It’s official – The Sun is out!!

All these days, I was still in a dilemma whether the Indian Recession has officially abated or not. That thought has been laid to a positive rest today, and yes, it is official that the Sun is out!!

Whatever people have written about in the business dailies, and whatever the finance minister has said in the budget, as citizens we all have our own calculations. We call them ‘inner voice’, but sometimes it takes something from the outside to trigger that voice. For me, it was a telephone call yesterday.

After all these months, I finally got a call from a financial company asking if I had need of a personal loan! For me, that is the end of recession!!

If you have a mobile phone (read as ‘if you are considered to be alive’), you would also have missed the fake politeness, the laughs that suddenly cut off when we picked up the call, the voices that tried to be confident, and the pressure evident on month-end calls (which by the way start from the 15th). Not one, but two calls came through yesterday from two different companies – both offering personal loans.

And then I saw a banner strung outside a major nationalized bank announcing that this is ‘Credit Card Utsav month’. Ah!

Finally, we got a call this morning at the office mentioning that a client wanted 5 executives to disburse small ticket loans in rural areas.

The Sun is out, and it is a-shining! How nice it is to look forward once again to bounced cheques, threatening calls, atrocious interest rates, rude customer service executives, streams of calls and messages, and so much more which I cannot recollect in this excitement! Actually, I am not being entirely cynical. If this is a solution to an awakening of spirits in the country (the human variety, I mean), and of a rekindling of the feel-good factor, the big comeback of retail credit is truly welcome!

Wear sunglasses (and get your do-not-disturbs activated) once more!

Next is this!

Ever since Aamir Khan started promoting the Samsung brand, there has been a lot of change the brand has undergone – and that is certainly something which would have been done wontedly by the company. Starting with Mobile Phones, the tech revolution was evident through all the launched products, and now it has finally reached Laptops.

To be honest, Samsung was never a hot favorite in laptop computers, and a lot of us (me included) would not even know that they were into this market! However, after seeing a review on a third party site, I realized that not only do they make laptops, but they have some amazing models in store.

I was actually searching for a mini-model which is quite the rage nowadays; and though I am convinced that no mini will survive with my horrendous usage, I still love to look around (as everyone does). The Samsung N110 is a mini laptop, yes, but it packs quite a punch. For instance, there is a 6-cell battery that  lasts for almost ten hours (and that is much more than my current LARGE laptop can take); a keyboard that is 93% the size of a large keyboard; integrated 1.3 mega pixel camera; and a 10.1” LED display. The weight of this little super star is just 1.26 Kgs and that is less than 40% the weight of a normal laptop.

I was also looking at other laptop options in the ‘mini’ category, and find that this one certainly is among the top options in the market today.

Guess Next is Samsung Laptops now!! If you have used / seen a Samsung Laptop, do share your opinion by commenting on this post.

Blink! – My Review.

Malcolm Gladwell is a genius.

It is extremely difficult to make science appealing to the layman, and there are only a couple of authors who can write science like a novel – without missing the point. The other writer I can think of in that genre is Bill Bryson; whose ‘A short history of nearly everything’ has taught me more about science than my school science textbooks! Anyway, that’s a different story.

Blink! – The power of thinking without thinking – is a book which takes us through something that we are all truly experts in – thin-slicing. This is the process of taking decisions in an extremely short duration of time, and if you think about it; each of us goes through that process several times in a day. This book analyzes this process of taking really fast decisions, and Gladwell guides us through the whole scientific jargon like a traffic constable at a busy junction. Another reason why I simply loved this book is because Blink! does not just talk about science – it is equally steeped in psychology, and that is an even more difficult topic to write a blockbuster about!

Malcolm Gladwell has written an earlier bestseller – The Tipping Point (which I have to read now) which is another book that takes the reader into the depths of the human mind without losing us!

Blink! is a book that reminded me several times that I am more than the average Joe – as a lot of things the author talks about were things I noticed at various situations. The book can do that to you – to make you feel really good (even the average Joe) by letting you know that you are an expert in psychology, an expert in decision making (unless you are autistic – about which there is an example in the book), an expert in thin-slicing, and so on.

Finally, a big thanks to the researchers whose findings are mentioned in the book – these guys (and gals) have spent countless hours in trying to decipher the strange ways our mind works, and if we are somewhat closer to the secrets of the mind, it is thanks to them. But Blink! will also tell you that there is a very long way to go yet in understanding the complete works of the human mind.

This is a book you simply have to read. If you are a fan of general writing or science, you will relish this book. If you are a fan of fiction (like me), you will still relish this book, and feel better for it.

Blink! – The power of thinking without thinking – is being adapted into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and is expected to be released in late 2010.

A Unique Phenomenon!

I was looking at some pictures from Santorini island in Greece, and one thing that struck me immediately was the very unique way of construction.

I don’t mean construction in terms of architecture or in terms of materials used. What we will notice is the unity in the people to preserve their heritage. Look at the picture here, and you will observe that the colors used by most of the people are white and blue.

For a very long time, the Greek isles have been synonymous with usage of Whites and Blues, and whether it is apartments, villas, or hotels, they all try and use these colors as much as possible. The effect that it gives is simply stunning! When one sees the white spires and blue domes rising over the deep blue of the Mediterranean, you simply can’t turn your eyes away! Search Google for more pics of these isles and you will notice that even from the pictures.

Now, coming to our part of the world, it is variety that rules! If my neighbor has painted his house Brown, I have to ensure that I paint it Green!! No two houses are in similar colors. With new colors including fluorescent ones popping up with alarming regularity in our streets, it is fair enough to say that we are at the other side of the world from Greece!! Everything – arches, materials used, colors, designs and even landscaping will be different from home to home in our region!

