Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani - A Wanna-be DDLJ

Well, to be fair to Ayan Mukherjee, it was a very engaging movie till a point. (Some might say till the first half)

Beyond that point, Ayan thinks he can do a Yash Chopra and fails miserably. Thats where he has lost the plot. Ayan should feel grateful to Ranbir Kapoor for keeping the boat afloat during that part of the movie, especially when the story-line is so predictable and is probably 20 years out-of-date. For this movie to be successful, it needed a lot more class. (Grossing 100 crores is not my way of scaling a movie's success. Typical Aam Aadmi Gyaan :P)

Aditya Roy Kapoor and Kalki have put in their best effort and do justice to their part. Deepika who usually seems very irritating to me, was actually good this time.

Songs were engaging and choreography was exciting enough to not let anyone sneak-out for a fag break.

Two and half reasons why you would want to watch the movie:
1. Ranbir Kapoor
2. Madhuri in her latest Mohini Avatar (Will probably be the reason why I will watch the movie again)
2.5. Cinematography

"TV pe breaking news
Haaye re mera ghagra
Baghdad se leke Dilli via Agra"


One says: Hopeless hai tu phir bhi thodi hope hai.! :)

Sensible Managers - A Dream Come True.!?!

Management "Gurus" always have so many things to tell to their cattle-class employee shishyas.. Why is it never the other way round.. After all, we, the shishyas, are so confident that our gurus are always open to learning..

From our end, here are someways to help yourself become popular.. for the good reasons..

Five and half senses, is all what it takes to be a good manager..

See, what is happening.. Sometimes its also good to move the lazy-back out of the cabin and walk around, and see whats happening.. And get an idea of what it takes to sit in the place where the actual work happens..

Smell, What the heck is cooking.. Its definitely important to know what in the mind of the employees.. Any workplace, something must be happening all the time.. Find out what that is.. Indulge..

Hear, whats the talk of the office.. Replace the coffee vending machine if it sucks.. If there is an affair between the sales executive and the receptionist, enjoy the talk.. Dont have to be the best man at their wedding.. :P

Feel, Whats the atmosphere like.. Does the employee feel good about coming to work? Or is he hiding behind in the garage and calling in sick cos he is afraid of a one-to-one meeting with you.. Or is he in office just because you have ordered him that he can't be sick?

Taste, the bitter butter.. Hide the stopwatch.. Close the cash-box.. Wear the thinking hat that says employee on it.. Do what they do and see what it is like to be someone who does things under a manager like you.. And be honest about it..

Think (by 2)- Can't be that difficult, can it? Not for the Gurus.. Apparently, it is.. Think out of the box.. I mean the cash box.. There are things that are a lil more important than ur stopwatch and bank balance.. We, shishyas, call it peace of mind.. Here is a simple example.. When you try to fill a bottle with water from a pot, its always better to use a cup.. use the cup to fetch the water from the pot.. Pour the water gently into the bottle.. Funnel is a luxury.. Thats how it is meant to be done.. And thats how we would like to do it.. But it cannot happen when there is a 10 headed monster, standing next to you, holding an axe in one hand and a stop watch in the other..

Last but not the least.. As an employee, one gets time (and permission) to think, only in weekends.. And the poor fellow is not trained to think anything beyond work.. Make sure you dont spoil his mood on a friday.. And dont give a low-blow on a monday morning, when his confidence level is at its vulnerable-best..

DISCLAIMER: I, Badri Krishnan, sitting on my chair (ensuring my reed ki haddi is well in place), consider this piece of writing as pure-fiction.. This has nothing to do with my current, past or future employers.. And I don't have any complaints about the coffee vending machines in my company.. ;)

Badri Krishnan K N
When I get older, I will be stronger, they'll call me freedom, just like a waving flag...

Amma - The Hugging Saint

How difficult can it be to pen my thoughts about the person who has been one of the most influencing phonomenon of our times?

The most amazing thing to me is the diversity among the followers of Amma. People from every corner of the world. In a world where people try to sneak a holiday to go out and spend time and money for sex, cigars and booze, it is so awe-inspiring to see so many people travelling all the way across the globe to spend a two month vacation just to serve people. Serve people who they are no way related to, except for sharing a binomial nomenclature.

According to me, the one uniting factor that brings all of them together is sheer-love. The word un-conditional love has been undermined/over-used so much that it sounds too simple to explain the love of Amma.

In my first few visits to the ashram, I was trying to be cynical about the activities of the ashram (natural for a person from a country where saffron is the color which is most exploited). How come an ashram started by a young lady from a fisher-man family earn so much reputation in such a short span.. Slowly but steadily I became more level-headed.. The only investment Amma had to make is Love.. And there were lot of buyers.. Buyers who were badly bruised by the harsh realities of this materialistic-world.. I learnt "Only by giving will we receive"..

If Amma's "Love and Serve" strategy is going to keep my neighbourhood clean, if it is going to transform me into a cleaner-me, if it is going to make a difference to the way the society handles the problems, I will be more than happy to be Amma's "Chella Kuttan". I want to live in a better world, if it has to be in Amma's lap, can I get any luckier..

Satguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi ki, Jai..

Happy Teachers Day

About 21 years back!

