Microsoft Bing : Microsoft will be coming up with Bing, a decision engine that will challenge the dominance of the god of search - "Google". It is a move that could either give the web a new era of search or could reiterate the fact that Google is the best.
The search war has heated up as finally a competitor to Google's search will finally be out in the open. Google, the world's top brand with a brand value exceeding $100 billion is gearing up for its first fight in the search arena.
There have been critics (whom I admire) who have tried to be (as always) Google disciples and have rejected Bing. The part that impresses me is that Microsoft has shown up the courage to stand up to the search behemoth and say "Hey Beware!!! We are coming".Not many can do that.
The second and the most important thing will be what they are offering. Looking at the initial presentation, Microsoft Bing looks impressive.
The decision engine i.e. Microsoft's Bing is evolving into collaborative portal where they will try to sort out and carve a solution for your search query. They'll be giving information and not data. How successful and precise this information is will determine the success of Bing.
The targeting of Indians in hate crime is a sign of how Indians have managed to reach and make their presence felt in every corner or the world. The emergence of "poor India" in "Rich countries" is a sore in the eye of the people living there.
From a culturally rich country to an economically poor land, India and Indians have a presence in every spectrum of human civilization. In an Indian you can see a shrewd political mind to an innocent exploited individual. The one thing common to all, the rich, the poor, the honest and the corrupt is the capacity to bite back and climb. The current state of India is an apt proof of newton's third law of motion - "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." The more you push them down down, the more they bounce back. (I am using "them" and not "us" since I've been a part of a privileged Indian community.) When their backs are on the wall and a gun is pointing on their forehead, the bullet will emerge from their head first. Even literally, our army men are equipped with the most outdated guns, still they form a part of the world's best army. This fact was reiterated by a friend of mine, who recently joined the navy.
Over the years this India with backs to the wall slipped out in a low profile state and melted to get into every community. A land waiting t burst with a billion plus population, had leaks and the solid entity, like cheese made the flavour of a pizza known as globalization. The pizza when served to every leader of the world, made the world a single body and India as its nervous system.
Every signal in our body goes through the nerves. The signs of pain in any part go through these small connected wires, which act like messengers sending an information saying, "I'm paining".
Lets consider Australia as the heel of the world. Some infection in the heel sent pain through the nerves. The infection had its first consequence on the nerves.
The world body in the same way is infected in many more places. It is wounded with terror, starved by natural calamity and corrupted by lust. It has also muscles of unity, blood of honesty and a heart of pride. The nerves reach every part of this world body and hence we find an Indian in every victory and defeat of an organ of the body.
Racism in Australia : The recent attacks on Indian students in Australia is a reminder of the fact that when it comes to fighting back, we lack unity and power.
In the recent cases of violence against Indians, one thing has been common. Indians are not welcome to Australia, which is also indicated by constant denial by Australian PM, Kevin Rudd. I was shocked when I saw the reports of the racist attacks and the response to it on Times Now. A high ranking police official went on record saying that Indians were passive and hence were the victims of opportunistic crime. What the hell! Does a passive individual not have a right to live ? And what right do you have to come and screw up a guy just because he poses no threat and because being a guest he is well behaved. Does the police official mean that Aussies are active and passive Aussies have been dealt the same way.
I am not sad because a few Australians (not all) reacted in this way. I am sad to see a cow like response from India. Are we so soft that anyone can come, screw us up and get away. And what youth victory are we talking about ?
As of now I'm praying for the ones who've been attacked and are battling their lives. Their parents have put in a lot of effort and money to send them, an entire family's hope depends on them as with everyone. Don't fool around with violence. I hope they come out and restore themselves to be fighting fit again.
Searching for the causes for these attacks, it is evident that Indians are performing well in Australia, better than a few incompetent locals responsible for this mess. Else I don't see any reason why only Indians are being singled out and attacked. The name given to these cowardly attacks is "Racism", since those incompetent individuals think they are a superior race, infact they are not. They are just a bunch of good for nothing individuals [Not all, I am stressing that]. This is not a India vs Australia war as it was during the monkey gate controversy, this is a case of "Live and let live".
At the end of it I'd just reiterate this question - Aren't we tired of violence,terror ?
