Look What Is Brewing!!!!!

  • Madras Coffee House. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao
    The HinduMadras Coffee House. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao
  • A Kaapi Cheenu kiosk. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao
    The HinduA Kaapi Cheenu kiosk. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao
  • Kaapi Kudil. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao
    The HinduKaapi Kudil. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao
  • An Idli Vilas kiosk. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao
    The HinduAn Idli Vilas kiosk. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

source::: The Hindu… story by Anusha Parthasarathy…

Natarajan

Filter kapi in cool kiosks? That’s the USP of new-age entrepreneurs who’ve jumped on to the beverage bandwagon. Anusha Parthasarathy tracks down some success stories

After the recent outbreak of cappuccinos, expressos and lattes, Chennai’s beloved filter coffee is back with a bang in trendy, on-the-go kiosks. It is no longer confined to a few hotels or the halcyon memories of those who sat sipping them on thinnais, but comes in take away cups with Indian snacks to accompany.

Madras Coffee House was started two years ago when two friends wanted to drink coffee and didn’t know where to go. “Kumaravelan and I love filter coffee and found that it was too expensive in hotels. We don’t frequent tea shops and wanted something priced in between, offering good quality, hygienic coffee,” says Prasanna Venkatesh.

And so, Madras Coffee House opened its first kiosk at Chennai One IT Park in Perungudi, offering authentic filter coffee. “This was in June 2010,” says Prasanna, “and now we have eight stand-alone outlets and another eight in tie-up with a popular sweet shop.” The outlets are at Express Avenue, T. Nagar, Avadi with more coming up at Valluvar Kottam and Central Station.

Filter coffee on-the-go

Kaapi Cheenu in Alwarpet has a similar story. “When I was doing my MBA in Ahmedabad, I ran the student-run retail store there. After a while, I was fed up with tea and got my own percolator to make coffee. Soon, people began asking me for it and it became a huge hit on the campus. When I passed out I wanted to start something similar here. The kiosk model appealed to me because you usually never get filter coffee on-the-go,” says Manu Srinivas aka Cheenu.

Targeting colleges and corporates is Kaapi Kudil, a venture of Concepto Delicacies. K. Gurunathan, director, says “When you think of this city, the first thing that comes to your mind is filter coffee. But it’s a dying tradition and you don’t get to taste this coffee anywhere except in a few hotels. We’re trying to bring those homemade flavours and use no chicory in our coffee. We have three outlets so far and are targeting 20 by June next year. We’re also looking at a highway restaurant model in the future. ”

Idli Vilas on R.K. Salai had a tea and coffee kiosk even before it opened as a restaurant. “We just let the kiosks stay since they were doing well,” says R. Marimuthu, the manager. “People told us it was convenient since those just stopping by for coffee needn’t step in and wait for the order.”

Manu, on the other hand, has just one outlet and hopes to expand soon. Kaapi Cheenu’s kiosk, resembles an old Kumbakonam house with its thoon (pillar), thinnai (pyol) and tiled roof.

Idli Vilas’ kiosks open in the wee hours of the morning and serve till late at night. “We start getting customers from as early as 6.30 a.m. Joggers, walkers and others come for their morning dose,” says Marimuthu. “The coffee station closes at 11 p.m. We get about 600 customers a day at our kiosks.”

And it’s not just coffee on the menu. “We serve some tea, cookies, puffs and samosas as well,” says Prasanna. Cheenu’s kiosk offers four kinds of vadai, rosemilk and some beverages. “Our coffee is also customised,” says Manu.

Kaapi Kudil also offers panagarkandu pal, sukku coffee and vazhaipoo vadai,” says Gurunathan.

Think Differently… Organic Washing Detergent!!!

source:::::EONOMIC TIMES..

Natarajan

Meet Chennai-based  spouses-turned-business partners, who opted out of the corporate rat race  one sure idea: to work on an environment-related concept.

Meet Chennai-based spouses-turned-business partners, who opted out of the corporate rat race one sure idea: to work on an environment-related concept.
There’s nothing new about people leaving lucrative MNC jobs to start their own ventures, but how many are enterprising enough to quit without knowing what they want to do or how to go about it? Meet Chennai-based Preethi Sukumaran and Srinivas Krishnaswamy, spouses-turned-business partners, who opted out of the corporate rat race on the same day, 31 January 2009, with one sure idea: to work on an environment-related concept.

