Thursday, November 29, 2007
Money Very Interesting
The word millionaire was first used by Benjamin Disraeli in his 1826 novel Vivian Grey.
If you stack one million US$1 bills, it would be 110m (361 ft) high and weight exactly 1 ton.
A million dollars' worth of $100 bills weighs only 10 kg (22 lb).
One million dollars' worth of once-cent coins (100 million coins) weigh 246 tons.
TIP is the acronym for "To Insure Promptness."
The term "Blue Chip" comes from the colour of the poker chip with the highest value, blue.
Nessie, the Loch Ness monster is protected by the 1912 Protection of Animals Acts of Scotland. With good reason - Nessie is worth $40 million annually to Scottish tourism.
Of the more than $50 billion worth of diet products sold every year, almost $20 billion are spent on imitation fats and sugar substitutes.
Annual global spending on education is $80 billion.
US and European expenditure on pet food is $17 billion per year.
The global expenditure on healthcare and nutrition is $13 billion.
Money notes are not made from paper, it is made mostly from a special blend of cotton and linen.
In 1932, when a shortage of cash occurred in Tenino, Washington, USA, notes were made out of wood for a brief period. The wood notes came in $1, $5 and $10 values.
The world's largest coins, in size and standard value, were copper plates used in Alaska around 1850. They were about a metre (3 ft) long, half-a-metre (about 2 ft) wide, weighed 40 kg (90 lb), and were worth $2,500.
The first credit card was issued by American Express in 1951.
About 30% of consumers use their credit card as their main means of buying Christmas goodies, 70% do not save to buy Christmas gifts and 86% of consumers do their Christmas shopping during December.
Excessive use of credit is cited as a major cause of non-business bankruptcy, second only to unemployment.
Statistics show that people with high, medium and low income groups spend about the same amount on Christmas gifts.
In the 1400s, global income rose only 0,1% per year; today it often tops 5%.
The average age of Forbes's 400 wealthiest individuals is 63.
In 1955 the richest woman in the world was Mrs Hetty Green Wilks, who left an estate of $95 million in a will that was found in a tin box with four pieces of soap.
In 2001 the richest woman was Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of L'Oreal's founder. She has a net worth of $14 billion (depending on how the stock market did today).
In 2000, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is the second wealthiest woman, with $5,2 billion.
Queen Elizabeth II is one of the 10th wealthiest women in the world.
The $ sign was designed in 1788 by Oliver Pollock.
The term "smart money" refers to gamblers who have inside information or have arranged a fix, the gambling term for insuring the outcome of an event by illegal methods.
Small-time gamblers who place small bet in order to prolong the excitement of a game are called "dead fish" by game operators because the longer the playing time, the greater the chances of losing.
In gambling language, for a gambling house a "sure-thing" is a wager that a player has little chance of winning; "easy money" is their profit from an inexperienced bettor, an unlucky player is called a "stiff."
Australians are the heaviest gamblers in the world; an estimated 82% of Australians bet. That is twice as much per capita as Europeans or Americans. Yet, Australia, with less than 1% of the world population, has 20% of the world's poker machines.
There are more than 7 million millionaires in the world.
80% of millionaires drive second-hand cars.
In 1900, the price of gold was less than $40 per ounce. It reached $600 in 1930, now struggling to reach $400 per ounce.
If Los Angeles County was a country, it would be the 19th largest economy in the world.
If California was a country, it would be the 5th largest economy in the world.
Tobacco is a $200 billion industry, producing six trillion cigarettes a year - about 1,000 cigarettes for each person on earth.
In 1965, CEOs earned on average 44 times more than factory workers. In 1998, CEOs earned on average 326 times more than factory workers and in 1999, they earned 419 times more than factory workers.
The income gap between the richest fifth of the world's people and the poorest measured by average national income per head increased from 30 to one in 1960, to 74 to one in 1998.
A third of the world's people live on less than $2 a day, with 1,2 billion people living on less than $1 a day.
