The coffehouse is bustling again. Oh, it looks like a very interesting dicussion is going on about the rising rupee.
Ramesh on the top of his voice is venting his feelings against the rise. He said,"Our very edge over other countries as a offshore service provider will soon be lost. Our cutomers will move their work to some other countries where the service will be cheaper. Can we think of earning in 6 figures then? This is really scarry."
Nirupama counter remarked "Oh Ramesh, you are thinking from only one point of view. Why are you not seeing the bright side of it. A rising rupee means our imports will be cheaper. It may be a boon for the manufacturing industry. We will be able to buy foreign parts at a cheaper rate and assemble them here at low cost.That will in turn improve the quality of life."
"I agree with you Nirupama, "said Suresh.."There is another positive thing, the rising rupee will attract foreign investors, our foreign exchange reserves will increase, our domestic industries will flourish. Who knows we might offshore work from India to US,UK and other countries. The other good thing is foreign travel is lot cheaper now. Students will have to pay less in the foreign institutions in terms of rupees."
Rising rupee has both good and bad but it is very hard to say whether the good part is heavier than the bad one. Also rupee may not enjoy this northward journey for a long time. The dollar is weak because the interest rates are lower . This is making the US assets relatively unattractive. It would be very likely that interest rates will go up soon and rupee will come down again.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
How do you reduce stress
That day I and Sameer were at the coffehouse discussing about the best jokes we have heard.
Sameer shared one of the best jokes that I have ever heard.
Two colleages were talking to each other in a office.
One of them says , 'Whenever I get stressed , I start sqeezing this rubber ball until my arms ache'.
The other one says 'I have a better way of releasing stress'
'What is that', the other asked.
'I have designed the comode in my bathroom in such a way that it looks like the face of our boss and I sit on the mouth whenever I feel stressed' the colleage said with a smile.
Sameer shared one of the best jokes that I have ever heard.
Two colleages were talking to each other in a office.
One of them says , 'Whenever I get stressed , I start sqeezing this rubber ball until my arms ache'.
The other one says 'I have a better way of releasing stress'
'What is that', the other asked.
'I have designed the comode in my bathroom in such a way that it looks like the face of our boss and I sit on the mouth whenever I feel stressed' the colleage said with a smile.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Bhagam Bhag
Last month Arka, our long time coffeehouse friend left for the states. Today we received a letter from him. Arka still likes to write letters. He used to say writting letter is an art . He used to feel that email applications are gradually making it an extinct species on earth.
Coming back to the letter, Arka wrote a letter about a recent hindi film that he watched in a theater in New York. Here is how he wrote the letter.
Dear Friends,
Wish you a merry christmas. I hope you guys are still having a good time at the coffeehouse. I had nothing else to do in the evening today. So, I thought to write about the film that I saw in the afternoon today. The name of the film is "Bhagam Bhag". It is the latest Indian film showing in the theaters here. I went to watch the film right after lunch. I was little early at the theater. The usual commercials were showing on the big screen which made me feel sleepy. I woke up suddenly with the Dolby Digital sound. As you are familiar, I am not a very big fan of hindi movies, I thought I probably would be sleeping through the movie. Well, it turned out to be the other way round. After a few minutes of watching I found it quite interesting and it drove my sleep away.
It is a commedy flick by Priyadarshan where Paresh Rawal leads a Drama company. The drama company flies to London for a performance scheduled there by Asrani. However, the drama company lost their heroine when she left after being irritated by the erotic approaches of Akshay Kumar and Govinda. The performance is now in a jeopardy without the heroine. So Paresh Rawal announces whoever can find a heroine will act as the hero in the drama. Then starts the "Heroine Search" competition between Akshay and Govinda. In pursuit of a heroine, Akshay meets Munni(Lara Dutta) who was suffering from Amnesia and had suicidal tendency. Akshay talked her into acting in their drama as a heroine. It later turns out that Lara is part of a bigger conspiracy that leads to a murder. Akshay, Govinda and Paresh Rawal become the prime suspects of the murder. They managed to escape from police custody. They were determined to get to the root of the conspiracy to prove themselves innocent. Finally they come out triumphant.
