Knight Riders thrashed by Mumbai Indians

Knight Riders lost again, and this time almost devastated by the great duo Sachin and Sanath by Mumbai Indians. Well, the match started and within first 5 overs, it seemed like the Knight Riders were out of the game and out of the ideas to withstand the onslaught so mercilessly delivered by the great duo. In fact, one started to think again the strategic planning done behind the doors for first throwing the idea of having four captains by their great coach John Buchanan, then stripping Sourabh Ganguli, the most successful cricket captain India ever had, and then giving the captain's hat to Brendon McCullum, one of the most flamboyant striker of the ball. Well, the burden of the captainship is already showing on Brendon McCullum as he is not really playing his natural game and so getting out everytime playing a different game that he does not know.

Shahrukh Khan has left no stone unearthed to market his team, but he has forgotten one basic thing that it is a game and ultimately people likes the team the most which wins. He has got the best dressed team, the best marketing savvy team, the cheerleader euphoria generated before the start of IPL by running a reality show on NDTV Imagine, slamming the great Sunil Gavaskar for his lack of knowledge of cricket (!!!), creating controversies on the captainship issue, well the Knight Riders topped the media for all those news items, making it the hottest team in IPL circuit, but when the team is on the field, they are just not delivering enough to be able to win.

Today, they even lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore (considered one of the weaker team in IPL), thus proving once again the KKR is like a bubble which can burst even with a soft feather touch. Now, Shahrukh Khan has left South Africa for India saying that he will return to SA only when his team wins. That means he is still trying to keep his team on top of the media reports even though his team is losing matches on trot.

I think it's high team Shahrukh should reinstate Sourabh as captain of KKR and reignite the passion of cricket to the cricket-crazy Kolkatans, and thus let the confidence come back to his team so that he can change their attitude to winning ways.

Good luck..KKR...Brendon...Shahrukh...and my favorite cricketer of all time...Dada for his dadagiri.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Video - The Most Fun Medium of Marketing!

Easy Video Producer Take a look around the internet today and one thing you’ll see more of is videos.More and more, even the ‘gurus’ are making use of this medium to advertise their products and services.
Do you doubt me on that?
If so, think about the last big launch?
Who was the guru and what did he say?
No, I don’t mean what did he write, I mean what did he ‘say’.
Because, invariably, every single launch that’s happened over the past few months not only had an element of video in its sales letter……in most cases, the video IS the sales letter.Yes, you may see a page with writing on it, but count the number of words.
Chances are, you could actually count the words in a matter of seconds.Before video I couldn’t imagine anyone would want to even attempt to count the words –the sales letters for big launches are way too long.And let’s face it, when it comes to high ticket, expensive products, the sales pitch has got be substantial as most people want to know as much as possible about a product before they splash out that amount of money.
The good thing with video is now you can write a sales pitch as long as you want, and people will most likely site there and watch it… especially if the delivery is entertaining.Now tell me, when was the last time you found a written sales letter entertaining?
I mean, yes, sometimes they are but, for the most part, you can’t afford to use humour in the written sales letter.

Video opens up avenues which were never available before to any business.Or, for that matter, any individual just wanting to get his or her diary online in video form.Sure, you could upload a video to YouTube or one of the multitudes of video sites, but not
everyone wants to stick their videos on a public forum that size.There may be certain types of videos available only to your clients – would you want everyone to see them.

Heck, I know of one martial artist who sticks videos on YouTube which are only supposed to be for his paid members.You can’t get to them through his site, but all you have to do is go to YouTube and type in his name and, hey presto, there they are.

Now, if you’re one of those people who want to keep their videos on individual sites, what happens if you’re not a techie.Well, if you’re anything like me, you’ll go through a whole load of trial and error.Sure, you’ll probably get the video onto your site, as I did, but it could take a whole day… as it did me.

Now, what if you had a facility to put your videos only on your site?And, what if that facility was so easy to use, it literally takes a few minutes to record, edit and upload?

Well, that facility is here, and I’ve used it. If only I had this a couple of years ago - it would have made my life a whole lot easier.
What is this new facility?
Easy Video Producer.
I’m not going to tell you how amazing it is or how much easier it has made my life or anything like that.
However, if I did, it would be true.