In the 17th century, wool fabrics accounted for about two-thirds of England's foreign trade. Today, the leading wool producers are Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and China.
The NASDAQ stock exchange was totally disabled in on day in December 1987 when a squirrel burrowed through a telephone line.
In 1990, the word "recession" appeared in 1,583 articles in The Wall Street Journal.
Global sales of pre-recorded music total more than $40 billion.
Tourism is the world's biggest industry, affecting 240 million jobs.
In 1865, Frederik Idestam founded a wood-pulp mill in southern Finland, naming it Nokia. It rapidly gained worldwide recognition, attracting a large number of workforce and the town Nokia was born. In 1898, the Finnish Rubber Works company opened in Nokia, taking on the town name in the 1920s. After WWII, the rubber company took a majority shareholding in the Finnish Cable Work. In 1967, the companies consolidated to become the Nokia Group. The recession of the 1990s led the group to focus on the mobile phone market.
Land of socialism, Tendulkar and tigers
If one were to single out an Indian journalist whose name has evoked instant reactions across the land for the longest time, one would not look beyond Khushwant Singh. No other man could be remembered for two achievements so different as revealing the existence of the female torso to the incredulous readership of the formerly staid Illustrated Weekly of India and returning his Padma Shri to an equally stunned President Zail Singh.
Khushwant Singh is revered by many for making bluntness and candour respectable in a profession that thrived on euphemism and ellipsis, for teaching journalists that it was not incompatible with their trade to get up from their desks, and for showing readers for the first time that writing was meant to be enjoyed as much as admired. He is condemned by an equal number of critics for what they see as his salivating lasciviousness, his tiresomely idiosyncratic obsessions and his complete lack of either taste or discretion. No English-speaking Indian reader is neutral about Khushwant Singh: the one thing he does not do is leave his readers cold. May he live to be a hundred, and may he continue to amuse, delight and provoke well past that landmark.
Socialism: Is the political credo of India’s left wing. It was also the credo of India’s right wing (remember when the BJP claimed ‘‘Gandhian Socialism’’ as its ruling ideology?), its centre, its ruling party and all its editorialists. You could own land, fancy apartments and cars and call yourself a socialist; the dominant principle of Indian socialism is ‘‘do as i say, not as i do’’. It’s only since 1991 that it has become acceptable in India for some people not to be socialists, but the vast majority still pay lip-service to the creed, whether or not they implement its tenets in policy or practice.
Tagore, Rabindranath: Is the Shakespeare of the country, our greatest litterateur and a genius on the da Vinci scale, who wrote novels, short stories, plays, poems, and songs, who founded a new discipline of music (Rabindra Sangeet) and a new university of the arts (Santiniketan) and whose work, even in a poor translation, won India’s first Nobel Prize (and its only one for Literature).
Tagore towers over India’s cultural consciousness. His ‘Gitanjali’ still evokes admiration wherever it is read; his ‘Kabuliwallah’ is among the few short stories most Indians remember; and his famous poem, ‘‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high’’, inspires generations of Indian school-children long after the context of its composition has been forgotten. Tagore is also the only human being in the world to have composed the words and music to two separate national anthems, those of India and Bangladesh. Rabindranath Tagore would have won immortality in any of his chosen fields; instead he remains immortal in all.
The Taj Mahal: Is the motif for India on countless tourist posters and has probably had more camera shutters clicked at it than any other edifice on the face of this earth. How easily one forgets that this unequalled monument of love is in fact a tomb, the burial place of a woman who suffered 13 times the pain of childbirth and died in agony at the 14th attempt. Perhaps that makes it all the more appropriate as a symbol of India - a land of beauty and grandeur amidst suffering and death.
Tata: The dynasty that long represented the acceptable face of Indian capitalism: efficient, progressive, productive, honest, profitable and socially conscious. The Tatas gave India its first indigenous steel industry, its first five-star hotel, its first company town (Jamshedpur) and its first airline.
