Category: Others Page 3 of 6

…for one last time.. blogging from XIME..

On May 9, 2014

For one last time, from the confines of the XIME hostel, I bring to you another blog. Yea, a little dramatic to start I guess, but what the hell, life here has been no less than a roller coaster drama for me.

Drama, you ask??

Well. The night is getting dark. It is already 1.30 AM and like the punctual XIME tradition goes, we’ll have to be up our asses by 9:00 AM for the rehearsal of convocation. Ohh yeah!! CONVOCATION, the reason we all are here. And I cannot put in words how excited I am. Not only because it will be my first Convocation per se, but also coz this was the first time I have put in actual hard work to get my degree. (Yes, I was a super lazy ass, who took it very easy at first).

But, anyways depriving you of the little joys and loads of troubles won’t give me any good. So, I should share some of them with you. Shouldn’t I?

Audi-week. Roomies. Friends. Mess food. Coffee. DogB. Volga. Bismillah. Jumma Rush. Roll no. Blogger. Controversy. Passport. International tour. MST. Internship. Salesman. Report. Viva. CGPA. Dexter. Suits. Movies. Reviews. Meeting Farhan. Exams. VOS. Library. Results.

I can go on and on about stuff that can define my 2 years at Xime. They aren’t just words arranged in any sequence, but the story of my Xime life. Something, which will swell up my eyes, the next time when I remember them again or maybe just read them. I won’t miss xime, I will miss people, will miss the bonding.

I’ll miss my roomies, I’ll miss my gang. Teasing and getting teased like anything and for everything. being called the “blogger” or maybe even the “reviewer”, will miss late night balcony talks, coffee walks, fights with friends over issues and non-issues, being awake all night, listening on to Drunk tales of friends, will miss HER, will miss taking awkward moment pics of people and posting them on fb, will miss being involved in a Modi discussion or even being called MODI, will miss exchanging chit-chats during classes, will miss getting worked up for not doing an assignment on time, will miss dragging people to give treat for random excuses., might even miss studying in the library. And, I’ll miss writing blogs sitting in these rooms of this hostel…

XIME, you’ll be missed like anything…

Signing off, from XIME hostel, one last time….

Life of a Social media Addict

By farooq

On February 8, 2014

In Others

“Good morning 🙂 “

Before the traces of sleep left the eyes, still curled up inside the blanket on a cold morning, a tweet was posted, the notification bar that lighted red across the blue bar of facebook was religiously checked upon, emails checked and various other notifications were duly unread from whatever the Smartphone displayed. The snoozed alarm rang itself for another time, vibrating right into my hands, and hence the day began.
The day of a social media addict.

Well, it is not a biographical account of a random guy, but a simplified and collaged explanation of how the day of a socially active species would look like. A day where each of the happenings on a daily basis, or preferably hourly, or even more frequently than that, knocks itself up on any of these platforms. The indulgence gets multiplied, and the social life over the internet appears to be more active than the actual “social life.” Without bothering ourselves about the pros and cons on which life is better, or which one isn’t or to engage ourselves in another useless discussion like the one frequently happening on social media, let’s just concentrate on the story that unfolds for this guy, which we are so indulgently talking about.