The trend and power of Social Media can be leveraged to market products in a very cost effective manner. It also helps in creating a brand out of your business. Small business can use it to grow bigger than the big businesses since the costs involved as abysmally low and the volumes are sky high.
[Presentation below] The usual business is through networks, phone, portals,advertisements and it goes well.Networking is good, the phone makes it
personal, Portal makes it online and advertisements spread awareness. But as Our Ambitions are high, business hould be good
and for that Volumes should be high, deadlines have to be met, Costs Should be low.But the cost is also too high as
networking takes time, phone is only good when it is picked up, Portals needs to be advertised and advertisements are costly.
The Social Media comes to the rescue. It tells the world Who you are What you do How you do it Your strengths And maybe, your weaknesses too.
It does it through,Blogs,Forums,Social networking websites and Micro-blogs. This creates a buzz about your business.It helps in Reaching target audience Getting high volumes Reducing costs Spreading awareness Getting effective feedback Better Brand value And lots more…
Building a fan base will be the future for a successful business business model of teams in the Indian Premier League. The present is a reminisce of that.
IPL 2 saw Deccan Chargers, charge up the their energies to lift the trophy.The IPL 2, I'd say was all in all a very successful season. This season saw the ups of super overs and downs of the fake IPL blog. But where does IPL go ahead ? It is a craze. Every evening, it'll make sure you don't feel bored. If you go to a restaurant, it will follow you there. An interesting thing I noted was that quite a few of my cousins were fans of Kolkatta Knight Riders, because of Shahrukh Khan. A statistic reported that Kolkatta Knight Riders has the highest brand value.
If you can see the connection, Shahrukh has a fan base, which propelled Kolkatta Knight Riders brand value to top of the list. Taking a cue from this, IPL teams will have to spend money to build their fan base to keep their brand rolling. A fan base will mean greater revenues in future. In the first season of Indian Premier League, only two teams made profit - The Rajasthan Royals and the Kolkatta Knight Riders. A loyal fan base can be the difference between pressurizing your team to win and make profits or building a fan base and allowing them to play naturally.
When it comes to a fan base, what tags a team is associated with is the question. Do you identify with these tags ? If yes, then you are a fan.
Eg :Kolkatta Knight Riders associated itself with Shahrukh Khan,Sourav Ganguly, Royal Challengers with Dr Vijay Mallya, Kings XI with Preity, Delh Dare Devils with Akshay, Sehwag,Gambhir.
The Punjab riots, which took place as a backlash of killing in Vienna wasn't in good taste, even more since the voice of a secular united India are getting stronger.
Getting out on the streets and vandalizing property is something that shows that how far behind we are despite all modern ideas. The area of Punjab has seen a lot of violence in the last century and still people have a hunger for more.
The violence began within hours of the attack in Vienna, where armed six men stormed into a Gurudwara. This led to the death of the religious leader, Sam Rama Nand, who was opposed by several Sikh groups.
Under the masquerade of backlash, the opportunists looted shops, robbed people of their hard earned money. The dynamics of this backlash are of a somewhat different nature, with the cause being social divide rather than a solely religious one.
Moreover, these riots bring a bad name to the country and also to the Sikhs, who are a highly regarded community.
The things meant for self defence are being used to attack. I wonder how many more innocent lives it will take till we learn the lesson of peace.
The young brigade is often not taught the chapter and I believe the government should introduce a compulsory subject on peace, which with videos of the horrific nature and the sad outcomes of violence would embed an anti-violence feeling in every child.
IPL Final : The second version of IPL, IPL-2, was more fun, controversy and drama. Even before the beginning, the shift of venue to South Africa created a lot of controversy. Apart from the slap given by Bhajji to Sree last year, this year was a controversy ++. A "++" sign in programming languages is used to increment the variable by one.
The team with the highest brand value added an extra brand, know as the Fake IPL player to its kitty. The Kolkatta Knight Riders brand was valued at a staggering USD 22 million. Now count the zeroes in that figure and those on the KKR scoreboard.