When Jamsetji Tata set up India’s first steel plant in the late 19th century in the teeth of British opposition, a prominent Englishman dismissed the endeavour by saying that he would personally eat every ounce of steel an Indian was capable of producing. Last year, the Tatas purchased British Steel (as part of Corus).
I am not sure which is more symbolic of the reversal of fortunes - that an Indian company now owns British Steel, or the earlier purchase by the Tatas of the premier British tea company, Tetley’s. That each sup of Tetley’s tea puts money into Indian coffers is poetic justice for which we must always be grateful to Tata.
Tendulkar, Sachin: The sobriquet ‘Little Master’ was already taken, but Sachin Tendulkar was our sole ‘Boy Wonder’. By the time he was 14, people were speaking of him as potentially India’s greatest batsman ever, and after breaking onto the international scene as a precocious 16-year-old, he proceeded to fulfil that potential brilliantly. His records will long remain the stuff of cricketing legend, but what future generations will never know is the extraordinary weight of expectation that Sachin carried on his young shoulders every time he went out to bat, and the palpable sense of deflation that accompanied his every return to the pavilion.
Tigers: Are India’s most significant, yet most fragile, conservation achievement. In 1900 there were about 35,000 tigers in India; by the time tiger shooting was banned under a 1972 law there were only 1,872 left, a decimation rate of 95% in 70 years.
Thanks largely to Project Tiger, established in 1973, that figure has slowly climbed up towards 3,000 again. The problem is that the tiger remains gravely endangered and conservation requires political sacrifices that are not easily made, notably relocation of villages to create tiger sanctuaries, and maintenance of adequate prey to sustain tiger populations.
Tigers need large areas of land relatively free from incompatible human uses, but how can India reconcile the agreed ecological goal of protecting tigers with the pursuit of equitable socio-economic development for the people of the affected areas? The PM’s ‘Tiger Task Force’ came up with ideas that, conservationists agree, have not yet solved the problem. Unless real political will is put behind it, India risks the extinction in the wild of this magnificent specimen of our natural diversity.
Bachendri figures in book on 60 visionaries since independence
Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman and fifth in the world to climb the Mt Everest, is the only woman to have made it to the 'India Extraordinaire-60 years, 60 Luminaries' - a coffee table book to commemorate 60 years of independence.
Put together by Coca-Cola India and the Limca Book of World Records, the limited edition compilation dwells on the extraordinary contributions by 60 Indians in various fields since 1947, including entrepreneurs, stalwarts in the art and entertainment world, and other relevant fields.
Pal, the chief of adventure programme of Tata Steel, is the only woman to find reference in the adventure section and acknowledged as one of the major contributors to the development of modern India, according to a release by Tata Steel here.
Some of the personalities in the compilation were JRD Tata, Mother Teresa and Sachin Tendulkar.
Pal was one of the six women and 11 men who successfully summited Everest during the1984 expedition.
The very next year, in 1985, she led an all-women Indo-Nepalese Everest expedition, which created seven world records and set benchmarks for Indian mountaineering.
Nine years later, in 1994, she led another all-women team which coursed through the waters of river Ganga traversing 2500 km from Haridwar to Kolkata.
Summing up her mountaineering adventure, Pal said, "Mountains teach you to deal with critical situations. They force discipline and instill leadership qualities, humanity, courage, self-respect and confidence, besides bringing one in contact with people from different areas and cultures."
Incidentally, this tough woman was the first girl from her village to complete her graduation.
HCL World's No. 1 infrastructure vendor: Survey Reveals
India's fourth largest software exporter HCL Technologies has been ranked as the World's top vendor in the infrastructure space, a recent survey said.
HCL Technologies topped the list of 276 vendors, while beating global and domestic giants like IBM, Accenture, HP, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Satyam.
HCL Tech is followed by US-based Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) on second and third positions, according to an annual survey by Brown-Wilson survey for "The Black Book of Outsourcing."
