Cheap Bastard

I am addicted to phone and SMS. Blame it on super cheap tarrif plans that I had access to when I was at MDI and GE Money.

Now that I no longer work for someone else, I have to bear my phone bills myself. And they are killing me. I mean KILLING me. Ever since I left Mumbai, I have paid about 9000 bucks in phone bills. In just about two months. 45 odd days to be precise. And no, I am not exaggerating.

Damn. I dint know working for myself would be this hard :(

Sorry for the rant. Anyways, I my blog is read by bots, SEO experts, comment spammers and myself.

Hi, Poker.

Been some time since I picked a major hobby. Now sounds like a good time. And what better than Poker.

I was first introduced to poker way back in 2005 when I went to a trek with few classmates from MDI. There we met some guys from IIMA and they apparently were big on poker. We played for a while and it seemed interesting. Back from the trek, read bits about it and then lost interest as poker required other players and all.

Fast forward to 2009. Now that I work for myself, I have some bit of free time. And I plan to use this time in picking up a new hobby. Poker sounds like a good one. It teaches you discipline, odds, patientce, respect for competition, history, maths and lots of other things.

Kick started things by downloading these two (1, 2) documentaries on poker and starting this FB group. Any takers anyone?

And if this is a convincing enough a reason, WEB and Bill apparently are kick-ass poker players. May be I get to rub shoulders with them on a green table? :)

Crib crib crib

Sunday mornings. Ideal time to relax, read, watch movies, laze around, eat, get a massage, get my hair cut, sleep etc. Right now, its 10 AM, I have just woken up, already late for office, I can hear my parents watching TV, the phone ringing incessantly, a water bottle by side, and thinking about issues as random as life, the futility of it all, QLC, work, celebrities, silver spoons, people who have it easy,

A Sunday morning rant. At best.

P.S.: I have realized that I do now have a distinct writing style. All I need to do is find some people who like what and the way I write. Then chase a publisher. And then publish a book.

Good Afternoon Prof. Garg

So , it happened. After dreaming about it for years, I finally addressed a room full of students and gave them gyaan. I am aligned with one of the MBA coaching institutes here in Delhi and I am supposed to talk to MBA students about interviews and group discussions.

Today Yesterday was officially my first class. There were 32 students (but when I took attendance, I marked 36 as present :) reminds me of glorious MDI proxies and jokes). I gave them gyaan on group discussions. Most of it was from instructor's notes but I did add my learning over the years. Dint have enough time for their feedback but from what I can judge, they would have liked me. After all, only four people were yawning.

P.S.: Education and Teaching is something I am very keen on and will contribute to.

Competition for Cyntax

So Cyntax is now live. Thought the design is copied right now from a very famous CSS tutorial, we are working on a new one. And the good part (or may be bad part) is that we already are competing with some 6 businesses. I made this post over on the Cyntax blog couple of days ago.

If I told someone that I work with Cyntax, and if they found my pitch interesting, instinctively they would Google/Bing/Yahoo us and dig for more information. I did the same to see what the search engines think of us.

More than what search engines thought of us, I was surprised to know that there are atleast SIX more companies businesses called Cyntax. Yes six. Two of them are tax guys (1, 2), two are web design companies (1, 2), one is a website of a poet and thespian. And then there is a CyntaxGroup as well.

I dint know our choice of name would be this popular. Do you know any more Cyntaxes?

And next up is a post with their logos. BTW we are still looking for a logo for OUR cyntax. Any help?

Common sense and Business sense says that since your name is your identity, it should be unique and rememberable and trademarkable and remarkable and marketable and all the other ables. On the other hand, I argue that even though there are a million people called Saurabh, my identity IS Saurabh and I cant change it. Then why cant I stick on with Cyntax?

And then that guy (Shakespeare) also said,

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

What do you think?

Dreams

Most of you must be aware of my take on QLC, work, futility of life, thoughts on existence and other such random ramblings. [Side note: I think I should weave them into a book :)]. Thank to Ankit, he pointed to this XKCD marvel.

Introducing Cyntax

Finally Cyntax is live. Took us ten years but we did it. Here is the post I made over at Cyntax blog introducing Cyntax.

It took us 10 years. To finally put those cogs together. And give that final nudge to our giant-wheel.

We first thought about Cyntax sometime in 1999/2000. We have been thinking on it off and on. At play, home and work. Officially and unofficially. Frivolously and seriously. Today, we are on.

We are working on the identity, website and service offerings right now. Keep watching this space for more. Subscribing to our blog feed would be a good idea.

And as always, appreciate all the help. Drop a line here and lets talk :)

I have spoken about Cyntax in the past on this blog. I am very excited about it. Lets see how it evolves. Please spread word and shower us with comments, work, ideas et al.

Everything is invented

From Maira Kalman's brilliant post.

@sgElectra got hurt

sgElectra got raped. I had to courier sgElectra from Mumbai to Delhi since I dint want to leave it alone in Mumbai. I wanted to ride it all the way but my parents dint like the decision. And now after looking at the shape of it, I dont like my parents decision.

From the looks of it, its very bad. I have been able to figure out these things so far ...

1. The footrest got bent. I will have to hammer it back to get it right.
2. The front indicators got bent. They cant be repaired. Will have to live without them.
   
3. The battery got discharged. I can put some money to buy a battery. Kangali main aata geela.
   
4. There is rust all over the bike. Apparently there was leakage while shipping and since it was packed they could not wipe the water. And hence the rust. I dont even know what can be done about it.
   
5. The ignition is screwed. The wiring will have to be changed. I am hoping it can be done.
   

Come to think of it, the bike is just three odd months old and it already has so many scratches and injuries.

Brings me to another lesson. Never ever ship a vehicle. This is my second bike that got screwed while shipping. 2131 met the same fate when it was coming from Chennai to Delhi. It was beyond repair and it was sold without me even knowing it.

Anyways, next time on, I am driving/riding.

Har shaakh pay ulloo baithe hain

My sis sent me this ...

Barbaad chaman ko karne ko, jab ek hi ulloo kaafi hai,
anjaame gulistan kya hoga, har shaakh pay ulloo baithe hain

A teeshirt perhaps?