Books I Want To Read . .

 

. . . There was this time when fairy tales captured my attention,necessarily through my Granny,and ONLY ‘Fairy Tales’ could make me sleep, leaving ,my Mum too in a hassle-free sleep which otherwise was just a dream for her – she still thanks my Granny for doing that favor to her

 

Then I grew up and my granny was left with no more fairy-tales (and I could quickly make-out that things are being narrated repetitive) was perhaps the time that took me to my BEST of the hobbies – Reading….!!! Something I can’t live without!!! Wooops!

 

 

There is a kind of charm these fairytales carry with them…at times…I used to just get drenched in barbie dolls an dolly dolly things

 

 ..and then the Fairy Tales changed to readables,books…and anything which could convince me to get myself rolled into my bed after a good read with a steamy Hot-chocolate

 

And if you ask me the passions that I carry irrespective of the places I go – the answer is still the same – BOOKS!

 

 

I love Fiction.

I love Fantasy. Both are synonymous, Oops!! 

 

Now if you ask me a question – "Apeksha, tell me how many books have you read till date". The next moment I would start counting the Sheldon’s and Bach’s I have loved for years now!

 

 

But my current read-list holds – ‘The Bridge across Forever’ and ‘A Walk to Remember’

Sorry folks, but no reader’s info would be made available in this blog…cuz thats a sort of disgrace to literature, I feel so..!

 

However,take a look of the cover-pages in the blog….

 

Last but not the least . .

I look forward …. very much forward to ….. ‘Blackout’ by Connie Willis….

 

Cheers!

Apeksha…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2009 – A Look-Back Documentary!!

…For those of you that don’t really know me…I’m a girl in her late twenties, been called with so many names from Apy to Katy.. Been into a wonderful city of India called as Pune.. Had been a part of an amazing team to work with during my professional career and saw a leap in my personal life too…

I also found my real set of skills and a brand new cell not too long ago and it’s wonderful

The 2009 had started with a beautiful dawn of SUN on the rare sands of Karde beach! The morning was significantly witnessed by our group – Me, Jerald, Sayali, Hemant and Shrikant; when we all set out into the Arabian to get a glimpse of those most adored of creatures called as Dolphins. In a similar tone…we all knew somehow that the 2009 is gonna take us through a miraculous ride on the waves of life..

I never ever went to any beaches for around 5 years before 1^st Jan 2009 , but it seems that time that I was never away…and I love the silver sands….and the simple people. The waves washing away feet and the breeze brushing through the hairs…

Oh, and how can I forget the awesome time I had @UBICS! The memories of that time are such that will stay with me forever….  I met so many wonderful people there and an era that refined my career truely!!

Then it was the turn of March when I saw a complete NEW picture of my life; I kept wondering about the ways Life can actually touch you and take you along… The days followed by were good, nice, amazing, lively, vibrant and full of LIFE

Whenever it was a ride towards Mulshi waters or a hill climb on Panshet rocks; a mystery trip into Malvali caves or scenic views of Lonavala... One thing that always accompanied me was – a light heart! And again, really fun to FUN J. Obviously it’s a bit more than however tough words I use to describe it..but Life seem to have taken a different path!

And…It was time to leave Pune L Nothing came more nostalgic than this.. and till now nothing comes as sad as dreaming those times in Pune..with those wonderful people and amazing climates!

…And I had to bid a GoodBye to Pune

The taste buds developed well towards foods that I had right from the fresh Konkani FISH-FRY to the traditional ELDEST MAHARASHTRA CITIZEN – Vada Pav! J The food show was also ruled by Continental Wraps and Minty Pasta’s….however a less rating to Pizzas this year; I was more towards LOW CALORIES; but I loved Sweets!

The 2009 bought me my 1^st drink! But my  BRANDING skills made me a bit selective towards brands Though I loved many; i prefer some

The idea of staying ALONE, rather independent came alive with INDORE. Quite a slow city; it has its own culture of fame for spicy food, polluted greens, and filthy rich…L L Now what to do L

A good goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timed. This year was most about goals and a REQUIRED comeback! Ironically, it’s probably fair to say I achieved most of these. For the early SIX months, I’ve been a working machine. Too much so, in fact

I also met all of my secondary goals except for teaching myself to stay away from GIRLY emotions and causing worry for my loved ones

HOWEVER, in 2009 I got my first ever beautiful Farm in Farmville. Thanks to Facebook

Much more to come my way….and your way you readers….as I love sharing with you folks!