The movie did not have a great story but it was hilarious. Rajpal Yadav, Akshay, Govinda and Paresh did great in the movie. The movie is in the same lines as "Hera Pheri" and when watching some scenes you might actually think that you are watching Hera Pheri.
To conclude it is a movie worth watching. If you have not seen it yet go see it soon.
I must signoff now. Write to me about your recent discussions at the coffeehouse(about the ones you have not published yet).
Arka.
Coming back to the letter, Arka wrote a letter about a recent hindi film that he watched in a theater in New York. Here is how he wrote the letter.
Dear Friends,
Wish you a merry christmas. I hope you guys are still having a good time at the coffeehouse. I had nothing else to do in the evening today. So, I thought to write about the film that I saw in the afternoon today. The name of the film is "Bhagam Bhag". It is the latest Indian film showing in the theaters here. I went to watch the film right after lunch. I was little early at the theater. The usual commercials were showing on the big screen which made me feel sleepy. I woke up suddenly with the Dolby Digital sound. As you are familiar, I am not a very big fan of hindi movies, I thought I probably would be sleeping through the movie. Well, it turned out to be the other way round. After a few minutes of watching I found it quite interesting and it drove my sleep away.
It is a commedy flick by Priyadarshan where Paresh Rawal leads a Drama company. The drama company flies to London for a performance scheduled there by Asrani. However, the drama company lost their heroine when she left after being irritated by the erotic approaches of Akshay Kumar and Govinda. The performance is now in a jeopardy without the heroine. So Paresh Rawal announces whoever can find a heroine will act as the hero in the drama. Then starts the "Heroine Search" competition between Akshay and Govinda. In pursuit of a heroine, Akshay meets Munni(Lara Dutta) who was suffering from Amnesia and had suicidal tendency. Akshay talked her into acting in their drama as a heroine. It later turns out that Lara is part of a bigger conspiracy that leads to a murder. Akshay, Govinda and Paresh Rawal become the prime suspects of the murder. They managed to escape from police custody. They were determined to get to the root of the conspiracy to prove themselves innocent. Finally they come out triumphant.
The movie did not have a great story but it was hilarious. Rajpal Yadav, Akshay, Govinda and Paresh did great in the movie. The movie is in the same lines as "Hera Pheri" and when watching some scenes you might actually think that you are watching Hera Pheri.
To conclude it is a movie worth watching. If you have not seen it yet go see it soon.
I must signoff now. Write to me about your recent discussions at the coffeehouse(about the ones you have not published yet).
Arka.
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Where does it end ?
Coffeehouse seems alive again. All these days there were not enough people coming in. But today it seems quite lively. I can see Naren, Murthy, Arka , Supriya and a few others sitting in one corner. It seems like they are discussing something very interesting. I could not help advancing a little nearer to them to listen to their discussion.
Naren commented "Don't you think Bush sounds clueless and a bit confused when he says there is no civil war in Iraq and we will be in Iraq until it is required".
"Well he is in a mess now and has no idea how to get out of it", said Murthy. Murthy continued saying "Even Rice accepts that Iraq was a mistake. The American president made some hasty decisions to keep himself in power and now the side effects of those decisions are getting prominent day by day. He was however able to reap the benefits when most Americans were feeling insecure after 9/11. He played it really well. He could not capture Laden. So, to divert people's opinion about his faliure, he made up a story and created Saddam as a villain of the story."
"I agree with you, Murthy", said Arka. "Bush was able to take advantage of the insecure feelings of the Americans. He was able to win the elections. But he probably never thought that the engagement in Iraq would be that long. Or, may be he cared less about the aftermath because he would by them complete his two consequitive periods in the white house".
"Iraq is really in a bad shape now. Not only Iraqis but lot of Americans are losing their life because of the selfishness of a few people", Naren said with a sigh. "Republicans are going to pay heavily for this selfishness in the coming electon year, although Bush is trying hard to change his course in Iraq now. But I do not think much will change. A civil war has already begun in Iraq, very soon Americans will make an exit from Iraq and I can see another Afganisthan, another Taliban regime is in its infancy. The world will become a more dangerous place to live in".