But in the picture, you will also notice that there is one single house (at the top right hand corner - in brown) that has begged to differ. It must have been built by an Indian!

The Accor City Super Sale - Is it the recession or what?

Hotels have been one of my primary interests ever since I got into Hotel Management several years ago. 

So whenever there is a banner ad or an article talking about something to do with hotels, my interest automatically gets piqued.

And this time, it is for an offer that can quite simply be termed as 'unbelievable'. Accor Hotels has been a world leader in business and luxury hotels for quite a while now, and the only thing that puts ordinary people off is the prices. We went for a dinner to Hyderabad Novotel a couple of years ago, and paid about 700/- per head for a simple dinner!!

Anyway, I got whiff of this new offer that Accor hotels was putting out, and after checking it out, I seriously am thrilled! So much that I had to blog about it.

This new 'City Super Sale' offer brings the prices down to between 1200/- (for an Accor hotel in Bangkok) to 6118/- to one in Vietnam. All Indian Accor hotels - Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Pune are priced at 2400/-. Chinese Accor hotels - in Beijing and Shanghai are even more affordable!

Is this the impact of the recession or is Accor trying to woo the low budget business traveler (which most of the people are nowadays)? Whatever the reason is, the offer is absolutely block-buster. Never a better time to travel in the Asia-Pacific region. Airline prices are at an all-time low, superb hotels are taking reservations for unbelievable prices, and the monsoon is just setting in! What are we waiting for??

Accor hotels include the Novotel, Sofitel, All seasons, and a few other brands.

Here's more information about the offer from the Accor website - City Super Sale.

Pragmatic fan-club!

One of the most awesome comments that I have seen in the recent times was on Rediff. In response to an article analyzing why India performed so dismally in the T-20 world cup, an avid fan finally burst out - ‘Now, let’s get back to work’!

In a Cricket crazy country like ours, it is absolutely safe to say that the average productivity per citizen has come down significantly over the last 2 months. IPL matches started at 3 pm and most of the people in my friends circle (including me) mentally shifted to the cricket pitch. Till the second match ended after midnight, there was no more changing of channels, and half the next day went discussing about the earlier days heroics (or otherwise).

I am a die-hard cricket fan too, and I firmly believe that I played a major role in Deccan Chargers lifting the IPL trophy. However, after the IPL ended and things got back to normal, the T-20 world cup began; and when India played Pakistan in the practice match, there was no emotion left to express! Though the stadium was full and the atmosphere on TV was charged, all of us at home slept off half way through, and when Pakistan won, it didn’t really matter! After the tournament began, the only match I really watched was India taking on West Indies (that too with red eyes and continuous worry about going to the office early next morning!).

After England ousted India out of the tournament, though there was a bit of sadness, there was also an element of relief. Since I did not actually watch the complete match, I was looking at Rediff the next morning and reading articles of Dhoni apologizing to the Indian fans, and Kirsten blaming the IPL for this sub-standard performance; the comment that actually encapsulated it all was of a regular reader finally exclaiming – Now, let’s back to work!

Seriously, let’s get back to work, and thank god that there’s no Cricket to be played in the next few weeks after this one. Meanwhile, I’m sure that our Mitochondria will get recharged and we’ll get back in passion for the next series against West Indies starting this month end.

But wait! There’s also the women’s T-20 world cup happening simultaneously in England and India is thru to the semis there. Wonder which channel that is being telecast on???

The Management Hype!

I was reading a book called ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’ written by an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus; which chronicles 25 success stories of people from the institute. One thing that is common to all of them is that they worked someplace before they became entrepreneurs.

Why I thought about this is because there is a strange thing going on in today’s world, and I’m pretty disturbed by that. Look at the sheer number of management colleges coming through every year, and you will know the reason of my distress. Not that I have anything against these new (and several old) management colleges, but I seriously feel that the purpose is defeated.

In Andhra Pradesh (and many more states in our country), the same precedent has already been set by Engineering colleges. Today, most of the engineers graduating from our region (85165 seats in Engineering colleges according to 2008 count – source – indiastudychannel.com) are counted just as graduates; and the same phenomenon is happening with MBA and MCA colleges now. Afterall, how many MBAs can a region support?

In these times of corporate cutbacks, most of the graduates will not be able to find good employment. And a majority of them will look to study further. The bulk of that majority will get into MBA colleges, and what I am worried about (not personally, but still…) is about what most of those people will do once they post-graduate! Already many management passouts are out competing with graduates for the few choice jobs available in the markets (and most of the times it is the under graduates that walk away with the jobs) and that is cause for angst! Think about what will happen 2 years later, when all these MBAs getting enrolled now will come out qualified!!

The other part of the hype (and my concern) is the amounts being charged. All of the new management colleges I know of are charging upwards of a lakh rupees each year, in spite of having no track record to boast of. Few colleges that have started last year have already decided to hike the fee by 50% this year for this years intake; and that, according to me is pretty ambitious. When new management colleges are charging those kind of monies, the older ones naturally will look to charge higher, and any decent college worth its name will already get you to fork out over 5 lakhs for the 2 years. What they will do in the next couple of years is anyone’s guess.

I firmly believe that like in the USA (and some of the best colleges in India), MBA should only be done after a couple of years of working. Afterall, the 25 stories mentioned in the book are all of people who’ve turned entrepreneur after working for a few years with some of the best companies around. Else, MBAs also will just become like a general graduation course; albeit a very costly one!

Is this just my perception?