Hello friends - Welcome to my blog

My first essay in school...oops B-school!!!

2009-08-23T20:12:00.009+05:30

Friends, as updated in my last post, I am back to college (or rather B-school). It's been close to a week now since the classes have actually commenced & I already find myself overloaded with assignments; the first one being writing an essay for the "Communication Skills" lecture. We were given a choice 2 topics, out of which we were supposed to write on one. The topics were:
1) It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
2) Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.

Though most of the class went with the first one, I decided to go on with the second. I am producing the same here for you people to read and would request you to provide your valuable feedback & suggestions, if any. Here it goes...

        Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. Of all the things in the world known to mankind, Love is the most difficult to define. For some, it’s a feeling which is special but cannot be expressed in words; for others, it’s a disease which spreads likes an epidemic but cannot be cured.
        But if there is one thing about Love which can be said with utmost certainty, it has to be this: It can happen to anyone, at any point in time without ones approval & by the time we take a note of it our entire thought process starts revolving around the person we love. The only thing that matters to us the most is the happiness of that person. Once we start loving someone from the bottom of our heart, the questions regarding the looks, the external appearance of that person, etc. becomes inconsequential.
        It has been rightly said that “We love someone not because he/she is beautiful, but they are beautiful because we love them.” To highlight the above point, let’s take the example of a Mother & her child. During the growing-up years, there are lots of modifications which take place in the overall development of the child – both external as well as internal. But the love of the mother towards her child remains the same; it does not change with these modifications. The same unconditional love with which the child is nurtured from the day he is born carries on till eternity. That’s because the mother loves her child not with the eyes but with the mind.

After reading, even you might realise that this is not my cup of tea (which is what I very well know :-)). But then we hardly get options in life - especially during education.

Thats it for now, till next time...

Cheers!!
Sunil.

After a long long time...

2009-08-12T23:39:00.000+05:30

My last post here was almost a year back & so much has changed since then. From being an IT professional for close to 3 years, I find myself back in college attending lectures, submitting assignments, etc.

But the transition process has been an experience in itself.

Especially the 2 major events which consumed most of my last year's time:
1) the entrance exams - which required me to go through all the stuff that I learned during my growing-up years (& never thought would be required again).
2) and the more important one, that of short listing colleges, gathering information about them from all possible sources, setting preferences based on parameters such as faculty, placements, convenience, etc.

Luckily, I have overcome both the events with some amount of success & am into a reasonably good B-school at the end of it all.

I hope to make the full use of the opportunity & am looking to extract the maximum out of it.

Will keep sharing my experiences. Till then...

Cheers!!
Sunil.

Stumbling Rocks!!!

2008-09-25T18:56:00.002+05:30

“Surfing the net, don’t have much to do.
Bored of seeing the same, old websites again & again.”
Well, Stumbling is the answer for you.
It’s a process of discovering new websites using StumbleUpon.
Basically, it provides a toolbar which can be embedded to your web browser & can then be used for launching new websites (with the click of a single button).
Getting started with StumbleUpon is easy & can be done by following the below mentioned steps:
1. Go to the website www.stumbleupon.com
2. Download StumbleUpon toolbar corresponding to your browser (currently it supports only Internet Explorer & Mozilla Firefox).
3. Install toolbar, restart the application & click on Start Stumbling… in the newly installed toolbar.
4. As you are a first time user, you need to create a StumbleUpon account. This can be done by clicking on “Create New User” in the pop-up window.
5. Choose topics that interest you (don’t worry if you miss something, you can always add/change them using the Settings page).
6. Provide other necessary information & create your account.
7. Once your account is created, login & click on “Stumble” to discover a fresh, never before seen website (that too on a topic of your choice).
Not only you get to see a new website every time you click on Stumble, but the amount of relevance it has to your favorite topics is amazing. Also, the collection of websites they have in their databases is unimaginable.
Its only through Stumbling that we can come across sites like:
http://www.bluinc.com/free/human10.htm
http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com/
http://nyelabs.com/flash.html
& many, many, many more…
It is left for you to discover…start Stumbling :-)

Disappointing day for the markets

2008-09-23T18:54:00.001+05:30

It was a disappointing trading session for the Indian Stock markets today.

