12 Commandments in a Bachelor’s Life – it’s a Freak On

1. Thou shall not make credit card your girlfriend (she puts you in a comfort zone)

2. Thou shall not make a sports bar your home during UEFA, FIFFA, World Cup, etc. (Cricket included too)

3. Thou shall distinguish yourself from boring men and shall wear more of wacky casuals at work (what will girls look at otherwise?!)

4. Thou shall not be lazy and do laundry on your own (can appoint a washing machine)

5. Thou shall stay fit and not put on scotch or beer fat (avoid seeing last few minutes of Boston Legal)

6. Thou shall not buy a two seater Peugeot car but a simple four seater Honda (Peugeot is swankier)

7. Thou shall learn to dance just in case

8. Thou shall not limit life to Nintendo and Xbox 360

9. Thou shall not depend on pizza, chips and coke for dinner

10. Thou shall make sure not to ogle at a hot girl passing by

11. Thou shall not laugh at the plight of married friends (Pss. its unavoidable)

12. Thou shall follow The Guy Code by Barney Stinson(its Legen…………………….dary)

Allegria by Cirque Du Soleil

My morning begins lazily with a shave after a week. Today Cirque Du Soleil is performing in town and our company has a single VIP pass for the show. To those unfamiliar with CDS, it started as a street performing troupe in Quebec city, eastern Canada. It debuted on the big scene in the entertainers' festival in 1982 with a group of young street performers. Its 5:00 pm and I am ready to head to the event wearing a green striped sailor shirt and dark brown quadros. The show starts at 20:30 but all of us with free passes are forced to head early to accept our individual loyalty felicitations.

Being a distributor’s event I get to meet the individual product manager’s in their best suits and their best moods. Free flowing drinks and delicious savories are generally the highlights of such an event and speaking to my business colleagues I realize they have no clue of CDS but are there in this event just for the food and wine. I would not use names to avoid local bashing but every party like this has a Star, Flirt, Bar sitting Drunkard and a Foodie. Being new to all this, yet, I jeopardize terming myself a Foodie. Probably, being the youngest at this event I don’t mix with the crowd too well but sit in the corner due to the maturity difference with a glass of wine, a duck starter and garlic chocolate croissant analyzing everyone’s mood, seeing each type of people listed above laughing within. After useful socializing we all head to our seats for the show.

The stage is probably smaller than one our very own Indian Jumbo Circus uses and I see the senior clown beginning with a frown and signaling the organizers that they have been slow.

The crowd starts. Wow. Loud thundering synchronous symphony claps. I am surprised with their popularity. I join the crowd. The band marches through the crowd. Centre stage the lead singer melodiously greets “Allegria, Welcome to Cirque du Soleil, Let the show begin!” The troupe consists of clowns, acrobats, muscle men, slender women and kids. Each one of them has a mask or has painted his face. It is difficult to distinguish whether it’s a man or woman performing. Second round of performance men jump from here and there; over someone on Russian bars. The clowns were a sight. A particular contortion act of two Mongolian girls I just can’t forget. It seemed they did not have bones and were made of cartilage! To sum it all the show was a fabulous one. One feels a fresh rush of fresh blood flowing through the veins after seeing such a show, Mark explains. It’s natural.

I probably was the lucky few to witness Cirque Du Soleil. I am told that business schools do a report on this troupe. I return home at 12:00 am, change clothes and go through the bag they gave us. I read the published manual. I reach the last page - Infiniti are proud sponsors. I read the contents. It says

“What do you think Allegria is? Not every child on the street will get to see this performance. It is a rallying cry to display their fervor. It is an inspiring display of strength, grace and ability!”

A feel of fresh blood flowing through my veins! I understand what Mark meant.

Gold: A Commodity every Woman Must Fear!

Glittering diamond set in gold is every woman perfect dream. It is this dream to fulfill drives many men and women crazy. This herald is to slow down the pace of those many a man and woman.

Lets begin by going to where it all starts!

Apaza starts his morning chewing cocoa leaves, mumbling a prayer in his native Quechua language; begins descending a 17000 feet icy tunnel at one of the Peruvian Andes. He crawls down the passage slowly, fearlessly ignoring explosives, toxic gases, tunnel collapses just to extract tiny bits of gold ore as a unit workforce to meet global demands. He does this without pay like foolish than gutsy businessman to receive a paltry sum on the 31^st day of the month; that is if he receives the ore. Called cachorreo- an ancient lottery system prevalent in the Andes guarantees you a sum at month end only if successful (if possible at work, it is every Managers dream come true).

