Ankur Sethi - VIBES OF LIFE

This Blog has been moved to a new location!

2009-01-29T04:52:00.000-08:00

This Blog has been moved to a new location!

Can Creativity be Scalable?

2008-06-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, that’s an exciting project/business plan. You know that you’ve found the innovative product and you are developing it further in quality.

You know this will create leadership; all you need is to reach out the right audience. And you start looking for someone who can help you do just that.

You require a team who has hands on creative marketing experience and expertise in web2.0 technology and development.

You look around and only find individuals who meet requirement but can not deliver a big project like yours, at least not within set timelines.

PS – you think you have a solution to this situation?
Let me know!

--
Ankur Sethi
sethi(dot)ankur(at)gmail(dot)com
ankur(dot)sethi(at)PeopleStrong(dot)com

We Can Solve it!

2008-06-23T23:43:00.000-07:00

EmployABILITY 2008

2008-01-13T22:53:00.000-08:00

On a special event of National NRD Network – Delhi Chapter on Friday, 11th Jan Jayshree Raveendran, Founder – Ability Foundation spoke about her thoughts on her firm conviction that disabled people should be more visible doing things they enjoy like everyone else and that they should be given equal opportunity and respect from our responsive society.

EmployABILITY 2008 is a noble initiative by Ability Foundation towards bringing talented people with and without disabilities together, leading to entertainment and mutual sensitization.
This job fair offers equitable employment opportunities to qualified persons with disability and will provide great opportunity to connect with unbiased equal opportunity employers and a platform to display their job skills and a demand to be hired on grounds of merit.

EmployABILITY 2008 is jointly organized by Ability Foundation and CavinKare Pvt Ltd, in association with National HRD Network Delhi Chapter and Naukri.Com. This sought after event is to be held on February 24, 2008 at New Delhi.

With around 750 candidates across different parts of India and around 40 employers participating in the job fair is a proving fact about our society is indeed responsive. But you bet we can do more by our collective and directed efforts.

I sincerely appreciate the thought of working for such a cause and encourage every bit of support towards it.

The least we could do is spread the word for the cause.

Delhi Blogger, DBM XXI (4th Anniversary celebrations)

2008-01-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

On 13th Jan 2004, a group of bloggers in Delhi decided to get together and meet offline for the first time. The excitement, apprehension, curiosity of meeting total strangers - all culminated in a rather successful meet and the formation of a vibrant community which has lasted all this while.

It's the 4th birthday of our beloved community. It's great to have lasted this long in the online world, certainly no mean feat this one! 20 official meets, a couple of unofficial meets, history walks, photography gyaan by our inhouse professional photographers, book reading, kite flying, link-ups, print/tele coverage (BBCRadio/ Delhi Times/HT City/TodayPlus), flame wars, exercises in blogging outreach and endeavours with NGO's … we've come a long way together.

The group has had as its members, people from all walks of life - techies, students, activists, photographers, lawyers, doctors, architects, finance people and guys who make their living off blogs!! And we've walked a few steps together. A few in our group have moved on, relocated to other cities, but are still a part in spirit, and try and stay in touch. As the old saying goes "Once a Delhi Blogger, always a Delhi Blogger!!"

We are celebrating our 4 years in this online world and keeping a simplemeet this time with no frills and fancies - only fun unlimited, whichincludes shooting a video of Delhi Blogger. If you wish to join in on thefun, please append your name at http://delhibloggers.eventbrite.com/ or writeto twilightfairy at gmail dot com. Please keep your calendars blocked for *13thJan 2008, 4:30-11pm, Blues, Outer circle, CP, New delhi * :). You can dropin any time at your convenience.

Happy 2008

2008-01-01T22:00:00.001-08:00

Best Wishes for you and your loved ones, have a blessed year ahead

Cheers
Ankur Sethi

How do you cultivate your Online Professional Network?

2007-12-30T20:24:00.000-08:00

This post is inspired by a question by Kathleen Erickson posted on Linkedin

Here's below what she had asked that prompted me for this write up on the subject.

How do you cultivate your LinkedIn Network? Do you simply add and never cultivate or are you an active cultivator, cutting out the inactive channels and pursuing instead what is productive, interesting and beneficial?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below is what i think about the subject of discussion

I believe it’s imperative for successful networking to cultivate your network. I’d rather put cultivating as knowing your network (for easier understanding).

