...carry any news item or even mention about high-profile star wedding of Rajini's daughter Aishwarya with budding star Dhanush was SUN Network.
Karunanidhi proves his cheapskatedness once again!
November 18, 2004
November 17, 2004
The J(ailing) Factor
First it was JJ
After some time, it was Jeevajyothi case on Saravana Bhavan Annachi
Soon to follow, Jayalakshmi
Now it is Jayendrar...
Looks like J and Jail go well together...
After some time, it was Jeevajyothi case on Saravana Bhavan Annachi
Soon to follow, Jayalakshmi
Now it is Jayendrar...
Looks like J and Jail go well together...
November 09, 2004
Some of the books waiting to be written...
..by me, of course.
Here is a sneaky preview of my would-be-books...to be precise, might-be-books.
Desi Dilbert -- This will be the Indianized Dilbert who will deal with the ingenuities of Indian corporate do(o)m. Ofcourse, the book will feature many short anecdotes of funny thins happening in our Indian company bored-rooms. This book is withheld right now, because knowing Scott Adams through his web site where he tries selling everything, we would wait until Scott Adams can allow us to use his t(i)rademark Dilbert...else, we will try sneaking a different name on this character. If we have the name Dilbert,, it will be easier to con people into buying this book.
Some cartoons / anecdotes are all ready. Few of my colleagues will co-author this book. We also plan to release a PPS file of this book, so that our usual Indian crowd can flood everyone's inboxes - specifically all gmail and yahoo mail accounts.
Who moved my underwear? or Catching the boss in the bathroom - Haven't finalized on the name yet. These are the suggested titles of the self-help (in Tamizh, suya uthavi) book that am planning to write. The theme will be based on the famous tamil saying - Bazarla uzaara illaina nijaar avuthuduvaango. And this book teaches you how not to lose your confidence in event of such a thing happening. It is most likely that such things are initiated by higher-ups, you will be able to corner them in bathroom and how you can be prevertive...I mean, persuasive!
Of boobs and asses - No this is defintely not any sex book that I plan to author, nor any biological book. This is the management book that I plan to affix an obscene price and sell them. Am sure the title itself would make people buy the book as(s) those buyers would think, "if a management book has such a fantastic, novel title, there must be something great in the book". All other smart buggers would borrow from these guys and read them. Or will download the e-Book from that Russian site or buy from outside Spencer Plaza. (Un-smart alecs would buy the same at an obscene price from inside Spence Plaza from the Landmark - this is called product-positioning - catering to both smart and unsmart people). The theme of the book is how to identify the boobheads (and hence the BOOBS in the title) that block your career-growth and assholes (well, you get the connection) who make your career stink, and how to get away from them, and still manage to obtain internet connection, browse job-sites and move to a new job.
Also have few more titles in the offing - Milagu Rasam for the soul, A dummy's guide to understanding dummy's guide, Konaar Notes written by Karunanidhi on How to find fifty faults in fifty seconds in a fifty letter sentence uttered by Jayalalitha.
Here is a sneaky preview of my would-be-books...to be precise, might-be-books.
Desi Dilbert -- This will be the Indianized Dilbert who will deal with the ingenuities of Indian corporate do(o)m. Ofcourse, the book will feature many short anecdotes of funny thins happening in our Indian company bored-rooms. This book is withheld right now, because knowing Scott Adams through his web site where he tries selling everything, we would wait until Scott Adams can allow us to use his t(i)rademark Dilbert...else, we will try sneaking a different name on this character. If we have the name Dilbert,, it will be easier to con people into buying this book.
Some cartoons / anecdotes are all ready. Few of my colleagues will co-author this book. We also plan to release a PPS file of this book, so that our usual Indian crowd can flood everyone's inboxes - specifically all gmail and yahoo mail accounts.