Cheers and Happy New Year to All Of You!!!

Apeksha.

A Date with Malvali . .

 

. . If you ask me to name something that makes me instantly connect to the Pune memories, chances are that the beach excursions would probably feature prominently in that list. The romance of walking along the coast-line is undying!

…But..

If you ask me to name something that makes me instantly connect to the most memorable excursion memories, nothing comes to my mind except – the exotic Malvali Caves.

 

 

I wanted to be there to experience the monsoon when it arrives at Malvali. After having travelled for over an hour in the over-flowing train from Pune that just left us in a small station called ‘Malvali’ – to take us through what I had been waiting long to experience!

It was as though our first step on the platforms of Malvali had just triggered a cloud for that heavy ‘heavy’ rain that welcomed us in that village of caves. A small, but good road, takes us towards an elevated concrete and we notice that we are above the Xpressway! To see those tiny cars flying beneath us was just as rare as looking at the earth from the moon. 

 

Then we are taken towards a waterfall, and there are several of them gushing from the hills, but not everybody hikes through the dense tangle of trees.

We picked a waterfall that takes several meter climb, bisecting for a picturesque snap. At another instance we had already begun our walk towards the Malvalis’ – which was going to be the BEST excursion that I ever had – or perhaps, was having by then..

 

Call us fickle, or someone who is about to enter mid-age crisis, or someone who desperately wants to cling to fitness or whatever, I have always wanted to be on top of that tallest cliff in among those countless ranges. Before I could mature that thought, Malvali was drenched by the monsoon showers – which made it look like a paradise. And we were happy to be a part of that!

For me, I remember that 10 min trek, those long sleek roads, wading through astonishing green shrubs all turning even more lush green with the rain pouring on them.

The clouds descend upon the hills and a light drizzle eventually turning into a heavy shower drenched us; refreshing us after a steep climb through the undergrowth. We could actually feel the rain drops hitting our faces from the edge of the cliff in the opposite direction.

 

We finally explored the ancient caves and hibernated a bit – to capture those lovely and scenic moments in our hearts!

Till today I wish, Only if it were raining a bit more heavily….

  

Cheers!

Apeksha

Ice-breaking with Pune :)

 

It was a bright day. I felt good.

I remember, I walked with a spring in my step. I am going to enjoy my time – in the city which was soon goanna become my favorite – for then and forever!

If you arrive at Pune by train on a rainy morning (which I did), never make the blunder of heading for the rickshaw stand. You’ll get all stressed up waiting in the never-ending queue and haggling with the rickshaw wallas trying to swindle you. Just cross the crowd to discover the Cum-Sum cafeteria and hog your bit of the excellent Cold-Coffee Frappe~ invigorate yourself (which is guaranteed to banish the depleting effects of the tiresome train journey) and move on to the ‘now less crowded’ rickshaw stand. This is what I have been doing for so many years, during those numerous trips…

When I was first confronted with the bad roads of the city from Shivaji Nagar till FC Road…I was a little tensed of the ‘awesome’ feeling I had about PUNE ..which was soon goanna end. The better thing was the songs being played over the local frequency  – I was humming to the tunes of one of the superhit tracks composed by Ajay-Atul, the current hotshot musicians in Marathwada’. Soon we were on the University road…the view of which took my breath away! It was actually the picture I had about Pune – the destination I was waiting for.

I got down and literally admired the magnificent climate with lush green gardens encircling my residential place..a construction by Kakde’s which was an excellent piece of work! I stood in the porch and looked outside to see a beautiful view of mountains haunted by clouds…and it just started raining..the best of anything to enjoy in Pune – The Rains!

 I loved the atmosphere of my society where I resided all of the time during my stint with Pune. On impulse, I entered, and strolled on the Swimming Pool area to find little kids enjoying their play with water…and vice versa

I  was, panning my gaze all over, and stopping once in a while to feast my eyes on any attractive object that arrests my attention. Soon I felt hungry and I decided to take a walk towards Baner Road – which was the right decision made

‘Faasos’ is the word! If you have to enjoy rolls and kebabs – Faasos’ is the place. With its variety of awesome combinations…I opted for Mushroom-Mint, my favorite combo since Delhi J And a chilled Coke just did its work!

