Anurag Jain's Blog
Friday, April 30, 2004

IIMB Event: Summer Film Festival

-----Original Message-----
From: Film Club
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2004 3:26 PM
To: Film Club
Subject: The Summer Film Festival

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We welcome you to The Summer Film Festival.

To start with, there are two movies being screened tonight:
1) Angoor (Hindi, Starring Sanjeev Kumar, Rating: For All Ages)
2) My Sassy Girl (Korean with sub-titles, Rated: Parental Guidance)

The movies will be screened at the L-Square in the Student's Hostel Blocks 7.30 pm onwards. In the subsequent weeks we will look at the possbility of shifting the venue to the OAT lawns.

We look forward to your presence at the screenings tonight.

Regards
Dress-Circle, The IIMB Film Club
“KEEP WATCHING”

(This mail has been sent to Faculty, Staff, PGPPM 2003, PGP 2003, FPM Students, Project Assistants and Research Fellow & Associates)
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Classic Weekends: High and Low

Welcome to the April programme of Collective Chaos: C L A S S I C W E E K E N D S
On 30th Friday April 2004
At SCM Hall, Mission Road at 6.30 pm
High and Low
Akira Kurosawa
143 min / Japan / 1962

Synopsis:

High and Low never wavers under the assured direction of Akira Kurosawa. It is, all at once: a procedural crime story, a social commentary on the casualties of industrialization, the redemption of a man's soul. A wealthy executive, Gondo (Toshiro Mifune), hosts an informal board meeting in his insular residence atop a hill, overlooking the urban decay of industrial Japan. A corporate subversion is proposed, leading to the polite, but forced retirement of the traditionalist company president. At stake is the direction of National Shoes: quality versus profitability. Gondo disagrees with the ouster, and plans a takeover bid, raising capital by mortgaging his property. On the eve of the transaction, he receives a telephone call demanding ransom for the return of his son. However, the kidnapper has mistakenly taken the chauffeur, Aoki's (Yutaka Sada) son. To pay the exorbitant ransom will financially ruin him. To refuse payment will make him morally bankrupt.

As the title suggests, elevation provides a visual leitmotif to the narrative development of High and Low. Gondo's estate, the landmark recognition of Mount Fuji, and the smoke stack from a garbage-burning plant (note the only infusion of color into the film), all provide pivotal clues to the identity of the kidnapper. The second telephone call provides a subtle statural shift between Gondo, the police (who are forced to lie prone on the floor to avoid detection), and Aoki (overcome with emotion), symbolizing Gondo's moral redemption. The low lying squatter hovels, addict-infested Dope Alley, and red light district basement bar provide an incongruous foil to the prosperity and seeming order of modern Japan. In the end, Gondo's wealth is the price of one man's salvation, and another's destruction.

For more information and roadmap log on to: http://www.collectivechaos.org/current_schedule.html


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Thursday, April 29, 2004

Trip to Savanadurga (aka Savandurga), May 8-9

A few of my friends have started this company recently and this is their maiden trek! I have been to Savanadurga (aka Savandurga/Svanadurga/Svandurga) three times, I think. And its a fantabulous place!

Let nature give you company during the weekend!
Getaway trip for Bangaloreans to Savandurga May 8-9 (Sat & Sun), '04



Scene 1:
Driving through a traffic jam to reach the workplace... Exchanging pleasantries... Dabbling on the keypad like a maniac... Attending fruitless meetings... Coffee for lunch... Sitting through presentations with bloodshot eyes... Dabble, dabble, dabble. Some more coffee for the evening... Reach home late night... Crash as though the bed was a graveyard!

Scene 2:
Early morning. Lush green mountains surround you from all sides. Multihued birds lending their voices to the sound of the soft breeze whistling past leaves. Tents pitched in the midst of nature. Dense foliage all around you. Relax. Read.
Wake up to some adventure - learn the basics of rock-climbing; tying different kinds of rope knots; pitching tents. Cook your own meal with the help of a bunch of friends. Wash it down with a chilled beer or cola. Then get prepared to brush your geography in a hands-on session on the flora and fauna of the region.
Sunset. Moonlight. A dreamy campfire beneath thousands of twinkling stars. Snuggle up in a cozy sleeping bag. Culmination of a perfect day. All this in the company of a few close friends.

We, at Nature Yogi Voyages, believe in facilitating this transition of lifestyles for you through our weekend solutions. After Delhi, we kick off our Bangalore Chapter starting from May 8-9 (Sat & Sun), with a trip to the granite cliffs of Savandurga, 60 km off Bangalore. On our drive, we shall also stopover at The Great Banyan Tree for breakfast. We would love to have your friends and you join in for this weekend joyride!

Organizers:
Nature Yogi Voyages - Your Weekend Solution Provider
For details, contact
Hari @ +91 98863 73048
hari@natureyogi.com
Nimish @ +91 98456 93443
in conjunction with Mars Adventures

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Touchbass postponed

(See my earlier post about the original announcement)
TOUCHBASS 2004 is postponed by a week due to unavoidable circumstances. The De Rack O Brain Quiz will therefore happen on Sunday, 9 May 2004. The rules and schedule stand.
Venue: St. John's Auditorium, Koramangala, Bangalore.
Date: 9 May 2004

Rules
Two members per team, Both members must carry ID, Entry Fee: Rs. 2500/- per corporate house, A corporate house paying the entry fee can field an unlimited number of teams, Payments in favour of Wishbone Music, Teams can register at the venue but must confirm entry beforehand., Call Chris Avinaash (98452 12059) or email arul_mani@hotmail.com to confirm. Prizes in cash and kind for winners.

Schedule
Teams must report by 1330hrs, Prelims: 1400hrs, Finals: 1500hrs,

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Wednesday, April 28, 2004

ESPERANTO performing live
at Planet M on april 30th 6.30 pm.

And releasing their fourth Album BRICK BOY On the world working children's day By Mrs Deepali Pal, Director ICCR.

The music features dance/ trance electronic sounds of French Sound designer Christian Fauvre and the carnatic veena of Geetha Navale, an unusually heady music concoction. The title track, 'Brick boy' looks at the irony of child labour , how a child who ought to be playing is made to carry bricks all day long for a living. The words are taken from the writings of social activist and artist John Devraj. The album includes 'Chalamela Ra', a renditon of an exquisite 300 year old composition -a "Fat Boy Slim meets Thyagaraja" version 'Aqua Veena' a composition showcasing glass instruments, south american voices and the mother of all instruments - the veena, 'Nanjangudu' a kannada folk song and original compositions like Cyberspace - over an hour of music all touched with the tastefully creative and highly varied pallete of musical sounds at the disposal of the musicians of the esperanto! world music project.

You are invited to grace the occasion and launch the new sound.

Esperanto! the project.

Over the last 4 years, some rather interesting experiments in music are being carried out at the lush creekside of the Guruskool residential music centre, involving musicians, sound designers, and music fiends from all over the globe.

Strange sounds, familiar melodies, rhythms have been juxtaposed / mixed and from the strains a profoundly infectious music has emerged.

Esperanto! the musicians

Geetha Navale, the internationally acclaimed carnatic veena vidushi along with her songwriter husband Gopal Navale and with the wandering ministrel from Denmark, Michael Sorensen, and the all weather percussionist Natraj form the core of the esperanto! project.

