Germany Conquered!!!

It has been full 4 weeks since I’m in Brussels. Meanwhile, I met a small gang of Indians and since then, we have been rocking the streets of Brussels.

Shopping in Brussels is a little expensive; more to it is the extra VAT that makes it so expensive. Pankaj and I were casually speaking about shopping one night and he mentioned that electronic goods are quite cheap in Germany compared to Brussels.

I immediately checked with Prashanth & co and Arun, Prem if they will be interested. They were game for it and then we started for looking to get there at the least cost and a possible close place where we could plan our Day trip.

Cologne (Koln) is quite close to Brussels and we decided that we would go to Koln, and conquer the streets of Koln. We booked the tickets well ahead on Eurolines.

We wanted to make it even more fun. So, we decided to party on Fri night and travel on Sat morning; return to Brussels Sat night. We had a good dinner set up at our place and had pretty good time Fri night. If I were to tell you we slept at 2 AM early morning on Sat to get up at 4 AM (after 2 hrs); imagine the fun we had.

All of us got fresh and made it to the bus by 5:15 (we were supposed to report at 5:30). Prem and Arun had preferred to get home instead of sleeping at our house and the only hiccup was they did not get the taxi as they had booked and they got to Brussels Noord station just about 10 mins before the departure.

The travel to Koln from Brussels Noord was jus close to 3 hrs and it was fun in the bus making fun of each other and “others”. Finally reached Koln Train station by 9:30 and then started our March to conquer the streets of Koln.

Walking thru the beautifully architectured Train station was an enthralling experience. Jus to get out of the station and to see the Cathedral was even more an amazing sight. So tall the old cathedral still stands just outside the station! Capturing the sight in our Cameras, we moved ahead to see maybe one of the lengthiest shopping streets in the world. You keep walking walking and you never see the end of it, till Newmarkt; all the stores and Brands you name in Europe, you get it here.

Boys were longing to get to Mediamarkt and see the electronics prices (comparing it to the Medimarkt in Brussels). It was kind of disappointment as there was not such a huge price difference for the electronics. To make the trip memorable, couple of boys got camera each and all of us decided otherwise.

Getting into the apparel stores was so exciting!! Beautiful collections. I bought a blazer and a shirt for my brother for him to wear it on my wedding. Such top class finishing, you would go mad on the Brands. All the well known brands of Europe have their presence in this lengthy shopping street.
Finding some vegetarian food was not that a hassle in this street as most of the outlets had something or the other to offer for us vegetarians (including rice). It would not be an exaggeration if I say that we vegetarians enjoyed the food with rice, cooked vegetables, butter and sauces; rather than the non-veggies who opted for meat/fish burgers to only throw most of it untouched in the bin.

Walked all the way till NewMarkt, it was so much of fun and more to add to it was the crowd, the statues, shops, the musicians on the streets playing some wonderful music on the weirdest of instruments I have seen till now.

Luckily the weather did not let us down. Though it was cloudy when we landed in Koln, sun came out by 1 PM (Thanks to www.accuweather.com for the accurate weather and helping us plan our trip to enjoy it the most). People jus go crazy when the sun comes out here. People make it to the streets and wanna enjoy their favorite wine/beer/kaffee/food sitting in the sun. For us also, being in Brussels, feeling the warmth of sun was so beautiful. Atleast I remember, that it was the 1st time in Europe that I walked the streets without my jacket. Our body feeling the warmth of sun brings in so much of happiness in us. I then understood why the Europeans and Americans are so jealous of the Indian climate and plan a yearly tour to their favorite destination Goa.

The Globetrotter shop was amazing. It had some amazing collection of trekker stuff. We also witnessed a treasure hunt in the pond inside the shop. The bags, shoes and all other trekker stuff. You name it and you have it there. Including the air boats that people use for water rafting.

The prices were quite OK. Most of the items that I saw, I guess is quite cheap in the US and some in India too.

The most interesting part of our walk all the way was the many number of Mc Donalds and STARBUCKS coffee. I’m not quite sure if there are these many outlets of these shops in the US also.

All done, and conquered the shopping streets of Koln, we started to walk back to our bus which was at 6:30 PM.

