Hi Friends,

Finally the Kolaveri on the Kolaveri song seems to be coming down.
This kola-veri has taken the music world by storm for various reasons….
The music greats commented on it – drew criticism from biggies like Javed Akhtar to Shoba Narayan
The common man just loves it..
It has broken all language barriers and has become so famous all around India and a number of places abroad.
It is the subject of so many forwards and is one of the most commented in the Facebook as well.
Technology has indeed aided it as well – it became a viral hit on YouTube
No other (Tamil / Indian) song in recent times has so many different versions / adaptations made out of it!!
Some versions which are a big hit in YouTube include (refreshing from an earlier forward)


Why This Kolaveri Di Full Song Promo Video (Original) – 27,000,000 hits
Why This Kolaveri Di Full Song Promo Video (HD) – 3,000,000 hits
Sharad Pawar version – 1,500,000 hits
Female version – 4,900,000 hits

So viral is this song, that Dhanush and Aiswarya were interviewed by NDTV and Dhanush got mobbed when he went to Mumbai.
Did try searching Youtube for tamil songs with Max hits…could not find any other song
which has crossed 500,000 – hmm..Some song this!!

Personally, I loved this song a lot…there are so many other great songs as well; some recent classics include “Munbe va, Yen Anbae va”, Mun andi charalil, Nila kaiyuthu, etc.,
Kolaveri is not comparable with any of these songs, but…it has a wonderful magic and simplicity around it that every one including children connected to it.

My Daughter knows the entire song by heart – and can sing along including the pauses and the breaks and the special notes!!
We love to hear this song everyday as I drop her to school and sing along with the FM radio – invariably one the FM stations would play it within the 25 minutes it takes to go to her school – so you can imagine how popular this song is!!

Well…for me…cool song, flop song, soup song!!!
I got a task from my Christ-ma to sing this song to one of my smaller teams..
oh oh, here comes trouble – All of you know that I can barely sing except in the bathroom.
And then the D-day came to sing the song…Having practiced with my daughter a lil bit, and having downloaded the song words from the web….I try to muster courage to sing the song.
Luckily for me, I invite a few others to sing along…and to my surprise almost the entire team is with me to sing..
We have a great time singing along the entire song and have loads of fun…
Papapa Papapapa Papapa Pa Pa..
Soup song..flop song…But What a Song..!!!

Here it goes..in full
Yo Boys.. I am Sing Song..
Soup Song.. Flop Song..
Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Dee?
Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Dee?
Rhythm Correct..
Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Dee?
Maintain please..
Why This Kolaveri? Dee..
Distance'la Moon'nu Moon'nu
Moon'nu Color'ru White'tu
White'tu Background Night'tu Night'tu
Night'tu Color'ru Black'ku
Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Dee?
Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Dee?
White'tu Skin'nu Girl'lu Girl'lu
Girl'lu Heart'tu Black'ku
Eyes'su Eyes'su Meet'tu Meet'tu
My Future Dark'ku..
Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Dee?
Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Dee?
Mama, Notes Eduthuko..
Apdiye Kaila Šnacks Èduthukø..
Papapa Papapapa Papapa Pa Pa..
Šeriya Vaasi..
Šuper Mama Ready.. Ready 1 2 3 4..
What A Change Over Mama..
Ok Mama.. Nøw Tune Change'ju..
Kaila Glass'su.. Only Ènglish'sa..
Hand'la Glass'su
Glass'la Šcøtch'chu
Èyes'su Full'la Tear'ru
Èmpty Life'fu, Girl Cøme'mu
Life'fu Reverse'su Gear'ru
Løve'vu Løve'vu Oh My Løve'vu
Yøu Šhøw Tø Me Bøw'vu
Cøw'vu Cøw'vu Høly Cøw'vu
I Want Yøu Here Nøw'vu
Gød I am Dying Nøw'vu
Šhe Is Happy Høw'vu?
This Šøng'gu Før Šøup Bøys'su
We Døn't Have Chøice'su
Why This Kølaveri Kølaveri Kølaveri Dee
Why This Kølaveri Kølaveri Kølaveri Dee
Why This Kølaveri Kølaveri Kølaveri Dee
Why This Kølaveri Kølaveri Kølaveri Dee
Fløp Šøng..

