Posted on 3:00 PM by Simardeep Singh
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www.fatcatgaming.com has come up with an
innovative gaming app called Lucky 6. The app has not yet been launched
commercially or over Google Play Store. However, I got an exclusive chance to
preview the app before it goes live and well, I was pretty much impressed with
the concept of the game.
As the name goes, Lucky 6, its
about choosing 6 brands for a day. Was it too short? Let's go a bit in detail. The
game is basically a simplified version of a virtual stock market game. All a
player has to do is choose six brands from a big list of brands. The brands are
listed not only from Indian markets but several other markets as well. Hence,
one can also invest in US and other international brands. Further, the
difference between a virtual stock market game and Lucky 6 is that in this
game, the player does not have to perform complicated calculations to construct
a portfolio of stocks. The value of stocks/ brands does not matter in this game
and only thing that matters is the performance of the brand on that day in real
stock markets.
If the bands/ stocks chosen
for the day perform the best, the player wins. Prizes also range from cash to
luxury holidays which are surely catchy enough to put our mind and brain into
choosing our 6 brands. The name 'Lucky 6' might indicate to you that it is just
about choosing a random 6 brands and then waiting if they emerge as the winning
bets. But the game is surely more about that, you need to calculate and anticipate which stocks
will be the best performing on that particular day and then you select the
brands.
The app has also impressed me
with the ease and convenience of using the app and moving from one option to
the other. The registration process is a simple one page form. Once the user is
activated through the link, the user can simply move on to select his 6 brands
for the next day's game. A timer in the app shows the countdown to the start of
the next round. And if you are facing a dilemma of choices between different
brands, the app has a solution for that as well. A user can select three
different sets of brands as his three entries for the day.
Further, unlike other referral
scheme, where the referrer gets a one-time referral bonus, this game has a
unique referral reward scheme wherein if my referred player strikes the
jackpot, the referrer also gets 25% of it.
As I am writing this blog
post, I am already playing my first round of the game. Fingers Crossed for the
results.
Posted on 11:02 PM by Simardeep Singh
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This Children’s Day, our friends’ gang was just discussing the childhood
memories and we had a great time creating some wonderful moments. One of the
friends shared his great memories about the nursery rhyme ‘Humpty Dumpty’ and
‘Jack & Jill’. Before you really scream over your wish to listen it once
again, here are the videos:
He
interestingly shared some common features of these nursery rhymes:
1.Both the nursery rhymes have two
central characters.
2.The creators of these nursery
rhymes have been very cruel with these lovable characters. In both these
nursery rhymes, the characters fell from the height.
And last and the most important,
3.These characters were not offered
any first-aid after they fell.
While
we had a great laugh when he made the third point, it also made me ponder over this
bad state of affairs on Indian roads. Providing first-aid to an injured on the
road is a basic courtesy, which can be pull a person from close-to-dead to
being alive. First-aid is the medical assistance
to a person suffering sudden injury to prevent the condition from worsening.
The
Indian janta often seems to ignore to provide this basic courtesy. However,
since this is not exactly what Indian values advocate, one is forced to think
why Indians behave so. This might be possibly due to the reason that people are
willing to help the injured strangers on the road but they are afraid of the
medical and legal issues which occur in India when one helps an accident
victim. Hospitals are not cooperative, they insist for blood relatives. Police
isn’t cooperative either, since they have a long list of queries before leaving
you with a promise to cooperate with police as and when the need be. Hence,
despite having an intention to help, these external factors too contribute in
lesser instances of medical assistance to the injured.
In
this regard, I feel it important to let all know that Supreme Court has ruled
in a couple of its judgements that an injured brought for medical treatment
should be given medical aid to preserve life first and only then procedural
criminal law should be allowed to operate. However, this helps only once the
injured is brought to the hospital for medical aid. There is still no law in
India which fixes a responsibility on its citizens to help the injured on roads.
Accordingly, the need of the hour is creating a law that offers protection to
those who help the injured strangers in road accidents. A strong law will
surely go a long way in creating first-aid friendly and helpful society.
And
before I end this issue, I will also like to share about an organization, which
works for this cause. A few days before this discussion, I came across SaveLife Foundation, an NGO which
was formed for improving road safety and emergency medical care in India. As I
researched for the roots of the organization, Wikipedia gave me some
interesting information. SLF was founded on
29 February 2008 following the death of Shivam Bajpai, Piyush Tewari’s 17 year
old cousin, in a road accident in 2007. Piyush soon discovered that Shivam’s
death was due to delayed care and that he may have been saved had he not have
had to wait for 45 minutes for someone to rush him to hospital.Following thorough research that lasted several
months, Piyush Tewari understood the gravity of this problem on a national
scale and how prevalent were accident fatalities due to missing emergency care.
