Author Archives: Abhi

Beware of Tata Consultancy Service Spams

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Beware of such spams. Tata Consultancy Services will never ask you to transfer money to their company’s accountant so that they can send you flight tickets to attend the interview.

Here’s the email that I received-

Tata Consultancy Services(TCS)
5th Floor, PTI Bldg., 4, Parliament
Street New Delhi – 110 001.
Email:tataconsultancycareer@hotmail.com

REF: “TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICE” DIRECT RECRUITMENTS OFFER.

Your Resume has been selected from JOB SEEKERS DATA BASE for our new plant. The
Company selected 62 candidates list for Senior Engineer, IT, Administration,
Production, marketing ,Retail and general service Departments. It is our pleasure to inform
you that your Resume was selected as one of the 62 candidates shortlisted for the
interview.

Tata Consultancy Services(TCS)  is involved for Senior Engineer, IT, Administration,
Production, marketing ,Retail and general service Departments in India; The
Company is recruiting the candidates for our new plants in Delhi, Bangalore, Pune.Hyderabad
Kolkata ,Chennai and Mumbai. Your interview will be held at The Company Corporate office in
New Delhi on 26th Of July at 11.30am, we are  pleased to inform you that the
62 candidate’s selected 56 candidates will be giving appointment, meaning your
Application can be in progress to the final stage. You will have to come to the
Company corporate office in New Delhi. Your offer letter with Air Ticket will be
sent to you by courier before date of interview. The Company can offer you a salary
with benefits for this post 65, 000/- to 200, 000/- P.M. + (HRA + D.A + Conveyance
and other Company benefits. The Designation and Job Location will be fixing by
Company HRD. At time of final process. You have to come with photo-copies of all
required documents.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS BY THE COMPANY HRD
======================================
1) Photo-copies of Qualification Documents.
2) Photo-copies of Experience Certificates (If any)
3) Photo-copies of Address Proof
4) Two Passport
======================================
1. Full Names:
2. Contact Address:
3. Mobile Number:
4. Sex:
5. Age:
======================================
You are to deposit a cash of 14, 700/-(Fourteen thousand Seven hundred rupees) as an
initial amount in favour of our Company accountant name in charges to collect your payment.
Payment for the Rs. 14,700/- (Fourteen thousand Seven hundred rupees) through any [STATEBANK OF INDIA]
OR [ICICI BANK] Branch from your Home City to our Company accountant name in charge. Account NO,
which will be sending to you upon your response. This is a refundable interview security deposit.
Your offer letter With Air tickets will be send to your Home Address by courier after receiving
The confirmation of interview security deposit. This Company will pay all the
expenditure to you at the time of face-to-face meeting with you in our corporate office. The Job
profile, salary offer, and date -time of interview will be mention in your offer letter.
Your offer letter will dispatch very shortly after receiving your confirmation of cash
deposited in STATE BANK OF INDIA OR ICICI BANK. We wish you the best of
luck for the subsequent and remaining stage. The last date of security deposited in
bank  22nd Of July 2011 you have to give the information after deposited the
Security amount in bank to the Company HRD -direct recruitment via email.

Your Letter with supporting document will be dispatch same time by courier to your
postal address after receipt of security deposit confirmation in bank. The interview
process and arrangement expenditure will be paid by Tata Consultancy Services(TCS). Lodging,
travelling and local conveyance actual will be paid by Tata Consultancy Services(TCS) as per
bills. The candidate has to deposit the initial refundable security as mentioned by
HRD.
NB: You are advice to reconfirm your mailing address and phone number in
your reply. And 14,500/- (Fourteen thousand Five hundred rupees) will be the refundable
Amount, as 200 rupees will be deducted as bank charges for funds deposit. And if
you are been selected or not, still the amount will be refunded to you, as the amount
is just to prove that you will be coming for the interview in order for us not to run at
lost after sending you the air ticket and you don’t show up on the day of interview.
Wishing you the best of lucks.

Regards,
Mr.Rohit Prakash
SENIOR H.R MANAGER

______________ ______________ ______________ ______________
Sent via the KillerWebMail system at shabakah.net.sa

Weird and Funny – LOL

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It’s said that a picture speaks 1000 words. So, let these pictures do all the talking, meanwhile, you can crack up:D

Weird and Funny Signs

This sign is from the Gents’ loo at SDF Building, Sector V Saltlake. My friend Rajesh Rana took the snap 🙂

 

 

 

(Img source – huffingtonpost.com, picable.com, lylot.com, gprsarena.com,funnyfunnyjones.com & littleabout.com)

Aarushi Talwar: How We Killed A Dead Girl?