Who moved my underwear? or Catching the boss in the bathroom - Haven't finalized on the name yet. These are the suggested titles of the self-help (in Tamizh, suya uthavi) book that am planning to write. The theme will be based on the famous tamil saying - Bazarla uzaara illaina nijaar avuthuduvaango. And this book teaches you how not to lose your confidence in event of such a thing happening. It is most likely that such things are initiated by higher-ups, you will be able to corner them in bathroom and how you can be prevertive...I mean, persuasive!
Of boobs and asses - No this is defintely not any sex book that I plan to author, nor any biological book. This is the management book that I plan to affix an obscene price and sell them. Am sure the title itself would make people buy the book as(s) those buyers would think, "if a management book has such a fantastic, novel title, there must be something great in the book". All other smart buggers would borrow from these guys and read them. Or will download the e-Book from that Russian site or buy from outside Spencer Plaza. (Un-smart alecs would buy the same at an obscene price from inside Spence Plaza from the Landmark - this is called product-positioning - catering to both smart and unsmart people). The theme of the book is how to identify the boobheads (and hence the BOOBS in the title) that block your career-growth and assholes (well, you get the connection) who make your career stink, and how to get away from them, and still manage to obtain internet connection, browse job-sites and move to a new job.
Also have few more titles in the offing - Milagu Rasam for the soul, A dummy's guide to understanding dummy's guide, Konaar Notes written by Karunanidhi on How to find fifty faults in fifty seconds in a fifty letter sentence uttered by Jayalalitha.
November 05, 2004
Quality surveys at TIDEL
All those folks stationed at TIDEL PARK know about the dismal quality of RKHS - the one and only caterer allowed inside TIDEL and their high-handed, tyrannical, obscenely priced food (if you could call them).
Now is a quality survey being conducted about RKHS service (or rather lack of it). Given the cynic I am, the survey and service puts even me at utter dismay. For one, in the past 14 months of my stay at TIDEL, this is the second quality survey. First one's resuts or actions taken were never revelaed to us. Nor has anyone seen remarkable improvement in service or food quality. I guess CBRE (which runs TIDEL) owes a change in caterer and visibility of survey results and actions taken.
Wonder what real action is going to be taken apart from mere fulfilment of process with such surveys! (simple reason for non-confidence in the survey is - The survey had just 3 ratings scale - Good, fair, average)
RKHS leelaigal at TIDEL:
1. As per the contract/agreement, RKHS is supposed to run the regular counters and snacks counters till 8pm, and provide all such items. BUT most of items including chutney would get over by 730pm itself. The chat counter will not stack samosa mostly. BY 7:30. the man would simply close the counter and go, no matter that the billing person billed people for some chat item.
2. At any given point of time, the coffee and tea counter will have just 20 tumblers(max) to serve the TIDEL coffee-seeking crowd of over 2000. The paper cups will not be available mostly. And the quality of cups - The cups are so flimsy that getting a hot beverage in the cup and taking it to a table is like watching a hindu pop-music video...you never know when, what would fall down! (ok, ok if that was a poor analogy, leave it - enjoy the pun about Hindi pop-video...)
3. Unlimited lunch costs Rs 30 - you have both North Indian and South Indian. In North Indian, you get chapathi and variety rice (multi-colored one - new color every day), and close to 4-5 sabjis. The person who serves the chapathi would place only 4 at a time, if you ask him to place more, he will give such a look and keep it. Mind you, this is supposed to be an unlimited meals. Similar is the case of south-indian food.
4. On floor one, they also serve limited meals - for Rs 23. It is so limited, that you limit your hunger. The serving spoons - only one scoop of any item - would be small, and half of it would have the food sticking to them. Effectively you get only half the scoop. You prompt the person to drop everything off, he will stare at you before doing it.
5. The hygiene factor! Tables would never be cleaned immediately. Worse, if some company hosts a special meal session. The tables would not be cleaned until end of the day.
6. Water - RKHS cannot invest in a bubble top mineral water cans. CBRE supplies ground water - bore - through its supposed-to-be-working-water-purifier.
