Do you think you have amazing concentration levels? Do you think you can never lose your focus? Then let’s test it out…Just click the following link and count how many times the team in white pass the ball to each other. Do not count the passes made by the team in black. Be warned Its not as easy as it sounds…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td2HCJnhg4Q
If you have watched the video…then please read on my comment in the comments section!
A silent afternoon…People were busy with their respective work…All one could hear was the keyboard sounds….Suddenly, this ringtone starts playing in a colleague’s mobile…Everyone in the floor stood up and looked towards the direction from where the sound was originating…ofcourse with a big grin ear-to-ear!
I am sure there would be hundreds of such variations…but I simply love this ringtone ..I would never set this as my ringtone though 
I casually typed in “Bharatmatrimony ISB” in Google and had few surprises! The diversity of ISB is pretty evident in the search results…I mean the languages, age etc.,
This is scary sometimes….! Maybe the matrimonial sites should delist themselves from Search engines…Confidential information like the matrimonial aspect of ISBians are out in public Right from the admits to alums…Right from Tamil, Telugu, to Oriya, Hindi and Bengali…there is a representation…! If this post results in someone finding someone in ISB circles, then I will attain ‘moksha’
After a hectic week I decided to unwind on Sunday. The original plan of spending sometime in “Snow World” collapsed as we reached the venue late. Fortunately, Go-karting spot nearby kept my hopes of fun alive! I also wanted to check out the “Mirror Maze” that opened up in Prasadz multiplex recently, so did that too. I was impressed with what they have put up there. Vistors are even requested to wear plastic gloves to avoid fingerprint impressions on the mirrors. Then I tried the “Spintrix” thing that has been put up. Spintrix invoked the kid in me…I have never tried that illusion stuff before…but it is just fantastic….!
On one of the rooms in Spintrix, I was gazing at a 3-D image. Suddenly my friend called me from behind. I turned back to listen. When I reverted back to see the 3-D image, there was an alien standing right in front of my eyes, with its claw-like hands just inches away from my face…! It scared the shit out of me and I lifted my hands as if somebody commanded me “Hands up!” and made some arbit noise!…It turned out to be one of those human decoys to scare the visitors. My friend had a hearty laugh…! Well, so did I …:)
The name “Bhaxanis” sounds like the name of a supermarket or some business chain?
No, It’s the latest term that I coined, which is specific to my Business Unit. We have 3 people in our team with similar sounding names. Bharani, Bhawani and Bhabani! Except for the middle letter, rest are same. So, Bhaxanis!
As if the similar names are not enough, all 3 of us sit in the neighbouring cubicles! So, If someone calls one of our names, all 3 of us turn our heads…because it sounds similar!
Our seating positions, when joined together, will complete a triangle. I am from TamilNadu, Bhawani is from UP and Bhabani is from Orissa. Join all three states…you will see the triangularity!
Crazy coincidence!
Market Analysis
The candidate should be capable of doing a thorough analysis of Vegetables/Food items in the market. He should be ready to travel to the shop by foot. He should be extremely smart enough to sort out rotten vegetables from fresh ones. The mindset to apply right techniques to sort right vegetables will be very handy [Like snapping the tail of the lady’s finger to see if there is a ‘tuck’ sound! But should not squeeze the tomato to see if it is good!]. The application of new techniques is encouraged and if necessary we will sponsor the patenting process.
Managing Supplier/Vendor Relationships
He should have good negotiation skills to procure the vegetables at rock-bottom price and should definitely ensure the freebies at large quantities(green leaves and chillies). Performance-based bonus is dependant on the amount of freebies obtained. He should be aware of the fact that MRP means Minimum-possible Retail Price in the case of vegetables. He should talk with Supplier to get inventory delivered at our destination/doorstep. Fluency in Telugu/Hindi is preferred to managed good relationships. Should effectively handle Cash Transactions with Vegetable owners and should buy food in credit from Foodworld/Departmental store. Accounts Payable is ok, but Accounts receivable is absolutely unacceptable. To avoid lock-in effect, relationship should be maintained with multiple suppliers and we should let them play off with each other. Supplier competition is healthy to consumer! That is our motto.
Managing Inventory
The purchased vegetables/food items should be carefully sorted out and stored in the Refrigerator at designated places. The existing inventory should be carefully studied to dispose off any outdated/rotten food items. Once the inventory level falls below the EOQ, the efforts should be initiated to fill the void. The inventory should be periodically monitored to avoid the growth of any fungus.
Decision-Making
He should be able to carefully assess the home conditions (like whether people are motivated to work, to eat, etc.,) and make appropriate decisions. The ability to make decisions (what dish to cook) under constrained choices of inventory is expected. He should be a strong leader to motivate others work. If nothing works out, he should lead the people to best possible locations to eat.
Shop-Floor Management
The shop-floor management will be addressed as “cutting-board management” in our place. He should be able to handle tools efficiently. The inventory should be processed in a very productive manner. The requirements should be carefully gathered about what vegetables to cut and what shapes to transform to.
Managing Transformations
This is by far the most important and crucial role. Whoever handles this should be able to manage the transformation of raw rice to boiled rice, vegetables and spices and masalas to Sambar/Rasam/curry. Experience in popping the mustards and dried red chillies is good. He should also handle the intense heat of closed-and-smoky environment, the nasty sound of whistles. The talent lies is avoiding the fingers from getting burnt. Should be able to improvise every time. The multi-tasking is extremely important.
