ankur Warikoo

I have a feeling that this is not genuine (the Time Magazine bit), but heck, irrespective of who has written this…it still is one of the best captures of what Sachin is all about!

When Sachin Tendulkar travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam.

When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger  Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to “open” the Nehruvian economy.

It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will.

Here is a genuine Time article though, when Sachin broke the 200 barrier

Dont know if this is true…but even if it is…I wont be surprised

“Shahrukh Khan charged a whopping Rs.30 lakh for releasing a book written by management guru Arindam Chaudhari, earlier this month in Delhi. But when an upcoming writer approached Aamir for his book launch, Aamir agreed on one condition to do it and that is if he liked the book.”

Yet to see 3 Idiots, but people tell me that it will reinforce what Aamir is all about!

Very Interesting Delivery model that ISB has introduced today…the PGPMAX (Post Graduate Programme in Management for Senior Executives)

Basically the program is designed on a schedule that minimises disruption of work and personal pursuits. Participants will typically be on campus for a 6 day schedule of classroom learning once every 6th week. The 6-day schedule will include full days of teaching and evenings will be used for guest lectures, projects, and group work. Participants will be required to stay on campus during those 6 days.

I dont know if such a program happens anywhere else, but this is fairly innovative (and at Rs 25 Lacs/USD 53,800 fairly expensive too). Wonder how many takers will it have…!

Putting myself in the shoes of a senior (read busy) executive, honestly, I have my doubts. Spending 6 days away from work, every 6 weeks is maybe a little too much to ask for. No wonder the concept of executive education is so successful, because its short term and meaningful impact.

But yah…ISB has impressed people even with its innovative (atleast for India) 1-year MBA program….so I would love to be proven wrong!

All the best…

Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon, authors of I Hate People have come up with one of those unorthodox Interview Tests that could give you insights (non-technical though) into the personality of the individual.

“Observe how the candidate crosses the street”

And honestly, my experience so far with hiring, is that Attitude is all that matters! Skills can be acquired, but attitude is a “if-and-only-if” condition!

Read about the test

I am a wader…who are you?

…i hope never…(or for that matter I hope someday!)…

But this is what Mr. Thackeray (no, the old almost dead one…not the young ‘always orgasming’ one!) believes Sachin has done by commenting that “Mumbai is part of India”

“There was no need for him to take a cheeky single by making such remarks,” Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ quoted Thackeray as saying.

and hey…friggin entire India comes together…and this time not to simply light candles on India Gate (with all due respect…but really…candles…solidarity…??)…but barging full-on to face the Thackerays! Ofcourse they all know that no one will ever vandalise their house for doing so…since Tendulkar is god in India…and anyone even coming remotely close to branding him otherwise will only draw flak! Least…the political party will loose all voters..!

I dont get it…politics! What was the old man thinking…?? He knew this would become a national “breaking news”. And its not even something that will draw appreciation from some quarters of the society. Anyone who says anything against Sachin is bound to be either drugged, or made to confess so by Delhi Police…(or both..!). So whats the point…!

But maybe he has one…

On the other side…ofcourse a lot of people have found their moment of fame by coming up with their two pence on what they think about Sachin’s statement! HT covered some of them….one of which was a masterpiece

“Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra, which is part of India. Mumbai is, therefore, an integral part of India”

Thanks Sherlock! Thats exactly what we had in mind when we asked you if you felt Mumbai was a part of India.

Hemant Mehta wonderfully creates a flowchart to determine which Religion should one follow! While I wish there didnt exist a need for religion to exist alltogether, the flowchart is nonetheless quite a nice attempt.

Where do you lie?

Wishing my readers a joyous and prosperous Diwali 2009 (which basically means I am wishing my own self…does anyone else ever come to this site?)

Naturally…its a great Diwali for India…now that even Obama has formally wished us and the White House has posted the same on its YouTube Channel…! And true to our style (not to mention my last post), the video is all over FB and Twitter and Google…!!