The daily drama unfolds with the morning, bringing upon the overnight carry-forward social baggage with it. The Facebook messages, the likes on the recently uploaded pictures, counting the number of RTs the tweets have got, the endorsements on LinkedIn, and the list goes on. All of this carries along throughout the morning chores, the breakfast, newspaper; everything goes hand in hand along with the Tweeting and FBing garnishing the breakfast platter. Multi-tasking couldn’t have defined itself in a better way.
While pictures, with their editing of the breakfast food, tagged as “yummy”, “out of the world” or simply delicious” find their way to internet through Instagram, tweets describing, “the awesome start to the day, with the amazing Cheese Sandwiches” grace the Twitter Timeline, while perhaps a “Thank you Mom for the amazing Breakfast”, by tagging her there would update itself on Facebook. Thank you on the breakfast table is, so mainstream you know.
College starts with a Check-in on Foursquare update of “Your Highness” entering the premises and at the same post being shared on Facebook and Twitter. Notifications and Mentions pour in from the college brethren, as to the whereabouts of the hangout or why some of them won’t be coming.
The long walk to the spot, the head hung down, not in shame but latched with an ultimate concentration on the hands holding the powerful device. The walk itself is no mean feat, where dodging the passer-by and continuing to reply on the messages are a big achievement in itself. At least when the perfection is such, that an injury-free me reaches to buzz in a high-five with the buddies.
The hangout, of course, involves lots of chit-chats, banter, and discussions ranging from anything to everything. All along, something which matches the tag of being “funny,” “interesting,” and “weird” gets tweeted or posted to Facebook. The general rule is, everything which can be limited to 140 characters may find its way to Twitter, while stuff which is on the higher side of the humor/interesting quotient scale, gets updated on the facebook wall.
Classrooms of course, cannot be livelier than our “class contributions” in the form of WATSAPPing.
And just when things would somehow get finalized, an update on Facebook disclosing our whereabouts and plans for the evening, with the necessary tags would surface. (Open invite for stalkers if anyone wanted to). The update would also ring up comments, along with their sad looking smilies.
Interestingly, more than anything in the long-drive or sometimes a bowling session or just some food indulgence, it would be making sure that an adequate number of pictures giving evidence that we were there. Reminds of the time when people used to carve out their initials on Rocks or trees only to revisit those years later. This is the digitalized version of the same.
The only glitch comes, when with the amount of usage, the batteries in most of the phones, dies down slowly. With nothing much to update or tweet, we have to Talk to each other!! To our surprise, the talk builds upon the fun and the time way back home passes in a flash.
But, once all of them reach their home, the first thing that they all do, after getting a little scolding from either of the parents for being late, is to look for the Lifesaver- The Charger.
And then, the virtual life of the social media addicts are back with their tweets, updates, and uploads on the Internet.

Social Gaming: Are you Game ?

By farooq

On January 31, 2014

In Others

Candy Crush. Mafia wars. Farmville. If these names sound familiar to you, and irritation sweeps across your brain, than believe me you have a sizable company of people, including me, who would be willing to sympathize with you. And of course, a sizable one which would still continue to press the invite button on one of these apps, for you to donate a “life”, some points, or some crap which baffles our mind.

And hey, welcome to the world of Social Network Gaming.

It is not a new trend, but is sure has re-invented itself over time, by fitting itself into the smart-phone dominated social networking phase quite comfortably and happens to be a considerable growth model when viewed with a combination of Mobile+Social Network+Game angle.

There are many companies which have utilized the opportunity of Social gaming with applications developed on the platforms of these socially notable networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Zynga for instance was one of the early pioneers of “Social Gaming” with games like Poker and Mafia Wars designed to woo the traffic on their websites, to make users stay on them even more than Social networking. It did work and now Zynga is a multi-billion Dollar company.

Moving away from the economic angle, and replacing it with the present day scenario, where Mobile has spruced up the growth of Social network, and with it the Social games as well. The virality of the Social Gaming scenario doesn’t seem to be end. Games designed are not complex, rather are easy. But are fueled by the networking concept of including more people into the gaming fold. Requests, ranging from points for referrals to even Virtual life , are the driving force. The more your requests are accepted, the more levels you clear!!!

The level hierarchy and the competition involved make it highly addictive. More so, because the scores and rankings are there for the world to see. (At least, the Virtual world in our friend list), this concept has sure caught on.

The advent of these games are a new dimension to the whole Social network craze and has benefited not just the online gaming industry, where numerous developers have modified their gaming applications to be suited to these platforms, and as well as the Social networking sites, which have given one more reason for the users to stay on.

