Two Dozenth Birthday

Birthday - A day, which comes once a year (unless of course you celebrate "fake" birthdays), for which we wait for days, weeks and months, a day which passes by with lightening speed, a day when you were dropped on the earth, a day when you feel special (or in case, you always feel special, this is a day when you feel extra special) !

Yesterday was my two dozenth birthday (i prefer it 'coz 24 seems a bigger number than 2 dozen) and it was made special by some great friends of mine !

Frankly speaking, I was not that excited for my birthday on the evening prior to it, since it was probably my first birthday away from my family. However (yes, I am an MBA-student, and its kind of offending to use "but") the day was made special by some special people around me.

Although I couldn't maintain a record of all the people who wished me throughout the day, but I will mention the names of some really great friends who made this day indeed very special, namely Kamlesh, Pratik, Vijay, Tarun, Garima, Swati, Aarzoo, Seema, Khushi, etc among the few :) You guys made my day !!

Besides these friends, almost all my family members and friends wished me throughout the day and made my birthday really special one. The number of birthday wishes I got made me think for a while that I'm really growing 'old' !!! :P

My prankster buddy Kamlesh Parihar, whom I gifted a matka (clay pot) for his birthday, compensated my gesture by gifting me a really big watermelon carefully gift-packed exactly when the clock struck 12, and later a pair of "keyboard chappals" :) Thanks buddy !! I loved them both :)

Key Board Chappals or KBC

Moreover, the biggest surprise on my birthday came from my blog, Good For Nothin', which crossed the 1,00,000 pageviews milestone on my birthday. What a coincidence !!

Last but not the least, a few really great friends who missed to wish me on my birthday also deserve to be mentioned in the post. I never thought that they could forget my birthday, ever ! But as they say, Life mein bahut kuchh first time hota hai maamu !

Leaving you all with the two lovely cakes that I had cut on my birthday, but alas, I couldn't save it for you, as they were so tempting that I couldn't resist finishing them off !

The IRRESISTIBLE Cakes !!

Better luck next time guys !

Complaints, Excuses And More !

Well, I know, most of my readers don't even care that a blogger named Ankit B. Rathod ever existed. A lot of them might have wiped out Good For Nothin' out of their memories. But, but, but... I'm a phoenix, who rises from its own ashes (for those who need a citation, click here). I will always come back from a sabbatical, like this.

Actually, kabhi kabhi mujhe achanak se bhoot chadh jaata hai blog likhne ka. And probably, that's the reason why I can't give up blogging completely despite being busier than an Ambani. :P

Being very less frequent on the bloggerdom is my only weakness. And this time, seriously I'm working on to overcome it. My last post was on Nov 26, 2011 and today is Mar 07, 2012. That's exactly 3 months 10 days or simply put, its 102 days. Yayyyy !! I've hit a century !!! I should be happy, its my first century ever. Cricket mein to kabhi century maari nahi, blog pe hi sahi ! Well, don't worry, this is probably my first and last century ever !

Of late, I've been listening to a lot of complaints about myself. If I were in school, I could've been thrown out of the school considering the number of complaints I'm getting ! And being a true Indian by heart, we don't accept complaints against us that easily. We have excuses for almost everything ! Even if someone complains about Team India's poor performance down under, a true Indian fan would have something to blame on - the one less ball that wasn't bowled in the tied match against Sri Lanka. :P

Coming back from the larger perspective to a relatively smaller one, I'm gonna enlist a few of the complaints that people make against me, and the excuses that I give, and some more mirrch masaala. :P

Don't worry,  I won't enlist all of them in the post, nahi to jitne bache khuche readers hai wo bhi padhna chhod denge !

Complaint :

Aaj kal message nahi karta. Pehle to roz subah tera message aa jaata tha. Ab kya ho gaya hai?

Excuse :

Arre yaar, I've stopped messaging everyone ever since I lost my Nokia E63 (more than a year ago, on the onset of 2011 !). Us phone mein mera saara message ka collection chala gaya. And then I took HTC Wildfire. The phone is good, but its really a pain to send group messages in that phone.

And More :

The account that I gave is totally true. And this is one of the genuine reasons that I have stopped sending SMSes to everyone. Other genuine reasons not to be disclosed. ;)

Complaint :

Oye... tu blog likhta tha naa.... Kaafi din se tere updates nahi aa rahe hain... All well naa?