It about quality than quantity (may differ for some of us), one could keep adding bulk connection but end up wasting time however on the other hand, one could spend a little more time studying about the new connections and who knows you could come across your new client, employee, employer or partner.

Tips to cultivate your Online Network

Introduce yourself and what you do – Once you’ve added a new connection, it’ll be a good idea to let them know about you and what you do. You could prepare a standard document what clearly states a brief about you and your work. It’s always better to use a language most of us understand. Too much use of industry jargons won’t be recommended as the best way to communicate.

What’s networking for you? – It would be a good idea to set the expectation right. You could do this by sharing the reasons for your interest of connecting with people. Is it for knowledge enhancement, or are you a solution provider, recruiter or looking for a job, etc etc.

Ask about them – once you are done with sharing your story it the right time to ask them there story. As an individual you’d have your own set of questions and agenda, make them clear right here. Make sure you communicate it clearly and record the inflow of information.

Classify – categorization helps in communication. This way you would know who-to-approach-when. Targeted communication is concrete and further it helps yield positive results. This way you’d know who to connect when you require support in a particular subject.

Be Reachable – if you are a sales person I don’t need to tell you this, for everyone else all I can say is that you are not a valuable connection if you can’t be reached easily when they need you.

Connect – after you’ve done all the above, connect will naturally happen and you and your connections would know how could you be of help mutually.

After all, it’s about giving, giving and seeking a little help.

Happy Networking!

Best Regards,

Ankur Sethi
Stay Connected!

What skills are you missing to get what you want?

2007-12-26T05:20:00.000-08:00

The New Year is just round the corner and I am sure most of us would be thinking of forming New Year resolutions. I thought it’d be a good time to ask this question.

In fact in you read closely, this has a couple of questions in one. One of course is finding the scope of improvement in you as an individual and second is about how well you know yourself (this would perhaps require you to think more)

This question is intended to capture your opinion as a sample survey.

What’s your answer?

1. I don’t know what I want
2. I know what I want but I am not sure how to get there.
3. I know what I want but I know how to get there

PS – I’m assuming that we’d speak up even if we have “I don’t know what I want” and “I know what I want but I am not sure how to get there”

This survey report will also be published at this blog.

Thanks a lot for your inputs.

Gift a tree, for a life time!

2007-12-25T21:46:00.000-08:00

When we talk about gifting to our loved ones, we always wanted to give something that they could keep a long time. Ever thought that you could give a gift for a lifetime and it doesn’t cost an earth. Feels good to know doesn’t it?

Got this thought of gifting a tree from the acts of Mr. Pankaj Bansal, CEO – PeopleStrong. PeopleStrong turned 2 years this December and it was a very well cherished and joyful movement for the PeopleStrong family. But as they say in high spirits the journey isn’t finished yet and there are many more milestones to be achieved.

Pankaj known for his innovative mind surprised everyone by gifting a potted plant. In my personal opinion, this was a wonderful thought.

Inspired from the event, gifted a plant to my sister on her birthday and we planted it in a near by park. I was glad that she (a seven year old) was also quite happy to receive a tree as a gift.

Go ahead, gift a tree for a lifetime!

Happy gifting

Taare Zameen Par

2007-12-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

Taare Zameen Par... a story about Ishaan Awasthi, an eight year old cute kid whose world is filled with wonders that no one seems to appreciate. Colors, fish, dogs, kites are just not important in the world of adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks and neatness.

Although I’m not a member of every-weekend-movie-watching club but I am happy to not have missed this one.

This is one movie not just to be seen, but felt. One would relate to it from the very first frame. It manages to put a real life mirror effect in the reels. If you’ve already seen it am sure you’ll agree with me on this.

The movie reminded me of my school days (feels nostalgic). The movie in my view is a fabulous entertaining parenting guide. Till the end you’d be clear what not to do as parents.

Go and watch it, this is more than value for money.

Baby mouse in my car!

2007-12-19T03:33:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read it right it was a baby mouse. Was driving on my way to work this morning and to my surprise (or shall I say shock) saw a baby mouse running below the front seat next to me. Was really scared in the initial seconds after discovering I wasn’t alone in the car. Immediately then stopped the car and tried my ways to get that thing out.

