CarTrade.com: Beginning of a new Journey

On 16th August 2013, day after independence day I joined CarTrade.com. Finally I had a job. As what I had earlier was a mere fraud. I worked in a fraudulent outsourcing firm in which they fetch money from clients to give them business in return but they give nothing in return. I think that was the worst nightmare I would ever had. On one side it was toughest phase of my career but on the other side it was a good thing to happen at the start of my career. It eventually taught me that this world is not good with good people. Moreover it gave me a push to choose the next company wisely. My life was hell, societal pressure was piling up as people were thinking that I am retrenched from this job.

In between of all this I gave the interview for CarTrade.com twice. I wanted to be a part of Automobile sector as cars always brought a sense of excitement in me & I love cars. I was selected for the sale of used cars but was posted in auction department. CarTrade.com is website of MXC solutions pvt. ltd. Where mainly the sell of used cars is done. CarTrade.com works as an agent between the used car dealers & customers. It takes commission from the dealers if their vehicle is sold through them. Similarly in the auction of banks re-possesed cars, if the car is sold through cartrade then cartrade will get the commission from the bank or financing company. Now being part of auction department I had to sell the online registrations for the auction.

This job gave a big Babaji Ka Thullu to all the people who thought I am retrenched from the job & I am going to get another one. Before pointing a finger or laughing on anyone's failure or rather an unsuccessful attempt just try to understand what he/she has gone through. Now back to the first day of the job. My first day of the job accidentally became first day at job. On 16th August 2013, I called HR head to know the dates from when I am joning & my reporting place. She said that I have to contact Assistant Vice President for that as I interviewed by him. So I called him around 10 a.m & he told me that live TATA Motor Finance auction is about to begin at hotel silver cloud & I have to be there. So in this way it became my joining day.

I reached at hotel by 11 a.m & auction was not started by then. As the auction was not started AVP sir explained me that we organise the open auction for Tata Motor Finance every month. He introduced me to the Tata guy & told that he will train you & guide you about how to approach the customers, the benefits the customers get from us & where to go in rural gujarat as per the auction. I still was ambigous about it so I asked a brief introduction until the auction get started. The way sir explained me it looked like a cake walk & suddenly my chest became broader with confidence. One of the most important thing I came to know in that briefing is that CarTrade doesn't have office in Ahmedabad. Finally auction began at 12:45 & it was first auction I was witnessing live. Before that I had only seen IPL auction & ofcourse I was comparing both the auctions for the time being. Auction went on till 7:30 p.m & AVP has to catch 8 p.m flight. So he was in lot of rush & in that rush I asked him about what I have to do next day & he said 'call that Tata guy' while signing off. So this was my first day at office not knowing what I have to do next day but I was happy that finally I have a job.

Next day I called that TMF guy & he said that he is going at yard auction today & I was instructed by AVP to go with him. I went him & yard was out of Ahmedabad in some village which was surrounded by various industries. It was totally different auction from what I witnessed on the first day. So from first two days I made a perception that I have to visit rural gujarat only when auction is organised there. Next day I met that Tata guy at his office to get some training & I thought it will be a proper training a person will be standing by the board & will make some drawings to make me understand the structure, target customer, approach to those customers, benefits of them etc.

On the contrary that Tata guy just showed me one piece of paper, it was a letter pad of Tata Motor Finance & on that No Objection Cerificate was written & he said 'this is the biggest benefit we give to the customer'. That's it! My training was over. I asked him about how online auctions happen but he doesn't had even an access to those. In total I was trained for ten long minutes. After that training I knew that I am not going to get any help from this guy, I am on my own. Can I ask for a better start to my career.

To be continued...

Anything for cricket

For a cricket maniac like me cricket is above everything & IPL is a carnival of cricket where cricket is celebrated to its fullest by the players of all the nations with unity & equality. IPL gives very heavy dose excitement to me as I love to see my favourite players from different nations playing together. So I remain quite excited for every season of IPL. Moreover I have done some crazy things to watch every single moment of IPL.