A total of five Indian companies made to the top-20 list, including Satyam (13), Wipro (14), Infosys (18) and Tata Consultancy Services (20).
HCL Technologies also excelled in the sub-categories like on-site comprehensive, remote comprehensive and desk top support services and storage and servers.
Based on our survey results, it is clear that HCL is leading the global infrastructure services market from the client perspective, as evidenced by their top marks across the majority of sub-categories of the survey as rated by global users, Doug Brown, Managing Partner Brown-Wilson Group said.
"We congratulate HCL on emerging at the top of this year's IT Infrastructure outsourcing vendors ranking and commend the company for the innovative approaches used to provide Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across the globe with attractive alternative sourcing options delivered with extremely high quality standards and stringent process benchmarks," Brown added.
The infrastructure ranking was based on vendor evaluation across 18 points of infrastructure operational excellence including innovation, training, breadth of offerings, client adaptability, reliability, support and customer care to name a few.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Internet will face meltdown : Study Reveals
The Internet could be in trouble. A just released study predicts, the Net will face meltdown by 2010. And when that happens, innovations like Google and YouTube may not happen anymore and e-commerce too will take a beating. The reason: The sheer scale of data exceeds the ability of the network to cope.
The study predicts that although the core fibre and switching/routing resources will scale up to support virtually any conceivable user demand, the Internet access infrastructure, will not be adequate for supporting demand within the next three to five years.
The study was done by Nemertes Research Group, an independent research firm that specialises in quantifying the business impact of technology.
The research is based on in-depth analysis of Internet and IP infrastructure and current and projected traffic. The aim was to understand how each has changed over time, and determine if there will ever be a point at which demand exceeds capacity.
"We estimate the investment required by access providers to 'bridge the gap' between demand and capacity ranges from $42 billion to $55 billion, or roughly 60%- 70% more than what service providers currently plan to invest," the report says.
However, the report does not envisage Internet operations to fail completely. However, access times and bandwidth constraints will fall to such a level that innovation will be seriously hampered.
"The next Google, YouTube, or Amazon might not arise, not because of a lack of demand, but due to an inability to fulfill that demand. Rather like osteoporosis, the underinvestment in infrastructure will painlessly and invisibly suck competitiveness out of the economy," the report says.
Sabeer Bhatia 's Latest Invention " Live Documents
Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia on Wednesday launched a software product called Live Documents, which he claims has all the features of Microsoft Office 2007 and is available online for free.
"Live Documents will give you the same experience of Microsoft Office 2007 - which costs $400 - for free online," Bhatia told reporters here.
Live Documents has been developed by his Bangalore-based company InstaColl. Bhatia along with Soft Bank China and India Holdings have invested in InstaColl. However, investment figures are not available as it is a private company.
Explaining the features of Live Documents, Bhatia said, "Live Documents mean Microsoft Office 2007 will be available in a browser. Many users can access a document simultaneously."
On the security of data online, he said, "Documents would be completely secured on the Net. They are encrypted in the back-end. The user can give digital rights on who should open the document".
Live Documents has been developed with Java and Flash and it would work across platforms, he said.
Bhatia said, "If Live Documents makes 1 per cent of Microsoft Office revenues, then we would earn $200 million a year. If Live Documents makes 10 per cent of Microsoft Office revenues then our revenues would be $2 billion a year in the next three to four years."
"Live Documents will give you the same experience of Microsoft Office 2007 - which costs $400 - for free online," Bhatia told reporters here.
Live Documents has been developed by his Bangalore-based company InstaColl. Bhatia along with Soft Bank China and India Holdings have invested in InstaColl. However, investment figures are not available as it is a private company.
Explaining the features of Live Documents, Bhatia said, "Live Documents mean Microsoft Office 2007 will be available in a browser. Many users can access a document simultaneously."
On the security of data online, he said, "Documents would be completely secured on the Net. They are encrypted in the back-end. The user can give digital rights on who should open the document".