The good thing is, it’s available for nothing.Yup, absolutely free.
What more can you ask for?Try it out by clicking the link below… and…

Written by Ghulam Nabi Rezbi

You can visit the site at http://www.easyvideoproducer.com/clickthru.php?id=18551

Bollywood loses its Style Bhai

The style icon of Bollywood, the man who gave us snazzy car chases, horse races, sensuous actresses, the folded hat, a new style of revolver holding, the original cowboy of Indian cinema, the man who gave us such stylized movies like Qurbani, Apradh, Dharmatma, Jaanbaaz, Yalgaar, etc., the Clint Eastwood of India whose cowboy look in Kala Sona shocked everyone, the original Style Bhai is no longer with us today.

The most stylish actor Bollywood has ever seen left for his heavenly abode today leaving behind a legacy of style that is unmatched and unparalleled by any account. The man immortalized the car chases, horse chases, cowboy appearance, folded hat, a very accented dialog delivery that was a rage in the 70s and early 80s. Even when he made a comeback in Welcome (his last movie) in 2007 as RDX, he towered over the likes of Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor, and Nana Patekar with his stylish look and dialog delivery.

A look at Firoz Khan's filmography:

Welcome (2007) ... Ranbir Dhanraj Xata (RDX)
Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena (2005) ... Jehangir Khan (Special Appearance)
Chitappa (2005) ... Raman
Janasheen (2003) ... Saba Karim Shah
Yalgaar (1992) ... Rajesh Ashwini Kumar
Meet Mere Man Ka (1991)
Dayavan (1988) ... Shankar Waghmare
Janbaaz (1986) ... Inspector Rajesh Singh
Kachche Heere (1982) ... Nephew of Kamal Singh
Khoon Aur Paani (1981)
Qurbani (1980) ... Rajesh Kumar/Kailash Nath
Chunaoti (1980)
Darinda (1977)
Jadu Tona (1977) ... Dr. Kailash
Nagin (1976) ... Raj
Qabeela (1976)
Sharafat Chod Di Maine (1976)
Dharmatma (1975) .... Ranbir
Aa Jaa Sanam (1975) ... Dr. Satish
Kala Sona (1975) ... Rakesh
Rani Aur Lalpari (1975) ... Gulliver
International Crook (1974) ... SP Rajesh
Anjaan Raahen (1974) ... Anand
Bhagat Dhanna Jatt (1974) ... Ramu
Geeta Mera Naam (1974)
Khhotte Sikkay (1974) ... Horseback rider
Kisan Aur Bhagwan (1974)
Kashmakash (1973)
Apradh (1972) ... Ram Khana
Upaasna (1971)
Ek Paheli (1971) ... Sudhir
Mela (1971)
Safar (1970) ... Shekhar Kapoor
Aadmi Aur Insaan (1969) ... Jai Kishan/J.K.
Pyaasi Sham (1969) ... Ashok
Aag (1967) ... Shanker
Aurat (1967)
CID 909 (1967)
Raat Aur Din (1967) ... Dilip
Woh Koi Aur Hoga (1967)
Main Wohi Hoon (1966) ... Vijay
Tasveer (1966)
Arzoo (1965) ... Ramesh
Ek Sapera Ek Lootera (1965) ... Mohan/Vijay Pratap Singh
Oonche Log (1965) ... Rajnikant
Teesra Kaun (1965)
Char Dervesh (1964) ... Qamar Bhakt
Suhagan (1964) ... Shankar
Bahurani (1963) ... Vikram
Tarzan Goes to India (1962) ... Prince Raghu Kumar
Main Shadi Karne Chala (1962)
Didi (1960)

We salute this most stylish actor who gave Bollywood a new trend of moviemaking...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Bollywood and Cricket comes together

Remember Baazigar, the tall sultry Shilpa paired opposite not so tall but very talented Shahrukh in her very first movie. The movie was a runaway blockbuster and gave Bollywood two very talented superstars in making. They made quite a good pair on-screen but don't for what reason did not do movies later together. Shilpa made quite a good pair with Akshay in her later movies and Shahrukh with Kajol, Juhi, Rani, and Preity.

Today, after a long time they are pitted against each other but not on-screen rather on the field (!!!). Shilpa's Rajasthan Royals are playing against Shahrukh's Kolkata Knight Riders in today's IPL T20 match in Cape Town. While writing this blog, Shilpa'a team has scored 150 runs and Shahrukh's Riders are riding on the Gayle wave right now with Gayle hitting sixes like anything. Shahrukh is happily clapping for Gayle's heroics while Shilpa is sitting very silent in the stands hoping for a miracle to happen.