What a shock!!!

I finally managed to visit the place that I had been long planning to…well, this place is jus about 3 kms from my house and it takes about 3-5 minutes to drive down here. I had been planning and planning for a long while, but somehow never managed to reach here.

There are controversies surrounding this place recently and we were not sure whether this place is going to stay. Not that we expected anything big inside, but after the controversy, just like numerous other Chennaites, I was even more curious to see what the hell was in there. My daughter was also keen to go and has been trying to motivate me to take her there.

Finally, on a lazy afternoon a lil bored, both of us managed to go there yesterday (my wife has school..so). And we were in for a rude shock. The place though in the heart of the city that is cramped for space, was very spacious with loads of open spaces and sufficient car and two wheeler parking, a welcome miniature pond and fountain...we are really starting to like this giant structure already and we have not even entered it!!

On passing the now familiar city security procedures for tall buildings, we enter a state of the art building – almost looks like a super shopping mall – the crowds are missing though.

We see through the building index (of which floor contains what) and head out to the first floor – B section. There are a few people waiting for the lift, so reluctantly take the stairs; Can’t help commenting on the wide and well-built staircase leading up…as I reach the top, notice that there is an escalator..oops that would have been easier.

Once inside the section that my daughter n me have come for, we are just shell shocked…this place is jus cool and wonderful ;and the collection breath-taking. There are more people here – finally some people, at least here!! There are nice well laid out tables and chairs, where you can loathe around. There is even a nice big artificial tree with a nice carpet around it. Tiny-tots are sitting here with their parents gazing through.

We had planned to be here for 30 mins and then move on to the British council library where we had to go originally (this was a detour). I realized that the time has really flown and it now about 45 minutes, since we entered the place. Time check…Divya and me agree that we will leave at the end of 1 hour.

It is 30 minutes past 1 hour since we came and still no signs of us wanting to leave. British council program cancelled…hmm..Divya has exams, so we finally managed to drag ourselves out of the place (only 2 hours passed by)

We go down the escalator and there is “French Loaf” restaurant…some snacks and it is time to leave..back home, we cant help brag to my wife and parents about the wonderful place that we had been to..!!

Any guesses?

You would have guessed it right – it is the new Anna centenary Library in Kotturpuram…if you have been there already, you would have also experienced the wonders of it.

If not, please take time to go there. The collection of books is amazing – better than so many libraries that I have been to – and it jus right for Indian / NRI kids as well – the spread of authors, publications is outstanding. Be it Amar Chitra kathas or Tinkles or Geography books or great inventors to great discoverers..….you name it and it was there.

Ok, this was jus the kiddos section..there is more for grown ups as well…after all it house 7 floors of books..

Well – if you have tiny-tots in your house, this is a great place to take them to show them real tall/ touch & feel books.
If you have kids in age 5-12 years, great place to spend a lazy Saturday/ Sunday afternoon with the family (place is open till 8 pm on all days)
If your kids > 12 years and you want them to stop watching TV for sometime…a good distraction to have.

The entrance fee is free!!

Take time to go there…it is definitely worth it!! you can have some good family time..with parents and grand parents -- Only thing you might get sucked into some good reading habits apart from spending quality time with THE family..

My cellphone goes for a …!!!

My cellphone goes for a …!!!

After a long day out with my family on a Saturday, I just tiredly put my clothes for washing. The clothes got washed the next day morning in the washing machine (note "washing machine", not by ME! :-) ) this is an automatic machine – includes a good soak (of 45 minutes) and finishing off with a tumble dry spin for about 9 minutes – the clothes are almost dry by the time they come out.

My father usually takes the washed clothes for drying in the sun to the Mottai madi.
Hmm…nothing unusual so far…it is a lazy Sunday afternoon – sipping a nice masala tea which I made, I decide to call one of my friends to discuss something unimportant..that is when I notice that my phone is missing. Not in the hall, or the rooms – my wife tries to make a call and phone is switched off!!