“After graduating from IIM in 2001, we both worked in various FMCG MNCs for eight years. So, we were confident about brand building, marketing and handling the venture, but weren’t sure about the product itself,” says Krishnaswamy, who graduated from IIM-Bangalore, while his wife is from IIM-Calcutta. So, the couple, who got married in 2003, decided to see the world while waiting for inspiration to strike. Indeed, it was during their year-long travel across India and Europe that they figured out how to integrate their personal quest of sustainable urban living with a business venture. The solution was to create a basket of sustainable, organic goodies. On returning home in 2010, the duo researched the market for organic products, and zeroed in on organic washing detergent as their first product. “In 2009, we had started using soapberries for washing our clothes and realised that not only were theyenvironment-friendly compared with the usual detergents, but were equally, if not more, effective,” says Sukumaran.

Within the organic product universe, the humble detergent had remained on the sidelines despite contributing heavily to soil and water pollution. “Till that time, the players in this market were small and unorganised, so we decided to launch organic washing detergent,” she adds. In May 2010, they finally figured on a name, Krya, meaning mindful action, and by October 2010, the company had been registered.

The couple did not set up the venture in the traditional way, that is, first launching and then promoting it. In fact, they did the reverse. “After registering our company, while we were looking at sourcing our product, working on the website design and other back-end issues, we started a Facebook page and a blog. Over the next six months, we interacted online with a lot of people, telling them what we were planning to do and how we were going about it,” says Sukumaran.

Before long, the couple got an active Net community. They also finalised the soapberries they wanted to use and struck a deal with an organic farm near Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. “The latter would process and manufacture the product and send it to our office in Chennai,” she adds. By the time the product was launched in May 2011, Krya had built a potential customer base without spending much—Rs 6 lakh for the entire process, from idea inception and registering the company to renting a 250-sq-ft office space at Mylapore, Chennai, and launching the product.

Honest to the Core !!!!

There are some inviolable principles and values that we need to follow in our lives. Some do not bother about them, but a few do care. Prasanta da (Prasanta Bose) was one of those who cared.

We had formed a tight-knit group of early morning walkers, of which Prasanta da was the initiator. He was a retired bank manager, and had served the industry for almost 30 years. The high point of our morning walk was that at the end of it, we would sit at a roadside stall sipping tea and listen to Prasanta’s wonderful anecdotes from his long and interesting professional life.

Of all the different stories he told us, one still sticks in the mind. The incident happened just a week after Prasanta got a job as probationary officer. His father, a retired post-master, had asked him to bring two dot pen refills on his way back from office. The old gentleman was in the habit of writing letters to the editor.

After receiving refill packets, Prasanta’s father was absolutely delighted. “Why did you purchase two packets, when just two pieces would have sufficed?” he asked in spite of his evident happiness.

The son’s heart leapt with joy and he smiled back, “No Baba, I have brought these from my office inventory. You see, I have been given such a huge stock of stationery that I will not be able to exhaust even half of it in one whole year.”

The smile immediately vanished from the old man’s face. In a pained voice, he said, “Prasanta, I cannot accept this, as it is your office property. Please put it back from where you had taken it for me.”

This irritated Prasanta a little. “Do you mean to say that I have stolen these two mere refill packets from my own office stocks?” he asked.

“That is precisely what I mean,” his father answered.

“But these are just refill packets. Most of my colleagues take it without hesitation,” Prasanta tried to explain.

“But it is meant for your office use only, is it not? I did not expect all such arguments from you, Prasanta. This is most unfortunate. Whatever be your arguments, I am not ready to accept either the refills or your reasons,” said the old man.

Prasanta da stopped for a while, and he was trying to check his tears. After a few more moments of silence, he spoke: “After my getting a job, all that my father wanted from me was to buy him two refills as a treat …… But I could not fulfil his wish. He passed away a few days later.” And Prasanta burst into tears after recalling his father’s words.

One feels strange to observe in a country, where corruption seems to be the driving force of society, a man like Prasanta da’s father, and the son himself who never veered from the path his father followed, however anachronistic it seemed with the changing times.

Prasanta’s father left behind for his son a philosophy for a way of life, which he followed till the last day of his life.

