Cap on subsidised LPG cylinders is a good move

Industrialist and Congress MP Naveen Jindal- 369
Vice-President Hamid Ansari- 170
Vice-President Hamid Ansari- 62
Former Chief Minister Mayavati- 91
Tihar jail favorite, ex telecom minister A Raja -47
Diseased Former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar- 48

These numbers are the subsidized LPG cylinders delivered to the house of the ministers when the subsidy burden on LPG is estimated to be about Rs.25,000 crore. Subsidy is nothing but tax payers money which has multiple developmental use. By supplying one subsidized cylinders every day to rich industrialist like Naveen Jindal, the oil companies did nothing but pushing some tax payers money to industrialists’ house.

There are many small shops were one can get LPG car filled with subsidized LPG. Many restaurants use subsidized LPG cylinders. Many marriage halls used domestic subsidized LPGs to cook food for thousands of people. The tax payer’s money went in drain. If this was curtailed we could have saved thousands of crore rupees and used it for development purpose.

Restricting subsidized LPG to 6 cylinders a year is a good move by Government of India. Six cylinders may be the minimum requirement for a small family of 4. On average one LPG connection per family got 8 cylinders a year last year. While getting 6 on subsidy a family can get another two cylinders by paying full amount. This will definitely curtail the misutilization of subsidized LPG.

For government, reducing the subsidy expenditure will help in maintaining lower fiscal deficit. Lower fiscal deficit lowers the external borrowing. In total, though it is viewed as a tough decision by the government will definitely help in country’s prosperity.

Government should take some more brave steps to pay subsidy amount directly to the beneficiary through their bank account. This UID- unique identification – Adhaar number based subsidy scheme is already under pilot run in Mysore. This will definitely give justice to both the tax payer’s money and subsidy.

Akhand Bharat- Dream and the Reality

Akhand Bharat is a dream of many Hindu organizations in India and abroad. They want establish a Hindu Nation by uniting the Indian subcontinent which includes Pakistan, Bangladesh and some times even up to Malaysia where there are traces of monarchy of Indian kings were present. I strongly believe this idea of Akhand Bharat is unrealistic and be harmful to the nation. Recently Narandra Modi has revealed another face of Akhand Bharat.

In his most famous interview to Shahid Siddiqui of Urdu weekly Nai Dunia, Narendra Modi expressed his views on Akhand Bharat “My dream is that from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, people should be ek and nek (one and good)... It is the imperialists in Pakistan who are running a campaign for Akhand Bharat, so that Pakistan, India and Bangladesh can become one and this can be a Muslim-majority country... These people want to place Indian Muslims on the frontline and create tension.”

In reply to this opinion working president of Vishwa Hindu Parshad Dr Pravin Thogadia tweeted “No Hindu votes to him after he said: Those who campaign for Akhand Bharat are Pakistani Imperialists: In interview given to Shahid Siddiqi”. This tweet shows the tensed relationship between the Hindu organization and Modi. But Narendra Modi is partly right in his opinion about the Akhand Bharat. If Pakistan and Bangladesh unites with India the situation in India worsens as the majority Muslims of these countries will be welcomed by
pseudo secularists of the country and the life of citizens of India becomes miserable. We are already experiencing the tension in Assam due to the soft corner towards the Bangladeshi Muslims in Assam.

But John R Schmidt who served as political counselor at the US embassy in Islamabad, in his latest book ‘The Unravelling - Pakistan in the Age of Jihad’ tells the day might come when Pakistan might be reabsorbed into India the political unrest it may face in the future. Islamic terrorists might be able to seize a warhead and either use it for nuclear blackmail. Then US and India will be left with no other alternative option than “destroy all that was left of the Pakistani armed forces through the use of air power, with the US providing the air power and India the bulk of ground forces” He also tells "Once the dust had settled, the Indians and their US allies would then face a critical political question: what to do about the areas of Pakistan that had been brought under their control," they might incorporate the occupied territories into India, bringing about the final unravelling of the Pakistani state.

If it happens, dream of Hindu organizations may partially come true. Nothing can be ruled off in the present situation of terrorism and unrest in Pakistan. But I wish it won't happen.

Bhutan is all about Happiness

Public policies of governments in any nation should aim at the happiness of its citizen. Though many governments tell, their every policy is meant for creating happy nation, most of the times it fails. Our policies aimed at development of the nation in terms of GDP fails to keep the citizens happy, fails to meet sustainable development and protecting culture and environment. But in Bhutan "gross national happiness"(GNH) is important than Gross National Product.

I came across Bhutan's GNH and National Happiness Commission very recently when I was reading some piece of article on development. I was ashamed to be ignorant of such a beautiful system of governance, present at the neighbouring and most friendly country to India.

I was also surprised to read there is no National Planning Commission like one in India. Instead Bhutan has Gross National Happiness Commission. Every government policy has to pass through NHC so that the policy is in accordance with the four pillars of GNH viz promotion of sustainable development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance.

Bhutan has the policies that least 60% of the country's land must remain under forest cover at all times. It imposes the tariff of $200 a day for each foreign visitor to control the tourist and protect the environment and culture. Sale of tobacco products is completely banned. All Bhutanese are required to wear the national dress, and all buildings must conform to the national architecture to preserve the country's distinctive culture. Can we even expect such policies from our governments? Or ever our government will be think of implementing such policies against the hypocrisy?

It is not surprising fact that Bhutan is better in terms of life expectancy, GDP, GNI and Per Capita Income than other neighbouring Asean countries. One can google the data.

Inflation and developing economy

As an economy develops the per capita income also increases. Benefits of the development start reaching the bottom of the economical structure. Their purchasing power and thus demand increases, this increases the price. Increase in the price pushes them to earn more. They become more efficient to earn more to meet their requirement. Hence contributes in the development. Inflation causes the development. According to a Times report, inflation had been used as the tool by the Latin American governments for the economical development.

When the inflation becomes higher, government starts spending more on curbing inflation than development works. Giving subsidized food to the poor usually controls food inflations, which costs more for the government. The central bank increases the lending rates, which in turn pressurizes the banks to push their products at higher interest rate. The growth slows down.

Most challenging problem in the developing economy arises when it faces the problem of wage-price-spiral. When the economy develops, the industries see prosperity the workers demand for higher wage. Higher wages increases the cost of the products. Hence the manufacturer and the service providers increase the price of the product. This in turn affects the society and again a demand for the higher wage. This cycle is called as wage-price-spiral. Presently Indian economy is facing this problem and central bank accepts it is very difficult control wage-price-spiral.