Oh Oh..fearing the worst, we try to trace back – is it still in the car or did I leave it in my cousins place the previous day – they would have called to tell my phone is still there! After searching for a while, still no luck – we decide to take a break in the search.

At about 4 PM, my father as usual brings the dried clothes from Mottai madi and is starting to sort out the clothes..lazily watching TV, I see that my father is folding my trousers which I was wearing the previous day…oh oh…could the phone still be in my pant?

Not wanting to send any panic signals, I casually walk across to see if the trousers have fully dried up in the wet weather..and my worst fears come true..the phone is still safely in the pocket!! Hmm…

I take it out sneakily – open the battery and take the SIM out and allow it to try – have ready far too many articles to “know” that a cell phone is not to be switched on, if it has fallen into the water!! I allow it to dry overnight…

Next day – it is a bright beautiful Monday – with lot of hope, I connect the phone battery, SIM, memory card…time to switch on.. Miraculously the phone gets switched on and it is working!!!

After the celebrations for sometime – the phone conks off – hmmm :-(

Having restrictions on cell phones in my office – no image capturing devices, no this, no that…so have to find a model that can be used for communication – start to discuss with a few colleagues and get some nice tips – nokia C-01, X-02…too much work at office for the next couple of days, and by now about to finalise on the model. With a half heart, not wanting to part from my red-cherry, try to give one final try to switch the phone on..before that I charge the phone for 3-4 hours!!

The D-day / D-time has come to switch on the phone…the phone is still too attached to me and so does not want to leave me and gets switched on!! Encouraged, I charge the phone overnight - It is now working perfectly fine as good as it was previously…

So that was the story of "My Cellphone which went for a great swim" and had still managed to stay afloat!! :-) (in case you are curious, it is MicroMax Q1 model)

I have a Dream…

These are famous lines of…
@ Martin Luther King’s speech in 1963
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream

@ ABBA song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSWR4os7I7E (to hear the song / lyrics)

@ Les Miserables song – I dreamed a dream by Elaine Page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jo4FvpN3_g

@ Susan Boyle in "Britain's got talent" show for the same song & made her a hero at Age 47
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk&feature=related
(Can you believe 70,000,000 hits on YouTube)

One similarity between these Dreamz -- All of these were great dreams and became a reality

"Dreams are the touchstones of our characters." - Henry David Thoreau

All of us have dreams…if you are not dreaming in the night, it could mean only one thing very clearly – you are having a sound sleep, -- so good for you!! ;-)

Well having become the Emperor of the World (It is my dream!! - you can become the king in your own dreams ), started out with the New World Order (NWO)

- Food for all,
- More and better hospitals and facilities
- Great schools with laptops and NO books
- Good shelter for all
- Better communication
- Better Technology and availability
- Safety and security
- Better roads…Superways!
- So much better infrastructure
- Fuel prices slashed into half
- Inflation curbed to decimals!!

Wow, prosperity all around!! With prosperity comes development and we might not even have “Terrorists” anywhere in the world

Bottom line – more happiness for everyone in this world!!! The world would be such a better place to live.:-)) No crime, happiness, prosperity, knowledge and much more!!!

How did I achieve this – A three pronged approach!

(1) Special empowered courts set up and Cases speeded up – from all the scams and the black money. Some significant recoveries include..
# 2G scam Rs. 1,760,000,000,000 ( $ 39,000,000,000)
# Swiss Bank Accounts Rs.71,000,000,000,000
# Tax defaults Rs. 500,000,000,000
# Other scams…see pic













(2) Endowments / trusts formed by each of the religious institutions to fund development activities. Some trusts included
- Padmanabhasamy temple treasures – Rs.1,000,000,000,000 ($ 22,000,000,000) & counting fund would be enhanced once the “Antique value” of the treasures are assessed
- Gold, Silver articles, money found in Puttaparthi -
- Tirumala…. (estimated) Rs. 550,000,000,000 ($ 12,000,000,000)
- Roman catholic church ($ 262,000,000,000)

(3) “Gifts” from the Billionaires / Top corporates
$ The 2011 Forbes list indicates that there are 1214 billionaires in the world with combined wealth of $ 4.5 trillion (higher than Germany’s GDP!)
http://www.walletpop.com/2011/03/09/forbes-the-richest-people-in-the-world-2011/


Most of these billionaires came forward voluntarily(some them after a visit to the “OFFICE” room – remember Sivaji, the Boss!!) to support the noble cause and donated significant sums for the development of the world.