After a round of effort, it was optimistic of me to assume that it must have left. Started driving again and anyways if anyone was to be scared it surely wasn’t me. (Grin)

On a second thought, the baby mouse being so small that it looked too cute to be scared from. It had passed around 30 minutes from the time I saw it and by then I was sure that it must be gone by now.

Just then to give me another surprise, it made another move. Saw it running from below the seat to the car’s dash board. Wasn’t scared or feeling uneasy this time instead now was feeling amusing to think of the whole episode. That is when I decided to Blog it and share it with everyone.

What would you do if this happens with you tomorrow morning while driving down to office?

And how do I get mouse out of there, not sure if it’ll still be there while by way back home.

Doing Business in Japan

2007-12-17T00:18:00.000-08:00

As part of NASSCOM's Emerging Companies Forum - Marketing, this was the 30th meeting of NCR companies on 14th December 2007 (Friday) on "Doing Business in Japan"

There was a good blend of professionals gathered to listen to Ashoke Ghosh, President, Delivery Services of GrapeCity India.

Are you exploring Japan as a business market? Or are you already doing business in Japan? Read on to know why is doing business in Japan difficult, and what can we do about it?

Challenges & Solutions

1. Linguistic capabilities – having a local partner is always a good idea. And to help you further in getting connected with a right local partner, you could contact JETRO ( a government-related organization that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world )
2. Building relationship – it always takes time to build relationships, in japan it takes a little longer. One needs to be patient while managing business relationships in japan. Below are some facts to be kept in mind while doing business in Japan.
a. Japanese do business on trust therefore it makes sense to invest to build trust.
b. Don’t expect quick returns as ROI would take time.
c. Decision making takes longer. Also when Japanese come on the discussion table, it’s quite likely that he’s already made a decision in him mind.
d. Japanese are very humble in nature and like to see same quality in others.

Some more interesting facts:

-- Japanese predominately use MS – excel for everything and are formatting and accuracy conscious.
-- Japanese are man of their words so if Japanese says he’ll do it, consider it done!
-- Attrition isn’t that big a problem for them however the Indian attrition scenario surely concerns them for getting into deals with India.Hard sell doesn’t work with them. So if you are a hard seller, try another country as its surely not going to work in Japan :)

In a nutshell, if you want to be successful doing business in Japan then the mantra is “be local, start small and focus on building trust and the growth would flow in automatically”.

Thanks again to Mr. Ashoke Ghosh for an interesting and knowledge enhancing session.

More the NASSCOM's Emerge Blog

Blog it right!

2007-11-20T08:20:00.000-08:00

As part of NASSCOM's Emerging Companies Forum - Marketing, It was the 29th meeting of NCR companies on 16th November 2007 (Friday) on "Business blogging - A platform to build your reputation online and connect with your customers, employees" by Kiruba Shankar, Co-founder, F5ive Technologies and Founder CEO, Business Blogging Pvt Ltd

As a usual practice followed by the forum, Ankur Lal, CEO – Infozech, welcomed everyone and also introduced Kiruba Shankar. This was followed by a brief introduction from all the participants from the emerging companies’ forum.

Kiruba talked about ways of making best use of the new age Media Tools such as Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis, SecondLife for business advantage. Kiruba’s real life examples made it all the more easy for the audience to relate to.

Below are some of the take away’s from the session.

-- Corporate Blogging helps to build a connection and sync between the company and the main stake holder, employees and customers.
-- A good corporate blog is one that encourages the employees to talk.
-- Corporate blog’s works best with human prespective and not completely PR or Corp Comm attempt.
-- If good corporate blog is heaven then a not-so-good blog can be bad too!

The session was conducted with an absolute knowledge sharing perspective. The forum invited everyone to pitch in with there personal experiences and the knowledge creating was appreciated by the audience.

Are you already blogging? Or are you thinking of starting a corporate blog?

More on the NASSCOM's Emerge Blog

The Rise of India and China and what it Means for All of Us

2007-10-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

We all can see growth been happening in India, at least some of us can vouch for it. We've also heard that China is ahead of us in pace. Often we hear stories about India Vs China and the competitive environment been built globally. We are not sure if China has capability to take away our pie in the global outsourcing market?

Is it all about growth? Or does it have some unseen challenges and threat? What’s the big picture perspective? We've got many questions.