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Let’s face it! From TV channels, newspapers to bloggers – each and everyone has used Aarushi Talwar as a punching bag, attacking her for having 3 boyfriends; having an active sex life; making 300 calls a month to her friends; having profiles on Orkut and Facebook; allegedly having an intimate relationship with her servant and last but not the least having an incestuous relationship with her father. There’s so much that is horrid with regards to how a certain section of media has portrayed this sad story. My earlier post ‘Who Killed Aarushi Talwar‘ clearly shows how news channels unearthed and speculated some baseless stories so that the case was filled with all the filmy masala.

But 24*7 news channels were not the only ones who raised questions on Aarushi’s character or her upbringing, in fact the blogosphere was active with Holmes and Watsons, with stories on how Aarushi’s parent were busy partying and didn’t spend time with her which prompted her to get intimate with Hemraj (Talwar’s domestic help who was also found murdered) and many other such unintelligible and gross theories.

For instance, a blogger called Gaurav, wrote his so-called intelligent opinions on this case on his blog. Take a look at what he thinks of the Aarushi Murder Mystery.

  • It appears that Dr. Talwar, with the knowledge of his wife, had an incestuous relationship with Aarushi.
  • Sexual acts with her was perhaps broadcasted/videos shared with other pedophiles/sexual perverts around the world.
  • Since little girls are not very comfortable with such things, Aarushi might have confined this to Raju, their ex-servant, before. He disappeared mysteriously only to be found dead in a drain a few days later.
  • Aarsuhi might have been the love child of Dr. Nupur Talwar.
  • Motivation for killing her could have been Aarushi being in emotional and subsequently being in a physical relationship with Hemraj who comforted her taking advantage of the young age of the girl. And that she was increasingly in danger of spilling to the outside world as to what was happening in her household was the nail in her coffin. Maybe, her growing older and continued defiance was the reason why she was killed with her supporter Hemraj who was like a father figure.
  • Noida/UP Police theory is most certainly right when they pointed a finger to the ‘kind of relationship’ Hemraj and Aarushi, a fortress bound teenager much abused by her father and privy to the swinging acts between her parents and a ‘other families’.

This jerk even has the guts to write “Risking libel I hazard a deduction” before he starts jotting down his ramblings which he calls deductions. Yes, dear Gaurav, the modern day Sherlock! You can go ahead with your stupid deductions and even publish a few more points as no one will file a defamation case against you. The poor parents are fighting for justice and the girl is dead!

Anyways, aajkal blogging is all about showing off how creative you can be and lemme tell you Gaurav you score 10 on 10 in creativity. You have a vivid imagination and if Ekta Kapoor happens to read your post she will surely rope you in!

Well, there were many like Gaurav, who got to play the role of Holmes. Here’s another bloviating Holmes who with his equally mindless girlfriend ( who I think played Dr Watson here) writes how Dr Talwar was raping Aarushi and Nupur Talwar found it and killed her daughter. This is what he & his girlfriend came up with –

As a ‘regular,’ normal guy, I was stunned by the brutality of this case of a father killing his own teenage daughter… it seemed to stump all analyis. Why? I kept asking myself. The strangeness of this case left me perplexed. I discussed it for hours every day with my girlfriend, who also happens to have considerable years of experiencein Psychological Crisis-Counselling in Delhi… and and a few days ago, my girlfriend came up with her own insight on the real motivebehind the murder.I’m convinced totally now that her theory cracks this case. According to her, it was not Dr Talwar, but his WIFE who killed her daughter! Why did she do so? Because what was going on in her home was even more shocking than a male domestic help abusing her daughter… Dr Talwar was raping his own daughter!This is why he kept saying he’d “been framed for the murder”… HE didn’t kill his daughter — his WIFE did!