Moderate inflation is always good for the developing economy. But development should not be an excuse for the central government and central bank for its failure to curb the problematic inflation.

Inflation is the second nature of developing economy. But development should always be the first nature.

Jul 1: State Bank Day

You might have seen front page advertisements by State Bank of India in today's major news papers across the country. State Bank celebrates State Bank Day by doing remarkable community service every year on 1st Jul, this year 14000 branches of SBI donated 140000 fans to the schools. So what is this State Bank Day?

Intention of forming State Bank of India post independence was to make the formal banking and financial service reach the every corner of the country. Though SBI has grown far bigger than any private profit making banks, its basic intention was social banking. Imperial Bank of India was functioning as commercial and as well as central bank during the period of British rule in India. But our leaders felt there should be our own, state owned banking institution to make the financial services reach the every corner of the country. In the year 1955 Reserve Bank of India acquired the central bank functioning from Imperial Bank. Similarly to perform the commercial bank functioning the Imperial Bank of India was renamed as State Bank of India.

This major break through in the Indian banking industry was started with an parliament act in the year 1955. State Bank of India was given legal recognition by the provisions of the State Bank of India Act of 1955 which came into force from 1 July 1955. This parliament act enabled SBI to be considered as 'state' and the employees to be 'public servant' giving more responsibility in making the banking service reach the public. On that day SBI had 480 branches. Immediate requirement was to expand its presence to make reach banking service to every citizen. Now State Bank controls nearly quarter of the banking business in the country.

So the day on which the new era of the Banking Industry in India has started i.e. July 1st is celebrated by State Bank of India and its subsidiaries as State Bank Day.

Why Should Change the Movie Title Dandupalya? Why Not Name of the Village?

“Why can’t you change the name of your village as Florida?”

This could be one of the funniest ever sentence told by the court. This happened during the public interest litigation filed by the villagers of Dandupalya, a village in Hoskote, near Bangalore to change the name of the title of the Kannada film Dandupalya.

Villagers claimed that the movie Dandupalya, pictured the notorious gang from the village Danduplaya which involved in robbery and murder later sentenced to death, impacts the image of the village. They also informed the court that due to these few criminals from the village, the whole village has got bad name and the villagers are suffering. Youngsters from the village are not getting seats in the colleges. It has become difficult for the villagers to get married due to the notoriety of the gang identified with the name of their village Dandupalay. They claimed the movie will further worsen the situation.

 “Why can’t you change the name of your village as Florida,” a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B.V. Nagarathna observed in a lighter vein, The Hindu reported on 29 June 2012.

Madan Patel directed movie Nityanada is also facing title dispute raised by the supportersof self portrayed god-man Swami Nityananda and Nithyananda Dhyana Peetam. Next time I wish it could be Swami Nityanada to get his name changed to protect himself from the impact of the movie Nityananda.

Also read Pooja Gandhi Nude for Dandupalya(?)

Hidden Agenda of Sending Pranab to Rashtrapati Bhavan

Why  Pranab Mukharjee should become president of India? Sonia Gandhi has reasons:
 
The Corporate Pressure: Sonia Gandhi is always known to have good relationship with corporates since from Bofors deal. Few important decisions of Pranab Mukharjee made the eyes of corporate red. He introduced retroactive tax in the 2012-13 budget, with regard to capital gains tax payable to the government on transfer of Indian corporate assets through Vodafone-style M&A deals held abroad. This provision angered British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had taken up the issue directly with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A report tells seven top US industry, trade and securities associations had sent written complaints against his 2012-13 budget to the US treasury secretary and secretary of state and wanted them to convey their concerns to the highest level of the UPA government. He was also keen in recovering the tax loss of Vodafone deal. So there was a corporate pressure to exit him from finance ministry to enjoy the loop holes of tax framework to enjoy the benefits of  tax heavens.


To make him exit from Finance Ministry: Sonia Gandhi was unhappy with Pranab Mukharjee for not convincing alleys in the recent decisions of finance ministry like the FDI in retail, foreign participation in pension fund management, foreign control in banking and insurance sectors and fuel price increase. A high inflation was seen during last couple of years leading to high interest rates which made industrial and development activities come down. This again resulted in a slow-down in FDI and FII inflows. So the prime minister and the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were looking for the exit of Pranab Mukharjee from the finance ministry.

To decide the next prime minister: Yet another most important reason why Pranab Mukharjee should be the President. Definitely PM Mr Singh will make way for new face in prime minister's office in next general election. Pranab was a potential candidate after Singh. Congress does not have another unquestionable leader to replace Mr Singh as Pranab will be in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Rahul Gandhi's way to PMO will be clear now. Or it may be Sonia Gandhi, as Mr Kalam is not there to stop her from becoming PM.

What Happened to Subhiksha?

 Once a favorite model of retail success, now a study of financial failure

It was in 1996 that the idea of Subhiksha (prosperity in Sanskrit), organized retail services came to the mind of Subramanian, and IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus. He opened the first shop in Chennai in March 1997. By March 1999 there were 10 Subhiksha shops in Chennai. Its unique discounting model enraged the retail trade in Chennai

By 2000 Subhiksha grew to nearly 50 shops in Chennai retailing groceries and medicines. ICICI Venture's decision then to pick up a 10 per cent stake in Subhiksha for Rs 15 crore gave the retailer enhanced credibility in the market. This money was used to expand outside Chennai, into the rest of Tamil Nadu. By 2002-03, Subhiksha had 140 stores across 30 towns in Tamil Nadu. Sales grew steadily. Cash flows were reasonable and debt, at Rs 15 crore against the net worth of Rs 23 crore, was comfortable.

Tamil Nadu was not enough for the growth of Subhiksha. Subramanian wanted to expand it all over the nation. There was two choices- expand Subhiksha in one state by one and expand many states at a time. The subhiksha model proved to be successful. He choosed second option. Between late 2004 and early 2007, Rs 160 crore worth of equity was raised. That apart, a debt of Rs 220 crore and a bridge loan of Rs 125 crore (for pending raising of equity from capital markets) was arranged to fund the national rollout.