In their endeavours to synthesise a new global sound, an ecclectic group of collaborators with diverse specialities, diverse nationalities have spent time at Guruskool. Ranjit Prasad (Jazz Bassist, composer) USA,) Ryan Biesack (Flautist & Jazz Drummer, USA), Jesse Sheehan,( Saxophones, USA, Ganesh Anandan -( frame drums - Canada,) David Rothenberg, - (Free Jazz Clarinetist, ecologist, writer - USA) Bambi - (Sound designer, trancer - France), Martin Kinz - (Composer , Percussion - Germany),Boris Meir - (rock guitarist - Germany), Lourdes Pfeiffer (Cellist - Spain) Robert Wright - (pianist, songwriter -USA) are some of the enligthened musicians have worked on the project.

Esperanto! Live

Introduce their infectious new sound to audiences all over the world by performing and giving workshops in all kinds of venues from clubs to colleges to concert halls ; from malleswaram to manhattan. The great Indian revival at the Kala Academy, Goa, The Knitting Factory in New York, the esprirt de Pondicherry concert and at The Freedom Jam festival in Bangalore have been among the specially memorable ones.

Esperanto! the recordings

They share the excitement of their new sound with these albums:
"Mixd Feel" - carnatic +blues+jazz - 2000
"Ocean Floor" - carnatic veena + western classical cello-2001
"Knitting Knotes"- free jazz bass clarinet+ glass instruments+ carnatic veena -2003
"The Brick boy" - electronic sounds +carnatic+ folk- 2004

They are all available at your Planets M, or online at www.guruskoolmusic.com

Esperanto! feedback

"A dulcet veena solo harkens you to a land of spiritual regeneration, only to deliver you to the warm hug of a blues-harp boogie. A unique mix of instruments, a melting pot of musical genres (not to mention nationalities!), and consummate musicianship are all woven into a riveting and seamless collage" Vishwambar Pati.........The Hindu Blues critic.......
"Valiant Indo - Jazz Fusion, a seamless mix" . ..Jazzebel The Economic Times
" Eclectic sound attempts at broadening the mind, . . . .....the adaptability of the musicians who come from totally different musical backgrounds not once feeling uncomfortable playing with each other. Niranjan Burke, Bangalore Weekly,
" Esperanto evolving in US tour" Jeet Thayil, India In Newyork
" Esperanto an intriguing mix of musical styles" Lisa Tsering , India West
" Breaking new ground in the world of music" Padmini Sitaraman, The Hindu

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Finally Gmail

Yesterday I logged into my blogger account (which hosts this page), and I was surprised to see the Gmail Beta usage invitaion! (I hope this guy gets it too!) I immediately clicked the signup link as I had been desperately waiting to get (anuragjain AT gmail.com). But while signing up, I discovered that nick was already taken! I had to take (anuragkjain AT gmail.com). I have been pipped to my birth-right email ID at Yahoo!, Hotmail earlier. And now at gmail too! God, when will I get anuragjain AT a mainstream mail service! In the meantime, well, you can reach me at my new gmail id: anuragkjain AT gmail.com

The Gmail service looks cool to start with. But its not fast as I expected it to be. Reason, I guess is that its too heavy on JavaScript. Also, it does not have any 'signature' option, a few lines that automatically get attached at the end of every mail. Further, it doesn't have a "Remember Me" sort of option for logging in. Hence, everytime I restart the browser, I have to sign in all over again.

Heck, at 1GB of storage I dont wanna whine :)
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Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Travelling Film South Asia 2004

Forum 19.1(a) and Law and Society, student groups from St. John's Medical College and National Law School respectively are hosting the Bangalore edition of Travelling Film South Asia between 30th April and 2nd May, 2004.

Travelling Film South Asia is a collection of 15 outstanding documentaries originally screened at Film South Asia, an biennial documentary film festival organised by the Himal Association in Kathmandu. The films showcase the best of South Asian non-fiction film-making, giving audiences an opportunity to sample an exciting range of topics and themes, presentation styles and techniques

Dates: 30th April - 2nd May, 2004
Venue: St. John's Medical College Auditorium, Koramangala, Bangalore -560034
Tickets: Rs.20/- per day. Tickets available at venue. For more information visit www.191.tk or contact 3185 7911

Schedule

Friday, 30th April, 2004
4.45 - 6.45 pm
Naatha (The Bond) (45 min) India, 2003, dir: KP Jayasankar & A Monteiro Crisis of identity in modern India
Godhra Tak: The Terror Trail (60 min) India, 2003, dir: Shubradeep Chakravorthy Genesis of a communal riot in Gujarat
7.00 - 9.00 pm
Aap Hamare Hain Kaun (7 min) India, 2002, dir: Mdhusree Dutta Whatever happened to Gandhi's legacy?
Sand and Water (105 min) Bangladesh, 2002, dir: Shaheen Dill-Riaz Life along the Jamuna. Winner of the Third Best Film Award at Film South Asia '03

Saturday, 1st May, 2004
4.45 - 7.15 pm
Itihaas Jitneharuka Laagi (History for Winners) (47 min) Nepal, 2003, dir: Pranay Limbu A singer who refuses to fight.
A Night of Prophecy (77 min) India, 2002, dir: Amar Kanwar Poets in times and places of conflict.
7.30 - 9.30 pm
Vox Populi (12 mins) India, 2004, dir: Vinay Sitapati NLS students travel to Pakistan
Shei Rater Kotha Bolte Eshechi (Tale of the Darkest Night) (43 min) Bangladesh, 2001, dir: Kawsar Chowdhury Pakistan army begins attack on East Pakistan Winner of the Second Best Film Award at Film South Asia '03

Sunday, 2nd May, 2004
10.00 am - 1.00 pm
Bhedako Oon Jasto (In Search of a Song) (55 min) Nepal, 2003, dir: Karan Krishna Shrestha Following a tune to the mountains Winner of Special Mention at Film South Asia '03
Hunting Down Water (32 min) India, 2003, dir: Sanjay Barnela & Vasant Saberwal The shortage and surplus of water
Buru Sengal (The Fire Within) (57 min) India, 2002, dir: Shriprakash Tribals face the brunt of coal extraction Winner of the Grand Jury Award at Film South Asia '03
3.00 - 5.30 pm
Resilient Rhythms (64 mins) India, 2002, dir: Gopal Menon Dalits and the odds
Vikas Bandook Ki Naal Se (Development Flows from the Barrel of the Gun) (54 min) India, 2003, dir: Biju Toppo and Meghnath For the sake of the larger good
6.00 - 8.00 pm
Made in India (39 min) India, 2002, dir: Madhusree Dutta Visual culture in contemporary India
The 18th Elephant - 3 Monologues (62 min) India, 2003, dir: P. Balan Elephants speak up against human atrocities. Winner of the Ram Bahadur Trophy for Best Film at Film South Asia '03.
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Two not-so-mainstream courses!

1) K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR's) in association with Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. has started a 18-month Diploma in Retail Management.

Course Fee
The Course fee is Rs. 60,000 per student. Computer Lab fees, Library fees, and Faculty Consultation fees will amount to an additional one-time payment of Rs. 6,000 per student.