Auric the chemical symbol for gold transcends beauty, power, wealth and fame; it has fueled many wars, wiped dynasties, destabilized economies, leveled land and forests. Every society through ages has invested in gold with an almost mythological power. Gold is said to bring immortal powers. A plenty of Chinese and English fables denote the mysterious power of gold.

Gold in present years has not lost any of its charm. It affects the present power force - stock markets heavily. Small fluctuations in price sways the indices nearly a percentage at the minimum. Peter Bernstein author of Power of Gold rightly says “Gold has this kind of magic. But it’s never been clear if we have gold – or gold has us”. Investors have become a little smarter and have taken a step further. They don’t run after physical gold now, but fund companies procuring the gold in a quest to make a quicker buck. In 2007 alone 53.5 Billion dollars worth of gold was sold. There are snail activist campaigns like “No Dirty Gold” in US persuading top jewelers to sell gold from mines that cause environmental and social damage.

In all of recorded information nearly 161000 tons of gold has been mined, only enough to fill two Olympic sized swimming pools of which half has been extracted in the past five decades. Now these precious deposits are fast depleting and gold is being reared from the fragile corners of the globe. The work force however doesn’t seem to have diminished. Large equipments so ironic to their name like the Caterpillar sized at 21 feet long and 43 feet high can nearly scoop of a mile wide pit of mud in non noticeable time. These gashes look like moon craters when viewed from space. Large gold mining companies bring in the Caterpillar and station them at places near dormant volcanoes or places where they find traces of copper which is always found with gold.

Gold mining generates more waste per ounce than any metal. Extracting a single ounce of gold – an equal amount for the wedding ring – requires removal of more than 250 tons of rock and ore. Newmont, a Denver based mining giant now operates over five continents, from lowlands of Ghana to uneven Andes. Companies like Newmont cause ecological destructions, forced relocations pushing the villagers further into the forest.

Manpower at an improvised and organized gold mine include boys not more than 15 years sluicing for gold. Four percent of Ghana is officially owned by mining companies. A gory figure of 25% of the gold hunger worldwide is satisfied illegally. Many miners at mines don’t officially exist. There are no payrolls – just cachorreo if you bring in gold ore. The lucky few miners can earn upto 3000 dollars per year. This is nearly equal to the amount of time he has lost in life breathing toxics. Mercury used for separating gold from rock accounts for one third of global mercury toxic waste. After torching a bag full of ore carried down from the high hilled mines a merchant at the base extracts 1.1 gms of gold barely enough to feed the miner for a day. The myth that gold brings immortality comes at the cost of the miner’s mortality.

Gold obsession in India is frenzied. China doesn’t stay too far in this race. It surpassed America consuming 363.3 tons. Indian figures stand at 773.6 tons (statistical data of 2007)! Even though a per capita income of less than 2700 dollars, Indians proudly are in love with gold more than money. Akshay Tritriya an auspicious gold buying day in the Hindu calendar gulped 49 tons of gold in a day. Gold among us is a symbol of independence and upward mobility.

It is not only that diamonds come from shedding blood. Gold has a similar origin!

e-Commerce on the World Wide Web

The planning of strategic giving needs to start with the generated motion. Through this post, I will set that generated motion to setup a thinking point for each one of you. The word release here is not to give away and state my opinions, rather to entice you to opine what you perceive, of what is put forward here by me.

Creating thinking motion does not mean manipulating or exploiting people, but it does mean recognizing their needs, fulfilling those needs and then offering people an opportunity to give back.

The generated kinetic energy of this discussion will be used set us into momentum; help one and all perceive the changes required, take part in production, development of what is needed.

The so called global world is really fast; it leaves us with morning time to savor flakes and milk both of which were processed in factories with an added boost of vitamins and, but naturally with preservatives. A major chunk of us head straight to work then with a personal aim for the day to strive and give the company we work in, something useful in return for that kinetic energy generated.

The web has made life easier for 1.4 billion users like you and me. It has created a platform to exercise our views, without the fear of being noticed.

Here is the object of the discussion. THE WORLD WIDE WEB and its convenience.
The world wide web (hereafter after called WWW), is a platform where one can express opinions, feel pain and pleasure, obtain knowledge, look for products after comparison and then source products.

The problem is here. We often use the WWW to obtain information on products we desire for but the trust factor to source and purchase them is low.

Here is a couple of points one should consider while makes purchasing on the WWW
1. Site selling counterfeit and bad quality products can be avoided by seeing the overall quality of the images, the look and feel of the website and how much the merchandiser has invested in making the website.
2. Look for logos of various authorized companies which brand the website and add safety. A few regular examples are Verisign Secured, HackerSafe, McAfeeSecure, CyberTrust, etc.
3. Avoid looking for sites selling cheaper version /cheaper products.
4. For payment methods try using third party payment websites like Pay Pal, Verisign Pay, DalPay. It guarantees and secures your payment by avoiding use of personal credit cards which otherwise could be stored and used for fraudulent means while transmitting data.