$ Similarly the top 25 companies in the world (based on sales, profits, market value, etc.,) also gave substantial sums. See here for some of the companies http://www.forbes.com/2011/04/20/biggest-sales-global-2000-11-top-25_slide_3.html

Oops wake up time…have to drop my daughter for Dance class…

If there was a magic wand and all this money is made available for EVERYONE in the world – imagine the good that we can do..


Hmm…I have a dream…!!


Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world - Harriet Tubman


Hopefully, one day, this will be a reality!!

WE can make this happen, in our own little way!!!!

What a waste of Productive time!!

On a long journey back, my friend exclaimed “What a waste of so many people’s Productive time!!“
He was right – the journey distance was short, but the journey time was Long!
You are right – We were in a traffic jam!! It added no value, we could not control it nor (at that point) could do anything about it!

And this is not the only time, when I reflected on this comment…
On a visit to a Leading Doctor…
This Dr. comes in at particular time and does consultation for a fixed hours. It is on a first come first see basis with fixed no. of patients /day (irrespective of the No. of patients – he too has a family, right!!)
This Dr. had a reputation of cure, so obviously lots of people came to see him…
Only thing, since there were no (prior) appointments & it is on a first come, first see basis, people came in about 3-4 hours before the Dr. comes and wait for him – they had to get cured and he always cures!!!
On one occasion, the Dr. did not come – people waited patiently..and then left murmuring…
what a waste of peoples productive time!!
On another occasion, he came in late…you could see the people’s relief / exultation after seeing the Dr. come in!! it was as though...a miracle had happened!
Dr. are God in so many ways…they bring people to the world, help them get cured, pro-long their life in the world….but with due respects to this great profession, they can definitely be a little more professional in dealing with people…!!
This Dr. is an extreme exception and I know most Dr. are much better off on appointments

Another occasion…is on travel
You can’t go to the Railway station or to an airport a few minutes before the train starts/take off..there are procedures, security stuff (in our best interests). Neither can you say, that the train was delayed the previous 2 times, so why did it start on time, this time..
The waiting time is almost mandatory and you can just take an attitude of…..
What a waste of people's Productive time!!

Well..I am sure you would have your own many stuff of waiting time…ration shops, railway ticketing stations, etc., but can we do anything at all about this!!
Hmm…let us see..
 Some things can be planned for – e.g. you need to be at the airport 2~3 hours early, or know that the Dr. has a long queue to wait normally,
you can
o Take that book that you had long wanted to read
o Catch up with friends – phone calls, mails, etc.
o Personal time with your spouse!
o Finish the brain teaser or a Sudoku(not again) …! :-)
o Do some peaceful planning – finance, house, office
o if you are alone, it is your Personal time!
o Go to the spa…and relax
o Do meditation, Breathing, walking around…cost less exercise!
o Window Shopping - No cost, good exercise!
o Buy/ Read magazines…gain knowledge, etc.

 For our traffic jams/ long road time cases,
We can do deep breathing exercises, catch up with friends/ family (without getting distracted off the road!), but obviously you can’t do most of the other stuff…can we do anything!

Hmmm…we can still travel at non-traffic times if we can plan or if it is flexible!!
I still remember an incident in my early days at office…(no offence to anyone). one employee kept coming late to office regularly…the manager asked him, why he was late often!!..
the answer was, I am getting struck in the railway gate (good ol days of not so many flyovers in Singara Chennai).…the simple solution to this was the employee was asked to start earlier or later, so that he need not get struck at the gate…!!

