BarCamp Bangalore 4e

If you are a geek, you already know what i am talking about. Mentioning here for completeness, the 4th edition will be held on 28th and 29th July 07 in IIM, Bangalore campus. Visit the site for more details.

If you still haven’t heard about it, then you might first consider reading this to understand the concept behind a bar camp. And then i urge, you must visit the venue and join the camp. It promises a geeky and techy weekend extravaganza. You will get to know a lot of latest and greatest techno trends and the geeks thoughts about them, not to mention the opportunity to network with the best of the Bangalore techies.

You can visit the site and register yourself in collectives of your interest. It costs you nothing but promises a technical value-add.

 

Lage Raho Munna Bhai

well well well…its a movie you dont wanna miss. I just returned from the theatre, its 0200 hrs in the night and my eyes are literally falling off. But i cant control myself. I want to write about it. I want to let people know about the movie, right now. My impression is – its a great movie and has all ingredients to be a super hit. If you watch movies for entertainment, relaxation or for learning then take it from me, you will not be disappointed.

For those who want to watch the movie, pls don’t read further. The section below talks about the movie, reveals all the secrets and have full potential to spoil your entertainment value. Paragraphs below are only for my friends who like to discuss movies but hardly have time to go and watch it. So read on pals….

Initial half an hour into the movie and i was disappointed. There was a huge expectation, mainly because of the success of its earlier version – Munna Bhai MBBS. I was expecting an out n out comedy but with different dialogues and delivery style. It seemed same initially and added to my worry. However, i soon realized it is a comedy movie indeed but with a different approach. By that time the movie had already built a story and i was getting involved. From then on time flew away and the show was over in no time.

There are quite a few surprise factors. Almost all the characters in first flick are present in this one too. Bomman Irani didn’t get enough dialogues to show his skills this time. If you are a comedy freak, glue your ears to the ‘circuit’ speaks. The message is clear this time too – Help others to help yourself. However, the message comes direct from the father of the nation. yes, Mahatma Gandhi. No, he didn’t show up for few seconds to deliver a lecture. He is present through out the movie. And still you don’t feel being lectured. that’s the beauty.

If you like imotional stuff, be sure to carry a kerchief. If you like comedy stuff, again be sure to carry a kerchief. You like multi starrers? wow…dont worry – you would get to see Aby baby and Diya Mirza too. You are a Radio Jockey(RJ)? then you must watch it. I never thought Vidya Balan can look beautiful. I had an impression that she is overhyped though i have not seen any of her movies yet. But now i feel otherwise. She has got very expressive eyes and a beautiful smile. Good acting skills as add-on makes it a deadly combination.

In a earlier blog my friend Madhu was sceptic about the movies prospects for different reasons. But i dont think that applies to this movie.

Overall, my verdict – must watch even though you don’t regularly watch movies. After the movie you will realize why i asked you to go for it. signing off!!!

Orissa on exponential growth path…

If you have been following the business news for last month or so, then you must have heard it. All of a sudden a small, poor and backward state i.e, Orissa is in news. Actually pleasing and positive news for a change. For those who don’t know what i am talking about – Orissa is a small state in the eastern region of India, virtually without any significant industry barring few (small) public sector units and not very promising literacy rate. Most of the state’s population is of tribal and backward casts. There is only one city (ie Bhubaneswar, the capital) in the state and probably five or six big towns. Until recently only the national air carrier used to fly to the capital. All towns and villages are mostly connected by roads only, not even trains. State government’s major source of income is tourism, which again is only concentrated in Bhubaneswar and Puri, and mining. Yes the state is blessed with rich reserve of metals under the ground.

With IT industry growing rapidly in India, Orissa was to find its foot on it sooner or later. It has everything to support it except for the connectivity. Of late almost all major players in indian IT industry (e.g Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, TCS etc) have opened up offices there and few future players (eg Igate, Mindtree, Iflex etc) have already started efforts to setup offices there. Amidst all these, last few months saw following major announcements and investment plans in the state,

• Vedanta University – A huge university campus, to provide all kinds of professional education and to host national as well as international students.

• Steel plants – Two major players in steel industry in the international market eg Posco and Mittal steel have declared their intentions to setup huge plants and processing units.

• Power Plants – ADAG (previously Reliance), the biggest player in power industry in south east asia has signed MoU with state govt to setup power plant.

All these investments are in the tune of 15000 crores to 60000 crores indian rupees (ie 10 billion USD approx). If you sit back and do your maths, you will find that the total investment to be made by these companies is bigger than the sum of values of all units existing in the state in the similar businesses, not to mention these are in record in themselves, in terms of largest investments by individual corporates. Does that not surprise you? It brings so many questions to mind. What happened suddenly? Is the state govt on a buying spree? Even if so, the corporates must also be seeing opportunities there to make money. Whatever be the reason, look at the positive side of it. Imagine the kind of employment opportunities it will create. The auxiliary or support industry will boom too. This will have direct impact on transportation, logistics, communication, real estate, fmcg, shipping and a host of other big and small industries.

Is that not a good news? At least for a resident of that state, yes. But there are quite a few questions marks. Not sure who will and how soon they will be answered. Is the state government able to anticipate the growth? Is it prepared or at least preparing a plan to handle it? Time will tell. Going by the history of states’ governments there is very little to be happy about.