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500 rupee note

2010-09-05T22:04:00.007+05:30

Once upon a time ;)..i went to BSNL's office with my cousin to get the landline connection. I was shocked to hear that now the complete connection with telephone set and wire is available for Rs.100 (last time we paid Rs.2000 including chai pani of atleast 3 people + our own wire and waited for 2 months but thats a different story.) Unfortunately i wasnt ready for this sudden burst of happiness and was carrying a 500 rupee note (one of the few left from my very very hard earned money :P.) As we know that biggest problem which we Indians are facing (behind Dengue, Inflation, Corruption, Maoist Attack, Commonwealth games .........) is change and as expected i had to borrow 100 rupees from my cousin.

When we were on our way back home, my cousin asked me to stop by a pan shop to satisfy his urge of national pastime of India...Smoking. So i stopped at a pan shop near my home. I decided to buy everything myself so that i can get a change of my 500 rupee note and pay back my cousin's money. Whole shopping was worth Rs.25 and shopkeeper said it loudly that that he wont give us change as soon as i took out my note. I was actually expecting that and i took some soft drinks to make it Rs.75. He didnt say a word and gave me back a whole lot of change.

After some days we had some puja at home and mom asked me to bring some pan leaves for that. I went to same pan shop and asked the shopkeeper for leaves. I told him i want leaves for Puja so they shouldnt be damaged from anywhere. He gave me and asked for 10 bucks. Unfortunately again i had a 500 rupee note and although unwilling to, he asked me to pay back later since i was taking them for puja.

Then i never got chance to go back to his shop and i thought he must be cursing me for not showing up. Finally after almost 20 days, which is average time we Indians take to forget about any money we owe to someone, i went back to buy something. After the deal was done and i showed my back to him, my subconscious gave me a jerk. I immediately took out 10 bucks and handed it over to him saying that they were due on me. Both of us were having two things in common. Both of us were surprised and for same reason.

He: Becoz he didnt remember (maybe it was too small amount to remember to him.)

Me: Becoz he didnt remember (I thought that heartless guy would have cursed me a thousand times for 10 bucks. )

Nonetheless i left with satisfaction in my heart and thought may be i was a bit harsh. But destiny had more for me and today i was there again, buying something. As i reached he very warmly pointed out that both of us were having 'Goti' (which i tried for the first time today ;)). I smiled and asked for 2 things. One of the thing was not present at his shop so he grabbed the money from my hand and rushed to the nearby shop. He came back and gave me both the things. I was pleasantly surprised. When he was looking for the balance, i thought something and decided to take a test. I asked "hey man, can you give me change for this?" and handed the same old big 500 rupee note :P. He looked at me, smiled and handed the change with the balance.

Point which i got and want to make here (apart from, i am a frequent borrower and you might want to think about it before taking a chance as soon as i show up on your door ;)) is that, Trust among humans is at such a low level, that if you can stretch yourself from meanness to normal humanness, you can bring a lot of goodness out of others.

Be good, Do Good!!

Amazing Facts- Part I

2009-05-01T01:35:00.002+05:30

QUICK FACTS

Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult!

Men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women!

The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9000 years old!

Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people!

Bats always turn left when exiting a cave!

A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off - it dies from starvation!

R U PATIENT ENOUGH?

Heron of Greece suggested the used of steam power in 50 BC. But the leaders of the day thought that it would cause unemployment which may lead to unrest and the invention ran out of steam. Steam technology known to the Chinese by 800 BC. Plato, in his Hero of Alexandria of 150 BC, mentioned some 70 steam inventions. But the steam engine reappeared again only in 1698 when Thomas Savery invented a steam pump. The first practical steam engine was the atmospheric machine of Thomas Newcomen in 1701.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are witren, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

In the 6th century BC Greek mathematician Pythagoras said that earth is round - but few agreed with him. Greek astronomer Aristarchos said in the 3rd century BC that earth revolves around the sun - but the idea was not accepted. In the 2nd century BC Greek astronomer Erastosthenes accurately measured the distance around the earth at about 40,000 km (24,860 miles) - but nobody believed him. In the 2nd century AD Greek astronomer Ptolemy stated that earth was the centre of the universe - most people believed him for the next 1,400 years.

It is widely proclaimed that April Fool's day originated in France in 1562, or thereabouts, when Pope Gregory replaced the Julian calender with the Gregorian calender in the Julian calender month of April. The day of introduction of the Gregorian calender was made the first day of January. Some people hadn't heard about the change in the date, so they continued to celebrate the New Year's Day, but it being 1st April. So, others called them "April fools."