Sounds simple now….but many times, if we sit back and reflect on where exactly we are spending (/ wasting) our productive time, could get us some handsome savings!!

Also, Whilst we are busy in the important day-to-day things of life, reflect to see if people are waiting for us to give them decisions to move forward. While it might be a small matter for us, You could be the Doctor who gives them the decisions/direction on time and ensure that they do a quality job on time. (Or vice versa, making your team sit late because they were waiting & waiting and then once they got the direction they have to stretch and complete it, because you had other priorities!!!)

Just as I was finalizing this blog, read a related article of Bill Ford’s vision on Cars / environment – amazing how it connects into the future – frightening reality!!
http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_ford_a_future_beyond_traffic_gridlock.html

New skills..

Well…at this young age, (emphasis again on the “Young age”), I acquired a new skill….learning to drive on the Indian roads!!Wow!! It quite amazed a number of people and I could often hear the gasps!! (sometimes so big, that….even Jim Carrey (Mask) would not have been able to match those expressions…!!) So far the past 6 months, Chennai roads & NH 45 has had a new risk to handle - me on the roads!! Touch wood…it has been going smooth, but for some very minor (if I may use the word) thrills!!Some good guidance from good friends / relative as well as extended research on tips from the net..made this possible. some milestones on this that made me personally happy...one shareable one is - 16.5 kms/ L in the city; 22 Kms/L on the highways. Hmmm…not bad, right

Over the past few years, I had been trying to add new skills / hobbies to keep my mind sharper.One such good hobby was to solve Sudoku’s – it just started as a time pass, then a hobby and then finally an obsession!! Anywhere I found a Sudoku, I would try to solve it – even if it was my neighbors newspaper or a friends/ relatives house that we were visiting. Finally it came to a point where the Better Half had to step in and say “STOP, no more Sudoku’s”. But being in the
stage of obsession, obviously I could not leave it the next day (yeah…you can ask any smoker on how easy it is to quit that habit - No offence to anyone)…so what did I do…would try solving Sudoku’s at any “secret”/ available opportunity…home toilet seats for example. Luckily gave this habit and made it a passion now..that was fun!!!

An interesting hobby that I got into was learning “Card tricks” – some basic tricks from the net, that I like to do in front of my daughter / her cousins. Always fun to do and often coming up with variations of tricks has been fascinating..hmm…maybe one day, surely there will be a Public performance for a small audience (of kids of course)!!

How sharp is your knife..
Let us start with the Woodcutter story (before you let your imagination go wild…NO, not the Simran one!!) – but the other one. Well here is a crisp version. 2 woodcutters (One old and one young) had a competition on who would cut the maximum no. of trees in a forest in 3 days time. The young one was well built and he had at the end of Day-1, cut 1.5 times the number of trees than the older man. Often he would pride himself that he could go non-stop the whole day!! Then by end of Day-2, the old man had almost caught up; End of Day-3, the old man had comfortably overtaken the younger stronger man…Logic says not possible…the younger person is stronger and can go on continuously!!! So what happened!!! Well the older man took periodic rest, recharged himself and also more importantly ensured that he sharpened his Axe, so that the edge is not blunt, but sharp and he is able to cut smoothly..
Message : We are often content with the skills we have and think that we can continue to be successful with this!! Hmm…maybe or maybe not or up to a particular level yes, after that ? so continue to horne your existing skills, learn new tricks / hobbies / traits…and I am sure in the Long run this would really help Professionally and personally!!

