Feb 16
AdityaScribbler attack, blast, Blogging, Cricket, lost, Pune, tennis, terror
Yes, the blogging has been thin for a while now. However, that doesn’t mean I have been completely out of action. Work and familial pressures have kept one busy. Too busy.
But, with a renewed site design (only the first change of 2010!), I hope to be back to more regular blogging. Much has happened since my last post… India became the number 1 Test team, Serena Williams played the Australian Open and almost forgot her undies, Season 5 of Lost has come and gone and we are none-the-wiser for what in God’s name is going on on that island, Shahid Afridi has started his new diet of cricket balls and worst of all, Pune had a bomb blast.
Much is being written and discussed and analyzed about the blast. I have little or nothing to add to it. Except that it was a cowardly attack. Like all terror attacks.
While a month-and-a-half of 2010 has gone by, there are still 10.5 months remaining. With F1 coming up, the IPL almost here, the Football World Cup in June and the T20 World Cup in April, much time shall be spent in front of the TV. If I ever leave the office!
So expect all those updates, analysis and whatnot coming up here.
Till then, I’ll crawl back under the rock I came out from… where did I move it… ?
P.S.: Yes, I have also gone (marginally) thin 
Nov 09
AdityaCricket, Pune Cricket, cricket world cup 2011, ground, India, Mumbai, nagpur, Pune, stadium, world cup 2011
What a sorry, sorry state of affairs. The World Cup cricket returns to India after 1996 and there is no game for Pune.
Nagpur, on the other hand, gets four games. Including some big tickets ones including AUS v NZ and IND v SA in addition to two smaller games. So where does that leave Pune?
The MCA has done nothing of note to build a stadium worthy of international games in the city. Even recent Ranji Trophy matches have taken place at the Poona Club ground or at the Deccan Gymkhana ground neither of which have seating.
It’s pitiable, but a reflection of what the city is doing to itself. While definitely lacking in basic infrastructure, it is certainly better in support infrastructure (hotels, restaurants etc) than Nagpur. But the basic missing link – a ground – has yet again cost the city.
As Mr Kalmadi, our esteemed MP continues to bungle the CWG2010, the city reels. Sure, building a ground is not his job, but he does have a finger in every pie in the city’s development. Or the lack of it.
Much has been said about this, and it is really pointless crying over this. We will perhaps need to plan to catch the games in Mumbai (the Final is there) or Nagpur. Or maybe Bangalore or Ahmedabad… all accessible. Of course, none closer than a ground in the city, but one can’t live on pipe dreams, now, can one?
Sep 02
AdityaGadgets, Pune croma, house of laptops, ipod, jbl, Lenovo, panasonic, plasma tv, Pune, shopping, vijay sales, xcite
1. Some of the comments in this article may well apply to stores of the chains mentioned in other cities as well, but my experiences are limited to the specific outlets I visited. I don’t aim to generalize my opinions for the entire chain.
2. The disclaimer above is to ensure that none of those big stores sue my a** off!
Now that we’re done with disclaimers (and their disclaimers!), it’s time to tell you the dirty truth about electronics store chains in Pune.
Recently, I have been around looking for an iPod docking station, a laptop, an LCD/Plasma TV and cell phones. I have bought all these items from different stores. That itself begs the question: what are these massive one-stop stores good for?
Yes, the hint is at Croma. As someone who takes his electronics quite seriously, I do expect store salesmen to be well informed. I don’t expect them to know all the minute details, but their suggestions should mean something. And at no store in Pune have I found this. The obvious incentive for them to push a brand/product is the commission they or the store stands to earn. In this regard, Vijay Sales (Sadhu Vaswani Chowk) is perhaps the best of the lot. More
Aug 28
AdityaPeople candidate, interview, jobs, Pune
See, we’re expanding. So I’m interviewing a lot of people for various positions.
I was to interview someone today at 11.30am. The candidate had applied for a job and after exchanging a few mails, the time was fixed. She turned up half an hour early. Great. But I was out and came in about 20 minutes before the scheduled meeting time. I was told she had come and left. Strange!
So about 45 minutes after the scheduled time, I messaged asking if she was coming in. No reply. Then I called. And she told me that since this is a start-up, she had changed her mind. She wants to work for a bigger company! Wow. Jobs must be easy these days again. Anyways, to each their own. But what baffles the mind is there are ways of turning down a job offer/interview. There are ways to research a company you want to interview with and then apply.
