The world around us

Being ill is no fun and being ill when there is no one to cook some nice hot food is even worse. I’m facing culture shock I think, after being pampered and taken care of at my in-laws where there are lots of people to cook and clean and make coffee etc, I come home to our own apartment where I have only part-time help. Falling sick at this juncture is really awful and the contrast has made it even worse. My only alternative is to look for some nice and easy hot sandwich recipes that will not tax me too much and still taste good.

Even though I studied in boarding school since the age of 9 and had to deal with illness etc on my own, I hate getting ill and abhor taking medicines. The only thing that makes me feel better is some nice hot food at every meal. Sandwiches are an easy alternative and one that I can manage even when I’m sick. Can’t wait to feel better again and quickly at that.

Well, I wasn’t able to hold off on the cold and flu and have been in bed for the past few days, not being able to get any rest, not getting any better and generally feeling miserable. This morning, finally I am feeling somewhat better, in the sense that at least I don’t have any fever, or rather just a little bit. So the end of the infection is in sight…thank god for that!

I’m dreading the amount of work I have to catch up with though, and I do have a ton of work to catch up with. It’s a vicious cycle really, as it means that now I have to put in lots of late hours to catch up, which will make me tired and more sucseptible to catching an infection and then I’m back to square one!!

Now that we’re back from our trip, we need to get going on all the sorting, packing and moving phase. I have to finish all my pending work this week itself and then get started on it. What we’re really looking forward to is some rest and relaxation once we’re settled, since it’s just been incredibly hectic since january this year. It would be great to take on one of these leisure time promotions for about a week and completely recover from the amount of work we’ve been doing this year.

While I worked all through my trip of the past two weeks, I did get to work in more luxurious surroundings than I usually do, which was a nice change. I thought, it would take me some time to get used to working there, in the sense that there would be so many distractions, but it all worked out quite well in the end.

As fast as retailers are making expansion plans, real estate developers are not being able to keep up with thir delivery schedules, leading to retailer’s plans and projections in disarray. Retail companies such as Pantaloon, Pyramid, Reliance, Hypercity and Globus are all facing this problem, which is leading to friction between retailers and real estate developers. It is estimated that these delays will cost retailers a lot of money, who have already tied up for merchandise and vendors in advance.

I wasn’t able to play any golf on my trip home, quite unfortunately as the weather was really quite good there. It would have been nice to play on my home course after about three years or so. The break hasn’t been too god on my handicap, where I have added a couple of shots due to my infrequent playing. I think a better way to get a handicap is to use a online golf handicapping system from NetHandicap.com which is the leading golf handicap software used by amateur golfers, golf clubs as well as USGA tournaments. Using this golf handicap calculator software, makes it a much easier and efficient method.

Chennai based grocery store, Subhiksha has been expanding to new territories and continues to focus on its target market, the masses of India. The company reiterated its intentions to only look to serve the mass market consumers and not any of the higher end customers. In an interview with The Economic Times, R Subramanian spoke about how he got started in the business; starting with 10 stores in Chennai and giving customers a 7-8% discount on all items. Subhiksha took two years to break even, but the company continued to expand and open more stores. ICICI Venture joined as an investor and the company carried on its expansion into Tamil Nadu, till it decided to expand on a national basis in 2004.

Considering just how many executive recruitment firms there are, very few have the qualifications and the expertise in the financial services industry. One such company that specializes in the financial services industry is Willis Consulting, which was founded in 2000 and has extensive experience in the financial sector. It is due to this wide experience that Willis Consulting Inc. is the place to go to find the best experience in investment banking, insurance, brokers, money managers, and financial consultants. Being one of the best financial executive recruiters, Willis Consulting is able to find the best of all financial consultants and executives, whether they are entry level jobs or at the senior management level.

So, we finally got back home late last night, or rather early this morning. Our Go Air flight at 1830 yesterday was at first delayed to 2030 and then further delayed to 2155. We landed in Bombay at 1230am and reached home at 1am, which was a rather quick turnaround time. After having been gone for close to 15 days, it feels nice to be back home and sleep in our own bed, but coming home to a closed apartment, that too in the monsoons is not such a fun thing as it entails lots of airing and cleaning. I have spent all morning cleaning stuff, putting the plants back inside and on my windowsills, getting rid of a beautifully made crow’s nest, stocking up on fruits, veggies and groceries and doing lots of laundry.

We’ve also come home to find that one of the entrances to our apartment complex has been made chaotic by the civic people’s road making endeavors. BMC has suddenly decided to raise the level of the road outside, even though the rains are here and is taking it’s own sweet time to finish it. Hopefully it will be done quickly and as painlessly as possible.

Property management is one of the upcoming fields that has been receiving lots of attention lately. The kind of software available now to handle property is quite advanced. Ranging from taking care of property management solutions from the landlord’s perspective to a program that can help residents of a building or a apartment complex create an association for residents, Buildium property management solutions are specialized as well as customized to be more effective. These systems are a good way to cut down on time and effort in repetitive tasks and give the entire process a smoother functioning. The residential property management system is especially useful or property managers track expenses, receive rental applications and take care of the entire process of renting and maintaining residential properties.

Tesco strongly criticized the manner in which international retailers were causing a retail frenzy about entering the Indian retail market. The remarks were made at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit. Tesco also said that they would be interested in entering the market only when the rules of ownership had been changed. While European retailers are still very excited about growth prospects in the Indian market, it is the legal and operational hassles that are making many hold back.