Coming to the IPL-2 grand finale, the two teams that have managed to swim above the rest truly deserve the spot. The Deccan Chargers had a fantastic opening 4 games but then got lost somewhere but punched back in time to make the cut. On paper, it was and still is a deadly team. Gilly swishes the first ten and Symmo bulldozes the next ten. If somewhere anybody misses, Rohit Sharma is there to take care.
The next challenger for the IPL-2 trophy sets an excellent example. I wrote in a previous past (Big Money, Big Lesson), the over-burderning power of big money. The day KP, the prized kid of Rotal Challengers left the team, its fortunes changed overnight. KP played the role of a rich spoilt kid. The last match he played in which he got out playing a reckless reverse sweep is an indicator of that. He behaved like the overpaid top management official of a bankrupt company. They just give you nothing. The low profile stars of Royal Challengers have woven a team, the fabric of which brought the curtains down for Chennai Super Kings.
The IPL-2 final will be a battle between a star studded team of big hitters, The Deccan Chargers and a woven team of battle hardened individuals. The game will be a stunner and the perfect finish to a forum of Cricket,Team spirit, glamour, money and controversy.
The Indian elections of 2009 have shown many sides of the democracy. Mostly we've seen and learnt that our democracy is growing. But is it ?
In this shocking revelation by Paul Beckett published on Shobhaa De's blog, Paul exposes how the press charges people for giving good coverage. The recent election was indeed a feather in the cap for Indian democracy but the lens through which we were shown the various colours of this democracy was partially flawed. The extent and spread of its flawed nature is still not certain, the wall street bureau chief, Paul in New Delhi writes about the flawed aspects. He says
Consider these phrases from newspaper editors and brokers, which I culled from campaigners: "You want a front page photo for free? This is something people pay for." "If you want a picture in there or if you want a story, we have to be paid." "We're going to publish the interview, but you need to buy 5,000 copies of our paper." "1.2 lakhs ($2,400) for the next two weeks and I will take care of all that coverage."
This is not something I'd really appreciate, but considering the opportunist politicians, I would say some other fishes also hung on to the word "Opportunism", one of them being the press.
Cabinet ministers of India - A matter of aspirations, ambitions, conflicts and negotiations.
After congress managed to get 206 Lok Sabha seats, the process of government formation began. In the process came its pre-poll allies and old friends who had lost their sheen.
[Cabinet list below] The DMK and TMC with 18 and 19 Lok Sabha seats started the process of bargaining. Mamta Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress was eyeing for the Railways portfolio and wanted one more seat in the cabinet than DMK. The railways had a bit of tussle with DMK and TMC both firm on getting it.
With congress getting more seats than probably anyone expected, the arrogant big brother like attitude as some said had miffed quite a few. The hullaballo began when there were rumours that DMK was not happy and had decided to support the government from outside. With all the congress big wigs running from 7 race course road and 10 janpath, they finally decided and all was well in both camps.
One camp, which was not happy was the National Conference. With Omar Abdullah coming on TV and announcing that his father Farooq Abdullah would be flying to South Africa on the morning of swearing in, there were many raised eyebrows. Finally the NC patron got a call to be a part of the government.
The forming of Cabinet ministers of India is certainly a tricky and complex process involving people with conflicting aspirations. Looking at the way all allies have been satisfied, congress government has shown its efficient managerial skills, something, which helped them win 2009 Lok Sabha Elections. This is one aspect, which other national parties and parties with national aspirations will have to learn.
The congress party gets 17 out of 19 cabinet seats.
The Cabinet
Pranab Mukherjee AK Antony P Chidambaram Sharad Pawar Ghulam Nabi Azad Sushil Kumar Shinde S Jaipal Reddy Kamal Nath Vayalar Ravi Meira Kumar Murli Deora Kapil Sibal Ambika Soni BK Handique Anand Sharma. SM Krishna Mamata Banerjee C P Joshi Veerappa Moily
Prabhakaran and L.T.T.E's era has ended in a manner, which probably wasn't in the best interest of all. The man who was responsible for the assasination of a Prime minister now along with his family bites the dust in unmarked locations in a mass grave. The family of whom he killed still lives to see his fate and wield power and authority.
The death of prabhakaran and his family certainly raises many eyebrows, giving indications to a theory that he may have been shot at a point blank range. The bodies of his family have still been under the wraps to prevent any outburst. The logic behind anhilating LTTE and destroying all signs of its leaders may be to prevent re-emergence of the outfit in future. The cost of it is something that needs to weighed in the humanitarian crisis emerging out of such an action.