(The writer’s email is debiarup@yahoo.co.in)
source:::: Arup Banerjee…THE HINDU….
Natarajan

Keywords: human interest, corruption

Nikesh Arora…Google”s Fourth Pillar !!!!

The internet has ingrained into our day to day life. There are currently over 1.5 billion internet users, which means, if considered as a country, the “online community” would have been most populous in the world. The amount of information that gets stored online in a year exceeds 50 times what was created in entire human history. Yet, Nikesh Arora says “you have seen nothing yet”, in an interview with Shyamal Majumdar of Business Standard, on the way exploring the Google’s Business Boss’ thoughts on online world’s migrants and natives and how advertisers are missing the bus.

Arora, the fourth most important executive at Google, after founders Sergey Brin, LarryPage and Chairman Eric Schmidt, says that online world is moving fast from migrants to natives, making net connectivity a “must-have” from “nice-to-have” just five years ago. “People like you and I are migrants in this online country. But people of my daughter’s generation are natives because they haven’t seen a world without Googleor Facebook,” he said.

So this transition of being a native in theonline country will eventually see most of the things that we know to become extinct, and his list of things includes entire media business in its current form like television advertising, which is destined to move into interactive networks.

Also, books will be dead and become just collectors’ items; Arora says “I can see this happening with my daughter who is in the ninth standard. Earlier, her books used to come in a big box. This year, she has been given an iPad. The books come loaded with it; she does her homework and submits it online, and her teacher uses cloud to access it.” He asks, “Can you imagine kids of her generation ever carrying books when they join college?”

Being a chief salesman at Google, which clocked revenue of $38 billion in 2011, he says, the challenge is how this transition, of migrants to natives, can be managed because that will impact the search giant’s revenue flow. Close to 96 per cent of Google’s revenue comes from advertisements.

Arora faced 399 rejections before getting a job at Fidelity Investments. “I thought life would be easy after doing my Masters from Boston and an MBA from Northeastern University. But here I was in an alien country — married but without a job, and living off the $3,000 that my father had sent me,” he said.

On reflecting about the time he joinedGoogle, Arora said that he was planning to do something on his own when a friend asked him in 2004 to consider joining a company that could offer a start-up kind of an atmosphere. The two Google founders conducted the interview among the artifacts of the British Museum; he says “We walked around. We looked at the exhibits and a lot of our conversation was about the Rosetta stone,” referring to an Egyptian artifact that dates to 196 BC and is inscribed in three languages.

Majumdar writes that one of Arora’s key contributions at Google has been driving revenues from other regions and building relations with advertisers. Presently more than half the company’s revenue comes from outside of the U.S. compared to just one-third when he joined eight years ago. It’s thus obvious why Google made a rare move last month, and decided to pay its top salesman $8 million in cash, instead of the previously agreed upon stock options and stock units. Arora, who made more than $23 million last year, will have to repay Google if he chooses to leave his position before April 25, 2015, the date the stock units and options will have vested.

Majumdar writes, whilst Arora at the age of 45 already been a top player at Google, and won’t he remain the tallest pygmy in a company where the founders are much younger than him? Before winding up his worthwhile conversation, he asks Arora, what’s next? To which Arora says, “Does things to undo the pattern every time his life takes on a steady pattern”. But he still loves going to office every day in a company that loves disrupting conventions, and where his colleagues are always excited about solving the most complicated of technological problems, Majumdar adds.

source::::silicon india net
Natarajan

Why U.S.A. Can”t Get $20 Tablets Like India?!!!

Aakash, India’s low cost tablets made recent headlines by being the cheapest one available in market. Students were in store for a big surprise, as Datawind, the makers of Aakash 2 offered the tablets to them at just RS. 1,132, which hardly touched the $20 mark, after a government subsidy. For others, it’s made available for $45 retail, yet retaining the tag of cheapest tablet in India, probably the world too.

The price of these gadgets, along with almost all the “smart” functions similar to high end devices, will bring a lot of people to computing world, a sure excitement for the people of developing nations like India and china.

But the people of developed countries just can’t get the tablets with same functionality as of Aakash 2 at its price. Though the tablets are cheap, the distance from supply chains or the manufacturing base of these devices to the countries where they are marketed, will add 100 percent to the cost of tablets, and then it’s not cheaper any more.