On that particular evening, she had witnessed her husband having sexwith Aarushi … and as a mother, she couldn’t take it. She realized that her ONLY way of permanently ‘protecting’ her child from further rape was by knocking her out and quietly slitting her throat. This fits with her strange shifty behaviour on TV, where she shows noemotion at all: she never even cries, but seems to have rehearsed her speech… she “doth protest too much”, like Lady Macbeth… in factshe looks exactly like Lady Macbeth who can’t wash the blood off her OWN hands!…

On that fateful evening, this pervert Dr Talwar must have been sodrunk that he overdid his incestuous abuse… and Aarushi must have been protesting and screaming. Hemraj tried to intervene and protect Aarushi, who may have confided in him earlier and asked for protection. And Nupur may have returned home early to find her husband in bed raping her daughter. All hell broke loose. Nupur attacked her husband and tore her child

away from him. Dr Talwar attacked Hemraj and tried to knock him out,as he was witness.While Nupur sedated or strangled Aarushi and slit her throat, Dr Talwar was in the process of killing Hemraj, to make him a ‘fall guy’ as well as removing him as witness. Finally, both Dr & Mrs Talwar killed Hemraj together. But Dr Talwar didn’t know his wife had killed Aarushi… that stunned him! Now Dr Talwar is the fall guy for the murder… because, if he reveals that his WIFE killed their daughter, he would also have to explain WHAT provoked her to do so… i.e. his Incest! Why didn’t Nupur kill her incestuous husband instead of her daughter?

Good question… Because if she did, then SHE would be accused of the murder… (unless she singlehandedly killed Hemraj too, as her Fall Guy, which is difficult for a woman to do alone!) My girlfriend and I are 100% convinced that THIS is the Real Story… We must all have the guts to speak up on this possibility… so sendin your responses please, and let’s discuss this threadbare.

May the Truth prevail!

BTW, I really could not understand why our desi Sherlock had to write that he was a ‘regular’ normal guy!

My reaction to such posts – I’m dismayed (but neither shocked nor surprised) that people have such gross thoughts about a young girl who is dead and was loved by her parents. Yes, her mother didn’t cry on TV channels, so, what? It in no way proves that she killed Aarushi.

Yes, I agree that web gives you a platform to publish your opinions ( even if they have no sense at all), show the world how creative you are, how well you can write, sometimes you can write gibberish without  divulging your real identity, you can have  an online fan base with your blog and so on…but all this should not come at the expense of others, in this case the others are –  a dead girl who was 14 year old and her bereaved parents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

IRCTC.com is on Facebook

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Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) is on Facebook. Undoubtedly, this is a commendable step that IRCTC has taken to connect to, not all the travelers though, but to a particular segment who are always connected to the internet, have Facebook account and are active social web participants. IRCTC wants to connect to the travelers who like to share and discuss their opinions with others online, visit different online forums and take part in discussions, and most importantly who use social media platforms to bring their grievances to the notice of the concerned authority.

 

 

However, not many on Facebook are aware of the page as it has just 382 members (BTW India has 25 million Facebook users and out of which only 382 travel by trains, hard to believe?). I don’t think they are doing any marketing on Facebook, which I think they should do as it will help more people know about their presence on Facebook which will give them good platform to bring forth their problems to IRCTC. So, instead of venting their anger about not being able to login to their IRCTC account or about deteriorating food quality in the railways or other problems  to different online forums they can now put across their complaints at the right place where they can be solved.   I’ve collected a few grievances people had posted and how IRCTC responded to these comments in real-time.

?

Here’s my colleague Arun Sharma posting his queries on the IRCTC Facebook page.

Please spread this message so that more people  learn about IRCTC ‘s presence on Facebook. Also, do comment as it will motivate me to unearth some more helpful but not-so-famous pages on Facebook!

Dum Maaro Dum: RIP

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zeenat

Right now when I am typing this post I am fondly thinking about a gypsy track from the movie ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ that all of us have  loved, hummed, sung or tapped toes to – be it in a disc, in picnics, while driving and even in bathrooms! Yes, I am talking about Dum Maro Dum, nopes, not the one that features a shrinking and not-at-all –beguiling Deepika Padukone sporting a skimpy skirt and a tattoo(Oh, yeah… we all know about her fixation with tattoos!). BTW Deepika P’s look (her tacky and so very glittery skirt) is not at all Kewl and Sexy. Though she’s trying hard to be sexy. Well, there’s a difference between being sexy and seductive and plain vulgar. I leave it to you to decide the category this song fits best in.

deepika

The appalling lyrics too don’t do much for the song. Though the lyricist has tried hard to up the shock value of the lyrics to either appeal to the rebel instinct of today’s youth or depict the false pretenses of the society we live in but the effort comes across as a joke. “Phir Dekh Raha Hai/ Aaj Ankh Sek raha hai/Kal haath seke ga/Aaj Dheel Chor Raha hai /Kal Khud hi Rokega/Aaj Mere liye Chair kheench raha hai/Kal Meri Skirt Kheenchega/Kheeche ga ki nahi?”