 

Being an avid lover of Fiction, I had to go to a cyber café and get myself helped upon some nearest book shops. I found one in the form of – Crosswords @Aundh  The piece of excellent writing that was to fall in my collection was – The Blood Line. The fervent atmosphere of the place and exquisite array of the literature was one that was enthusiastic, with wholehearted zest and gusto.

 

By the time the rains were at their ‘best’ which restricted me to leave the place, however it didn’t came like a regret to me

Soon,I was back home to roll myself very comfortably in my cozy flavor, and to get my thoughts over joining formalities on the next day – My 1^st day @job J

But something ran like a chorus all the time…the revitalizing vibes of the city that was still to ‘revitalize’ me to my best!

If you do not find happiness as you are, where you are, here and now, you will never find it. There is always plenty in life right now to enjoy for one who is determined to enjoy it..is something you would agree; just go to Pune once.

 

Cheers!

Apeksha

 

Yahoo and Open Source Cloud – Life Partners?

Yahoo is expanding its cloud initiatives, extending its reach into research territory.

Initially available only to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Yahoo’s 4,000-core, 1.5-petabytes-of-storage M45 cluster is now available to their counterparts at the University of California at Berkeley, Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

The universities will use Yahoo’s cloud computing cluster to conduct large-scale systems software research to explore new applications that analyze Internet-scale data sets, ranging from voting records to online news sources.

Yahoo’s M45 cluster runs Hadoop, an open source distributed file system and parallel execution environment that enables its users to process massive amounts of data.

About Hadoop

Apache Hadoop is an open source project of the Apache Software Foundation, to which Yahoo engineers have been the primary contributors to date.

Source: BNET

 

Entrepreneurial Skills – Can they be really taught??

The value of entrepreneurial training is being proven by research!

That’s according to the first phase of an ambitious study being conducted by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Small Business Administration. A team of researchers from the New York University Stern School and the New York University Stern School Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation followed more than 5,500 students and graduates of five universities.

 

Initial results indicate – not surprisingly — that students who take entrepreneurial courses are more likely to launch, run or be employed by a start-up than others.

But the more insightful finding is that students who took an entrepreneurial course were more innovative than company founders who didn’t. Those students had far more patents or copyrights (75% vs. 19%), new production processes (62% vs. 28%), and new services or products (86% vs. 18%). So much for the "nature" philosophy. 

The "nurture" perspective was also supported in the research results, but with some caveats. In the first phase of the same study, undergraduate respondents who met two qualifications — they defined themselves as "extroverted" and had a family member who was an entrepreneur — had more intention to start a company than others.

……But they still scored lower on the innovation scale than the group who had entrepreneurial training.

Its all about being Natural

Cheers!

Apeksha

 

Ow! It’s raining men – Hallelujah..!! :)

 

 

At the tick of all the clocks on 19:00 hrs (IST), PUNE – The city of climates, was overflowing with oodles of rain water – EVERYWHERE!!

 

Yesterday marked the start of the first heavy shower of the seasonal monsoon for the city recently facing water-scarcity problems. After a “Not a very hectic day” @workplace, I returned and did nothing except sit around my house with hot coffee and chill. I mean, I guess that’s what consumed most of my evening and Night without stars..

 

 

….It rained a little bit initially, but nothing too exciting.  But still to come was a stormy rain…followed by nothing but…even more of rain…rain and RAIN…!!

 

I read a little bit more of Sydney Sheldon’s Bloodline – a fiction that’s driving me crazy.., but I’ll spare you on that one for now.

 

 

 

Prior to that about thirty minutes ago I got back from my Linguistics class, which was soo so much fun; partly cuz of the awesome methods of interpersonal language skills that I discovered, but also cuz of the rain-drops hitting the face from that creak of the window..

 

Tuesday morning was awesome as I marked from my window..

 

 

The wind was strong too, lots of bits of tree all over the roads today morning, and lots of water on the roads both days. Our society lawn was soggy, but refreshingly green!

 

 

 

Now…@Workplace again with all expected work to come my way…in this fantastic climate..

 

………….

 

It’s raining men – Hallelujah..!!

 

Cheers!

 

Apeksha 

 

 

 

Branding and Emotions – What a Connection!