It is an incident of this year only. Till last year I was pursuing my MBA so I used to be at home to watch each & every ball of IPL but this year it was different I was at work but the excitement was same as it used to be in earlier years. On 16th april 2014, I was at work & IPL 7 was about to begin. At 6 pm pre-match show begun & for the first time I was missing the opening ceremony of Pepsi IPL in 7 years. I never missed opening ceremony of IPL in last 6 years no matter if I had exams or any other important work I watched every bit of it.

Here I was doing my work & there was no tv around to watch it. So I missed the opening ceremony. I finished my work by 7:30 pm & I was dying to watch Pepsi IPL but my timings of factory were till 8:30. I decided to watch it on starsports.com using its 'deferred live' feature where I could see the live match with 5 minutes delay only but my phone's battery was about to die & unfortunately I forgot charger at home that day. My phone's battery died at 7:50 & match was about to begin in just ten minutes.

I was only left with one option that to go home & watch the match but I was alone at factory here as chachu was out with some work. I was waiting for chachu to come so I can leave for home. My wait was of 15 minutes & those 15 minutes passed like 15 years. Chachu came at 8:05 & the moment he entered I was ready to go home. I took the permission from him & left for home. It normally takes half an hour to reach home from factory but on that day my excitement was at such a high level that I wasn't been able to drive at normal speed. I touched the speed of 110 km/h on my bike where normally I never go beyond 60 km/h. I took crazy ride that day to reach home just to watch Pepsi IPL. By god's grace I reached home safely that day & watched whole match calmly after that. Thank god I had 'Deferred Live' feature on starsports.com & the charger to watch the Pepsi IPL from next day.

This post is a part of  <a href="http://starsports.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Cricket just got better! Activity</a> by <a href="http://www.starsports.com" target="_blank&quot;">starsports.com</a> in association with <a href="http://www.blogadda.com/" target="_blank">BlogAdda.com</a>.

God's best gift to me

We don't get much opportunities to thank our parents for everything they do for us unconditionally in our whole life. I know thanks is nothing in front of the sacrifices our parents make for us but some people kick their parents out of their lives, houses everything when they need them the most. I urge to those people don't ever leave your parents in old age home or don't let them feel unwanted at any stage of their life. Your parents doesn't give you birth to see that day. Don't worry I am not going to begin Bhaagban here, I am writting this blog to express my gratitude to mumma & paa for everything they have done for me.

Paa

Let me begin with Paa here. Paa is the simplest person I have ever known. The kind of life he has lived, it even can't be anyone's worst nightmare. My grand father passed away when paa was only 5. Now imagine how would have that man leaded his life being the eldest one among siblings. The kind of struggle he has done in his life, I don't think he has got even 20% of what he deserve. I am definitely going to get scolded for sharing this here. 'You are a great soul' these were last words from my grandma to paa & it says everything about him.

I don't know how many wishes paa would have sacrificed to fulfill mine. Apart from that as a person also he has given a lot to me. All the qualities in my personality is because of him. Paa has always been my ideal, role model, teacher, guide everything. He has always been there for me whenever I am in dillema, hard time of life or any sort of crisis. The amount of belief he has in me even I don't have that much belief in me. Whenever I am down and out he is always the first person to notice that and ask what happened? If someone ask me who you want to be like in future? I would say that I want to be like my paa even though I know I can't even come anywhere near to his stature. Paa its a promise that I will try my best to get you what you deserve. And lastly I don't call him Paa after that movie, I call him that even before that movie.

Mumma

Mumma is very adaptive and supportive by nature. She can adapt herself as per the situation we are in. Mumma has supported paa equally well in every step of life, she has been with in every event of his life. Mumma has played equally important role in putting good qualities and mannerisms in me. She has also given up her wishes to fulfill mine. Actually she is the one who has put a strong base in me as a person. In every failure of my life mumma shows me the positive side of it & consider it good every single time so that I don't feel bad.

Mumma still pampers me like a child. If I am on a trip somewhere, she will call atleast 8 times a day asking 'you had lunch?', 'you reached in your room?', 'when did you had dinner?', 'is milk available there?' etc etc. Anyday if I get late by even 15 minutes, I am definitely going to get a call asking why are you late? Or where have you reached? Or when will you be home? By this you would have understood how much she cares for me. She make sure that I get my food, clothes etc on time. Apart from that if I am hurt or in pain, tears will be dropping from her eyes before mine. Moreover she is the one who has taken most of my frustration till date. Mumma thank you for taking my fuss and at the same time I am sorry for the same. Lastly there isn't any released with the title mumma, so I don't owe any explanation to anyone.