PS: this blog is slightly different…I have tried to write it in a logical way…the logic should also work if you start reading from the bottom para and go upwards!!
;-)

Balaji's musings - Customer service

Hi Friends, Hope all of you have been having a fabulous 2011, so far; thanks to the numerous friends who kept nudging me to start writing again (for various reasons)

Customer Service

Often, we as consumers come across different types of customer service…here are 2 very diverse situations that I encountered

(1) World of Titan……
Before I go into my actual experience at the World of Titan, I was reminded of a good joke. Here it goes

A keen Indian lad applied for a salesman's job at a city department store. The store was the biggest in the world and sold everything under the sun. "Have you ever been a salesman before?" the boss asked during his interview.
"Yes, I was a salesman in T'nagar," the lad answered.
The boss took an immediate liking to him and told him he could start the next day. "I'll come and see how you made out after we close up," the boss said.
The day was long and hard for the young man, but finally it was 5 o'clock. The boss closed up the store and found the lad sitting, slumped and exhausted, in a chair.
"How many sales did you make today?" the boss asked.
"One," said the lad. "One?" said the boss, obviously displeased. "Most of the sales people on my staff make 20 or 30 sales a day. How much was the sale worth?"
"Exactly Rs.401,334.50," said the young man.
"How did you manage that?" asked the boss, flabbergasted.
"Well," said the lad, "this man came in and I sold him a small fish hook, then a medium fish hook, and finally a really large hook. Then I sold him a small fishing line, a medium one, and huge one. I asked him where he was going fishing, and he said he was going down the coast. I said he'd probably need a boat, so I took him down to the boat department and sold him that fancy 22-foot fishing boat with twin engines. Then he said his Car probably wouldn't be able to handle the load, so I took him to the vehicle department and sold him a new Ford 1-ton pickup truck."
"You sold all that to guy who came in for a fish hook?" the boss asked in astonishment……

The story goes on….but I will stop here, considering the decent audience –
(Ok OK, the story is modified and the Ford piece was my addition!!)

Now coming back to my experience – My wife had gone to service her Titan watch in the Titan Showroom (as the salesperson proudly said “ this is a Tata's OWN showroom”);
the watch got serviced and was ready for delivery, so my wife / daughter went to collect it.
As they were waiting for the watch to come, my daughter liked a new watch which was on display. So the mother & the Daughter made a deal and then the Father, who was still parking the car in T. Nagar finally came by.
So after more reviews of other watches on display, one watch was selected – while waiting to pay, the innovative salesperson was giving some free offers!!!
- First, a small water bottle, nothing costly, but in the hot scorching sat afternoon sun, it was like “Sweet nectar” – not enough, he still offered more water bottles!! Real Cool!
- Then some free gifts for the watch purchase – A trendy bag with a small snacks box inside -- that’s nice!!
- More!! A small coloring book with a few color pencils !! Super!!
- Not finished though – he gave a Titan card – which would enable me to accumulate points as I purchase each time and I can offset against future purchases.
- More!!! A Free sapling -- This is environment week – wow!! Slightly dazed by now!!

A bright idea sparks for my wife….our next purchase was for a function the next day – some silver articles! (Silver prices seem to increase faster than gold these days)
She says, why Silver, why not a watch for the Angel we are going to see the next day…that’s a bright idea and so…

We go back bought another watch for this angel also!! Result – one more teak sapling (neatly packaged in a Titan paper bag), one more set of coloring book / pencils, bag and snacks bag, etc… At the end, we came out as a very Satisfied and happy customers!

To crown it all, when we presented the watch in the function the next day, we also gave the sapling…lot of appreciative comments from the audience and the parents of the Lil girl (for the saplings)!! Hmm, that made us Happier!!

Hey, Wait a minute – my wife had just gone to service her watch!!! (hmm...now you can connect to the joke)

Scenario 2:
We went to shop for a Kitchen item in another shop in T.Nagar…famous showroom, centrally located, best prices (Advt said so!!), multiple brands, etc…well the Service, if anything to find a decent word - "Pathetic” – yes, we finally still bought the item, because we needed it “Urgently”, but whether we will go there again – I doubt it!!
Not that the freebies mattered, but the salespeople were not willing to explain the product features or the finer details of the product or details about the different brands available. Not that the shop was over crowded, but sheer callous attitude to customers!!!

A simple lesson: Many of us are in the Service industry(Directly or indirectly), so just like how we would enjoy being in the first scenario, look at how we can give our Customers a feeling of “Yes, You mean a Lot to me!!” and I am sure they will keep coming back to you!!!
It is win-win guys!