Excuse :

Ya... Of course, all is well. Blog to mera abhi bhi hai, but us pe post karne ka time nahi milta. Jab se ye MBA start hua hai naa, bahut zyaada busy ho gaya hoon... saans lene ki bhi fursat badi mushkil se milti hai.

And More :

Somewhat true ! :P

Complaint : 

No tweets for so long ! Pehle to teri twitter updates se pareshaan ho jaate the.

Excuse : 

Ye hi soch ke maine twitter use karna band kar diya. Wo kya hai naa, mujh se tumhari takleef dekhi nahi gayi !

And More :

Dude, if you think you're sarcastic, think again ! Sarcasm mein main tumhaara BAAP hoon ! :P

Complaint :

Mota ho raha hai !

Excuse :

To us mein bhi takleef hai tumhe? Pehle patla tha to kehte the kitna patla hai, ab mota hua to kehte ho mota kyun hai !!!! Complain karna kab chhodoge?

And More :

Its true ! Main mota ho raha hoon !! :(

Complaint :

Tu kitna travel karta hai? Bore nahi ho jaata kya itna travel kar ke?? Kabhi Pune, kabhi Mumbai, kabhi Falna.... Ek jagah to tere pair tikte hi nahi hain... Bhatakti aatma hai kya?

Excuse :

I love to travel ! And ghar pe jaane mein main bilkul bhi bore nahi hota :) Well, you can call me a bhatakti aatma, but a nomad would be a better word ! :P

And More :

Contrary to the excuse that I present, I don't love travelling that much, but its the destination that excites me more. Ghar jaane ke liye to mujhe aadhi raat ko neend mein se jaga ke bhi bologe to bhi I'm ready !

Complaint :

Less Facebook, Even lesser blog posts, Almost nil tweets? Kitna badal gaya insaan....

Excuse :

Actually wo kya hai naa ke mujhe ab gyaan ki praapti ho gayi hai... Ye sab moh maaya hai ! Aur main in ka tyaag karne ki koshish kar raha hoon.

And More :

Told you, I'm Sarcasm ki dukaan ! :P

Well, these were just a few. Agar sab likhne baith jaaunga to shaam to idhar hi ho jaayegi. Plus I have a lot of other things in my priority list. :)

People will never stop complaining. You just have to be more creative in the excuses that you present. That's what I'm trying to do !

Such is life !

Jab We Met !

November 15, 2011.


Phew... What a morning it was !!!!


Was at my Mamaji's place since last two days. Actually, I was about to return to my PG yesterday, but due to the tiring outing at RutuGandh Resort, Panshet (near Pune), I couldn't. I stayed back and rested one more day. Woke up early morning today to catch a bus to Pimpri, where I am normally put. Reached the bus stop. Boarded the wrong bus. Alighted at Shivaji Nagar to catch another bus to Pimpri. And an unusual series of event occured.


Well... Yes, it was UNUSUAL ! The title of the post might give you a feeling that its gonna be a love story type post. But alas ! It wasn't... :P


I boarded the (correct) bus to my destination. The bus was relatively empty than the usual bus that I boarded. Ninety-nine percent of the girls here in Pune move around with their faces covered, irrespective of whether they look good or not. They cover their faces with just their eyes visible. Sometimes I wonder whether I am living in Pune of some part of Afghanistan under the rule of Taliban. Well, coming back from the world tour to Pune. In the bus, I spotted a few heads covered the way I mentioned above. I wasn't checking them out, I was just searching for a seat. I sat on one of the vacant seats.


The head on the seat in front of me was also covered in the same way. But there was something unusual in it. And yes, it was a guy. I thought he might be a patient, that is why he has put a robe on the face. But no, I was wrong. Within minutes I found out that he wasn't a GUY, but a GAY !


This is how JAB WE MET unfolds.... :P


In a short bus journey of about 25 minutes, he (or she) showed various mannerisms that confirmed everyone's doubt of him being a 'doubtful case'. There were people who were making fun of him. And I guess, even he was enjoying it.


In a few minutes, he turned around and saw me. The words that he uttered filled me with disgust. He said, "Hi sexy ! Looking very nice." He said this not in a low voice, but a voice audible well enough. I mumbled "What The EFFF !", but then I avoided him. He then turned to an uncle sitting besides me and said something in Marathi, which I could not understand.


By this time, all the seats were full, except the one next to him. So there wasn't any chance of changing the seat. I opted to listen to music with my headphones on, and avoid him or her or whatever it was !