Not even for a moment during the entire day market breached its previous closing as it was under heavy selling pressure - triggered by weak global cues.

Also, rise in global crude prices affected market sentiments, which forced it slip further.

Sensex opened in the negative & continued its march downward to end the day at 13570.31, a decline of 424.65 (-3.03%) points from its previous close. Nifty, on the other hand, was down 96.15 (-2.33%) points to finish the day at 4126.90.

Starting with Windows Live Writer…

2008-09-23T13:18:00.001+05:30

Since I have been blogging now on a daily basis, I thought - won’t it be better to upgrade to something more convenient, than to write on a notepad & copy-paste it on the website.

I have heard about Windows Live Writer from my dear friend Karthikeyan, who has been blogging for quite some time now. In fact, he is the one who has introduced me to the concept of blogging & has been constantly helping me since then. To say the least, he’s my Guru :-)

So coming back to the topic, as I have got good reviews of the tool from him & also out of curiosity of trying new things, I thought of giving it a try. And this is my first post using that.

I hope it works well, because it will certainly make a blogger’s life much simpler.

Markets looking for direction...

2008-09-22T18:13:00.001+05:30

The markets opened today with a good surplus of 173 points (from its previous close) at 14,215, but could not sustain the gains over the day.

It gave up its promising start in the first half itself, due to lack of positive news. Also, profit booking at higher levels did not helped the markets, which ended the day almost flat.

Luckily there were no bad news either, which could have dragged the markets even further.

Sensex ended at 13994.96, lower by 47.36 (0.34%) points from its last weeks close. The broader Nifty was also down by 22.2 (0.53%) points to shut shop at 4223.05.

All in all, a weak start to a new week.

En Route to Effectiveness

2008-09-21T03:28:00.019+05:30

Long time back I had read a book titled "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" written by Stephen R. Covey.

Its a hugely popular book & I guess, most of you might already be aware of it.

But for those who aren't, read on...

It's a book listing 7 habits/principles, which, according to the author, if followed religiously can help us in being more effective - in our everyday life. I feel all the habits stated are: practical, reasonable & can be implemented in our day-to-day lives with minimal efforts.

I had taken a note of these 7 habits then, and would like to post it here for others reference. They are:

NOTE: Click on each habit to learn more about it.
Just go through these habits once, try and comprehend the underlying meaning & then incorporate them in your daily lives (easier said than done though), I am sure you will experience the difference.

All the best!!!

Bulls bounce back...

2008-09-19T17:31:00.001+05:30

Todays was a market completely dominated by the bulls.

For starters, bulls are investors having a positive outlook on the markets, buying heavily in anticipation of price rise, leading to an increase in share prices.
In contrast, bears are the one who generally tend to be pessimistic about the markets, forcing them to sell, resulting in decline in share prices.

Not even for a second during the entire trading session, it looked as if it was under pressure due to:

Marginal rise in Inflation, at 12.14% for the week ended Sep 6, compared to 12.10% a week ago.
Crude Oil crossing the psychological level of $100 a barrel mark.
Present global financial crisis.

Sensex opened in the positive in early trade (up 470 points from its previous close of 13316) & continued its surge upwards to close at 14042.32, up 726.72 or 5.46%. The wider Nifty also mirrored with a 207.1 (4.88%) points increase to end at 4245.25.

Though the end of the trading week was good (thanks to today's session), the entire week wasn't - following bad news from the US: filing of bankruptcy by Lehman Brothers followed by Bank of America's takeover of Merrill Lynch.

But, as they say, alls well that ends well. Lets hope for a better week starting Monday :-)

Remarkable turnaround in the markets today...

2008-09-18T17:04:00.006+05:30

With the way things started - Sensex opened with a huge gap down of 662 points from its previous close - it looked inevitable as to where the markets were headed (down south).

But positive global cues followed by heavy buying in the second half helped markets regain lost ground to close the day in the green.

Sensex started at 12,600 (down 662) but still managed to close at 13315.6, 52.7 points higher than yesterday's close. Nifty was up 29.9 points to end at 4038.15.

Heavy buying was seen in sectors like Banking and Oil & Gas. On the BSE, banking topped the sectoral gainers with a 2.68% rise followed by Oil & Gas which was up 2.36%. But sectors like Realty, IT, Telecom & consumer durables struggled ending the day in Red.