On an average, 60 to 70 stores were added in a month. The pace of rollout is evident from the fact that till September 2006, Subhiksha had a store count of just 160, but by March 2007 it had shot up to 670 and by March 2008 to 1,320. By September 2008, it was 1,650-in all 1,500 stores were added ih just 24 months. 2006-07 and 2007-08 Subhiksha doubled the stores, tripled revenues and almost quadrupled profits

At the time of tough retail competition with the entry of Reliance, Tata and Aditya Birla group into the field Subhiksha had become the country's largest mobile phone retailer with an annual turnover of Rs 1,000 crore. The performance of Subhiksha attracted the investors. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, in March 2008, picked up the 10 per cent stake in Subhiksha that was offloaded by ICICI Venture for Rs 230 crore, pegging the company's valuation at Rs 2,300 crore.

That was the time for Subhiksha to capitalize Premji’s interest in the company. Company kept postponing the IPO. It did not want to dilute the shareholders interest. So it continued to raise money through debts. During September 2008, people lost their interest in share markets. There was a complete collapse of equity market. At the time when liquidity was tight, Subhiksha needed Rs 125 crore in cash to repay the loan.  It was due for Subhiksha to repay the bridge loan. The working capitals were diverted to rescue and expand Subhiksha with the hope of IPO in the confidence of success of the model. Working capital eroded. Many shops were closed as a rescue measure. Suppliers stopped supplying. Shops’ stands became empty. The security guards did not turned to the work. These all happened in less than 3 months. And finally in February 2009 there were not a single Subhiksha faced even cheque bounce case. Ajim Premji accused him for financial fraud. ICICI asked for detailed investigation of financial mismanagement. And he and his company became defaulter for over Rs 750 crore to 13 banks.

Probably, if IPO was done instead of postponement, equity could have been used to reduce the debt and Subhiksha would have survived.

Adopted from a case study in IGNOU MBA question paper.

9 VTU colleges in The Week’s top 100 Engineering Colleges

12 of India's top 100 engineering colleges are in Karnataka

Karnataka has its own name in the quality engineering colleges. Bangalore is always a favorite choice for the technology education. The Week, India’s leading weekly has published the list of 100 top engineering colleges in the country in its June 17, 2012 issue. 12 institutions of Karnataka have secured their place in the list. Out of 12 best engineering colleges in Karnataka, 9 are affiliated to VTU. Other three intuitions are National Institute of Technology (NITK), Surathkal at 15^th place, University Visweswaraya College of engineering at 37^th place and Manipal Institute of Technology Manipal at 38^th place. The 9 best engineering colleges in Bangalore and Karnataka according to The Week which are affiliated to VTU (some are autonomous) are as follows:

No	Rank	College	Place
1	16	RV College of Engineering	Bangalore
2	29	PES Institute of Technology	Bangalore
3	51	Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of technology	Bangalore
4	56	M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology	Bangalore
5	59	Acharya Institute of Technology	Bangalore
6	64	BMS College of Engineering	Bangalore
7	68	Sri Jayacharajendra College of Engineering	Mysore
8	74	National College of Engineering	Mysore
9	91	MVJ College of Engineering	Bangalore

In my personal view the list may interchange. But definitely all are good colleges and felt the The Week- Hansa research survey is fair. Even the ranking may change engineering stream wise. One should also enquire about department in a particular college before taking an admission into it. A best college may a bad department. Thankfully few institutions like New Horizon college of Engineering which used to advertise as India’s second best college through a result of paid survey have not made entry into list to misguide the students. Surprisingly very few colleges of Tamil Nadu are in the list though it has a huge number of engineering colleges. Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has the highest best affiliated colleges.

Made in China and the Common Man

In a management class, a lecturer told that he had taken an oath not to use any made in China products to protect the economy of the country, even in broader sense the economy of the rest of the world except china. He also told he did not have a single made in china product with him. I pointed out his Nokia mobile. Obviously it is from Finland and he was confident of that. I asked him to remove the back cover and see the battery; the original battery in it was made in China. This is an example, how we are forced to use made in china products.

I started counting the made in China products. My notebook is manufactured for Lenovo and made in China. I have no doubt on ZTE and Huawei modems from China. 99% of my desktop PC components are made in China. My mobiles phones are made in china though they are branded. Even the tennis racket like mosquito bat we have at our house is Made in china. I had used many toys that were made in China when I was a kid. I can definitely tell; I have used products from China more than any country, may be more than that of my own country.

I have many friends who don’t like to buy made in China products. They are ready to compromise with the brands they like to buy a product not having china tag. But they are helpless many a times. Many a times there are no alternatives for made in china product. Some people tend to buy non-branded made in China products. They know the poor quality of the product they are buying, but they feel it is worth for the price it is being offered. It again increases our dependency on China. We, the common people never think in macro level. But even in micro level, China products are found to be harmful. Many food products imported from China has chemicals that are not suitable for human consumption. The toys and other electronic items have harmful metals on the surface for attractive finishing. Though we can’t completely get rid of made in China, at least let us try to decrease the number of such items we buy.  

The Monk’s Ninth letter: Stand for something bigger than yourself

The series of nine secret letters from the monk who sold his Ferrari ends with the ninth letter in front of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Taj Mahal. Julian, the monk himself arrives at Agra, India to hand over Talisman and the letter to Jonathan. He tells we should try to leave the world something on the scale of Taj Mahal.

There are no extra people alive today. Every single one of us is here for a reason, a special purpose - a mission. Yes build a beautiful life for yourself and those you love. Yes be happy and have a lot of fun. And yes become successful, on your own terms rather than on those suggested to you by society. But-above all else -be significant. Make your life matter. Be of use. And be of service to as many people as possible. This is how each of us can shift from realm of the ordinary into the heights of the extraordinary. And walk among the best who has ever lived.

Download the secret letters from the monk who sold his Ferrari in pdf format free:
Download all the 9 secret letters with the talisman pictures in .pdf format from Google Docs.

The Monk’s Eighth letter: The purpose of life is to love

It is Phoenix, Jonathan meets Mrs Ronnie who was in her sixties. Ronnie’s story of her life teaches the importance of love in life. Talisman for this eighth secret letter is a silver heart. A two line secret letter from the monk who sold his Ferrari reads as follow.

How well you live comes down to how much you love. The heart is wiser than the head. Honor it. Trust it. Follow it

You can download all the 9 secret letters with Talisman pictures of  the secret letters of the monk who sold his Ferrari at the 9th letter here.

