Varun's Views

Dravid: Anchor or Dead-weight?

2009-09-27T23:51:00.003+05:30

I was extremely happy to see Dravid back in the ODI team, that is till I saw his innings and am now wondering whether he deserves a place in our team at all.
Arguments given by Dravid supporters: Anchors the Team's Innings. Stabilizes the rocking boat.
Let us have a look at India's innings against Pakistan:
1) Gautam Gambhir played well. Did not take any risks and worked his way towards the goal of getting India to the target of 303.
2) Suresh Raina: Played swift again without taking any untoward risks and worked his way towards the goal of getting India to the targe of 303.
3) Rahul Dravid: Played slowly at the start, probably to settle down, get comfortable with the ball and like Shoab Malik did explode at the end. But he never exploded, just fizzled out!
He never really seemed to have a gameplan in mind, just played along at his own comfortable pace. He did not seem to be playing for a win - the body language was just not there. The huge number of mis-hits from his bat even after he had scored 60 odd runs would make one thing that he has just reached the crease. The number of times he went after a ball bowled by Afridi right at the edge of the wide crease was totally pathetic to watch.
I am a huge fan of The Wall but perhaps the time has come to pull down this wall; atleast from the ODI side.

Comments Invited!

Book Worm

2009-09-27T22:48:00.004+05:30

I always thought that I was a voracious book reader but the speed at which I am going through books since passing out of IIT has even suprised myself. Over the previous 3 months, I have completed 5 books, in process of completing the 6th and have 4 more in the pipe-line!
The Books:
Hitch-Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy: This is a good read for all who have a wild imagination. Probably, one of the best Sci-fi fiction book of all time!
The Tales of Beetle the Bard: This is a book by J.K.Rowling which contains kid's stories for wizarding families. It's a time-pass read and nowhere as good as any of the original series's book.
The Associate: This is a nice book by John Grisham. It is about a graduate from an Ivy League Law School being forced to steal secrets of a case between two Pentagon defence contractors being represented by the two biggest law firms. It is a gripping book but has a sort of an anti-climax at the end.
The Goal: This is the book by Eli Goldratt which introduced the Theory of Constraints. An amazing book about Industrial Management which revolutionized the industry.
The Goal II: It's Not Luck: This book describes "The Thinking Process" and is a appropriate sequel to "The Goal".
Currently reading: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.
Books in the pipe-line:
1) Critical Chain
2) The Theory of Constraints and The System of Profound Knowledge
3) The Southwest Airlines Way
4) A Thousand Splendid Suns
Books expected to be in the pipe-line:
1) Fedex Delivers
2) The IITians
3) 2 States

Online shopping for T-shirts!

2009-07-20T01:19:00.003+05:30

Just click on the poster on the right side! Amazing collection of T-Shirts, Mugs, Posters and Hooded T-shirts. Updated quite frequently! Great idea for a gift!

Happy Shopping!

Sunday Brunch

2009-07-20T00:48:00.003+05:30

A sunday brunch is an amazingly nice meal. It somehow converts even a dull, boring ordinary weekend into a totally satisfactory one. I had two brunches in Delhi over the last two weekends. Me being an egg-eating vegetarian will only be able to comment on the partial menu.

All American Diner, Indian Habitat Centre: This is a place for those who love the american style of breakfast. The ambience is exactly that of an american diner. The menu is also divided into time intervals. Certain items are only available before 10:30 am and certain ones post 11:30 am and so on.
It serves absolutely fantastic belgian waffles, pancakes and omelets! I had a 3-egg cheese omelet, three piece pancakes and a serving of belgian waffles and loved all of it. Amazing and would recommend this to one and all except pure vegetarians where the menu is surprisingly short. The variety of sandwiches is also quite nice. Final bill: Rs. 1600 for four without any alcoholic drinks but with a full meal including desserts.
Mrs. Kaur's Crepes & More, Khan Market: This place also has an a la carte menu. The ambience is quite lively with bright green chairs and pure white walls. The menu here is more diverse and has crepes, waffles, pasta, rissotos, omelets. The variety in crepes was amazing ranging; from paneer tikka crepe to a florentine! The rissoto primavera was also extremely tasty. The 3-egg omelet had a lot of toppings and was somehow tough to handle as the pieces kept breaking off. But, none the less it was quite nice. The best thing which I had here had to be the belgian waffles! It comes with options of a variety of toppings ranging from the ordinary Maple syrup to Whipped cream to frosted custard. Yummy! By far, the best waffles I ever had! My recommendation: Try the combo topping of milk chocolate with Whipped cream. This place also has a very nice choice of teas (a rare thing to find). Final bill: Rs. 2000 for four (alcoholic drinks not on menu) but again had a full meal with desserts.

Can't wait again for another brunch at either of these two places but will have to wait for a long time as will not be back in Delhi on a Sunday for atleast a few more months!

Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2009-07-20T00:17:00.004+05:30

Well, I am no film expert but am most certainly one when it comes to Harry Potter. I liked the movie. It is a romantic comedy with a story to tell. I would give it 4 stars out of 5.
Now, most of you will say that a Harry Potter movie does not (rather should not) be a romantic comedy but I felt that was exactly what was needed to be shown. It showed Harry, Ron and Hermione grow up into young adults, Harry learning that there are 7 Horcruxes and Dumbledore dying. All this was shown and shown quite beautifully. Infact, the part which shows the trio turning into young adults got full marks from me (2.5 /2.5) while, the part where Harry learns about the Horcruxes and the scene of Dumbledore dying do not fare as well with me and that is where I felt a little let down. The total absence of the fight between the DA members and the Order of Phoenix against the Death-Eaters was a huge disappointment.

