ZOO ZOO’s taking India by storm

A new marketing strategy from vodaphone India during the earlier IPL was making headlines.This year they are back again!More frolic and funny as they look,the cute characters which represent the Vodaphone brand are back with a bang!.What makes them so special when compared to other Ads and endorsements is that most most of the telecom providers are being showcased by leading Bollywood stars including the Federal Govt’s BSNL.

Vodaphone was a new entry in India after taking up Hutchison essar.Although being the world’s largest telecom company – entering un-known waters was a huge risk.

With the first version of IPL around the corner vodaphone used it as a platform to launch the Zoo Zoo campaign.They were an instant hit and still have a huge fan following in orkut and Facebook.The captivating performances of the zoo zoo creatures brought fun and humour.
When its other competitors were busy roping in Bolywood superstars,Vodaphone approached ogilvy and mather and asked them to design a campign which would be a strong image of the company in the future.Thus were born the zoo zoo charecters.Designed at O&M bangalore and filmed by Nirvana films in southafrica,the zoo zoo’s this time bring in new snippets of a regular Indian’s life with a humorous touch.

The recent launch of the vodaphone widget for desktops is an icing on the cake for zoo zoo fans!As shown below one of the creature creeps through the system clock and stands on the superbar.

Looking for more fun filled Ads from the cute zoo zoo’s !

Check out DAY 657

Title: DAY 657
Link: http://gotaf.socialtwist.com/redirect?l=546269901565441474911

Community tech days @Microsoft IDC

I got a chance to attend the community techdays -An event conducted by MVP’s and Microsoft at the India development center in Hyderabad.Day long sessions included participation of eminent speakers and MVP’s from various Microsoft communities.

The whole day was divided into two parts.One for IT pros and the other for Developers.As  a newbie  to .NET technologies it was a good chance for me to learn about the latest offerings  in .NET along with SQL server . Since I love the area of operating systems the  Session for the IT  pros was what is was waiting for.

An In depth seminar on the Core changes made in windows 7 by VijayRaj (Evangelist) from Texas Instruments  was my favourite.Interaction with  Microsoft employees in between sessions and breaks gave us knowledge on what to expect from the future versions of Visual studio and Virtualization technologies.

The participation of various community managers and a few perons from Microsoft who were involved in the development of Windows 7 and IIS in some of the sessions made the event more lively and interactive.

Avatar and an IMAX experience

Watching avatar was an experience no one should miss.The technical aspects with the amazing 3d effects has enthralled me..Watching the film was one thing,but enjoying it on the world’s biggest screen in 3D was  awesome.

While watching the movie I got a feeing of being a part of the na’vi people.The use of Weta’s FX technologies with Imax technologies makes it a perfect end product

The way in which James Cameron created the world of na’vi deserves accolades  from all movie buffs which it certainly seems to have gained all ready.A long time of 8 years to make a movie did not go in vain at last.

The first movie which i saw thrice

I have always grown up watching Bollywood and Hollywood movies.Every  saturday after school i still remember rushing back to my home just in time to catch up with an Action based Hollywood movie in the afternoon and a Bollywood blockbuster in late night hours.But for the first time in my life i went to a movie in a theater for three times in a row that too not a Bollywood or Hollywood film but a regional movie which i generally avoid(Most of them have the same themes- love,college life and sentiments).

This movie i went to was all about a person who is  deeply attached to his best friend from his childhood. Unfortunately  both of the friends fall for a same girl.The person Arya who does not want to loose his friendship makes a number of sacrifices for his friend from his early childhood days

The dance steps performed by allu arjun are the best i have ever seen,songs are trendy- A mix of Indian and western hip hop.

Torn between the affection for his best friend and girl on whom he has a crush its an excellent movie to boot.I love it

Diwali…..

