Why on earth do I Yahoo! ?!

I have been hearing from the eguy gloomy stories about how emails sent to his users with yahoo ids keep bouncing left and right.. Either Yahoo decides to not accept the perfectly harmless emails, or just sends them to the spam folder.. And believe me you, eguy has tried every trick to pass them through.

Now I myself don't like yahoo mail much.. Its new interface was so crowded I switched back to the old interface. And the old interface does not provide useful features and does not integrate with chat as well as gmail does.. In short, I am in the gmail camp. And I use my yahoo id for backup - mainly for yahoogroups.

Well today, I sent an email, from my yahoo inbox, to a long-existing yahoogroup of which I am the owner, and is moderated by me. Yahoogroup typically sends me an email to approve the email (yeah! even if it is sent by me!). I was waiting for this email. Found it in the spam folder! Why o why, Yahoo??!! Are you suspecting that I am spamming myself, or are you suspecting yourself (yahoogroups) of sending me spam??!!

I am going to think seriously about phasing out my yahoo id..

Vintage on my mind...

Was watching the movie 'The Hoax' yesterday.. Richard Gere, in one scene, watches the tv to see how his hoax of a book on Howard Hughes is being covered by the media. The coca cola commercial shows up on his screen - "I'd like to buy the world a coke.." And it struck a chord in me - hey, i used to love this song! Brings back the memories of listening to this and other easy-to-sing-along 'angrejee' songs on my long & quiet commute on the TCS airbus, 8 years back..




So here is a youtube track of the song sung by two members of the Hillside Singers, and below are the lyrics. Go ahead, sing along!

I'd like to build the world a home
and furnish it with love.
Grow apple trees and honey bees
and snow white turtle doves.

I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.
I'd like to hold it in my arms,
and keep it company

I'd like to see the world for once
all standing hand in hand.
And hear them echo through the hills
for peace throughout the land.

It's the real thing
what the world wants today,
That's the way it'll stay
with the real thing.

I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.
A song of peace that echoes on
and never goes away.

Put your hand in my hand
let's begin today,
With your hand in my hand
help me find a way.

I'd like to see the world for once
all standing hand in hand.
And hear them echo through the hills
for peace throughout the land.

I'd like to teach the world to sing,
in perfect harmony.
A song of peace that echos on,
and never goes away.

My share of pink

This, for the collective big bully of moral policing:


PS: Making do with just a picture as i'm short of time to send a physical one.. Go, pink chaddi campaign!

Mumbai....??

Economic Times was following the Mumbai terror attack and above is the picture that accompanied each of those articles.. I thought it was very apt..

Now, my question: What happened? Why no news about the investigation?

I am Gen-Y

This year I have become conscious of money, of livelihood, of sustainability. This is the first recession I am living through and it gives me mixed feelings. Until now, I have only seen growth, I have only seen bank balances grow, I have only seen jobs running after hard-working people and not away from them..

I had once walked into a coca-cola bottling plant. Our factory tour-guide had taken us from a warm office room of the factory into the refrigerator section and then into the deep freeze section and then into the coldest section where the secret coca-cola concentrate is stored..

This recession somehow reminds me of it.

When it all started last year with the bank failures, I felt I was getting into something cold, but it will not bother me much.. Then I saw my stock portfolio get into deep red, and I knew we would have to keep a close watch on our liquidity. But still, this did not bother me much.. This month my employer, a conservative industry leader that is known to value its people, announced the first round of job cuts.. NOW, I am not so sure.. !

I see so many changes all around me.. Just last year, same time, all marketing messages were about "splurge, you have money and there is more to come!" and now all marketing messages are about "buy, because this will help you save money elsewhere..". Every punchline is about difficulties. Even the new Honda City ad says "Enjoy your challenges."

Economic Times is flush with news of negative growth, quarterly losses, tightened spends, interest rates climbing down in tandem with earnings, Gen-Y getting into depression.. And as of date, they say it is only the tip of the iceberg..

Ice.. getting back to my walk into the cold storage.. I sure hope that I and my fellow Gen-Y will be able to walk through this recession, feeling the chill and doing everything to keep their spirits high.

And when we survive the walk, at the end each one of us will find that secret coca-cola concentrate. It would be a concentrated life experience which will make us stronger and which we can proudly narrate to our grand kids on warm spring nights..