In a resent session with Robyn Meredith, as a part of NASSCOM's Speaker's club series, we got some answers! Read more on the NASSCOM's Emerge Blog

How to enhance individual EQ level?

2007-08-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

Individual EQ as per my personal understanding correlates with how an individual acts and reacts in a given situation. A situation here could be in different contexts. Situations don’t arise in isolation, they are outcome of interactions.

I’d broadly categories all situations in three spaces namely, Social interactions, corporate interactions and personal interactions

Any tried and tested ways to improvise on EQ?

If you are linkedIn user, you may also leave your responce by clicking on this link!

Answer this!

2007-08-22T23:55:00.000-07:00

Context
I fundamentaly believe that a leader is by virtue of acceptance and not by
position.

Leadership development has been quoted to be "One of the Key drivers" of any sucessful organisation by many business leaders.
--

Question
What does a “Good Boss” do right that makes him a true Leader?
And
What does a Bad boss do wrong?
--

Objective of this discussion is to find some behavioral level understanding to differentiate “Good Leaders” from “Good managers” and perhaps build a constrictive guide for leadership development. And yes, we all should read leadership development as key to build sustainable organizational development.

Pls. furnish your feedback with specific instances as much feasible as it will grow more understanding and indeed be appreciated.

Thanks for your time and inputs.
--

You may either leave you responce by posting a comment on the blog else if you are a linkedIn user you may click here to leave them on LinkedIn.

Appreciate

2007-05-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

Dear reader,

I’d recommend you to spare few minutes to read this!

Surely most of you would have heard or would know that in today’s corporate world one of the biggest challenges faced by most of the organizations is employee turnover also named as attrition.
After many research and surveys conducted by many HR professionals we’ve realized that increasing employee satisfaction is the quickest fix for this.

Organizations spend substantial amount of money on overcoming this challenge and for its sustainable growth.
To add to this I’d like to suggest an easy and cost free way to keep your employees happy, though this won’t be absolute in overcoming this challenge however will surely make a positive impact.

A question for all you guys working in any organization and heading any function/process/operations where people are involved.

“Ever thought that a small little act of yours could lead to a much more positive environment around?”
Well not sure if you said yes but the answer to this is YES, here’s how it is!

I am taking the liberty of asking you another question for better explanation.
“What was the last time you appreciated anyone at work for something as little as meeting timelines or exceeding the targets.
I believe most of us lack the art of appreciating. Unless someone did something unbelievably astonishing, we hardy acknowledge or so called appreciate it. For the reason that we tend to take things and people’s act for granted.

“Appreciating” creates “positive vibes”

This is very critical, if your employees don’t get the acknowledgement and appreciation for the work they’ve done for the organization, gradually they will loose the sprit of achieving higher and better results.

A small however meaningful appreciation works as an encouragement for the employee to work harder and thus increases employee satisfaction. And more satisfied employees will only lead to better productivity, which in turn leads to organizations success.

I’ve personally felt lack of appreciation for my efforts and actions and also have realized that I missed on appreciating someone’s actions when it should have been.

I’d practice this and would suggest you try it too because you CAN make an impact!

--
Ankur Sethi
There are plenty in the pool of good managers but very few as leaders.
VIBES OF LIFE

6 Star years

2007-05-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Can’t believe it’s been so long, it seems like really not too long ago!

This gives me a reason to glance at the rear view on those 6 star years that are very significant in the making of myself.

Memories of my first day at work are still fresh as yesterday. I had the will to work, will to only work and prove myself to be better than any other.

There is a challenge again on my way, to prove myself all over again. And I am all set for many more star years to come!

--
Ankur Sethi
"Your happiness is intertwined with your outlook on life"

I, the distinct me!

2007-05-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

Who am I? A name, or may be a body or soul!

Do I have meaning of myself, if yes than who decides what it is?

Maybe everyone has a meaning for me, their own meaning from their own dictionary and their own languages.

I may seem to be a stranger to many or may be a relationship to some and everything to someone (not too sure on this one).

Does that mean I am my actions, my words, and my gestures?
Maybe that’s just how others know who I am!

If that’s how it is, then who am I?

Am I a heart? or maybe a brain? As that’s what is behind my actions, my worlds and my gestures!

I am, well just me!