Whatever be the result of the match, but one thing is certain, the two biggest crazes in India (Bollywood and Cricket) have joined hands together to give the audience a true paisa vasool treat...so dudes keep watching DLF IPL Season 2 for a mouthwatering treat along with your dinner table delicacies...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Get paid blogging

Ever wondered why blogging has become such a rage amongst all the people whether they are celebrities or a common guy. Well the motives are different for the different people. Celebrities blog about themselves because this gives them an added publicity to their public image which they always need. A common guy blogs because he also wants to be known by a lot of people and also to earn an extra income from their blogging. Earning from blogging is now a well-accepted concept that is fast peaking up the trend.

To earn money blogging is not an easy thing to do. To earn more blogging you need to be very regular with your blogging, you need to advertise your blogs, you need to get a good PR (page rank) from Google, you need to have a good traffic ranking from Alexa, and last but not the least you should be blogging with a concept and originality.

One can earn money by putting ads (Adsense, Adbrite, Adtoll, Bidvertiser, etc.) on your blog and earn a share by getting clicked and impression counting. The other and better way of earning is to write paid posts and reviews about other websites. You can get yourself registered with Blogsvertise.com, Buyblogreviews.com, Bloggerwave.com, etc., and write blogs and reviews about their client. One can also apply for blogger jobs which are available in plenty on the Internet, like you can get a lot of blogger jobs by clicking Bloggerjobs.biz.

One can also earn by way referral commission that means you refer another blogger to the above companies and get a pie from your referred blogger's earning.

In nutshell, once you have decided to blog, go full-blown about your blog by commercializing it. In that way, you not only publicize your blogs, but will be able to make some handsome bucks also.

So, good luck to all the fellow cool bloggers.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

How safe is credit card transaction on Internet?

These days almost everyone uses credit card as their number one payment option, whether they are shopping at a super marker, a retail chain, buying movie tickets, paying bills at a restaurant, buying a jeans or mobile or even plasma or LCD TV. Lately, credit card transactions have become the most preferred option for payment to buy train tickets, airlines tickets, online purchase, online bill payment, or for that matter buying something from an online store like Ebay or Amazon. But one thing always haunts me whenever I make some online purchases is that how safe is my transaction. Basically, to misuse one's credit card what one needs is the credit card number, CVV (card verification value) number, and the expiry date of the credit card. If someone gets access to these three values, he can easily misuse one's credit card and can dump the original credit holder for a big sum.

While making online purchases, I always wonder how safe is my online transaction because I have to always enter these three values before making any payment and so I always check for three things before making any online purchases:

1. I always ensure that Web site I am making an online payment is a secure site by verifying whether this site has been secured and authenticated by a well-known Internet authentication agency like VeriSign.
2. I always make sure not to click on any in e-mail seeking details of my account because they could be phishing. So, even if you get an e-mail links from a well-known bank, I always prefer to directly open the site manually rather than through e-mail links and thus preventing myself from getting cheated.
3. I never give my credit card details to any suspicious websites unless I have confirmed their background and authentication.

So, I request all of you to use your credit card very safely and judiciously on Internet and last but not the least please try always to be below 40% of your credit card limits and not spend too much on credit cards because very soon they will become a big liability for you and you might end up being thrashed by their recovery goons.

IPL 2009 -- Teams and Schedules

The year's biggest cricketing carnival and the most awaited IPL season 2 starts today in South Africa after shifting the venues from India. Though it was a bit disheartening for millions of cricketing buffs in India, the IPL working committee has made a good scheduling of matches so the most of the matches can easily be viewed by the most viewers in the cricket-crazy India.

The first match is going to take place between last year's champ Rajasthan Royals and Royal challengers Bangalore in Cape Town starting 4 PM IST.

Here is the list of teams and their official websites:

The official site: DLF Indian Premier League.

Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
Delhi Daredevils (DD)
Mumbai Indians (MI)
Kolkata Night Riders (KKR)
Deccan Chargers (DC)

Top headlines for DLF IPL T20.
Scores and schedules - IPL 2009
Player list - IPL 2009
DLF IPL video footage.