7. The take-away juice cups in the juice counter are not provided with a juice-cup cap. Once again very flimsy cups.
Can go on and on...and am sure many more things can be added.
Worst part - RKHS has no competition in TIDEL Park. No other eat-outs are also nearby TIDEL for one to go and have a decent food. (Do I see a good business opportunity there?)
The point is none of the companies administrators (inside TIDEL) take any concern towards this dismal, sub-standard service from RKHS. "Its all in CBRE hands" So ask them to make a representation to CBRE in company letter head, as is the usual practice, the admins vanish out of sight. When you make a representation to CBRE personally, you get a survey!
Now is a quality survey being conducted about RKHS service (or rather lack of it). Given the cynic I am, the survey and service puts even me at utter dismay. For one, in the past 14 months of my stay at TIDEL, this is the second quality survey. First one's resuts or actions taken were never revelaed to us. Nor has anyone seen remarkable improvement in service or food quality. I guess CBRE (which runs TIDEL) owes a change in caterer and visibility of survey results and actions taken.
Wonder what real action is going to be taken apart from mere fulfilment of process with such surveys! (simple reason for non-confidence in the survey is - The survey had just 3 ratings scale - Good, fair, average)
RKHS leelaigal at TIDEL:
1. As per the contract/agreement, RKHS is supposed to run the regular counters and snacks counters till 8pm, and provide all such items. BUT most of items including chutney would get over by 730pm itself. The chat counter will not stack samosa mostly. BY 7:30. the man would simply close the counter and go, no matter that the billing person billed people for some chat item.
2. At any given point of time, the coffee and tea counter will have just 20 tumblers(max) to serve the TIDEL coffee-seeking crowd of over 2000. The paper cups will not be available mostly. And the quality of cups - The cups are so flimsy that getting a hot beverage in the cup and taking it to a table is like watching a hindu pop-music video...you never know when, what would fall down! (ok, ok if that was a poor analogy, leave it - enjoy the pun about Hindi pop-video...)
3. Unlimited lunch costs Rs 30 - you have both North Indian and South Indian. In North Indian, you get chapathi and variety rice (multi-colored one - new color every day), and close to 4-5 sabjis. The person who serves the chapathi would place only 4 at a time, if you ask him to place more, he will give such a look and keep it. Mind you, this is supposed to be an unlimited meals. Similar is the case of south-indian food.
4. On floor one, they also serve limited meals - for Rs 23. It is so limited, that you limit your hunger. The serving spoons - only one scoop of any item - would be small, and half of it would have the food sticking to them. Effectively you get only half the scoop. You prompt the person to drop everything off, he will stare at you before doing it.
5. The hygiene factor! Tables would never be cleaned immediately. Worse, if some company hosts a special meal session. The tables would not be cleaned until end of the day.
6. Water - RKHS cannot invest in a bubble top mineral water cans. CBRE supplies ground water - bore - through its supposed-to-be-working-water-purifier.
7. The take-away juice cups in the juice counter are not provided with a juice-cup cap. Once again very flimsy cups.
Can go on and on...and am sure many more things can be added.
Worst part - RKHS has no competition in TIDEL Park. No other eat-outs are also nearby TIDEL for one to go and have a decent food. (Do I see a good business opportunity there?)
The point is none of the companies administrators (inside TIDEL) take any concern towards this dismal, sub-standard service from RKHS. "Its all in CBRE hands" So ask them to make a representation to CBRE in company letter head, as is the usual practice, the admins vanish out of sight. When you make a representation to CBRE personally, you get a survey!
No wonder...
(Via Instant Kaapi)
Indian farmers, instead of paying hefty fees to international chemical companies for patented pesticides, are reportedly spraying their chilli and cotton fields with Coca-Cola.