For details contact:
The Registrar
Vidyavihar, Mumbai - 400 077
Tel: (022) - 2509 0864/65, 2516 3096, 2515 8243, 2514 0006, Fax: (022) 2515 6583
E-mail: admission@simsr.somaiya.edu, Web site: www.pantaloon.com

2) Indian Institute of Jewellery has started offering:
* Regular Program (Two Years) / Fast Track (32 Weeks) - All modules
* Part time (One Year) - Modules 1 and 2

Details at IIJ website
Contact:
Indian Institute of Jewellery
The Modern Mills Ltd.,
101, K Khadye Marg, Mahalaxmi,
Mumbai - 400 011.
Tel: +91 22 5666 1102
Fax: +91 22 2300 4230/2307 5787
Email: info@indianinstituteofjewellery.com

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Bhoomi Jathre Schedule

May 1st, 2004, 4pm onwards at Fireflies on Kanakpura Road (see earlier post below)

This is to give you a final performance schedule as well as a couple other jathre details*

a.. This year the theme for Bhoomi Jathre is Water. Fireflies will have a stall dealing with issues of water, water sharing, water harvesting, the politics of water etc. If any of you would like to display posters, pamphlets etc, please get in touch with Deepu at 94481- 30756.
b.. Bhoomi Jathre passes are available at all Café Coffee Days and Casa Picolas. They are priced at Rs 200 per pass.
c.. We have two new stalls - a FREE BOOKS STALL & a FLEA MARKET. Contact Anita at 98440-01619 for the FBS and George at 98457-66843 for the
FM. Please don't bring things randomly because we have a major space constraint and need to plan in advance.
d.. Please bring umbrellas, rain-coats, hats, tarps etc in the event of rain. We are assuming that even if it does rain, it will be for 45 mins to an hour, and celebrate water we must! Therefore*.the show will go on.
e.. This year, between performances, Collective Chaos & Pedestrian Pictures are showing a curated package of short documentary films.
f.. Performers and their performances for this year include*
Soliga Troupe - Bhoomi Geethe (Folk songs)
Bhima Sangha - Bhoomi Geethe (Fold songs)
Dalit Mahila Sangha - Protest Songs
Attakalari - Contemporary Dance
River - Fusion Band
Madrigals, Etc - Western classical a capella singing
Tara Kini - Hindustani Vocal performance (including Kabir bhajans)
Tripura Kashyap & Meenal Choudhary - Aranya Kiran, dance-theatre piece
about Rukmini & Krishna
Mallikarjuna - Vachanas
Swaraspandana with Shanti Rao (Veena),
Dr.Sangeetha (Violin), CN Anand (Tabla)
Ramu Natarajan (Veena),
& Mahadevanna (Mridangam) - Carnatic Classical performance
Konarak Reddy & Muthu Kumar - Guitar & Tabla Band (with Paul Santiago &
Priya Kumar)
Oikyotaan - Folk-Rock Band
Thermal & a Quarter - Rock band
Please forward this to others who maybe interested. Thanks.

See you at the jathre!
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A stereotypical male myth?

What a cute strip :)



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Monday, April 26, 2004

Bloggers get to try Gmail

Blogger (Blogspot) users are the first ones to get an invite from Google for its Gmail beta service. Only 'active' users of blogger are getting this offer. I've got a Blog on Blogger [where else are u reading this!], but I wasn't considered "active" enough to be invited to participate :(.

I like this funny guy I want Gmail :)
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Packed Weekend

Friday: Nice start of the weekend.
Friday evening started off with the participation in The Hindu BusinessLine Quiz at the Hotel Gateway (Residency Road). My team partner was Nimish Adani (IIML). Ryze sponsored our participation. The only problem was that due to some miscommunication on Hindu's part, we reached late for the quiz. I reached at the question number 11 of prelims round, my partner arrived at Q #16, and the quiz ended at Q#21! Didn't make it to final round (6 finalist teams). Sat through the whole quiz. It was a lot of fun. The quiz master Suresh Kumar was lacking in enthusiasm, though. Here are some of the questions:

Prelims round:
* Which was the first Asian IT company to reach 1b$ revenues?
* Which is the company ranked number 2 in Fortune 500
* Name the product that connects Art Fry and the Bible.
* Which global pharma company was taken over by Ranbaxy recently?
* From which city does Park Avenue range of products gets its name?
* Who coined the term "Knowledge Workers"?
* Who wrote "Purple Cow"?
* Whose company's logo is a Prancing Horse?
* Which computer company is headqartered in Round Rock, Texas?
* Which company was started by Anil Mulchandani in 1978?
* Who is the current president of Nasscom?
Mains Round
* What is Greenwashing?
* Who has named his consultancy company the Z Group?
* Laurin and Klement! What of those?
* What or which incident, according to David Sarnoff, was a turning point in his career, as well as that of the radio medium?
* What's Intravenous Level in marketing jargon?
* In which corporate organisation does Virender Sehwag work?.
* Of which product is Mysore Paints and Varnishes the sole producer?
* What is a Zombie computer?
* What line was voted as The Advertising Line of The Century a few years back?

Went to CrossWord with friends after the quiz. Was having a discussion with Tarun about the book "The Alchemist" when he suddenly disappeared for a minute and returned with a copy of this Paulo Coelho classic as a gift for me! Rounded off the evening with dinner at Chandni Chowk.

Saturday: The Networking Day.
Met a friend for Andhra lunch at Status (bang opposite IIMB). In the afternoon, met up with a wanna-be entrepreneur, Deepak. A product of EDI, Mallik is a very nice guy. Had a nice discussion about some of the great ideas he has. In the evening, went to The Forum mall with a friend where she shopped like crazy. Later, spent the evening hogging at The Hungry Buddha and Cafe coffee day, both near The Forum and opposite Raheja Arcade.

Sunday: The Full-of-energy day.
Got up at 0700 to go RC flying (Aeromodels flying) with a friend of mine, N. Adarsh. Went to his home where loaded up a chopper (Raptor) and a fixed-wing craft (Red Baron) in his car and took off for the field at Hoskote. Usual flying spot is Jakkur aerodrome, but due to the recent Cessna crash there (in which south Indian actress Soundarya got killed), we chose Hoskote which is 30 kms from Bangalore on Old Madras Road. Robbie joined us at NKGEF. Apart from Aeromodeling, Robbie is also doing his regular CPL (Commercial Pilot License) at Hyderabad. Once at Hoskote, the aeromodeling enthusiasts gang was present in strength! Suman, Suresh, and Anchal were there with their aircrafts. Suman was trying his hand on relatively new chopper and he was pretty good at it. But when Adarsh flew his Raptor, it was magical! The way he took off, the acceleration and the speed was wow! Even as we were flying the Raptor, Robbie's fixed winger was taking off and within a few seconds of take-off we heard a thud sound: Robbie's plane had crashed. It had nosedived into, fortunately, the muddy ground. The wing was smashed totally and the fuel tank was ruptured. Apparently, the elevators had stopped responding and thats what led to the crash. Then Suresh started his fixed-wing plane. For expertise reasons, Adarsh started its take-off and within seconds of take-off, this one nosedived too and crashed into hard ground. This crash was real bad. I saw it splitting into pieces when it hit the ground. The whole front was gone, propeller and works. Engine was thrown a few feet away. Later, while picking up the wreckage we realized that it was the same problem as in the first crash! Something had to be done about the elevators. After a lot of checks and thoughts, Adarsh started his fixed winger: Red Baron 007. Now, this one flew like a dream! We had it in air for like 20 mins. And then refueled it and again did it for similar amount of time. Adarsh did loops, rolls, hammer and stuff! I also tried my hands at the controls for a while and it was quite a feeling controlling a flying bird :) Came back by 1300 and saw Adarsh's other models (including a fantastic Mustang!) at his home. Watched some "True Lies" for the sake of his fantastic JVC hometheater's fantabulous audio!