Silent-Noise

2007-03-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

Listening to songs, real loud! Sitting at home, yet alone and doing what I always do, talking! Talking to myself.

Wish life could just stay the way it is, at least won’t mess up more…

Me – are you scared?
I - Maybe yes
Me - scared of what?
I – future
Me – why do you think so much?
I – that’s just me, can’t keep a control of what I feel
Me – (silence)
I – (silence)

Well its better I keep myself within as I am not sure of being understood and anyways...

Me just me, is distinct!

Perspective

2007-03-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

Read an interesting and vitalizing article written by one of my friend from the online world and that’s what made me think and further felt like pen down some thoughts.

Aren’t the things and people around us, the way we see it?
The word is Perspective!

Some times I find some acts of people around me inappropriate but then the fact is that the same action can be proved correct with a different reason. The interesting point here is that even if something doesn’t seem right to me it can still be proved right with a different logic.

Every human is distinct and may or may not share a similar perspective. Its quite interesting how different people react with different situations and circumstances.

I personally do not like being compared with anyone else however invariably I see comparison being done between different perspectives and at times I see myself doing the same, though I realize it later!

Everything is right and nothing is wrong - it’s Perspective

Mercilessly Esthetic

2007-03-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

What a weird thing!

Thought to write something about me and that's when I started thinking
about "me".
Was thinking of two words to describe me, starting from M and E that makes it ME.

Not that I am into reading vocabulary book's these days but somehow
this word just popped out of my mind while I was sitting on my
computer and listening to some music, thinking about acts of past and
fears of future.

Wasn't sure if this was a word that was coming in my mind but somehow
tries to spell what was in mind as a voice, weird I know but it
happened.

This is what I wrote then - Mercilessly esthetic

Later when I checked the meaning, merciless means "showing no mercy"
and one of the meanings of esthetic (used as adjective) is "the
beautiful"

This makes my mind to think, somehow it relates to me or I am relating to it…

Sundayz Special

2006-08-31T21:22:00.000-07:00

Last 3 Sundays were filled with lots of masti drives, discovering different places to eat, chit - chats with friends and last but not the least, clicking photo's

When we went to Noida ...

When we went to IHC, Lodhi Road

Hoping for this weekend to be as good as once passed resently.
And yes...another rafting trip going to happen very soon :)

PDPS MEET @ EVER BAKE (2002 Passout Batch)

2006-06-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

Another Cherished Meet! Thought it was kind of tough for me to be able to make it..but..when its about friends, priorities change [:)]

Gang Members Present

Bhati Gaur, Jyoti Chadha, Shaily Goel, Rachna Jain, Rahul Jain, Ashish Singhal, Kunal Jagga, Dipen Mehta, Rajat Chaddha and moi

Reached at around 1350 hrs and saw some sweet smiling faces. Thought I was also a lil late but was not the last one to arrive. for that matter Rajat Chaddha was the last one to come and other late comers include Kunal and Jyoti :)

All were so busy chatting that no one ordered till we could sense that the restaurant guys might through us out. ( Funny...isn't it?) Finally the my most awaited things arrived (As was ultra hungry)

On the Table was - Manchurian, Fried Rice,Chilli Panner(cheese), Chilli Potatoes, Pizza's.
Also would like to mention that everyone had soda's but shaily ordered Cold Coffee with Ice cream but to her disappointment Kunal took it (Very bad kunal)

Bharti was my favorite lady of the day and I hope that made her happy.

Followed by lots & lots of chatting, laughing, clicking foto's, making video's and everything was really loud. After the eating chapter was over it followed by a cake which was delicious.

Unfortunately I had to leave but some guys were still there and surely they must have rocked even later.

We all had an awesome time and we'll make that happen every time we meet.

God Bless all the happy soul's who attended the Meet.

Pictures can be viewed on clicking here

Live like there’s no tomorrow!

2006-06-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

Often in this fast pace life we comprehend that life’s all about sleeping and working, meeting deadlines/targets. Lots of us call it a mechanical life. I am no exception to feeling it this way.

If you are also feeling the same why---- you seriously need to get a life. There are two ways of getting a life (for that matter).
First is start loving your job because if you do what you love it’s not work anymore its romance. If you can’t manage to it the first way (which I most definitely think you won’t) start indulging yourself into activities you like.