Here is the complete schedule of DLF IPL T20 2009:

April 18: RR vs RCB (Cape Town) - 4 PM
April 18: MI vs CSK - 8 PM
April 19: KKR vs DC(Cape Town) - 4 PM
April 19: DD vs KXIP (Cape Town) - 8 PM
April 20: RCB vs CSK (Port Elizabeth) - 4 PM
April 21: RR vs MI (Durban) - 4 PM
April 21: KKR vs KXIP (Durban) - 8 PM
April 22: DD vs CSK (Durban) - 4 PM
April 22: RCB vs DC (Cape Town) - 8 PM
April 23: KKR vs RR (Port Elizabeth) - 4 PM
April 24: KXIP vs RCB (Johannesburg) - 4 PM
April 25: KKR vs CSK (Cape Town) -4 PM
April 25: DC vs MI (Durban) - 8 PM
April 26: RR vs KXIP (Cape Town) - 4 PM
April 26: RCB vs DD (Port Elizabeth) - 8 PM
April 27: KKR vs MI (Cape Town) - 4 PM
April 27: CSK vs DC (Durban) - 8 PM
April 28: DD vs RR (Pretoria) - 4 PM
April 29: MI vs KXIP (Durban) - 4 PM
April 29: KKR v RCB (Durban) - 8 PM
April 30: DD v DC (Pretoria) - 4 PM
April 30: RR vs CSK (Pretoria) - 8 PM
May 1: RCB vs KXIP (East London) - 4 PM
May 1: MI vs KKR (Durban) - 8 PM
May 2: RR vs DC (Johannesburg) - 4 PM
May 2: CSK vs DD (Port Elizabeth) - 8 PM
May 3: MI vs RCB (Durban) - 4 PM
May 3: KXIP vs KKR (East London) - 8 PM
May 4: DC vs CSK (Port Elizabeth) - 4 PM
May 5: DD vs KKR (Durban) - 4 PM
May 5: KXIP vs RR (Durban) - 8 PM
May 6: MI vs DC (Pretoria) - 4 PM
May 7: KXIP vs CSK (Pretoria) - 4 PM
May 7: RCB vs RR (Pretoria) - 8 PM
May 8: DD vs MI (East London) - 4 PM
May 9: DC vs KXIP (Bloemfontein) - 4 PM
May 9: CSK vs RR (Port Elizabeth) - 8 PM
May 10: KKR vs DD (East London) - 4 PM
May 10: RCB vs MI (Johannesburg) - 8 PM
May 11: DC vs RR (Bloemfontein) - 4 PM
May 12: RCB vs KKR (Pretoria) - 4 PM
May 12: KXIP vs MI (Pretoria) - 8 PM
May 13: DC vs DD (Durban) - 4 PM
May 14: MI vs RR (Durban) - 4 PM
May 14: CSK vs RCB (Durban) - 8 PM
May 15: KXIP vs DD (Kimberley) - 4 PM
May 16: CSK vs MI (Johannesburg) - 4 PM
May 16: DC vs KKR (Port Elizabeth) - 8 PM
May 17: RR vs DD (Kimberley) - 4 PM
May 17: KXIP vs DC (Johannesburg) - 8 PM
May 18: CSK vs KKR (Pretoria) - 4 PM
May 19: DD vs RCB (Johannesburg) - 4 PM
May 20: CSK vs KXIP (Durban) - 4 PM
May 20: RR vs KKR (Durban) - 8 PM
May 21: DC vs RCB (Pretoria) - 4 PM
May 21: MI vs DD (Pretoria) - 8 PM

May 22: 1st Semi Final (Pretoria)
May 23: 2nd Semi Final (Johannesburg)

May 24: Final (Johannesburg)

Keep watching the biggest cricketing carnival of year 2009 and get thrilled for the next 45 days.

Google Trends and keywords as SEO tool

Moving ahead from my previous SEO topic about the SEO concept and understanding, today I will talk about the importance of writing a blog that is most searched on the web.

Despite using all the SEO tools, many finds that their blog is hardly visited. Well, there is no problem with one's blogging or the SEO tools used, but the problem lies in that we are not writing about the topics that people want to search for rather we are writing what we like. Well, if your are celebrity or have spent a lot in advertising, you can still get traffic to your blog, but if you are a newbee to the blogging world, you must understand the fact that you should write about the topics that are most searched on the Internet. These topics can be celebrities, daily news event, a sporting event, an economic crisis, an election issue or whatever that people see on TV, read on newspaper, or listen or radio. If you want to limit your blog to a particular geographical location, you should search for topics that are their in new in that particular location. Suppose you are a blogger from India, you might write about Bollywood, like Aamir and Shahrukh now friend now foes story or Salman and Katrina love but not marry story or Akshay's unbuttoning act or the current election fever in India.

Now to find such "hot" topics or cool trends, there are many tools available but the best one is Google Trends from the Google stable. This particular tool gives you all the latest trends making great on the Internet world.

