Iceland Melts!

Finding parallel with this and this, here is an Ad by HSBC which has become a joke now. This poster was still hanging outside HSBC Premiere shop in Powai (Clicked 1 week ago)

The Ad reads: Which country offers the highest rate of interest in developed world?

Answer: The Icelandic Krona

On back of this, how much clients' money has HSBC burnt there?

An Ode to Anil Kumble

To start, let me concede that I am not a die-hard Anil Kumble fan. And I still believe that Carl Hooper can turn the ball more than him. But this post is not about his turning the ball, but it’s about his never-say-die spirit (Now Antigua is going to be the most favourite tourist destination of Indians) , and the connection that I have with him which I value and honour the most!

How many of actually remember watching India in a live test/one-day match before Kumble made his debut? The reasons can be varied: Lack of TVs or we were too small to understand (Clichéd on the lines of: Too big to fail). And almost all of us grew along with Anil Kumble’s career. And that’s why we don’t feel as much connected with, say, Murali Karthik or Piyush Chawla as we feel connected to Anil Kumble.

For a moment, I had thought that Matthew Hayden will honour Kumble’s last ball by defending it with utmost respect. Of course had someone else been batting he would have even gifted wicket purposefully to Kumble, but defending the ball was the expectation from a Professional bull like Matthew Hayden. And he might have made up his mind to defend also. But seeing the full toss ball, Hayden must have remembered the words of his childhood coach to treat it accordingly, and he had no option but to dispatch it. At least there is honour in the fact, that the last shot that was played against Anil Kumble was a mesmerizing straight drive and not the ugly slog-sweep that is Hayden’s first love, even before his wife.

And last but not the least, Anil Kumble and most of us will have sleepless nights, pondering over the questions like:

Did he announce retirement at very short notice? May be
Was he indirectly pressurized by media to retire? May be
Did he take Dilip Vengsarkar’s words too seriously? May be

Anil Kumble could actually announce his retirement while playing. He could receive a stand of honour and farewell lap across the ground.
Imagine the plight of 2 W’s of Pakistan and so many other players who had to announce their retirement in press conference and not while playing!
And that’s the ultimate reason why all of us should sleep in peace!

TIme Flies..

Exactly 1 year ago, I was rummaging through the lanes of Hattenheim, Germany to find a house.
The housing department at my German university had done screw up and they gave me an unfurnished house. The wonderful owner took it as his responsibility and toiled very hard to give me a liveable room and offered me at very low rent. :)

And in the mean time, I discussed with my room partner that * Life straight forward hota hai to majja nahi aata, there should be topsy-turvey turns.* while munching over bread-butter.

Danke Frau Berg und Her Statzner for making my stay memorable! {Bold part is in English because my German is not very good}

It has been 365 days almost (Sorry 366: Leap year, too trained on this thing :now that I have had prepared for CAT), it feels like yesterday!

Training Gem!

Quotable quote on Internet Security:

"E-mail passwords are like underwears. Don't share them with anyone, don't display them in public. And change them regularly."

Deutsche Bahn Revisited!

The story is not mine, but surely worth reading!

It is about a boy named Harbhajan* from yet another IIM on exchange program in European Business School, Germany . He was travelling by Deutsche Bahn (German railway) from Frankfurt to Cologne for the first-time ever with 5 of us (Not the 1st time travellers).

On the way, the train stopped at one station.

One of us (To Harbhajan): Which station is it?

Harbhajan: Ausgang**

All of us: ROTFL.

*:Name changed for the sake of privacy
**: Ausgang= Exit in German

The rise and fall of Mumbai Indians!

A lot has been written and more trees wil be cut to describe Mumbai Indians' choking skills. So lemme add a few electrons as well :)
The biggest reason in my opinion i that Sachin should be stripped of captaincy. He is bringing lethargic thinking and subdued mindset to the team. Bring back Pollock as captain.
Mumbai lost 3 matches in last over:
Reasons are plenty: bad fielding, useless batting!
But the most glaring reason is the GOD's captaincy:
1. vs KXIP:
a. Bowled 2 of the most a$$-hole spinners with 4 overs each.
b. Underbowled Jayasuriya and Dwayne Smith
.c. Gave last over to Nehra when Pollock had 1.
2. vs DD
a. Over-relying on D Kulkarni and Sanath.
b. What was S Chitnis-the specialist offspinner doing in team? Chosen for batting?
3. vs RR
His mistake has been so obvious that even a 9-year neighbour told me about it during the match. Every TDH who was watching the match knew that 19th over should be given to Dilhara and 20th to Nehra. Nehra had bowled an awesome 18th over (Really unfortunate to go for cheeky boundaries of yorkers).But the incharge was not TDH but The apple of every woman's eye, the pride of india: Mr. SRT. An over to Raje: A guy who hasn't played a single First class match. When you have a clear cut example of: The wilting of young D Kulkarni in DD match under pressure.
Ofcourse he had choices of Jayasuriya and D Smith.But ok,that can be forgiven. Because at the bottom of the heart, we know that this *pearl in India's feather* can't think laterally like S Warne.
In the end Tendlya has thoroughly proved that forget MI, he is not worth captaining his Mohalla team. He is a good batsman, he takes stunning catches once in a while, But he can never be a good leader. He can clear CAT, he will never clear PI for a leadership course He can dig Mt. Everest but he can never lead a team to dig Mt. Annamalai.
All in all, Tendlya has put himself in fray for Man of Series award. Maybe Tanvir and Watson need to do a lot of hardwork to clinch the award from him.