And this one is a shocker- “Uche Se ucha Banda/Poty Pe baithe Nanga/Phir Kahe ki society /Sali kahe ka pakhanda”. Huh what’s the relation between being naked while attending to nature’s call (everyone sits naked from the most influential people to non entities) and the falseness and deception of society.

Uff!! I tell you these pseudo-intellectual lyricists (the culprit is Jaipdeep Sahni)– only thing they are good at is making simple things complex. Anyways, if you forget, the movie has a strong social message, which is, to bring forth the evils of Goa – drug, prostitution and mafia. But that in no case is an excuse for having such a gross song in the movie. Well, the theme of the movie sounds similar to Dev Anand’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna shot in Nepal which at that time was a hub for drug-dazed hippies.  Well, there’s a saying if it’s not broken then don’t fix it! ( That fits here! BTW Just a suggestion – Rohan Sippy could have used the original lyrics in the song!)

Now coming back to the original version, the song Dum Maaro Dum Mit Jaaye Gum has become synonymous with the name Zeenat Aman. No matter how much I try Deepika just doesn’t fit in! The instant I hear this song Zeenat pops up from nowhere right infront of my eyes in a lungi and kurti with glasses pushed up on her head, loose hair, beads…and the way she says “Hussh” before the song begins, there is something inherently sexy about it.

Though the song is effervescent but it has a dash of teenage angst, rebellion and escapism “Duniya ne humko diya kya, duniya se humne liya kya, Hum sab ki parwah kare kyu, sab ne hamaara kiya kya”. The simplicity and beauty of this song, with such genuine, simple yet compelling lyrics goes straight to the very core of you, like a glass of lemonade in a hot summer day…and you are left with no other choice than enjoying it.

For listeners like I, who cherish qualities like depth and emotional honesty in music, Deepika Padukone’s Dum Maaro Dum to put it mildly, leaves a bad taste in mouth. Well, what’s your take on it? Can Deepika outdo Zeenat? Do the gross lyrics really imply anything? Or you really don’t give a damn because it’s another item song that will come and go?

Bank of America Director in Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group – Courtesy To PTI Headline

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This is a big news! Mukesh Ambani appointed Bank of America as director, PTI – Wed, Mar 16, 2011 10:57 PM IST

Headline Blunders! In an effort to put the news first PTI made BofA the director of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group. Read the body and you will know what’s the real story.

Well, on the web, a majority of users just read the headlines. They don’t want to read the entire news so the headline must provide adequate information about the story. So, going by this headline people get ideas like:

P.S. Mukesh Ambani has been appointed as a director on board of Bank of America.

Web Writing: 5 Mistakes Writers Must Avoid

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Content writers often confuse creativity with complexity. In an effort to make their copies stand apart from the rest, website writers tend to use lots of jargons, buzz words and complex sentences ( which sometimes do not make any sense). Here’s a quick rundown of mistakes that writers must stay away from.

1. Avoid headlines that appear to be clever but  are basically confusing and incomprehensible. Take this headline for example.

I’ve taken this particular headline from the services page of a web application development company. It’s non-informative and doesn’t give a bit of hint about the company’s services. Instead of a confusing headline a straightforward headline saying We offer web application development, web design and web marketing services would have done better.

2. Don’t write for insiders who know your processes. What is Cognizant 2.0? I wonder whether anyone not acquainted with Cognizant processes could comprehend it!! A general- interest page where you write about your services should not have  cliffhanger sentences. Nowhere in this section it’s been mentioned what Cognizant 2.0 is all about.  Yes, you can click  to get a detailed information but remember there’s one thing common with all the web users, and that is, lack of patience.

3. Edit before you hit the Publish button. This is a basic rule but sometimes writers tend to ignore it and the consequences are somewhat like:

It’s taken from National Museum’s official site.

4. Don’t misuse acronyms. The first time you use an acronym spell it out with the short form placed within parenthesis immediately after. Once you’ve mentioned what the acronym stands for  there’s no point in spelling it out again in the article.

The worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, Wednesday introduced high-speed Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network modules for the Cisco 3600 modular access platform.
These new OC-3 modules give service providers and enterprise customers a cost-effective solution for extending multiservice capabilities to branch-office locations through Asynchronous Transfer Mode.( Here the writer should have used the acronym ATM).
5.It’s better to spell out the month if your website caters to international users. For instance, 4/2/2011 can be 4 of February and 2nd of April for some.  In short, dates on your site should make sense to the users.