 

 

 

Harley Davidson or Royal Enfield?

 

Nike or Adidas?

 

 

Perhaps a tough choice! But what if that is to decide the course of my blog here…any solid reason that supports the choice making??

 

Is there a reason??

 

Indeed there is. And the reason is “Brand Essence”.

 

 

The Brand Essence is a two to three word phrase (typically in the format “adjective adjective noun”) capturing the “heart and soul” of the brand.

 

 

 

In my own way of participative thinking, Brand Essence is a way of articulating the emotional connection and lasting impression — usually summed up with one simple statement or phrase — that defines the qualities, personality and uniqueness of a brand.

 

 

 

Said another way by some one who thinks similar, Brand Essence characterizes what a brand stands for in the minds of customers and stakeholders. It embodies the brand’s core competencies, advantages, culture and values.

 

Some examples

 

 “Nike: Authentic Athletic Performance,”

 

“Hallmark: Caring Shared,”

 

“Disney: Fun Family Entertainment or “Disneyworld, Magical Fun,”

 

“Starbucks: Rewarding Everyday Moments,”

 

“The Nature Conservancy: Saving Great Places.” (Typically, it is rare for an organization’s brand essence and slogan to be the same.  For instance, Nike’s essence – “authentic athletic performance” – was translated to the following two slogans: “Just do it!” and “I can.” But, “Saving Great Places” happens to be The Nature Conservancy’s brand essence and its slogan.)

 

 

Hallmark – X-Plained

 

 

Hallmark uses the phrase, Enriching Lives to capture its Brand Essence and company culture.

 

Enriching Lives represents the basis for how Hallmark serves customers, develops its products, communicates in its marketing, merchandises stores, and creates a positive work environment for employees.

 

Hallmark’s Brand Essence permeates every aspect of the company and business. And it has continued to serve the brand over time.

 

 

A brand-win game!

 

Cheers!

 

Apeksha .

 

 

 

 

 

A day with Mumbai front-waters!! :)

 

 

. . A monsoon day @The Financial Capital of the nation…

 

. . A vigorous travel along the humid coast-line of the harbor stations…

 

. . A fantastic stumble upon with the waters of Arabian sea…this time in Mumbai…

 

 

 

 

Victoria Railway Terminus lit at night, a huge neo-Gothic architectural marvel that is perhaps the most widely photographed monument in Mumbai; the solitude of Banganga Tank at dusk, happenings at the Flower Market at dawn and finally the countless sunsets and moonrises on the shimmering waters of the Arabian Sea.

 

 

After the monsoons it could well be the turn of a modeling company out to lay out a huge ramp for uninterrupted street side spring, summer, monsoon, autumn and winter fashion shows.

 

We already have a Fashion Street!

 

 

‘Welcome to the land of Kingfisher Beer,’ the banner at Marine Drive proudly proclaims.

 

It’s a dog day afternoon in July, I can feel the sweat beads gently rolling down my forehead, and am in the middle of a traffic jam..

 

 

I have this positive feeling of the event actually taking place, thanks to the next hoarding which says ‘Because Life is full of Possibilities!!’

 

The road clears, we are cruising along at a subsonic speed of 50 kms. per hour. I can feel the sweat evaporating, thanks mainly to the cool sea breeze, the Arabian Sea brings along.

 

During those fleeting moments my mind races back to the glorious fun-filled moments Mumbai brought back into my life.

 

 

Interestingly…A partially sun burnt poster with a scantily clad woman cajoles us to ‘Return to Fairness.’ I want to scream back. ‘We have a wonderful tan.’ The rules of the game are however slightly different; white is in, the rest out. We now have fairness creams for men.

 

What’s next?

 

Cheers!

 

Apeksha!!

 

 

 

Shades of Alibaug…with Mom and Dad :)

 

An envigorating trip to the waters of Alibaug…

 

 

 

My Palace in Water…  Cud u see that???  a blurred view..

 

 

 

 

 

Waves @their BESTEST.. @Nagaon Beach

 

 

Violet shades of the beach…

 

 

 

Dad all-set to touch the Arabian….

 

 

 

Murud Beach….

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow lights of Nagaon….

 

 

 

 

The Cherry pick…

 

 

 

…..

 

 

 

 

!Cheers!

 

Apeksha