More people were boarding the bus as it moved on. A lot of people were waving hands at him and talking to him. This made me think that he might be a regular in that bus. But it was an unusual experience. After a few stops, one more college going boy boarded the bus, and finding no other seat, sat on the seat next to him, not noticing him.


After he noticed who he was sitting with, he moved away from him, just sitting on one-fourth of the seat uncomfortably with at least a foot of gap between them.


I alighted at my destination after a few stops. And the bus was gone in a matter of few seconds.


Such is life !


PS: Although I don't have a problem with gays, but I feel disgusted when a guy calls me sexy and talks to me like this.

Love Breakups Zindagi ;)

No no no.... This is NOT a review of the movie Love Breakups Zindagi. Well... To tickle your funny bones, here's a hilarious letter from an ex-lover to his ex-flame. I got it as a forward. The original writer (as mentioned in the forward) is Mr Ramvilas Jangid. Full credits to him for such a funny creation.

Read it, and have a laugh. Here it is...

डियर डिम्पू,

तुम ने डेढ़ बरस तक जो मुझ से प्यार किया, उस का शुक्रिया. आशा है, पत्र मिलने तक तुम ने नया प्रेमी पकड़ लिया होगा. उस के साथ अब डेटिंग पर भी जा रही होगी. हर प्रेमी को बहुत स्ट्रगल करना पड़ता है. मैं भी स्ट्रगल कर रहा हूँ. प्यार के ढाई आखर कमबख्त बड़े मुश्किल से पकड़ में आते हैं. मैंने भी तुम्हे मिस करने के बाद मोहल्ले की ही शीनो पर लंगर डालना शुरू कर दिया है. प्रेम का मेरा यह चौथा प्रयास है. लेकिन इन प्रयासों ने मुझे एक सीख दी है. डिम्पू, तुम तो जानती हो कि प्रेम शुरू करते ही कमबख्त लव लैटर लिखने पड़ते हैं. पता है ना, मैंने तुम्हे कितने पत्र लिखे थे? पहले के दो प्रेम प्रकरणों मेंन भी लैटरबाज़ी करनी पड़ी थी. बड़ा झंझट है प्रेम मार्ग में. इसीलिए तुम मेरे समस्त प्रेम पत्र लौटा देना. तुम्हे लिखे उन प्रेम पत्रों पर सफेदा पोतकर डिम्पू की जगह शीनो लिख दूंगा. इस से मेरी म्हणत बच जायेगी. प्लीज़, मेरे प्रेम पत्र लौटा देना, क्योंकि उन की फोटो कॉपी भी मेरे पास नहीं है.

डिम्पू, तुम मेरा वह फोटो भी वापस कर देना. तुम तो जानती हो कि वही एकमात्र फोटो ऐसी है, जिस में मैं ठीक ठाक दिखता हूँ. बड़ी कीमती है. मेरे प्रेम पत्रों के साथ मेरी वह फोटो भी भेज देना, ताकि शीनो को भेज सकूं.

और हाँ, अपने प्यार काण्ड में डेढ़ वर्ष के दौरान मेरे द्वारा किये गए खर्च का हिसाब भेज रहा हूँ. आशा है, तुम शीघ्र ही इस खर्च का भुगतान कर भरपाई करा डौगी, ताकि तुम्हे भी नए प्यार के लिए मेरी ओर से एन.ओ.सी. जारी हो सके और मैं भी नए प्यार पर खर्च करना शुरू कर सकूं. हिसाब इस प्रकार है:

चाट पकौड़ी                      895 रुपये

कोल्ड ड्रिंक्स                   2938 रुपये

स्नैक्स                          5645 रुपये

जूस                              3845 रुपये

मोबाइल फ़ोन वार्ता           2546 रुपये

पेट्रोल खर्च                      4255 रुपये

गिफ्ट                            7850 रुपये

                              --------------------

सकल योग                    30708 रुपये

                              ==============

अक्षर में : रुपये तीस हज़ार सात सौ आठ मात्र.