“What activities do I really want to get into?” Is this in your mind? Here are some of the options.
- Read a book…naah, I suggest you write one.
- Do more of what you like, for example photography, sketching, Catching up with pals, Arranging small get togethers, long drives, walk the talk, etc
- Try getting up an hour early and meditate, spend time with family.

Still finding it hard to decide? Then talk to yourself and to help you a bit, here are some questions you can ask yourself.
- What was the last time you made tea for your mom before she got up in the morning?
- Do you remember calling your friend at 0000 hrs wishing him/her happy b’day?
- Do you have a picture of you walking/dancing in rain?
- Were you pretending to be Himesh reshammiya yesterday morning in the bathroom while having bath?

On a serious note…life’s much more than the above mentioned silly but workable things. I’ll suggest you seriously consider this article/suggestion and try acting on it ASAP.

C’mon don’t think anymore!
Shut this system off…call your friend who you want to go out with and, just have fun! There might not be a tomorrow, literally!

Orkut PDPS Meet – 2002 Passout Group

2006-06-03T11:31:00.001-07:00

It’s always great to hang out with your friends and if we are with old school friends...nothing like that.
After a long discussion regarding when and where to organize this meet, finalized Decibel – Hotel Samrat and before that we’re to assemble at McDonald’s – Inner circle, C.P. around 1200 hrs.

Got up at 0930 hrs with Rahul jain’s phone call saying that he won’t be able to make it to the party. Though I thought more the people, it’ll be more fun. Then slept for 30 more mins till I got a wakeup call from dipen around 1000 hrs.

Got to know that few more people won’t be coming...anyways... moving on.
Dhawal was supposed to pick me up and he did around 1130 hrs and we headed towards our place of assembling via shimona’s house.

The reason we took that route was because one of our well-known member of our school’s community, (Rachna Jain) was not sure about the way to C.P. *grin* though it was fun going together.

Also had a short and sweet meet with Ajay Nagpal on our way to C.P, as he couldn’t make it to the meet. It was very nice meeting him after a long long time. He still looks the same...jolly as always.

Reached C.P around 1230 hrs and to my surprise quite a few guys were already waiting... amazing!

Stayed there for around 20 mins, clicked few pics and apologized for me being late, which everyone cheerfully accepted.
Thanks everyone!

We then moved to Decibel – Hotel Samrat and again to my surprise the place was jam-packed. Maybe it being a Saturday. After waiting around 30 mins at the hotels lobby, we were on the floor with happy faces. Though at a point I thought this was not a right decision but I am happy that it proved wrong.

We also had few first time visitors in a disc ...Rachna & Shimona. Was glad to know that they liked the place.

Though the music was not that great but still it had quite a few of my favorite no’s to keep me busy. But I believe it’s the company which mattes most. All in all it’s was an awesome day. Lots of dancing, clicking pics and a nice drive... that’s all what I look for.

Dipen Mehta, Sunny Goel, Rachna Jain, Shimona khandelwal, Shaily goel , Ashish Singhal(Standing)

Me And Dhawal shah (Sitting)

After rocking the place for few hours we decided to move out and have chat over lunch.
Then we moved to our beloved place that is none other than Kamla Nagar. Had lunch at Dawrka (The restaurant)

That was fun talking and having all kinds of food...Chinese, Italian, North and south Indian.

After having our food, some left for their home leaving five of us…Rachna, Shimona, Dipen, Dhawal and me.

We then moved to café coffee day – banglow road had a small chit chat session and played truth and dare too. Finally the day ended which was full of energy and fun.

You can view the pics by clicking

Part Time MBA Blues

2006-05-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

I am looking forward to do MBA in International Business or Marketing but from where, I don't know.

Let me give a brief introduction about myself - B.com(Hon.) Graduate from University of Delhi. Working with Wipro BPO since Sep 03, before this Worked for The Standard Chartered Bank and CitiBank. Was a part of Corporate Direct Sales (Cards) Team. I was the youngest member of that team as was only 18 at that time. Total Work experience of four and a half year in Customer Service and Corporate Direct Sales.

I Understand that a Residential Programmes are considered to be and are better than any Part-time or Distant Learning Programme because of peer to peer learning, however I am considering only Part Time and Distant Learning Programmes due to financial constraints.

I Believe one can scale the same heights in whichever field or vertical he/she is in. What's Important is the commitment and attitude towards achieving it!