High points of the movie:

The scene where Harry takes Felix Felicis and talks to Prof. Slughorn.
The scene at Christmas when Ron comes and sits in between Harry and Ginny bang in the middle of a romantic moment.
The talk between Ron and Harry in the night in their dorm-room about what Dean sees in Ginny.
Ron's response to Prof. Mcgonagall's question as to why it is that they three are present everytime something happens.
All scenes involving Lavendar Brown and her Won-Won.

Low points of the movie:

At christmas time, Ginny bending to tie Harry's shoelaces. Common man, it's the 21st century!
The pointless destroying of The Burrow at Christmas! Why?
The last dialogues between the trio where Harry lets Ron-Hermione know that he is going to find the Horcruxes.
The way in which Dumbledore's funeral was shown.

My heart goes out to Daniel Radcliffe who just doesn't want a taller girl-friend but has to romance Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright) who happens to be taller than him! :) Emma Watson is becoming more beautiful with each movie and Rupert Grint is potraying Ron Weasley even better even than as described by Ms. Rowling.
All the three have become fantastic actors and I just can not wait for the final episode and am hoping that there are no such important scenes missing in that one especially the final war! Actually, it seems highly improbable that anything will be missed out seeing that the book is being converted into two movies! One releasing on 19th November 2010 and the last part on 15th July 2011 atleast as of now.
Go Mr. Yates Go!

Days gone by...

2009-07-08T16:02:00.002+05:30

Looking back at the days gone by,
I feel no fear no regrets and no sigh.
My heart is calm, content and serene.
With a cup of coffee; I have a new day to begin.
Crushed with the beans of memories.
Brewed with a blend of stories.
I can smell the aroma of life.
In this cup of coffee.... That is kept nearby,
Makes me feel as if...
In a sip of this coffee... A life has passed by...

The Success Story of Air Deccan

2009-01-13T15:23:00.007+05:30

Ever wondered what did Air Deccan do so differently that it could enable air travel for the great Indian middle class. What was it that let it cut average air fares by more than 30% and also offer Rs. 0 tickets. Surely, it could not be just not giving a hot meal on board. Read on to know more.

The concept of Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) was not developed by Captain Gopinath, although he did it adapt it nicely to the Indian scenario. LCCs have been around since the 1970's. Some famous LCCs are SouthWest Airlines, JetBlue and AirTran in USA, EasyJet and RyanAir in Europe and AirAsia in Asia.

Let us try and understand how it is that Air Deccan employed the LCC model in India:

High aircraft utilization: By reducing turnaround times (time when an aircraft lands to when it is ready for the next take-off; typical turnaround times in India for A320s/B737s were 55 minutes, Air Deccan had 40 minutes), aircraft could fly to more destinations per day giving rise to a higher number of ASKs (Available Seat Kilometers).
Fleet planning: By employing ATRs for smaller routes and Airbus A320s for trunk routes, it saved on the maintenance and crew costs by keeping just two types of aircraft fleet. It also could negotiate better contractual agreements with the aircraft makers.
Route planning: It flew point-to-point similar to other LCCs but it also looked at emerging routes on a continuous basis. All routes with an upper class train traffic of 500-800 passengers per day was considered. It got the first mover advantage on many profitable routes and hence had customer loyalty on those routes even in the absence of frequent flier programs and the like. At the same time it was also quick to close down new routes if they did not turn profitable within the initial test period of 4 months.
Dynamic Pricing: Low priced tickets if booked sufficiently in advance and high priced if booked on the day of the flight. This helped the airline to maximize its revenue from ticket sales as well as maintain a high seat occupancy. It made use of the Navitaire Software for optimizing the load factor and for yield management.
Additional Revenues: It generated revenues by selling food on-board, credit card fees, and the sale of advertising space on seats, storage-bins, headrests, tray tables, baggage tags, boarding passes, the body of the aircraft, its websites and the in-flight magazine as it was aware that its ticket sales revenues would not be enough.
Cost Reduction: No expenditure on fancy offices, lounges and frequent flier programs. It also used a lean-and-mean staffing methodology to attain a lower employees per aircraft as compared to its competitors. Outsourcing of non-core operations like ground handling, supply of on-board food and beverages, and supply of in-flight magazines to third party managers was done. By employing a single fare system, costs were also lowered in accounting and auditing.
Marketing & Promotion: It used R.K.Laxman's famous cartoon 'The Common Man' as its mascot to target its customers - the common man. It advertised primarily through media like print, billboards and radio and to a lesser extent through television. It also used advertising barter to get more advertising space.
Sales & Distribution: Instead of opting for using GDS systems like Sabre, Amadeus or Galileo, Air Deccan developed an internet based Central Reservation System (CRS) with the help of InterGlobe Technology Quotient. This reduced the GDS related costs. For customers without internet connectivity, the airline set up 24 X 7 multi-lingual call centers which had CRS connectivity.
Reduction in cash cycle: Competitor airlines operated through travel agents who booked tickets via the GDS whereas Air Deccan's travel agents made use of its CRS to purchase tickets by a credit/debit card or pre-paid deposits which gave Air Deccan access to its ticket sales revenue faster and gave it access to non-traditional agents like merchants, retail outlets, petrol pumps and cyber cafes.

Sadly though, the days of Rs. 0/3/6 tickets are gone but again that is a good sign as it indicates that the Indian aviation market is maturing. However, the journey of Air Deccan is truly amazing as it literally got millions of new fliers to the Indian skies. It certainly let me as a student fly home! :-)

Hail Air Deccan & Captain Gopinath!

Chokes Off & Engines Start

2009-01-12T17:41:00.002+05:30

Am finally restarting my blog in a completely new avatar with a complete new focus!

Let's see how it goes