We had spent close to 8 hrs on the shopping streets of Koln, conquered it and headed back to Brussels where we just wanted to hit the sack. We reached Brussels by 10 PM and by the time all boys got back home, I guess it was 10:30 PM.

A great trip which will be remembered for many reasons. Thank you boys for making the trip unforgettable.

Boys: Prashanth, Ananth, Balaji, Baskar, Prem, Arun, Pankaj, Srikanth
Travel: Brussels Noord to Koln
Date: 23rd Feb 2008
Transportation: Eurolines

India – How can it prosper? Change currency to Ruppaiya instead of Rupee

Last weekend was amazing. I caught up with a lotta Indians in Belgium and we had hell a good time. Friday evening was wonderful. My frnds coming over from Leuven and we went around Brussels Central. Went to an authentic European Bar which serves 2000 types of Beers; one the most unique Bar in the world. People from all over the world visit this to taste the many kinds of Beer. I tasted STRAWBERRY BEER (It has 0.01% alcohol. For only the 2nd time in my life, I tasted alcohol. I tell you, it was very very bitter.)

And Sunday, 2 of our frnds came home and we had a nice time cooking Indian food and spoke a lot! That’s when this topic came in. How can India Prosper?

The social security that the western people have is totally not a viable solution in India. India cannot even dream of it in the near future.

Just a small example was that Pankaj’s and his frnds completed Masters from Paris. One day one of his frnd suddenly fainted in a train while traveling. He was immediately rushed to the hospital. Treated and all done. He was not around for 3 days and that’s when Pankaj and his other frnds got frightened and infact even called his home back in India to mention that he is missing for the past 3 days. He has neither come home nor gone to college.

Later in the day, they were confronted by some cops visiting their home, who told them that their frnd had fainted in the train and he was immediately rushed to the hospital and taken care of. As they were students and not tax payers yet, he was then later asked to repay 10% (90% coverage for students and 100% coverage for students) of the total expenses at the hospital; which that guy more than happily repaid working part time in an Indian restaurant.

Imagine if this had happened in India. Would it be such a good full stop to the story? Certainly not!

There was a recent survey done which studied why people save more in the east than the west. Japanese, Indians saved more. Wondered why? More than 80% of the people saved money for emergencies, weddings or some crap ceremonies. Very little people saved money to buy new gadgets in the market. This shows the lack of Social Security in India. If you take your wife to a hospital for her labor pain; you will not be allowed to see the baby until you bribe the nurse even when you are the one who is bearing the whole expenses of the hospital for your wife. So, bribing gets in to the veins of the people in India.

Will Social Security be an answer to this in India? Maybe! It could work. But will people not take advantage of this? Social security includes paying the unemployed and the senior citizens for their livelihood. Free education to the kids. Free hospitals to the citizens. Many many more.

What all do you want to include in the package of Social Security in India? Imagine the state of Govt. Schools in India as of today! Infact, Private schools itself has become a huge commercial business minting a lotta money. The same is true even with the “hospital industry” in India.

Why would the cabinet approve free education and free hospitals to the citizens in the country when most of the people sitting there have one of the other in atleast one part of the country?

Lets imagine a hypothetical situation that the Indian Govt. with all these difficulties, “thinks” of implementing this. But it is not possible in India.

Why does India does not have this social security? To implement the concept of Social Security in a country,

1. Each and every citizen must be at the “hand’s reach” of the Govt.
2. Each and every working citizen of the country SHOULD PAY TAXES. Otherwise where will the Govt. get the funds from?

The above listed 2 are just the first of the many few such limitations. Maybe, if we could satisfy these bare minimum 2, I guess, the Indian Govt. “may start thinking” about Social Security in India.

We also continued to talk as to how to practically to make this a possible task? Immediately Pankaj said that they had conducted a similar study when they were doing their MBA. And one of the probable ways of doing this is

CHANGE THE CURRENCY IN INDIA

Just study the effects of changing currency in a country like India. The very thought of this makes me run a chill down my spine. Amazing!! This could be one the most amazing things to happen for a country like India.

