The great gatsby (2013)

It's a brilliant take on human relations and behaviour.

You can watch it for Leonardo DiCaprio and Toby Maguire (Yes, You heard it right. You would like the character by the end :P Someting Spiderman lacked)

Buying beauty and Being beautiful

It is particularly interesting- What passes off as beautiful? Anorexic figure, tatoos, blob lips ,nose ,silicones ...

Looks like being beautiful and being healthy are different things because being beautiful has translated into replacing what you have as against being healthy which means maintaining and enhancing (stamina, speed, strength) body.

But What to do about the stupid notions of  specific body parts as measure of beauty?
Next time You look in the mirror. Observe yourself and smile for the body God gave you has perfectly served you for so many years. It is truly irreplaceable.

And as for people failing to appreciate your beauty. Appreciation from an enslaved mind (to the fixed notions of beauty) only leads to further enslavement ,nothing else because Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

Cartoon pic Courtesy: cartoonstock.com

Travelogue: Yeh customer kaisa hota hain

I guess a lot of people have gone through that inevitable five stages of having a good prepaid balance.
No! Read on :)

It starts with forceful balance deduction  from telecom companies such as Reliance et al.
Stage 1 (Denial):
You call up the customer care and explain them that You never requested for that 'dhinchak' caller tune ringtone You have been charged for.

Stage 2 (Anger) :
The executive patiently listens and replies Sir! The request has originated from you phone (although You just explained him You didn't make any request). Hence, We are unable to refund you the amount. You insist You haven't but he keeps on repeating the same thing.

You get a little pissed off and ask to speak to his higher up.

Stage 3 (Bargaining Bugging) :
You spend  a few lot of minutes listening to the latest company offers promising easy, cheap services (although your cheap prepaid plan itself has made your life difficult and burnt a hole in your pocket) Finally after you have memorized the offers a long wait, You get to speak with the higher ups (if your phone hasn't got disconnected in the meanwhile, perhaps more customer care service) but For some reason the higher ups repeat the same thing the executive said.

After again hearing the same argument You are left with two options
Option 1: Repeat  stage 2  You get angrier- More pissed off and ask to talk to further higher up ( You start to wonder! How many levels they have. May be at one point You may get to talk to Mr. Ambani himself to make the decision for your refund)

Option 2: Go to stage 4: Depression

Stage 4 (Depression):
You realize that you have been hooked to the phone for hours and your ears are getting heated up, Now There is a higher possibility of you instantly exploding with pent up anger than getting your balance back.

Stage 5 (Acceptance):
After several sessions culminating in  step 4.You finally stumble onto a revelation and silently admit to her them "It's not you. It's me! After all if users like me don't subscribe to these entertainment services . How are they supposed to keep the entertainment department profitable?" and happen to see the squeaky leg of shaky stool, after carefully levelling the smaller leg of that shaky stool with tape, and sim folded newspaper.

You exclaim "I fixed the stool. Ma! Problem(s) solved."

Looks like Some companies believe
जो कष्ट (cust) से मरे (mer) वो Customer!

But this is not the only perspective:
We met a man in village who was a  cement dealer, who was quite well known in village although he was a small retailer. He gladly welcomed us,talked wholeheartedly with us and shared an incident.

He said "I kept a cement brand but the cement was not of good quality. So my customers complained about it.I refunded them the money and told the wholesaler of the problem. He made excuses So I told him 'I cannot make any future transaction with you because it's not good for my reputation,people trust me and buy the cement'.

When a widely respected company came with many people vying to get dealership. They came to know about the incident and approached me to become their company retailer."

He liked to say 'Unlike you folks I am not very educated  but I know Money cannot be eaten.' True, sir!

Observations of a disinterested traveller

People often complain that government is not very effective in propaganda, advertising it's schemes to beneficiaries.Tour the hinterland and you will change your opinion every alternate wall is painted with slogans :teaching girl child, building toilets in homes, vaccination, afforestation, family planning.

They even don't hesitate to go for the killing

Two birds with one stone!

Incidents in Hinterland

I am travelling to Mawana from Meerut.
There are two kinds of Bus from Bus Station (Haan, Yahi board laga hain entrance pe)
1. Regular Bus
2. Express Bus
I quickly climb into the Express bus.It is sweltering hot inside the bus. We are sweating (literally like pigs) sitting in the bus. The bus does not move for half an hour.
A voice erupts " Bhai,  Chala le, Bus mein marega ke?"

Lesson from discussion with fellow traveller: Express Bus chalti utni hi late hain, just beech mein nahi rukti.

कमाई कम, खर्चे ज़्यादा

Eye on foreign investment, Sibal approves options in M&A, PE deals

Allowing put and call options in share purchase agreements will encourage a number of investment deals by foreign firms in India at a time when the government is keen on attracting overseas money to narrow the fiscal deficit.

I observe that reforms are being done in the name of bridging fiscal deficit through attracting FII. Good actions! but then What if unfavourable changes are also passed in the name of attracting FII?

Further FII to me is not the permanent cure for our trade deficit. Govt. needs to reduce unnecessary spending, some government organizations are known to pay employees for just being on the roster due to lack of accountability.

People talk about such organizations saying "Life set hain wahan job lage toh" but Is this a compliment for the organization? and Is it an ideal worth achieving (getting paid for signing attendance)?

As the New Zealand department of tourism puts it :P

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/xNFhxDuFymCtTFPLrUvuXI/Eye-on-foreign-investment-Sibal-approves-options-in-MA-PE.html