Friday, August 31, 2007

How to get out of DIFFICULTY....





























Whatever your cross,
whatever your pain,
there will always be sunshine,
after the rain ....

Perhaps you may stumble,
perhaps even fall,
But God's always ready,
To answer your call ...

He knows every heartache,
sees every tear,
A word from His lips,
can calm every fear ...

Your sorrows may linger,
throughout the night,
But suddenly vanish,
in dawn's early light ...

The Savior is waiting,
somewhere above,
To give you His grace,
and send you His love...

Whatever your cross,
whatever your pain,
"God always sends rainbows ....
after the rain ... "

To get out of difficulty, one must usually go through it!!!

Just what i needed...... I am now free of my cross......

Rokne Wala Fail Rahega - Chak De India

I have so much to share. Let me first thank those people who have made this possible.

The Crew – for making this movie…..
Shimit Amin Director
Jaideep Sahni Screenwriter
Aditya Chopra Producer
Salim-Sulaiman Composer
Sudeep Chatterjee Director of Photography

My mom and sis for watching this movie with me the first time and a very dear friend for watching it with me the second time (her first…. Yes… I bullied her into it.)

I had caught the trailer of 'Çhak De India' when I went for Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix at priya. In that one minute piece, the shots of the hockey matches impressed me. Though it was still a Shahrukh movie, we decided to go for it because we wanted to see the 16 girls playing and see what the directors take on the topic was.

I did not go with as high expectations… but somewhere thru the movie I was jumping thru the roof…. It involved me totally……. It was like seeing 20 years of my Taekwon Do career flash in front of my eyes…..

Chak De had the entire hall cheering as if the match being played by someone in their family.

P.S.: My favourite scene in the film is the one where the team goes to McDonald’s where they beat the living daylights out of a gang of eve-teasers wihout any help from a male!! As shuklaji called it “Rakshason ki sena”
That moment taught a team to be a team….. we were rolling in our seats….

Yes, that was the yash raj studio canteen doubled up as a McDonald’s. Have u ever seen a real McDonald’s without an A/C????????

It is so deliciously fulfilling that you want to give the writer and director a clap on their back for depicting the gender war in an urbane recreational zone without trivializing the larger issues involved.

The 16 girls have bought alive the movie like noone else..... Preeti Sabarwal, Komal Chautala, Bindia Naik, Vidya Sharma, Gul Iqbal, Molly Zimik, Mary Ralte,Balbir Kaur,Aliyah Bose, Gunjan Lakhani, Rani, Nethra Reddy, Soimoi. They Rock. Their effort shows

The first match the Indian team wins in the international arena is against U.K. Not China or Italy or France, but England. We still have that subliminal ‘colonized no more’ point we seek to make.

Of course, now, Australia is a different league all together. Whether on film, or in life, that team is just something else. It doesn’t matter what sport they’re playing.

The only true villain in the story is narrow-mindedness and a limited outlook, personified in the holier-than-thou media, the apathetic hockey board, and characters such as the self-obsessed new vice captain of the Indian cricket team.

After a point it doesn’t matter whether the girls are playing hockey.

It’s not the sport. It’s the spirit that shines through in every glistening frame of this tale that needed to be told before hockey became as obsolete as films about people who play to redeem their souls.

I like this film more because it speaks about achievement, belief, faith, ambition, intent, commitment, selflessness, team work,… all good traits essential not just for a successful sportsperson, but for anybody in any walk of life.

Yes, you can use it in the corporate world aswell.

Favourite Chak De India dialogues:

  • Jo nahin ho sakt, wahi tho karna hai.
  • Mujhe states ki naam na sunayie dethe hai, na dhikaie dete hai. Sirf ek mulk-a-naam sunayie detha hai, I-N-D-I-A
  • Humla samne wali team ke dimag par karo, field mein goal apne aap ho jayega
  • Har team mein bas ek hi gunda ho saktha hai, Aur is team ka gunda mein hun!
  • Vaar karna hai to mardho ki tarah aage se karo… Woh kya hai ki humari team me chakke nahi hote!!
  • Chandi (Srk referring to his silver medal) Ko Sone Me badlne ki koshish kar rahaa hoon.
  • Pehli baar kisi ghore ko Bharath ka jhanda leharate hue dekh raha hoon.
  • Marr jaayenge - par haar ke nahi aayenge!!