Freedom for one may be terror for another. Although my knowledge of history is not very strong, Ritam Banati in his article, The Rajiv India Knew writes
The LTTE was scared that Rajiv would come to power once again in the election that followed after the downfall in 1990 of the coalition government led by Singh. And would then pursue the same anti-LTTE policies . Therefore they succesfully plotted and executed the heinous assassination. The irony was that his mother had shelled out money to train the Tamils in India militarily to fight for their rights violently with Lanka's Sinhalese majority.
The important thing to note is that violence gives birth to more violence and ends with unthinkable shades of death. It is not a battle of egos or land, it is just a waste of time,happiness and many,many lives. I hope this is a lesson to all leaders to embark on a policy to live and let live.
These days are probably the best for Sonia Gandhi and her family. The landslide victory of the congress in the Lok Sabha Polls of 2009 and the death of Vellupillai Prabhakaran, LTTE chief, the plotter of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, bring double joy along with winds of hope.
A stable government at center paved the way for a sky rocketing stock market, a feature common since 1984. Another common feature of the congress government has been the long-term decline of stock market. The BJP victory in 1999 was followed by a 13% decline in the market, but rose in long term.
A further introspection into the results of this election makes me believe that the opposition i.e. BJP will have to work very hard to come back to power. The congress despite a clear mismanagement of India’s security made it through. The Indian voter has gone for the secular ploy and given the congress another chance. Even after 26th November attacks on Mumbai, controlling the CBI for its own purposes and Sky-high food prices, they defeated an opposition, which was clearly weak.
Delhi had all 7 constituencies go to congress. This shows that the urban, middle class vote of a state that too was affected by terror attacks and communal polarization (batla house encounter) had a clear choice.
Election results of 2009, trends and post poll analysis. Why did NDA loose and congress win with a huge margin.
The Lok Sabha election results of 2009 came as a pleasant surprise for few and a shock for many. The victory of congress and UPA by a handsome margin is an clear indicator of one thing - Some people changed and some did not. The ones who changed, won, and the hesitant ones lost. This also shows that good planning and strategy is required for winning an election, which the congress did.
The ones who lost this time were BJP, CPI(M),SP and RJD. There is one thing common to all these parties - They did to change to the changing to the changing circumstances and a demanding electorate.
There has been buzz lately that BJP needs a charismatic leader like Narendra Modi to give a boost to the party. But, looking at the history he too might be hesitant to join national politics because it would mark an end of his political power. The ones who took this decision hastily like Laloo prasad yadav and Deve Gowda are struggling today. They have little standing in state or center. Nitish Kumar has been wise and focused on Bihar making it his strong hold. The same goes to to BJD chief, Naveen Patnaik.
These election results definately give a lot of food for thought for political parties. It also shows that focussing on youth leaders pays high dividends.
winning and loosing is a part of the game, but winners will need to consolidate and loosers need to learn. In the game of power it is also important to remember the core purpose of the work, i.e. serve the nation and its people.
The website of Election Commission of India, which had to carry the results of 2009 failed as technical glitches didn't allow the services initially on display to be put to use. The website eciresults.nic.in although did provide the results, they were displayed in a very crude manner.
[See before and after images below] Before talking about it more, I'd firstly like to thank and congratulate the election commission for carrying out the behemoth task of conducting the elections in the swiftest manner possible. Although, I still think there are issues to be solved, carrying out a task that involves a billion plus people is no joke.
The level at which India stands today, the technical aspects and seemingly small things such as the website are very important as they project a country globally. India, deemed to be a global superpower, should work on such issues.
Looking at the results of this election, I believe the path is set for the wagons of development. I just hope we move from strength to strength making India safer and an economically sound nation. Jai Ho!
According to sources and insider details, about 12,000 employees of Satyam will be handed the pink slip. This comes just a day before election counting begins. Almost all the bench force of Satyam will end up loosing their jobs. A blog on Satyam, Satya of Satyam writes,
Sources inside the company have stated that 15th March has been fixed as the date for laying off a lot of people from Satyam. A lot of the top managers and the staff who has been on bench will be given sabbaticals. This means that they probably will be getting just their basic salary. Wipro has already implemented the same for their "Benched" employees. A lot of the top brass will also be replaced by Tech Mahindra staff, it is believed.