Despite the fact that we are no longer a ’start-up’ (we do have some clients, you know, like Epson, SOTC, Ad Club, TOI, Yahoo!, AOL etc, but perhaps they aren’t large enough for her) this candidate made her decision based on what our waiting area looks like. She didn’t talk to anyone, didn’t wait to find out the company plans, current profile or anything that someone looking for a career tries to find out. So how will she know we got acquired and are now part of a US outfit? She won’t!
Either I’m out of touch with how job hunting is done these days or the recession is well and truly over and candidates have many many options to choose from. The first may be true, but the second, certainly isn’t. Whose loss? Time will tell. I do have a few more people to meet for that position. So maybe not mine.
Professionalism? Very low indeed. For the record, the candidate is not from Pune, but has just moved here. So don’t say Punekars are unprofessional!
Good luck, candidate. You know who you are!
Aug 12
AdityaPeople, Pune ajit pawar, h1n1, politics, Pune, suresh kalmadai, swine flu, virus
That would be the normal retort if we knew which pig to blame for the flu. As cities start to panic and people start to believe anything they hear, the government is starting to make some knee-jerk decisions. Take Pune, for example, where the outbreak seems to be the worst.
As of Tuesday morning, Pune had reported 5 H1N1 deaths of the total 8 in India in addition to over 300 other confirmed cases. While this hasn’t come about overnight, it is a typically lazy response to what now seems like a pandemic.
So what one saw on the streets of Pune this morning was a Sunday-like but only eerie silence. There was a heaviness about and one could really gauge what was being thought. As everyone adorned the “bandit queen” look, the ridiculousness of the entire situation was overwhelming. Despite repeated reports that the masks are to be used for just a day and not all masks are useful, people continue to buy them en masse. A report claims that almost 250,000 were sold across the city on Monday! Good business!
The solutions by the powers that be? One of the first things that the authorities have done is stay away. Pune’s two ‘powerful and influential’ ministers — Suresh Kalmadi (Congress I) and Ajit Pawar (NCP) have been conspicuously absent. Except for Mr Kalmadi’s face on posters welcoming Digvijay Singh to Pune, the city hasn’t heard so much as a peep out of him. And Mr Pawar responded to a newspaper report about his absence by making some nonsensical statement. Ignore, please. Then, remotely, they have administered the shutdown to the city. For those who aren’t aware, all schools, colleges, malls and movie halls are to remain closed for 3-7 days starting Tuesday. When some people were asking for this action about a week ago, there was ridicule that we should not bow down to it. More
Aug 21
AdityaPeople, Pune bus, girl beats up conductor, pmpml, Pune, violence
It’s sad. But true. And very believable. See this all the time.
She beat him up!
Aug 16
AdityaScribbler barista, coffee, Pune
Remember that incident? Today I’m at MG Road (Barista again) and it’s better. I have managed two coffees and a glass of water.
Hurrah!
Jul 07
AdityaFood, Humour, Scribbler barista, coffee, fergusson college road, Food, iced tea, Pune, Scribbler
It was an ordinary evening on Fergusson College Road when I parked and walked in to the Barista near Roopali. The aim of the visit was simple: I had about 30 minutes to kill and I wanted to have a cuppa coffee. Not too tough if you just think about it. As I lay bare my case, you will also agree that it is. More
Jun 17
AdityaPeople, Pune car cleaner, employees, hired help, life, maid, People, Pune
Yes, it exists!
And after ‘Traffic Signal’, nothing really surprises me. But this weekend was an eye-opener to be honest. So here’s what happened…
There’s a guy who is supposed to be cleaning the car daily and once weekly from inside. He is a habitual bunker and after about four warnings over the last year, I finally decided I had had enough. Apparently, he hadn’t! And that counted more than what I thought! More
May 15
AdityaPune agitation, electricity, India, meeting, morcha, People, powercuts, Pune
Pune is one of those cities that refuses to grow up. Despite routinely being among India’s top ten cities, it just can’t grow out of the shadow of Mumbai. One pitfall of this is that power and other facilities are not always available on priority to Punekars. One gets used to it eventually, though. Let me add that it was far worse in Bangalore with power cuts almost every day. More
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