Information On GRE, TOEFL & GMAT

2009-02-07T14:42:00.007+05:30

This post contains the matter of a lecture which was held in TPO Seminar hall at MNNIT Allahabad on 15th January 2009. The lecture was given by Mr. Madhuresh Rai (Maddy, as we call him), who is our Alumnus and is pursuing MS in Finance from IIT, Chicago SSB (which is certainly not Indian Institute Of Technology). I am presenting it in form of an interview to make things interesting (don't get surprised, even i didn't know about an MS degree in Finance).

Jammy: Hie Maddy, how are you doing? (This is just to start, i still call him 'SIR' :P)
Maddy: Hello, I'm absolutely fine.

J: So, how did you know about MS in Finance?
M: Actually my interest always was in Finance. When i started searching about courses in Finance, i came to know about MS in Finance through my seniors on Orkut.

J: So, you got in through GRE or GMAT?
M: I got in through GRE but some of the universities do accept GMAT score for MS in Finance.

J: Tell us about GRE.
M: The things which matter most in GRE are Time, Centre & Place. Never give GRE in a centre where there is any kind of disturbance. I remember people giving GRE in a room at a centre in Allahabad where all the generator smoke was coming in. This will surely hamper your performance because its all about the D-day on which you have to perform. Also, give it on that time when your mind is absolutely fresh. Starting it at 9 AM or 10 AM is perfect for me. You can practice some questions before leaving for the examination to get your mind working.

J: How much time do you think is sufficient for preparation of GRE?
M: I think 3-4 months of preparation is enough.

J: Can you suggest some study material?
M: Norman Lewis Eng. Grammar (Word Power Made Easy).
Barrons for word list and to revise before exam.
Big Book - only for exam practice and for strategizing.

J: Other suggestions.
M: Look beyond word list. RCs and Analogies are equally important & tough. Maths is also important. Best time to take GRE is after your final year because life can get really busy in offices. One more thing which i want to tell is that the Analytical & Argumentative Writing is also important & you can use online material for its practice.

J: Tell us about TOEFL.
M: There are 4 sections in TOEFL namely Reading, Listening, Speaking & Writing.
Reading is quite easy and there are 2-3 passages.
Speaking is a section where we Indians loose marks. Only way out is to practice hard. You should practice like by preparing for 15 sec and then speaking for 45-60 sec.
Listening section can be tricky because the topics vary and the topic which is not of your interest can distract you.
Writing section is quite easy.
One thing that i would like to suggest is hear the barron's cd first and then take online help. Speak to yourself and go slow in exams.

J: Tell us about other things involved.
M: Many people have this misconception that GRE score alone matters for applying in foreign universities. I am giving an order of preference according to the relative importance of things :-

Statement of Purpose.
Letter of Recommendation (From Project Guide, Professors etc).
Resume (Take care of the US Format which is different from Indian format).
Transcript.
GRE Score.
TOEFL Score.

Statement of Purpose is most important and you can get an idea about how to write an SoP from 'essay.com'. Style and formats of SoP varies for different colleges.
For LoR, you have to take care of few things like ways to seal, how to fill the envelopes, No. of recos/Academic and Professional recos etc. Getting a reco from project guide is easy. The letter pad of different colleges are different like in our college official letter pads are in Hindi, which is unacceptable in US. So, its better if you can type the letter pad yourself.
As i already said, take care of US format of Resume. You can take help from Stuart Resume Guide.
Take your transcripts just after your final year otherwise it will be difficult to get time from the job for getting that.
Your GRE score helps in getting scholarships. You can retake GRE if you want but the score will be averaged, so its better don't submit your test if it has gone bad and you know you can do better. You will lose Rs. 8000 but you will save your career.
TOEFL score is not that important if you clear a minimum cutoff in each section.
Do mail your details to the program directors of the colleges in which you are applying, to evaluate your probable selection, which can save your lot of money.
Remember that the interest percentage on loan in US is very less (its like 0.7%-1%), so never take loan from an Indian bank.