Supriya was silent so far. She was listening very quitely. She suddenly told "You guys are not looking at it in a different angle. You are looking at it in the same way Bush wants you to look at it. I think Bush is a brilliant guy. He made a lot of planning in this. If you see ,now America has military presence in Asia with lot of American soldiers deployed in Afganisthan and Pakistan. From there America can very easily monitor the nuclear activities of India and China, the two rising powers in Asia. It can monitor every move of China to keep this part of Asia multipolar while keeping the world as unipolar with America as the superpower. China probably would not like this idea since it wants a unipolar Asia with China as the superpower and a multipolar world with USA,China, Russia as part of the world power .America now also has a strong military presence in middle-east which it wanted for a long time. 9/11 gave a pretty good opportunity for America to invade Iraq and position itself comfortably to keep an watch on the middle east,a pretty good haven of terrorism.
"Thats a pretty good point Supriya, said Naren. "I can now relate why America wants to sell nuclear fuel to India, it probably is an effort to make Asia multi polar".
I looked at my watch. It is 9:00 PM already. I need to leave now to attend a party. Their discussion went on, it was sad that I could not stay more to hear the interesting discussions. But it kept me pondering for a while. I was thinking ..was it all preplanned..the 9/11 to Afganisthan to Iraq? Does it end with Iraq? Or may be there are more twists to come..may it will continue next with Iran , then Israel-Palestine issue. May be it is deeper that we are thinking. Well , time only can aswer these questions. But probably our next generation will be in the coffeehouse to ponder over those questions and answers. We will be gone by then. It might also happen that no one will probably be around to discuss the errors and mistakes. The way the world is armored with nuclear weapons today, there might be no one alive to punish the Saddam's ,the Ladens and their selfish creators.
Naren commented "Don't you think Bush sounds clueless and a bit confused when he says there is no civil war in Iraq and we will be in Iraq until it is required".
"Well he is in a mess now and has no idea how to get out of it", said Murthy. Murthy continued saying "Even Rice accepts that Iraq was a mistake. The American president made some hasty decisions to keep himself in power and now the side effects of those decisions are getting prominent day by day. He was however able to reap the benefits when most Americans were feeling insecure after 9/11. He played it really well. He could not capture Laden. So, to divert people's opinion about his faliure, he made up a story and created Saddam as a villain of the story."
"I agree with you, Murthy", said Arka. "Bush was able to take advantage of the insecure feelings of the Americans. He was able to win the elections. But he probably never thought that the engagement in Iraq would be that long. Or, may be he cared less about the aftermath because he would by them complete his two consequitive periods in the white house".
"Iraq is really in a bad shape now. Not only Iraqis but lot of Americans are losing their life because of the selfishness of a few people", Naren said with a sigh. "Republicans are going to pay heavily for this selfishness in the coming electon year, although Bush is trying hard to change his course in Iraq now. But I do not think much will change. A civil war has already begun in Iraq, very soon Americans will make an exit from Iraq and I can see another Afganisthan, another Taliban regime is in its infancy. The world will become a more dangerous place to live in".
Supriya was silent so far. She was listening very quitely. She suddenly told "You guys are not looking at it in a different angle. You are looking at it in the same way Bush wants you to look at it. I think Bush is a brilliant guy. He made a lot of planning in this. If you see ,now America has military presence in Asia with lot of American soldiers deployed in Afganisthan and Pakistan. From there America can very easily monitor the nuclear activities of India and China, the two rising powers in Asia. It can monitor every move of China to keep this part of Asia multipolar while keeping the world as unipolar with America as the superpower. China probably would not like this idea since it wants a unipolar Asia with China as the superpower and a multipolar world with USA,China, Russia as part of the world power .America now also has a strong military presence in middle-east which it wanted for a long time. 9/11 gave a pretty good opportunity for America to invade Iraq and position itself comfortably to keep an watch on the middle east,a pretty good haven of terrorism.
"Thats a pretty good point Supriya, said Naren. "I can now relate why America wants to sell nuclear fuel to India, it probably is an effort to make Asia multi polar".