We often look for certain conveniences to speed up work and then we come up with a list of “I wish’s”….

1. I wish the product is delivered to me at cheap rates.
2. I wish I could avail of considerable discounts on products I purchase on a regular basis.
3. I wish I can purchase all my company needs through the website.
4.
5.
6.

And the list can go on!

I request each one reading this blog wishing to comment on this and write an “I wish for ” along with.

And to end this blog with no relevance to what is written above a quote hired from one of quote websites. :)

“A selfish person chooses to betray and the person who thinks about common interest chooses not to.”

Its all about business Honey. This one is an inspired one

The success of operations of the franchisor lies more in selection of a suitable franchisee apart from a tried tested and proven system, feasible business plan, sufficient profit centres, and motivated employees. We shall discuss the traits that make a franchisee successful.

The characteristics that make an individual, a successful franchisee are that they are prepared to follow the franchisor's tried and tested system, are self motivated, prepared to work full time in the business, capable of managing people and ofcourse a good leader.

Successful franchisees are able to handle high stress levels. Initially, in a franchise venture the factor that determines the success and failure of the venture is the amount of dedication, determination and commitment of the franchisee. If the franchisee just believes in the franchisor and keeps investing his time and passion in the business, he is more likely to be successful.

Belief in the system: Entrepreneurs have an almost irrepressible need to reinvent the wheel based on their incredible optimism and confidence in their ability to figure out how things should be best done to maximize results. Successful franchisees, on the other hand are looking for operating proven systems. They don't want to have to start from the grassroots and try to discover the best way to do a particular thing. They want a proven system that tells them the best way to do anything associated with their line of business. They are willing to learn from others to avoid making mistakes, so they can be more successful more quickly. Being patient is important. Some stores take a little while before they turn profitable. Buying a franchisee is not a license to make money minus the hard work.

Contribution to the network: Successful franchisees that have completely gelled in the system, start contributing in terms of ideas and innovation to get ahead of the competition. As franchising in India is still at a nascent stage, the no. of national players are few. And they face competition from different regional players in different markets. Often, the franchisee is best able to determine as to how he can get the better of the market and along with the strong back-end support of the franchisor can achieve strong results.
Support and Training: Successful franchisees always ask in doubt, they are always looking at ways in which they can increase efficiency and profitability of the business. Franchisees make a considerable investment in the business in terms of time and money; they often have their life savings at stake and hence cannot risk straying away from a set system standards. They constantly ask advice of the franchisor support staff and other successful franchisees and follow the advice

Effective Interpersonal Skills: The most successful franchisees have extremely effective interpersonal and leadership skills. These skills help them create value, enable loyalty and establish trust in the minds of their employees and consumers.

And of course, a franchisee must choose the right company to partner with. Success as a franchisee not only lies in having the discussed qualities but also in selecting the right co. The prospect should evaluate atleast twenty five opportunities, before finalising a particular franchise opportunity. This would ensure that he has paid attention to several details, which may not necessarily be brought to the attention of the franchisee. They are hundreds of opportunities available. He should seek professional counsel from lawyers, chartered accountants and existing franchisees before investing in a franchise to avoid making expensive mistakes.

My Budget trip to Muscat gone over board

Muscat is a small city lying along the coast of Oman. The city is covered with roughly shaped mountains and elegant Islamic architecture. Muscat is one of the thriving capitals of the world where high rises have really not reached. Houses are still the traditional type along tiny and well connected pathways but confusing enough for the average traveler to get lost. The city is filled with Omani’s (the locals), Indians (mainly Keralites), Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and couple of other nationalists.

This article will revolve around my personal trip in Muscat; the fun I have had and list of precautions one should take on trip like this.

Time of Visit: Eid break I took from office (October).

Currency for Expense : Major- Omani Riyal in denominations of 1, 5, 10,20,50,100 , Minor- Baisa in denominations of 25,50,100,500.

1 OMR = 111 Rupees = 9.5 AED = $ 2.6

Day 1 (October 1, 2008)

I started my trip at 7 am from home in hurry to catch a flight at the Sharjah International Airport to Muscat at 8 am. It’s a 1 hour flight to Muscat and the city looks boring from the top with brick and mud houses painted in white.