Imagine!!! Within no time of declaring this and starting this process of changing the physical currency, taking back the old currency notes and replacing them with the “new currency”; making it mandatory that everyone in the country SHOULD get it exchanged on or before SUCH AND SUCH DATE. After which THE OLD CURRENCY STANDS VOID.

The effects are amazing!! I guess India would be far a richer country and could well be badged as a “Developed Country”.

When you want everything to be Indian. Why have the currency as RUPEE. Change it to RUPPAIYA.

Give this noble endeavor a thought. If there is anything noble or sacred that you can do to this country of yours by becoming a cabinet minister/Prime minister/Financial Minster, CHANGE THE CURRENCY OF INDIA.

Yahoo! Never had visited the site since long!

Hmm!! I am an internet freak since the days of my college. I never had to get any reasons to get to the internet parlor. I remember going to the café since the time, internet was on dial up and it was a whooping Rs. 50/- per hour.

Then, I used to go to the internet to mainly Chat! And Yahoo Chat was the only thing I knew. Coz I used to majorly chat with my my sis in Sydney. You will not believe, she had I seldom talk even now when we are together on face to face, but we exchange a lot of conversation on chat and on mails. They used to be this mIRC Chat which was quite famous, but never got to try that though.

That is when I used to visit Yahoo site. I also have a yahoo.com account which people do not get it now. They get a .co.in or .co.uk stuffs. Even now, I just login to yahoo chat jus to talk with her, if not, all my other frnds, pals, mom, bro and my sweetheart its only on gtalk. Coz the interface supports the text chat and I somehow like the plain text chat and plain smileys rather than the animated ones.

I was jus reading articles on the Microsoft bid of $40+ billion to acquire Yahoo and eventually got to the yahoo.com site after a pretty long time (3/4 years). I was doing some generic searches on tech content and otherwise to see how efficient the search engine is. Its pretty OK infact. I found that the edge that google has got on yahoo is because, it supports plain text and hence, the search is faster. They make it more obvious specifying the number of records found in so and so amount of search time. But Yahoo! On the other side, though reports the search results, there are the display ads that come thru too. If I were to do the same search from home, I would have ended up cursing yahoo for the sheer amount of time it takes. But the search results were of good quality. Infact, I found a couple of results to be more specific than that on google when I compared them on my dual monitor screens.

Just then, a thought struck my mind. Lets see what yahoo is got for the Indian community. I quickly typed yahoo.co.in and instantly, the news, everything was updated and quite recent when compared to the ndtv.com side by side. I was just seeing the other links to Finance, Games, Cricket, Dainik Jagar.. and I happen to see “Directions”. A google map fan that I’m; wanted to explore this and confirm on my decision that google maps rocks! So, I opened. And I wanted to check Bangalore. Typed in “Forum Mall, Bangalore”. I expected it not to give me a proper result (Coz long back when I had seen it, I was not impressed).

I was awestruck when it came up. I then thought, lemme see if this gives you directions and clicked on “To here” and typed in “Mahalakshmipuram Layout”. I was dumbstruck when it actually came up! Oh my God!! The one-ways and the traffic was so rightly gauged and it showed it I guess more precisely than I would jot it on a piece of paper!!



I think this is one of the very few sites on the internet, I think I will not be wrong if I say, this is the 1st site on the internet that I have come across which actually could show directions in India. Google Maps fails!!!!

That is what prompted me to quickly blog it as I wanted to shout to the world, and join the voice of many who are praying that the Microsoft bid not be honored by Yahoo and yahoo continues to excel in what it is doing.

From now on, my search is on Yahoo. If I can help support yahoo to be the best and compete against google, I’m for it. Yahoo is virtually the mother of all internet companies. One of the 1st that came up. I would certainly suggest Yahoo chief/co-founder Jerry Yang, to stay on, and we are here to get yahoo up there again.

Go on Yahoo!!!!!!!

Indian Market: Is this the right pace?

For anyone who had seen the Benchmark trading at the end of December and after a break of a month, one would surely be surprised and would surely go haze n’ blaze.

No investor would have ever imagined that the Sensex would crash so much and infact remain to be at the same point. Even on the day of the HUGE crash, investors were very optimistic that it is just a matter of a week and the benchmark would be right up there again.