Down in the article, Anupam Verma, Pepsi sales manager in Chhattisgarh, states
"If there was any truth in these claims then we would rather be selling our product as a pesticide rather than soft drinks. "
But isnt that what a study revealed close to a year back? That pepsi/coke are mixed with insecticide???
No wonder, Anupam Verma contemplates selling Pepsi as a pesticide rather than soft drinks!!!
Indian farmers, instead of paying hefty fees to international chemical companies for patented pesticides, are reportedly spraying their chilli and cotton fields with Coca-Cola.
Down in the article, Anupam Verma, Pepsi sales manager in Chhattisgarh, states
"If there was any truth in these claims then we would rather be selling our product as a pesticide rather than soft drinks. "
But isnt that what a study revealed close to a year back? That pepsi/coke are mixed with insecticide???
No wonder, Anupam Verma contemplates selling Pepsi as a pesticide rather than soft drinks!!!
November 03, 2004
Blogally yours...
Chakkarai inikkira chakkarai...
Had been reading Chakra's blogs since the time I started reading dubukku's blogs. On and off, he would also leave comments on my blog. Until recently I read a post of his where he mentioned about Ramco, something was connecting. Went through his site completely, and found out this Chakra is none other than my school buddy - Chakkarapani. This guy is at UK blogging. And what a time to connect with! Am off to UK soon on workpermit, and was looking for some known people.
Another friend of mine - Venkataraman CHivukula who for some inane reason wants to call himself as CVRaman had met up with Venkat at Grenoble in France. This Venkat got known to me by having a collision with my blog name. He wanted to name his blog as "aham brahmasmi", since I had taken the name already, he made it "Tattvamasi". WHile I sent a mail to CVRaman, telling him about my acquaintance with Venkat, CVRaman sends a mail stating that this guy Venkat is dubukku's friend, and they struck a chord being Tamil guys at France and blogs being the next common factors - apart from the glaring fact that both have deceiving innocent faces which has 'n' number of pranks behind them.
Had been reading Chakra's blogs since the time I started reading dubukku's blogs. On and off, he would also leave comments on my blog. Until recently I read a post of his where he mentioned about Ramco, something was connecting. Went through his site completely, and found out this Chakra is none other than my school buddy - Chakkarapani. This guy is at UK blogging. And what a time to connect with! Am off to UK soon on workpermit, and was looking for some known people.
Another friend of mine - Venkataraman CHivukula who for some inane reason wants to call himself as CVRaman had met up with Venkat at Grenoble in France. This Venkat got known to me by having a collision with my blog name. He wanted to name his blog as "aham brahmasmi", since I had taken the name already, he made it "Tattvamasi". WHile I sent a mail to CVRaman, telling him about my acquaintance with Venkat, CVRaman sends a mail stating that this guy Venkat is dubukku's friend, and they struck a chord being Tamil guys at France and blogs being the next common factors - apart from the glaring fact that both have deceiving innocent faces which has 'n' number of pranks behind them.
Deepavaliyum TNagarum
Inspired by varied experiences of Chakra and many people who are not in India, I thought, let me narrate how it is now in TNagar. And it ended up in almost flooding chakra's comments...here is a reproduction (I am good in that - no pun intended)
Guys, you must be at TNagar to know what it is to do a deepavali purchase! Let me narrate the TNagar for sake of you guys -Offlate there have been heavy showers in the Chennai Maanagaram (Nallor oruvar ularael avar poruttu ellarkkum peiyum mazhai...antha nallor ullooril ullaar), so Deepavali purchase was a bit shadowed down prev week. Not so, in this week.
Last week it was rain and floods, but this week in TNagar it is flooded by people.