Mumma and Paa are going to begin 25th year of their partnership on 28th of this month. So this is one of the gifts from me to mumma & paa on their marriage anniversary this year. Mumma, Paa I will make sure that I never let you down at any stage of life. You both are god's most precious gifts to me, I will always be with you both irrespective of the situation we are in. After reading this, Hitu is going to kill me as he doesn't even know that I am doing any thing like this. I will let him write in next time.

2013 as it happened

At the start of 2013 final exams were going on of 3rd semester & on 1st jan, I think it was a exam of International Business. I was going through pretty tough phase of my life as I was still recovering from the loss of my grandma whom I lost at the end of 2012. It doesn't stopped there I kept on loosing people close to me people whom I thought are my best friends keeps on going away from my life in midst of crisis. In fact I would have been all alone but my family & very few people who know me since my childhood backed me up and their support made me strong enough to face ignorance, avoidance, treachery, cheating, just everything.

The season of projects begin from February as I entered into the last sem of MBA. During that phase I said myself that boss this is the reality. Accept it no matter how bad it gets. I started keeping people at bay as I know that it will go on till I complete my MBA. Ultimately I went into the shell & key of that shell was only given to those people who supported me. I involved myself in projects and studies but then also I wasn't been able to concentrate on anything else. With all these things happening, placements also started with full force in March as final exams were May. I started giving interviews.

I gave plenty of interviews and cracked most of them till April & by the end of april I had some options from which I have to choose. It was google play's notification that 15 applications are waiting for your approval to get updated. In the mid of all those things M(a)y month started in which final exams commenced & on my birthday in that month I realised that I have become numb. I realised that I have lost all the feelings like happiness, excitement, sadness etc. & I had no reason to be happy.  In btw I chose smart consultancy as my first company and I joined it from 1st of june with couple of my college mates or my two best friends then.

No one even imagine to start his career with fraud company & I got that kind of start. I was touching the new heights of lowness & to add that both of my friends taught me some chapters of practicality. Anyways I left that job in july & I was jobless again then I started giving interviews again. Agian that month of joblessness was pretty difficult as I have to answer many questions like why you left that company? Were you terminated from that company? etc. This gave birth to ruthless rude personality in me which worked as a shield to hide my senstive personality.

In july mid I was selected gave the interview for MRF & then trip to Chennai happened. Before going to chennai I was also selected for CarTrade.com but call for joining came in second week of August & I joined it on 16th of august. Here company has given me complete freedom of working. I am working on my own here. Here I met great guide in form of Hiren Shroff who is also sindhi. Finally I got my life started gaining stability. It has been 4 months, I have been working in that company. I will always be grateful to Hiren sir and CarTrade.com for showing faith in me. My life is much stable now & has ended 2013 on a high rather than getting high.

I know this is a normal thing in anyone's life but its hurting for a sensitive personality like me and this is what happened in my life in 2013. I hope 2014 will bring more stability in life and I will be back on track. Finally to end this post I want to acknowledge the people who were part of there in 2013. So Thanks to those who hated me, they made me a stronger person. Thanks to those who  loved me, they made my heart bigger. Thanks to those who were worried about me, they let me know that they actually cared. Thanks to those who left me, they made me realize that nothing lasts forever.Thanks to those who entered my life, they made me who i'm today. Just want to Thank you for being there in my life!! God Bless You All. Yaa I got this message on whats app but it made my work of acknowledging people easy.

God Hung his Boots

Before writting this post, I have thought a lot that how will I present a 24 years long career and even longer stratuture called Sachin Tendulkar in just one blog post? So I am not going to discuss his numbers as these numbers are enough to describe 24 years long cricketing career. Here I am going put some light on how God of cricket persued his 24 years long tenure with team India.

Sachin was the first name which I heard when I came into the conscious. In my growing years I use to hear only one thing that until Sachin is batting we are not going to loose the match irrespective of opposition that was the aura of that man. Sachin has made that amount of records that if record book has 200 pages then 180 pages out of 200 in that book will consist of only Sachin's records.

