Monthly Archive for September, 2006

Funny cellular IVRs

Published on September 28, 2006 in Humor and Just for Jolly. 2 Comments

Tired of the default ” customer is not reachable ” or ” mobile switched off ” messages when trying to reach a cellular subscriber? How good it would be if there are custom funny messages which change according to the callers and subscriber’s moods. A bit of imagination…

A employee who comes to office late often does not turn up for two days. His angry manager tries to reach him on his mobile and hears the message, ” The employee you are trying to reach has switched another company with better perks and salary. Please try employing a fool later “.

A teacher tries to reach her truant student and hears the message “As the caller you are trying to reach is suffering from high fever, he cannot be reached at the moment. Please buy him a bottle of horlicks and grant him a month’s leave “.

A mom tries to reach her college kid and hears, ” the caller you are trying to reach is busy attending math sessions at college and has no plans of going to a movie and disco tonight “.

A PL tries to reach his TM to enquire about a project delivery which is due and hears, ” the software engineer you are trying to reach is busy playing Spider Solitaire, reading blogs and forwarding mails. Please try later “.

Have any funny messages? Pour in!

Advice to buy a car

Published on September 27, 2006 in General stuff, life and people. 15 Comments

I am planning to buy a small car. Here are my requirements,

Seat 4 persons comfortably.

Mileage of 14 to 16 kms per litre of petrol.

Easy to drive in Chennai’s traffic.

Less maintenance charges.

I have Alto LXI in mind. Which car do you suggest? Will appreciate your time and advice.

Accent and slang

Published on September 26, 2006 in English and General stuff. 2 Comments

Me : What’s the difference between accent and slang?

My Alter-ego : Good question! Here is the answer.

accent (n) : a mode of pronunciation, as pitch or tone, emphasis pattern, or intonation, characteristic of or peculiar to the speech of a particular person, group, or locality. For ex: French accent; Southern accent, Indian accent.

slang (n) : (in English and some other languages) speech and writing characterized by the use of vulgar and socially taboo vocabulary and idiom expressions.

Me : oh I see!

Big FM

Published on September 25, 2006 in Just for Jolly and pastime. 7 Comments

One more FM added to Chennai’s airwaves. It is none other than the Reliance ADA (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani) owned Big FM. Frequency is 92.70. Tune in and enjoy.

kaun Banega Trainer ?

Published on September 22, 2006 in life and people. 0 Comments

I have always dreamed of becoming a trainer in my life at one point of time. It gives me sheer pleasure in teaching out what I have learnt to people. When I do it, I go out with all the enthusiasm and strength in me. Last time I did a presentation, I was with Sutherland and I had to take a session on the hardware curriculum (CompTia’s A+ certification). I was told that if the presentation came out well, I will be offered a corporate trainer job. With help from Swami, Daniel, Heera (my Ex-colleagues and buddies), We prepared a good ppt and I was the one who anchored the ship. The over-all presentation took 30 minutes of time and everything went on smooth. End of the day, everyone was happy about it. But, I was rejected for the corporate trainer’s position as my presentation was not very interactive. True it was not. People told me that the content was great and the way I explained was good. Then I understood that I was too fast and not interactive. So, my hopes of becoming a corporate trainer faded away slowly.

After two years, the hopes started glimmering again now. Two days ago, I was asked to take a session on the process of my job. We had around six new guys coming in and I was assigned to take a session on the process we follow at work. This time, I was happy and a confident bird. With confidence and patience, I went on slowly and finished the first day’s session. I was cautious and was more interactive this time. End of the day, it was a happy crowd as I had answered all their queries with utmost patience. Yesterday, I was asked to take another session to the same people. I had developed a fervor for training people and gave my maximum. End of the day, a guy came to me and asked whether I was into corporate training in this company. I politely told him that I was not and I also work in the same category as he is going to. That in itself was a accolade to me. Here I am happy to see that my years of hard work is paying me. So, I can continue dreaming of becoming a corporate trainer. I have mentioned a few points below which I think I have developed over years to become a successful trainer or a presenter.

Good English communication

Slow and steady approach

Interaction with the participants

Open to questions

Strength in subject matter

Strong People handling skills

Training makes me feel great. Believe me it is. I will say that it is a good treat for people who have the ” hunger for recognition “.

Welcome to gallery.karthickraghavan.com

Published on September 20, 2006 in blog, General stuff, Internet and pastime. 2 Comments

I have hosted a new sub-domain under karthickraghavan.com. It is going to be my online photo gallery. It is Karthick Raghavan’s gallery. Have used Gallery 2.0 as the photo management software. Thanks to Balaji, I have made it. have planned to update it as an when I find time and pictures. Do check it and let me know how it has come out.

Jungle book

Published on September 19, 2006 in blog, Humor, Just for Jolly and pastime. 8 Comments

Who will forget the jungle book? One of the most viewed Indian TV series for children of 1990s. If I still have my memory cells working, I would say that it was aired in DD1 (Doordarshan National) on every Sunday at 11.00 AM. There we were sitting in front of the TV for the next half an hour unmoved. I used to sing the title of the jungle book series by heart that time. All the characters in the series tied us up in front of the TV every week. The series was fictional and had a lot of interesting lessons of life. I did not know it as I was kid then. Now that I watched jungle book after a long time in a DVD, I realize it. Salute to Rudyard Kipling for such a wonderful story. I have listed out some of the characters I remember below.

Mowgli – the small boy with his boomerang tied up in his underwear and he happened to be the hero of the story.

Baloo – the bear

Bhageera – the black panther

Shere Khan – the tiger

The one I like the most was Baloo – the bear. He was really cute and always protected Mowgli. Which character do you like?

Here is an Odeo of the title song sung by me.

Thanks for putting up with my harsh voice. I apologise if the lyrics is wrong. It will be great if you can sing the jungle book lyrics for me. I will display it here and will have people rate it. Game?

Do you have ICE on your mobile?

Published on September 5, 2006 in General stuff, life and people. 10 Comments

My Alter-ego : Do you have ICE in your mobile?

Me : Crazy or what? ice in mobile? !%$#@&?

My Alter-ego : I meant ICE and not ice.

Me : What’s the difference?

My Alter-ego : Good question! Here you go…

ICE stands for In Case of Emergency. It is a new concept catching on in the developed and developing countries where cellular phone usage has become essential. ICE numbers or ICE contacts are nothing but the contact numbers of people stored in your mobile phone, whom you think are to be intimated in case of any emergency. For example, you store your home number as ICE in your mobile’s contact list. You are caught in an emergency, a person who rescues you picks up your mobile and sees your ICE number and intimates them. It is as simple as that. If you have more than one contact to be informed, you can store them as ICE, ICE1, ICE2 and so on.

Me : Oh I see! It is a good thing. Who started it?

My Alter-ego : Bob Brotchie, a paramedic is the man behind this concept. He is travelling places to promote this as a universal concept. Hope, everyone follows suit. Imagine a world, when people are informed at the right time so they don’t miss there loved ones.

Me : Oh yeah! That will be great! By the by, Where can I find more information on ICE numbers and their usage?

MY Alter-ego : icecontact.com