Highlights:

  • Srk wasn’t hogging the entire screen with his slurrrrrrrrrr,
  • Awesome real depiction of Indian women's sports
  • The hilarious though exaggerated scene in McDonalds….. Just brilliant J
  • No songs with the women in sexy dressing dancing in clubs or around trees.

Songs - loved them.....

  • Bad Bad Girls song lyrics Click here for the lyrics
  • Maula mere le le meri jaan son... Click here for the lyrics
  • This is the story of a team so... - Click here for the lyrics
  • chak de india song lyrics - Click here for the lyrics
  • Badal pe paaon hai song lyrics - Click here for the lyrics

Coming soon …. Chak De and me

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Book Release of "The lives and History of the Dera Bagai's"

On Saturday 25th august, I had gone for a book release function.
“The Lives and History of the DERA Bagai’s” written by Mr S.M.Bagai.

Why so? My paternal grand mother’s maiden name was Bagai….. Ms. Kanta Bagai. When she married my grand father (Krishan Chandra) she became Mrs. Kanta Chandra passed away 2 years ago.

To be honest, I wasn’t very keen on going for the function. Then I thought how important this would be for my dadaji. I had a holiday so I decided to take my dadaji accompanied by my mom.

We got to India International Centre at Lodhi Estate a bit late and to my surprise found the hall to be full. I thought “That’s a lot of Bagai’s”.

We were able to catch most of the introduction of the book by the author. What impressed me the most was that this gentleman had not even been to DERA (the native place of this generation of Bagai’s) even once and yet he had the passion and dedication to compile a book about them. He has traced the genealogy tree back to the 1800’s… now that’s some effort :-)

Another amazing thing he did which really turned my attention to this whole function was that he had traced the lives of even the Bagai daughters. Most books of this genre trace the family trees of the sons. This made my grandmother a part of this documentation of history and hence us.

He discussed that the objective of this was to “link people” and “people should know their roots”.

I felt like piping up and saying…all of you please register on brijj.com and linkedin.com for best results…. ;-)

The function was compared by Mr Atul Bagai who kept the humorous vein going throughout the event with various anecdotes about the family. He also spoke about “people to people contact” as the theme of the book.

The book was released by Mr. Jagdish Khatter (Ceo of Maruti Udyog Limited) The function was presided by Prof M.G.K.Menon. The speakers at the function were people closely associated with the Book, Author and Derewal.

Mr. Shobha Ram Lal – He delivered his speech in the native language, which totally reminded me to my grand mother.

Mr. Mohinder Bagai – (my grand mother’s brother) – His speech revolved around his parent and their contribution towards education and religion after they relocated from Dera to New Delhi and how he met Gandhiji when he was a small boy.

Mr. Jagdish Khatter – He spoke about how his father was associated with the author and this family very fondly and wished him all the best.

Dr. R.S. Garkal – He had stories to tell about how he was treated very warmly by the Derewal community when he visited them for a conference. He invited us all to his house to see photos of that era and a tea party with Pandit Nehru.

Mr Prem Piplani – He was introduced as a “Frequent Flier to D.I.Khan”. He is a radio commentator for cricket. He began in English but switch to the native language, which sounded like sugar to the listener’s ears. He spoke of the warmth, hospitality, brotherhood and unadulterated love and affection of the people of D.I.Khan.

Mrs Dolly Nanda – she has been very closely associated with the author and more so in the last 6 years when he was writing the book. She narrated incidents with a colonial touch.