कृपया ये रुपये मुझे शीघ्र भेजने कि कृपा करना, ताकि मैं अपनी शीनो के प्यार में इन रुपयों को कुरबान कर सकूं. और हाँ, यदि तुम्हारे पास मेरे द्वारा दिए गए गिफ्ट पड़े हों, तो उन्हें मैं आधी कीमत पर खरीदने के लिए तैयार हूँ. तुम उन का हिसाब बना कर मेरी मूल रकम में से काट कर पुराने गिफ्टों को भी भेज देना. इस पत्र के साथ तुम्हारे पूरे चार किलो तीन सौ ग्राम वजन के प्रेम पत्रों का पुलिंदा भी संलग्न है, ताकि तुम्हे भी प्रेम पत्र लिखने में फिर से परेशानी ना उठानी पड़े. तुम्हारी वह सुन्दर फोटो भी भेज रहा हूँ, जो तुम अपने नए प्रेमी झंडामल को दे सकती हो. तुम अपना हिसाब भी बता देना. वैसे तुम्हारा खर्च तो कुछ भी नहीं आया होगा. तुम हमेशा अपना पर्स भूल जाती थी. कमबख्त प्यार में लड़कों की ही जेब ढीली होती है. खैर, बीते प्रेम पर कैसा अफ़सोस, जब नया भी पधार चुका है. आशा है, तुम मेरा हिसाब जल्दी से जल्दी साफ़ कर के मुझे नए प्यार में कूदने में मदद दोगी. तुम्हे सातवाँ प्रेम मुबारक हो.

तुम्हारा छठा पूर्व प्रेमी,

मोती.

Hope you all had a great laugh ! :)

Proud to be a BANIYA :)

Although I don't believe in the castes & the erstwhile caste system which was prevalent in India, but here's something which I couldn't resist posting on my blog. Here's a very very interesting story about India's castes...

A few weeks ago, the prestigious Forbes magazine has put out a list of the world’s 1,210 billionaires. 55 of them are Indians. A billion dollars is somewhere around Rs. 4,920 crore.

A Baniya is a member of the Vaish caste, originating mainly from the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. They constitute less than 1% of India’s 1.25 billion population.

Here are a few interesting facts regarding the Indian billionaires who feature in the Forbes list of billionaires.

• India’s richest man, Lakshmi Nivas Mittal (Mittal Steel & Arcelor Mittal), world’s sixth richest man with $31.1 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s second richest man, Mukesh Ambani (Reliance) with $27 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s third richest man, Azim Premji (Wipro) with $16.8 billion, is a Khoja.
• India’s fourth richest men, brothers Shashi & Ravi Ruia (Essar) with $15.8 billion are Baniyas.
• India’s fifth richest person, Savitri Jindal (Jindal Steel) with $13.2 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s sixth richest man, Gautam Adani (Adani Group) with $10 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s seventh richest man, Kumar Mangalam Birla (Aditya Birla Group) with $9.2 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s eighth richest man, Anil Ambani (Reliance-ADAG) with $8.8 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s ninth richest man, Sunil Bharti Mittal (Bharti Airtel) with $8.3 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s tenth richest man, Adi Godrej (Godrej Group), world’s 130th richest man with $7.3 billion, is a Parsi.

 Score: Baniyas - 8, Rest of India - 2.

If we consider the two Gujaratis, Godrej and Premji (from the Lohana caste), as coming from the mercantile communities, then actually Rest of India wasn’t even playing this match so far.

Well, lets continue further...