Google search engine works in a pretty simple way. This analyzes the keywords and number of searches for that particular keyword and then displays a graph for one's interpretation.

The new search utility that Google has used that whenever you start entering some words to search, Google gives you the different options and the number of searches corresponding to that particular search item. So, if you want to choose your topic for today's blog, just go with Google Trend or just use Google search box to find out the most searched one topics and write on that. There are more than 100% chance that you will get some hits on your blogs in a few hours from any corner of the world.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

SEO and Internet marketing

The other day one of my colleague was asking me about what is SEO. He said that he is seeing the term SEO a million of times whenever he opens Google and searches for some blogs or anything related to SEO. It took me a bit of time to actually made him comprehend the term SEO and its significance in the world of Internet. I would also like to share my comprehension of SEO to my blog reader and fellow bloggers and how important the term is to taste success in the infinite world of Internet.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is basically a process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website or blog site from search engines by optimizing search engine results. The success of a website depends on its presence on the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Altavista, Ask, etc.

SEO is basically an Internet marketing strategy that takes into consideration how a search engine functions in terms of bringing out the search results and what the bigger population of public search for. The website optimization for search engine primarily includes optimizing its content and HTML codes to not only improve its significance to a particular keyword but to also delete all hindrance coming in the way of a search engine indexing activity.

To get indexed by the leading search engines like Google or Yahoo is the primary objective of every website and so they need to understand the concept of crawling. These search engines frequently crawls one's website to find pages for their algorithmic search results. Google also uses Sitemap program that tells webmasters about the problem faced by its crawler or Googlebot while crawling the website.

So, to understand the concept of SEO and use it perfectly is of paramount importance to every webmasters and blogger to succeed in the big ruthless world of Internet.

Keep coming back for more SEO concepts, training, and tricks.

Good luck to all fellow webmasters and blogger...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

One more guy in the house

Rishabh gets a call from his cousin brother Praveen that he is coming to Delhi to live with him. Praveen has been very close to Rishabh right from the childhood because Rishabh is only 2 months elder to Praveen and they have both completed schooling and college in the same year (though different schools and colleges). They have both grown up in Patna so Praveen is very close to him. Rishabh asks him to come to Delhi, though he himself is in no position to sustain Praveen because of his own poor financial condition. Praveen reaches New Delhi station one morning and Rishabh brings him to their Janakpuri house. Tina was also there in the house at that time, and the first question Praveen asks Rishabh is she also living with them. Rishabh tells him that she is their common friend and she likes spending her days with them so she spends her all days (and no nights) with them only. Once settled in the house, Rishabh tells Praveen everything about the company and financial situation but comforts Praveen that he should be able to take care of him as long as Praveen himself does not find a job.

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

The big fight

In the meantime, things have started getting murkier at the office. There are no regular training classes and the management people are hardly seen in the office. Rishabh has started getting more and more restless, while Kartik is enjoying his days with Tina. The other guys are also concerned but no one is willing to talk about the inevitable. Rishabh has started becoming more friendly with another colleague in the office, Vipin. Vipin is a local Delhi guy staying in Laxminagar and traveling everyday to Delhi on his bike. He is a very decent guy so Rishabh has become very close to him and spends most of the time in the office together (not to be taken otherwise…). Subhash, the girlish guy, is getting more and more frightened by Mani’s extremes and the things become out of control when Mani actually slapped him one night for some petty thing. Rishabh lost his temper completely that day and blasted all the three, including Kartik, Rahul, and Mani. He told them this is the last month they are living together and if any further fight in the house he will simply throw Mani out of the house. Mani is naturally agitated with Rishabh, but he does not dare say anything against him because of Rishabh’s serious nature and his support from all the four. They also advise Mani to behave more coolly because nobody wants to be out of the house in this torrid time.

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

The first salary

Finally a DTC night service stops at the bus stand and Rishabh quickly gets into the bus. He finally reaches home at around 1 a.m. in the night and throws himself into the bed without even thinking of changing. The most awaited morning finally comes and they are all into the office at 8:30. No one is interested in sitting on their computer unless and until some words come from the management, and the word does come. Each employee is called one by one and rather than getting cheque, they are given a cash of 2850 rupees as their first installment (!!!) of salary. The reason they are given is that the employees have not yet completed their project and their training development process is below the mark so they need to improve their performance in the next 15 days to get the remaining amount of salary. Everyone is stunned, but still nobody wants to come forward to oppose the management and so they accept the 2850 rupees in hopes that they will get the remaining salary in 15 days, so nothing to worry guys…keep moving. Rishabh is busy calculating how he will survive, giving 1350 as his part of the rent, 1450 to the tiffin service, and the full month ahead with no money and to go to Patna also to attend his cousin’s marriage. He decides to cancel the train ticket so that he will at least get back 250 rupees from the ticket.