In the evening, my best bud Niraj was coming to town. So, me, Jai, Chadda, and Niraj met up at The Leela at around 1700. Loafed around at Barista, and the Cha Bar till 2000 and then dropped Niraj off at the airport for his 2040 flight. It was so nice catching up with him after a long time :)
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Sunday, April 25, 2004

The De Rack O Brain Quiz at TOUCHBASS 2004

A general quiz for corporate teams on Sunday, 2 May 2004 at the St. John's Auditorium, Koramangala, Bangalore.

Rules: Two members per team. Both members must carry ID. Entry Fee: Rs. 2500/- per corporate house. A corporate house paying the entry fee can field an unlimited number of teams. Payments in favour of Wishbone Music. Teams can register at the venue but must confirm entry beforehand. Call Chris Avinaash (98452 12059) or email arul_mani@hotmail.com to confirm. Prizes in cash and kind for winners.

Schedule: Teams must report by1330hrs, Prelims: 1400hrs, Finals: 1500hrs.
Quiz Master: Arul Mani, KQA.
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Saturday, April 24, 2004

Nice historical quote and some trivia!

The French general Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) said this on Sep 5, 1914 (some accounts say Sep 8) during first World War in a message sent to General Joffre during Battle of the Marne:

"Ma droite est enfoncée, ma gauche cède-tout va bien-j'attaque!"
("My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack." or "My right gives way, my left yields, everything's fine-I shall attack!")

Quoted in: B. H. Liddell Hart, Reputations, "Ferdinand Foch" (1928). This was in all likelihood apocryphal, originating in Foch's repeated refrain to his troops, Attaquez! According to Liddell Hart, his insistence decimated the companies under his command, and the eventual German withdrawal astonished the exhausted French troops.

Foch's slogan "j'attaque" became the war-cry of for the struggling French nation against Nazis. When the war ended, an armistice was signed between the Allied Forces and the Axis. In the signing ceremony which was held in a railway coach, General Foch was one of the key people present. Later, in World War II, when Germany defeated France, Hitler insisted on signing the surrender agreement in the same railway coach and thats where they actually did it.
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Friday, April 23, 2004

Putting some sense in elections

Thank God, there are watchdog bodies like the Karnataka Election Watch Committee (KEWC) that keep a tab on the candidates' data. (I get to know about KEWC activities because its convenor Prof. Trilochan Sastry teaches at IIM Bangalore).

KEWC is committee of Eminent Personalities and is a Non-Partition and a Non-Political one. The purpose of the committee is to inform the voters about the candidates and helping them in making better and informed choice in exercising their franchise in the coming elections to Karnataka Assembly and the Indian Parliament. You can see the following details on Karantaka candidates at KEWC (/Janaagrha) site :

List of candidates with criminal cases from BJP, Janata Dal, Congress and Independent parties
List of criminal cases against candidates from various parties
Candidates with Nil Assets or Not Declaring Market Value
Candidates with High Total Assets
Candidates with over Rs.25,000 Government Dues
Lok Sabha Karnataka Phase 1, 2004 - Candidates with Criminal Cases

Neat data!
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Thursday, April 22, 2004

RainSeed 6| Saturday, April 24 | TownsEnd, Yelahanka

--------------------------------------
Hey there,

It's peak summer and the skies need some darkening. So RainSeed 6 brings you a little more than music.

On the bill this time are Prakash Sontakke, who you may remember from the RainSeed Guitars festival of November 2003, and jazz guitarist Arun Andrews, who despite his great humility, boasts one of the most blessed set of fingers on the fretboard this side of Al DiMeola.

A bit of an old TAAQ reunion is in the air, too. TAAQ's founding bassist Sunil Chandy will join Thermal And A Quarter as TAAQ Alter-Natives and perform a variety of solos, acoustic and electric, trios and experimental sessions.

Also look out for installations by Biju Joze and Vivek Vilasini, two young, acclaimed artists.

Join us for a little night music and more.

RainSeed 6 TownsEnd, Yelahanka Saturday, April 24, 2004 8.30 pm onwards Entry Rs 100 at the gate Event coordinated by The T-Pot

For more details and a map with directions, log on to thermalandaquarter.
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PICMET '04

Today, my paper on Strategic IS Leadership was selected for Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET) Sypmosium to be held during July 31 - Aug. 4, 2004 at Seoul, Korea.
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Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Paper Tape or BASIC?

Did you know how had Bill Gates provided the interpreter of BASIC to Altair? In the form of a paper tape!



Details at ComputerHistory

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Bhoomi Jathre 2004

- For details, call:
Pipal Tree/Fireflies Ashram, Contact: Deepa / John @ 94481 92010 / 843 2130 / 843 2725 (guess u'd have to prefix '2' for landline numbers)
- Official website.

==========================
Dear Friends, 3rd April 2004

Yup, we're doing it again!

After much thought and ideas bashed around (so much had happened - the World Social Forum, Vikalp or The Great Indian Documentary Victory, the elections build-up etc), we decided that rather than merely repeat a good thing, we would take the great energy of last year and go forward.

So Bhoomi Jathre is here on May Day (May 1st) in a 2004 avatar. Once again many of us will gather at the lovely Fireflies on Kanakpura Road. You are welcome to come in any time after 4pm. We will be doing sound checks, but the craft stalls will be open.

Bhoomi Jathre 2004

An all-night, star-lit concert No sponsors A people-supported, community jathre Artists paid from the gate collection Performances 6 pm to Sunrise Music.Food.Dance-Theatre.Craft.Art.Documentary Film

This year we have two new stalls

a.. FREE BOOKS STALL b.. FLEA MARKET Both these have been so planned so as to further audience participation in the jathre, which means you can
1.. donate books to the stall
2.. take home free books from the stall
3.. sell, trade or barter home made crafts, old CD's, blue jeans, batik T-shirts etc at the Flea Market

For info on the Free Books Stall contact Anita at 9844001619 & 22214909 For info on the Flea Market contact George at 98457-66843 There will be an entrance fee to Bhoomi Jathre of Rs 200 to cover costs. Home grown Bhoomi Jathre posters will appear in public spaces, but mostly we are depending on the grapevine and other guerilla techniques to get the word out. So please, talk about it talk about it talk about it talk about it. And forward this to anyone who loves music.

Come, join us*

Momos, biriyani, ragi roti Maybe hesarbele usli and brownies Organic salads and banana-walnut bread Baskets, paper, jholas, chappals. The artists who will perform?

Shanti Rao, CN Anand, Dr.Sangeetha & party, Attakalari, Oikyotaan (Chennai), Collective Chaos, Thermal & a Quarter, Konarak Reddy & Muthu Kumar, Pedestrian Pictures, Tara Kini, Madrigals Etc Tripura Kashyap & Meenal Choudhary, Paul Santiago

Much Warmth,

Kirtana, Konarak, George, and all at Fireflies For Artists' Action Group (AAG)

PS - This year we are pleased to launch an independent Bhoomi Jathre website. This is to encourage others to replicate Bhoomi Jathre. More on this later.
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Some Mandatory Election-time Ranting!

Yes, thats what it is. Its press-the-EVM-button time and its our duty to talk about it :) Even though I have no hesitation in making my political choice (Congress) clear, I must say that I dont necessarily support or contradict the text that follows. Just thought some of the 'facts' here are interesting. Purists Alarm: Never mind the language!!.