Managing Crisis/Disaster Recovery
Managing crisis is out and away the most under-estimated job. The Clean-up of the mess is important for further operations/missions to continue. The candidate should be able to withstand the sight of vessel mountain. Should use the water very efficiently. Should carefully calculate the washing powder available and consume at an optimum level. The willingness to clean the sink off any vegetable-particles/rice is desirable. There is no better satisfaction than overseeing the entire mess being cleared up in front of your eyes. Guaranteed. The performance is judged based on the shine of the sink!
The jobs are generally rotated except for Decision-making and Transformation management. Once the person is well-equipped to handle the squeezes, he can take over the mantle.
PS: I managed the crisis today 
I was wondering whether any “World Sudoku Championship” exists. After googling, realized that the first world championship in sudoku was organized at Lucca, Italy on March 10-11 2006. The winner was a 31 year old Czech Economist, a lady called Jana Tylova.
I explored the WSC website and downloaded the Official instruction booklet. The number of Sudoku variations in the tournament is quite amazing! In total they have 27 variations…Pips, 0-9, Classic, <>, Diagonal, Sum, Odd/Even, 147, Irregular, Toroidal, Multi, Extra-Regions, Outside, Consecutive, Frame, Star, Pandigital, Mini, Product, Digital, Irregular 6×6, Multi-mixed, Irregular 12×12, Mechanical, Combined, Cubic and Word Sudoku! Huh…understanding the rules itself will take time
BTW, The World Puzzle Championship will be held at Bulgaria this year from October 7-12. If you are interested, explore the website to know the details. I am going to try out the sample puzzles given at the website during the weekend for my own pleasure!
BTW, the title is Japanese version of the word “SUDOKU” (Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru) Source: Wikipedia
Thanks to Girish, I was able to explore wikimapia and mark my location on the global footprint
Go mark your houses and nearest landmarks….
PS: The Wikimapia is powered by Google (Google maps). But the feature to define your location for everyone to see is cool!
30 days ago, I spelt out the teams that I thought would make into Semi-Finals. The teams were Brazil, Argentina, Italy and England. Today am glad the only country which made into the Semi-Finals from the list also lifted the world cup…:)
But man, what happened to Zidane? The man of his calibre, such class, on the finals of the world cup, with only 10 minutes away from the finish time can’t react in that manner. I am curious what Materazzi said. But whatever he said, Zidane, such a cool person he seems to be, should not have reacted like that. He just destroyed the hopes of millions of French fans…More than the person who missed out in the penalty shoot-out, I think France will remember Zidane as the person responsible for losing the world-cup. Sad end to such a glittering career…
Anyways, am happy for Azurris, for ITALY…and I just shared the celebration with a glass of Beer
It is almost 2 months since I cut my hair. I have to attend my cousin sister’s marriage this weekend. So decided to trim my hair to look neat and not shabby…Who likes the guy with shabby, ratty hair anyway? and that too in the marriage…it is a SIN 
Since two of my flat mates went to a nearby Men’s Beauty Parlour for dressing their hair, I decided to check out the parlour myself too…I was just entering the parlour and the door automatically opened itself from inside…I thought somebody is coming out and so stood away from the path..After some time, a local guy with 20 days old beard and colgate palmolive smile came out and said..”Come in sir!”. Gosh…then it struck..”it’s the damn customer service”.
I entered inside the parlour. The shop is fully air-conditioned. Not many customers. There were just two gentlemen utilizing the services of the parlour. One was middle-aged. He was reading his newspaper and one person was grinding his heels with a finely crafted saw like tool…and another one was polishing his fingernails..The other customer was just having a shampoo bath…A hair-dresser came to me and asked..”Sir..what do you want?”. I said..”Just haircut…medium..but short on the side and the back”…He understood and started his work..I was observing myself in the mirror and realized how much hair I have lost over the years…hmm…i think the supply will last only for few more years…I sincerely wish that a shining bald-head becomes a fashion by then…Just when I woke back from my good old memories, he disturbed me and said..”Sir..it’s done”!..I checked and said..”Ok”..I thought, I will have a massage..”How much for massage?”..”60 Rupees sir”..After few more conversations decided to have the massage.
He said..”Sir..use navaratna oil..it is good.” As I did not have any preference, i said..”ok”. He then began his massaging operation. He used my head as Drums, Mirudangam, washing stone, and what not…But I closed my eyes and enjoyed my massage…I have tried to do the same techniques myself but somehow don’t get the same relief, when a seasoned masseur does it..He then proceeded to massage my neck, shoulders, back till lower back. I got that tickling feeling when he massaged my back. I started reacting just like a person who is being tickled does. The masseur started smiling and continued his massage in the same place… it tickled more…more…and then I leaned forward….forward and fell in to splits of laughter…Even the masseur started laughing…I felt weird and awkward!! I signalled him to stop…he understood and proceeded back towards the head region and finished his job. By now my hair was a holy mess…So, I asked him..”How much for shampoo?”..He said, “Rs.60/=”..”So, that includes drying also?”..”No sir, Rs.60 for drying…”…What a way to extract money…”Ikkada anni aravai rupaila?” (Everything is Rs.60 here?) ..Paid for the hair-cut and massage. I then had to walk back the distance to my home and had to bear the strange looks of people who were wondering what happened to my hair…:) But the massage left me energized for the whole day…
Courtesy: Lack of ideas to blog about…! will enjoy free-wheeling for some days….
Bobbie Carlyle's 'Self-made man', a statue I greatly admire and a principle I strongly believe in. "...left to his own devices, man will use his God-given talents to be creative, productive, and prosperous. Using free will, he will better his own situation and that of those around him, thereby influencing in a positive way his own destiny..."