India finally can celebrate Diwali

damn…!! after Maggi, Bata and Cadbury ditched me….(YES…at some point of time in my life…which could be as recent as 2 weeks back…I believed all of these to be Indian!)…

this was the last thing i wanted to hear…!

the morning brought in news of two (atleast for me) sudden demises. Anil Wilson, former principal at St. Stephen’s and Michael Jackson passed away…

Now..I am a hindu graduate and to even talk good about Ste-vens is like Shahrukh stating that Aamir is a better actor…which btw he is…as is hindu better than ste-vens! :) no..seriously…i havent been a big fan of ste-vens driven largely by the snob value they exhibit…but i do think that the college is very different from the rest of the DU crowd (and i would place LSR too in the same bracket…maybe SRCC too…but no one else). and a lot of the credit for this goes to Wilson

i recall the summer of 2008, when i had just passed out of school…with a phenomenal earth shattering score of 88%..which in today’s world will surely fetch me a seat in lovely professional university (havent heard of it…CMON..!!!)…i know of my relatives who will NOT get a seat in the top 5 DU colleges even with a 90%…crazy…!

so yah…with this 88% in my hand…i applied for physics at 3 colleges…stephens, hindu and venki..! stephens was first to come up with their list and…would you believe it…i hadnt made it…short of just 1 mark…just 1 friggin mark…! i mean…had i even answered that electrode question with a diagram and nothing else…i would have got that 1 mark…!! and oh..i had also applied for electronics (gen) at stephens

i eventually made it to hindu…but not before i gave an interview for electronics at stephens. yes…i had made it to the cut-off…and sat facing wilson and a physics prof who didnt seem to be of much importance.

wilson: what do you want to do later in your life?

me: astrophysics…i want to become an astronomer or astrophysicist (and btw…there is a difference!)

wilson: so where does electronics come in the picture

me: ummm..it doesnt…but stephens is a powerful brand name

wilson: you think a brand will take you to your destiny or the content of your academic program

me: both…honestly…

wilson: no my son…trust me…tomorrow if stephens is bombed…it doesnt exist anymore…but your education will…tomorrow if we start producing criminals…the name is destroyed…but your education isnt…

me: (what the hell is this dude talking about!…if he has already decided not to take me…then just say so!)

wilson: i would love to have you in Stephen’s…but would much rather have you do what is meaningful for you..even if that means going somewhere else.

10 years down…i see the importance of his words…today i am where several of my friends from the iits/iims/srcc/stephens etc would love to be…or atleast i am where they are too..! i recall that i used to compete a lot with a friend of mine from school…in terms of who is going to score higher in the term exams…! he eventually went to DCE while i couldnt clear any of my entrance exams…and 3 years back he got placed in accenture and i was in kearney! i dont mean to undermine accenture (well…maybe to a certain bit!) but the fact is…even a DU guy with just a bsc degree is up where the other super cool studs are…

that was the first and last time i interacted with wilson…but have been following him ever since…! it is indeed a tragic loss…

…and so is MJ’s demise!! i have friggin grown up on the dangerous album cassette, which at 48 bucks was my most expensive spend till that time…! i havent been crazy about him…like some other fans who have stripped naked/fainted/lost their voice/killed their wife to arrange for concert tickets (ok i made that one up)…! but hey…i liked him…and i think everyone who grew up in the 80’s did…!

ofcourse…recent developments hadnt left much of MJ goodwill all across..but he had already done what he had come out to do…

good job dude…wish that last tour of yours had happened…

in my years of searching for the answers…the multiple visits to the himalays…and the painful one-leg tapasya…and being distracted by that urvashi babe….i havent come across something as simplistic as this…

how to be happy…

the happiness venn diagram

Jan 03, 2008

Since writing on the walls is done neither for critical acclaim, nor financial rewards…it remains the purest form of art

discuss

Actually…let me begin with the appeal(s)…

1. I appeal to all the thousands of visitors to my blog…averaging 23 in number per day…out of which 19 spend 0.00 minutes on the blog…plz forgive me for not being regular with the blog…!
PS: The facts above are real…but am surprised…how can anyone measure the time as 0.00…?? i mean..am sure it takes atleast a second for people to realize that they are in shit…right…? Its like…someone intends to tell me that the time taken from the enter button to the top right button on the window takes less than a second..! Darn…thats depressing…

2. Can airlines please come up with a weekly magazine…reading the same thing 8 times a month is no fun..trust me.

3. Can vijay mallya please concentrate on improving the food on kingfisher…rather than blasting 11 individuals who have been running 23 km marathons for all their life…for not winning the 100mtr sprint..!