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

The night before tomorrow

It has already been half an hour, and they have not been able to get a bus. Tina is getting restless as it is already 10 and after 10:30 entry to hostel is banned, so she asks Rishabh to get an auto so that she can reach by 10:30. Rishabh, with only 50 rupees in his pocket, still says yes as he does not want Tina getting barred to enter the hostel for being late and they take an auto to C.P. On the way, Rishabh is very calm thinking out how he will be able to pay auto fare and then come back to Janakpuri in the night. Tina finds this very unusual for Rishabh being so calm and not talking a single word and finally asks him why he is so calm, everything okay. Rishabh just says “nothing…it’s okay.” Auto reaches YWCA and Tina opens her purse to give the money. For once in the life, Rishabh feels so hopeless with himself not being able to say anything and just gets down the auto. Tina again asks him what’s the matter with him…but again Rishabh says nothing and waves goodbye and takes a leave. Back to the Parliament Street bus stand, it is 10:55 in the night and Rishabh getting restless how he will get back to Janakpuri if he does not get the bus now. Half an hour passed, still no sight of bus. Rishabh looks on his watch and freezes. It’s 11:30 in the night and no bus and only 50 rupees in his purse…how he will reach Janakpuri…and then the tension of tomorrow, the salary day…

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

An evening in Delhi

Spending evenings in any colony of Delhi is a different experience than any other cities in India. One can enjoy a feast of street foods along with serious bird watching with lots of love stories getting developed into one of the Monday bazaar or any other day bazaar that every colony of Delhi boasts of. A lot of love blossoms in the chhola bhatura redi at one of those bazaars. Frequenting the Monday bazaar has become the favorite pastimes for these five guys along with Tina, as Tina also spends most of her evenings with these five guys only to go back to YWCA in the late night accompanied by Kartik. Rishabh’s pocket is getting thinner with each passing day and he is eagerly waiting for tomorrow, the next salary day. To save money, Rishabh has curtailed his fags to only 5 a day a now from a pack a day, but still finding it difficult to maintain 5 a day now with his purse getting nearly empty. Rishabh has only a 50 rupees note left now in his pocket and nothing in his suitcase. Kartik was not feeling well that day, so he requests Rishabh to accompany Tina to her hostel that day as it was already 9 in the night. On other days, it would have been a great evening for Rishabh, but this evening with only 50 rupees in his purse, he really wanted to say no but he himself did not want Tina go alone in the night to C.P., so he just nods and takes Tina with him to the bus stand.

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Corporate hospitality

Corporate hospitality is the new buzzword in the corporate world. According to The UK Corporate Hospitality Market Development Corporate Hospitality is defined as any event for the benefit of an organisation entertaining clients or staff, or prospective clients, at the organisation’s expense.

In fact, corporate hospitality is one of the most effective and successful way of developing opportunities to make a network and strengthening corporate relationship. In the recent years, the term corporate hospitality has become the most chanted mantra as the as the cost of acquiring a new customer has risen almost four or five times the cost of keeping and maintaining one's existing client. The corporate hospitality plays a pivotal part in creating and sustaining customer relationships in the business.

Today, corporate hospitality has become a big business. UK corporate hospitality market is increasing everyday and today there are a lot of companies offering a lot of packages to suit everyone's pocket. Worldwide Sports Travel is one of the leading corporate hospitality provider that provides a lot of sports packages. They promise one of the finest facilities, banqueting and tailored packages . They specialise in providing high quality, client management at a competitive price.

Sardar and the poor guy

Rishabh gets the phone call from Patna. His cousin Ajay is getting married on the 18th. They all want Rishabh to come and attend the marriage, as Rishabh is the guy who brings the dancing masti…to all the marriages in his family. Rishabh also is excited to attend the marriage after getting the pay cheque so that he will spend the money coolly in Patna. Rishabh gets the train ticket booked for the 15th and return for 20th. Meanwhile, in the household tolerating Maninderjeet is getting unbearable for Rishabh. This sardar is so short-tempered that he often blasts Subhash for nothing, and Subhash being a simple girlish guy does not even dare to respond to him. Kartik and Rahul enjoy watching Subhash getting blasted by Mani. Rishabh does not like this at all but he does not want to get into this unless until the first pay cheque comes and then he is planning to move out of the house and live separately. The 2 long days pass and finally comes the next promised salary day.