Nonetheless, a good day for the market given the bad opening & the current global financial uncertainty.

Truly the turnaround was nothing but remarkable.

Stock markets...

2008-09-18T16:17:00.000+05:30

Its been close to one & half years since I have been investing (you can call it trading) in the Stock markets. Tracking the markets since then on a daily basis has helped me a lot in understanding the way it functions.

Though there is still a long way to go, I now feel that I am no longer a novice. In fact, I can claim to have seen the best (pre-January period) as well as the worst (current state) of the markets.

After spending some good & some not-so-good time in the markets, I am now in a position to analyze the events that lead to the fluctuations in the stock prices & the things that follow.

Starting today, I plan to post my views & analysis through this blog.

I hope it will be of some use to you guys :-)

New look...

2008-08-29T17:29:00.002+05:30

Friends, the look of the site has been changed (for the better).

Even though the earlier template was not bad by any standards, it contradicted by view point (as expressed in my earlier blog) of saving energy by implementing black (or dark) websites, since it requires less energy to get displayed.

Also, since not many templates are available which backs the theory of Black sites, the choice was obvious. So here it is, the same old stuff in a new improved, energy efficient package.

Keep visiting...:-)

Links to online games...

2008-08-21T19:43:00.010+05:30

Simple yet addictive.

Provided below are the links to some cool online games.

1. Tennis
Even though many online versions of this game are available - this, I think, is the best of the lot.

2. Jelly Jumper
Use the keyboard to move the Jelly around. It might seem easy initially, but the going gets tough with every level. Try to complete as many levels as possible (My score is 26 levels).

3. Tangram (Chinese puzzle)
Its for those who like to use their brains even while playing (not many people like to do that though).

4. Particles
Navigate the blue ball through the obstructing red balls. The thrill increases as the no. of red balls and their speed increases.

5. Maze Frenzy
Help the small dot navigate through the maze to reach the Finish zone (I must admit, I was not able to do that).

6. Quiz
A good puzzle, you really need to think hard to complete this one (read the Rules carefully).

7. Virus
Don't go by the name, its very simple.

8. Throw Paper
Its not a game actually, its pure "tp".

Save Energy - Avoid Google, use Blackle instead...

2008-05-23T19:38:00.001+05:30

No one using the Internet can claim that they have never used Google. Everyone of us, for some reason or the other, use it frequently enough to make it the numero uno site (on a number of hits/day basis).

I won't be over exaggerating if i state that a more efficient website (in terms of energy consumption) can save huge amount of energy.

Most of you might be aware that the amount of energy required to display a white screen is far greater than what is required by a black screen. This precisely is the theory behind Blackle's creation. Infact, its nothing but a custom google search with a black interface. So there's no compromise from the "Google's accurateness of result" point of view, which undoubtedly is its biggest strength.

In fact, using Blackle (you can call it "Black Google") would help us in saving 750 Megawatt-hours a Year, as pointed out in this article. And considering the current energy crisis, it can be of great help, not only for us but also for our future generations.

So, i would like to encourage all to refrain from using Google & start using Blackle, in order to do little that we can, to contribute towards the betterment of our future.

Don't forget to swap Google with Blackle.....it wont be taking much but it certainly will help us a long way.

Happy Savings...cheers!!!

Will it be Mumbai or Delhi, the fourth & last entry in the IPL semifinals?

2008-05-22T19:14:00.000+05:30

There are 10 league matches remaining in the IPL (as of this date & time), which will decide the final four teams moving on to the next round (the semifinals). After trying all permutations & combinations, it can be concluded that most probably one team, out of Mumbai & Delhi, would make it to the next round; others being Rajasthan, Mohali & Chennai.

But, mind you, all this can change dramatically, if not for the below two scenarios:
1) The top teams (Rajasthan, Mohali & Chennai) continue their winning streak.
2) The weakest teams, Hyderabad & Bangalore, don't play any differently from what they are doing now.
Because that would mean gaining some useful points, which won't be of much significance to them, but could cost the others dearly.

So, lets play the waiting game till 24th May, and hope for the best (from Mumbai's point of view), coz i am a thorough Mumbaikar.

Aamchi Mumbai ROCKS!!!