuk Tuk to Hua Lampong - 40 Bhat after negotiating with 2 drivers from 100 bhat to 80 to 60. It was a fun ride though - they drive like nuts in bangkok and interestingly the braking tail light are inside the TUK TUK for drivers behind to see - interesting !!
To be continued - Tales of Sukhumvit and Silom and the Water Festival
While flipping through the in flight magazine the real surprise came up - the visit coincided with the Songran Festival - the THAI NEW Year. Little bit for the back ground; Songkran is a Thai word which means "move" or "change place" as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac. It is also known as the "Water Festival" as people believe that water will wash away bad luck. So, before we landed we knew there was somethign exciting to happen on the streets of bangkok and with the 2 cameras = motu's DLSR and my Canon P&S, laptop we knew things could be tricky.
Landed at Swarnabhumi Internaltional Airport
Big and spacious airport and the sheer size of the bangkok city invoked an interesting thought and just after immigration we realized that Thai people ain't that good at Engligh and our benchmark of expectations PHUKET truly was an exception. It was hard to locate the conveyor belt because the displays switched languages between Thai and English and there were far too many flights listed at that hour.
Next, big task was to locate a CAB to travel to hotel and we thought most reliable way to escape the touts and cheat taxi drivers would be to take the AOT Official Taxi. The price quoted was whopping 1350 Bhat !! and when I said thank you the lady replied 1050 Bhat !! - official bargaining without intent. A lesson at the airport itself there is room everywhere for bargaining in Thailand.
Finally we located the Public Taxi and the guy took us to the hotel for around 400 Bhat - genuine metered taxi plus we had to pay for the TOLL and all. Highways are impressive though Singapore standards are too high to meet.
Center Hotel, Bangkok
At SGD300 for 5 nights and buffet American breakfast any hotel would be good enough but for the scorching heat of Bangkok at least air-conditioner must cool the room and precisely that's what didn't happen and I couldn't sleep for the night; even after repair and next morning first option was to move to 6008 from 6003.
There after at least the hotel was not a problem and proximity to Hua Lampong MRT and Chinatown (Yaorawat) both proved to be good.
First shopping - must buy multi lingual 99 Bhat Bangkok City Map - first time in my life we followed the MAP all the way around and it was fun.
First Dinner - Hong Kong Noodle - four servings required for the appetite of two Indians - do we eat that much - I don't think so.
Day Two: Shopping Malls - mission buy sandals and see bangkok first hand
Guided with the Map - we took the streets to head for the Bangkok sight seeing - the Lost Traveler(Copyrighted 2008) Way and managed to walk through streets to reach the markets. Bangkok traffic reminded us of India but people in India understand more English for sure but hospitality and service is the strength of Thai People. One gentleman drove us to our destination just because we asked him for directions in his Mercedes - and all I could convey was - am tourist first time in Bangkok and he said "Welcome to Bangkok".
Tokyu - Siam Paragon - Discovery - Zen - Isetan -Central and many more malls- these are all cuddled together in the main shopping area of Bangkok - all from Designer stuff to luxury cars like Lotus, Maseratti, BMW. Spyker and what not - you have moolah spend it here - I just bought my Sandals for 1450 Bhat from Central. Interesting to see VAT refund and special discounts for foreigners - looks like people spend more on holiday mood because the process are almost the same as in other countries for these branded - designer stuff.
Lunch Out - KFC (Never try that in Thailand - Mirinda tastes like cough syrup !!). They also serve rice here in KFC like Malysia
Dessert - "Mango Bar" - combo of Mango Pudding, Ice cream and Fresh Mango
First Thai Massage - Well the SPA was awesome just cross the street and they have there operations in the Airport as well - for 1 hr only 300 Bhat - so relaxing that I slept while the reflexologist treated my tired feet. It must have been entertaining while a young guy snored amongst at least 10 people while a lady massaged his feet. I swear that really relaxes.
