Ending From SCRATCH . . .

Let’s say you get a terrific idea one day- one which sends your head reeling into trans-Uranian orbit immediately. Assume you've discovered how to encode The Encyclopedia Britannica onto a tiny scratch on a six-inch bar of metal. And, as if that wasn’t enough to rock Neptune around the Sun(hehe), that scratch of yours wouldn’t even contain any information on it like those old
vinyl (short, medium and long) playing records used to.

While the whole World falls at your feet in delirious astonishment, you produce your stardom. There are (you explain to them gently like one talking to bunch of silent lambs) fewer than 100 different letters and symbols in the print Encyclopedia.

What you plan to do is assign a 2-digit number to each of these symbols. For instance, letter A might be 01, letter B might be 02, semicolon could be say 51, a space between words say 67 and so on till u have them all covered. Now just like with this cipher system the word "bat" could be encoded as say, 020120, you can also, and obviously encode the entire encyclopedia into one huge number.

As many earthlings faint with awe, you then unleash your master stroke by placing a decimal point in front of this monster number and converting it into a decimal fraction.

Then you place a scratch on the bar dividing it precisely into lengths ‘a’ and ‘b’ so that fraction “a/b” (a upon b) equals the decimal fraction of the code. All you have to do now is, have a Super
Computer, measure the rod, compute the fraction a/b, and print out a copy of entire Encyclopedia!!!

Two questions--
(a) Is there anything theoretically wrong with this premise?
(b) Could it work in practice?

COMMENTS DEMANDED….. Please make sure you do leave your thought over this………
Have a nice day/night!

Movie Review

Movie: Phas Gaye Re Obama.

Starring: Rajat Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Amol Gupte, Sanjay Mishra.

Director: Subhas Kapoor.

A complete laugh riot, Phas gaye re Obama is a very intelligently made film. With a very small budget of 3Crore, the director himself seems to be quite impressive as a businessman, coz the profits he is gonna reap out is massive!

The movie is based on the global recession which started in the US and the upshots of this ‘bimari’ (as is stressed upon by the director time and again) on the kidnapping world. The hierarchy of the underworld depicted is so witty with the ‘respected’ Mantris on top of the chain of command.

Rajat Kapoor is, not surprisingly, brilliant. He is one of the actors I really adore, and lives up the expectations, as always. The otherwise glam-girl, Neha Dhupia, has delivered the role of ‘Munni’ (Gabbar’s sister), very convincingly. Full marks. There are no big names in the movie, but still the movie is carried really well. Great direction, apt dialogues and spanking new take on the recession hit underworld of India and big businesses in US.

Om Shastri (Rajat Kapoor), a successful businessman settled in US is worst hit by recession and loses all his property wrestling with it. To pay back the loans to the bank he decides to sell his inherited ‘haveli’ in India. In his quest of finding a buyer in recession-hit India, he ends up getting kidnapped by Bhaisaab (Sanjay Mishra), leader of a small gang in the city. The movie shows the pecking order of Om Shastri’s abductors, & how he manages to break out from kidnapper to the one above him in the kidnapping ladder, making huge profits for himself and his abductor.

A Businessman who came here to save his property in US from being sold out ends up not only in making huge profits for himself but also for the underworld gangs and the minister. And this is why I call it ‘an intelligent’ movie.

My Rating: A must watch !!!

Stars: 4.5

Goodnight/day

India Unbound

After thinking for quite a long time, I finally fixed on to writing a review of the book I recently read- “India Unbound” by Gurcharan Das. The author is a graduate from Harvard College & Business School. Former CEO of P&G, India. To know more about him click here.

The book eloquently analyses India socially, economically, politically in the post-independence era. How the leaders took wrong lessons from history and stuck to the Nehruvian philosophy for 40 good years which, to a great extent or completely, restricted liberalization and made India rigid when the globe and the Asian tigers revolutionized.

The British-Raj, The License-Raj, The Inspector-Raj, The plight of entrepreneurs, The bondages of Socialism and finally the reforms of 1991 followed by emergence of the economy as an uncaged tiger. Each period so powerfully expressed providing a deep scrutiny to the economic & political changes in India. The author grooves not only into the socio-economic India but also the managerial failure of the leaders post independence.

Author cites various examples from ancient history, relevant in the context of new India. Here I state one such, Alexander-Porus battle (326BC) signified the lack of team work of the Puru’s infantry-cavalry. The caste system in India since the very beginning engendered this disarray which prevails even today !

Author also elaborates on Marwaris’ and Gujratis’ acumen for business. What makes them so successful in their ventures and what exactly distinguishes them from others. He has quite satisfactorily tried to answer “If we were once rich, why are we now poor?”. Comparison between India and other nations (esp. China) made by the author at every significant point of time provides a lot of understanding.