Experts have apprehensions on this because they say that the true strength of Satyam lies in delivering complex business. The outcome of this layoff is going to affect the whole IT industry, including growth prospects of freshers in other IT companies. A leading IT company has already delayed its placements and now the talent pool that is going to come out from this gigantic flooding will also take toll. This coupled with recession and high dependence of Indian IT industry on United States demographically could give a fatal blow to freshers searching for jobs in the IT industry. The major chunk of jobs for engineers in India came from IT, which now will be affected by this mammoth layoff.
Looking at the timing of this decision, the 15th may date, it seems all was planned well in advance. Knowing that a layoff early would have caused government interference since elections were round the corner, the new management has wasted no time after polling in chopping off the workforce. The new government would be under tremendous pressure to increase India's economic growth and provide jobs for the unemployed workers, which would be increasing by the day.
Maruti Ritz launch, features, price, pros and cons
Maruti has come out with another premium hatchback car, Ritz. It has been launched in direct competition with Swift. Ritz and swift are all set to compete with Hyundai Getz, Skoda Fabia, UVA and i20.
Pros of Maruti Ritz
The Ritz is a model between A-star and swift and has been launched in direct competition with swift. Swift has about 75% market share, which is very high in this segment. Ritz and Swift, together may even manage to get an even greater share for Maruti. It also adds an option for buyers in the 4+ lakhs segment. The mileage, going by the initial reports and test conditions is very good. The fact that it has been launched in 5 models including 2 diesel ones gives the buyer an option to go for a diesel car in the B+ segment. The increasing congestion in urban areas has increased the demand in the B+ segment. So it should definately give a boost to the sales. Being a Maruti car, the service shouldn't be much of a problem.
Cons of Maruti Ritz
The looks of Ritz aren't anything to talk about. It has a close resemblence to A-star and I believe that could be a reason for its undoing. Swift as a car is miles ahead of A-star and competing a minnow like ritz with Swift is a not a very wise option. It could end up just like A-star.
Features :
Price: 4lakh - 5+ lakhs
It will be released in five variants – 3 petrol models 2 diesel models –
It is the most talked about and the most laughed about team of IPL 2. It did shake a few stones in IPL-1 but this year the popularity of kolkatta knight Riders has probably exceeded combined popularity of all other teams. Kolkatta Knight Riders have presented themselves like hot and spicy chicken in front of other teams of IPL, who are more than willing to have a delicious meal. So what really went wrong ? I've compiled things that happened on Kolkatta Knight Riders during the course of IPL-2, some that boosted them and quite a few that busted them.
The 10 things that went wrong for Kolkatta Knight Riders in IPL-2
#1. Four Captain Theory : A four headed monster was in the mind of John Buchanan. He ended up creating a four headed behemoth eating up each other.
#2. Sourav Ganguly aka Bye Bye Dada : He was simply sliced like a infected piece and removed.
#3. Over demanding owner : Imagine the pressure you are under at work when your manager (boss) is standing on your head. In a game where pressure can break the coolest of guys, SRK probably over pressurized the team. His celeb status was an added weight.
#4. Fake IPL player : If media was adding salt to the wounds of KKR, an insider came up with free media(blog) and just add red chilli to the wounds.
#5. John Buchanan : Coaching Australians and Indians is different. (Ab to samajh Lo!!!). As if the case of Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappel wasn't enough to teach a lesson.
#6. Unusual Suspect (Aakash Chopra) : Leaving Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar as a part of cost cutting exercise could hurt more than having them and paying for their travel and stay. I still believe Aakash Chopra is the person behind Fake IPL player blog.
#7. Ajit Agarkar : This Bombay duck has always embarrassed the Indian team. His days were over the day he took his 50th wicket. Under pressure he has a habit of wide-no ball-full toss practice.