God made his presence feel in the world of cricket in the year 1988 by making 664 run partnership with Vinod Kambli. The impact of partnership was such that it became a topic of discussion in the Indian dressing room at that time. Not only that god made his way to Indian team by making centuries on Ranji trophy debut, Irani trophy debut & Duleep trophy debut. Its a mammoth for a 15 year old kid. Then Sachin made his international debut in 1989 against Pakistan, he would have made century on his test debut as well but to hide his godly powers he respected Pakistan's fast bowlers & allowed them to give him cuts on his face.

The real journey of Sachin started in
England where he got his first century in test cricket. It was the time when everyone was in awe of the talent of Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin's ODI skill was tested in 1992 world cup where he proved himself by blistering half centuries against the top sides of the world. Though his first ODI century came after 80 odd innings. I think the god in Sachin was born in Sharjah where Sachin storm was more destructive than sand storm. It was time where everything was paying off his determination, dedication everything.

The worst phase was in Sachin's career was when he was captain of India. His captaincy gave birth to his critics which were non existing as his batting caused vasectomy to them till his captaincy. Once the responsibility of captaincy was off his shoulders, his form flourished again. It was the begining of record breaking journey most runs in world cup, most runs in ODI cricket, most centuries in ODI and test and many many more.

He has his own way of replying to different things. He used his bat to give answer to sledgings. He used his performances and records to answer his critics. I still remember Sachin saying that 'some stones were thrown on me which I have converted into milestones' after acheiving the milestone of 10000 runs in test cricket. I would like to say to sachin's critics 'tumko sachin ka critic banke kya mila Babaji Ka Thullu.'

On 10th October 2013 god of cricket announced his retirement, it was very emotional day for the world of cricket. In a nation where cricket is more than a game Sachin's exit will be a great loss to the game as in India 25% to 30% of people watch cricket only to see Sachin bat. Now we are heading towards the last test of Sachin, it will be a blessing to watch him bat one last time. Unfortunately the god is hanging his boots but Sachin sir you will always be missed until cricket exists. Experts says that Sachin is best after Don Bradman but according to me Sachin is and will always be bigger and better than Bradman. 

Rally of Compact SUVs

The concept of Compact SUVs was launched in India in auto expo 2012. Its size was under 5 meters so it was called compact SUV. Due to compactness of its size companies afford to sell it within the price band of rupees 8 to 10 lacs. So It was like a jackpot for SUV lovers that they were going getting SUVs within the price range of 8 to 10 lacs.

At that time all the big guns of automobiles came blazing with concept of their respective compact SUVs. Maruti Suzuki came up with 'XA alpha', Ford came with 'EcoSport', Renault came with 'Duster' & Mahindra came with 'Quanto'. Among these Maruti Suzuki 'XA alpha' and Ford 'EcoSport' grabbed most of eyes and were considered as big launches for both of these companies. These launches were going to affect the sale of Innova for sure as these were in the same price range as of Innova so Toyota launched new variant of Innova soon after these launches. Now let's have a look at them one by one as how they performed in the market.

Renault Duster

Renault Duster was the first compact SUV to hit Indian roads among those which had been launched at auto expo 2012. Duster got the maximum advantage of being launched earliest in its segment. Renault wouldn't have even imagined that Duster would be such a huge success. It exceeded all expectations & sales estimates of Renault. Duster put a huge dent in Innova's market as it was in the same price range as of Innova.

Mahindra Quanto

Mahindra led SUV segment of India with its products like Scorpio, Bolero & Xylo and then Duster happened. So Mahindra launched Xylo's younger brother Quanto. Quanto hit Indian roads couple of months after Duster with much lesser price but unfortunately it was overshadowed under the influence of Duster. On the other XUV 500 blossomed some good amount of profit and captured SUV (not compact SUV) segment for Mahindra.

Ford EcoSport

Ford EcoSport was launched in june or july this year; an year later than it was expected to be launched. There was a news in auto expo 2012 that EcoSport is going to be first Compact SUV to hit the Indian roads. Its launch was delayed as its price was going over than the price it was promised to customers. EcoSport's latecoming has surely hurt Ford but it has affected the market share of Duster. Its start is sluggish and that puts question mark over its ability of living upto the expectations of company and customers.