ReveringThoughts: 2013 in review

By farooq

On January 1, 2014

In Others

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 30,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Micromax Story

By farooq

On November 25, 2013

In Others

The Micromax Story

Chinese mobile phones had just started coming to the Indian households. Cheap knock-offs of various high-end mobiles for costs cheaper than what the Indian market ever saw. There was actually a flood of these models. Now, for an Indian audience Chinese products may not be of the same value as it has for an American/ Europeon market, where China ships some of its fine quality stuff, but surely for a fad, when mobile handsets had just started bulking up pockets for the population, it gave them an option.

Around this time, some of the Indian companies too entered the fray, with their own addition to the existing competition in the mobile phone segment. Micromax was one of them. With a target audience catering to the low-income groups and the rural households, they based their value proposition out there, with extensive features vis-a-vis the big brands, of course with a low-price point.

Now, picture that time and contrast it with the most recent diwali advertisement of Micromax featuring Hugh Jackman. A complete change. And this just doesn’t reflect in their aspirations in terms of the marketing campaign, but the numbers speak for themselves. They currently hold the second spot at 22% market share. Commendable, the way they have grown. IDC’s (International Data Centre which tracks technology data) Q2 results compilation showed that the company had a 22 percent market share in the Indian smartphone market. While the revenue as of 2011-12 stands at Rs 1,978 crore or Rs 19.78 billion.

Hugh Jackman micromax brand ambassador

There are of course no quick and fast rules for this ascent. A number of factors have contributed to this growth, which are slowly propelling them onto bigger heights. Some of the notable reasons may be put may be put down to know how the micromax story shaped up:

1. Using china as a manufacturing base: Micromax took pains to mark out those manufacturers in China who were working with global brands like Apple and Samsung. For instance FoxConn manufactures the handsets for Micromax too now. This has put Micromax in a better position to compete with other big brand by ensuring quality products.

2. Rural target market: The primary target for Micromax was the rural market, which it catered to by arming itself with a 30-day long battery phone and dual Sim phones. Both of them were a hit and that too at affordable prices. This entailed them with a market of their own. It’s not that other established players like Nokia or Samsung didn’t cater to this market. But Micromax was laced with more features, which the basic phones of these brands couldn’t offer. The rural population which chose features at lower cost over brand value, turned out to be a good start for micromax.

3. Early android adoption: When others were dishing out new operating software, or continuing with the old one (Nokia with Symbian), Micromax lapped up the opportunity of using Google’s Android. This helped them target the youth market in a better way. The aspiring youth, who couldn’t afford the high end Android devices, were targeted.

4. Product rollout: Where big international brand requires roughly 18 months for a similar product to go through the retail pipeline, Micromax takes barely a month or two to launch products. This has ensured that variety as well as new-technology adoption, which helps offer the customers something new regularly. Even the Canvas series, which has been selling like hot cakes, has helped it to scale up the brand value and reposition itself as not just a “cheap handset maker”. The pricing strategy adopted for this has helped it a lot too. The products, even its’ high priced Canvas are lower than Samsungs’ Galaxy series.

5. Promotional campaigns: It has targeted Cricket and bollywood as the basis of promotions for itself, which is directly catering to the Indian market as it is these associations, which has garnered it the visibility and also helped it shed its image of a Chinese phone to a Brand on its own. Recently it associated itself with a fashion show, where designers used its latest Canvas Turbo with full HD in the designing of their apparels. Of late, it has relied on premium associations so as to continue re-positioning itself, and shed its’ long standing image of a low-price player.

Micromax has definitely repositioned itself and established a force in the mobile segment. Although issues like labour wages in china are proving to be a roadblock to its supply chain strategy costs , the LED Tv which it manufactures in its Gurgaon plant is surely a stepping stone and a probability that it can shift from china to India, provided with the appropriate build-up of its’ infrastructure environment.

That is all about the micromax story for now.

The Placement scenario

By farooq

On October 24, 2013

In Others

The placement scenario…

Some 8 years back if anyone told you that Managers from b-schools are hot property, there’s no reason you wouldn’t have believed him/her. A 2-year course and a fat pay-check at the end of it, from a list of choices at their disposal, they bloody ruled the job market.

