Slumdog but not a Millionaire!

Last updated on: February 28, 2009 at 6:46 am By Desh Kapoor

There has been a lot of hype around Slumdog Millionaire.. the Oscar, the poverty, the hunger and the rags to riches story. Now, while the poverty that the movie shows is very real.. the way out for the millions of "slumdogs" is not as easy as it has been shown. Most stories don't end up on such a good note. Four Oscars ago, a young girl, daughter of a prostitute in Kolkatta's Sonagachi area had also made the trip to LA as the movie "Born into Brothels" by directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman won the Best Documentary Feature.[1] Cakes were cut, photos were taken and then that young girl in her teens went back home. She promised that she will never follow her mother's profession. A few months later, she had entered the oldest profession. In September, 2005 she was rescued by the police as she was a minor. Now as an adult, she is one of the 5000 prostitutes in Sonagachi. She pays for her mother and thinks that her work has paid off well.. although she still wants to be out of this. But can she? Poverty and big powerful cartels won't let her. Read more

"Jai Ho" choreographer shows the moves

Last updated on: February 28, 2009 at 3:10 am By Desh Kapoor

Here is the choreographer - Longinus Fernandes - of the song "Jai Ho" showing the moves!! He is the guy who made it possible.. and Danny Boyle "knew" about it just 3 days before the Oscar.. and this guy didn't even get the credits!! Read more

Nano Satellite from IIT Kanpur Students

Last updated on: February 27, 2009 at 11:43 pm By Desh Kapoor

Jugnu is getting ready. It is a nano satellite that students from IIT-Kanpur are building for a launch end of this year. Read more

Investing advise from India

Last updated on: February 27, 2009 at 8:47 pm By Desh Kapoor

Gautam Khandelwal helps his clients and friends with advise on stock trading, mutual funds, and investment. With online stock trading becoming so popular in India, there has been a great proliferation of ordinary people investing everywhere. Which has meant big stock losses as well. Here is his advise at this juncture in the stock market. Please so share your thoughts. Gold has finally started creeping up. My expectation is that with increasing uncertainties, gold should further go up and go up significantly. With trillions being pumped into the world, inflation should increase and gold and inflation are best friends. However, any fresh exposure into gold may not be advisable. Even if one wishes to take an exposure, take the SIP route. Further, it may make better sense to buying units of the DSP BlackRock Gold Fund (a fund that invests into equity shares of companies that mine gold) rather than buying paper / physical gold. While government bonds have delivered stellar returns in the last few months, one should avoid this asset class as well, going forward. Increasing government expenditure should raise yields (interest rates). This will keep this asset class under check. Read more

The Lake

Last updated on: February 27, 2009 at 8:10 pm By Desh Kapoor

Was walking along the lake one evening and shot this picture. What do you think? Read more

Money Tips #1: Reduce Auto Insurance Costs

Last updated on: February 27, 2009 at 6:46 pm By Desh Kapoor

Auto Insurance could a big expense in these days when one is trying to reduce costs and save money. And guys, the cost of maintaining a car is not just from the gas but also the car insurance you pay.. even when you are NOT using it. So it does make sense to at least think about it and reduce the expense. I remember when I first talked to an insurance agent for quotes after coming from India. Within a day of shopping, my total expense had come down to half of the original quote in the morning.. for the same insurance coverage and same policy by the same company! Therefore, guys search around! I will try and bring about some money making tips in this market for you all. Today lets review things on auto insurance. I have found a few things help in reducing the cost of car insurance; Shop around for Better Rates. Rates can vary greatly from company to company, so be sure to look around to find the best deal. A local independent insurance agent can offer more choices and savings because he or she can review multiple options to find the right mix of companies, policies and rates for you. An agent can also give you insider loopholes or areas to cut cost. Ask them! For example, smaller cars with lower horsepower are less expensive to cover. Also, If you are not going to drive a car much, let the insurance agent know. Read more

Daily Wisdom #1: Importance of Time!

Last updated on: February 27, 2009 at 6:56 am By Desh Kapoor

Success comes to the one who understands the importance of time. Projection When we are working at a task, success doesn't come as much as it should because we have not been able to recognise the importance of time. Because of this sometimes carelessness sets in which makes us lose valuable time and interferes in what we are doing. Then we cannot give our best to the task. Solution We need to recognise the importance of time so that we never postpone what we can do now. We will then always have the slogan 'now or never' in our mind. Knowing that what we can do now, we cannot do it as well in the future, we'll give our best to all we do right now. This will enable us to use our time in a fruitful way and success will come very easily to us. Read more

Doodling and Concentration

Last updated on: February 27, 2009 at 6:07 am By Desh Kapoor

Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite -- getting something down. ~ JULIA CAMERON Doodling is probably the most common activity in most corporate meetings. Some are boring, some tiring, but the doodling carries on! What does Doodle mean and how did it come about?[1] Its ultimate derivation is likely from the Low German dudeldopp, meaning "fool" or "simpleton". (High) German variants of the etymon include Dudeltopf, Dudentopf, Dudenkopf, Dude and Dödel. American English dude may be a derivation of doodle. Doodles have had their art value also. many US presidents have doodled which have been collectibles. You can check out some doodles by the rich, powerful and the famous! Doodles help in Concentrating Jackie Andrade, a cognitive psychologist at University of Plymouth in UK has done a study with 40 volunteers.[2] Read more

An Idealist is NOT a Revolutionary

Last updated on: February 27, 2009 at 12:35 am By Desh Kapoor

The idealist is the man with an idea, and it is he who is not revolutionary. Ideas divide, and separation is disintegration, it is not revolution at all. The man with an ideology is concerned with ideas, words, and not with direct action; he avoids direct action. An ideology is a hindrance to direct action. Read more

Is Twitter the Next Google Acquisition?

Last updated on: February 26, 2009 at 10:19 pm By Desh Kapoor

If you don't look at Twitter from its communications standpoint and just evaluate it from its website, you will miss the entire drama it unfolds! Downlaod Tweetdeck and a complete new world comes out! You can see a real time global conversation... its like a GIANT GLOBAL IM - between people who have at least some similarity amongst them. They could listen into a lot of new information come in. Now look at it - if there was a real time search on it. Blogs and web sites pages are not real time. They are done somewhat asynchronously. But Twitter discussion is as synchronous as any could possibly be. If Google can map the trends in the world (like the flu trends) using the web pages, then creating trends out of the millions of twitter conversations would completely revolutionize the value of those trends. In fact, Twitter could be a great "Value Added" search engine. To check the world trends in the conversations here is a useful tool... as they happen!! Read more