The Monk’s Seventh letter: Life's simplest pleasures are life's greatest joys

Mr Gao Li is a businessman in Shanghai. He is the richest and successful person Jonathan could ever imagine. His office was so posh and made Jonathan to rewrite the standard of luxury he knows. But he is leading a very simple life in an old apartment with a Volvo car instead of Lamborghini which the successful businessman like him drives. He knew Life's simplest pleasures are life's greatest joys. Talisman is a simple ordinary sea-shell.

Most people don’t discover what’s most important in life until they are too old to do anything about it. They spend many of their best years pursuing things that matter little in the end. While society invites us to fill our lives with material objects, the best part of us knows that the more basic pleasures are the ones that enrich and sustain us. No matter how easy or hard our current conditions, we all have wealth of simple blessings around us - waiting to be counted. As we do our happiness grows. Our gratitude expands. And each day becomes a breathtaking gift.

You can download all the 9 secret letters with Talisman pictures of  the secret letters of the monk who sold his Ferrari at the 9th letter here.

The Monk’s Sixth letter: Choose your influences well

Jonathan is in St Ann’s, near Sidney to meet Mary McNeil and Angus McDonald to collect the sixth letter and the talisman. This time, the lesson to be learnt was how to choose the influence to make the best. Talisman was a carved wood two hands holding on each other.

We do not move through our days alone or apart from the world around us. And so we must always be aware of the things and the people we allow in our lives. It's a mark of wisdom to choose to spend time in those places that inspire and energize you and associate with those people who elevate and uplift you. Whether in our work or within our personal lives, these most positive friends and peers will inspire us to be our greatest selves and to lead our largest lives.

You can download all the 9 secret letters with Talisman pictures of  the secret letters of the monk who sold his Ferrari at the 9th letter here.

The Monk’s Fifth letter: To lead your best life, do your best work

Mr Lluis Costa is a car driver in Barcelona. He is a car driver by passion not by chance to live his life. His parents wanted him to become a doctor. But he studied hotel business. Tourism seemed to be his interest. But one day, he realized that driving car is his passion, which he used to do during his graduation college. Jonathan gets fifth secret letter from Lluis, along with talisman a delicate paint brush.

There is no insignificant work in the world. All labor is a chance to express personal talents, to create our art and to realize the genius we are built to be. We must work like Picasso painted: with devotion, passion, energy and excellence. In this way, our productivity will not only become a source of inspiration to others, but it will have an impact -making a difference in the lives around us. One of the greatest secrets to a life beautifully lived is to do work that matters. And to ascend to such a state of mastery in it that people can't take there eyes off you.

You can download all the 9 secret letters with Talisman pictures of  the secret letters of the monk who sold his Ferrari at the 9th letter here.

The Monk’s Fourth letter: Make small daily progress

Archeologists worked for decades to study Mayan history. They Mr Chava is one such archeologist who has spent most of his time with the Mayan history. Monuments of those old cities are also built in years. A pyramid like structure can not be build all of a sudden. The small progresses make the big difference. Hence it is Maxico, this time Jonathan learns a great lesson ‘make small daily progresses'. Talisman of the letter is a miniature model of the pyramid.

The way we do small things determines the way we do everything. If we execute our minor task well, we will also excel at our larger efforts. Mastery then becomes our way of being. But more than this - each tiny effort builds on the next, so that brick by brick, magnificent things can be created, great confidence grows and uncommon dreams are realized. The truly wise recognize that small daily improvements always lead to exceptional results over time.

You can download all the 9 secret letters with Talisman pictures of  the secret letters of the monk who sold his Ferrari at the 9th letter here.

The Monk’s Third letter: Live with kindness

Jonathan experiences the kindness of the Japanese at Ms Sato Ayame’s family inn in Kyoto Japan. Pleased with the kindness showered by Ayame and her family Jonathan learns to live with kindness. A tiny golden crane is the talisman with the letter titled Live with kindness.

It is important to remember that just as our words are our thoughts verbalized, so our deeds are our beliefs actualized. No action, no matter how small, is insignificant - how we treat someone define how we treat everyone, including ourselves. If we disrespect another, we disrespect ourselves. If we are mistrustful of others, we are distrustful of ourselves. If we are cruel to another, we will be cruel to ourselves. If we can't appreciate those around us, we won’t appreciate ourselves. With every person we engage, in everything we do, we must be kinder than expected, more generous than anticipated, more positive than we thought possible. Every moment in front of another human being is an opportunity to express our highest values and to influence someone with our humanity. We can make the world better, one person at a time.

You can download all the 9 secret letters with Talisman pictures of  the secret letters of the monk who sold his Ferrari at the 9th letter here.

The Monk’s Second letter: Embrace your fear

Second secret letter of the monk who sold his Ferrari asks us to embrace our fear. Mr Antoine, sitting at the Catacombs of the Paris handed over the talisman and the letter to Jonathan. The talisman symbolized the fear, a metal skull.

What holds us back in life is the invisible architecture of fear. It keeps us in our comfort zones, which are, in truth, the least safe place in which to live. Indeed the greatest risk in life is taking no risk. But every time we do that which we fear, we take back the power that fear has stolen from us - for on the other side of fear lives our strength. Every time we step into the discomfort of growth and progress, we become more free. The more fears we walk through, the more power we reclaim. In this way, we grow both fearless and powerful, and thus are able to live the lives of our dreams.

You can download all the 9 secret letters with Talisman pictures of  the secret letters of the monk who sold his Ferrari at the 9th letter here.

The Monk’s First letter: Power of Authenticity

Robin Sharma’s ‘the secret letters of the monk who sold his Ferrari’ is a book that is capable of transforming the lives. The 9 letters of the monk carry very important messages; the reader would like to remember forever. So I have collected these letters and putting here in 9 posts.

1st secret letter of the monk tells about the Power of Authenticity. Jonathan gets this letter through Mr Ahmet, in Istanbul who is living his life true to himself. And the talisman is a coin like copper disk on which the sun and its radiating rays is stamped at one side and a crescent moon on other side.

The most important gift we can give ourselves is the commitment to living our authentic life. To be true to ourselves, however, is not an easy task. We must break free of the seductions of society and live life on our own terms, under our own values and aligned with our original dreams. We must tap our hidden selves; explore the deep-seated, unseen hopes, desires, strengths and weaknesses that make us who we are. We have to understand where we have been and know where we are going. Every decision we make, every step we take, must be informed by our commitment to living a life that is true and honest and authentic to ourselves and ourselves alone. And as we proceed, we are certain to experience fortune well beyond our highest imagination.

You can download all the 9 secret letters with Talisman pictures of  the secret letters of the monk who sold his Ferrari at the 9th letter here.