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From: rg
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 2:35 PM
Subject: RE: Make India : Fwd. to as many people as you know

Hi
I got and found sensible and forwarded . I did not find it in support of any particular party. But because whichever party is in power , its always quite strong in using means and power. So naturally their steps should be criticized heavily as that ensure better democracy. Its in fashion all over the world in every developed nation. It does not prevail only in countries like India where media starts plaiyng sycophants to the ruling party. Earlier, they (media) were doing the same with the congress and now with the BJP. The truth is that both parties have pros and cons. But there is one clear difference between two parties: Congress looks sensitive towards social responsibilities while BJP behaves a bit childish towards unity in society. They both are corrupt but BJP is like corruption + highhandedness. Chori aur seenajori, one can say.

Rumour spreading is prerogative of Sangh family and noone can beat them in this regard. In rajsthan election they spread rumour among simple villagers that Sonia Gandhi was cabarette dancer in Italy ( Courtesy Shekhar Gupta, chief Editor, Indian Express, who told one such villager that its not true and who in turn told him about who spreaded this rumour). Now as per Times of India talk radio ( u can listen it urself, search archive and look for Ram Krishna Vedanti's interview almost 10 days ago). Vedanti is BJP candidate against Rahul Gandhi and vedanti is saying that 1000 columbian girls have reached Amethi and they do vulgar dances in evening at gardens to sway the voters. I mean you will laugh till hilt if u listen him. And these are candidates of BJP.

Then there is Vinay Katiyar who says Sonia Gandhi has been a curse to Nehru Gandhi family and that she first ate sanjay gandhi, then Indira gandhi and then Rajeev gandhi. When Sanjay gandhi was killed, Menka was pregnant. By the same token, why was Menka gandhi not unlucky for family? Again, why was Varun gandhi not a curse for his father? Is there any end to such nonsense?

Suppose you start working on a new area in your department and you put hard work and develop an understanding of the area and collect all facilities to do the work and you are at the threshold of getting results and at that time you are transferred to another place either for good job or for any reason and some Mr X joins your previous lab and naturally his path is very easy as you have paved ways for him or any of your successors. He may look smart in working because he has got every thing though it was you who worked hard to gather those facilities and it was who you developed all basic infrastructure. If some day you listen from your ex-colleague that your previous lab is doing good and getting good results and getting recognition and then the present staff or person working in your place says that Mr Y (you) did not do anything and we did everything, then you will understand what it means when BJP says they did everything in 5 years what previous govts. could not do in 45 years. Rao, who made national highway authority which proposed this golden quadruple road plans, should be genuinly disturbed when he asks , this much work in just five years? and we did nothing? Manmohan singh shd be genuinely disturbed if today Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh says they changed market all by themselves. Though fact is that yashwant sinha was finance minister in the Chandrashekhara govt, why could he not envisage the same what Manmohan singh did 1 year later?

Its pity Indians goes in wave and they never think as an individual. Priority is to expose hypocrisy of politicians so that we get good politicians in every party and then we can chose parties but at present the need is to select individual candidates and blind support to any party is harmful for indian democrarcy.

Its so ridiculous that if rahul gandhi is a candidate in election then its dynasty but if Chautala khandan is in election or son, brothers of mulayam singh yadav is in election, nephew and relatives of Mr Vajpayee are getting ticket, son of Vasundhara Raje Scindia, son of Jaswant Singh, son of Kalyan Singh, son of Omer Abdullah, son of Ajit Singh, brother in law of Pramod Mahajan, stand in election then its not dynasty. Mahajan says Rahul and Priyanka cant hold high posts because they dont have both parents of Indian origin then what Mahajn was doing when Vajpai made Omer Abdullah minister of foreign affairs? Omer Abdullah's mother is british and lives in london. Who was Rajmata Scindia? she was not of Indian origin. Tomorrow we can object over family of Subhash chandra bose because he married a German woman. We pave our eyelashes for V S naipaul who has nothing to do with India, we feel boasting if any Indian origin person become PM or president in other countries and we play double standards when it comes to India. Bal Thakrey opposes Miss world contest, protest valentine day but lies down on ground to welcome pop singer Jackson. Whats this nonsense.

People like Arun shauri, Arun Jaitley, Shiv raj patil, Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukehrjee should reach Loksabha and not Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Vedanti or Narendra Modi .

One Sam Pitroda's five year action pavd the way for C-Dac and C-DOT and basic infrastructure for communication revolution and we should abide by such learned fellow than to ordinary politicians who can win election by exploiting immature sentiments of less educated people.

I would prefer APJ Kalam over any simple politician. message was this. sorry if any of your sentiments were hurted.
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From: Anurag Jain
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 8:20 AM
Subject: RE: Make India : Fwd. to as many people as you know

Hi
Nice to hear from u again. Even though I agree with you on the false claims on progess that BJP is making, the mail u sent however is quite venomous and seems motivated by political agenda. Would surely be ineterested in discussing more on this in person/phone.

Best wishes,
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From: rg
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 4:26 PM
Subject: FW: Make India : Fwd. to as many people as you know


From: "arpita"

Many aspects of India Shining can have a differing perspective. Look at the last five years of the Indian government.

* The average GDP growth has been 5.7 per cent even after the so-called feel-good 8 per cent growth in 2003-04. The average GDP growth under the Vajpayee government has been lower than under the Indira , Rajiv Gandhi, and Rao governments.
* Never before in the history of India has employment in the organised sector shrunk in the manner it has shrunk in the last five years. 800,000 jobs have been lost in the organised sector across the country.
* There has been no investment growth in agriculture and industry in the last five years.
* The interest rates are low for borrowers, but for savers, the low interest rates are a disaster; high foreign exchange reserves reflect a lack of investment demand. In India, there is no demand for dollars; there is no demand for investment; dollars are coming in, but dollars are not being used. So there is bound to build up a foreign exchange reserve. What will happen if people start taking out their money in foreign currency outside because lot of people keep it in India because Indian banks are giving maximum interest ? People did this in past also and took out dollars as soon as Indian economy was shaking . One cant rely on such fake stocks of foreign currency as Government cant use this money and only can show it as their collected sum.
* One of major politician calls Congress president , who is by chance a woman like any mother and daughter in any Indian's family , a curse who ate her Brother in law, Mother in law and lastly Husband. Same thoughts have been reiterated by BJP candidate contesting against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi. India can afford such backward views? If these thoughts prevail in todays India than no woman is safe in India, no woman can feel respected as then such backward minded men will define women as slave and ill fated creature. Do we want to return in to time of Sati Pratha? Do you want to bring back to that era where your mother , daughter , sister , wife will be treated as cursed woman who brings ill fate to family?
* Congress established IITs, IIMs IISC bangalore, JNU, BARC, C-Dac, C-Dot, BHEL, ONGC , CSIR and never interfered in the functions of these gems of India and therefore Indians could prove to world their worth in due course of time as no Institution was afraid of interference from Government side. Never before any HRD minister ill treated IITs and IIMs as present HRD minister treated. They are brand name of India and have to be saved , They have done remarkably good which tells that their way of function has been nice by and large.
* HRD Minister and his clerks have threatened and insulted members of BOG of IIM. Though fact remains that Mr . Narayan Murthy and others provides jobs to thousands of young people every year and make good image of India worldwide and they are visionary unlike Minister and his fellows who knows only to show off their power.
* One has to learn new skills in school , colleges to earn bread butter in life. One has to earn skill to compete in world economy and Indian student cant afford to lose energy in learning whether Akbar was good king or not or whether some people took part in freedom struggle or not. This whole discussion is bogus and quite illusionary. Leave every history related topic to students of History. If you are student of economics then concentrate what these political parties can offer for sake of India.
* Do we know that our great Leader Subhash Chandra bose married to a German lady and his Daughter Dr Anita Bose still teaches in Germany. Can we afford to pay attention to these bogus issues like foreign origin people? How many foreign people are going to participate in Indian politics that we should forget real issues. India needs progress, development, education else daily we have to bear the news that today a man threw his five children in river and then killed himself because of poverty. So many farmers did suicide . Poor ladies and their small children died during Saree distribution function on the occasion of birthday of our contemporary great leaders. India is shining and 25 women are killed in stampede only for sarees of worth 40 Rs ? States are fighting over matter of water scarcity ?
* Do we need electricity and energy so that we also can enjoy life as any inhabitants of any developed nation if world enjoys or we need matter of useless importance? We need development in our nation so that no Indian has to steal eyes when he is abroad and foreigners pity poverty and poor basic facilities in India.
* India need strong sensible government who does not bend before pressure of multinational co's interests. Our water is precious and its not to fill soft drink bottles without any accountability of that co which they promise before they get permission to use ground water. India has to make sure that if any multination enter in the market and promise that it will make so much export after having manufacturing facility in India then it does fulfil it.
* With killing of Honest Satyendra Dube India lost so much because central Government did not tackle matter nicely neither before when Mr Dube exposed the corruption in the high profile "Golden Quadruple Road Plan" nor after his death . Its blow for young people of India. Will they dare to become honest ?