Seeking advise from those who are informed about any Part-time or distant learning programme and their worth in corporate world.

Want to pursue some course which really has some add on to my current profile and knowledge and carries some value, unlike those which anyone and everyone can do without much input. Having said that, would also like to know if this is a right step to take. There are many Universities and Institutes offering Part time and Distant learning programmes. Which among them are the better ones? Is their any rating list in these programmes also?

I learnt that getting a genuine feedback regarding this confusion that i have is tough as every institute is only trying to sell their own programme (It's Business).

I also Believe the right people to ask and get my confusions clarified would be those who have gone through the good and bad parts about these processes of research & admissions, and are aware about what's Hot and what Not!

If you have any kind of information about this topic and think it'll be of even 0.1% help, please communicate.
You can comment on this post or send me a email - sethi.ankur@gmail.com

Lets see where I land up
God Bless mE

Plans for an 5 Day Trip

2006-05-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

Planning for an Five-day trip at the end of this month. Wasn't able to join Prashant for the trip to Dharamsaala but now hoping to get time for atleast this one.

Most probable dates - 27th May to 31th May ( Both Days inclusive )
Altering the dates for a day here and there will not be an issue if someone has to be accomodated

Places that I am considering - Gaumukh, Kullu - Manali , Vaishno Devi-Jammu (In the same order)

Confirmed Travellers - Aman and Me

Activities - Trekking, Camping etc etc

Anyone game for it?

Any Suggestions regarding the trip are welcome and would be appreciated.

Two days Rafting & Trekking Expedition – First ever!!!

2006-04-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

Travelers – Aman, Rajat, Dipen & mE

There are two ways that I can describe my experience about this trip.
First is that it was “Simply Stupendous” and here I start the second one…

We hired a cab (Tata Indica) for the complete trip though I was even comfortable going by bus however as majority of us were in favor of a cab of that was it.
It started around 0130 hrs after picking up aman, dipen & rajat. I was to be picked last and we left my place around 0230 hrs. Followed by some faltu ke baate we crossed delhi border in just one hour (not bad). We had to stop in between because rajat was insisting and it was quite a valid reason too [Won’t write the reason here but I guess every one understood ;)]

After a small nap we all could see the sunlight and we were just a couple of hours away from Haridawar. Road was fine and we reached Har ki Paudi at 0630 hrs. Water level was very less compared to the last time I visited there and being it a Sunday, rush was also there. After few hours of playing in the water we all thought that it not that hard to swim (at least when we are in four feet deep water…haha). After having food (Poori chole, kachori, Maal pore, halwa and lassi – not much) in the very famous Sharma sweets we left to rishikesh.

If I remember correctly we reached Ram jhula around 1100 hrs and their we meet Pradeep of Jhanvi Tour & Travel who then gave us the options of what we could do with the amount of time we had. I was keener to raft on Sunday itself but then considering that rajat was tired and it was quite hot also, we all decided to raft on Monday and then the issue was what to do today!We were then in search of a room to stay and had a walk around the place mean while I was busy clicking picture as this was our first trip together (Me and my Cam)

This Boy was standing below the Ram Jhula and was asking people to throw coins. Some people did and many didn’t. We had our lunch at the Choti Wala Restaurant and relaxed at the ghat for an hour or so. I was very surprised to see so many cyber café’s there. Internet accessibility has really gone places. We then moved on to one of the exiting parts of our journey. Some one had told us about a waterfall and we all were interested in seeing one. It was around 8 kilometers drive from Laxman Jhula and we reached a place which was not that famous, maybe because it was not that easily accessible or whatever.

From here we had to walk up the mountain over four kilometers though we were informed that its only one and a half kilometer up. Phew, that was tough!It was quite noisy due to the water flowing down and at times quite scary also because I could hear someone walking behind me but could not see any thing or anyone. Finally after walking for a long and tiring 45 mins, reached this beautiful place.

After reaching there I found out that there were four French girls who were also sitting and enjoying water up there. Now I knew why rajat climbed up there so fast. This place was named “Neel Gatto” but I named it “Fantasy falls” (Just for Rajat).
After having a dip in the chilled water and spending some time there, we moved back and mean while rajat had one French friend…Ogalie…lolAs I thought it was tougher to move down than climbing up but some how I managed to do it with some pain in my right leg. If any one wants to go up there make sure that you are extremely careful because its not child’s play, it can be dangerous at times!