In narrating the stories of most of India’s entrepreneurs, he paints his personal story into the framework of contemporary history. His family moves to America in mid 1950’s, his education in Harvard, his years in India as a young marketing executive, wrestling with social system which he feared would underestimate the country’s vast potential .His final decision to retire at the culmination of his career as a CEO in USA company and return to India in order to ‘make a difference’ in the Indian society and economy.

He concludes saying that, “India will never be a tiger .It is an elephant, which has begun to lumber slowly. It will never have speed but will have stamina. Although slower, India is more likely to preserve its way of life and its civilization of diversity, tolerance and spirituality against the onslaught of global culture.”

Well, I could have written more in the review, but I’m thrilled…..!!!!!
Wait for my next post ! sorry for leaving the review halfway thru…… :P but i gotto rush upstairs right now...

see ya...

My Bong Connection

This is one thing I always wanted to write, but I always procrastinated because I always felt I won’t be able to do justice to these two wonderful people I have met in my life! But today somehow something happened and it gave me a nudge to finally make an attempt to pen down/key down my feelings. Afterall, most of my posts have come during my semester exams :P haven’t they? 

Okay. Rewind.

July of 2006:
 Engineering Admission. Coming to Mumbai was a serendipity, shall post about it sometime later. So discovered that the college I took admission in has no girls’ hostel and I had to look for my own accommodation. Fine. Initial 20 days, I sought refuge in UDCT (later MUICT, later UICT) and now ICT, my college-in-law ( ;P ) And later, since my in laws were very stubborn about not letting it out to VJTIians, we had to search for hostels or Paying Guest accommodations. Hostels.. in july… ha! Ye hai bambaiii meri jaan.. everything is booked well in advance. Some hostel we checked near college, had a waiting period of one year ! :D

We knew a family in Mumbai and they generally kept a PG. We approached them but they already had a ‘bengali’ living with them. But they suggested us about Mr Mandal (Bengali), who also keeps PGs on rent. And this flat was just above Chaurasia’s in the same building. The result- A smile on my mom’s face. Hehe !

Mandal (Mondal) was the family I was destined to spend the BEST DAYS of my life with!!! College days are the best days, aren’t they? Engineering+MBA… ie 6-7 years you spend with someone, they sure become a part of your life. For me, uncle and aunty are my second mom & dad.

We celebrated birthdays, marriage anniversaries, and festivals together. They have tradition of making ‘payas’(rice-kheer) if there is anyone’s birthday in the family. They did it on my first birthday with them. I still remember how overwhelmed I was. Then to add to it, aunty gifted me a beautiful dress! How these small things matter a lot in life. I never felt I stayed away from home. And that always pacified my mom and dad.

Since they are Bengalis, I even learnt iktu-iktu Bangla, just by hearing to their conversations :P. First time in my life I was surrounded with people ALL of whom loved Saurav Ganguly, the LOVE OF MY LIFE! I felt like I’m in Bengal already :D  Sooo many Bengalis out here… Mr Das, Mr Pal, Mr Dasgupta Mr Chattopadhyay, oh the list just goes on ! We supported KKR together. We fumed in anger when Chapell-Dada tiff happened. We partied when Dada hit a double century! We were sad when he retired. We enjoyed when he led KKR. Again we abused Shahrukh for keeping Dada out of KKR. And now, we support Pune Warriors India! :D We call ourselves M.A.Ds= Mad About DADA !

I taught Shubham and his friends Mathematics, Science during their 10th/12th.I was always there to solve their doubts in the midst of their exams, you know, just like i'd've been there for Akshay, my brother. Still can't forget the smile on his face after his M1 paper of 12th boards, because 2 sums that I taught him the morning just before the exam, appeared in the paper :D.... running all the way to me and saying "Didi, you are the best!" Though I wish i'd've been there for my bro too :| ( but that's a different thing )Our Carrom nights ! Post-dinner, Me-Shubham, Uncle-Aunty, Carrom board, some cold drinks and hours of Carrom on Saturday nights !!!! Wonderful!
Our Badminton nights, me shubham and aunty used to play badminton at nights. Ofcourse, can’t have more of it now, ‘cause my college timings don’t allow me to  :|

Well, That’s the fun part. But how our relationship has grown from strength to strength is one thing I can’t stop wondering about. To be honest, I never had to pay them in currency (I mean 3500/month with food and everything is not a huge amount in bombay) We dealt in love and care. They loved me like a daughter. I loved them like I love my mom dad. When I finally got admission to MBA and was searching for accommodation again, Aunty offered me to stay with them, just like that, without even the minuscule 3500. Isn’t this a gesture of pure love? An unwritten and unexpressed bond of love.

The extra care she took during all my exams. Tea at regular intervals, so that I did not doze off. My favorite Aloo posto she’d make atleast once during exams. Oh and not to forget, Dahi-shakkar before I left for every paper of every semester exam !

Small things in life, eh !
Totally lucky me ! :)

Goodnight/day !