The India Tour

April was quite hectic for me! Did a 20-day India tour, started in Mumbai and ended up in Mumbai and travelled approx 10000 km in the mean time! I will come up with posts detailing my experiences very soon.
Anyway here is the path:
Mumbai > Hampi > Bangalore> Cochi > Alleppy> Changnacherry > Munnar> Chennai > PortBlair > Kolkata > NJP > Darjiling > Gangtok > NJP> Kolkata > Mumbai
Met Indian navy guys in Cochin, met India army guys on India-China border near Gangtok and in the mean time, found many interesting facts.
So here are some of them:
1. In Hampi, tourist guides may not know Hindi but they know Spanish and German!
2. Hampi is full of excavations and still going on! One month ago, they found 32 kg gold at a depth 4 inches beneath the everyday walking road.
3. In Kerala, marriages take 1 hour flat. The people and bride-bridegroom arrive at marriage hall at 1030 am, the marriage is over by 1130 am. Then the lunch starts and gets over by 230 pm and people leave marriage hall.
4. In Maharashtra and most of the places, bride’s Mother cries after marriage. In Kerala, she laughs. 
5. In Andaman and Nicobar, you have only 1 zone for cars. So all car plates are: AN 01
6. Andaman & Nicobar is more nearer to Thailand than India
7. On NJP- Kolkata highway, the state police get into the bus and shoot each person’s face with video camera! Anti-terrorism eh?

Yay!

Venue: European Business School, Germany
A project presentation was being presented to a panel of 3 German Professors and an audience of almost 60 students. The project group consisted of an Indian and a Chinese from Beijing University.
After the presentation, the usual Q&A session started. And regarding one recommendation given by the project group, one of the panel members told them that this recommendation is not practical. But of course, the project group gave their arguments to defend their point. After about 10 minutes of tussle, the project group justified their point very well and the panel member agreed with their point and accepted that his point that the recommendation is not practical was wrong.
Now starts the best part: One of the panel members, who was a German, turns towards the audience and says: Beware guys, in the next 10 years, this is the way in which India and China are going to beat Germany.
And believe it or not, the audience gave a thundering round of applause to the project group!!

(F)art of making a CV

Here is a wonderful example of putting the same point in a flowery manner step by step:
Step 1: Did a course in Branding
Step 2: Did a course on Brand Management
Step 3: Audited a course on Brand Management
Step 4: Audited a course on Strategic Brand Management
Step 5: Participated in an audited course on Strategic Brand Management
Step 6: Create a heading Live Industry Exposure: Participated in an audited course on Strategic Brand Management
Step 7: Participated in an audited course on Strategic Brand Management, delivered by industry experts
Step 8: Participated in an audited course on Strategic Brand Management, delivered by renowned industry experts
Step 9: Actively participated in an audited course on Strategic Brand Management, delivered by renowned industry experts

Sharply Pointed Bullets

*An achiever is a person who has done nothing in life but who can portray himself otherwise* so said the sages. When you say B-schools placements, then inevitably Curriculum Vitae comes to your mind. The sentences are reworded, thesaurus is scanned,artistic language just flows like Ganges River . Just have a peep:

13. As a Hostel Rep, acted as a single point of contact between the students and the administration, also looked after relationship issues of 90 inmates
12. Received candidature for one of the most prestigious financial exam in the world: CFA Level 1, June 2008
11. As the overall coordinator of the event, raised 80 lakh (Font size 12 ends, font size 6 starts) paisas (Font size 6 ends, font size 12 starts) single handedly
10. Conducted an empirical study on mergers on BSE. Recommendations sent to Reserve Bank of India. Project under consideration as per the inland letter received from Dr. Y.V. Reddy, Governor
9: Summers Achievement: Helped to reduce lead time of the process by 42% which helped in a savings of 30 cr INR
8: Ops CV: As a Class Rep, Helped in logistics and scheduling of classes through successful negotiations with faculty
7: Sports Achievements: Scored a hat-trick at a ripe age of 8 years in inter-gully football match in front of a crowd of 2312
6: Academic Achievements: 100% attendance in PMIR, first 2 weeks
5: Fin CV: Academic Achievements: Missed B- in HRM by 0.25 marks just because I came late to a quiz by 5 minutes
4: Winner, INDEX 2007, the biggest marketing fest in India (Font size 12 ends, font size 6 starts) Dry Run Stage
3: As a placement coordinator (Font size 12 ends, font size 6 starts) operations liaison (Font size 6 ends, font size 12 starts) played a pivotal role in 100% placement of the batch in record time
2: Exposure to cross-cultural issues and delicate sensitivities, as a Buddy of an incoming STEX student
1: Fluent in the most romantic language of the world: French, attended 4 classes held by incoming STEX students

It Happens Only in Germany!

Take a simple task like throwing a used tea bag.
What will an average Indian person do? He will throw it on the road... Well, don't jump upon me, I said average Indian (If you happen to throw it in dustbin, then be sure that you are above average)

What will an average American do? He will throw the teabag in dustbin.

What will an average German do?
He will think for 2 minutes before throwing the teabag. Well, now something has struck into his mind. Hold your breath! He will tear the teabag and take out the wet tea powder. He will tear off the stapler and remove the cardboard paper displaying the brand name and the string.
Now he will throw wet tea powder in a dustbin marked *Biodegradable but not recyclable*
He will throw the stapler in a dustbin marked *Non-biodegradable*
And he will throw the string, the cardboard paper and the teabag paper in a dustbin marked *Biodegradable and Recyclable*

It Happens Only in Germany!!!