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

The salary day

Today is the day everyone at Web Control International had been waiting for with bated breath. Because today is the salary day. They all are excited about dreaming to see Rs 10,000 as their salary on their hands and they all have made grand plans to booze and loose control in the evening. A normal day going on at office. Morning passed, no announcement for salary cheque. Afternoon passed, no announcement yet. At 3 p.m., Maninderjeet can't take it anymore and goes to the HR room to enquire about the cheque. We all are waiting for him to come back with the good news. He returns back in 5 minute saying that management has called a general meeting at 4 p.m. At 4:15 p.m., we get the news that salary payment is deferred for 2 days because of bank holiday tomorrow. Oh...god...Rishabh takes a deep breath and consoles himself by saying...don't worry...wait for another 2 days.

Kartik is the most disappointed guy today because he was planning to buy a nice dress for both himself and for Tina. Rishabh tells him to calm down and get the shopping done after 2 days when the salary will come.

Around 6 p.m., Alok comes to our house and very diplomatically asks about our salary thing. We just tell him that it is deferred for another 2 days. He seems very disappointed as well as he was hoping to get the rent for the new month. We assure him of giving the rent after 2 days.

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

A dream dining room

Always wanted to decorate your home like the way you seen in the movies and TV, but never really able to get what you had dreamt about. Well, the problem is money, little knowledge about the providers, and of course lack of a reference guide. Here is a nice solution for your home decoration needs, Table Runners.

Table Runners brings you cheerful printed table linens, kitchen accessories, and cute quilted bags to the market for over 15 years. Table Runners is brought to you by Pomegranate Inc. nestled in Horse Country. Their products can be found in over 2000 specialty gift shops, gourmet stores, department stores and catalogs nation wide. Their products are beautiful and affordable.

Table Runners cute quilted bags are very funny including duffels, backpacks, make-up bags, purses and casual totes. These can be personalized per your needs. Their flirty half-apron, fun ruffled oven mitts, and cute tea towels are really crazy.

So go ahead and get your dining space a new look by having Table Runners.

The dreadful 28th day

Back to Day 28th, it’s 10:30, but office still not opening. Even the security guard has gone somewhere. Everybody starting to smell something fishy but no one willing to think negative, after all everyone has deposited 50,000 rupees with the company. All the new joinees are still meandering meaninglessly in the community center. At 11:30, Mr. Nagarajan arrives at the office, just gives some busy excuses to everyone and asks everyone to be on their seats. Everyone takes a deep breath and says okay…no problem. Everything is okay. At 2:30, Mr. Nagarajan calls everyone for a meeting and says that the MD has gone to Chennai for some business purposes and our training manager has also accompanied him will be back by the 7th of the next month. So, that’s the end of the day 28th. Rishabh’s sixth sense is knocking at his brain and says wait…there is more to come in the coming few days. Be ready for something you don’t want to think about. Still, Rishabh pushes his sixth sense back down the last corner of the brain and gives himself a comforting pat on his own shoulder that don’t worry…everything is okay…nothing to think about…things will get back to normal.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

The three musketeers

Rahul is another character in Rishabh’s new household. He has come from Bhivani, also done his B.E. from one of the lesser known colleges in Karnataka. This guy believes in only one thing, having the coolest brand names in his wardrobe or at least the coolest tags if not the original. His favorite place in Delhi is Gaffar Market where he can get the coolest brands at the coolest price. For him, nothing is more important in life than flashing Tommy Hilfiger on his waist. He is not much interested in girls as long as they are not giving him some cool vibes. Then comes Maninderjeet, a true sardar in his own words. For him “Singh is King” is the mantra years before Akshay Kumar made it the national mantra. He is a simple graduate but believes there is no one else in the world smarter (!!!) than him. Lastly comes Subhash, a very girlish boy who is now trapped amongst these 4 ruthless guys. These guys have kept him with them because of their own personal benefit, as he would do all the chores, prepare tea, prepare breakfast, and even sometimes wash their linens.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

The love quadrangle..