#8. Numerology (Jumaani da Jumaanji) : Shahrukh Khan apparently consulted a numerologist and dropped "Kolkatta" from Kolkatta knight Rider. Seems quite a few Bengalis were upset by this gesture and did not give the much needed blessings. A numerologist (Sanjay Jumaani) suggested Shahrukh Khan to change the name.
#9. Racial Rifts : This is Indian Premier League. It is Indian. WTF! How can one even think of racial abuse. Money buys a lot, but please don't sell India.
#10. Performance : Finally the most important thing. Poor performance. Their focus was getting shifted to Knights and Angels who eventually did not even make it to the stage. Huh! What ay gimmick.
And what went in their favour...
#1. Rain : The one match, which they've won till now is due to D/L method. Else they would have lost that too.
If you've been recently tuning into radio you might have noticed a drastic change in content. The time of political jingles on radio is over and finally we can here more quality music. The take over of political jingles on Radio did have an affect on my tolerance capabilities. The worst pieces of jingles you can ever here are political ones filled with castles of false promises only to get one and only thing - Your all so precious vote.
The pelting of "Vote for ... because he is for development" was another pain in the ear. Our politicians seem to have got this word stuck in their head and all they say in their conversations is development. Another talk is "we are secular and you are not".
The ray of hope is that radio is alive for good. Battling the heat of the gangetic plain needs a good room conditioner and good music. Probably when it comes to acknowledging the role of Radio in society, it is the most forgotten medium. The morning RJ has definately made a place in your life as he spends those hours when you are stuck in traffic jam, trying to make you feel better. And when did you last listen to what the candidates in your constituency are trying to say. It was probably on the radio last evening, when you were coming from work.
As a marketing medium it is cost effective having a firm foothold on a local population. This is being made use of by retailers, politicians and other local businesses. Radio also helps you find whatever you've missed. Like today's news, the song you once heard, the candidate you want to vote for, the scheme you wanted to know about, the traffic stats, latest movies or gossip.
Communication is a very important tool for socio-economic development of an area. It is high time that attention be paid on evolving radio as a cheap and effective medium for communicating policies and info, especially in rural areas.
Today, in a deep economic crisis, an era of terrorism and energy scarcity, there is also a need for a wide promotion of culture. With economic development, the cultural development is also very important. This role also lies with the radio as music, the language of the soul can transcend all boundaries to unify a region.
Talking about unity and cultural development, music of Pandit Shubhendra Rao and his wife Saskia, caught a chord with my soul transforming the air of indecisiveness into a breeze of peace.
East Marries West is the new musical language developed by Pandit Shubhendra Rao and Saskia Rao. Its soul is open, its mind secure in the Indian Classical tradition.
So if you want to relax, refresh your thoughts and mind in an overly paced life (un life like), I'd suggest that you spare a few minutes and enjoy the serenity and I'm also sure you'll have a new reposeful sleep.
Ram Gopal Varma is again on the controversy lane, Film street, India. This time it is the parody of the national anthem that hasn't been taken too kindly by people of India. Sunil and Hemant say "I strongly feel that nobody should use our national anthem for their personal gains." Now putting the controversy aside, I'd like to ask that why small issues in this country are given so much importance than core issues. I'm highly disappointed by the voter turn out this time. People don't have time to vote but have time point fingers. Looking at Aravalli Hills and the irreversible ecological damage that has been caused, I feel cheated. What is the use of having an anthem or a flag, when we don't respect the land they are made for. Is this what was once used to be sone ki chidiya? Moreover there is nothing in the song that insults the country. It is blatant truth and we have to accept it.
One comment on youtube in favour of RGV reads "Simply Awesome.... but Indians dont have habit to listen truth... and there is nothing like right .. its $$$$ #### to others ... for me the best coz truth is always best...."
In the lyrics and the video, I see nothing that offends our country.