Live Documents has been developed with Java and Flash and it would work across platforms, he said.
Bhatia said, "If Live Documents makes 1 per cent of Microsoft Office revenues, then we would earn $200 million a year. If Live Documents makes 10 per cent of Microsoft Office revenues then our revenues would be $2 billion a year in the next three to four years."
The Fastest Growing Technology Firm In India
Hyderabad City-based BodhTree Consulting Ltd has been named as the fastest growing technology firm in the 'Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2007' list for its exceptional growth.
Bodhtree is a public listed company with investments and interests in some of the new technology businesses such as e-publishing, e-learning, and mobile classified search.
"We consider the Fast 500 ranking as one of the finest business recognition a company can achieve for its efforts, and are very much honoured to be in the list of such exceptional companies in the Asia Pacific Region," BodhTree Consulting CEO Sanjeev Gupta was saying in a release here today.
He attributed BodhTree's dynamic growth to a series of well designed software engineering, data management and document digitisation product launches coupled with an exceptional client service delivery model and a faster time to market implementation success rate.
The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific list recognises technology firms that have achieved the fastest rates of annual revenue growth in the Asia Pacific region during the past three years.
It includes companies based in Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau SAR, Malaysia, Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, release added.
Bodhtree is a public listed company with investments and interests in some of the new technology businesses such as e-publishing, e-learning, and mobile classified search.
"We consider the Fast 500 ranking as one of the finest business recognition a company can achieve for its efforts, and are very much honoured to be in the list of such exceptional companies in the Asia Pacific Region," BodhTree Consulting CEO Sanjeev Gupta was saying in a release here today.
He attributed BodhTree's dynamic growth to a series of well designed software engineering, data management and document digitisation product launches coupled with an exceptional client service delivery model and a faster time to market implementation success rate.
The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific list recognises technology firms that have achieved the fastest rates of annual revenue growth in the Asia Pacific region during the past three years.
It includes companies based in Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau SAR, Malaysia, Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, release added.
India: World's best performing stock market
India has emerged as the world's best performing stock market in the past three months, notwithstanding the five-day plunge that wiped off close to $85 billion of investors' wealth from the bourses.
The country's benchmark Sensex has lost over 1,300 points in five trading sessions pulling down the total market capitalisation of all the listed firms from about $1,650 billion to $1,565 billion during the same period.
However, an analysis of three-month US dollar return data available with the global market intelligence service provider MSCI Barra for equity markets across the world shows that Indian bourses have delivered the highest gain of 33.64 per cent during this period, thus adding over $400 billion to the investors' kitty.
The developed markets like the US, Japan, Austria, Sweden and Belgium have given negative returns in this period, while UK managed a modest return of 0.6 per cent.
The best performing developed markets has been Spain (18 per cent) and Hong Kong (17 per cent). But, their returns is just about half of the same on Indian bourses since August 21.
Worldwide, India is followed by Qatar, UAE and Egypt with a gain of about 28 per cent each. Among emerging markets, India is followed by Brazil with 31 per cent return, while Chinese stocks have managed to give about 17 per cent returns.
But, there are others as well like Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela who have registered a fall during this period.
Since the beginning of this month, however, just a handful of markets have managed to register a positive return.
Spain is the only developed market to have seen a modest gain in November (0.6 per cent), while Morocco, Egypt, Colombia and Jordan are the only emerging markets posting positive returns.
The country's benchmark Sensex has lost over 1,300 points in five trading sessions pulling down the total market capitalisation of all the listed firms from about $1,650 billion to $1,565 billion during the same period.
However, an analysis of three-month US dollar return data available with the global market intelligence service provider MSCI Barra for equity markets across the world shows that Indian bourses have delivered the highest gain of 33.64 per cent during this period, thus adding over $400 billion to the investors' kitty.
The developed markets like the US, Japan, Austria, Sweden and Belgium have given negative returns in this period, while UK managed a modest return of 0.6 per cent.
