Catching up…

Being not in great health at times is good to catch up with friends, write and read. And I can’t ask for more if it happens over a weekend and when my boss is out of country :)

I just finished reading “The 3 mistakes of my life” this morning at 4am as I couldn’t stop once started. No doubt it’s a good and simple read. But I sincerely feel Chetan could have done better for his 3rd novel. Brida is my next one for now…

“The 3 mistakes…” novel reminds me of my birthday as it is a gift from my friend. Though I started reading it almost after 2 months of my bday, I was stuck on the first page (after the cover) which only had book’s title (when bought). My friend had penned bday greetings on it and the whole page now reads… Dear Gaurav… “The 3 mistakes of my life” Happy birth day… - . Hope it is unintentional. :P

Coming back to my bday (which was made special by Rajesh and a group of friends) I got my first car on that date. Yes, it was planned. It’s a major milestone for me as I always wished of owning a car as I grew up. Though the one I really looked keenly on the glossy pages of Times of India, long back, was Sonata but I can do with (m)i10 for now. It looks sexy and feels great to drive.

Taking note of other macroeconomic conditions there appears to be a bear bubble in the cap markets. Till Dec the market was always ready to go up by 500 points on very little good new and now it is just the otherwise. But wise should continue to invest on all these levels with 3 years perspective. Only caveat is … Don’t invest any money that you are going to need in next 3-5 years.

The IT industry along with the financial services sector looks down for now and more so the latter. IT players have been reacting with cheap gimmicks like retrenching 700 freshers, giving less than inflation hikes, cutting napkins, charging for tea and I guess the next one will be a charge for more than x no. of pees a day. I sense a cartel here. I feel there is a need to have a group of IT/ITeS employees like a labor union where one can raise voice and fight ever changing policies of these companies. This is a signature of maturing industry. This is not a leftist view but just a view. The industry is going through a rough phase and companies need to rationalize expenses and more so stop charging peanuts net margin’s to big clients. May be one can have cartel for this. Anyways, I feel that the mature companies will survive this phase and the scenario is good for industry overall as it has made us to re-think and grow above number-revenue linearity.

So that is it… I loved movie “Jaane Tu…” as it has Genelia of “Boys” fame. I remember to have watched “Boys” thrice in Tamil. Its songs are one of the best I’ve ever heard. It is music at the end… words hardly count…. Stay cosy!