We can take the example of iPhone 5, which was recently released in India. The device follows a stiff route till it gets into the hands of users. There are shipping charges, import duties, margin for the importer, the new warranty charges, as its original warranty isn’t valid in the country of import. And in India there are three levels of distributors—the importers, who brings the goods into the country, then he sells it to super stockiest, like wholesaler, then wholesaler sells it to distributers, who in turn sells it to retailers, and finally retailer sells it to customers, each levels have their cuts in turn shooting up device prices.

Aakash was able to overcome all this and reach the customer carrying the tag of “cheapest tablet.” But how? According to Suneet Tuli, CEO of Datawind, who spoke to Mashable about strategy the company follows to bring the tablets at amazing lower costs, “the Micromax Funbook, which has approximately same specifications as that of Aakash 2, costs around Rs 6,500 or about $120, which is about twice the prize of their device. The reason is that Datawind assembles the tablet in India upon importing parts from South Korea, china and U.S., which is cheaper than importing completely assembled devices.” Then the company markets the products online or by couriers, saving the commission on distributers and retailers.

In China, it’s a similar story, says Jay Goldberg, a financial analyst. Functional 7-inch tablets can be had at Shenzhen malls devoted to electronics for as little as $45. That’s because the supply chains required to build these devices are located in the city and in nearby provinces.

Many of China’s cheap tablet manufacturers hit on the idea accidentally, says Goldberg, and it all started with the manufacturing cell phones which were cheap too.

“Not quite 10 years ago, Mediatek of Taiwan entered the cell phone market,” says Goldberg. MediaTek Inc, a fabless semiconductor company, designing and selling components for wireless communication and other electronic gadgets, found contract manufacturers in mainland China that had machines to put chips on circuit boards, and they were mostly doing this as subcontractors, churning out parts for larger electronics companies with recognizable brands.

Later the company figured out it could save money by handing these manufacturers both the chips required to build a phone and a complete blueprint for assembling them into basic phones. That transformed thousands of small manufacturers from subcontractors into factories for completed products. This same strategy led to development of cheaper Smartphones and tablets too.

source:::: silicon india net…

Natarajan

Tulsi Gabbard …to Take Oath on Bhagavad Gita in US House of Representatives !!!

She is neither an Indian-American nor has she ever visited India. But on
Wednesday, she became America’s first-ever Hindu-American Congresswoman.****

Meet Tulsi Gabbard, a 31-year-old Democrat, just elected to the US House of
Representatives from faraway Hawaii. Endorsed by****

Hawaii-born President Barack Obama, she defeated her Republican rival by a
landslide (80.6% to 19.4%).****

A practicing Hindu, Gabbard frequently recites from the Bhagavad Gita. So
when she takes her oath in January as a newly-elected member, she will do
so, placing her hand on a copy of the Hindu scripture. It will be the first
of its kind in the history of the 223-year-old House of Representatives and
the Hindu-Americans are excited about it.****

Born in American Samoa to a Catholic father and a Hindu mother, Gabbard
moved to Hawaii with her family when she was two years old. Her parents
gave all their five children Hindu names — Bhakti, Jai, Aryan, Tulsi and
Vrindavan. Keen to visit India at an early date, Gabbard has pledged to
work for closer US-India relations.****

“It is clear that there needs to be a closer working relationship between
the United States and India,” she said in recent remarks, quizzing: “How
can we have a close relationship if decision-makers in Washington know very
little, if anything, about the religious beliefs, values, and practices of
India’s 800 million Hindus?”****

Defending her Hindu faith, which came under attack from her Republican
rival David Kawika Crowley during the campaign phase, Gabbard believes her
faith would be an asset in Congress.****

“Hopefully the presence in Congress of an American who happens to be Hindu
will increase America’s understanding of India as well as India’s
understanding of America,” commented Gabbard, who was feted by
Indian-Americans at a recent fundraiser in Washington.****

Gabbard’s victory was a foregone conclusion from the time she easily
defeated her rival Mufi Hannemann in a party primary in August. Hawaii,
being a predominantly Democrat territory, few doubted her chances against
her Republican rival.****

“Hindu-Americans have run America’s major companies and universities, won
Nobel prizes and Olympic gold medals, directed blockbuster movies, and even
flown into space. But one profession has so far been out of reach: Member
of Congress,” wrote the Washington-based Religion News Service, ahead of
Gabbard being declared the winner.****