India could have done much better in last 6 years if India had a visionary government. Due to good show of Indians in software, pharmaceuticals and other service based areas , India could have taken bigger advantages in world economy if India had an experienced and matured government but India could fetch only little amount out of its fate though it was deserving much bigger proportion. India could have shined as a whole but it could not happen. Reality is bitter but one nation has to be realistic to gain real advantage.

Where India could show real worth in case of foreign policy? Pakistan and America duo made fool of India and today Pakistan is having edge over India and America is feeding Pakistan with tons of dollars in lieu of illusionary services which Pakistan pretended to give in destroying terrorism in Afganistan. India has been badly defeated in foreign policy. India was needing a visionary , experienced and matured government in last 6 years when world was passing through transition phase economically , politically.

India is standing at crucial point where almost 50% population is having age below 35 years. This population can turn India in to a developed nation

  where everybody has work to do,
  where everybody can have facility to get education of his interest
  where one lives with freedom of expression
  where one can feel satisfaction and happiness being an Indian

Remember we are living in same India where on call from Lal Bahadur Shastri Indians left taking food in evening when India was facing war with Pakistan. Even restaurants and hotels in so many parts of India stopped cooking food . We had respect for morals and we had respected leaders. India is still having that moral potential.

How many of us know that during Indo-China war when India was deprived of Food grains then USA Obliged India with third grade wheat which was wet and having Ghun inside. India had to face that insult and that insult was healed with green revolution.


We should take vow that never ever India will face such scarcity of food grains in future. How many of us know that USA and Europe and other developed nations give heavy subsidy to their farmers and we Indians don't even respect our farmers and we shout when hear that they are given subsidy on fertilizers. Average farmer is under tremendous pressure in India and India can see development when it comes from all sides and only call centres cant change fate of India.

Don't become emotional while using your precious vote. Don't come under illusion and be a smart real analytical manager who has one project before your eyes.

" Make India developed nation before 2020"
No destruction of religious monuments , no religious , cast and colour discrimination will carry you towards this goal. No country in world could be developed with such negative factors. They are the biggest hurdles in way of progress. When your India is strong politically, economically , emotionally then no missionary in world can ask you to change your religion no matter how big bribery he puts before you. Nowhere in world any rich person has ever changed his religion. First make your nation developed without falling in trap of politicians with dirty mind. India cant afford to fall back in past era where there was cast, colour and religious and gender based discrimination.

Think coolly before you vote and vote for right candidate and don't go for specific party. This is era of alliance and if we chose right candidate then no matter one party gets majority or not because in last these right candidates will join hands to form a government.

Save your India by using your vote rightfully and with brave determination. Every party has good and bad people and this is up to us that we select these goods and trash out these bads so that next time no party dares to give ticket to their bads.

Make India strong, shining , developed , educated and liberal where one can live freely with responsibilities towards freedom for others as well.

Fill your heart with love towards your Nation " India" and say with proud Jai Hind !
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Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Manifesto release: a violation of Election Code? Ha!

News item in The Times of India, Bangalore. April 16, 2004:
"Not a violation: Chief electoral officer Abhijit Dasgupta said releasing a party manifesto does not amount to violation of election code as political parties have to "express their intent and convince voters on why a party should be voted''.

Is it not funny that the Election Commission had to say this? I am just wondering: In response to what/who did the EC have to say this? I mean its absurd that EC even attempted a comment on such an obvious thing. The peopel vote for a party candidate based on (at least theoretically) what they promise in their election manifesto. Manifesto is the basic contract that the candidate/party and voter enter into. Its amusing to even try to imagine what the person who complained to the EC about the manifesto release had in mind? Can you think of any grounds on which to complain about the release of an election manifesto?
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Monday, April 19, 2004

Web as Indian elections' sub-battleground: Are you kidding me?

Even as BJP is targeting urban middle class with its India Shining (site disabled) campaign, Congress seems to be taking its age-old, time-tested path of appealing to the 'common man' as is evident in its Elections 2004 slogan: "Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath".

So far, so good. My only problem is that Congress seems to be taking Aam aadmi thing too literally. I mean, come on, there is just no 'official' information available on the web on the Indian National Congress, a party that has mostly (barring last decade or so) ruled independent India. How come there's no info on such party on the Net? Oh no, wait a minute, there is an INC official website. Pray, why doesn't it open? Why does it list only directory contents? What did you say, you wanted a copy of INC manifesto? Are you mad? Can't you see there is not even a single IT professional with the Congress to take care of the official website itself. How on earth do you expect them to spare time to upload manifesto for elitist pigs like you?

Say, here's an idea. Why dont you ask Sonia Gandhi for a copy of election manifesto? Lo kal-lo baat, as Amitabh would say in Namak Halal (I thinK). Dont understand what I mean? Just take a look at Soniaji's official website and you'd know just what I mean. I mean, heck, the latest news on the official site of INC president is that she is to visit USA in June 2001!

On the other hand, look at BJP's election web machine: BJP maintains its website and keeps it updated. Okay, okay its not a fantabulous site, but hey at least its functional in nature. And hey lookie, lookie, it even provides a copy of election manifesto (or here) ! Moreover, BJP even has regional sites: BJP Haryana and BJP Gujarat for example!!

For all my liking of Congress and for all my disliking of BJP's charade called India Shining, I just can not appreciate Congress' mind-numbing lack of communication on the Internet. Apparently, the party itself is hell-bent on giving away the IT revolution credit to the BJP, while fully knowing who really laid the foundations of the current IT industry! The party has got to realize that a good number of 'aam junta' too accesses the Net today! Heck, I do.

Update at 3pm: A friend pointed out (Thanks Ruhi!) that there is a working Congress website. Seeing the content depth, I sure am impressed! Congress da jawab nahi. Then I also found out about their mouth-piece Sandesh. Now, only if they could do a better job with Search Engine Optimization!

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Sunday, April 18, 2004

Private FM Radio in India: Will its fortunes change?

Even as FM channels such as Radiocity Bangalore FM 91 continue to be very popular, the reality behind the scenes is that the private FM operators in India have been struggling to stay alive! The reason of their misery lies mainly in the expensive FM licensing regime. Government has been talking about taking care of industry's concerns. There seems to be a consultation move now in that direction.