I looked at my watch. It is 9:00 PM already. I need to leave now to attend a party. Their discussion went on, it was sad that I could not stay more to hear the interesting discussions. But it kept me pondering for a while. I was thinking ..was it all preplanned..the 9/11 to Afganisthan to Iraq? Does it end with Iraq? Or may be there are more twists to come..may it will continue next with Iran , then Israel-Palestine issue. May be it is deeper that we are thinking. Well , time only can aswer these questions. But probably our next generation will be in the coffeehouse to ponder over those questions and answers. We will be gone by then. It might also happen that no one will probably be around to discuss the errors and mistakes. The way the world is armored with nuclear weapons today, there might be no one alive to punish the Saddam's ,the Ladens and their selfish creators.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Should Walmart be allowed in India
When I entered the virtual coffee house today, a heated discussion was going on whether Walmart should be allowed to enter India. Naren seems to be a fierce opponent of Walmart. He does not like the idea of Walmart being allowed to open in India.
"They will kill all the small businesses and will push more people below the poverty line", Naren said at the top of his voice. He continued in the same high pitch "Lot of people in India still thrives on small business by selling rice or other goods of daily use. If Walmart is let in, that unemployed young man in the Kirana store will either hang himself or join a militant group."
"Naren is right", said Mudit. He is also not in favor of Walmart. Mudit has been following Walmart for quite a while now. He is not very hapy with the labor policies of Walmart. But
Mudit has another point.
He says "Walmart can never be successful in India. Walmart needs lot of supplies. In India supply is not concentrated in one place, it is distributed among lot of suppliers. Walmart will find it difficult coordinating with all of them. There will be chaos. It will cost them lot of money"
"Well, I do not agree Mudit," Swapan quipped after taking a quick sip of latte. "What might happen is a new line of business might arise out of this chaos. Brokering business will thrive well in this situation. Brokers , who will be a localite and knows the locality well can obtain the supplies from different suppliers and Walmart will have to coordinate with that broker only"
"Well I do not think that will happen", said Mohit. "This will be costly for Walmart and they will lose the opportunity to bargain with the actual suppliers. Walmart is never going to buy this idea, their aim is to keep the price as low as possible and the profit margin as high as possible. Walmart might try improving the current infrastructure of India so that they get access to the remotest parts of India. They can get things very cheap from those areas. I know Tripura is the largest producer of pineapples, but most of the produce cannot reach the market due to inaccessibility. I have seen pineapples rotting in the road side. Walmart may try to reach those places to get the produce and in turn they will help improve the infrastructure".
Their gossip gradually turned to some other topic. But I was still occupied with the Walmart topic. There is definitely going to be a change once Walmart joins the 250 billion dollar retail market of India. Whether that change is going to do any good to India is something that future can tell us.
"They will kill all the small businesses and will push more people below the poverty line", Naren said at the top of his voice. He continued in the same high pitch "Lot of people in India still thrives on small business by selling rice or other goods of daily use. If Walmart is let in, that unemployed young man in the Kirana store will either hang himself or join a militant group."
"Naren is right", said Mudit. He is also not in favor of Walmart. Mudit has been following Walmart for quite a while now. He is not very hapy with the labor policies of Walmart. But
Mudit has another point.
He says "Walmart can never be successful in India. Walmart needs lot of supplies. In India supply is not concentrated in one place, it is distributed among lot of suppliers. Walmart will find it difficult coordinating with all of them. There will be chaos. It will cost them lot of money"
"Well, I do not agree Mudit," Swapan quipped after taking a quick sip of latte. "What might happen is a new line of business might arise out of this chaos. Brokering business will thrive well in this situation. Brokers , who will be a localite and knows the locality well can obtain the supplies from different suppliers and Walmart will have to coordinate with that broker only"
"Well I do not think that will happen", said Mohit. "This will be costly for Walmart and they will lose the opportunity to bargain with the actual suppliers. Walmart is never going to buy this idea, their aim is to keep the price as low as possible and the profit margin as high as possible. Walmart might try improving the current infrastructure of India so that they get access to the remotest parts of India. They can get things very cheap from those areas. I know Tripura is the largest producer of pineapples, but most of the produce cannot reach the market due to inaccessibility. I have seen pineapples rotting in the road side. Walmart may try to reach those places to get the produce and in turn they will help improve the infrastructure".
Their gossip gradually turned to some other topic. But I was still occupied with the Walmart topic. There is definitely going to be a change once Walmart joins the 250 billion dollar retail market of India. Whether that change is going to do any good to India is something that future can tell us.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Restless Mind
Today coffeehouse is almost empty. I ordered a cup of latte and grabbed a chair at the corner. Suddenly I saw Nameet. I waived towards him.