Although there have been two Indian-Americans in the US Congress to date,
neither of them were Hindu. The first, Dalip Singh Saund, who was elected
thrice from California back in the 1950s, was a Sikh. The second, Bobby
Jindal, who was elected twice, beginning 2004, had converted to
Christianity in his early years.****

In 2002, at the age of 21, Gabbard became the youngest person to be elected
to Hawaii State House. The very next year, she joined the Hawaii National
Guard and was deployed to Iraq in 2004 as a medical operations specialist.
Awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for her service, she currently serves
as a Captain. Between her two deployments to the Middle East, Gabbard
served as an aide to long-time US Senator Daniel Akaka.****

Gabbard, who fully embraced the Hindu faith as a teenager and follows the
Vaishnava path, has said that her faith helped her through her posting in
Iraq, where there were daily reminders that she could be killed any time.***
*

“First thing in the morning and the last thing at night, I meditated upon
the fact that my essence was spirit, not matter, that I was not my physical
body, and that I didn’t need to worry about death because I knew that I
would continue to exist and I knew that I would be going to God,” she said.*

source::::input from one of my friends..

Natarajan

காலேஜ் டு களத்துமேடு !!!!

source:::::DINAMALAR…Tamil Daily…
Natarajan
விவசாயிகளே வயல்களை பிளாட்களாக்கி நகரங்களுக்கு நடக்கும் காலம் இது. இந்தக் காலகட்டத்தில் கல்லூரிப் படிப்பை முடித்துவிட்டு நேராக கலப்பையும் கையுமாக களத்துமேட்டுக்குப் புறப்பட்டிருக்கிறார்கள், கரூர் மாவட்டத்தைச் சேர்ந்த ஒரு எம்.பி.ஏ. படித்த அக்காவும் எம்.காம். படித்த தம்பியும்.
கரூர் அருகே உள்ள தட்டாம்புதூரைச் சேர்ந்த வினோதாவும் அவரது தம்பி முருகானந்தமும்தான் அவர்கள். விவசாயத்தை ஏதோ பொழுதுபோக்காக மட்டும் நடத்தாமல் ஆறு ஏக்கர் நிலத்தில் ஆண்டுக்கு 7 லட்ச ரூபாய் சம்பாதித்தும் இவர்கள் புரட்சி செய்துள்ளனர். இந்தச் சாதனை பற்றிக் கேட்டால், முருகானந்தம் பெருமிதத்துடன் பேசத் தொடங்கினார்.
“எங்க அம்மாவும் அப்பாவும் விவசாயம் செய்துதான் எங்களை படிக்க வைத்தார்கள். “நாங்கள்தான் காடு மேடுனு வெயில்ல கஷ்டப்படறோம் நீங்களாவது நல்ல வேலைக்குப் போயி சந்தோசமா இருங்க’னு சொல்வாங்க. பக்கத்துல சின்னதாராபுரத்துல இருக்கிற காலேஜ்லதான் படிச்சோம். அதனால் காலேஜ் போறதுக்கு முன்னாடியும் வந்த பிறகும் தோட்டத்தில் வேலை செய்வோம். எங்க அக்கா எம்.பி.ஏ. முடிச்சதும் வேலைக்குப் போகலாம்னு முடிவு செய்தா, சம்பளம் 10 ஆயிரம்தான் தருவதாகச் சொன்னார்கள். ஆனா அக்கா அந்த வேலைக்குப் போகல. அதைவிட அதிகமா விவசாயத்துல சம்பாதிக்கிறேன்னு சவால் விட்டாங்க. நானும் கல்லூரிக்குச் சென்றுகொண்டே அக்காவிற்க உதவியாக இருந்தேன். நான் எம்.காம். முடித்ததும் “நீயாவது நல்ல வேலைக்குப் போய் சொகுசாக இரு’ என்றார்கள். ஆனா எனக்கும் பத்தாயிரம் ரூபாக்குத்தான் வேலை கிடைச்சது. அதனால் நானும் அக்காவுக்கு உதவியா விவசாயத்துல குதிச்சிட்டேன். ஊரிலுள்ளவர்களெல்லாம் “விவசாயத்தை நம்பி வேலையை விடாதே கஷ்டப்படுவே’ என்றார்கள். “விவசாயத்தில் ஜெயித்துக் காட்டுகிறோம் பாருங்கள்’ என்று நானும் அக்காவும் தீவிர விவசாயத்தில் இறங்கினோம். முதல் இரண்டு வருடம் லாபம் கிடைக்கவில்லை. ஊர்க்காரர்கள் கிண்டல் செய்ய ஆரம்பித்தார்கள்.
அதைப்பற்றி கவலைப்படாமல் திட்டமிட்டு பயிர் செஞ்சோம். முருங்கை, தர்பூசணி, கடலை பயிரிட்டோம். முடிந்தவரை இயற்கை மருந்துகளை மட்டும் பயன்படுத்துவோம். காலை 6 மணிக்கு தோட்டத்துக்குள் சென்றால் மதியம் 12 மணிக்குத்தான் வெளியே வருவோம். கடுமையாக உழைத்ததால் 2 ஏக்கரில் 60 டன் தர்பூசணி 70 நாளில் எடுத்தோம். முருங்கையும் நல்ல லாபம் தந்தது. இப்படி போன வருடம் மட்டும் 7 லட்சம் சம்பாதித்தோம்.
கிண்டல் செய்தவர்கள் எல்லாம் இப்ப ஆச்சரியப்பட்டு நிக்கறாங்க. தற்போது மலைவேம்பு நடவு செய்து வருகிறோம். அது மிகுந்த லாபம் தரும். இப்போது நாங்கள் சந்திப்பவர்களிடம் “விவசாயத்தை கைவிடாதீர்கள், முறையாக செய்தால் அதைவிட லாபம் தரும் தொழில் ஏதும் இல்லை’ என்று சொல்லி பிரசாரம் செய்து வர்றோம்.
விளை நிலங்களெல்லாம் இப்போது வீட்டு மனைகளாக மாறி வருகிறது. பல விளை நிலங்கள் தரிசாக கிடக்கின்றன. இவையெல்லாம் மாறி விவசாயம் நாட்டில் செழித்தால்தான் நாடு முன்னேறும். “படித்தவர்கள் அதிகளவு விவசாயத்திற்கு வந்து அதிகளவு சம்பாதிப்பார்கள்’’ என்றார் நம்பிக்கையுடன்.
நம் எதிர்பார்ப்பும் இதுதான்.