As broadcasting was notified as a telecommunication service under the TRAI Act in January, FM channels come under the purview of TRAI. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recently issued a consultation paper to which it is seeking feedback, suggestions, and comments from the industry. The deadline for comments is May 7, 2004. The paper can be accessed here.

Here's to a blooming FM scenario in India.
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Saturday, April 17, 2004

Workshop on Research Methodology at Goa
April 26 -30, 2004

From Prof.Saravanan, GIM, Goa:

"I am pleased to inform you that Goa Institute of Management is organising a 5 day workshop on Research Methodology from April 26 -30, 2004 at its campus. This workshop is partly sponsored by ICSSR. Plz find attached file consisting of more details or plz visit the worskshop site. Kindly spread this info amongst the Research Scholars and Faculty Members for the benefit of the entire Management Educators Community!!!!!"
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An IBAB Biotech conference

Just on the heels of Biocon listing making waves, an important biotech event comes calling:

Public-Private Transfer of Knowledge in Biotechnology Industry: Case studies from India and Europe
Organized by Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB)
19-20 April
Venue: J.N Tata Auditorium, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Registration Fee
PhD/postgraduate students Rs. 200/-
Faculty/Scientists Rs. 1000/-
Other Professionals Rs. 2500/-
Corporate Delegates Rs. 4000/-

Details at event website
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Programme in Retailing Management

It seems that the back-end of Indian (organized) retailing revolution is taking shape in bits and pieces. To cater to the booming retailing sector, we need properly trained manpower. Following programme is one of such increasing tribe.

Nine-month programme in Retailing Management, XIME Bangalore. Starting June 1st.
Eligibility: Graduate with a good command over English and desirous of pursuing a career in Retailing.
Last date for Registration: May 5, 2004.
Bulletin and applications: Rs 300/-
For details, contact:
Mr. A. G. Doreswamy
Programme Coordinator
Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship
Electronics City, Phase II,
Hosur Road, Bangalore 560 100, India
Tel: + 91-80-2852 8477 / 2852 8597 / 2852 8598
Fax:+91-80-28528733
URL: http://www.xime.org
e-mail: xime@xime.org
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Friday, April 16, 2004

Degree college for dance, music

From April 16, 2004 The Times of India, Bangalore:

"Bangalore: A degree college exclusively for dance and music will open in June for undergraduate students. The Samskruthi Bhavan announced on Thursday that it will introduce a Bangalore University-affiliated degree college 'Keshava College of Dance and Music'. The degree course include a BA in Carnatic music and BA in Bharatanatyam. "There is no degree course in Carnatic music and Bharatnatyam dance in Bangalore," Samskruthi Bhavan secretary B.K. Shyam Prakash said. Contact 26669565."

Are the following resources related? No clue! Find out on your own if interested.

* Keshava college of dance and music
* Samskruthi Bhavan, 2973/A 13th Main C-Block, 2nd Stage Rajajinagar, Bangalore 560010, Ph: (080) - 3525773, e-mail: bkshyam@issac.ernet.in
* Samskruthi Bhavan, No 556, 11th Main, ISRO Layout.
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NirmaLabs sets up incubation facilities

Recently, NirmaLabs announced the creation of a business incubator. The corpus is Rs 5 Crore. Considering the small way that Karsanbhai started Nirma, it seems the wheel has come full circle with Karsanbhai showing the way to a new generation of budding entrepreneurs. Official site here.
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Thursday, April 15, 2004

Abolishing the PhD award ?

Recently, an article with the subject title was published in an Indian journal: 'Abolishing the PhD award.' Science and Culture, 69(11-12): 363-365. (Author's Contact Address: Subhankar Ray, Dept. of Biochemistry, Univ. of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, KOLKATA 700 019)

The basic contention of the article is that PhD award should be abolished as a requirement for higher careers. The PHD process, according to author Subhankar, by and large, doesn't add value due to following reasons:

* The time given to a PhD candidate is limited and hence he can not attack a challenging problem.
* The process of research during PhD and its evaluation process both are flawed.

There are more merits in the latler point than the former. I guess even after 2 years of coursework, another 2 years are good enough to handle a 'challenging' problem. So time is certainly not a problem, as long as the researcher is motivated enough. However, the second point of quality of research programmes (in general) demands attention. A lot is left to be desired even at the top school PhD programmes.

In the end, the article is more like Nicholas Carr's article "IT Doesn't matter" published last year, which created whole lot of ruckus amongst IS professionals. In that case too, 'inside' the article, author had said that he was not discoutning the potential of IT per se, but just saying that IT didn't matter in a way it used to etc etc. But the quintessential result of that article was that it generated a lot of debate in the community about an important topic.

If for nothing else, and for all its lack of academic rigor, Subhankar's paper does bring out some problem points in our system, and as research professionals its our job to address these issues, especially if they happen to be correct!
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Monday, April 12, 2004

Taking up Children's Cause

As the banner says, if we dont take their issues up, who will? Support the issue of children's rights by informing your political candidates:



More at CRY' site

You can even start by contributing to the PinWheel Campaign.



Lemme know if you need any more information.
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Sunday, April 11, 2004

Film Review: American History X

Its a highly touching and wake-up call movie. Revolving around two brothers, it addresses the issue of racism in 'contemporary' America (movie itself was released in 1998). That's the most important feature of the movie: Unlike other racism-themed movies that talk about how things were in earlier (lets say in the era of Rosa Parks), American History X talks about racism in the times of Gen X. I dont know the significance of X in the title, but I would like to associate it with Gen X. The brothers depcited in movie are as Gen X as they can be in their social behaviour. The movie captures the touching transformation of elder brother beautifully. And the way the futility of racism dawns on him makes you sit up and read his face.

Edward Norton is I think one of the greatest contemporary actors around. He's so friggin incredible, its hard to believe he's acting. For me, after Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, I think Ed Norton is the greatest actor. Remember Primal Fear? , where he fooled not only Richard Gere but also you? :) He's got it, man!

A particular scene in the movie is quite disgusting and hard to watch, but other than that movie is fantabulous. A not-to-be-missed rating!
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Thursday, April 08, 2004

GPI

Indian economy seems to be booming. Every day there are GDP growth numbers bandied about in newspapers, magazines. While there's no doubt that GDP measures do indicate some sort of progress, apparently it doesn't capture the whole picture. On the negative side, I mean. I remember being taught in 1st year core Macroeconomics course that one of the GDP's drawbacks is that it doesn't capture the negatives as negatives: the money spent in the economy to make things right. For example, police force, crime control, or home generators for power, environmental degradation etc. Moreover, it doesn't capture some positives: economic value of household services etc.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is an artifact developed during World War II. And useful that it might be as itself, it needs a major overhaul for today's world. Economists at Redifining Progress are developing a better measure called Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). GPI takes off from where GDP ends. The GPI results for the state of California are quite interesting. More at their site.
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Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Entrepreneurial marketing: Use www

Everyday I keep getting a few mails asking me to put their links on my website in return for some money. You might ask, why? Well, in order to improve their site's google ranking. I do link to them once in a while, but I never do it on a commercial basis. For example, a friend of mine runs this business KVMM whose site link I have provided on my blog itself (left, down). Dear entrepreneurs, this is the game to goto the top in search-space mindshare. Read on.

One of the cheapest medium of being heard/seen today is the world wide web. Internet's power lies not so much in the content, but in the ability of search engines to find that content, and in the process connecting the content provider (lets say an entrepreneur) and the target audience (lets say a customer).