An MD who does not work on Sudays

We always tend to think of highly successful people, who are the top in their line of activities. Many a times we never look into the news makers who make the news in our daily read newspapers. There are people at the top positions of the companies we know; who are inspiring and leading their life interesting. One of such news maker grabbed my attention was Mr. Y M Deosthalee, Chairman and MD of L&T Finance Holding, featured in a small column of the Business Standard recently.

Mr. Yeshwanth Moreshwar Deosthalee was at in the lead stories of business magazines with L&T Finance for an acquisition exercise by which it acquired Fidelity in India. Mr. Y M Deosthalee was CFO of the L&T earlier to his present assignments as Chairman and MD of L&T Finance Holding. He never went to a business school. But the nation has been served by his talent. He was at the committee set up by the government of India to address the liquidity crisis during the 2008 economic downturn.

To be an achiever, that too a successful CEO, one may thinks he should be a workaholic. But BS writes he is not. He goes home by 6.30. He does not work on Sundays. He also believes that one should not stick to the chair thinking he is irreplaceable. He believes there is life beyond work. He learnt Hindustani Music for three years and now music has become his passion. Shouldn’t we try to follow him?

The Best Brand Manager of 2011-12: Poonam Pandey

Poonam Pandey Full Covered

Nobody knew Poonam Pandey before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Though, few had seen her in bikini in Kingfisher calendar or some Santa Banta like sites, no one bothered about her. Within a year, she marketed herself in such way that news magazines now publish her interviews. Apart from Google search which bring thousands of pages, you can also see the way she is making news by searching her in Google news. Poonam Pandey became the well known brand name for hot and bold Bikini Model in India.

During ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 she made a statement in Twitter that she will strip all her clothes in the stadium if India wins in the final. This grabbed the headlines in the TV channels and the news papers. It also made her to face the court case and protests from the women organizations at the age of 19 years. But she did not stopped making such statements and uploading hot photos in the Twitter. She concentrated on building a strong brand ‘a hot, sexy and bold Poonam Pandey’. She used cricket at the most to make a presence in the twitter. She offered sexy pictures when Kohli made 183, she uploaded her hot pictures when Tendulkar hit 100 centuries. Now she has 145399 followers in twitter and she claims google titled her as most downloaded model in the internet.

Poonam Pandey, not even a graduate from college, uses the best tactics of social media to be in news. She also makes the cricket analysts and the youngsters to quote her quotes. One of her non sexy decent tweet reads like this “Thanks to Rahul Gandhi for Tendulkar’s 100th 100. Had his grandmother not created Bangladesh, Sachin would not have got his ton”. She posted some hot photo in the Twitter and asked her followers to retweet it to encourage her post more and more pictures with lesser clothes. Her followers did it and she also kept her promise.

Don’t think she just uses her Twitter account to post some hot bikini pics of her own. Poonam Pandeey also tweets like a philosopher. If you want to follow a sexy philosopher, Poonam Pandey is there onTwitter. All her efforts of publicity worked well to make her in the top 10 of the Google Zeitgeist 2011 list of fastest rising celebrities in India, alongside Katrina Kaif and Anna Hazare.

Why Poonam Pandey can’t be considered as the Best Brand Managers of 2011-12?

Also read Pooja Gandhi topless for a Kannada film

A Non IITian Success Story

A M Naik, Chairman and MD, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) 

Success never asks for the certificates given by an institution. It is an inspiring story of Mr A M Naik (See Wikipedia), who struggled to speak in English climbed the top position in L&T, one of the prestigious corporate group of the country. This story by Shyamal Majumdar was published in Business Standard .

Consider what A M Naik has achieved in terms of making Larsen & Toubro (L&T) one of the most respected engineering conglomerates in the country. Now, consider his initial experience at L&T. Apart from the fact that he was not from any of the Indian Institutes of Technology (Naik did his mechanical engineering from Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya Engineering College in Vallabh Vidyanagar in Gujarat), his poor knowledge of English led him to make seven to eight mistakes in the first employment form he filled.


When he applied to L&T, he got a job, but the company reduced its initial offer by Rs 90 to Rs 670 a month and offered him a lower designation than what it had initially promised — all because the final interviewer thought he was a bit arrogant. Years later, Naik attributes this to a communication gap between him and the Englishman, who was the final interviewer. “I used to think in Gujarati and then translate it into English; the Englishman perhaps misunderstood what I had intended to say,” Naik said.


Naik could have easily given up on the L&T job, but didn’t, just to prove a point. He joined L&T on March 5, 1965, and became the workshop in-charge within one and a half years of joining the company. When he was not even 25, some 800 people reported to him. The rest is all too well known.


By the way title of the article was Opportunity in failures.

The Secret Letters: A Self Help Novel

I never liked reading self help books. I am not a big fan of Robin Sharma. The only book I read earlier was The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. It could not lengthen my favorite book list. Recently I bought two books just for reading it while traveling. First one was The Greatness Guide, turned few pages and closed it. Second one was The Secret Letters of the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. This became the first self help book I read with interest.

Jonathan Landry was in trouble. His life was running as he wished. Julian, the hero of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari was his uncle. To make understand few important aspects of life he sends Jonathan to collect the Talismans and letters from the safe keepers all around the world. Jonathan starts unwillingly. Jonathan learns many lessons in his travel. Finally it ends in Delhi after seeing the Taj Mahal.

I am putting this book in must read again list. This book is more than a self help book and teaches the lesson as you go on reading it like a novel. But one need to stop and read again and again the every letter that Jonathan gets to understand oneself better and for self improvements. The chapter before the letter itself is enough to explain the essence of the letter. Buy read and store this book.

It is v v v Vidya all the way!

Vidya Balan in Kahaani

Time to forget the hot debut of Vidya Balan in Dirty Picture. Now she is a pregnant widow in the kahani(Story) that happens within the movie Kahani, a complete female-centric movie. It is all about Bidya.. Sorry.. V V V V Vidya. Vidya Balan has not just played the role of Bidya Bagchi, she has become Bidya. Vidya Balan and her Kahani hold your attention through out the film without boring for a minute.