4. Can aaj tak please read the business description under which it is listed…! Last I checked it was meant to be a NEWS channel

5. and finally…can i please appeal to myself for not writing crap…even if it happens only once a month…

Updates – several!

1. www.gaadi.com
Its launched…plz check it out. We all are proud of it…and believe it is one of the strongest products in the car category in the indian space. and lo behold..within a month of its launch…gaadi.com is already India’s No 2 Car website. And I am convinced that we shall be No. 1 by end of the year…!

2. Am off to the US for 2 weeks…business trip. Ruchi is accompanying me…on vacation! Will be in NY..(which i hvnt been to…ever) and it shud be a fantastic photo opportunity. I jst believe that the US holds a lot of potential when it comes to portraits…! So lets see how well I do…really excited. Meeting a whole lot of people whom I hvnt for years…yuuhuuuuu

So well…i will keep writing…hopefully…and will share my pics soon…! Take care everyone…

~a

I have to thank SL for the song…its truly the best gift she could have given me…

at 12.49am…after you have been up for 20 hrs…and have gone without food for 8 hrs…the power of music is such that it forces you to write…to express…to feel…

i never knew i would say this so soon…but i hate consulting when it comes to staying away from home…it just doesnt feel worth it….but i know that something will make me wake up tomorrow…all charged up…willing to conduct interviews with CEOs and then eye excel sheets till the sun drops dead…

such is life…

btw…i have decided to start a series by the name of “Mornings with Sunday”. Wherein R and I will head out for a location…wherever we are…every other Sunday, for a photo expedition and a general ‘get to know the place’ kind of trip.

We started last sunday with Surajkund, Haryana. Will share the snaps and the experience soon…once am home.

life’s good…kuch is tara…

~a

Before anyone asks, let me give you the answers

1. Yes, the marriage did happen…check out the snaps at www.picasaweb.google.com/warikoo

2. Yes, married life is actually good…and there is nothing to be scared of. However, you should be fine with the fact that there no longer exists the concept of ’sleeping on the bed as if you own it’ or ‘i am just going to surf porn for the next 2 hrs cause i got nothing better to do’ or ‘i will only watch NDTV cause that the only channel with a brain’ or ‘no one read my sms – do you get it?’

3. Yes, I watched Taare Zameen Par and think it yet another confirmation on the phenomenon called Aamir Khan. Needless to say, the movie has and will continue to move a lot of people…including the baby girl in the bus who will grow up to realize that Aamir Khan himself helped her mum change the nappy. Its surely an entry for the Oscars this year and I wont be surprised if karan marries Shahrukh…err…delete delete…the movie wins..!

4. Yes, life has been crazy ever since we have come back from the honeymoon…both work-wise and personally. After much deliberation we decided to stay with my parents, but not before we had bought everything for the new house. So a distress sale happened…some people got lucky and some people just realized why a distress sale is called so…

5. Yes, we have tried to get our marriage registered…but the government still believe that a gazetted officer is required to attest the photo…cause heck…the passport with the snap just isnt enough…! and there are still some people who think citizens will pay 2K to get the certificate done in a day. Did anyone tell them that the certificate is not so much required by the couple than by the government???

6. Yes, I did get promoted! which felt great cause I wasnt expecting it.

7. YES…YES…YES….i am broke after marriage…at one point of time i had exactly 69 bucks in my account…and the only position that should come to your mind reading the figure is bankruptcy and not something else…

8. Yes…secondshaadi is doing fantastic….has broken even…and we are right now in profits. TV campaign scheduled to start soon…and our new venture is coming up on feb 2008. watch out for it…

9. Yes, I have decided on a few to-dos for this year…get some lessons in photography, go on atleast 3 photo-expeditions, start seriously thinking about quitting work and starting something on my own, get a car for parents, get working on my house and yes…blog atleast 100 posts this year…

10. yes…yessss…yessssss…yesssssssssss….ooops..sorry…got busy with something else…

enjoy 2008 folks…!

~a

just one piece of advice my friend…just one piece…

dont question anything…they think its a fantastic idea to have shehnai playing next to the DJ…heck it is….they think that you cant meet her entire next week till the actual wedding day…so be it…they think flowers on the ground will look better than flowers on the table…oh you bet they would….they think getting a kashmiri singer to sing for 6 hours and paying him 13 grand is all fine…yes it is..