Then 2008 happened .Things have never been the same again. Lehmann brothers not only affected the US economy and had a cascading effect on the world economy with the Indian Software boom directly getting affected because of it, and ultimately the Managers were never got their glossy positions back.

From then to now, it was not just a result of faulty economic planning and complacency but a serious issue with the Skyrocketing Oil prices that added to the woes. Many parameters with varying magnitude changed a lot of economic equations and predictions. Pink slips became as common as any other jargon, being used quite regularly.

From 2008 to 2013, in 5 years what has changed?

Surely, the market went on a correction mode and ensured a little stability, but barring the year 2011, nothing substantial seemed to have happened in the Job market. The uncertainty still looms large as to what would happen when the final placement are completed.

There is a widespread difference in terms of opinions from across the b-school boulevard, while many believe that the recruitment companies would surely be visiting the campuses in order to maintain the relationship which they have developed with the colleges, even though there may be slashing in terms of the pay-checks being offered.

Another focus area has been companies adopting the approach to offer the interns pre-placement offers, instead of recruiting in large numbers. The benefit of course is that they are not only able to better judge the talent in the Internship period but also weed out any mistakes when it comes to recruiting the best talent. While Facebook has called up most of it’s’ interns from IIM-C for a pre-placement Interview, many other companies are also looking to work with their interns as well.

With around 4000 b-schools apart from the Old-IIMs, the problems are numerous. The IIMs may even scrape through the placement with 100% placements or at least 90%+ in the worst case-scenario, but where it might hit just bad are the lower-rung b-schools, as has been witnessed in the last few years. Even with most of the institutions keep stressing on providing “knowledge” instead of a sure-shot “placement”, yet for the kind of investment being put in, there is a rare chance that the candidates won’t be having the criteria of “placement” in their mind when selecting the college.

If industry experts are to be believed, many sound hopeful of recruiting “Good talent” no matter how bad the market situation is. Now, the variation in the definition of Good talent would end up excluding many of the “aspirants” who lack the kind of Industry knowledge which the recruiters are looking for. Now, here is the catch, as to how many won’t make the cut.

So, the three key issues that crops up include:

1. Old IIMs will bite into a whole lot of profiles which were only meant for colleges graded lower than them and hence increasing competition in those colleges to grab whatever comes their way.

2. Big batch sizes and the New IIMs which are up for placement may add to the woes.

3. Moderation of expectations are sure on the cards, where the expected CTCs are sure to take up a downwards trend, except some odd offers at old IIMs.

And some of the reasons which may be given include:

1. Election year- With the uncertainty as to who will form the next government and the policy paralysis that the present government underwent things in this election year adds up on the confusion.

2. Investment decisions on hold-Many companies have put their expansion plans on hold, either due to the prospect of changing government or even the volatile market situation.

3. Fear of the debt crisis – The prospect of Quantitative Easing tapering, Bond yields in the US have risen and there is a flight of foreign money from Indian bond markets to the US, which affects the overall economy and the sentiment in a big way. Negative sentiment means lesser investment, slower roll out of projects and hence lesser jobs.

Although there are quite a few positives which make you, put off some of the negativities

1. Growth in the new-age businesses like e-commerce: New-age sectors are slowly coming of age in terms of large recruitment with flashy pay-packages.

2. Increased number of Start-ups: The number of start-ups has increased over the last 3-4 years and which is a bright shiny spot in the dark times we live in.

3. IT sector: The IT sector has actually benefitted from the rupee-slump and looks a little more stable, which may further help the cause of recruitment.

There are positives and there are negatives too (a lot more, actually), but one thing is certain, the recruitment process would engulf only the talent which the companies actually require and won’t just be a number-filling exercise. So, buckling up to the demand and showing them the talent required by them is the way-forward.

Meeting my iCon…

By farooq

On October 8, 2013

In Others

It was 8’o clock and almost an hour was left before I was to meet my Icon. I have never been this “punctual” before, but then there hasn’t been any other time when something like this had ever seen the light of the day. It was my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the impatience as well as the anxiety was a result of it.