"Hey Nameet, over here", I said
"Hey Arka, whats up", Nameet replied.
"Nothing much man , Life is boring. I am not getting the kick out of it", I said
"Same here man..Arka, I do not know what it is , but recently I find myself very restless. I am not sure whether it is happening to me alone or if it is a normal thing that happens to everyone when they touch thirty"
"What is it?"
"Well, I feel I have lot of potential in me but I have not been able to make use of it for the past thirty years. It seems I have not achieved anything at all in my career so far. I want to do something. I want to make a difference. But do not know how?"
"You are not alone with this feeling Nameet, I feel the same myself. In my 8 years of career I feel I have not achieved much. I have done my masters in comp science, but now I think I should have done MBA. I do not have any job satisfaction. I want to do something of my own, I want to make a difference as you said. But I am not getting any idea what to do. I feel I am wasting away the time. With each day passing by , I am one day nearer to death."
"You are right, we must do something, may be we can start a business of our own. India is a booming market now. May be we can start a business there. What do you think?"
"Well, I am in if you plan to start something up. But what is in your mind?"
"I was thinking of starting up something like financial advising, we can study the market and then advise people on investing their money. To begin with we can publish a monthly magazine and encourage people to subscribe for free. The magazine will have articles on finance. The people who subscribes will form our client base and once we have a good number of clients, we can approach them to buy our financial advise for a fee."
"That is not a bad idea, let us start planning for it."
"Looks like a plan. I got to go now .will catch you later".
Nameet left. I started thinking about this idea. It is not a bad idea. If we succeed ,that will be an achievment. That will probably bring some satisfaction .
"Hey Nameet, over here", I said
"Hey Arka, whats up", Nameet replied.
"Nothing much man , Life is boring. I am not getting the kick out of it", I said
"Same here man..Arka, I do not know what it is , but recently I find myself very restless. I am not sure whether it is happening to me alone or if it is a normal thing that happens to everyone when they touch thirty"
"What is it?"
"Well, I feel I have lot of potential in me but I have not been able to make use of it for the past thirty years. It seems I have not achieved anything at all in my career so far. I want to do something. I want to make a difference. But do not know how?"
"You are not alone with this feeling Nameet, I feel the same myself. In my 8 years of career I feel I have not achieved much. I have done my masters in comp science, but now I think I should have done MBA. I do not have any job satisfaction. I want to do something of my own, I want to make a difference as you said. But I am not getting any idea what to do. I feel I am wasting away the time. With each day passing by , I am one day nearer to death."
"You are right, we must do something, may be we can start a business of our own. India is a booming market now. May be we can start a business there. What do you think?"
"Well, I am in if you plan to start something up. But what is in your mind?"
"I was thinking of starting up something like financial advising, we can study the market and then advise people on investing their money. To begin with we can publish a monthly magazine and encourage people to subscribe for free. The magazine will have articles on finance. The people who subscribes will form our client base and once we have a good number of clients, we can approach them to buy our financial advise for a fee."
"That is not a bad idea, let us start planning for it."
"Looks like a plan. I got to go now .will catch you later".
Nameet left. I started thinking about this idea. It is not a bad idea. If we succeed ,that will be an achievment. That will probably bring some satisfaction .
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Jaaneman
Navneet "Last night I watched the movie Jaaneman"
Prasun "How do you like it. Is it worth watching ?"
Navneet "Man, I was almost feeling sleepy in the first part. The movie was not in any angle well-directed. I do not know what was in Shsishir Kunder's mind when he directed it.The story however was good and with that story even I could have made a hit:). Even the songs were pathetic"
Prasun " What is the story?"