– கரூர் அரவிந்த்

How to Accept Criticism with Grace and Appreciation !!!


 Most people take criticism as a disheartening or demoralizing comment. They tend to react to it either by being defensive or lashing back. But there are positive ways of dealing with criticism which can work wonders for your career and help you lead a stress free life.

 

Here is a list of constructive ways for dealing with criticism in your respective life.

 

 

 

1. Hold Your Reactions and Control Your Anger:

 


Usually the first reaction of humans in response to criticism is anger or rage. It is advisable to hold your reaction and give it some time before riding the emotional way. Allow the sense of logic to sink in and guide you past the anger. By doing so, you would understand the true meaning and intention behind the criticism, and this will in turn help you to reach greater heights in personal and professional life.    

 

 

 

 

2. Think Positive:

 

Seeing a positive in a negative situation can work wonders on your life. Hence it is always advisable to take in criticism as a constructive feedback and thank the critic for pointing out your mistake. Try to address the issues pointed out by the critic and avoid repeating the mistake for the betterment of your future.

 

 

 

3. Be a Better Person:

 

Do not consider criticism as personal attack and react violently. Consider it as a scrutiny of your action, not you as a person. This will help you to detach from criticism emotionally and helps you to see the positive side of it. Even if an individual behaves in an inhuman way, you don’t have to do the same and stoop to a low level. It is always advisable to maintain a high moral ground and try to become a better person.

 

    

 

 

 

 

4. Learn From Criticism:

 

Every criticism, irrespective of its true intention, gives you an opportunity to educate yourself. It allows you to look for errors in your action, correct them immediately and create a future course of action. Having a positive frame of mind allows you to sail through any situation and lead a better life.     

 

 

 

5. Avoid Competitiveness:

 

You should avoid being competitive about criticism and refrain from being revengeful. The fact is that criticizing someone or something is not part of a competition and it is essential for an individual to uphold high moral values. You can humor the situation or be positively sarcastic about meaningless criticism. By doing so and displaying such immense maturity, you are bound to become a self-assured and confident individual.    

 


Accepting criticism in a positive and graceful way is not an impossible task. All you need is a bit of effort and the right frame of mind.    