However, I guess I’m one among the many market watchers/investors who were pretty surely waiting for the huge correction. Infact, I have time and again mentioned that it was a pseudo market and the right price for the Indian market/economy was somewhere in mid 16k or 17k.

The huge plunge in the market was for various reasons that I have elaborated in my previous blogs. The US inflation and the US markets had reached its saturation. Its always natural for which goes up for a long time, has to come down. In the case of US, its been like this periodically. So, a US economist would not bother about it as its quite sure that there are some FED cuts following and some Tax cuts following, after which its again gone be the BULL! But what really bothers for all of them is, how long will it take to bounce back to the BULL. I do not think anyone has answers to this as of now. Coz economists, Fed, Govt are all analyzing if the US is in recession already or if its yet to come.

There are many compelling factors for one to tell that the US probably is already in recession mode. The less sales, services slowdown, mortgage crisis, sub prime crisis are just to name few of the many indicating the US slowdown.

This is the era of globalization! Everyone speaks of it infact!! The term actually weighs a lot! And if someone speaks of it, others feel that “this guy knows a lot!”. The countries are interdependent on each other for survival and growth. I was reading one of my friend Rahul’s blog. I had actually touched on this topic, but he has gone ahead to explain this at a big level.

For a while now, the markets are trading almost at the same level. I guess this will go on atleast till the Great Indian Economists, our own Finance Minister Chidambaram and our PM Manmohan Singh present to India, the budget for the next financial Year.

Talks have already been spurred on what could the budget offer to the common Indian, what the budget could offer to the corporate, to the sales, to infact all the industries.

I would like to present it again, that this is one of the best times that a commoner could get into the market. Get in and stay long. Remember, be it life or market or anything, the more u stay long, the more you are the returns. The short term returns are very little, be it profit or loss.

For all those who had invested during the Great Indian BULL, keep the investments intact, do not sell it. Remember; Every dog has its day!

Brussels – As I see it everyday on my way to office

It has been just more than a week that I am in Brussels. My office is on Rue Montoyer and my house on Quai du Batelage. It is like 3.1 kms away. From the day 1, I decided to walk to and from office back home. Below are the glimpses of my daily walk from home to office and back home.

From the day I have been here, I have never seen the footpath dry. It is always wet. Brussels is one of those countries in the world where it rains all the 12 months of the year. Maybe the rain also constitutes and plays its active part in keeping the city clean. The Drainage system is quite good.

The traffic control system is so well synchronized. Even the pedestrian signals!! Of course, all forms a part and parcel of the same control system.

I step out of the house at around 45 mins past 7 AM. Get down from my house on the 13th floor, and start my routine walk to office. I reach my 1st pedestrian signal. I just have to make sure that I start there just when the pedestrian signal turns green. If so, I am more than sure that I need not bother about the next signals and that I will get through them quite easily. I do a brisk walk. It is neither too slow nor too fast. The pedestrian signals are well synchronized for a decent brisk walk.



I pass by the commercial places of Central Brussels. The Shopping malls to the restaurants. It is quite early in the morning when I am passing by them. Just about 4/5 mins to 8 AM. Parents taking the children to school. So cute and lovely looking kids in their uniforms. Of course some good looking girls and handsome guys walking by my side briskly to get to their office. Be in Girls/Guys, I wonder what is the secret of their figure? Even when they look quite old by age! They are far way better than our Bollywood/Regional film Heroes and Heroines by looks.



So many cars and taxis on the road! I have not been to any other country except US and mostly only NY most of the time. But, I have not seen Mercedes Benz and Audi Cars as Taxis every before. I know the stretch limo and the normal limo service that exists almost everywhere and is one of the services for the Business Class customers offered by most of the airways. But Benz and Audi as Taxis! And as normal Taxis!! I guess very few places!!

Then, I get to the one of the longest Roads that I need to walk to get to my office. So picturesque the place is! Makes us feel as though god took some time out to decorate this city so naturally beautiful.

Then, I realize that its already 15 mins past 8 and I need to stop appreciating the beauty and walk faster to get to office on time. Everyday is different. Everyday, you see different people, everything different. You are bound to stand by and watch the place unveil in the morning.

