Escape !!

A few days back i came across a joke... about how to escape the office work...

Approach 1:


Approach 2:

Currently, i am following Approach -1, what about you?

Friendship Day special...

Warning: BEWARE!!! This post may make u nostalgic about your old days...




This day has a great importance to all... especially those who had studied in hostels.. spent more than 3 yrs in hostel with their friends... For people like me... friends were everything... they shared all my happiness.. not only that... they were also the part of my sorrows.. they were those who helped me...

We never thought of Friendship day in our college (atleast till our 3rd yr) as everyday was a friendship day for us [:-)]. Oh yes... saath mein khaana.. saath mein sona... saath mein khelna... chahein woh patte (playing cards) haun ya phir TT(Table-Tennis), PC games & other games...

I still remember the days when we used to play TT from 10 pm till 9 am next day.. that too continuously.... playing badminton from 6 pm until the guard told that its time to close the Auditorium.... playing RON (Rise of Nations) all day-all night.... playing patte (playing cards) throughout the night (inspite of having Class test of 15% of our total end sem marks)...


I wil never forget all my trips with friends... chahe woh Rajdari falls ho... chahein trips to ghats of Ganga... playing in sand on ghats... (yes my dear.. its sand.. ) and woh ghats ki trip ke baad ki poori bhaji @ Lanka... ya phir woh 3rd yr ki so called all India EDUCATIONAL (INDUSTRIAL) TOUR....

I will never forget the day... when my bike skid and i had a narrow escape from death... (my bike skid on a turn of hill which had a minimum 200 ft valley just 3 ft away from me..)









And, how can i forget my Goa trip in my 2nd year holidays... The trip of my life which gave me a new direction to my life (professional life) along with a lots and lots of fun...






I cannot forget the days of NYF (National Youth fest) & Spandan which gave me opportunity to make new friends :-)


Raat ko 1 baje... lanka ki chai.... winters mein raat ko 1 baje icecream khana.... Bike/scooter race in a fog where u cannot see even 3 meters... that too in a winter of VARANASI with a temp of 8-10 Celsius with just a kurta-pyjama and a shawl....

I thank all my friends to make my life so great !!!!

Global Problems, and Power of I & We

If we give a thought, we can see several of the global problems which are currently have major impact on our environment.
Some of the major global problems which we are currently facing are :
1. Greenhouse Effect
2. Global warming
3. Depleting Ozone layer
4. Pollution
5. Depleting Non-Renewable sources of energy

Have we ever thought of what we can do regarding these problems? Have we ever thought that even a small step by each of us can bring a major difference?


There are some of the problems which certainly we can do about and that too alone. All these are very small things but matter a lot in saving the environment and our surroundings. If everyone takes some initiatives, we will be able to overcome those problems at least up to some extent.
But are we really working towards it??

Some of the things which can be done by the individuals are:
1. Turn off tap while brushing your teeth or shaving.
2. We should shut down our computer when not in use, instead of leaving it in stand by mode
3. Should take a reusable bag when going for shopping
4. Use public transport or cycle or walk for short distances
5. Adopt a car pool scheme with friend or colleague for journey to and from office.
6. Use of power saver light bulbs (CFLs)
7. Keep the refrigerator back clean so it work more efficiently
8. Timely maintenance of your vehicle (car, bike) or even the home appliances so that they donot consume much of power.
9. Avoid usage of polyethene. Always take a carry bag to market when we for shopping


Is the effort of individuals sufficient in such a critical condition? Certainly not. Some or the other efforts need to be taken by everyone... the corporate world, government everyone.

But, when it comes to the corporate groups, we generally think, what can be done on this front as corporate groups? Corporate groups can be of several category like, industries, corporate offices, organizations.
Everyone know that industries can play a very important role but we also know that these are among those which violate the conditions most... may be to makeup profit, increase their revenues.
Have anyone thought of methods by which other corporate groups can bring the difference? Moreover, have anyone bothered of even thinking about it?