• India’s 11th richest man is K P Singh of DLF ($7.3 billion). He is the first departure from the trend of mercantile castes. Singh is a peasant (not now though), the most populous caste grouping of India, about 50% of our population.
• From numbers 11 to 20, there are four Baniyas. They are Anil Agarwal of Vedanta ($6.4 billion), Dilip Sanghvi of Sun Pharma ($6.1 billion), Uday Kotak of Kotak Group ($3.2 billion), & Subhash Chandra Goel of Zee ($2.9 billion).
• The non-Baniyas are Shiv Nadar of HCL ($5.6 billion), Malvinder & Shivinder Singh of Ranbaxy ($4.1 billion), Kalanithi Maran of Sun TV ($3.5 billion), Mukesh Jagtiani of Landmark ($3 billion) and Pankaj Patel of Cadila ($2.6 billion).
• Between 21 and 30, there are five Baniyas. They are Indu Jain of The Times of India ($2.6 billion), Desh Bandhu Gupta of Lupin ($2.1 billion), Sudhir & Samir Mehta of Torrent ($2 billion), Aloke Lohia of Indorama ($2 billion) & Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon ($1.9 billion).
• The five non-Baniyas are G M Rao of GMR ($2.6 billion), Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institute ($2.3 billion), Mumbai builder Rajan Raheja ($2.2 billion), Narayana Murthy of Infosys ($2 billion) & Gautam Thapar of Avantha ($2 billion).
• Of the non-Baniyas, three are from mercantile communities: Poonawalla (Parsi), Raheja (Shikarpuri Sindhi) and Thapar (Khatri). Murthy is Brahmin.
• Between 31 and 40 are two Baniyas: Rahul Bajaj of Bajaj Auto ($1.6 billion) & Ajay Piramal of Piramal Group ($1.4 billion).
• The non-Baniyas include three Brahmins: Nandan Nilekani, former CEO of Infosys & present Chairman of UIDAI ($1.8 billion), S Gopalakrishnan of Infosys ($1.6 billion), & Vijay Mallya of UB Group ($1.4 billion).
• Three of the others are from mercantile castes: Mumbai based builder Chandru Raheja ($1.9 billion), Brijmohan Lall Munjal of Hero MotoCorp ($1.5 billion) & Vikas Oberoi of Oberoi Realty ($1.4 billion).
• The last two are K Anji Reddy of Dr Reddy's Labs ($1.5 billion), from Andhra’s dominant peasant community, & Ajay Kalsi of Indus Gas ($1.7 billion).
• Between 41 and 50 are five Baniyas. They are R P Goenka of RPG Group ($1.3 billion), investment banker Rakesh Jhunjhunwala ($1.2 billion), Brij Bhushan Singhal of Bhushan Steel ($1.2 billion), B K Modi of Spice ($1.1 billion) and Mumbai builder Mangal Prabhat Lodha ($1.1 billion).
• The non-Baniyas are Baba Kalyani of Bharat Forge ($1.3 billion), Keshub Mahindra of Mahindra & Mahindra ($1.2 billion), Infosys co-founder K Dinesh ($1.2 billion) & S D Shibulal of Infosys ($1.1 billion), & Yusuf Hamied of Cipla ($1.1 billion).
• The last five, from 51 to 55, include two Baniyas: Mumbai builder Mofatraj Munot of Kalpataru ($1 billion) & Ashwin Dani of Asian Paints ($1 billion).
• Two of the others are from mercantile castes: Parsi Anu Aga of Thermax ($1 billion) & Khatri Harindarpal Banga of Noble ($1 billion).
• Delhi builder Ramesh Chandra of Unitech ($1 billion) ends our list of Indians with a billion dollars or more.

The list has three Parsis, two Muslims and Sikhs in one spot (shared by the Singh brothers of Ranbaxy). Banga is also a Sikh name but Harindarpal is clean-shaven. All of them, except Poonawalla, have inherited their wealth, though in the case of Premji, he took a small firm and made it global. There is nobody from the scheduled tribes or castes.

India’s large peasant castes have some representation (Singh, Patel, Reddy), but not much. There are 26 Baniyas on our list. Many of them inherited their wealth, but just as many (Mittal, Ruias, Adani, Dhoot among others) are self-made.

The list has 16 Rajasthanis, and 13 Gujaratis. Every single Rajasthani is from one caste, Vaish, though they are from two faiths: Hindu and Jain. Only Gujarat is capable of producing billionaires drawn from four different faiths: Hindu, Parsi, Jain and Muslim—and three different castes: Baniya, Khatri and peasant.


This is unique in India and there is something about this secular mercantile culture that produces great men across communities. What is it? Three out of the four biggest leaders of the subcontinent under British rule were Gujarati, and they were drawn from these three castes: Gandhi, Jinnah and Patel. Only 5% of India’s population, Gujaratis don’t have the numbers to dominate its democratic politics. But businesses are not run in democratic fashion. And to rise, you need quality, not quantity.

The heartland of India, where our quantity resides, is missing from this list. Bihar, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh have little or no representation and this does not surprise us. On the list are 10 south Indians, in proportion to their 20% share of India’s population. The famous five from Infosys are obviously self-made. Of the others, four are first-generation wealthy. This is a good indicator for the future, and it restores some balance in favour of Rest of India.

One final observation. India’s greatest businessman is not on this list. Why is that? It is because Ratan Tata owns less than 1% of Tata Sons. He is exceptional in every way.

Proud to be a Baniya. Business is in our genes. We think business. We breath business. We live business. We love business.

With the hope that I make it to this list sometime in the future, signing off.....

