iBlog: Nishit Shah

I have always been a voracious reader all my life and have devoured thousands of books, videos, and other material that I can lay my hands on. Decisions that we take on a daily basis are largely based on knowledge & experience. Much of this knowledge and experience can be derived from the wisdom and experiences of others. Earlier I usually used to read books borrowed from my school / college library and return after finishing them. However, these days I usually buy a lot of books, even though I may not have the time to finish reading all the books I buy, but, I feel motivated by the fact of building a library which I think is a übercool thing. I have made an online shelf of most of the books that I have and made a wishlist of the books that I wanna buy. It can be accessed here.

I always wanted to learn couple of foreign languages but was always too lazy to enroll myself for one or pick up some self learning courses available online. If you haven’t figured out what the title is, it means to learn French in Français ! Joined the Alliance Française’s Bombay center for learning French. I have joined the 20 odd days initiation course to start with and then jump to the basic level1 after completing it as and when time permits. Its very difficult to take out time for any thing while working full time. Thanks to the flexible work hours at my organization I have converted all my shifts to morning and am able to leave much early to reach the class on time!
I don’t intend to master the language, just want to be able to read, write, speak and yeah I wanna understand French movies too..hate looking at those sub-titles when I watch one! Yeah, I have seen few French movies..being a hardcore movie buff..don’t want any language to be a barrier…he he.. next stop maybe German / Spanish / Japanese..?

*ALLIANCE françaises DE BOMBAY*
Theosophy Hall
40, New Marine Lines
Bombay 400 020

Buffalo Soldier, Dreadlock Rasta:
There was a Buffalo Soldier in the heart of America,
Stolen from Africa, brought to America,
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival.

I mean it, when I analyze the stench -
To me it makes a lot of sense:
How the Dreadlock Rasta was the Buffalo Soldier,
And he was taken from Africa, brought to America,
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival.

Said he was a Buffalo Soldier, Dreadlock Rasta -
Buffalo Soldier in the heart of America.

If you know your history,
Then you would know where you coming from,
Then you wouldn’t have to ask me,
Who the ‘eck do I think I am.

…………
…………

Am a big fan of one of the greatest reggae artists Bob Marley Buffalo Soldier is one of my favorite song of Marley. Changed my playlist to all my favorite Marley songs. Particularly I like Exodus, The Redemption Song, No Woman, No Cry, Three Little Birds, Red Wine, Jammin, etc

Wish he was still alive..

The Idea Brand Equity Quiz 2007 held on Sunday (May 6) was definitely the most power-packed and electrifying quiz contest ever for the contenders and the audiences alike gathered at the Turf club in Mahalaxmi, Bombay. Hosted by The Economic Times since 1991, this is the largest advertising and marketing quiz targeted at corporates all over the Indian subcontinent.
It was an awesome night of quizzing. Good questions and even better answers. The climax was perfect with a nail biting finish between Deutsche Bank representing Bombay and Savoir Faire from Pune. But, in the end, it was Deutsche Bank which took the lead and emerged winners of the contest. But the action was not curtailed to the stage itself. The mammoth audience present on the occasion were entertained by well-known actor and comedian Ash Chandler and even had a chance to win Rs 3,65,000 in prizes. I won my share of the prize too..when our whole row got the prize when one lady answered the audience question : )

Eagerly waiting to jump from audience to stage pretty soon.

Pics are not that gr8 as I have taken using my SE w810i

I have uploaded more pics here

I have always been an avid quizzer all my life and over the years have won few prizes too …….seriously ! There is one event I always look forward to is The Brand Equity Quiz or Economic Times and its my dream to take part in it.Hopefully some day I will pair up with the person from my workplace who, like me, too has passion for quizzing. Brand Equity is totally way different from the quiz competitions that we have participated during our school/college days. Its standard is way high and its is an advertising and marketing quiz targeted at corporates all over the Indian subcontinent. Its more about business, brands, people, technology and everything around us. The questions are pretty tough and interesting and answers too. Its a pretty tough nut to crack.

A couple of years back I got an invite to the Bombay rounds of the quiz and this time I have an invite to the mega finals to be held in Bombay on 6th May 07 at Turf Club, Mahalaxmi. It was pretty easy to get hold of an invite this time. Just read an ad in the ET that one needs to send a mail to a certain address along with their name and organization name. I got a reply back stating that come to Times of India office and collect the invite ! I am soo excited about it… need to start preparing for the audience questions ! Have high hopes to represent my organization next time around