Mishap happens in the Kolkota Metro to leave hundreds dead. After two years of that mishap, pregnant Vidya comes from London in search of her missing husband. Everyone tries to convince her that her husband does not exist. She gets the help of earnest cop named Rana. She visits the National Data Center. The HR manager of NDC to which her husband supposed to visit recalls that there was an employee who left the job two years ago exactly looked like her husband. The HR manager is murdered. That makes the intelligence beuro officer arrive in to the scene. Then the story starts taking the turns. Finally she kills
Milind Damji who made that mishap which killed her real husband who was also an intelligence officer and accomplishes her mission. This is a thriller movie and one should watch the  movie to get the thrill of the story

No wonder if Vidya Balan’s performance in this film could get her another National Award. She has taken all the responsibility to run the entire show on her own. Her performance is the major attaction of the filom. Definitely Vidya Balan makes everyone to come out of the Dirty Picture hang out in this Movie. Without a love scene, an item song, not even a dance, Kahani makes Vidya Balan a block buster heroine in Bollywood.

Vidya Balan in Kahaani

I have not taken the loan

The new branch manager was going through the defaulters list. He found a loan that was given eight years back and not even a single rupee was repaid. He took an old file to which a black and white photo of a beautiful girl was attached. It read: Loan for self-employment, Name: Vijaya, Age: 19, Amount: Rs One Lakh. He called his car driver and asked about this customer. Drivers have better knowledge of the bank customer, as he is the only person who is not changed his position from the inspection to recovery in the time span of 10 years. ‘Sir, this girl was given loan for setting up a small shop. Soon she got married and now settled in her husband’s house 150 km away.’ The manager told him to make the car ready by early morning next day.

Unwillingly the driver started moving the car. Manager started chatting with the driver, “Who is this girl who started shop at the age of 19?” The driver began the story. “Sir, I know Vijaya from her childhood. She was an intelligent and innocent girl in her childhood. She finished her 12th with good marks. Her brother who was working in the port was the only breadwinner of her family. He dreamt to make her an officer.” Manager interrupted “then why she took a business loan, we could have given an education loan.” The driver replied “Sir, her bad fate was seemed to be endless. Her brother died in an accident in the port. The port trust gave his family some money. But it could not wipe the tears of her family. She could not continue her education. For her bad luck, a person from a rich family saw her and put a proposal to marry her.”

“Oh come on, I am not getting why she took the loan in between all these”.
“Sir, that greedy people wanted dowry. Vijaya’s parents were not willing to lose an opportunity to build a relationship with the rich family. They thought if they successfully make her daughter, a daughter-in-law of the wealthy family, their responsibility would be over. The amount which they got from the death of their son was not enough for it.”

The manager became uncomfortable and said “So, they took loan for business and made her marriage?”

“Yes sir, her parents already had a small shop and they took this loan in her name. They also promised to repay…. We are near to her house; we have to move few hundred meters in this estate”

An old person of about 60 was sitting in the warrandah of a big old house on old wooden chair. There are around five workers working around him. The manager told ‘Namaskar’. The old man did not even have courtesy to ask him to be seated. The manager himself started, he introduced himself and told the reason why he has come. The old man got angry and called his son. The way his son ran to him, the manager understood he is a slave of his father. He scolded his daughter in law. And called her out using all the bad words he can. Vijaya appeared and stood nervously.

It was not tough to make it out the tortures he was withstanding by looking at her face. Her innocent face in the photo attached to documents has now filled with helplessness. When asked, she told to her father in law “I never took any loan. I went to the bank only once to take Rs 1 lakh that was kept by my brother in bank for my marriage. That time I gave this photo” She did not even know that she had taken loan. Her parents had fooled her. To answer why, her parents are no more. Then manager tried to convince the old man that it was taken for marriage and requested him to repay the loan on behalf of her daughter-in-law. The old man was not even ready to listen.

The old man shouted at the manager “You have given loan to her. You can take it back from her. Even if you want to take her with you, I have no objection. But I won’t pay you even a single Rupee. You can take whatever the legal action you would like to. If you don’t have money to put a case on her, I will donate that much to your bank. File a suit in the court and publish in newspapers. Let her face this alone or else commit suicide. If she commits suicide because of you bankers I am glad and ready to bring another rich wife to my son. You can leave now.”

There was not a single word spoken in the car while returning. The manager was thinking there was wonder if the old man kills her and projects it as a suicide.

Next day local newspaper reported: ‘Woman Commits Suicide Due to Heavy Debt’

Big Bakra of Big Bazar

Big Bazar Great Exchange Offer

A fat lady wearing posh saree entered the Mall with an old damaged bag. It was obviously some mismatch between the how she looked and the bag she was carrying. She walked to the Big Bazar counter; instead of baggage counter she gave the bag to the person sitting in front of a computer in between the old useless household materials. He opened the bag and counted old clothes, shoes, and few books, then printed and gave her a voucher. It raised my eyebrow and I saw a board “Exchange Offer!” Exchange anything for extra 25% off. I have never seen Big Bazar doing any charity by taking your old jeans for Rs 300 or a kg of Newspaper for Rs 30 and give you something new. Kishor Biyani can never be a fool. Conditions obviously apply. The only question was what are those stars making us blind?

First I should tell how an exchange offer should work. One has an old Alto a/c car. Now he wants to buy a new Swift. He visits True Value shop. After negotiation he agrees for exchange at a price say Rs 2 lakh. This amount plus bonus if any will be deducted from the new car price say Rs 5 lakhs and he pays only Rs 3 lakhs to drive the car home. They never tell you to buy car with the price tag Rs 8.00 lakhs to get the benefit of Rs 2 lakhs so that the amount reduced does not exceed 25%.

Come back to Big Bazar. The lady exchanged the old jeans for an exchange voucher of Rs 300. To get the complete benefit she has to make the bill worth Rs 1200. Only then bill amount will be reduced to Rs 900. That means she got 25% discount. This is the maximum benefit scenario. What if she buys an item worth Rs 600? She will get a discount of 25% or Rs 150 only. To get the full benefits she fills her kart. She can’t make it exact Rs 1200. It becomes Rs1500. Then She doesn’t get 25% off, it will be Rs 300 only, i.e. 20%. Also, not all the items are under the 25% off offer, this is the maximum discount offered by them. If she had done a five-minute pre purchase research I can bet this same material would have cost less than this at some other shop. She lost old jeans and spent few bugs for this exchange offer. She ended up in purchasing 4 times the value of her old stuffs as evaluated by the Big Bazar in their convenience, without a second thought whether she is in need of what she is buying.

Congrats, Big Bakra of Big Bazar.