Prof. M.G.K.Menon – I found him to be one of the best chairpersons at a book release function. He was oddly matched with the crowd here as he is belongs to Kerela. After he read the book he realized, he knew a lot of Bagai’s without knowing that they all belonged to the same clan. He also narrated his experiences of “community living” in the matriarchal system in Kerela.

When we left the function, I resolved to read the book.

Monday, August 27, 2007

The Jar of LIFE....

This is probably one of the best fwd I have ever received!!

A professor stood before his Philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.

He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.

Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

"The golf balls are the important things - your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

"The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.

"The sand is everything else--the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

"The same goes for life.
"If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Play with your children.

"Take time to get medical checkups.

"Take your partner out to dinner.

"Play another 18.

"There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

"Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter.

"Set your priorities.

"The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.

"It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a cup of coffee with a friend."

Please share this with someone you care about.

I JUST DID.

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. Maria Robinson quotes

Friday, August 24, 2007

Thought for the day.... "Commitment"

“There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.

“An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises.” Mae West

“Commitment in the face of conflict produces character.”

“If you deny yourself commitment, what can you do with your life?” Harvey Fierstein

“Promises may fit the friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies.” Benjamin Franklin

Trip to Bhimtal - Stars Who Won The Contest

In my earlier post "Nights spent in office making the new 99acres.com live" had mentioned that we were fighting time to make the UI revamp if 99acres live.

On the eve of 99acres.com's birthday we left for the trip to Bhimtal.

As usual, we left late. The journey saw many talents in "Dumb Charades" .... ;-) the most obscene talents obviously..... No, not everyone had put in capful of "u know what" into their system.

Reached Bhimtal at some 8am. Checked in, had breakfast. Some people went for a trek a swim etc.... I was still recovering from the bus journey.

Lazed around.... bugged the hell out of Abhinav, who poor thing had hurt himself playing cricket with a Photo 1 | Photo 2 | Video

In the afternoon, we saw die hard 4 courtesy movie man Bhaskar..... :-)

In the evening we went for a walk.... twilight fell, Umbrella man attacked me...... Photo 1 | Photo 2

Night was party time in the disco... we even had Deepali dancing ... here's a video.

We even had Amit playing the guitar and singing for us. THE most amazing time..... yes, we made him do Bheegey hoot tere... from Murder Photo | video 1 | video 2

Then we had lavesh, Tripti and Nipun cutting their birthday cake..... Photo
yes, unka make-up bhi kiya gaya that... Photo

The duckings...... Lavesh, Nipun and the SURPRISE.....

In the morning we took off for bhimatal lake . that's all of us at the lake.

and then disaster struck.... Photo | Video

All the rest is for you to see in the pics......



View all pictures on picasa http://picasaweb.google.com/nachiketa.chandra/TripToBhimtalStarsWhoWonTheContest

View all videos on picasa http://picasaweb.google.com/nachiketa.chandra/VideosOfTheBhimtalTrip/

Interesting Taglines in gtalk

Abhishek Prasad: See no evil, hear no evil, date no evil

Ąnмơl bhatia: We were born naked, wet and hungry. Then things got worse.

manishtyagi: The road to success is usually under construction.

Nishant Sharma: It's all about Mind & Matter, I don't Mind... U don't Matter !!

√ÏČĶ¥™ ╣ßĥäşķäŕ Đęνä ╠: ▐► Know ME Know Life - No ME No Life! I make the world and the world makes ME! ▐ ♪

Abhishek Prasad: Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until they speak

Puneet Chawla: Seems like time gets lost in space...

Priyanka Bedi: Judge me all you want, but keep the verdict to yourself.

Shiv Narayan: the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the little extra that the latter has.

Alok: Progress is not made by early risers or hard workers, but by LAZY people, trying to find easier ways to do the same things

Alok: The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

Abhishek Prasad: Too many freaks not enough circuses.

Please fell free to contribute.....

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Thought for the day...