Well, i was forced to think on this front by Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, Deputy CEO, HSBC India when i had attended the seminar on Leadership week (PRODIGIES, Leadership Summit 2008 by Indian Institue of Management, Lucknow (IIML) ). When i ran the horses of my mind, i could find only the following methods:
1. Corporate firms/companies should have their vehicles to commute so as to reduce pollution. Also, it should encourage its employees for this.
2. (Atleast in IT industry) We can have centralized settings so that the monitors go in power saver mode if not used for more than some duration.
3. Have separate recyclable waste and non-recyclable waste bins. Recyclable waste can be recycled again.


But, she helped us think on the other ways which we (as corporates) can adopt. Some of them (some are specific to her domain ie, banks) which she specified are as below:
1. Loans to industries only if they satisfying the global pollution norms
2. Encouraging use of bio-diesel generators in the companies
3. Encouraging the employees in the Tree Plantation activities
4. Use of Solar energy in the offices


The third and most important organization which NEED to play its role is the Government, Government of various Countries.
Some of the ways by which the government and government organizations can help are as follows:
1. Enforcing strict laws and panelties to those who dont follow the norms.
2. Replacing all the traffic signals which operate on traditional bulbs to those using digital LEDs.
3. Replacing all the traditional street lights using bulbs to use light saving lamps.
4. Ban the bulbs (although it will be a gradual task especially in a country like India where we have voltage fluctuation problems which lead to non-lightening of tubelights..... especially in rural areas)


After this, i can say that we can change the world. The only thing is we need to think beyond the boundaries and break the BUT-OBVIOUS scenerios and we can find so many ways to work by which we can help prevent our beautiful nature.

PS: I would be happy to add any of the steps which we can take to save our NATURE and Environment which you can think of and are not listed above.

!!! State the obvious. May be other person has not realized it !!!

Are we growing?? Point to think about Indian Trade

Last week, i attended a seminar of Leadership organized by IIM L students, PRODIGIES, Leadership Summit 2008.

There I came across some of the astonishing facts about of Indian Trade and Economy which i would like to share:

The following table lists down the % of World Trade which India contributed.

Early 19th Century : 20 %
Early 20th Century: 6 %
1947 : 2%
1990-91 : 0.6%
2006 : 1.4-1.6%

(This was brought to us by Mr J.J.Irani, Director, Tata Steels who was one of our speakers in the summit)

This data just made me think:
1. Are these data correct? (Especially related to the Early 19th Century & early 20th Century). The time when some of the continents were not even explored. The trade was within the continents. Also, not even inter-continent. (except for a few locations)
2. Does this data consider the trade within the country's local markets or it simply considers the global (inter-country) trade? If it consider(s) the local Market trading, were we aware of the other amount of trade being done in other countries in other continents and sub-continents?
3. If it counts only for the Global Trade, then the point is that at that period of time, the trade across the countries was very less due to unexplored countries and continents. And the trade in India was mainly due to the Spices and the Uranium rich sand on the east coast of the Indian Subcontinent. (Most of the people don't know about the second reason mentioned)

Along with this, i read something: "Assessment of India's pre-colonial economy is mostly qualitative, owing to the lack of quantitative information. One estimate puts the revenue of Akbar's Mughal Empire in 1600 at £17.5 million, in contrast with the total revenue of Great Britain in 1800, which totalled £16 million. India, by the time of the arrival of the British, was a largely traditional agrarian economy with a dominant subsistence sector dependent on primitive technology. It existed alongside a competitively developed network of commerce, manufacturing and credit. After the fall of the Mughals, India was administered by Maratha Empire. The maratha empire's budget in 1740s, at its peak, was Rs. 100 million"
(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_India#Pre-colonial)

Well, i am not here to question the above data. I am writing this to give a thought on the current figures considering that all the data mentioned above is correct.

The current data says that we are trading only the 1.5% of the total world trade but we say that we have reached a big milestone in terms of our trades. And we target to reach 2% by 2009-10. On the other hand, current ratio of US in global trade is 20%. Don't you think that we are much behind the world in terms of trade? Yes we all agree that we are much behind in terms of trade and we are growing and trying to meet those targets.
Also, we still are importing more than what we export, that too by 10-12%

The other most important point to think is the composition of our trade. What elements compose of our trade and in what %. (Will be giving the details of this later on).

Well, hopes to new EXIM policies that we will quickly reach our targets and gain our age-old importance and share in the world trade.

(Currently reading "A veiw From the Outside: by P.Chidambaram". Will come back with some views on his finance theory :-) )