He then invited his friend and mentor Krishen Mehta to join him in setting up
the organization with a mission to enable Bystander Care – the immediate
life-saving care that trained Police and community persons can provide road
victims. Know more about the
organization at http://www.savelifefoundation.org.
And
next time you see an injured on the road, don’t hesitate to help him. You might
be the difference and help save a Life.
Starting
its journey on 15th September 2014, Honda's 'Longest Drive through Amazing
India' in Honda Amaze, entered the Guinness World Records, registering the
longest journey by a car in a single country. The campaign was initiated to
celebrate the success of Honda Amaze in the country which reached 1,00,000
units sales milestone which was the fastest in the history of Honda Cars India
Ltd (HCIL). The car covered a total of 23,823 kms through mountainous terrains,
coastlines, flag highways, congested city roads and the interior of India in
the 55-day journey crossing over 400 towns. The drive transversed through
mountainous terrains, coastlines, flat highways, congested city roads and the
interiors of India showcasing the durability and reliability of Honda Amaze
through ‘Amazing India’.
I
got an invite for the Guinness World Record Presentation ceremony which was to
be held at The Grand in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi on 9th November,
2014. Being a Sunday, it was easy for me to decide if I will attend the event
or not. However, besides the event being a presentation ceremony, I had no clue
on what surprises it had for me.
I
had reached the hotel well within the time and I was quite happy to see some
known faces there. As we spent a bit of time there, we were told that the
renowned author, Chetan Bhagat, was also turning up for the event. This got us
more surprised and excited. While we were waiting for the event to start, we
also collected more information about the Guinness World Record for which we
were there.
The World Record Holders with the Certificate
Bunny
Punia and Shantonil
Nag, in association with Honda Cars India Ltd., had got a Guinness World
Record into their names for covering the longest journey by car in a single
country. The team working behind the scenes was as below:
·Rajender
Singh Negi -
for capturing exciting visuals.
·Deepak
Dhojia -
for editing and making live videos.
·Kanika
Sood - for being
the multitasker in the exciting journey.
·The
Gaadi Web Pvt Ltd team
(including Abhishek Chaliha, Shivank Bhatt, Jeo George, Siddharth Motu, and
Kanupriya Bhatnagar) - for handling all the other tasks.
We
got an intimation from the Honda team that the event was about to start. We
moved towards the hall to occupy our seats and just then, we noticed Chetan
Bhagat entering the scene. We, the Blogger Gang, quickly stole an opportunity to
have a Selfie with Chetan.
Selfie with Chetan and Blogger Gang
Video : Bunny's Jourrney through Visuals, Image : Bunny Narrating His Record-Breaking Amazing Journey
When
Bunny’s video narrating his experience over the entire journey came up on the
screen, I was clearly jealous of him of having experienced India so close.
Being a lover of India’s scenic beauty, Bunny’s slideshow got me utter a ‘Wow!’
each time the slideshow changed its image. Just have a look at India and its incredibly
amaze-ing beauty!
Images of Incredibly Amazing India
After
the award presentation ceremony, we, the Bloggers Gang, also had an exclusive
privilege to interact with Chetan Bhagat for his association with Honda Amaze.
You don't get such an Opportunity so often!
It
was surely an amazing interaction, and Chetan was quick on every question we put
before him, be it related to his experiences with Honda and what he felt of the
Honda Amaze-ing Drive. Chetan also shared his upcoming campaign with Honda
Amaze with us.
The
#AmazeLongestDrive will be followed by a series of ‘webisodes’ on 'Drive
through Amazing India' to be hosted by Chetan Bhagat, who, after his search of
#HalfGirlfriend will now be discovering the #AmazingIndia. In the upcoming
compaign, Chetan Bhagat will travel to unexplored locations in India. No wonder,
it is an interesting campaign designed by Honda, which will also surely add to
the India’s Tourism Quotient and encourage road trips. What an Idea, Honda Ji! The
webisodes will also be interactive with its audience in the sense that people
will be asked to post stories or photos about unexplored places of Amazing
India and the short-listed candidates will further get a chance to travel and
explore remarkable places of India.