Jana gann mana rann hai Is rann me zakhmi hua hai bhaarat ka bhaagya vidhaata Punjab sindh gujrat maratha Ek doosre se ladd ke mar rahe hain Is desh ne humko ek kiya Hum desh ke tukdey kar rahe hain Dravid utkal banga Khoon bahaa ker, ek rang ka kar diya humne tiranga Sarhadon pe jung aur Galiyon me fasaad danga Vindh himachal yamuna ganga Me tezaab ubal raha hai Mar gaya sab ka zameer Jaane kab zinda ho aagey Phir bhi tava shubh naame jaage Tava shubh aashish maange Aag me jal kar cheekh raha hai Phir bhi koi nahi sach ko bachaata Gaahe tava jaya gaatha Desh ka aisa haal hai lekin Aapas me ladd rahe neta Jana gann mangal daayak jaya hai Bhaarat ko bacha le vidhaata!!! Jaya hai ya yeh marann hai Jana gann mana rann hai
After the big or rather hugely embarrassing performance at IPL 2, all the biggies of Kolkatta Knight riders would want a safe hiding place. The team and their unintentional antics have been the butt of all jokes lately. They have also given stimulus to probably India's post popular blog, The Fake IPL player. The author claims to be one of the members of KKR.
MTV in their daily show, showed five ways to insult KKR. Now can you imagine that! Few days back the Delhi Dare devils had a match against the Kolkatta Knight Riders aka Filmy riders and even before the match began, my younger cousin was confident that it would be another devil dream for the filmy knights. Shahrukh has probably decided to come back and rightly so too. He would earn more money by dancing at weddings than boosting his bust team.
The story of the Filmy riders is a perfect plot for a pot boiler hindi film. But as the hindi film hero always wins in the end, a win in the movie might just add extra salt to their wounds. That shouldn't be much of a problem since the pain would have been numb by now.
I recently read that the KKR brand value is the highest among all IPL teams but the fake IPL player says that the words from sponsors haven't been kind enough. Watching Star Plus, Nokia logos on a team that is being bashed up in every outing would certainly hurt them also.
The funniest part of the KKR outing this season is that they've done everything right except for cricket. Dada (in happier times) was busy judging a reality show, which was there to select cheer girls for KKR team. After this season only a few dare darlings might show up for the next one. I have immense respect for dada, but I feel he is just spending his old age in cricket, content with the pension of KKR.
On the stranger side despite getting good money, I still don't know why they are cribbing. Filmy riders had dug half their grave even before the beginning of the tournament. The four captaincy theory was nothing but a ploy to remove the old rusty war horse (Dada). And see what happened.
I only hope, right people are sent to the right places this time. Buchanan deserves a special toast for giving us all the fun and masala for cracking jokes. As far as DADA is concerned, he'll give the Filmy riders another adventurous year.
I went to my college for collecting the security deposit after an eternity. The day was hot and sunny with a few cool breezes to ease the heat. Apart from the changed weather, quite a few changes had taken place this time. The placements, which normally began from sixth semester i.e. at the end of third year will now be held in eight semester i.e. the end of B-tech programme. A letter from a top IT company, which was put up on the notice board read that students don't work hard after they get a job and hence the placements would now begin just before the graduation finishes.
The letter reads... *************************
I am sure you will agree that over the last several years, given the tremendous opportunities that have opened up for students, there has been a visible shift in focus of students from acquiring knowledge and expertise in their areas of study to getting a lucrative job offer on campus. Also, owing to increased demand across industries, and pressure from students on college managements, placement seasons have been advanced drastically and today it starts as early as the 6th semester in many colleges.
Based on feedback shared by the academia in various forums, we understand that students lose the motivation and interest in their continued education the moment they get an offer of employment. While this not only impacts their academic performance, the complacency, and poor grasp of concepts & fundamentals become impediments to their performance during training and performance on the job. This results in increased lead times, cost over-runs and delays in project delivery to clients.
As a first step to address these issues, you may have received a communication from NASSCOM urging you to organize campus placements for your students only during the 8th semester. This communication is aimed at ensuring that students focus on acquiring knowledge, and present themselves as better professionals when recruiters assess them during the 8th semester. Further, the proximity of campus recruitment dates to that of their actual joining would help eliminate lack of focus and complacency. This also provides the industry with more time to crystallize their plans considering rapid changes to the global business landscape.
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Although the shift may affect the state of minds of the students, it will also give good time for students wishing to prepare for CAT , GRE , GATE and other exams. The positives would be that the results of these exams are out in the earlier part of eighth semester making the choice easier for them to avoid sitting in campus placements and giving others a good chance. On the negative side some of the most important and interesting things of engineering would get lost in this kind of future planning and preparation. These things are the final year subjects (inc optional ones) and the project work. My favourite subject was mobile communication and I ensured I took it in both seventh and eight semester. This ensured a job in a telecom company. Anyways, this change is going to give a few anxious moments and the increased number of seats, and market slowdown might make the going tough this year.
