Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all you wonderful people!!!

In Mumbai for Christmas, perfect winter to celebrate the birth of Christ our Lord.

We flocked together for midnight mass and as the catholic tradition speaks for itself celebrated with food and drinks until early morning

25^th morning feels beautiful and blissful. It is very fortunate to celebrate Christmas with your loved ones and the entire family. Christmas meal (lunch or dinner) is customarily the high point of the family celebration.

Christmas is celebrated around the world in a wide variety of ways. Incorporate traditions from other cultures into your own festivities to create your own unique traditions.

It’s undoubtedly the best way to celebrate the last week of the year in welcoming the next.

Love, N.

Wicked Weekend

Unplanned Thurs eve, but ultimate fun!

My cousin and his best friends were in town this week for a short trip. Around 13 of us decided at the 11^th hour to sail the yacht and crash the night at friend’s place, just like old times.

It was a pleasant weather to sail, to stand on the deck and watch the yacht steer a craft across the waves overlooking some amazing elevation of Dubai was completely euphoric.

It is often heard, to have fun you need to be with right spirited folks. It so held true this weekend, we were a bunch of young and happy people who just wanted to have a blast.

The ecstatic feeling of breeze hitting the face, the sound of the waves, singing out loud all the retro songs, choicest of drinks & savory starters made it an exuberant evening.

After a couple of hours of sailing, we continued the party at our friend’s place and undoubtedly crashed there.

Thanks to my bro, for making this weekend awesome!!!

Love, N

Aamchi Mumbai

Mumbai has always been extremely close to me. I’ve cherished everything that city has to give.

There are equal things to like and dislike about Mumbai, but you will only appreciate the essence of this starry city when you are living in a monarchy.

Mumbai has all the freedom and fun, but it’s how you make the best of it!

After a lot of deliberation and experience, I conclude, the best month to live in Mumbai is September. It’s the rainy weather, which brings the best of the city, from the fragrance of mud of the first rain to watching it pour through the glass with a cup of hot tea and some bhajiya (Indian vegan snack).

The irony of the month this year was celebrating four extreme religion / caste festivities on the same day – Ganesh Utsav, Eid, Mother Mary’s fest & Paryushan Parva (Jain festival). With great enthusiasm and excitement people wished one another and became a part of other’s happy moments in their own way.

The togetherness and warmth of the people around the city only goes to falsify the myth that cosmopolitan’s cannot live in tranquility. Like the much known Hindu-Muslim saga which has become the legendary epic of Mumbai. They are most talked about and even more popular than our daily soap protagonist.

Beyond all the atrocities Mumbai has suffered, from the mind boggling crimes, criminals, terrorist attacks, bomb blast, communal riots, government bureaucracy to the shady political dispute, by by standing tall in unity, peace and brotherhood and proving their opponents wrong.

Irrespective of the differences this multi facet city struggles with, it yet has the strength and courage to fight back and bounces up even stronger every time it is cornered. Mumbai most definitely has the unlimited plasma to curb through any situation.

On a much lighter note; this month was one of its kinds. It’s was a mixture of different cultures, tradition, colours and faith. The simplicity and humbleness comes in abundance during such joyous occasion.

If you are a Mumbaikar, I’m sure you are proud of the city you hail from.

Way to go Mumbai !!!

Love, N.

Porsche 911 Carrera

An extremely thrilling experience last Saturday on wheels of the triptonic Porsche 911 Carrera

Driving on the Jumeriah has never felt so pleasurable before. The style, power and awesome balance of raw power can leave you completely awestruck. It was a breathtaking moment.

The embodiment of German engineered perfection, high-performance agility and cutting-edge technology, leaves you in complete nirvana. Driving a Porsche is a supercar experience like none other.

The speed of the car left me grinning from ear to ear - even if that meant driving on a road with maximum number of radar’s practically placed at every 200 meters.

One ticked from the wish list bucket of 10 things to do before I die.

Wouldn’t agree anymore with the tagline - The Ultimate Porsche Experience !!!

Love, N.

New Rupee

A new identity to our currency rupee, which is dervied from the very ancient Devanagiri “Ra” to the new Roman “R”

With the new change in the symbol of Rupee, it has undoubtedly joined the elite club of currencies along with the US dollar, British pound sterling European ‘Euro’ and the Japanese yen.

But will it have a shift in the economy of the country........ mabybe only time will tell !!

Let’s have a quick look at some merits to this change, in case of the demerits; I guess it’s too early to comment.

Merits of the new rupee symbol

1) The account convertibility will be easier
The new symbol will enable easy trade since the full capital account convertibility will be revived again making the process easier.

2) More capital flow
By the change in the convertibility process more capital is expected to flow into the Indian market.

3) A hopeful change
The three factors of economy- the impossibility of having an open capital account, a fixed exchange rate and independent monetary policy- will be easier to be tackled through the inclusion of rupee in the club of currencies. This will have a good impact on the prospects of growth, price stability and financial stability of the Indian economy.

However, it proves that India is certainly fighting hard to promote its economy in all possible ways. There will surely be many benefits that can boost the nation to greater heights with this change.