You might have an excellent product, service, or just an idea, but to reach the target audience is not easy. Not to worry, though. Help is at hand: A good ranking in search engines ensures that your presence is known and that the target segment is made aware about you whenever they are looking for info on anything related to what you do.

There's a whole well developed field called search engine optimization (SEO) to finetune your company website's ranking in search engines. It'd be best to try to top the SE roll of honors if:
* your product/service is essentially delivered online.
* you wanna disseminate info about yr product/service/idea via e-media.

The dividends from SEO are handsome. You can do it on your own or pay some SEO consultant to do it for you. Lemme know if you need any more gyaan on SEO for your business.
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Sunday, April 04, 2004

Indian businesses 10 years hence?

Today's biggest Indian private business groups/firms are Reliance, Tatas, Birlas, Munjals, and others. Wonder what would the 'top 10' list look like ten years hence. I would like to place my bet on firms such as Bharti and Sterlite.

My intuition on these firms becoming huge is based on a lot of observations. Here are just a few sketchy ones.

Bharti seems to be the poster-child of organic growth today in India. They are investing heavily in building a huge customer base and moving from mobile telephone to landlines as well. Recently, they signed a (X-year) 750 million USD deal with IBM for IT outsourcing. That is big, alright. And the nonchalant way in which Sunil Mittal recently talked about investing 2000 Crore rupees in Bharti's immediate plans shows they are betting big for long term.

The way Sterlite is going around putting ads for hiring entrepreneurs says a lot about the company. By entrepreneurs, they dont mean HR jargon entrepreneurs. They mean real entrepreneurs who are running family businesses and who would like to head a division or such in Sterlite group. This shows the vision this group has in terms of quality and ambition levels of people!

What do you think?
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Saturday, April 03, 2004

Indian economic success driver: 80s or 90s?

Its a common perception/knowledge that India started its reforms in 1991. One such recent paper (Feb '04) is by Dani Rodrik (Harvard) and Arvind Subramanian (IMF). Even though acknowledged in their paper as one who provided useful feedback, the renowned (and usually leftist) economist Swaminathan Aiyer in some recent articles in The Economic Times (1, 2) is contesting some of the authors' claims by saying that it (reforms) all 'really' started in 1980s. (And he's not alone in arguing for the importance of 80s' reforms. There's an increasing body of work that talks about this issue vocally.)

This debate's answer is not so much of political importance (which government claims the credit for economic reforms/success), but that of economic one: what economic reforms models worked for Indian business and freed them from shackles so as to lead to today's success.

What are your views on this topic? Do you think that the 1991 crisis is solely responsible for the economic reforms and Indian business' success or is there much background (80s) to the same?
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Thursday, April 01, 2004

Fast Track General Management Programme (FTGMP)
5 July 2004 - 11 September 2004, IIMB.

I keep getting a lot of queries about executive/short-term education programmes at IIMB. FTGMP is one such programme that has become quite a success since its relatively recent beginnings. IIMB today announced the beginning of admission for the 4th Fast Track General Management Programme (FTGMP). This programme is meant for mid-career, non-bschool background professionals. More details can be seen in today's Economic Times (Bangalore) advertisement. Or contact edp@iimb.ernet.in, 080-26993264 for details.

Also:
Last year's (2003) FTGMP details here.
FTGMP 3rd batch's nice website here
And in general, IIMB Executive Programmes site

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"Bolo Sai Naam"

I always feel happy helping people on Internet. Whether it is advising on career, giving them music, or writing lyrics for them: I recently recieved a request from Adrian in Argentina for the lyrics of this bhajan sung by Anup Jalota. Since I had some time on hand, I transcribed it.

Lyrics to "Bolo Sai Naam"

Haridwar, Kashi, Mathura, ya Brindavan ka vaas
Ganga, Jamuna, mandir masjid, ik sai baba

Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Saancha Sai jag par chhai
jag par chhai Saancha Sai
Har subah har shaam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Sai rasta, Sai rahi
Sai ne manjil man chahi
Sai sumran, Sai vandan
Sai amrit, Sai chandan
Sai pooja, aur naa dooja
Sai pooja, aur naa dooja
Shirdi jaisa dhaam

Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Saancha Sai jag par chhai
jag par chhai Saancha Sai
Har subah har shaam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Bada na chota, Sai ke dar
Ham sab nadiyan, Sai samandar
Sai deepak, Sai baati
Jyoti jiski sukh barsati
Dhoop chaaon mein, shehar gaaon mein
Jahan mile vishram

Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Saancha Sai jag par chhai
jag par chhai Saancha Sai
Har subah har shaam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Bhool kare ham, maaf kare Sai
Ham Sab se insaaf kare Sai
Ooncha neecha koi na jisko
Kyon na dhaare fir hum usko
Jeevan duvidha, Sai suvidha
Sai banaye kaam

Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Saancha Sai jag par chhai
jag par chhai Saancha Sai
Har subah har shaam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

======================================================

"Bolo Sai Naam" Translated in English

Haridwar, Kashi, Mathura, ya Brindavan ka vaas
(These are names of Hindu religious places: Haridwar, Kashi, Mathura, or Brindavan )
Ganga, Jamuna, mandir, masjid, ik sai baba
([Holy rivers:] Ganga , Jamuna, temple, or mosque, one Sai Baba)

Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
(Chant Sai name, chant chant Sai name)

Saancha Sai jag par chhai
(Truthful Sai lords over whole world)
jag par chhai Saancha Sai
(Lords over whole world the truthful Sai)
Har subah har shaam
(Every morning, every evening)
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
(Chant Sai name, chant chant Sai name)
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
(Chant Sai name, chant chant Sai name)

Sai rasta, Sai rahi
(Sai's the path, Sai's the traveller/passenger)
Sai ne manjil man chahi
(Sai's the desired destination)
Sai sumiran, Sai vandan
(Sai's the remembrance/mindfulness, Sai's the prayer)
Sai amrit, Sai chandan
(Sai's the ambrosia, Sai's chandan[sandalwood; paste of which is used in temples and is put on forehead])
Sai pooja, aur naa dooja
(Sai's the prayer, nobody else)
Sai pooja, aur naa dooja
(Sai's the prayer, nobody else)
Shirdi jaisa dhaam
(A holy place like Shirdi)

Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Saancha Sai jag par chhai
jag par chhai Saancha Sai
Har subah har shaam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Bada na chota, Sai ke dar
(No one is big or small, on Sai's door)
Ham sab nadiyan, Sai samandar
(We are all rivers, Sai is the sea)
Sai deepak, Sai baati
(Sai is the lamp, Sai is the wick)
Jyoti jiski sukh barsati
(Whose light showers happiness)
Dhoop chaaon mein, shehar gaaon mein
(In sun, In shade, In city, In village)
Jahan mile vishram
(Where one gets rest)

Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Saancha Sai jag par chhai
jag par chhai Saancha Sai
Har subah har shaam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Bhool kare ham, maaf kare Sai
(We commit mistakes, Sai forgives)
Ham Sab se insaaf kare Sai
(Sai gives justice to all of us)
Ooncha neecha koi na jisko
(To whom no one is higher or lower [caste, rich/poor])
Kyon na dhaare fir hum usko
(Then why should we not respect him/put him on a pedestal)
Jeevan duvidha, Sai suvidha
(Life is a puzzle, Sai is the solution)
Sai banaye kaam
(Sai makes our life go round)

Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam

Saancha Sai jag par chhai
jag par chhai Saancha Sai
Har subah har shaam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
Bolo Sai Naam, bolo bolo Sai naam
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