Psychology

When obligated, if someone is taking long to answer, the intended answer is 'yes'...

When obliging, if someone is taking long to answer, the intended answer is 'no'...

Paperless travel...

The following information is from the point of view of a person holding an Indian passport with a US visa:

Visa not required:

1) Bermuda (maximum 6 months, usually 21 days)

2) Bhutan (2 weeks)

3) Cape Verde islands

4) Cook Islands (31 days)

5) Costa Rica (30 days non permit stay allowed)

6) Dominica (21 days)

7) Fiji (6 months)

8) Grenada (3 months)

9) Guam

10) Haiti (3 months)

11) Hong Kong

12) Jamaica (14 days)

13) Korea (Republic)

14) Macao (30 days)

15) Mauritius (15 days)

16) Micronesia (30 days)

17) Montserrat (3 months)

18) Nepal

19) Niue (30 days)

20) Northern Marina Islands

21) Samoa (60 days)

22) Seychelles (1 month)

23) St. Kitts-Nevis (3 months)

24) St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1 month)

25) Turks and Caicos Isl (30 days)

26) Vanuatu (30 days)

27) Virgin Islands (British) (30 days)

Visa on arrival:

1) Albania

2) Azerbaijan (30 days)

3) Bahrain

4) Burundi

5) Cambodia (30 days)

6) Djibouti (1 month)

7) Eritrea

8) Georgia

9) Indonesia (30 days)

10) Iran (15 days)

11) Madagascar (90 days)

12) Malaysia (30 days)

13) Maldives (30 days)

14) Mozambique (30 days)

15) Palau Islands (30 days)

16) Sri Lanka (30 days)

17) Tanzania

18) Thailand (15 days)

19) Timor Leste (30 days)

20) Togo (7 days)

21) Tuvalu (1 month)

22) Uganda (3 months)

Numbers ruling my life...

4 stars away from a Starbucks gold card...

1 form away from a credit card...

not sure how many remainders away from a continental airlines refund...

at least got a response from the continental airlines CEO...

close to 10 iTunes song cards waiting to get utilized...

19 quarters away from completing the US state + union territory quarter collection...

not sure at how much gain to sell jet airways...

listen to ray Charles...

pursue trunkco or some bag courier...

1 day away from a 12km run...

think of ways to demonstrate more value...

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3 stars to go...

all 10 iTunes cards redeemed...

Decided when to sell jet airways...

About to play RC...

did 10k without too much sweat...

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2 stars to go...

got the back pack...

demonstrated value through knowledge of system...

shoot at least 10 application mails...

redeem the 2 new iTunes cards...

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Juvenile Treatment.

Children are the tomorrow,

from whom we did future borrow...

A beacon of beauty,

filled with ability...

Filled with unending zest,

to leave behind all the rest...

How them do we encourage,

by throwing a spanner in their courage...

It is not about ranking,

but the unabashed soul spanking...

Wake up and speak forth,

& increase their careers worth...

IPL - A $4Bn Brand...

It is that time of the year again, referring to a season, not climactic though. The season that I am speaking about is the IPL season...

I wrote a post last year about a company named Brand Finance valuing IPL as a brand at $2Bn. This year they have come up with a new valuation, an even flashier $4Bn.

The reason why IPL would have requested for a fresh evaluation is fairly obvious, to know where to set the minimum bid price for the to be added franchises.

I am not an expert in matters of valuations, so I cannot comment on the appropriateness of the same, however some parts of the report do not make too much sense.

My limited understanding of valuations, at least in terms of equity markets is that, they are hugely dependent on future earning potential. Going by this logic, IPL franchises and the entity as a whole should rake in marginally more if not exponentially more revenues. The Brand Finance report forecasts that the revenues that IPL will generate in the coming years will at best plateau and in most likelihood dip. If valuation of a stock almost doubling when it's future revenue forecast is bleak, then it would be an ideal case of a bubble.

The report that I downloaded from Brand Finance's website states that, 'Commercial success of IPL will largely depend on the development of Brand Value Governance principles and policies governing the franchisees and aligning all the stakeholders towards long term IPL brand value creation.', which to me seems more like a disclaimer should things go awry...

A few interesting pointers that emerge when one studies the Brand Rating comparison between 2009 and 2010 are:

1. 6 of the 8 franchises improved their Brand Rating, the 2 exceptions being Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians
2. There does not seem to be too much correlation between performance and rating, Deccan Chargers despite winning the last edition have improved their rating only marginally and Knight Riders have experienced only a slight fall in rating despite finishing at the bottom of the table in the last edition
3. Mumbai Indians has experienced considerable dip in rating, from a respectable A to a cautious BB (A and BB are separated by A-, BBB+, BBB & BB+, technically a five rating drop)
4. Deccan Chargers has experienced the most spike in rating, from a dismal CCC to a sensible BB

A point of interest is that, the summation of the values of individual franchises is $300+Mn, a paltry 8% of the entire valuation, if franchises are not adding value to brand IPL, then wonder who are...

Signing off...

Tattoo

On my way to Goa tomorrow...

Should dos while in Goa:
Visit a casino
Get a tattoo
Buy a badge
Write a poem
Bargain in a flee market
Spend alone time on the beach
Play a water sport that I never did before

Signing off...

Gloria Jean's Coffee

If you are a coffee lover and live in city that has Gloria Jean's, you should so really go there...

Gloria Jean's serves amazing coffees, my word, much better than CCD, slightly better than Barista and on par with Costa. I do not have great experiences at Star Bucks but a lot of people have great things to say about it, so for now the jury is still out...

Gloria Jean's serves an amazing cold beverage that has crushed ice (essentially a slush) with strong mint, chocolate. A real refresher...

Whats more, they also have amazing offers to go with their coffees...

If you run in to one, take my word and grab a coffee, you will not regret it...

Signing off...