Pothys, RmKv, Nalli, Chennai Silks and Kumaran contribute to the kolakalam of Deepavali purchase. WHile RmKv proves out to be the shop for affluent and for elite middle class with their zodiac style sarees, cinderella pattu pavadai et al, Pothys is at the other end wooing the lower middle class with throwaway prices. At Pothys entrance, if you stand (even when you dont intend buying anything) you will automatically be pushed inside the shop and mostly to the first floor. Ellu potta yennai kuda vizhadhu, ellaar muthugilum poi otti kollum. Pothys and RmKv are diagonally opposite each other at Panagal park. So much crowd. And then there is Nalli and Kumaran for those traditionally inclined. Nalli 100 is also crowded with not so elite but affluent middle class.
Lot of thalai deepavali purchases at Kumaran and Nalli. (Nanna border agalama oru shaaree eduthudungo...enna athimber sherithaanay, umakku pattu vetti?). And again Kumaran and Nalli are diagonally opposite to each other. Together, Pothys, RmKv, Nalli and Kumaran contribute to the densely populated polygon of TNagar. ANd not to be left behind, if you walk (get pushed) inside the street of no return namely, the Usman Road, Chennai Silks and GRT welcome you with much bigger crowd that will put a Bryan Adams concert crowd to shame. And then comes famous and liked by the poor class - Saravana stores, Saravana Thanga maligai, Saravana this and Saravana that.
You are exhausted and tired after the nostalgic trip to TNagar. Come, let us sit, relax and have a coffee - thooya philter kaapi - at Gitanjali or Saravana Bhavan. You must be really naive to think, we will have a seat at these hotels. You must be really lucky to first get a seat in these hotels. And then, if you are luckier, one of the suppliers will come to ask you for order. No guarantee, what you ordered is what you get. I recently ordered a coffee and got a falooda, and got the bill for Panneer butter Masala and naan!!!
Guys, you must be at TNagar to know what it is to do a deepavali purchase! Let me narrate the TNagar for sake of you guys -Offlate there have been heavy showers in the Chennai Maanagaram (Nallor oruvar ularael avar poruttu ellarkkum peiyum mazhai...antha nallor ullooril ullaar), so Deepavali purchase was a bit shadowed down prev week. Not so, in this week.
Last week it was rain and floods, but this week in TNagar it is flooded by people.
Pothys, RmKv, Nalli, Chennai Silks and Kumaran contribute to the kolakalam of Deepavali purchase. WHile RmKv proves out to be the shop for affluent and for elite middle class with their zodiac style sarees, cinderella pattu pavadai et al, Pothys is at the other end wooing the lower middle class with throwaway prices. At Pothys entrance, if you stand (even when you dont intend buying anything) you will automatically be pushed inside the shop and mostly to the first floor. Ellu potta yennai kuda vizhadhu, ellaar muthugilum poi otti kollum. Pothys and RmKv are diagonally opposite each other at Panagal park. So much crowd. And then there is Nalli and Kumaran for those traditionally inclined. Nalli 100 is also crowded with not so elite but affluent middle class.
Lot of thalai deepavali purchases at Kumaran and Nalli. (Nanna border agalama oru shaaree eduthudungo...enna athimber sherithaanay, umakku pattu vetti?). And again Kumaran and Nalli are diagonally opposite to each other. Together, Pothys, RmKv, Nalli and Kumaran contribute to the densely populated polygon of TNagar. ANd not to be left behind, if you walk (get pushed) inside the street of no return namely, the Usman Road, Chennai Silks and GRT welcome you with much bigger crowd that will put a Bryan Adams concert crowd to shame. And then comes famous and liked by the poor class - Saravana stores, Saravana Thanga maligai, Saravana this and Saravana that.
You are exhausted and tired after the nostalgic trip to TNagar. Come, let us sit, relax and have a coffee - thooya philter kaapi - at Gitanjali or Saravana Bhavan. You must be really naive to think, we will have a seat at these hotels. You must be really lucky to first get a seat in these hotels. And then, if you are luckier, one of the suppliers will come to ask you for order. No guarantee, what you ordered is what you get. I recently ordered a coffee and got a falooda, and got the bill for Panneer butter Masala and naan!!!
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