Navneet "Well the story starts with Agastya Rao(Akshay Kumar) narrating the story of his friend Suhan(Salman Khan) to his fellow astranaut(a blonde female whose identity is revealed at the end of the movie) in a space capsule orbiting round the earth. I initially thought it might be a science fiction type of movie where there will be a rendevous with the life forms from other space. But later it turned out to be a love story. From the space it directly goes to a flashback on earth where Suhan wakes up to a bad news. His divorced wife Piya(Preity Zinta)sent a notice to pay her a final sum of Rs 50 Lakh in lieu of the alimony which Suhan could not pay for the last one year due to his poor financial condition. Suhan then consulted his Chacha(a dwarfed Anupam Kher) and both of them started thinking of a solution when like a Farishta(angel) Agastya walks in. In his college days Agastya was very attracted to Piya and was in love with her. He could never express that love because Piya was in love with Suhan and Agastya, used to be called Champu in college was not very impressive for her.He was a simpleton but was sharp in studies. But now he has changed, he is an astronaut now and his physical apprearance also changed a lot. He looks pretty smart. Suhan and his dwarf uncle hatched a plan to help Agastya get his lost love back ,in that way Piya will get remarried to Agastya and Suhan will not have to pay the alimony per the laws of Indian Marriage act.
With this plan in mind Suhan and Agastya flies to new york where Piya moved to be near her parents after the divorce. Agastya started making efforts to impress Piya using Suhan's words and style. Suhan helped him in every step and in the process he came to know that he is a father of a daughter. This finding changed Suhan's mind and now he wants to start a new life with Piya and their daughter. But things have gone far enough and Piya got engaged to Agastya. All this time Agastya was not aware that Suhan was Piya's divorced husband.
Then follows a sentimental, emotional series of events, a story of love and sacrifice.
The second half was relatively better than the first half.
Prasun "So do you suggest watching the movie"
Navneet "It is probably worth a watch at home. At least you will come to know who the fellow astranaut of Agastya was. That was a surprise revealed at the end of the movie.There are few commedies which were very well acted by Anupam Kher and was enjoyable. You can also see Salman in the guise of a female. He does not look bad as a female."
Prasun "How do you like it. Is it worth watching ?"
Navneet "Man, I was almost feeling sleepy in the first part. The movie was not in any angle well-directed. I do not know what was in Shsishir Kunder's mind when he directed it.The story however was good and with that story even I could have made a hit:). Even the songs were pathetic"
Prasun " What is the story?"
Navneet "Well the story starts with Agastya Rao(Akshay Kumar) narrating the story of his friend Suhan(Salman Khan) to his fellow astranaut(a blonde female whose identity is revealed at the end of the movie) in a space capsule orbiting round the earth. I initially thought it might be a science fiction type of movie where there will be a rendevous with the life forms from other space. But later it turned out to be a love story. From the space it directly goes to a flashback on earth where Suhan wakes up to a bad news. His divorced wife Piya(Preity Zinta)sent a notice to pay her a final sum of Rs 50 Lakh in lieu of the alimony which Suhan could not pay for the last one year due to his poor financial condition. Suhan then consulted his Chacha(a dwarfed Anupam Kher) and both of them started thinking of a solution when like a Farishta(angel) Agastya walks in. In his college days Agastya was very attracted to Piya and was in love with her. He could never express that love because Piya was in love with Suhan and Agastya, used to be called Champu in college was not very impressive for her.He was a simpleton but was sharp in studies. But now he has changed, he is an astronaut now and his physical apprearance also changed a lot. He looks pretty smart. Suhan and his dwarf uncle hatched a plan to help Agastya get his lost love back ,in that way Piya will get remarried to Agastya and Suhan will not have to pay the alimony per the laws of Indian Marriage act.
With this plan in mind Suhan and Agastya flies to new york where Piya moved to be near her parents after the divorce. Agastya started making efforts to impress Piya using Suhan's words and style. Suhan helped him in every step and in the process he came to know that he is a father of a daughter. This finding changed Suhan's mind and now he wants to start a new life with Piya and their daughter. But things have gone far enough and Piya got engaged to Agastya. All this time Agastya was not aware that Suhan was Piya's divorced husband.
Then follows a sentimental, emotional series of events, a story of love and sacrifice.
The second half was relatively better than the first half.
Prasun "So do you suggest watching the movie"
Navneet "It is probably worth a watch at home. At least you will come to know who the fellow astranaut of Agastya was. That was a surprise revealed at the end of the movie.There are few commedies which were very well acted by Anupam Kher and was enjoyable. You can also see Salman in the guise of a female. He does not look bad as a female."
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