By this time, I get to almost closer and now, have to pass by the American Consulate and Embassy. This is one of the places here in Brussels where the security is very high/tight. Everyday I see a set of new corps there. Everyday, I need to show them my Office ID Card and I need to tell them “I’m passing by to office”.
There is corps standing on the either sides of the street of the consulate/embassy with police vans that are always in the “ignition on” state. Wonder why they waste so much of fuel when people are so worried about the exhaustion of the Natural Resource? And I wonder who is paying for the extra security here? US/Belgium? I think it is certainly the US.

I cross by the consulate and then, suddenly, many cards coming from down and then you realize, there is also an underpass there. I think there are 2 underpasses to be precise. This helps in regulating the traffic so much. Even then, there is this usual traffic jams during the peak hours as it happens in any other city of the world. I think the whole planet is “cursed” to have traffic jams during the peak hours [:P] or maybe its us who have made our world this way. So many cars, bikes, cycles; obviously when all of them are heading to offices at the same time, jams are bound to happen.



Oops, I again enter into these pedestrian crossings now. If in the course of me appreciating the beauty, have maintained my “brisk pace”, I surely am gonna get green signals. That’s when I realize if I have been overly involved in appreciating the beauty (nature/girls) around me or if I have also maintained my pace while doing so.

And here I’m on Rue Montoyer in no time. It’s a long walk all down the Rue (Road/Street in French) to get to my office. If I have maintained my pace all the way, it takes me a full 40 to 43 mins to reach office. I am usually the 1st one in my team to come in, and get seated in my desk! I hope people do not assume that I am there for a long time now!!

And then, back to the same pool of shit(work)!!! Catch u later at 5 PM Brussels!!

Do I really need a DSLR?

Hmmm!! This is the question I have been asking myself for the past 2 days!! I tell you!! If you are alone!! And the only time pass is to surf the web; read reviews; read blogs!! You sure will end up getting temped to buy something very facinating and that faination might well lead you into the buy and you end up buying it too.

How do I know?? Thats what happenned to me now. I surely had it in my mind that I wanna buy a DSLR. Coz its a "nice to have" gadget. Simply superb. Many of my frnds have it. I have seen them using it and surely thought! "Well!! I can as well use it!!".. I tell you, these frnds who have these kinda tempting gadgets must be kept away for your good.

So, I used to once in a while surf the web to see the new arrivals, check their specs and say "Wow.. Wonderful!!". One of my frnd (Sharada Prasad) recently bought a Nikon D300 for a whooping $4500(including lens and accessories) and made me revisit and rethink my decision on owning one of those masterpieces on earth.

While I was in the US, I was temped a lot there too; coz once when I had been on a city tour, one of my mates carried it and when I used it a couple of times, I really went wild on it and deperately wanted it. Then, I sat down calmly and thought and convinced myself, "Not this time, I am in savings mode for my wedding". I came over it and stopped looking for them on the web too. I eventually returned from the US and was in no mood to even think of buying it as I was lost in my calculations of wedding expenses.

Then came this opportunity of travelling to Brussels. I was in no mood to travel. I wanted to enjoy my pre-marriage courtship and what more wonderful city to enjoy it than Bangalore!! But I was eventually "the chosen one"for travel. I very very reluctantly agreed to my boss's words for travelling. Even though, till the last min I jus hoped and prayed god, something to happen out of the blues and stop my travel. But it was not destined to be!! I eventually landed in Brussels on the fine Monday Morning of 28th Jan 2008. This rejuvinated in me the desire to own a DSLR. Why? Coz I had enuf "vonga" in my account for my wedding and planned on it too. I jus needed another 30-40k which I can make it up very easily. So, announced to "My Chittu" and my Bro that I will be buying a DSLR.

Then started the whole adventure of looking out for one. But I was lost for a day and then said to myself "Wait!! Fix a budget for it!! Or else I might end up sparing all my Brussels Allowance on it"

Ok.. 350 to 400 Euros (i.e., $600 to $700) I thought was a good one. And I must be able to get a good one. I went out on Sat in the Brussels Shopping malls looking out for some cameras!! Oops!! I suddenly felt my budget was short by another 50 euros and decided to check the US deals sites. I later discovered that Belgium has 20% extra VAT and that summed up my experience in the malls.