Chetan's First Destination, Rosary Church
Chetan
then shared with us, his first destination on this interesting campaign. His
first destination is going to be ‘Rosary Church’, located some 200 kms from
Bangalore. The church is submerged in waters during monsoons and as the waters
recede, the Church shows its holy appearance. Still an unexplored arena, the
place surely seems interesting due to its exciting location and no wonder,
Chetan was also excited to be able to experience the place up, close and
personal. When he was showing us his first destination, we asked him on a
lighter note whether he will like to stay there for the night as well. As
expected, the answer was a straightaway ‘No’ given the solitary location of the
place. With that note, the interaction ended and we were up from a group
picture with the author.
Well, with this interaction and lovely lunch thereafter,
the event was officially over, but the memories of witnessing a Guinness World
Record Presentation Ceremony live and interacting with Chetan Bhagat will
remain with us forever.
Posted on 2:30 PM by Simardeep Singh
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- A day when the great Cricketing Legends
and World Cup Winners, Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Allan Border, Arjuna Ranatunga,
Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting were under a single roof to share their experiences
- A day when Yuvraj Singh opens his heart
out with his fellow team mates on his fight with the deadly cancer
- A day when India-Pakistan cricketing
rivalry displays a friendly face off the field
- A day when the likes of Sunil Gavaskar,
Saurav Ganguly, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Aamer Sohail, Mohd Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja
share their journeys to glory
And there it is, a day to salute the
game and the legends, Salaaam Cricket!
Yes, I experienced it all up, close and
personal and the day was 18th October, 2014. The event was a cricket
conclave organized by India Today in New Delhi. It was really a great
experience hearing them outside the commentary box and seeing them live off the
field.
India Today conceived the idea of this
Cricket Conclave interestingly 100 days before the World Cup 2015 and surely to
set a stage for the ever-enthusiastic Indian fans to cheer for their Men in
Blue. Obviously, a biased Indian fan will think it’s only about Team India but a
Cricketer within the fan might well believe that Australia will the favorites
and South Africa too have a good chance as well and a feel amongst the legends
as well was that New Zealand might turn up as a dark horse in the World Cup,
given the fact that the tournament is going to be played at their home soil.
A day before the event, West Indies team
had abruptly called off their tour in India after some payment issues and the
media was all negative about the West Indians. Clive Lloyd made a Gentleman’s
gesture by rendering apology towards this abrupt call from his team during the
event. He surely earned a fan in me due to this little gesture.
Session with Yuvraj Singh
The event was divided into several small
sessions featuring different legends. One of the sessions with Yuvraj Singh was
quite inspirational because not only did he talk about his fight with cancer
but more so since he knew of it while he was playing in WC2011. Still, he put
his country before himself and continued playing in the World Cup while he was
fighting something he had read about in his reports. This truly emerged as a
true Salaam Cricket moment.
There was a session on ‘Pressures of the
World Cup’ where we managed to see the coolest lot of captains we can ever get
together, Ganguly, Ranatunga, Lloyd and Border and then there was a session on ‘Thunders
Down Under’ wherein the Australian Trio, Border, Waugh and Ponting, shared
their personal views on how the Australians just dominated the cricketing world
for over a decade and three consecutive world cup wins. I still remember getting
heartbroken when Ponting just thrashed India in WC 2003 final.
Indo-Pak rivalry surely deserved its own
exclusive session and the players shared their anecdotes on how they felt more
pressures before Indo-Pak match. They shared that a night before the match,
everyone they talked to behaved like a cricket expert and would only say, ‘Jo
marzi karna, par kal jeet kar hi aana hai.’ All the cricketers sharing the
stage agreed that those games were high-pressure games, no matter what the
present situation was and they just could not afford to lose. On being asked
that who was better poised for the WC, India or Pakistan, Aamer Sohail, on a
lighter note, marked the question as not applicable, just because Pakistan’s
playing eleven were yet to be frozen and this marked the end of the session.
Perfect Testimony to Indo-Pak Friendship Off the Field
However, I believe Indo-Pak rivalry was
just on-the-field and they shared some great bonds off-the-field. I managed to
witness this on stage as well.
Vikram Sathaye posing as Saurav Ganguly
In between the sessions, we had a Silly Point
refresher, wherein standup Comedian Vikram Sathaye who managed to tickle our
funny bones and imitated the players on stage, and Haq has always been famous
among the mimics.
However, the Session of the Day was the
last one, wherein the Seven Captains were supposed to share the same stage.