Trust can take years to build, but only a second to break. Unknown

~~~~~~~

I would rather trust a woman's instinct than a man's reason. Stanley Baldwin

Friday, August 10, 2007

Updated: Brijj.com - Naukri.com launches Business Networking site

Visit them @ Brijj.com

Read about it on

1. Brijj.com - Naukri.com launches Business Networking site! on www.watblog.com

2. Updated: Naukri Launches Professional Networking Site - Brijj on www.contentsutra.com

3. Brijj.com - Naukri.com launches Business Networking site! on www.indianpad.com

4. Naukri challenges techTribe with brijj.com on web-software.broadbandindia.com

5. Naukri launches professional networking site Brijj.com on www.startupdunia.com

6. Naukri Launches Professional Networking Website Brijj on www.vccircle.com

7. Is brijj.com really cool??? on http://vishalkamath.blogspot.com/

8. India's Biggest Jobsite launches Business Networking site! on www.digg.com

9. Brijj.com - Career and Professional Networking Site From InfoEdge Group on www.informationmadness.com/

10. Naukri launches business networking site Brijj.com on www.alootechie.com

11. Brijj -- Naukri.com's bridge to the new web frontier? on www.agencyfaqs.com

12. Skot’s world - Indian proffessional networking space heats up on skot.wordpress.com

13. Naukri launches Brijj.com - a new India centric Business Social Networking website on news.TekChakra.com

14. Brijj.com - A Social Network and India’s LinkedIn on www.blogowogo.com

15. Brijj.com - A Social Network and India’s LinkedIn on www.indianweb2.com

16. Brijj - One more player in the Social Networking arena on girishsprabhu.wordpress.com

17.
Have you started Brijjing????? on http://lateralsense.blogspot.com


Register using the link: http://brijj.com/profile/ShowRegistrationForm

Critique.. product discussion
A Brijj too far by shyam

Lambasting shyam:
Cross the Brijj only when you come to it by Manas Mishra

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Fruits of labour

99acres.com
Do a property search and check out the results page.....
Finally we have moved away from a 3 column layout to a 2 column layout.... yippeee.... the ads are looking so much better.
we even added a video banner and premium projects in the larger cities.

City Pages -
Ahmedabad
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi/NCR
Hyderabad
Kolkata
Mumbai
Pune

Search for property dealers in -
Ahmedabad
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi/NCR
Hyderabad
Kolkata
Mumbai
Pune

For other cities log on to 99acres.com and search for property dealers

Nights spent in office making the new 99acres.com live

We had a contest running for us this time..... 2 day trip if we launch the new stuff till the end of july.

We've worked on this project for some time now.... as usual we slogged the most in the last over.

This was a new team i worked with. Have done this twice over @ naukri.com and made several large (read mammoth) projects live in the last 4 years.

We did it.... the team work was cool.

Yet... everytime it's the same butterflies..... the cushion however are the learnings...

There were many challenges for us. getting the concepts right.... implementing them and most of all having a well oiled coordination between all the departments without playing the blame game. [it's very easy to get into that trap :-) ]

It takes all types of people to make a team. A lot of it was Deja Vu ..... it's all coming back to me... just different people were saying it.....

Each one has their own concern.....
- it's not in the brief... where is the dropdown we wanted... it was not in the template.... Stop looking at comma and full stops, pl take out BUGS- REAl Bugs..... the new build destroyed the older fixes....
Top management wants new changes done...
not now, it will be done in august....

The idea so much wasn't a 2 day trip... the motivation was achievement and having the Best Site.....

But the best thing about this team was : The Client/User and Site was at the core of all this and the strain we could hear were "How can we do this better?"... ok let past be past and let's focus on what we need to get done and how best can we do it to make the site better.

There were no sides..... There was just 1 team.


99acres team... U Rock.

there were many a night we spent in office.... not going home... sleeping in office for a few hours... working 21 hours a day....

Our business head - Deepali and CTO - Vivek stood by us always......