It was Dusshera a few weeks back and even before getting rid of all the excess  fat i gained by having a frequent supply of  sweets and other eatables , Diwali came along.This festival provided another reason to continue with my not so healthy diet.(I for one wouldn’t mind).Compared to last year’s diwali this year was a more subdued affair.The reasons were quite obvious…….  recession, spiraling costs..One had to think twice before even buying any crackers this time as it would cut deep in to one’s pocket.I had the opportunity to spend quality time with my family ,my sister was home for the weekend to join in the occasion.But this year celebrating diwali was more mechanical,i had no interest whatsoever  to treat my self with burning crackers……only constant nudging and cajoling by my mother forced me to do so.I was perhaps a bit uncertain about my future this time and too preoccupied to have any thoughts of entertainment.I hope that next year would be a more  cheerful one.

home decorated with diyas

my mom burning a flowerpot

my bro enteratining himself

The wheel of fire!

House Party UK My Party

House Party UK My Party

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A trip down memory lane

I had a good opportunity of meeting my beloved principal Ms Hemalatha pradhan after a long gap of seven years.After leaving my school i never got an opportunity to meet her.I also had a feeling og meeting her only if i had achieved something worthwhile  in my life.A senior of mine convinced that it would be nice to visit our teacher and thank them for what they had given to us.I went to her home with an expectation  that she would forgive me for not visiting so long….

She was the person who influenced me a lot into reading books,participating in extra curricular activities and gave me a childhood which was fun and frolic.

It was an emotional trip both for meand my senior soumya.My princpal was so happy on seeing us both that we had very lengthy conversations on our schooling days and how her discipline and teaching helped us to achieve what we are right now.She took the opportunity and suggested that we can have a get together of sorts-bringing all my friends,seniors and juniors for a day and share their wonderful experiences they had with the school.I am planning to pen a book about my wonderful time at Tiny tots and ask my friends to do the same in the future very soon.This would be my guru dakshina to my school and my Headmistress.

Remembering my Guru’s

September the 5th in India is celebrated as teachers day.A day in remembrance of  the teachers who shape our life and play an important role  in moulding a  student in to a model citizen.Some times teachers are our friends,our guides or our mentors who help us to get on with our studies with their support.There are many such people in my childhood i remember very well.People who have trained me to speak various languages,who nurtured my mind so that I would always think positively and take the right decisions.

My special thanks goes to my headmistress Hemalatha Pradhan,who made us to realise the importance of the English language and use it as a tool to build relations across various spectrum’s of the society.Teachers who have dedicated their lives in spreading the knowledge they posses and bringing up the cognizants of tomoro in today’s children should never be forgotten.

Gone are the days
When the school reopened in June,
And we settled in our new desks and benches.

Gone are the days
When we wanted two Sundays and no Mondays, yet
Managed to line up daily for the morning prayers.

Gone are the days
When we chased one another in the corridors in Intervals,
And returned to the classrooms drenched in sweat.

Gone are the days
When a single P.T. and games period in the week’s Time Table, Was awaited more
eagerly than the monsoons.

Gone are the days
Of fights but no conspiracies,
Of Competitions but seldom jealousy.

Gone are the days
Of Sports Day, and the annual School Day,
And the one-month long preparations for them.

Gone are the days
Of the stressful Quarterly, Half Yearly and Annual Exams,
And the most enjoyed holidays after them.

Gone are the days
We learnt, we enjoyed, we played, we won, we lost, We laughed, we cried,
we fought, we thought.

Gone are the days
With so much fun in them, so many friends,
So much experience

A pleasant Surprise!

The thing i have been waiting for from the past 3 months has finally happened.It rained!!(no big deal)but it was a deluge.

Not that i am complaining about it but its supposed to be the monson season now and it has been a disaster this year.There are almost drought conditions prevailing in my area and boy! this was totally unexpected .

It was for a while that i could fully realise what was happening because i was sceptical it would fizzle out.On the contrary it went from strength to strength and the rain came down in torrents with  strong winds whipping up leaves and spraying water allaround.The next thing i did was to rush inside and grab my camera and started clicking away like mad.I didnt know why i did that may be because i wanted this to happen for many days now?

It was only a matter of time before my dog began to jump about in the water…may be it was relishing the moment too..i had to run behind it and persuade it to ocme back in the house….but not before being drenched.