Interior decoration...

My heart melts when I see birds gathering feathers to be placed in their nests to comfort their little ones... And this one just outside my window is smaller than my thumb! Sometimes life throws so much beauty at me that I am incapable of handling...

Kim

Hats off to you, Kim Clijsters... Totally respect you, lady!

H1N1 and the city...

Today I was greeted by a very unusual sight that I've never witnessed in my city before... I saw majority of the people wearing green-masks to protect themselves from the virus. The masks are being sold like hot-cakes at every chemist shop.

With two deaths so far and so many fresh cases being reported, the fear and the panic is understandable. With most reported cases being kids and students, schools are closed. Quite a few office-colleagues of mine have taken off or are working from home as there's no-one to babysit their kids who are now happily staying at home for the schools are shut. Also there's apprehension amongst parents regarding the spread of this virus at creches. Most private doctors, fearing backlash, are referring every damn case with diagnosis of a flu to the over-burdened Government centres for H1N1 screening. The crowd outside the Naidu Hospital is overwhelming.

Pune is ailing. My city has never looked this sick before :-(

Madhya Pradesh Tourism Ad...

I was clean-bowled by the creativity behind this ad!

Disclaimer

What I find very irritating is the fuzziness and the fine-print involved in EULA's. Hence when I came across this disclaimer, while looking for a software-tool, I was absolutely delighted. It said -
"This code is offered unsupported. If it breaks you get to keep both halves."

Meghadoot...

The early messengers of monsoon are here! Today Pune is tucked in a blanket of fluffy gray clouds. It rained yesterday... thundered & poured... and I just loved it.

Yes, there was water-logging, traffic-jams & the power was off. Water must have gushed into the homes of the poor, their roofs must have leaked, many bikes must have skidded and cars must have hit their brakes a thousand times... Soon the roads will start telling and as every year, Pune & Mumbai will re-confirm their unpreparedness for the rains.

But inspite of all that, I simply can't stop loving this phenomenon of water pouring out of the skies! The fields besides my home are happy & I can sense that. The green they are wearing today is a different green. Birds are twittering non-stop and the termites have taken their feeble maiden flights. Way above, kites are flying aimlessly in circles.

I've spent the last hour admiring the games that the clouds & the winds are engaged in as Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful world" plays in the background in an endless loop...

Vodafone Zoozoo ads

I've been an admirer of O&M as year after year they've delivered some of the most creative ads. This time too, they have come up with the most creative ads for Vodafone aired during this IPL season! Watch the "Related videos" for others.

What I found truly creative, besides the fact that a new ad is aired daily, was that "the characters were enacted by professional ballet artists in white body suits to mimic animation"! Such a paradigm-shift & out-of-the-box thinking! This article gives some insights in the making...

Relatable, concise & brings home the point in an impactful manner. This is what good advertisement & for that matter, good story-telling, is all about!

Gosh, I'm clairvoyant!

I have completely reassured myself today, again, that I have an impeccable record of being able to sense the day when I am going to have a flat tyre! Since morning I had this feeling that I am gonna have a flat tyre today & bingo... the right-front one obeys!!! Never once in the last 4 months did I have this feeling. It almost seems that I have command over tyres & nails. The exact same sequence has occured to me N times before. And each time, a day in advance, I get this feeling that it's coming.

Mere coincidence? Gimme a break! :P

Yay!

Finally, after braving months & months of continuous pounding, my stock-portfolio is back in the +ve. With the Sensex inching towards the 11K mark, all-of-a-sudden, things look relatively better. I muster so much courage & cross my fingers & toes when I whisper this to myself! The biggest dampener in my stock-portfolio has been Suzlon. Damn, my affinity & soft-corner for environment-friendly technologies ;-).

However, my MF-portfolio continues to be in coma. The reason is that with stocks one owns the control & can take corrective measures. With MFs, one is so damn helpless! Wonder why one should allow others to babysit their hard-earned money!

Politics, elections, blah-blah...

The violence outside the Pilibhit jail is extremely shameful. What's more disheartening is the gullibility of the mob. People who are this gullible, deserve to be used!