"Main Aur Meri Tanhaai" in the times of Economic Slowdown

Main aur meri tanhaai, 

Aksar yeh baatein karte hain. 

Tezi hoti toh aisa hota, 

Tezi hoti toh waisa hota. 

Hum yeh lete, hum woh lete. 

Hum is baat pe party lete, 

Hum us baat par treat dete. 

Main aur meri tanhai, 

Aksar yeh baatein karte hain. 

Yeh kahaan aa gaye hum... 

Yeh raat hai, ya mandi ka aanchal. 

Yeh mandi ka jhonka hai, ya kisi ne Sensex ko thoka hai. 

Yeh toofan ki hai awaaz, ya Broker-on ka rona hai. 

Yeh sochta hoon main kab se gumsum, 

Jab ki mujh ko bhi yeh khabar hai, ki tezi nahi hai kahin. 

Magar ye dil hai jo keh raha hai, tezi yahin hai, yahin kahin....

[ PS : Not my creation, got it as a forward ]

On the move....

No. I am not apologizing today ! Not because I am not feeling apologetic today, but for the only reason that I might sound monotonous if I keep on apologizing in the beginning of each of my blog posts.


Yes I accept the fact that I have been a li'l careless about my blog and my readers. Yes, I accept the fact that I have not even sincerely thought of posting. Yes, I accept the fact that my blogging has taken a back seat. I accept my fault.


But all this has happened coz of my MBA plans. I was almost always on the move or very busy doing some thing or the other. And this is why my priorities towards blogging changed ! Not only blogging, but my priorities towards Facbook and the Internet as a whole have changed.


Although I am a person who doesn't accept changes that easily. But this is a fact that I am devoting a lot less time to all these stuffs than I earlier used to. I don't know whether this change is for good or for bad. It might be good for me, but ironically, it indeed is bad for my blog !


Okay, I know most of you (from the few who religiously used to follow my blog) are least interested in my story. But its MY blog, meri marzi main kuchh bhi post karu ! :P


There are a lot of changes in me. I have left my lovely home town and shifted my base to Pune. I have started pursuing my MBA. I do miss my home, my lovely home town, my superb friends, my college, etc etc etc. I miss a lot of people and a lot of things. The list is endless ! You all know naa ke yeh banda kitna emotional hai. ;)


I still maintain that I might not be able to devote my time to my blog, but I will try my best to carve time out of my schedule. :)


Missing FALNA !


Life has changed... I'm always on the move...


Move it baby !

Wildfire !

I remember publishing my last post titled (UN)Happy New Year on 3rd January. The same evening gave me another reason to call the new year even more unhappier ! I lost/dropped/forgot (whichever applicable, as I myself don't remember what happened) my beloved Nokia E63 somewhere in a hurry.

It was like parting with something I have always treasured. It was an irony that someone who couldn't stay without his cell for a minute lost his cell. I never believed in destiny. But of late I have started believing that everything is destined. And this time the loss of my cell was destined !


Well, after a 'mourning' period of 17 days, I bought myself a HTC Wildfire on 20th of Jan. That too within 10 minutes - something that is by far the 'fastest' deal of my life ! And I'm happy to buy this Android.

Initially loaded with Android OS ver2.1 (Eclair), HTC Wildfire with 5 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash comes a great value for mony at Rs. 13,600/- with bill. The upgrade ver2.2 (Froyo) to the OS is available. Although I haven't upgraded it, my brother who took the same cell the very next day has already done it and is loving it to the core !


The camera quality is great. The touch is awesome. Loaded with HTC's Sense UI, Wildfire aptly suits its name. The browsing speed is way way better than Nokia's age old Symbian phones. And even when connected on PC via cellphone, the net gave a lot better speed than its Nokia counterparts.


One thing I loved in Wildfire is the contacts integration with the social networks. The contacts get linked with their respective virtual profiles - be it Facebook, Twitter or Flickr - and then displays their photographs (from FB, Twitter, etc) and their latest status updates at the time of making or receiving a call. Its something unique, as of now.


The in-built web browser is flash enabled making it more attractive. Being from the HTC stable itself gives the quality guarantee. And being an Android, lots and lots of apps can be downloaded from the built in Android Market.


I was wondering why was I stuck with Nokia's age old Symbian OS for so long. And in fact, Google should have named this OS "Sky", coz just like sky, Android has no limits.