 

 source:::::: siliconindia net…  

Natarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lenseman who Nailed Ajmal Kasab”s Fate ….

The TOI lensman who nailed Ajmal Kasab’s fate

by churumuri

 source:::::Reblog from sans serif

Natarajan

Sebastian D’Souza, the photo editor of Mumbai Mirror, with the photograph that he took of Ajmal Kasab inside Victoria Terminus on the night of 26 November 2008

Now retired, Sebastian D’Douza, then photo editor of Mumbai Mirror, took 19 photographs on the night of 26 November 2008, including the iconic one of Ajmal Kasabstriding across the corridors of Bombay’s Victoria Terminus station, spraying bullets.

“Saby”, as the lensman is known to friends and colleagues, testified before the trial judge, M.L. Tahiliyani, who called his testimony “blemishless”.

In August this year, the Supreme Court noted:

“While dealing with the VT carnage, we must take note of two witnesses (Saby andShriram Vernekar). Their evidence is extraordinary in that they not only witnessed the incident but also made a visual record of the event by taking pictures of the two killers in action and their victims… Both the witnesses, caring little for their own safety and displaying exemplary professionalism, followed the killers,” said the SC.

After Kasab was hanged yesterday, The Times of India quotes Sebastian D’Souza as saying:

“While I can’t be happy over anybody’s death, Kasab’s hanging does put an end to this sordid chapter and may help the victims get some closure.”

***

Thomas Fuller profiled D’Souza for the International Herald Tribune:

When the gunfire started, Sebastian D’Souza was well placed to respond. From his office directly across the street, D’Souza, the photo editor of Mumbai Mirror, grabbed his Nikon and two lenses and headed out into the blood-soaked night.

Peering from behind pillars and running in and out of empty train cars, he emerged with the singular iconic image of the attacks: a clear shot of one of the gunmen.

“I was shaking, but I kept shooting,” D’Souza said as he scrolled through his pictures of the attacks in a recent interview at his office.

D’Souza’s photo of Muhammad Ajmal Kasab confidently striding through ChhatrapatiShivaji Terminus carrying an assault rife with one hand, finger extended toward the trigger, has been printed and reprinted in newspapers here and flashed daily on television screens.

Sebastian D’Souza recounted the story in The Times of India:

“In the distance we saw two dark figures carrying rucksacks but weren’t sure who they were.”

Saby asked the constable to fire. One of the two figures swung at the sound and fired back. Looking over the barrel of a government-issue rifle Saby took his first shot of the night. Seconds later, he saw the owner of the book stall at the platform slump down, writhing in pain.

This was Saby’s second shot before he saw Shashank Shinde’s lifeless body. “It was the first realisation I had that I was in a far more serious situation than anything I’d covered before.” He watched the gunmen pump two more bullets into the book stall owner to make sure he was dead.

He also saw, from his hiding place, an old woman in an orange navwari sari walk past, oblivious as a sleepwalker; the gunmen looking at her and then away for other targets.

“I was terrified for her but they just let her walk by. I wonder why.”

By now he was hiding in one of the empty train compartments where he fitted the telephoto lens onto his Nikon D-200, and then crouching out barely a few inches he shot a couple of frames of one of the terrorists. He was no more than a boy, hair cut likeShah Rukh Khan in his Baazigar days, dressed in neatly ironed gray cargos, black tee-shirt, and carrying a bag that seemed heavier than his weight.

In the other hand he carried a Kalashnikov which, Saby saw clearly through his lens now, was raised in his direction.

Link via M.V.J. Kar

Also read‘I wish I had a gun rather than a camera’

External readingSupreme Court praises TOI photographers

churumuri | 22 November 2012 at 1:37 pm | Tags: AFPChurumuriMumbai MirrorSans serif

Happy Birthday Windows!!!….You Are 27 Today and still Going Strong!!!!!

 The first independent version of the Microsoft Windows version 1.0 released on 20 November 1985 was aWindows graphical user interface (GUI) for its own operating system (MS-DOS), which had shipped for IBM PC and compatible computers since 1981.

The foundation for the world’s software giant rather had a humble beginning. Paul Allen and Bill Gates, as computer enthusiasts were immediately drawn to implementation of the programming language BASICS for the microcomputers, after coming across the January 1, 1975 issue of the Popular Electronics which demonstrated the Altair 8800 a microcomputer. Gates called the creator of the new microcomputer, MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) offering a demonstration of their interpreter for Altair, in order to win the contract.