…they think they know better…ofcourse they do….

…just be in the auto pilot mode…drive…dont direct….

so be it….

am off people….marriage is knocking on my door…and the parents of all single women in this world are hosting a global party to celebrate the occasion..

everyone’s invited…

catch you in november…

~a

Market drops 10%…relpet drops 13% to 159

Trading stalled

SEBI issues clarification on PN – it is not banned…just being controlled…!!

Market bound to bounce back now.

Buy 1,00,000 worth of relpet at 11.30am at 163 – under margin trading

Sell relpet at 179 at 2pm

10% gain in single day…!!

God bless the SEBI…

PS: not much work today…

belive me if you wish to…but this is actually the motto of our new project…! its a tough piece to work on…data is as scarce as images of rakhi sawant hiding her assets and instances of bappi lahiri adressing himself as bappi lahiri and not Mr. Bappi Lahiri…

so basically…yah…the project bada toin hain…!! i am sure you are not one of who those doesnt hv a friggin clue of what i am talking about…

which brings me to a few ads that i have seen/heard lately…and hv got me questioning the fundamental of mankind. ok…whatever…not as far…but definitely questioning some fundamental…lying someplace…

1. Laxmi Chachi

some dude told me that its Reema Lagoo in there….and i was like….bullshit…get out of here….she is like…mom dude…she is Mother India. there is no way in hell that she would be seen on national TV stretching panties…

but holy friggin shit its true…its really true…

i mean why….why woudl anyone….anyyyyyone…do this..!! it couldnt be possibly money….especially not reema lagoo…she is friggin mom everywhere…! omnipresent….! jst like himesh bhaiya…! u think of celluloid moms (why doesnt this sound right…?? nevermind)…and you think of her..! and here she is…going through rounds of elasticity to such gory details…!! eeessshhhh…in utpal dutt style….

2. Ravi Nursing Home

so..i admit…i am a convert….! from believing that indian radio sucks real BIG TIME…i hv atleast started dedicatig office driving time to Fever 104…and quite like the channel and the RJ lokesh. but no..it wasnt his ad…

i believe it was world heart day sometime back…and i hear this marvel of an ad on radio…

“celebrate the world heart day with a 20% discount on bypass surgery at the Ravi Nursing Home. SMS heart to 5 something something”

WTF..!!!

so lemme attempt to enter the mind of the patient here…and gather his internal response on hearing the ad

“oh wow…20% discount…awesome shit…i have to get that long postponed bypass surgery now…darling chale???”

“toooooooo much…20% discount…joy to the world…i better cancel my apollo hospital reservation and check in to the ravi nursing home. consumer is the king…”

“OMGGGGG…i mean…OM friggin GGGGG….i had to hear this right on the day after my by pass surgery…here i am …wasted all my savings on a stupid operation…and this gem of a deal comes and goes bham…!! right in my head…shit shit….shitttt….a..aaahhhh…aaahhhh…mera dil…koi hain…koi hainnnn….dil mein dard…koi hainnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn”

moronic material man…moronic..!! my to-do list before 30 has another item…meet the creator of this ad…

any other masterpieces from the indian land…??? please share…

~a

i can see SL nodding her head…when i say that i love to use the word ‘piece’ for my projects..!! so yeah…i started on a new piece last week…and its been crazy since then. its not like the ones which gives you an orgasm…but ok…with only 3 weeks to go before i take off for marriage…i dont mind collecting hotel and frequent flier points….

PK and KM got married…and it was a blast of a week…i mean awesome fun…! i can almost see that my marriage wont be even half as much fun…PK was actually with us all the nights…except for the first night ofcourse….chatting away to glory…drinking happily…and just generally having a good time. while i will be thrust upon relatives..who will not only want to apply mehendi on me..there will also be the quintessential “khushi ke aansoon” at every 12 nanoseconds….

the only saving grace will be the fact that loads of people are coming down for the wedding…so a mini reunion of sorts is expected…right from school, college…to ofcourse isb….

life is expected to be busy for a long time now…so lets see when we catch up next….

till then…

…life’s good…

~a