Imran Khan could not turn up, and we had six World Cup winning captains on
stage. Surely, it was a photographic moment but what made it more exciting,
interesting and lively was the way they entered the arena. All the captains
were made to dance on the beats of dhol while the audience enjoyed the winning
moments on the screen. It was an experience of a lifetime watching these
legends to the desi dhol beats.
Clive Lloyd Dancing to the Desi Dhol Beats
Getting to meet all these cricketing
legends, the heart still craved for more. Sachin's presence in this mega
cricketing event was surely missed. Nonethless, it was a great time for me at the
event, not forgetting that I managed to click selfies with few legends.
I cheer for the Men in Blue for the
WC2015. What about you?
Lets Cheer for the Defending Champions, Team India
Twists
and turns throughout the story keep you engrossed enough, but the detective
within the reader may not be successful to nail the culprit in this thriller till
the last few pages.
About the Author
A career banker and financial services professional, Ravi has
worked with various multinational banks (Citibank, ANZ Grindlays Bank and HSBC)
for over eighteen years. As a result of his extensive background in foreign
banks, writing about banking comes quite naturally to Ravi.His earlier works, If God was a
Banker, The Bankster, Bankerupt are all set against the backdrop of the
financial services industry.
Author’s
Writing Style
Described
as the ‘John Grisham of banking’, by the Wall Street Journal, Ravi has an engrossing style of
writing. Being a banker himself, Ravi is not aloof from what all happens inside
the financial sector, still a positive of his writings is the way he explains
the tiniest details of something technical for not-so technical reader. In a
recent book launch event in Delhi, Ravi interestingly unfolded his success
mantra, “Put a murder in the first few pages and
introduce twists in the tale at the end.”
The Title and Book Cover
I
have been away from the world of books since quite a long time now, but then
came an opportunity to review the book from BlogAdda.com. The title ‘God is a Gamer’ was enough to
excite the reader within me and I thought to give it a try.
The
title indeed is catchy and interesting. It forces the reader to think at least once
that how God has gamed with them. The book perfectly displays how the destiny
can change your lives in a blink, a lesson to be remembered by all of us.
Book
cover has been interestingly designed. A bitcoin image on the cover surely gets
the reader interested to know more about what it is actually. The sub-title ‘Is
Revenge a Crime?’ is another clincher for the reader to already go into the
spreads of imagination of the revenge stories.
About the Book
A
small book of 300+ pages conveniently divided into nearly 100 chapters, it
helps the author portray different characters and emotions at different
locations and connecting the dots seems an effortless task for the reader. Still,
the reader does not lose the hold on
the story at any place neither does the author gives the suspense easily. The
suspense remains ‘a suspense’ till the very last pages. The narration has all
been done in third person. Still, one feels as if all the scenes are happening at
that very moment. The narratives have been given a personal touch. I enjoyed
going through the different scenes in the story, few quite enjoyable, few
little avoidable, but the story has its own pace which grips the reader within
you.
The
book has been widely promoted as a first-ever Bitcoin thriller. Bitcoins, a
virtual currency, has been a mystery for a greater part of the world and this
book tries to capture this unexplored arena. It has added to the surprise
element of the story and also gave enough room for creative imagination to the
author.
Thumbs Up
The climax is surely the greatest
strength for this game of The God since Ravi connects the dots spread all
around the story in an unexpected end to the chain of events. On what unfolds
in the end is surely something surprising, at least for me, it was. Given that
I am not an avid reader and still getting me finish up a book in a single day
calls for another applause for the author.
What could have been better
The
plot of the story is so vast that the author has left going much into detailing
part for a couple of his characters. The emotional connect between the
characters and reader is missing and the reader will hardly care what happened
to the characters post the climax.
However,
given that the book is a thriller, it is reasonably fine to get the story part
demystified and don’t care about the characters in the end.
Rating
Ravi
has surely impressed me with his style. I will rate this one a 4.5/5 and I
would love to read his other books as well.
Posted on 11:48 PM by Simardeep Singh
| No comments
It
was my friends’ wedding and I could not carry my DSLR since it was supposed to
be a rail ka safar and carrying an extra handbag just or the DSLR was not
really advisable given the care a DSLR demands. Of course, I had my cellphone,
but it certainly can’t match the quality a DSLR can fetch us. All the way in
the train, I was just thinking on why I don’t have a handy digicam with me,
which I can carry with me anytime without caring to carry an extra handbag
which I invariably have to carry for a DSLR. While on my way from railway
station to the wedding venue, I just noticed a hoarding of Quikr.com which was advertised as ‘Buyer aur
Seller ka Perfect Matchmaker’. Since there was already a ‘to buy’ thing going
in my mind, the ad managed to convince me to at least test the site once.