As earlier mentioned, Rishabh is smitten by the simple charm of Tina, but to his dismay, Kartik is even more smitten by her. Tina is also very fond of our group, especially with Rishabh and Kartik. She starts sharing her life story also with them, and here comes another shocker. She has been deeply in love with another boy from U.P., his classmate in Moscow, so much they are in love that they can go to any extent. Rishabh and Kartik are both shattered after getting the news, but Rishabh being more diplomatic and cooler, handles the situation well and suppressed his feeling for Tina in his heart only and did not share it with anyone. On the other hand, Kartik even after knowing anything, is so much madly smitten by her charm that he wants to get her at any cost. Kartik has shared his feeling with everyone including Rishabh, Maninderjeet, Rahul, and Subhash but for Tina. On the other hand, there is another twist in Tina’s love life. Her parents are strictly against her choice as he does not belong to her cast, and they won’t allow Tina at any cost to marry him. Tina is staying at YWCA Girls Hostel near C.P. Kartik is so much fond of her that everyday he accompanies her to C.P. only to come back in the night to Janakpuri (pyar mein log kya..kya..nahi karte).

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Cool office life

Things were going fine for all the joinees of Web Control International. After a fortnight, everyone were asked to prepare a project on Oracle. Rishabh and Kartik decide to prepare “complete automation of a petrol pump.” They both are very excited about the project and they even visit a few of the local petrol pumps and even to the Indian Oil office in Hauj Khas to get feedbacks from them. They both are pretty confident of preparing and submitting the project well within the time frame (15 days).

Day 28th of their joining, all five of them reach office as usual at 9:30 after the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) both. Rishabh and Kartik are very happy as they have almost finished the documentation of their project and barring a few loops have finished their coding also. At Janakpuri Community Center, they see a lot of commotion going on. Almost 15 of the new joinees are having a heated discussion with the security guard of Web Control International as he is not allowing them to go up in the office. Kartik goes ahead and comes back with the news that the security guard has been instructed by the management not to open office today for reasons unknown to him.

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Management Introduction

An introduction session by the management team...Mr. Ramaswami, the managing director, is introduced as a highly experienced mechanical engineer with over 30 years of experience in both public sector and private sector and a good friend of special advisor (I am not giving the name for obvious reasons) to the Primer Minister of India. Mr. Nagarajan, Chief Operations Manager, another mechanical engineer with over 25 years of experience. Mr. Doraiswami, Training Manager, a software engineer (finally someone related to software) with over 15 years of experience. Radha Pillai, HR manager, a very attractive lady in her late 20s or early 30s.

All the joinees are highly impressed by the introduction session, but for one thing, that everyone is South Indian (something fishy smells...). Anyhow, the first day went smoothly with everyone given the first lesson in SQL concepts and everyone happy, though no one clearly understood (I bet) a single concept.

Back to the home in Janakpuri by 3:30 p.m. First day, so an early leave. Alok, landlord's son, comes to meet us, a young guy of 22, a guitarist but very shrewd (a la typical Delhite). Very polite and very sociable, but very diplomatic. Alok gets quite friendly (???) with us and starts divulging names of the gals in our lane that we can see standing in their balconies (favorite pastime for Delhi girls in evening) with either a nephew or niece in their arms or a cordless phone (mobile was not that much a common site that time). In half an hour, we knew a lot about at least 6 girls in our lane.

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

First day in office

All the 5 reach office by 9 a.m. with an exciting dream of entering the dream world of WWW. 50 new joinees, 30 computers in the office, well not bad at all. Each one is asked to make a pair to share the computer between themselves. Rishabh and Kartik decide to work together so is Rahul and Maniderjeet and so on...Kartik decides to join Rishabh because he has MBA with specialization in Information Systems and and Rishabh joins Kartik because he has done B.E. from Ramaiya College, Bangalore. Well so far so good...everything seems to work fine. They are given introduction in SQL and soon to become an Oracle expert...Reference books are being given from the office library to be returned back next morning. Rishabh gets introduced to other guys and gals in the office. He gets introduced to a very cute-looking girl wearing pink salwar, kurta who also seems very shy at first look. Rishabh instantly gets smitten by her veiled charm (waiting to explode). Her name is Tina. She has done her engineering in Electronics from some college in Moscow...well those days every third students from India were going to Russia to pursue either Medical or Engineering. Tina was also one of them having done her B.E. in 5 years (1 year Russian + 4 years B.E.). She had come from the Gadhwal region, Rishikesh to be particular. Rishabh finds a very striking similarity between Tina and Suhani (another Gadhwali girl from Rishabh's MBA days...will talk about her later), so another love story about to unfold...

To be continued...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar