Shahrukh Khan on Twitter January 31, 2009
Posted by simarprit in Twitter, Uncategorized.Tags: Microblogging, Shahrukh, Shahrukh Khan, Twitter
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Billu Barber Kay Liya Saala Kuch Bhi Kareyga. In English – For Billu Barber this nut would do anything (This was my first impression when I was told Shahrukh Khan got going on Twitter.)
Shahrukh Khan, King Khan is on Twitter now, Billu Barber has to succeed, King Khan has to be seen as King Khan. Ghajini eclipsed Rab Nain Bana Di Jori so Billu Barber must do one better on Ghajini and Slumdog – so if it means Shahrukh has to be on Twitter to get that NRI and Indian geeks, he must. When I saw him on Twitter (Thanks Ajit), I tweeted him back that he he should rather be on http://DilKholKeBol.com. I am sure it would work better on DKKB for him and for Billu Barber.
Coming back to it, I think it is good for Shahrukh Khan to be on Twitter and good for Twitter to have Shahrukh on Twitter. Works well both ways. There is some excitement and Indian spice, Bollywood is happening and being on Twitter Shahrukh has window for much wider exposure to the happening and geeks generation. For Twitter I am sure Shahrukh being there may bring in many more regulars.
So good news for Twitter, Good news for Shahrukh and good news for all Indians who tweet, one more reason to tweet and tweet a lot.
For those who don’t know Mr. Khan – Shahrukh Khan is one of the biggest film stars for Indians all over the world.
SitaGita.com – A New Chapter January 31, 2009
Posted by simarprit in Uncategorized.Tags: Compare Infobase, Sita Gita, Website Development, websites
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It has always been tough to provide an answer to the question – What does Compare Infobase do? Congratulations to everyone associated with Compare Infobase, it just became tougher. With the first cut strategy laid out for SitaGita.com Compare Infobase gets into re-engineering external projects for incubation gains. Complex. Yes.
Problem Statement: SitaGita.com is a great site visualized and nurtured by one of the finest women entrepreneurs in the country and developed with lots of personal interest and passion needs to keep pace with the changing face of Internet. Solution: Just re-engineer it. If Compare Infobase could re-engineer its own sites and keep them growing and competing against the “deep pocket”, “mint fresh idea” ones, it could as well do it for external projects. That is what we thought and we have got going on.
Inspiration for the SitaGita.com re-engineering would be Mapsofindia.com. The task ahead is defined – document what we did right with Mapsofindia.com and see how the core of it can be deployed in SitaGita.com.
Our re-engineering would include – asset management, asset renewal, asset enhancement and asset additions. In next one month we have ten defined initiatives which we want to initiate and complete. The most exciting of these initiatives is a SitaGita.com for the age group of 17- 35 years, Sigi.in – Yes Sigi is in, and Sigi is going to move the young Indian Women like nothing has ever done before. Sigi is a breath of fresh air and Sigi would be all over India and the world. Sigi would begin her journey from Chennai and would land up in San Jose and every-time she will take a different route for the same. If Sigi excites me no-end, news.SitaGita.com promises to become a benchmark for women centric news.
More to come, the journey has just begun…
Microblogging and Specification Document January 22, 2009
Posted by simarprit in Microblogging, websites.Tags: Agile Development, Agile Software Development, Dil Khol Ke Bol, Microblogging
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Look, look who’s talking now – Ha! Ha! After all the talk about agile development (AD/ ASD) platform and microblogging, I have finally got down to preparing specifications document. Our Cycle Zero is over, we have made whatever we desired in http://www.DilKholKeBol.com under ASD platform now it is our turn to set our house in order. At this stage we are zeroing down on the right SDLC school/ methodology to be followed to make our microblogging platform a robust multipurpose, easily deploy-able, inherently agile core.
So here we go on what all we have and what all we desire in the Version 3.0 of our microblogging platform.
- We wish to cover 20% of all mobile instruments available in the market. We hope these 20% would be the top 20% in usage thus allowing us to cover 80% market.
- You can do picture upload from mobile through GPRS
- You would be able to video upload through GPRS
- You can do text through GPRS, you would be able to do text through SMS
- Person Search
- Blog Search
- Groups
- Comments
- Delete
- Edit
- Archive
- Dictionary
- Poll
- Refresh Indicator
- Uploading from indication
- Seamless integration with blogging site
- Trending topics
- Twitter RSS feed integration
- APIs
- Picture archiving and Personal/ Public
- Video archiving and Personal/ Pulblic
- Registration features
- Audio integration
- Podcast integration
- Short URL interface
Most of the above is already there, we are going to go ahead and make it to order form made on the fly – what we have done so far.
Please suggest more features…
Truth and Gurbani January 21, 2009
Posted by simarprit in Uncategorized.Tags: Gurbani, Guru Granth Sahib, Living better, Takeaways
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Takeaway:
The True One is in his heart, the True One upon his lips, the True One in his eyes;
O Nanak, these qualities define a God-conscious being.
From Gurbani:
Mann saachaa mukh saachaa so-ay, Avar na paykhai aykas bin ko-ay;
Naanak ih lachhan barahm gi-aanee ho-ay
This teaching to me: Absolute truth is the one which is in your heart, which is exactly said by your lips and which is truly reflected by your eyes.
These takeaways and more are from Sri Guru Granth Sahib. These pious words can be read at http://www.GoldenTempleImages.com
The Punjab Grill Restaurant Review January 19, 2009
Posted by simarprit in Uncategorized.Tags: Ambiance Mall, Food, Punjab Grill, Restaurant Review
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I had heard a lot about The Punjab Grill and snatched the first opportunity to have lunch there. Two important Delhi names were associated with it – The Dabur Family and Jiggs Kalra so the expectations ran high.
Warning – This one is a sure spoiler. Those who have it in their ten things to do before they die – must not read any further.
So here we go:
Location: Ambiance Mall, Gurgaon – Delhi Gurgaon Border – NH – 8, India -Excellent 10/10
Interior: Characterless when you relate to the theme. The interior could have been for any restaurant – but looks like it is a functional Coffee Shop format deployed on a fine dining restaurant. – 2/10
Hostess: She was doing a good job – 8/10
Staff: Lack of training, lack of ownership. The restaurant manager walked in while still at his tie, something I have never seen before. Was not participative and didn’t move to any table for any attempt on service or retention. Once in the manager, was seen standing inside the with his staff and was talking loud enough for comments from about 20 feet away. 2/10
Food: The Buffet spread was cold, starters were very cold – Cold fried fish and cold paneer tikka on a winter afternoon can be a real put-off. No soup or shorba in a buffet is tough to digest. Salads – if you call beansprout and dahi bhalla a buffet salad spread it is fine. Three veg, three non-veg dishes and you are done. Overall 3/10 Details follow:
Crockery: 8/10
Cutlery: 2/10 Crockery and cutlery don’t talk to each other.
Table and seating: Just about OK for a fine dining restaurant 5/10
Starters:
Preparation was very ordinary and recipes nothing great to talk home about. I had fish fry: 5/10 (after a fresh serving – cold one which was there can’t be rated).
Paneer tikka, quality of paneer was fine, preparation was ordinary 5/10
Malai Kabab – Veg – They were probably the best dish on the menu. I liked it, perfect 10/10
Broccoli Grilled: It was tasty and unique in recipe – 8/10
Papad: Full of oil, drenched – 2/10
Main Course:
Veg Pulao: 6/10 – regular pulao, rice could have been better
Punjab Grill Exclusive Veg: Don’t touch it. 100% useless – no flavor, no taste no unity between vegetables put together.
Shahi Paneer: Bad menu choice for afternoon buffet, but as a preparation it was fine 7/10
Khumb Mattar: Peas were not cooked well, they were kind of raw, as if they were just added to the gravy. 3/10
Dal Makhani: Good – somewhere close to the taste Bukhara is cultivating. 7/10
Desserts: Nothing had, presentation looked poor – was not inviting enough.
On April 11, 2010 –
We as a family once again went for lunch to Punjab Grill.
Here are some photographs and tweets
Some quick bites.
- Still avoidable
- There was no waiting on Sunday at 2:00 PM despite hype and loads of PR that you don’t get a table without booking.
- Staff and food both remain an issue
- As an overall experience it was just about better
- I would not recommend this place and would not like to revisit or review it again
Credit Card Fraud Mechanism Unearthed January 18, 2009
Posted by simarprit in Uncategorized.add a comment
Just few minutes back I had gone to buy some grocery, fruits and vegetables to an outlet of one of the most respected chains. This is how I saw a credit card fraud happening, my invoice was being used for that, though I was not directly being defrauded:
- They were using one billing counter, while they had four counter staff and making customers wait
- While he was doing my punching, I could see another guy coming over and telling him something
- Suspecting some foul-play, I decided to pay strictly cash
I turned behind to take the cash out, this boy went ahead and swiped a credit-card quickly - Crosschecked whether by mistake I gave the card? Realizing that I have not. I knew I was seeing a classic case of smart credit card fraud happening.
- Knew payment summary would come at the end, so I must take the complete invoice to ensure he doesn’t tear that part, and I know exactly what has been done with that credit card
- Paid cash and got my stuff cleared for taking-out. I needed a stamped complete invoice for the proof
- Having secured the same, I pointed out to him casually that I have paid cash and it has shown credit card usage in my invoice.
- A person came forward who called himself store manager, he said it is a mistake and told that he will correct it with pen – I said I need correct receipt for my books of accounts.
- They started punching the whole bill again, that credit card was quickly taken back.
- Realizing that they may-not handme over the fraudulent invoice, I decided to step out as I had enough evidence to report to the chain or to the police.
- Later someone calling himself “real” store manager came to my car, took my details and a written complaint
Why I am not giving the name of the store rightnow? I would like to take legal protection before I do that. I would also like to give an opportunity to the store to act on my complaint
So quick takeaways:
- Be vigilant
- Check the invoice thoroughly for quantity, items and payment method
- If you are serious to take up the matter, protect yourself, maintain cool and collect all evidence
Quick Takeaways from Gurbani January 18, 2009
Posted by simarprit in Golden Temple, Punjabis, Sikhism, Uncategorized.Tags: Being a Sikh, Gurbani, Guru Granth Sahib, Religion, Sikh, Sikhism
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Here are some quick takeaways from Gurbani. They all lead to a good life.
Takeaway:
In the beginning, the Lord created the Divine Light, And all mortals were His creation;
From the Divine Light spawned the universe, so who is good and who is bad?
As in Gurbani: Avval Allah noor upaya, Kudrat ke sab bande;
Ek Noor te sab jag upjaya, kou bhale kou mande.
Takeaway:
The Truth existed in the Beginning, The Truth existed through the Ages;
The Truth exists now, and Nanak says that the Truth will exist in the future.
As in Gurbani:
Aad sach, Jugaad sach; Hai bhi Sach, Nanak hosee bhi Sach.
Takeaway:
Oh Lord! Grant me this boon, that never shall I desist from doing noble deeds;
Nor while fighting the enemy should I ever be afraid, but with a firm resolve achieve victory.
As in Gurbani: Deh hai Shiva var mohe ehe, Shubh karman te kabhoon na taron;
Na daron ar seo jab chahe lado, Nischay kar apni jeet karon.
Live Microblogging in India January 15, 2009
Posted by simarprit in Bollywood, India, Live Blogging.add a comment
Dil Khol Ke Bol, our microblogging site did its first live microblogging, Our colleague Goutam did a great job conducting the same. http://www.dilkholkebol.com/chandni-chowk-to-china.html
Why we decided to do a beta of live microblogging? The idea was to understand the dynamics of the same, and also evaluate business models around it.
Why we choose a bollywood movie for the same? Live microblogging may succeed where there is a buzz and a fairly high degree of common interest. As the sample size is big, quantification and measurement against benchmarks is possible.
The road ahead – The event is just over. We would be reviewing the performance and the event yield. Watch this space for microblogging in India, live microblogging may become a very big commercial segment in two to three year timeframe.
First cut – It looks like, the challenges of live microblogging would be more towards logistics than towards technology.
Twitter and Brand Building January 15, 2009
Posted by simarprit in Microblogging, SEO, Twitter.Tags: Brand Building, Marketing, Microblogging, SEO, SEO Tips, Twitter, websites
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Just attended a session on Twitter and Brand Building. Some quick takeaways:
- Define and document who do you want to be seen as
- Define and document “who all” (you desire) see you around
- Be simple and upfront
- Let your tweets add value
- Never Spam
- Never pile on
- Remember you are in a cloud – be proactive, but don’t be pushy
- No bursts of tweets – regular, routine, habit forming approach is better. You’ve belong to the community and not be a guest.
- Communication is important. If you are communicating, you are listening and talking, you are reacting and agreeing, reacting and disagreeing. In short participation is important
- Have a precise profile
More to come…