Search for the
Quikr App
Once
I reached the wedding venue, I noticed that I was quite ahead of the time for
the function. So, I just thought to try my hands on the Google Play Store to
check if the site I had noticed on the way had an Android App. The search was a
Success and a cool Quikr app was on my screen.
Product Search
The
app has a user-friendly graphical interface showing 12 different categories,
including products, services, real estate etc. So, it can be treated as a
one-stop shop for any buyer.
For
the convenience of its users, it also has a ‘search’ button right on top of the
app. Having a friendly app in my hand and a product in my mind, I wasted no
time in searching for a camera. Already having a DSLR, all I was looking for
was a decent point-and-shoot digicam which can be carried conveniently. The website is also containing an easy-to-use interface and Quikr Digicams in Delhi got me to the listings I was interested in. Doing a
little research about it got me aware that Sony has the best range in this
point-and-shoot category. Some more search at Google and Flipkart to get a
product close to my range of Rs. 5k-7k got me closer to the model I needed to
search at Quikr. So, I made a search for ‘Sony W710’ Digicam.
There were three sellers
for the product and all the locations were within a reasonable distance from my
home/ office. So, I thought to contact all the three sellers. Two price tags
were Rs. 5,000/- each and one had Rs. 3,000/-. Since the MRP of the cam was Rs.
6,000/- approx. So, the bargain was good enough but yes, obviously the product
condition had a role to play in it.
Contacting
the seller in the Quikr App is pretty simple. There are three buttons:
Call
– The app opens the phone dialer for you to call the seller.
SMS
- The app opens the phone messaging app to message the seller.
Reply
– The app opens an in-built mailing function to send a message to the seller
through Quikr.
I
used the in-built contact feature to send messages to all the three sellers.
The reaction time was quicker from one of the sellers, or I should say, no
longer a seller, since he had already got his product sold through Quikr itself
the same day he posted the app but forgot to hide the advertisement. Obviously,
the quikr.com was quicker for him, but yes, he gave me a thumbs up for the
product and he also said that only reason he sold his cam was that he had bought
a DSLR. I jokingly said that I was buying the cam for the same reason. Also, this seller was the Rs. 3,000/- seller so, now I was left with two sellers, both with price tag of Rs. 5,000/-.
By the time our conversation through SMS ended, the function I was there to
attend was about to start. So, while my first step to shop was already
completed, I thought to enjoy the function. After the function, while we were
moving towards our rooms to rest for the night and then proceed back home, I
noticed that I had got replies from other seller as well. He was willing to sell
that product. I asked if it was OK for me to call at that time and finally,
after a couple of minutes of conversation, the deal was closed subject to me
testing the product for its working condition. What was good for me that he was
quite close to my home and also, the seller was giving away a 4 GB memory card
with the camera within the same price. Also, he was giving the original
purchase invoice from Flipkart.com which was just 3 months old and thus, I
could still enjoy the manufacturer’s warranty. While I was moving to bed, there
was a sense of happiness within me for two reasons, one for my friend who was
entering another phase of her life, and secondly, next time I need a cam, I need
not depend solely on my DSLR and I have my Sony point-and-shoot cam as well
with me.
Next
day, after I got back home, I called the seller who agreed to meet at Domino’s Pizza
outlet in the evening where I checked the product, which was looking fresher
than a new piece. Possibly, the product had been used just once or twice. Still
an Indian heart wanted to save some cash, I tried my hands on bargaining, which
although is not something I am really good at. Bravo! The seller was kind
enough to give it to me for Rs. 4,800/- and I immediately finalized the deal. Cash
exchanged hands, and so did the product. I got the camera, original Sony pouch, 4 GB memory card enough for 800 photos and Flipkart invoice for the warranty part.
Well,
I just forgot that we had a great Pizza time as well and the seller didn’t
allow me to pay for it as well.
So,
now I am a proud owner of a DSLR and a chhotu cam as well. So, better be nice
to me or else I will shoot you. :)
No
wonder, with such a convenient and successful experience, I am going to recommend
this website to my friends and hopefully, will also try to be a seller myself
over there, but may be my buyer won’t get a free pizza, but a big Jaadoo Ki
Jhappi. Quikr indeed is a Perfect matchmaker of buyer and seller,