Starting with the looks, although it doesn't have some damn attractive looks, it has pretty simple and decent looks which is a HTC benchmark. With four soft keys and a fairly large capacitive touchscreen on the front and the 5MP camera and flash on the back, its a no fuss phone. Coming to the display, it offers SIX different home screens which can have a number of on screen widgets, icons and shortcuts.


The voice quality in calls is fairly good and the volume levels are excellent. The loudspeaker volume is also great. The image gallery offers some great features including slide show, filmstrip view and of course the pinch to zoom feature. The built in video player is a showdown in this package. Not upto the mark for me. And add to it no support for xViD and DiVx codecs. In simple words video files with .avi extension will not be played in the built in video player. To sort out this issue, I have downloaded QQPlayer from the Market. And now I can play almost all video formats on the phone.


The music player is fairly good. Nice interactive interface and easy to use options make it more attractive. The clock, the weather feature which locates your current location (with the help of GPS) and displays the current weather and temperatures on the home screen are some awesome features in it.


The Android Market offers you a wide variety of applications, games and other downloadable stuff. Just look out for what you are searching for and you'll get it in minutes.


The battery life is just ok. With full net usage, it stays up for a day. For some, it might be a good battery back up, but I definitely expected more from it.


THE OVERVIEW
All in all, HTC Wildfire is a great package. In fact its a 'mini' version of the HTC Desire. A competitive price tag makes it a real value for money phone. And with Android OS, it gets a MUST HAVE tag too. Wildfire, although not amongst the cheapest Android phones, is definitely a first timer's Android.

(UN)Happy New Year :(

You might be wondering that what the hell I am upto and why the hell am I wishing you an "unhappy" new year??

Actually, I'm not wishing you an "unhappy" new year, but I am emphasizing on how my new year was. Unfortunately, it was UNHAPPY...

I was all alone, as my family was out of town. And to add to it, I had some health issues that started with the beginning of 2011. And I'm still not totally okay. I hope I will be back to normal in a couple of days. At least I hope so.

Even though the start was bad, I don't believe that 2011 is going to be bad for me. Of late, I've started living in the 'positive hemisphere' of life ! So, no issues of 2011 bringing bad omen to me. :P

Earlier too, I've stayed alone a lot of times. And I'm quite used to it. But this time, it was a different story altogether. The most harrowing 'home alone' experience I've ever had !

I didn't intend to publish this post, but I am publishing it 'coz all I need is your good wishes so that I get well soon... errr... not soon... but I want myself to get well 'quickly'... ;)

And I hope that unlike me, the new year has been "happy" for all of you.... Once again, a very happy new year !! 

2010 - Tussi jaa rahe ho.... ;)

After reading the title, you might call it a 'filmy' post. But it isn't... Actually even I have no idea what I am going to write in this post. Still, I'm gonna complete and publish it ;)

Actually, of late, I've been very LAZY (yes... you can say that) to devote time to my blog. But I don't know, I'm not able to find something interesting to write. I, myself, have been a bit bored of posting poems one after the other. And I am very much aware that less frequent posting, GFN has lost some valued readers. It is very much evident from the (decreased number of) comments on the (rarely published) posts.

2010 - a year full of ups and downs. Generally talking, a lot of scams came up in this year. I've lost the count !! And since I don't even remember the number of scams, there's no point in starting what I do the best - government bashing !! So, dear Dr Manmohan Singh ji (indirectly Sonia-ji Gandhi-ji Madam-ji), you're safe, at least from my side.

On the personal front too, 2010 has been a year to remember. With a lots of ups and downs, 2010 will always have a special place. 2010 has been good, bad, and also very good for me. I won't enlist all the incidents, not that I don't remember them, but I don't wanna "share" them... :P

Abb aur kya bacha???

New Year Resolution??? Naah... Koi matlab nahi hai yaar... Almost all resolutions made on the New Year are either broken or forgotten within the first four months. So, New Year Resolution is a strict no-no !! I remember myself and my co-blogger Garima Ranawat made a resolution last year to update GFN more frequently. But hua ekdum ulta... Our posting frequency decreased a lot !! So, promise karne ka hi nahi... ;)

Last four months of 2010 have brought some mixed feelings for me - from very very good to some bad moments !! Still, getting a bit filmy, I'll say "2010... Tussi jaa rahe ho?? Tussi naa jaao...." (with the same innocence as Farzaan Dastur in Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai...) :P

Wishing a very very Happy New Year to all my readers, I'd like to conclude this post. May the forthcoming year 2011 be one of the bestEST in your lives. Cheers !!! Celebrate & Rejoice !!