Nissan Terrano

As there is everywhere in news that its a Duster based compact SUV. I would like to add that Terrano is a Duster based compact SUV with X-Trail's looks. The best thing about Terrano is timing of its launch couple of months before diwali when people are bored of seeing Duster everywhere. Due to this Nissan has got great opening as bookings are pouring in for Terrano.

Maruti Suzuki XA alpha

It was the only compact SUV which impressed me with its looks and features both but unfortunately it is still a concept car. XA alpha had looks in it which defines SUV. It was about to hit Indian roads by the begining of 2013 & here we are at the end of 2013 but there is no sign of XA alpha yet. I don't know why it has been delayed so much. Is Maruti Suzuki afraid of launching it due to failure its other premium cars like kizashi etc.? Hope it will be launched soon.

In between Volkswagen launched Cross Polo earlier than Terrano was launched but it is not even in the picture yet. So auto expo 2012 brought great changes in the automobile sector. Now we are heading towards another auto expo in the begining of 2014 and hope it too has some good surprises in store for us.

The Comeback King

I have seen some of the great comebacks in the world of cricket over the years. May it be Sachin Tendulkar's return from tennis elbow injury or many other such comebacks from other players as well but for me there is only one comeback king and that is Yuvraj Singh.

Everything happening in our life is destined to happen. Cancer to Yuvraj Singh is the best example of it. 2010 was not at all good for Yuvraj Singh. The talks were going on of droping him from the Indian side before the 2011 world cup. But selectors stuck with him in world cup & the rest is history.

It was all destined to happen his selection in the team, his performance in the world cup, his pain & bleeding while coughing during that world cup & India winning that world cup with Yuvraj Singh being the man of the tournament. Noone ever thought that his cough on the field during that world cup will come out as dangerous as cancer. When this news of cancer broke it was as much heartbreakning for us (fans) as it was for him. Everyone just prayed for his survival.

I saw the glimpse of what he has gone through while fighting with cancer in his documentary 'Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai' & in each episode of it my eyes used to get wet by seeing his condition. It was his will power who told the cancer that 'boss I still have a life to live & I still have to have a got after bowlers to hit those big sixes. So I am not going to give up against you.' So with his strong will power & determination he fought with cancer with weapon called chemo therapy & kicked it out of his body. Not only that he even made a comeback on cricket field shortly after he was cured of cancer. Now that deserves a Salute & here I go Yuvi paji.

Everyone wrote him off by saying that he won't be that fit again to play cricket but he proved everyone wrong by hitting double hundered in the longest version of the game test match & then it was no stopage for him. He made it into Indian team. His start was steady as it was like he is starting his career all over again but soon he came back into his groove & started hitting the harder than he used to hit earlier. His most memorable innings was the in which he made 72 off just 36 balls here in Ahmedabad against Pakistan. After that injuries started to hit him again and these injuries were coming in between his form. In IPL 2013 his injuries made him to loose his form completely & he didn't made even a single 50 in IPL. As a result he wasn't included in Champions trophy squad.

It is going to hurt any veteran of the game & it hit Yuvraj Singh too. So during that off time he went France with Zaheer Khan to improve his fitness & he trained hard there. After one and half month of hard core training he came back 100% fit & there is noone more brutal and dangerous than fully fit Yuvraj Singh. He started the season with blistering 123 in first class cricket then it was followed by knocks of 40, 60, 52, 84 & 29. It is more than enough to get selected for Indian team. So finally he is selected in the Indian squad for the series against Australia starting from 10th of this month.

His will power, determination, skill & fighting attitude helps him to grow bigger & bigger every time he falls. Yuvraj Singh himself & his comeback stories are inspiration to me. It inspires me to comeback as hard as him every time I fall. I have always adulated him and it has just increased after his fightback with cancer. I pray to god that keep Yuvraj Singh free from injuries so that he can help India to be at top in the world of cricket with those big sixes for many more years to come. In the end I would like to give one more name to 'Prince of Sixers' & i.e. 'The Comeback King'.