With a little research on Google managed to figure out that inexpensive hotels can be found near Muttrah Round About. The drive from the Al Seeb International Airport is about 40 Km, takes 20 minutes and costs about 9 OMR. A friendly taxi driver (mind it they all are friendly when they are paid what they ask for) whose speedometer needle never fell below 120km/hr took me Muttrah Round About and was with me till I found a hotel room. After surveying the over booked Corniche, Al Mina, Al Marina, Fanar hotel I finally took shelter in a culturally decorated Naseem Hotel with the help of Sam (the Keralite hotel manager), who advised me to stay in hope a Pilipino was leaving and would vacate my room of two nights. He asked me to hand over my passport to him for the details; when I asked for it back made me pay my 30 OMR in advance to be safe on his front. At the reception I met Dr. Kattan, an Iraqi Nationalist and Ex Director of Graduate Program - Engineering Systems and Management of the American University and thanks to the book I was reading I could speak, connect and understand what the Doctor was really saying. He was there a day earlier with his wife, daughter and a son who suggested Ruwi was a nice place to visit.

My hotel room had a neat double bed, a desk to read, warm lights, and a 1985 Toshiba TV connected to a digital receiver (my only source of idiotic visual entertainment for the next two nights). After a quick refreshing bath I head straight for lunch to fast food joint. Lunch at fast food joints really isn’t one should have on trips like these but seeing a couple of foreigners sipping juices offered in huge glasses I couldn’t really resist the temptation. I bought myself a medium sized Mix Fruit juice with Chicken Egg Cheese Omlette Burger costing me 1 OMR 900 Baisa (will be referred in the form of 1.9 OMR ahead). I spent the rest of my afternoon in bed waiting for the sun to get cold and set in the water front right opposite my hotel.

Evening I change into comfortable shorts with sneakers on and go for a 1.5 km walk along the coast shifting my eye from the clear waters on the left and 100 ft ranges on the right. Muscat has an open port and containers docked bring in mainly cars like the Land Cruiser, Corvette, Toyota (the city favorite), Mazda, Hummer, Porsche etc. There is a small ride park made by carving and smoothening one of the mountains for the children with decent rides for kids aged 10-16 years. Evening was again spent in the same food joint but this time with a huge glass of Grape juice (1.5 OMR). Early dinner was shortly followed at a local restaurant - Hummous, Kapus (local bread), delicious Chicken roasted leg and a salad entirely costing just 1.1 OMR. I take my regular post dinner walk eating chana. The rest of the time is spent seeing CNN with bombing news somewhere, an update on Somali pirates, an unnecessary quick relief 700 Billion Dollar bail-out plan proposed for the US banks and then The Rocketeer on Fox Movies (a yester year fictional movie of a flying man with combustible rockets as back packs which more is a reality today).

Day 2 (October 2, 2008)

Today began early at 6 am with a walk along the water front and a live view of the Battle of Sexes between egg laying crabs. Crabs were climbing up the bank wall of Muttrah and laying tiny white eggs in the sea bed. There was a point when two crabs crossed the same path leading to a tussle causing one of them to lose balance and fall in the water, the fallen one climbs again and continues. There were steps going down to the sea bed to get closer to the crabs but a group of 10 crabs and a hungry stomach made me retrace my steps and head back to the hotel.

After an expensive English breakfast of toast, omlette and tea (1.2 OMR) I took a local transport (200 Baisa) to Madinat Al Qaboos mosque – it contains the world’s largest single piece of Persian Carpet capable of seating 6000 people at any time. Sultan Qaboos is the ruler of Oman. I was so mesmerized by this mosque that I forgot to visit the Alam (Royal) Palace and the Al Merani & Al Jalani twin forts which I really do regret.

On my return ride to the hotel I stopped by at Ruwi (little India of Muscat) giving me a feeling for the first time that I was in a city; holding the Muscat Securities Market, Ernst and Young office and a couple of prominent corporate offices and malls. After a regular boring brunch at KFC, I took a taxi back to a shut fish market at Muttrah Souq which looked no different than the standard Indian fish market. Again heading to the Fast food joint and this time with another Mix Fruit Juice doubled with Ice cream.

After a 2 hour nap I take a sharing taxi to Qantab Beach at 5pm in hope for a swim. Seeing the crowd I get intimidated and wonder where so many people turn up from suddenly. The overall cleanliness was commendable which one can never expect in any Indian beach. The funniest part was Indians formed a major set on the beach. To avoid the crowd I head straight to the one end of the beach, climb the rocky terrain and sit above at 40 ft on uneven surface matching my Khaki pants staring at the beautiful island the size of an iceberg filled with houses. It was painful to see how badly human intervention has made a mark in this city so mild, quiet and peaceful.