I was sitting at home with my younger brother playing with a drumstick and an empty water bottle.. It was a Jugalbandhi contest! Dad comes to me and tells that he is gonna take me to a place where i ll get lot of snacks to eat and a lot of kids to play with.. He knows his son better than anyone else.. I fell for it.. He makes me wear a blue checkered shirt and a navy blue trouser.. Folds a small kerchief into a triangular shape and pins it on to my shirt.. I then hop on to the baby seat on his bicycle.. It was a quick drive to a place, scenes of which i still remember very clearly.. It was one big hall filled with moms and dads and whining kids.. Then we both walk up to a fair lady, with a bob cut.. He says something in English, which I dint understand.. Not that I was least bothered abt it.. The lady pulled me closer to me, kissed me on my cheeks and called me "Bardi kishan, go sit down in there".. Its been 21 years since that day.. And she still hasn't learnt how to pronounce my name correctly.. (Neither have i got the "colors" right..)

Every single teacher has some kinda effect on us, dont they.. Sumathi mam (Maths), Sabitha mam (English), Hariprasad sir (French).. The list goes on.. These are not just people who taught you maths, english and french.. These are the ones who taught you things starting from how to wash your hands properly to how to propel a rocket out of the earth's atmosphere..

If you beleive you are in a better place than many others, or if u beleive u can do better than what u do,it is only cos of them.. Don't you think so?

Happy Teachers Day All!

PS: The author's school journey started as "Bardi Kishan" in TVS Lakshmi MHSS, Madurai and ended as "Irritating Specimen" in SBOA MHSS Madurai.

Google Plus - Any Luck?

Tried out Google plus.. Google is following the invited-users-only just like it did for orkut.. But this time, there is a diff.. When Orkut was launched, we dint have a sophisticated social-networking tool.. So we were super-excited to plunge into Orkut.. But now, things have changed.. I am still excited to try Google Plus.. But, I know i still have FB.. Its cant get any better than FB.. Lemme see how hard Google has tried.. "Atleast he tried" hardly matters.. We all know what happened to Google Plus's elder brother.. But honestly, Google plus is not that bad either.. Its a decent attempt to pin down FB.. But what matters from this point is Innovation.. FB was a late-comer.. But, we all remember how he not only stormed past but also sidelined Orkut to become the front-runner.. Google was nothing but a mute spectator.. If Google Plus has to beat FB, think different.. Thats what winners do and thats what FB did to be what he is today! ;)

Celebrating Life !!!

Here comes the well deserved post about my company..

Its been quite a long journey in a very short time.. Jus about to finish a year @ Atlas

Well.. this is going to be a boring post for dumbos who never understand the joy of walking down the memory lane.. Its more about my placements and its after effects... well.. its not jus about getting placed that made/makes me happy. .its something more.. getting a feel of all that u wanted.. being able to enjoy every ounce of it.. be it enjoying the extremely customizable pani pooris in the rain(hey atlas guys, not jus LW, pani pooris are also configurable.. :P) or be it enjoying my first flight experience ( wit company VP siitng beside me).. be it Mr Banerjee's endless grumbling abt the excessive usage of water, my new friends in kolkata, the very sound of kemonachis and bhaloachis in the morning.. the pleasure of sending money to mom and dad (which very rarely happens).. the pleasure of roaming around pennyless towards the end of the month.. the pleasure of killing chickens in KFC every sunday ;).. the innumerous night calls over skype.. the less pressing (jobless) days at work.. the struggle with Visio.. the long awaited homecomings.. the day i posted my first post on Kurmacup.. the list goes on and on and on.. today when i look back, i feel i havent lived life.. i have celebrated life.. day in and day out..

Thanks to everybody for everything.. Now i know wat learning is.. did some good amount of that after coming here.. thanks to everyone at Atlas, Amritians@Atlas.. esp my roomies Shiju, Vinod, Arun and Bala.. I gave up cooking cos of u guys.. and Shiju etta pls clean the room tonight as promised.. its in a pathetic state..

Last but not least, Kolkata.. Wat a city.. Very synonymous to its name.. City of Joy.. Welcomed us with a thunderstorm.. and it went on to shower happiness in our lives (i shld mention that i have lost 3 umbrellas after coming to kolk.. ppl love to steal my umbrellas and slippers).. anyway...

Hey, Kolkata.. Ami tumaki bhalo bashi !!! Love u guys!!! U never made me miss ma home !!! Please keep on feeding me with ur aweome Rasagullas!!!

Its review time.. Boss is calling!!! Ll get to know if i am getting richer or poorer!!! Catch u guys soon!!! Keep Praying !!! ;)

PS : Congratulations Bala, Vinod, Arun and Shiju on completing one year @ Atlas

Answer Me !

After having worked in Healthcare domain for about 8 months and after having seen what it takes to have your suffering friend treated in a Private Hospital, I felt that the least I can do about it is to dedicate a few hundred pixels of screen space in my blog. I am too young and inexperienced to find fault with established systems in this country. But the Census and my birth certificate say that am 22 years old. My Social Studies teacher has once taught me that after 18 years of age, I become an integral part of the society. Keeping all of this in mind, I have a few doubts to be answered by the great minds which established these systems and even greater minds which found successful ways to corrupt it...

India’s Healthcare system has improved a lot over the past few years, but much is yet to be accomplished. Unfortunately, the steady increase in the number of multi-specialty clinics does not mark a significant improvement in the treatment a common man is provided with. The priorities seem to have switched from proper patient care to revenue generation. The person getting treated is seen more as a customer than as a suffering patient. The deliberate commercialization of the healthcare industry has been pushing the state behind others in the race towards overall excellence.

People are sick... Many of them in fact... The sickest of them become founders of hospitals... They die... but for money... they kill... for money... All they look for is name and fame... followed by money... What is it if not shame? You say u care... u don do it unless v pay our share... even for ppl to whom money is not near, lives are dear.. We pray... Don make us ur Prey.

My questions are many... Can u answer any?