When each minute, was attempting hard to make itself seem like hours and even in the midst of all the shor-sharaba, I could still hear the clock ticking, I knew it was a long wait.

With a little idhar-udhar roaming around and tweeting myself through the one hour passage, I was at my anxious best to meet Ms. Kiran Majumdar Shaw. Yes, my icon.

Kiran Majumdar Shaw

She arrived in the lobby and I pushed myself to start off the Big day of being with my Icon. Well, there she was. As I adjusted my tie and went towards her, I heard my name being called aloud by someone. And the voice became louder and louder.

And suddenly..

I opened my eyes to find my roomie letting me know the time; it was Not Kiran Majumdar waiting, but the professor who would be starting off with the classes any minute.

Sigh!! It happened again.

Every day, I just have this crazy dream of ending up waiting in one lobby or the other to start my big day with one of the 11 icons of iConnect, Sometimes its’ Kiran Majumdar and sometimes Mohandas Pai, for which we’ve all been bidding, but every other day it just stops before I actually end up meeting them. Why can’t those dreams extend themselves a little? ahh ??

Anyways, its’ almost the end of the bidding round to get to meet my icon by bidding along with 100’s of others vying for the same thing. I just wish even I get to meet Kiran Majumdar Shaw.

Ohh, you wondering as to how even you can be a part of it? Well, fiqr-not, XIME in association with the Joy-of-Giving week brings to you this unique and exciting opportunity to spend a day with your icon by bidding along with others. And the bidding amount is again for a noble cause of charity.

Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship brings about an opportunity for the young bloods in a first of its kind event called ICONnect in Bengaluru that gives students and young professionals a golden opportunity to ‘shadow’ a leader of their choice. XIME has always emphasized giving back to society and this is a great way to do so. XIME also has a very active Social club called Xseed, which has been organizing events from time to time to help the neglected strata of society.

What is in it for you?

Well, a double bonanza in the form of not just contributing to the cause of society as well as get to interact with your favorite business leader. Students and young professionals would have a phenomenal once in a lifetime experience. Students and young professionals will bid in a one-week window starting from October 2nd and the highest bidders among the students and young professionals will get to spend one day with the leader of their choice. The bid money will be channelized to a charity of the leader’s choice. Events in line with ICONnect have been conducted by the IIMs and ISB at the national level. Our event will focus on leaders and bidders in Bengaluru. This also presents an opportunity to the business leaders to fulfill their CSR initiatives in a manner, which involves others from the society into the process, adding true value to the Joy of “giving”

Dreaming is of course great, but when you have an opportunity like this to go ahead and convert your dream into reality, then why sit back ?? Start bidding NOW!! The bidding lasts till 9th October 2013. For bidding, just go to www.ebay.com/iconnect and for further information on the same, you can go to the website www.ximeiconnect.org

Start Bidding to Shadow the leader for a day. So, BID. WIN. EXPERIENCE.

Ultramintz: The freezingly refreshing mint!!

By farooq

On August 16, 2013

In Others

Ramadan just ended, with the ushering of the celebrations of Eid. Speaking about Ramadan and it’s fasting; there is a lot to say about it. But I’ll focus myself to why I am writing this post, this is actually a new revelation that I came across during the period of fasting, a new-found love for a mint. A mint which is of an altogether different league.

The small and neatly designed box, with a tiny outlet for small capsule like mints raining out with little push, came out these mints. These looked very small and so I ended up gulping in some 3-4 of them in one go. Seconds into it, I realized that I should have had just one. Yes, these strong mints are indeed strong, not to mention the fact that even being small they are powerful. My mouth felt as if I have put small cubes of ice thrusted into my mouth. All this while, after having fasted from dawn till dusk, which is part of the tradition, I was tired, but thanks to these, I was refreshed as ever.

It has actually became a habit, to gulp in one, yes, just one of these mints, after every meal. It not only gets rid of plaque like creations in the mouth but also makes you feel refreshed. I even handed some of them to my smoker friends, who happen to be in dire needs of the same once before entering into class to ward off the smell from their mouth. Although, this need is culminated due to my irritation of having to keep up with their talks even with the cigarette making its presence felt. Having given them one each, every time they sat next to me and literally forcing each of them to keep a small box with them always, life became a bit better.