The best performing developed markets has been Spain (18 per cent) and Hong Kong (17 per cent). But, their returns is just about half of the same on Indian bourses since August 21.
Worldwide, India is followed by Qatar, UAE and Egypt with a gain of about 28 per cent each. Among emerging markets, India is followed by Brazil with 31 per cent return, while Chinese stocks have managed to give about 17 per cent returns.
But, there are others as well like Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela who have registered a fall during this period.
Since the beginning of this month, however, just a handful of markets have managed to register a positive return.
Spain is the only developed market to have seen a modest gain in November (0.6 per cent), while Morocco, Egypt, Colombia and Jordan are the only emerging markets posting positive returns.
High Blood Pressures May Lead To Disabilities
High blood pressure ' blood pushing against the walls of the arteries each time the heart beats ' has till now been synonymous with stroke, heart failure, kidney failure and coronary artery disease. But doctors now say elevated blood pressure, specifically systolic blood pressure ' BP when the heart is contracting ' increases the risk of disabilities later in life, such as the inability to lift objects, walk up or down stairs, or bathe.
In a study On Hypertension : Journal of the American Heart Association, a team of doctors from Harvard Medical School confirmed this trend.
"This adds another dimension to how we think about hypertension," said Ihab Hajjar, lead author of the study. "We always think of it as a risk factor for CVDs and heart attacks. But this study shows elevated blood pressure also tends to affect our independence and functional abilities."
Reacting to the study, senior cardiologist of Apollo Hospital, Deepak Natarajan, told that "High BP is an individual health risk for old people above the age of 70 years. It not only increases risk of heart diseases, but also causes dementia and limits cognitive functions. Controlling BP is the single most important factor. For those aged above 70 years, BP should be around 140/80 mmHg. They must not miss their BP medications, reduce their salt intake and do meditation."
The study has tremendous connotations for India where over 10 crore adults suffer from high BP. Some estimates say the disease is presently affecting about 32 million rural Indians and 34 million urban Indians. What's worse, India will soon have a tremendous volume of aged population.
According to the 2006 World Population Prospects, by 2050, the number of Indians aged above 80 will increase more than six times from the current figure of 78 lakh to nearly 5.14 crore. The number of people over 65 years of age in the country is expected to quadruple from 6.4 crore in 2005 to 23.9 crore.
For the Harvard study, researchers analyzed data from the Charleston Heart Study, which began in South Carolina in 1960 and collected its last survival data in 2001. The researchers investigated hypertension as a potential reason for why people age differently.
The researchers classified study members as normal (BP less than 140/90 mm Hg without using BP drugs) or hypertensive (BP at or above 140/90 mm Hg or taking medications to control it). Functional tests measured everything from physical strength (pushing, pulling, lifting) to mobility indexes (walking, using a wheelchair), to personal-hygiene ability (bathing, grooming, dressing).
The team then found that increases in systolic BP over time were associated with functional disability, even among those who are stroke-free with no other major diseases linked to high BP.
In a study On Hypertension : Journal of the American Heart Association, a team of doctors from Harvard Medical School confirmed this trend.
"This adds another dimension to how we think about hypertension," said Ihab Hajjar, lead author of the study. "We always think of it as a risk factor for CVDs and heart attacks. But this study shows elevated blood pressure also tends to affect our independence and functional abilities."
Reacting to the study, senior cardiologist of Apollo Hospital, Deepak Natarajan, told that "High BP is an individual health risk for old people above the age of 70 years. It not only increases risk of heart diseases, but also causes dementia and limits cognitive functions. Controlling BP is the single most important factor. For those aged above 70 years, BP should be around 140/80 mmHg. They must not miss their BP medications, reduce their salt intake and do meditation."
The study has tremendous connotations for India where over 10 crore adults suffer from high BP. Some estimates say the disease is presently affecting about 32 million rural Indians and 34 million urban Indians. What's worse, India will soon have a tremendous volume of aged population.