RuPay: India’s Own Card Brand

There are 225 Million ATM cards in India, of which 90 Million are from a single Bank- State Bank of India, 0.55 Million merchants have PoS machines, Rs 3000 Crore is being dispensed every day from ATM machines. We are using American Branded Visa and Master Cards for all these. How much money they are making from giving their technology and brand name? What is the volume of personal financial data is getting transferred to US every day? So there comes an idea of India’s own card brand- RuPay.

NPCI- National Payment Corporation of India is a section 25 non profit organization formed by RBI and other Indian Banks. To bring the competition in cards, reduce the cost of card payments and card issuance and most importantly to secure the data within the nation NPCI has brought its own brand of card called RuPay. Already 12 co-operative banks and Regional Rural Banks are using the RuPay ATM cards, which can be used to withdraw cash from ATMs. By the end of March 2012, debit card will be launched using the flat form of Axis Bank and SBI as acquirer (bank to which PoS machines belongs to) and issuer of cards and Union Bank of India and Bank of India as card issuer. RuPay card holder can do shopping by April 2012. It will be ready for online transactions i.e. ecommerce by June 2012.

Apart from the main stream card business RuPay is also concentrating on financial inclusion. Adhar enabled biometric cards are being issued in Jarkhand by Axis Bank, Bank of India and SBI. RBI has given permission to 18 prepaid card service provider to issue prepaid cards with easy KYC to non bank customers and migrant labours.

RuPay will not be just an domestic card. RuPay has tie up with Discover Cards which is a neutral player for Indian market and 3rd largest card issuer (Visa and Master occupy first two positions and Amex occupy the position next to Discover. RuPay cost is 50% lesser than the Visa and Master cards which are dominating Indian market.

Also read A cashless life to come soon! about the mobile payment system developed by NCPI.

Rajiv Gandhi and his relationships with KGB!

The base for this heading is a book called ‘The State Within A State: The KGB and its hold on Russia - Past, Present and Future’. This book is written by Dr. Yevgenia Markovna Albats, a famous Russian investigative journalist, chief editor of The New Times magazine.

The page No 223 of the book is very important for us, the Indians. It exposes the former Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi and boosts the arguments that Mrs Antonio Maino aka Sonia Gandhi’s relationships with the KGB. The author writes “A letter signed by Viktor Chebrikov, who replaced Andropov as the KGB head in 1982 noted: "the USSR KGB maintains contact with the son of the Premier Minister Rajiv Gandhi [of India] ... R Gandhi expresses deep gratitude for the benefits accruing to the Prime Minister's family from the commercial dealings of the firm he controls in co-operation with the Soviet foreign trade organisations. R Gandhi reports confidentially that a substantial portion of the funds obtained through this channel are used to support the party of R Gandhi.” She does not simply writes these words, she gives the reference for this at page No. 380 as ‘25. KGB Archive f 5 op. 6. por. No. 12. D. 131. t. 1 1.d 103-104.’

She cited KGB notes describing "commercial dealings" of Rajiv Gandhi's family with Soviet foreign trade. She tells Rajiv Gandhi and his party were been paid by a Russian Company. It is well-known that there was Sonia Gandhi’s hand in every Indo—Soviet trade deal and defence purchases. That’s why Gandhi family needed Swiss Bank accounts. Obviously the person who brought Rajiv Gandhi to KGB contact is his girl fried then his wife Sonia Gandhi. She was also alleged to be the member of KGB and been appointed to trap Rajiv Gandhi.

It is not a new finding for the Indian Media. Times of India (June 27, 1992) and Hindu (July 4, 1992) reported regarding receipt of payments from KGB by Rajiv Gandhi and his family. I don’t think Mrs Albats’ book and her citation can be a cooked up story. Another reason to believe Mrs Albats is she was an official member of the Soviet government’s KGB Commission and had access to many KGB documents. Even Indian government can now obtain the copies of these documents.But nobody is raising their voice expect Subramanian Swamy of Janata Party. It is shameful for Indians to have people who have/had the relationship with the foreign spy agencies at the top positions of the country.

What’s Right Isn’t Always Popular…

I was going through an online course developed by my organisation on decision making and found this story very interesting on making decision. I'm giving it as it is I found somewhere in the internet.

A few children were playing on two railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused. Only one child played on the track not in use, the rest on the operational track. The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way? Also remember that you don't have time to inform either the children playing there or the locomotive pilot to stop the train. You have to choose from the only above two option.

Before going further please take a pause, make your answer ready.

Let us see the decision you took is right or not.

If you have taken the decision to divert the train to unused track, to save most of the children at the expense of only one child you have definitely taken a popular decision as most of others take.

But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place? Why should he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was? The kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few ignorant kids.

"Remember that what's right isn't always popular and what's popular isn't always right."

A cashless life to come soon!

The information given here is derived from the address by Managing Director of NCPI Mr A P Hota to SBI POs at State Bank Institute of Information and Communication Management on 4 Feb 2012

"Make a pan (Beetle Leaves and nuts) with extra Gulkun"
Panwala prepares the pan
"Take it sir"
"How much?"
"Rs 8"
You pay Rs 100 note.
"Sorry sir, I dont have change. Can you please credit to Mob No 9876543210, MMID 123456?"

Be prepared to face it. India is going to change, rural India is adopting cost effective convenient technologies. Get your mobile banking service soon, be registered for mobile payments and be sure you are not a financially illiterate in front of your Panwala or a Vegetable Seller. Now let us see how you can pay that Panwala. It is possible immediately within 30 seconds through Inter bank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS), a unique concept of mobile based account to account funds transfer, which is the brain child of National Payment Corporation of India- NCPI. Inter bank Mobile Payment Service enables one to send money to another bank account using the mobile number and MMID of the receiver. MMID is a unique number called Mobile Money Identifier given to every account holder having IMPS. So what you need to do is just open your mobile banking application, select fund transfer, then IMPS, enter the amount to be transferred, the payee's mobile number and his MMID. Confirm the payment using your PIN, within 30 seconds payee gets and SMS telling stating that he has got the credit in the account from you. The payments completed and you can walk away without arguing for changes of soiled noted.