So where's the PAAAARTTYYYYY !!!

Dear 2011... Welcome hai jiii... 

Life ka Update ! - ver 2.0

Ahhhh !! A lot of days have passed since my last update on the blog !!

Ya ya... I know you've been missing me... Even I've been missing you !! Actually something or the other kept me busy during this span of time. Diwali, my nephew visiting, CAT preparation, CAT - the test itself, Mumbai trip were a few of the things that happened in this time interval.

Oh ya !! How can I forget to tell you this... I bought myself a new car !! :) And its the Chevrolet Beat ! I call the 1200cc of AWESOMENESS !! :) And with this car, I'm no more a Be-CAR !! One can call this car a BEAST, of course, with the "S" silent. ;)

This Diwali was great in its own terms. I met a lot of batchmates this time, reliving the good old days of school. Prateek M, Kaushal, Kamlesh, Bhupendra, Anshu, Shruti, Garima and of course me - all of us had a gala time with each other. :)

And then I had CAT on the 10th Nov. So a bit of studying for it and then appearing with almost no preparation wasn't that difficult. LOL :) The test was good. Don't ask me how good it was. My result will say it all :P

Even the Mumbai trip was good, met a lot of people, couldn't meet some of them. Met my brothers and sisters and my bhabhi-to-be over dinner. And had an amazing time with them. The picture below taken at Grapeviine has (from left to right) Yukta, me, Kadambari bhabhi, Akshay, Honey and Chirag bhaiya :)

PS: I also watched Golmaal 3. ;)

Be-CAR ki Dilemma !

Folks, I don't know whether this news falls under the category of a "good news" or a "bad news"... I couldn't decide. So I leave it up to you to decide...

The Tata Indigo (recently nicknamed : The Truck!) that I had is now not mine !! Yes, I've sold it off... Although I've been very possessive of my stuff. I've remained upset when I sold my beloved Nokia N72 cell phone (click here for more details regarding this), but this was a totally different ball game. I was happy that its sold. And I am, still. And there are some unmentionable reasons behind this happiness... Samajhdaar ko ishaara hi kaafi hai... :P

And I'm now be-CAR (for those who couldn't understand, wait till the end of the post !). And decision making is one of the toughest job on the planet, especially when all the choices are equally good. And the cars in contention are (in increasing order of prices) :

1. Maruti Suzuki Alto : just for the sake of having an option
2. Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 : almost zeroed in on this one, but then the Chevy exec gave me a test drive of the next two cars
3. Chevrolet Spark : although a bit old, still a great package!
4. Chevrolet Beat : wasn't an option earlier, but the test drive made it a tempting option

So far I'm considering these four options. Although some people also suggested me the following cars. But I rejected them for the reasons mentioned :

1. Hyundai Santro Xing : pretty old and stale, even the new model doesn't offer new features.
2. Maruti Suzuki Estilo : just don't like the model and the dabba-looks
3. Maruti Suzuki WagonR : another dabba-looking car

And now I'm in a dilemma so as to which car should I finalise !

Decisions... Decisions... Decisions... I'm not that good at it ! :(

Dear God, please intervene and make things easier for me ! May be you can use an aakashvaani to enlighten me... ;)

I'd like to mention one more thing, I have not considered any cars from Tata. And its only coz if I wanted another 'truck', I wouldn't have sold the one that I already had ! Again, samajhdaar ko ishaara hi kaafi hai ! :)

PS : For those who didn't understand the meaning of be-CAR, its being without car. Go learn some Hindi. And those who know Hindi, try and learn how to apply a li'l bit of your brains !

TWO whole years !

Today, 7th October 2010 marks the second anniversary of this blog. Exactly two years ago, I started this blog just to catch up with the world. Blogging wasn't a rage at that time. But within no time it picked up.

When I started this blog, I had no idea of what I'm gonna put up on GFN ! I wasn't even sure on how long would I be able to sustain this blog. But it continued. With all your love, this little effort of mine has successfully completed two years despite some rough patches.

I think I should present a mini balance sheet for this year (and may be get happy at the progress)... So, here it is :

If it would've been a business, my investors would be very very happy by now !


I'm happy with the progress. Even if the number of posts decreased, the spread has increased. Thank you every one for the love !


And since you people haven't brought the gifts, no celebrations this time. :P