The day when I met a Ms Media cum political pundit,her patient junior, found a new formula and went to the bar where all politicians are spending hard. CP is one of the most preferred hang outs in Delhi and with quite a few media offices around, the chance of you bumping into a media personality is quite high. I was having fun time with a friend at the Mc Donalds CP outlet in Delhi when two girls who probably belonged to the media caught our attention. Let me tell you that I had never in my life seen two people confused to the core. When a rat sees a cat it runs in the most confused manner possible and ends up being the cat's super supper. Their conversation began from the FAKE IPL blog that has created quite a stir these days, and fingers pointing to "Aakash Chopra" as one the perpetrators. But then came the storm of confusion when the talks of alliance formation stirred my seemingly settled coke. It was strong enough for my shirt to have a close shave with the sweet aerated drink. From my observation of the two females, the one who ate more also spoke more and also seemed more confused.
Female 1: It seems party X will join party Y. (Starts her Chicken McGrill) Female 2: Ok. (Then takes a sip of iced tea) Female 1: (Still munching) But party X has some issues with party Y. Female 2: Ok. (Then takes a sip of iced tea) Female 1: (Still munching) Party Z has some issues with party X. Female 2: Ok. (Then takes a sip of iced tea) Female 1: (Still munching) And party Z and Y have a strong alliance. Female 2: Ok. (Then takes a sip of iced tea)
After issues and five minutes of this hazy food excursion comes a good solid burp from the 1st female!
Female 1: (Finishes her coke and burger) Get me another burger. I'll pay for it Female 2: No No. I'll pay... Female 1: No. I'm the senior let me pay. Female 2: Don't worry I'll get it for you Ma'am. After a crappy session of I'll pay... Female 1: Ok! Get french fries too. (Whatt!!! WTFish) Female 2: Ok Ma'am. (And leaves with a disgruntled look )
My friend felt it was better to go out in the heat than listen to an over weight chick with too much food and gyan. Looking at Female 2 you'll realize that patience is a virtue that is important to survive. One thing I learnt from this experience was that those who speak too much also eat too much. And I tried this analogy at many people I knew and believe me in 9 out of 10 cases it was true. (Fact: I'm slightly overweight) But there are a set of people for whom the theory does not apply. Like - Commentators (especially cricket) and politicians. Onto confusion, the most confused ducks on the Saturday nights dance floor are the political pundits. Party workers are busy serving the drinks while the bar owners aka media owners are getting good business from the big budgets of political parties. Election commission aka Bouncers are busy preventing the hooligans from crossing the line. After this big Saturday night party is over some political parties will drive home safely,some will take a lift, few will be beaten up by bouncers before the show is over and many will be caught drunk driving. Woah! One helluva story to cover with masala, appointment and disappointment. I wonder the effects of hangover.
Damn! Only 48% was the voter turn out in Mumbai despite hell falling over it in November 2008. Do we have the right to blame, think again. I am highly dissapointed at this shameless show of hypocrisy by the financial capital of India. I look back at the face of new India, which I saw in the wake of the Mumbai Terror attacks and although the unfortunate incident took place, I saw a united India full of conviction. What right do we have to blame those who misuse power, exploit us, eat our hard earned money or incite violence. I was shocked to see a superstar who took part in lead India campaign urging people to vote and herself did not vote. I recently saw "Mumbai Meri jaan" based on the lives of the men after the Mumbai serial bombings that took place on 11th july 2006. Watching the movie, I felt the pain of those who went through the agony of being the innocent victims. The efforts of the independents is waste if we don't show our support towards their bold initiative. I somehow believe that the big problems of recession, global instability, food security and environment can also be solved by taking the small step of voting. India is today strategically placed to solve the crises the world faces because of the sheer strength of population and the geopolitical situtation. If our own fellow Indians won't go out and vote, maybe a time will come when we would have to pack our bags and leave. Please don't let that happen.