The PoS payments in the rural areas could not penetrate much due to the cost involved in it. There are 225 million ATM cards are issued, where 90 million cards are issued by SBI alone. But the availability of PoS merchants is as less as 0.55 million. Merchant need to install a machine, and then he has to pay commission for every payment which ranges between Rs 1.20 to Rs 2.50. But the mobile payment system is absolutely free of charge. It can be even used for usual fund transfers. Advantages of IMPS are availability at 24x7x365 days irrespective of a bank holiday, no need to share your bank accounts with the person who sends the money, confirmation of the transaction to both the parties, hence fool proof. Many bank accounts can be linked to single mobile number using different MMIDs. MMID helps the error free transfer of money by matching with the mobile number. You can do a lot with IMPS viz mobile to mobile money transfer (don't get confused, both the parties should have a bank account), ATM to mobile money transfer, Merchant payments etc. This is the fastest inter bank fund transfer service available at present.

Visit National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)to know more. To register to mobile banking and MMID contact your bank.

Online Shopping- in the way of making life more easy

I was in Hyderabad for the first time. Accommodation provided by the organization was away from the city and I did not know anything about the city. I had planned to visit some place the second day. I was shocked to know my 4 GB SanDisk Memory card of the camera was not working. It was showing memory of 1.3 TB and unable to format or recover. My schedule was little tight and I knew it could not be a fair excuse to go away from the schedule to go in hunt of new memory card. I had a good experience with Flipkart earlier to this. They had delivered most of my orders within a day. I believed in them and placed an order in the evening. The Flipkart Cash on Delivery guy was at the door of my office by 11 A.M that is 5 hrs before the 24 hours of my order.

I should appreciate Flipkart.com for bringing the change in the dimensions of the online shopping in India. Earlier to Flipkart, e-bay, India Times, Rediff Shopping were present and unable to attract the customer, may be due to the inferior quality brands they were selling through third parties. I always felt the business with these players were not as reliable as the Flipkart. Even today though Naptol, SBI Card Mega mall like shopping sites tries to provide the same materials at cheaper price due to the third party participation I never bought anything from them.

I have also tried with infibeam.com and letsbuy.com. Prices in both the shopping sites are very competitive to any of the others. But the delivery time is very high compared to Flipkart. Infibeam delivered few books in the interior city of Karnataka in 10 days were Flipkart within 3 days through courier. I purchased electronic items both with the Flipkart and Letsbuy, Flipkart COD was delivered in 1 day where Letsbuy took 7 days to deliver on COD. Advantage with the flipkart is that in all the major cities it has its own delivery services. The flipkarts self delivery service is really appreciable. Once I had doubt about the product packed due the way they have packed, the delivery guy of fliplkart asked me to open and confirm the product, and otherwise I can return without paying the amount. This can not be expected from the courier services employed by others.

Now my most of the Electronics, Durables, Home appliances and very importantly books are purchased online. I never experience the under quality products, cheating or frauds as some of my friends are frightened to do online shopping. I can even compare, read the reviews and compare prices in online shopping as against conventional shopping. It is really a hassle free.

Mangalore Airport: Scary but Awesome

Mangalore Airport is still in the memory of many for the worst accident that happened a year ago. Many of you know that it is a table top airport. It is situated at the top of the hill surrounded by the greenery, adjacent to the river, one can add it into ‘the must’ list.

The airport is about 20 km from Mangalore city. The best way to reach the airport is to hire a city taxi. The cost of the taxi will be based on your bargaining capacity. There is easy availability of the taxi from the airport and airport. If you don’t have much luggage to carry with you, you can reach through buses which go to Bajpe or Kateel. There are plenty of buses in this rout. You can get down at Kenjaru, from where the airport is at walk able distance and also autos available. From Kenjaru main road to airport, the hairpin curves will give the thrill of reaching one of the table top airports in the world.

It was the bright sunny day when I had been there. The visibility was very good. Sitting beside the window, I was able to see the hills at the long distances as soon as I boarded the flight. The flight started moving along the new run way. The flight was not taking up the speed for few minutes. I was little scared as taking off and landing are very crucial in case of table top airports. It can fall from the hill if it was not speeded up and taken off properly. I saw the rear right wheel taking u turn and started moving towards runway again. It took up the speed. The wheels left the ground and got covered inside. I was just looking at the ground, the ground was very nearer. Within seconds it was at the end of the runway, needless to tell it was the end of the hill. The flight was at the hundreds of meters from the ground. It took a turn flying over the river. I was flying on the coconut gardens. Saw the river kissing the Arabian Sea in the green background. Small islands formed in the river were looking like green dots in the big greenish blue line.

The flight fled along the seashore. It started flying on the Western Ghats. The range of green hills at the Kuduremukh Reserve Forest was like the beautiful design drawn by the creator. The Sahyadri hill series was an odyssey of the fully dark green forest and the wide lands of brownish grass. These hills one attached to another were looking like they are sitting holding one’s hand another. This was an memorable experience.

I can just say flying from Mangalore International Airport is more worth than the scare one can experience after the 2010 mishap.

Kannada films are now Sakkath Hot Maga

It seems Kannada heroines and the film industry is following the trends of Bollywood. Vidya Balan has given a new zeal to it in her Dirty Picture. There are numerous item songs which made the viewers hot in recent past. Some heroine goes nude, another shows her bare back, or posed in bikini for a calendar were common news in the gossip pages. But now the trend has reached the south, that too Kannada film industry. The two recent controversies are the examples:

Pooja Gandhi Nude for Dandupalya(?): Pooja Gandhi, who is famous for her well-known movie Mungarumale shows her completelbare back in her new film Dandupalya. She tells that the story needed such scene. Whom to ask whether the story would have lost its effect if that scene is modified? She also tells that she did not go nude for shooting that scene. Instead she was wearing a saree and was covering her breast in the saree while shooting. But a tabloid in Kannada has reported that she went nude while shooting the scene. It is also reported that she said she has no qualms in going nude quoting the examples of some hot actress in the Bollywood. So Kannada industry has starting another trend that is borrowed from Bollywood.

Rishika Singh Nude(?): Yaaradre Nanagenu is another movie which has created a new sensation in Bangalore. The movie also has super hot Mallika Sherawat. The posters of the movie has irked the woman's organisations and several social groups. Here Rishika Singh, daughter of welknown Kannada director Rajendra Singh Babu said to be gone nude. Though the actress is not nude in the posters, but the graphic effect which shows the actress covered in mud creates the feeling she is nude. The story is of a girl who is buried in mud and she wakes up from it and takes revenge. The scene is shot in Jaipur.

Instead of giving importance to bikinis, cleavages, bare backs and nude scenes Kannada movies has to be improved in their qualities to match with other south Indian languages. Otherwise if the present scenario continues, it can only become a b-grade movie industry.

Also read Bipasha Basu naked for New York Lotto TV Add