Allen and Gates had neither an interpreter nor an Altair system, yet in the eight weeks before the demo they developed an interpreter. When Allen flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico to meet with MITS, the interpreter worked and MITS agreed to distribute Altair BASIC.

After this success, Allen and Gates co-founded Microsoft. Gross income of the young company was $1 million in 1975. Allen named the company Micro-Soft which stood for microcomputer and software, and later when company went international, Gates took off the ‘hyphen’ and the company then became“Microsoft”.  

Windows 1.0 was not a complete operating system, but rather an “operating environment” that extended MS-DOS, and shared the latter’s inherent flaws and problems, and was not a big hit.

This version included simple programs like, graphics painter like Windows Paint; Windows Write, a simple word processor; an appointment “calendar”; a “card-filer”; a “notepad”; a “clock”; a “control panel”; a “computer terminal”; “Clipboard”; and RAM driver. It also included the MS-DOS Executive and a game called Reversi.

Windows evolved over the period, the latest Windows 8 is the master in user interface and cloud connection. Resplendent with app tiles, and robust with OS, is a sure treat for people who like the beauty in sync with computational power.

Here are the 27 amazing facts compiled by Forbes on the occasion of celebrating 27thWindows birthday.

1. More than 70.39% of Internet users around the world are currently running Windows, and there are 1,693,244,385 users.

1975–1981: Microsoft boots up

2. Bill Gates started Microsoft with Paul Allen in Gates’ 500-square-foot garage in 1975 with a huge vision—a computer on every desktop and in every home.

3. Microsoft currently employs 88,180 people who work across 32,404,796 square feet of Microsoft’s premises.

1982–1985: Windows 1.0

4. Microsoft shipped out the first copy of Windows 1.0 on November 20, 1985. Its TV commercial featured current CEO Steve Ballmer as an enthusiastic salesman.

5. Windows 1.0 only required a minimum of 256 kilobytes (KB), two double-sided floppy disk drives, and a graphics adapter card.

1987–1992: Windows 2.0–2.11

6. Control Panel made its first appearance in Windows 2.0.

1990–1994: Windows 3.0–Windows NT

7. Windows 3.0 had significantly better performance, including advanced graphics with 16 colors (16,777,216 colors in most screens today).

8. Windows NT was originally called “Portable Systems.”

1995–2001: Windows 95—the PC comes of age

9. Microsoft paid Brian Eno $35,000 to compose 3.25 seconds of music for the Windows 95 startup sound.

10. Windows 95 featured the first appearance of the Start menu, taskbar, and minimize, maximize, and close buttons on each window.

11. Windows 95, with built-in Internet support and dial-up networking, marked the coming of the Internet Age.

1998–2000: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me

12. Windows 98 was the first Windows system that supported DVD discs and universal serial bus (USB) devices.

13. Windows 98 was the last version based on MS DOS.

2001–2005: Windows XP

14. Between the original launch of Windows and the release of Windows XP, about one billion PCs were shipped worldwide.

15. Windows XP was compiled from 45 million lines of code.

2006–2008: Windows Vista

16. More than 1.5 million devices were compatible with Windows Vista at launch.

17. Vista had the longest startup/logon music ever.

2009–2012: Windows 7

18. Windows 7 was evaluated by 8 million beta testers worldwide before its release.

19. Windows sold 240 million in 2010 which means that Microsoft sold 657,534 Windows 7 copies per day, 27,397 copies per hour, and 7.6 copies each second.

20. 93% of all new computers from OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) ship with Windows 7 preinstalled.

21. The Windows 7 Start Menu was opened a total of 14,139,925,439 times in October of 2010

22. Windows 7 has largest users share among all other OS – 41.35%.

2012: Window 8

23. The consumer preview of Windows 8 was downloaded one million times in a single day.

24. Citizens from 70 different countries completed the download soon after the launch.

25. Windows 8 is available in 109 different languages.

26. Windows 8 works with files of up to 16 exbibytes, which equates to 687 million Blu-Rays.

27. Estimates suggest roughly 4.5 billion people will use Windows 8 in the future.
Source::::silicon india net…

Natarajan