It turns dark pondering, realizing which I start making my way back to the coffee shop where I quench my thirst with Masafi (mineral water available in UAE). I call Abdul, my taxi driver of from Muttrah to Qantab and for 3 OMR he agrees to drop me back to the hotel.

After a quick shower I head straight to Ramee Guestline Hotel and enter the Rock Bottom Café (15 OMR for couples/singles). Suresh Gonzalvez, 32 is the Keralite bar tender whom I trust after a 5 minute conversation and handover some OMR bills and ask him to refill till I go rock bottom on my credit. A firangi band play soulful English music in three shifts taking breaks for people to digest the music and give the DJ a chance to play some standard hippie tracks. After a couple of drinks and little bit of coaxing Nichola, the brunette Lebanese band vocalist agrees to play me the last song of the evening - Hotel California which made my stiff body dance at the bar. They do have a community on Facebook but assume Tony the electric guitarist couldn’t pronounce that very well.

The DJ goes on till 3 am and I sit in one corner, watching a couple married for not less than 50 years dance Congo style to foot tapping music which was nowhere in sync. J This makes go to the floor and just shake my head. I was taken by surprise when two Koreans wanted to dance. I offered them a smile, did a quick Bhangra move and headed straight to the bar to avoid any unpleasantness.

I take a cab back to my hotel quietly agreeing to the price the driver suggests and head straight to bed after changing the shirt smelling of tobacco from the innumerous drunkards making me passively smoke.

Day 3 (October 3, 2008)

It starts as expected late at 10 am and I land up in Qurm Beach with the help of the local transport. I change into beach shorts there and enter the warm waters. The floor bed was knee deep at all times till 30metres inside away from the beach but still never managed to reach waist deep water. I get tired of trying to go further into the sea and try to enjoy myself in the calm waters. One of the travelers teaches me to lie dead on my back on water. After a relaxing time in the water for about an hour and a half I buy myself Strawberry and Vanila icecream and leave for home; rather I call it the hotel.

Lunch today is Chicken Biryani and Shari fish fry at another local restaurant. I check out the hotel as promised at 2 pm; Sam prepares my bill, returns me the passport, offers me Omani Halwa from his share and the taste tempts me to wait back at the reception to pick up some of the delicious Halwa when the Souq opens at 4. I while away time listening to my favorite tracks on my Sony MP3.

After some leather purchase, post cards and souvenirs for family, I rush to purchase Omani Halwa (2 OMR) at the fruit market just at the other end. I pick up two varieties one made of Black sugar and the other of white. I sit in a sharing mini van driven by boy who looks no more than 18 years for a 40 km ride to the airport for an agreed price of 600 Baisa. He picks and drops people at various points just like a normal mature taxi driver and treats Bengalis (Bangali is what it sounds like) a little harshly. For company I have a Pakistani trailer driver sitting beside me wearing a prominent red stone ring with Muslim hat heading back to his labor camp at Seeb. After a couple of stops and a 45 min ride I reach the airport, and pay of the boy and he leaves greeting Salaam Valequm. I reply saying Walequm Asalam.

At the airport after making quick calls with balance from a 2 OMR pay phone card, I meet two pretty girls - an Indonesian and Indian at the food counter at Papa Johns. My flight being the earlier one I parcel the meal and board in at 8:00 pm. My pilot was a woman from Spain and the crew attendant smiled at me reassuring it is absolutely safe to which I smiled and said nothing (as reassurance was not needed).

I smile again to see familiar faces on the flight (maximum were the ones who flew with me from Sharjah to Muscat) and meet a careful and intimidated Barclays Retail Banking executive, Indian with an accent sounding like an American’s, who also happened to be at Rock Bottom Café the previous night who had seemed to have a nice evening with his companion.

I order myself a coke on the flight to go along with my meal and before I am finished the crew inform all (courteous attendants do the formalities) except me to prepare for landing. I am sure it must have been my sleeveless shirt which made them think I was a regular flyer and used to this.

At Dubai Immigration instead of standing in the scary long line I head straight to Duty free and pickup a couple of things for office fellows and join the line which by now looks shorter for Passport stamping and feel bad that I am back in Dubai (even though it precisely 2 months 3 weeks old).

Outside I see colleagues, Shankar and Rajesh waiting for me and we head straight to home after refueling at a fuel station.

This journey is one of my bravest things I have done to date where I have argued with the Dubai Immigration, lost my return tickets (procured it, with giving access to mails to a friend, courtesy Kedar), traveled to unfamiliar land and made friends with people who in my country are hated. This experience will not remain too long in memory lane as I am planning more like this soon, but to other places.

Till then, plan this trip out with spending more time in the city!