So, the next one and half day, I spent browsing almost each and every deals site in the US to find the best deal. Meanwhile, decided that the Canon EOS Rebel XTi (a.k.a 400D) was a good option for me, it being my 1st DSLR. Though facinated by the "self lens cleaning" technology or rather to put it technically "Dust protection enabled" camera; I was open to any other camera that anyone could suggest me in "my budget". Even then, whenever I took a break from searching, I've been asking myself "Do I really need a DSLR?" And each time, I have not been able to go against my decision in what ever way/angle I have given it a thought.

Infact, when Vignesh said he cannot carry it for me as his luggage is full, I gave up my thought on buying it and thought that I would buy it the next time I go to US myself. But on talking with Rahul, and he pampering me that he too had bought the same one 4 months back (when he had visited US almost when I was there); it gave me a boost that I too have to "own it". That is when I discovered that desires are so strong in humans! I keep advising my mom not to spend money un-necessararily and I was now here all set to buy a DSLR. Wonder what my mom would say when I tell her that I bought the camera for INR 25k!! I can imagine she literally yelling at me and going mad at me!! She had done it when I bought the camcoder when I was in the US!!

Anyways, once decided, I am not the one to go against it at any cost!! So, my search continued!! Adorama Camera gave me a good deal and that was the best one I had in my mind for almost 60% of the time I was looking out! I wanted to finally decide on it, and wanted to zero-in on it, and gave a last shot to pricegrabber and thats when I discovered that I was getting it for a more $30 cheap and that too with free Ground shipping!!

I decided that the DSLR will be Canon EOS Rebel XTi(400D) and told Rahul to book it!! But again when I was looking out on reseller ratings, I got frightened as the rating of Butterfly was not that good (6.83/10 as of when I saw). So, told Rahul to hold so that I could check with Srivatsan and Vignesh about the stores as I remember Vignesh buying a HD TV from the same reseller.

I had to wait till Monday (today) morning for it as tats when I get to speak to both of them. When both gave a positive opinion on the reseller and their service, I mailed Rahul confirming the order!!

I guess by now Rahul must have ordered for My Canon EOS Rebel XTi. Now, I am a proud owner of a Canon DSLR!! Though I will only be able to collect it from him once I get back to Bangalore (he is scheduled to return just before me); its a great feeling!!!



At last!! MY DSLR!!!! BTW!! I got it for $565.99 with the kit lens of 18-55mm!! :)

Brussels - Unknowningly Known Place of Europe

Brussels - Unknowningly Known Place of Europe

Seems confusing.. Ain't it?? Brussels is a booming new IT city in the heart of Europe. People had knowm Germany, Sweeden to be a home for some IT companies. Paris the Fashion capital of the world. And Switzerland, the honeymoon country of the world.

Brussels!!! Till off late, an unknown place atleast for most of the people until it started to become a home for many of the IT and financial institutions of the world.

I'm now in Brussels on an official assignment for the next 8 weeks. So centrally situated to Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome(little far) and Switzerland! Obviously if you wanna tour the Europe, this is the central place to be so that you can visit almost all the places here.

Very few people know that there is a place by name Brussels. Only they understand when I say, I'm in Belgium!! Heard of this small country somewhere.. Saw this as a small country on the World Map.. Isn't it??

Brussels is a Pictureque city. A Dream City. As beautiful as those cities that are described in the old fairy tales. The best way to explore this city is by walk. You will love walking in this city. You walk walk and walk, only to realise you can so quickly reach to the other end of this city.

The beautiful foot path, so beautifully decorated by benches and some stone statues here and there, so calm, so cool, bright lights on the buildings, so many shopping malls!! Oh my god!! Anyone will fall in love with this place and wanna be here for a long time. Lover's paradise this is!! Such a Romantic city!!

If anyone were to ask me, "wher do u think I can go for Honeymoon?", I would suggest "Brussels". Visit Brussels just in the month of Oct or max Nov; if not come here in March or April to get the best!!!