But one question still remains unanswered will the new rupee symbol free India from their pre-existing condition of illiteracy and poverty...... I want to be certain, but can only be hopeful !!!

Love, N.

Finance Management !

A real amazing short story shared by Neil on finance.

A beggar to another beggar: I had a grand dinner at Taj yesterday.
How? The other beggar asked.

First begger: Some one gave me a Rs 100/- note yesterday.
I went to Taj and ordered dinner worth Rs 1,000/-, and enjoyed the dinner. When the bill came, I said, I had no money.

The Taj manager called the police man, and handed me over to him.
I gave the Rs 100/- note to the police fellow as a bribe, and he set me free.

Indeed a beautiful illustration on finance management !

Love, N.

Time........

An amazing email sent by Steven (my brother-in-law), thought will share it with you. The depth and intensity of it, is worth a read and a fact to think.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine
Staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun


Sounds familiar........ its a song by Pink Floyd - just leaves us thinking about have we done enough in life or is it too late ................... Give it a thought !!!


Love, N.

Happy Birthday SweetHeart !!!

To my darling baby brother,

Many people say - they wouldn’t want a little sibling
But without you, life wouldn’t be worth living.
When I'm mad at the world
I look at your million dollar smile and everything seems alright.
When I listen to your laughter,
I suddenly come alive.
That’s when I know
that out of all the little boys in the world,
God sent you especially
to be my little brother.

For all the happiness we share
For all the joy you’ve brought,
For all the ways you show you care
This brings a loving thought
And though I’ve said
I love you
So many times before
I want to tell you once again
Each day I love you even more………………
“Many many happy returns of the day darling”




With lots of love, kisses & hugs,
Bulla.

10 must watch movies

This is a tough one, really tough. Over the years the industry has made some amazing and challenging movies, to name a few: 007 james bond series, ben-hur, cast away, the godfather, the lord of the rings, national treasure series, titanic, or mother india, anand, ram tere ganga mli, ek duje ke liye, black, jo jeeta wohi sikander, sadma, dil chhata hai.

By now you must have learnt that I am quite a movie buff................... Hence here among all the legend movies, I have yet managed to filter a few MOST FAVE movies that MUST be watched.

Apollo 13 - 1995
USP - Ron Howard's direction and commendable acting by the top notch cast.

Saving Private Ryan : 1998
USP - Tom Hanks gives the performance of his career & kudos to Steven Spielberg’s direction.

The Gladiator : 2000
USP -historical epic genre based at the time when the Roman Empire was at its height.
Stricking performace by Russell Crow some amazing direction by Ridely Scott

Apocalypto – 2006
USP - directed by veteran actor Mel Gibson & huge budgeted story, which displayed the ancient civilization with grace.

The Twilight series: 2008
USP - vampire-based fantasy romance movie with an absolutely gripping plot by Stephenie Meyer the novelist.

Avatar - 2009
USP - epic science fiction & the larger than life director James Cameron

Now for some Bollywood tadka...... nothing is complete without them, isn't it !!!

Pushpak : 1988
USP – story & the legend actor/director Kamal Hassan

Taare Zameen Par : 2007
USP – story, Performance of Child actor and Direction

Jab We Met : 2007
USP – complete youth story with Shahid-Kareena jodi and acting.

3 idiots: 2009
USP – undoubtedly Aamir Khan & Rajkumar Hirani’s direction

Love, N.

Being Employed

A wise man once said “The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one".

With this quote in mind, everyone will definitely love their job.

Besides the fringe benefits, one can love many things about his job. Think about it, being employed can help you to grow larger in many prospects; it will help your mind stay active, nourishing your brain with new experience and knowledge; most of all meeting people with varied personality and opinions, from which you can learn some and teach some.

As very recently I am employed at bank, completely new to the banking industry. Supposedly this sector is made of financial intellect and monetarily wise people, contradicting my personality, but nevertheless every field and every individual has something to teach – hence took up the challenge.

So let’s give you a snapshot of my new curve to my career. Interview, HR paperwork, all were through and then came the training. The first encounter to any job, the word training sounds boring and monotonous, but I had a delightful experience. All thanks to the most learned and training specialist Chetan Karnik & George Mathew.

Training one person and training a group of people is two different and distinct things. Moreover teaching someone in a way to leave the imprint is very tricky and I think George does it with complete ease. After long I enjoyed sitting into the classroom and giving all my attention.

So now the fun part (training) was over and all the apprehension of first day of work began, felt even worser than first day of college. But very unlike my imagination, the ambience, co-workers, and the location of the office everything seemed different and very adaptable.

And there I was very critical and skeptical so as to understand if I would fit the bill, if I would sustain or if I could be a part of the female dominated department. As too many women in one room, is very hard at times, Im sure most of the men would agree with this......!!!

But yes, 2 weeks now I’m still trying to mix around, still learning to mitigate mistakes, trying to understand the work culture, make new friends though some are and some are yet to be.

Though there is one thing I have learnt for sure; “We don’t see the things the way they are. We see things the way WE are".

Love, N.