7 Khoon Maaf Review – A Roundup

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7 khoon maaf review

After reading the reviews of 7 Khoon Maaf I am a bit confused! How many husbands did Piggy Chops aka Susanna kill in the movie? 6 or 7? The reviews have definitely grabbed my interest and I am planning to watch it tomorrow. Here’s a roundup of the reviews that I found online. Also I’ve posted a video of the Russian song Kalinka and the Daarrrrling song ( which is quite a craze these days) is copied from it!  Do take a look at it too 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClG2IIh4I3c

7 Khoon Maaf – And the critics are saying!

7 Khoon Maaf review by Komal nahta
Komal Nahta of koimoi.com:  He has given it 1.5 stars. Mr Nahta says that the takers for this kind of dark subject among the Hindi film-going audience won’t be too many. According to his 7 Khoon Maaf review “There are a lot of questions that remain unanswered by the story writer and the screenplay writers. For example, how does Susanna keep falling in love with men with such alarming regularity when she has had bitter and chilling experiences in her married life in the past? The natural way for a lady in such a situation would be to be put off marriage forever…Besides, why does she simply not walk out of the bad marriages? Why does she take law into her own hands each time she feels cheated by the husband? What is also puzzling is why man after man is keen on marrying Susanna when her earlier husband/s has/have died under mysterious circumstances.”

Anupama Chopra - 7 Khoon Maaf review

Anupama Chopra of NDTV: She isn’t very happy with the film. She says “This is a tough story to pull off and despite the voluminous talent on display here – from director-co-writer-composer Vishal Bhardwaj to Priyanka to co-stars like Irrfan Khan and Naseeruddin Shah – the film stumbles and fumbles.” Also the story and Susanna’s character doesn’t come off as believable. “She walks down the aisle with cheery optimism and the knowledge that if it doesn’t work, there’s always the other option. Why doesn’t she just leave or opt for divorce? Because, as her faithful butler explains, that is her nature.” Ms Chopra adds.

Sonia Chopra of sify: She has good words for the movie. She says “At no point does writer-director Vishal Bhardwaj permit the viewer to blame Susannah (Priyanka Chopra) for any of her crimes; the viewer is to remain consistently sympathetic to her. And the film is so luscious for this reason: the way Bhardwaj makes us root for this semi-villain of a heroine.”

Aniruddha Guha of DNA: He gives 4/5 to the movie and has showered praises on Piggy Chops and Vishal Bharadwaj. According to Mr Guha, “Priyanka Chopra takes on a character that most of her contemporaries would shy away from and enacts it in a way only she possibly can. For a woman with as many shades as Susanna, Chopra gets a crack at a role of a lifetime. And Bhardwaj ensures she sparkles like never before.”

Mayank Shekhar- 7 Khoon Maaf review
Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times: He has given the movie 3 stars. He says the movie is a “Dark, demented dream run!” He has also some good words for the leading lady “For Priyanka Chopra, who plays the Anglo-Indian protagonist, this is unquestionably a role of a lifetime. She has you by the eyeballs. So does most of the movie.” Mr Shekhar also gives the readers a brief insight into Susanna’s quest for marital bliss and why she ends up murdering her husbands?  As per him “Each husband of Susanna’s, it turns out, is sick in the head (and bed) in uniquely separate ways. She adopts each one nonetheless, sometimes trusting hope over experience.”

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama: He says “the film will meet with diverse reactions – some will fancy it, while some will abhor it!” He says “7 Khoon Maaf works in parts. A few stories – involving Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan and Annu Kapoor – are absorbing, while at least two could’ve been better narrated.” Also he feels that the second half of the movie is drab and lengthy. “The unfortunate part is that the uninteresting ones come in the latter half and coupled with its excessive length, the impact generated by a captivating first hour gets diluted in the process. Even the culmination doesn’t sweep you off your feet.”

Rajeev Masand - 7 Khoon Maaf review
Rajeev Masand of Ibnlive: He is disappointed with the film and says the movie “tests your patience” He has given the movie a rating of 2 on 5. “Boring isn’t a word you’d normally associate with a Vishal Bhardwaj film, but ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’ seriously tests your patience. The episodes don’t link with each other seamlessly, and the director moves on quickly from one to the next, never giving us a sense of reflection or regret (if any) on Susanna’s part after committing a murder.” Mr Masand gives us a list of the murdered husbands- a possessive one-legged army-man, a drugged-out rockstar, a sexually sadistic Urdu poet, a two-timing Russian spy, a lust-driven ageing police officer, and an old-fashioned natural pharmacist but says that “Few of them, however, have any scope to make a lasting impression.”

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