Ultramintz review

Personally, this mint has remained in my pocket, from the first time ive had it. The case is such that you can carry it wherever you want, without the difficulty and risk of losing or spilling it. Kudos to the ITC and UltraMintz team for such wonderful packing, in tin cases. And there if you shake it just once, you get one mint coming out of it, to be savored in your mouth until you get that refreshing feeling out of that small mint of joy.

review of ultramintz

Mint-o’s Ultramintz is a premium and powerful sugar-free mint with 60 extra strong pellets packed in a stylish black tin case. Each pellet is made from peppermint oils from France, finest quality menthol and is powered by special cooling compounds and having finished two of these tin cases, I can vouch for this stat that I got from UltraMintz’s Facebook page.
Prepare yourself for unimaginable cooling with these pellets that come out of the tin boxes, they are of course premium mints and are expensive from the general fare that you get in the Indian Market, but believe me this is worth it. Just one mint after you smoke, or just one whenever you need to feel refreshed, or just want to freeze yourself for fun, just has these.

I am reviewing mint-o Ultramintz as a part of the Product Reviews Program at BlogAdda

Celebrating Azaadi: Contest Rules and Guidelines

By farooq

On August 13, 2013

In Others

First of all, I would like to thank each and everyone who has registered themselves for the Write-up competition to be held on 15th August, 2013 as part of our Celebrating Azaadi contest. The registration was done beforehand in order to keep estimate the response of interested participants. Surprisingly, the response from outside our college seemed to be much more than it was expected. Numbers are expected to increase on Independence day. Do stay in touch through our Facebook page or through the emails that you get after you register.

The Cuckoo's Calling by JK Rowling

Your questions and queries regarding the contests have been answered in Celebrating Azaadi & Participate and Win and if you happen to have any further questions, feel free to ask. The contest Rules and Guidelines are listed here under:

CONTEST RULES AND GUIDELINES

The topic that would be given, exactly at the stroke of Midnight on Reveringthoughts’ Facebook page
The write-up has to be around 200 words, should be sent to this particular mail before the day ends, i.e., before 11.59 PM, 15^TH August 2013.
The topic would be abstract and you will have the liberty to be at your creative best.
The registration number provided to you shall be used for judging your entries, removing any kinds of bias that may take place. This registration number would be active till the 5 entries are finalized by our Judging panel.
The write-up should be an original work of the participant and any kind of plagiarism shall not be entertained and entries would be disqualified straight away.
Once the entries have been shortlisted, it would be put on Facebook for voting. The procedure of voting shall be made known when your entries get selected.
The decision of the jury is final and in no way shall be questioned.

*Contest Rules and Guidelines are subject to change at the discretion of the ReveringThoughts.

Participate and Win!!

By farooq

On August 10, 2013

In Others

“Cuckoo Calling”, the latest offering by JK Rowling can just be yours!!

A 200-word write-up on this Independence day as part of our “Celebrating Azaadi contest” is what can help you get it.

When the topic of the write-up would be disclosed?

The topic shall be disclosed at the stroke of midnight, i.e., Independence Day.

What is the word-limit?

Just 200 words.

How much time do you have to submit your entry?

24 hours.

Who all are participating?

Students, working professionals and homemakers are participating from all over the country. Only Indian residents are open for participation.

What are the Parameters for judging?

The parameter is the relevance and originality of the content. We are looking for creativity as well as celebration of the idea of freedom and promotion of free speech. Entries around the same theme and focusing on this aspect shall be the winners.

What next?

Your post, if it gets selected by the Jury shall be put up for Voting on our facebook page, and winners shall be decided on the basis of voting. The voting process is very simple and shall be disclosed when you clear the first round.

So, what are you waiting for? Register yourself to claim the Book and a chance to feature on Reveringthoughts as the winning entry.

For any further questions, feel free to comment.