Taxi Ride - Quote from Bhat 2000 -100-80-70-60 - still not sure if we overpaid !! Taxi guys are not all very honest in Bangkok - be prepared for them.
China Town(Yaorawat)
Another walk from hotel - another body massage - a struggle for food - I don't know what -CHANG BEER with some Chinese sausage (mom says no to pork and beef has to be avoided) and rice. Chinatown is an interesting place to see in any city; I guess after seeing many of them now. Being in Singapore they kind of feel like related now. And the masseuse was an old lady - really good and cost only Bhat 300. Awesome way to end a day with a walk to hotel and sleep - Thank God the air-con was working !!
Day Three - Bangkok The Old City
Tuk Tuk - auto's travel in Bangkok everywhere and they will quote anything !!!
Beware of them and there offerings of Massage means Lady Massage with Happy Ending - so don't get trapped !! Walked all the way to experience the Bangkok alternate route - the river. Fast and really exciting way to travel. Very popular and integral part of the cities supply chain and commuting network.
Destination - "Thang Chang" - thang means pier just like "Thanon" means road.
We walked to the nearest pier and took the 15 Bhat express ride to Thang Chang to visit the Grand Palace.
Beware of the auto drivers claims - palace is closed let's go here and there which are open and exhibitions and blah blah - they are paid by exhibitors with petrol vouchers when they bring tourists in for exhibitions and factories. Trusted people are police men - though they rarely speak English and the information counters.
The great walk to the palace - Emerald Buddha and Wat Phao - all are better described with the pictures and the sweat because of the heat. Just one word - it's magnificent and the blue skies with white clouds give the impression of everything into gold like from a fantasy comic tale or an animation movie.
Millions of words will be spoken by the pictures soon.
Lunch at Chinese Restaurant - Tom Yum Soup - Shrimps replaced with Chicken, Omelette and Fried Chicken with Basil Leaves and Pepsi served in glass bottled with straws instead of CANS !
Our auto driver ditched us in one of the Wat's without telling us and claiming Bhat 40 but we later on realized he made money over the two exhibitions we visited and hence didn't care. Thus ended our only Tuk Tuk ride and by the way BEWARE of the SECURITY guys in almost all places they have ties with these AUTO GUYS !!
This paved way for the great walk across the RAMA IV statue to all the way to Khao San Road. Bangkok's interesting places are coincidently all red light districts - and the streets all packed with people - pubs, street food stalls, used stuff (thanks to budget backpackers) - fake T-shirts accessories and what not. Bargain it works well - walk grab a beer spend some time, watch the crowd.
Tank Full - petrol bunk converted into an open air restaurant and pub - fairly silent and no-nonsense pricing. Though I decided to be on Beer and Onion Rings diet rather than indulging in the curries and spice.
Drive Home - Tuk Tuk to Hua Lampong - 40 Bhat after negotiating with 2 drivers from 100 bhat to 80 to 60. It was a fun ride though - they drive like nuts in bangkok and interestingly the braking tail light are inside the TUK TUK for drivers behind to see - interesting !!
To be continued - Tales of Sukhumvit and Silom and the Water Festival
Jan 16, 2008
looks like time for another roll
How things change? How fast the things can change? Arguably more faster then we can imagine or faster then we expect for sure. Too Predictably unpredictable. Just when the sun peeped out - it rained. And pitching up gearing for another fight, we sure will fight till the end. Saying QUITS - "never say QUITS" they taught us always - that's the motto. But what's the fight for? Seems like another endless ordeal for another worthless cause. But it's OK ain't it so? Before long this frustration will be over and there will be another fight for the same causes. For now it's another fumble, another lesson - we will have another start.
Another lullaby another PIPER's tune.
From the life where the tents are dismantled before they are pitched and where the drums are rolling.
Another lullaby another PIPER's tune.
From the life where the tents are dismantled before they are pitched and where the drums are rolling.
Jan 15, 2008
Recommendation: Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
|
PS: This is just a link to the Song. The Song is hosted on the popular ensips website. Please buy the song and support the Artists.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)