Took some pics on our way back to Laxman Jhula and then to Ram Jhula.
After all we found a room where we decided to stay – clean, economical, awesome view (That’s all we wanted). I was tired and therefore slept the whole night and didn’t even have my dinner.

Next morning I woke up around 0700 hrs but wanted to sleep for 5 more mins and then got up around 0745 hrs, which is exactly 5 mins…lolSimply loved the view from my room as you can see!

There was a small friendly fight between Dipen & Rajat on who was to take a bath later which dipen won. Had our break fast at the madras café and rushed to the cab, which already had four and a half people waiting for us. In around twenty minutes we were at our starting point – Shivpuri and yeah that was an awesome feeling and I was really excited to Raft! After wearing our life jackets we were in the water trying to swim and thanks to those life jackets, we were floating and we were happy.

Our guide Manoj taught us some instruction (e.g. - all forward, right forward left back, get down and stop) He also instructed us what to do if any one of fall out of the raft. We started at 1200 hrs. We saw ten rapids in total. Return to center, Roller coaster, T-off, Golf course, Club House (I & II), Any Session, Double Trouble (I & II) and Hilton.Among all these I loved Return to center, Golf Course and Any session! We had a Nine year old as well amongst us but our guide, Manoj didn’t wanted him to stay for one of the rapids named golf course but king (that’s what I called him) was happy being a part of rest of the rapids.

There was a place after few rapids where the water was silent and Manoj (our guide) asked us if we wanted to swim and yeah was the answer from aman, dipen and me. Later rajat also got some courage and slowly jumped in. We were in the middle of mountains and in 25 ft deep water and floating. (I would never forget this)

Stopped at the camp and we had our lunch and relaxed for a while. Next time when we visit we’ll surely stay in the camp and not in a hotel, as it’ll be more fun. After approximate 45 mins we moved on and enjoyed few more rapids and then came the very scary and exciting Jump Point.

I never though that I could jump from over 27 ft rock in over 20 ft deep water but after watching a lady doing it I thought I’ll surely do it but when I climbed the rock the view was terrifying but after thinking for few seconds I jumped and I really can’t express that experience! Rajat was scared and he gave up but Mr. Gutsy (Aman) jumped thrice and dipen was also ready for his second jump but I stopped him when I saw blood coming out of my mouth. Thank god it was just a small cut under in upper lip. I was upset for the next 10-15 mins for two reasons, one I already mentioned and second, manoj was not able to click my pic when I jumped from the Jump Point (Arrgh). Anyways! We then slowly moved on and then the trip ended near Ram Jhula.

All in All it was an unforgettable and immensely enjoyable experience!I’ll be back for sure and this time I wont keep my mouth open when I jump.

More Pics can we viewed here

Planning for an Outing

2006-04-16T04:32:00.001-07:00

It feels like I've been working for decades at stretch with no break, though its not true but I desperately need some time away from this daily grinding .

I believe its quite refreshing if we keep going for an short trip every second month but in this busy life kisse ko apne liye time he nahi milta! We keep on running in the race to earn more money and forget to give time to ourself. Whatever !!

Finally I am hoping to grab a trip this month end either to Vaishno Devi or Rishikesh.
I've made the plan a lot of times but for some reason or the other it gets postponed.

Lets see what happens to it this time.

Looking Back... Starting Fresh

2006-04-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

His name was Mr. Kailash Berry and meet him three years back!
That was the first time I heard someone with that last name and till now haven't came across anyone with that last name!
He was around 50 years of age if I remember correctly...

Was working for Standard Chartered and had an appointment with him for evening around 1700 hrs. Still remember that it started raining while I was on my way to his place in Jor Bagh.
We had a talk over a cup of coffee.

I was only 19 at that time and he was quite impressed by my decision of working after my High School and I liked his appreciating that...gave me confidence!
This is what he shared with me from his experience - "It is important who are you working with and how are the people around you" and "You should always emphasis in learning more from those around you"

Today as I think about what he said, I am confused if am able to follow that action plan.

Looking for some changes to happen or rather I should say trying to make them happen!

Changes for some good, changes which can help me learn more.

2005-09-20T06:34:00.000-07:00