According to the 2006 World Population Prospects, by 2050, the number of Indians aged above 80 will increase more than six times from the current figure of 78 lakh to nearly 5.14 crore. The number of people over 65 years of age in the country is expected to quadruple from 6.4 crore in 2005 to 23.9 crore.
For the Harvard study, researchers analyzed data from the Charleston Heart Study, which began in South Carolina in 1960 and collected its last survival data in 2001. The researchers investigated hypertension as a potential reason for why people age differently.
The researchers classified study members as normal (BP less than 140/90 mm Hg without using BP drugs) or hypertensive (BP at or above 140/90 mm Hg or taking medications to control it). Functional tests measured everything from physical strength (pushing, pulling, lifting) to mobility indexes (walking, using a wheelchair), to personal-hygiene ability (bathing, grooming, dressing).
The team then found that increases in systolic BP over time were associated with functional disability, even among those who are stroke-free with no other major diseases linked to high BP.
Magnetic Pulses Can Treat Depression
Stimulating the brain with rapid bursts of magnetic energy is a safe and effectively treatment for major depression, a new large-scale study has found.
The finding offers a ray of hope to the 20 to 40% of patients who do not respond to antidepressants and psychotherapy and to those who do not wish to treat their illness with drugs.
“This study provides new support for the efficacy of TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) as a ‘stand alone’ treatment for depression,” said John Krystal, editor of ‘Biological Psychiatry’.
“This finding could be particularly important for patients who do not tolerate antidepressant medications, for whom they are not safe, or who have not benefited from other alternative treatments.”
It works by sending very rapid bursts of magnetic energy into the brain through coils attached to the scalp. These pulses cause the neurons in a small area of the brain to “fire off”, said study co-author Philip Janicak, a psychiatry professor at Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago.
“It also indirectly sends signals down to the deeper areas of the brain which controls the appetite and are linked to depression,” he said.
The finding offers a ray of hope to the 20 to 40% of patients who do not respond to antidepressants and psychotherapy and to those who do not wish to treat their illness with drugs.
“This study provides new support for the efficacy of TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) as a ‘stand alone’ treatment for depression,” said John Krystal, editor of ‘Biological Psychiatry’.
“This finding could be particularly important for patients who do not tolerate antidepressant medications, for whom they are not safe, or who have not benefited from other alternative treatments.”
It works by sending very rapid bursts of magnetic energy into the brain through coils attached to the scalp. These pulses cause the neurons in a small area of the brain to “fire off”, said study co-author Philip Janicak, a psychiatry professor at Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago.
“It also indirectly sends signals down to the deeper areas of the brain which controls the appetite and are linked to depression,” he said.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Things Important to Lose Your Belly Fat & Get Six Pack Abs
1.Many so-called "health foods" are actually cleverly disguised junk foods that can actually stimulate you to gain more belly fat... yet the diet food marketing industry continues to lie to you so they can maximize their profits.
2.Ab exercises such as crunches, sit-ups, and ab machines are actually the LEAST effective method of getting flat six pack abs. We'll explore what types of exercises REALLY work in a minute.
3.Boring repetitive cardio exercise routines are NOT the best way to lose body fat and uncover those six pack abs. I'll tell you the exact types of unique workouts that produce 10x better results below.
4.You DON'T need to waste your money on expensive "extreme fat burner" pills or other bogus supplements. I'll show you how to use the power of natural foods in more detail below.
5.Ab belts, ab-rockers, ab-loungers, and other infomercial ab-gimmicks... they're all a complete waste of your time and money. Again, you'll learn what really works below.
2.Ab exercises such as crunches, sit-ups, and ab machines are actually the LEAST effective method of getting flat six pack abs. We'll explore what types of exercises REALLY work in a minute.
3.Boring repetitive cardio exercise routines are NOT the best way to lose body fat and uncover those six pack abs. I'll tell you the exact types of unique workouts that produce 10x better results below.