J: Tell us about GMAT.
M:

Scores in GMAT matters a lot as most of the b-schools want to maintain their average GMAT score which is a matter of prestige for them.
Work-ex do counts a lot and most of the colleges have a compulsory requirement of Work-ex.
Never underestimate the 'Essay Writing' part, it is quite important.
Other things which you need is strong resume and stress on extra-curricular activities.
Don't hope for much scholarship even after getting a very high score. One of our senior who got a score of 780 didn't get 100% scholarship in Tier-I b-schools in US, so he took admission in a Tier-II b-school with 100% scholarship.
Its quite easy to get admission if any of your alumni has already gone into that college because people in those colleges don't know about colleges in India until some one gets through. It is also possible that you belong to a very good college in India and you are not getting admission whereas people from an average college are getting admissions regularly because of this very reason listed above. So its logical to find some alumni who are doing MBA or MS in different universities and then apply. You can do this with the help of Orkut, Facebook etc. or the alumni network of your college.

J: Are there any options other than MS & MBA?
M: I think in Finance you can give the exams of NCFM and CFA.

NCFM is an exam conducted by NSE and it contains 15-16 levels. The other great thing about NCFM is its excellent study material which can enhance your knowledge of Finance a lot.
CFA is a degree which will make your MBA degree secondary. It contains 3 levels and the study material is easy to get through people on Orkut.

J: The question which is bothering my mind from a long time is, what is the difference between MS in Finance and MBA in Finance?
M: MS in Finance is basically Finance, Finance & only Finance whereas MBA in Finance also contains many other things like logistics, operations etc. The courses are different and MS in Finance has a very compact and to the point course. MBA in Finance is quite expensive and fees of MS in Finance lies between the fees of MBA and MS in other disciplines. One more major difference is we have a very small no. of classes as compared to MBA :P.

J: Thank you Maddy for your time and the valuable information that you gave to us.
M: The pleasure is all mine as i got to visit my college which i used to miss a lot.

For any query and detailed information about something or to get the samples of SoP, LoR, Resume, Resume Guide and other things, mail me or chat to me on majicofanmol@gmail.com.

Human Chain In Allahabad

2009-01-24T17:26:00.004+05:30

Terrorism is the annihilation of anything that is liberal, democratic and humane by creating euphoria for fear based on an ideological goal. It is the tour de force which is corrupting the living mind. Today everyone is looking around with askance. We have transformed from a society that was progressing to a society that is degrading.

The human mind is vulnerable as it is pulled in a thousand directions. A terrorist is exploiting this vulnerability for his own benefits. Those benefits may be individual or pertaining to a certain section of society. But no religion or ideology given by any learned man would justify killing innocent for making your voice felt. If your opinion or angst is justifiable then you don't have to detonate a bomb to see a change.

This human chain is to remove that vulnerability from our heads which has spread like wildfire and can now be seen everywhere. Just a little overhauling to remove the rust from the insides of our souls.

This human chain is to give a message to the world that the student community in Allahabad is awake on these issues and our voice does matter.

Come, Be the part of this human chain...1st february 2009...@ 10:00 A.M....Civil Lines Allahabad.

Join Our Community...Hands Held High...http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community.aspx?cmm=58831110

Marketing In Modern World

2008-11-21T19:56:00.000+05:30

The thing called 'marketing' constantly changes it's meaning due to various factors and circumstances. In recent times, the corporate world is facing lot of challenges due to liberalization, globalization, recession etc. Depending upon the challenges the marketer's strategies also changes. But due to the challenges which are in front of corporate sector in this modern world, the marketing strategy is bound to become more ethical because of public demand for socially responsible business because the sector has realized that ethical practices bear fruit in the long run.

The marketing strategy in the present scenario should be based on two major concepts- Consumerism & Environmentalism. The aim of strategy should be to project the consumers as a focal point of marketing. The strategies need to be dependent upon the analysis of consumer behavior to reveal the mystery of consumer's mind, so that consumers can be served better for enhancing consumer well being. Consumers are gaining more power to discriminate in their purchases. So the marketers should not ignore consumer's satisfaction to strengthen their position in the market. This involves providing more genuine product information, offering genuine warranties & guaranties, providing safe good quality products. Consumer satisfaction & acceptance can be optimized by stressing on process research and market intelligence research.

Environmentalism is a strategy which expects markets to bring a balance between satisfying consumer needs and maintaining ecological balance. It aims at protecting and enhancing the living environment so that the quality of life can be maximized. It discourages tools which make people buy more than they need, thereby causing depletion of resources.

Also the strategy should be based on innovative marketing. In the present scenario of rapid scientific advancement, changing technologies, the slogan which best suits is 'INNOVATE or PERISH'. But innovation alone is not important. Diffusion of innovation should be stressed so that the consumers can be convinced on the advantages & compatibility of new products.

In near future, conserver strategy waste management will rank high. Marketing strategy will be to promote more efficient usage and to teach consumers how to derive greater satisfaction from consuming less.