4.You DON'T need to waste your money on expensive "extreme fat burner" pills or other bogus supplements. I'll show you how to use the power of natural foods in more detail below.
5.Ab belts, ab-rockers, ab-loungers, and other infomercial ab-gimmicks... they're all a complete waste of your time and money. Again, you'll learn what really works below.
Nokia 8800 Arte- Latest 3G Phone Unveiled
Cellpone maker Nokia unveiled two third-generation (3G) 8800 series mobile phones, 8800 Arte and 8800 Sapphire Arte. The new phones bring 3G capabilities to the Nokia 8800 series.
Nokia 8800 Arte comes with a 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera and 8x digital zoom
The phone is set to start shipping in the current
quarter at a retail price of 1,000 euros ($1,462) before taxes and subsidies.
For data sync, the Nokia 8800 Arte offer a microUSB connector. Other features include:
* 2.0" QVGA 240x320 pixels, OLED display with up to 16 million colours
* Anti-fingerprint coating on metal and glass
While there's no support for external memory, phone comes with 1GB of storage.
Another addition to the Nokia's third-generation (3G) 8800 line-up is Sapphire Arte. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte adds a polished steel case with a sapphire gem stone and an accent of soft leather.
Featuring a 2.0 inch QVGA 240x320 pixels, organic-LED display, the phone is equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera offering 8x digital zoom.
The 8800 Sapphire Arte will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2008 at 1,150 euros before taxes and subsidies.
The phone has an exclusive videotrack and soundtrack composed by Kruder and Dorfmeister with visuals by Fritz Fitzke. For data sync, the phone comes with a microUSB connector.
Fast Forward Nation - INDIASPORA
In two decades of travels, only once have I stepped inside a McDonalds abroad. Family brats insistent on a "Happy Meal" dragged me kicking and screaming to one in America several years back, mocking my resistance as they cheerfully rang up their Big Macs and Coke. Killed my appetite for years.
It's a different matter in India, where the Golden Arch draws me in these days for the lessons it offers in globalisation. Thomas Friedman once said that no two countries who both have McDonalds have ever gone to war. He was wrong. The US invaded small-fry Panama, partly over coke, the other kind.
But it's true that McDonalds provides all kinds of global and local metrics and insights. For instance, the Economist uses a "Big Mac Index", the comparison of a Big Mac's cost in various countries (in the local currency) to judge its Purchasing Power Parity.
In India, McDonalds reveals unique local flavours — both on its very resistable menu and otherwise. Much to the surprise of ultranationalists and leftists who thought the American food giant would be routed, it has stuck around, growing and expanding modestly by forsaking beef and ringing up glocal versions of its standard fare — like the Maharaja Mac, McAloo Tikki Burger etc. Other fast food chains have followed. They have not eaten into the ethnic food habit, but brought admirable efficiencies that are being copied elsewhere.
This time, a new item caught my eye at a McDonalds in a Bangalore mall. The Paneer Salsa Wrap seems entirely in tune with India's embrace of the Hispanic world (several Indian IT firms have started offshore centres in Latin America and South America). As our global outreach continues, expect McShawarma Mama, Teri McTeriyaki and other such confections.
There was another interesting experience at the place. About 25 people stood in the line to place orders. How long do you think before my turn came? Less than three minutes. By the simple expedient of having an associate walk up the line taking orders (instead of waiting till you to reach the pay counter) the process was speeded up. Having suffered an hour-long wait days earlier at the city's legendary MTR eatery, this was a breeze.
Over the next few days, I observed the extension of McDonalds' Speedee System (assembly line service introduced in 1948) at several places in India. At an airline check-in counter, an associate walked up the line with a handheld device with which he could check you in and even print a boarding pass. At a Gurgaon movieplex, uniformed vendors came inside the movie hall to take orders during the interval.
Everywhere in India, they seem to be trying to maximise productivity, turnover, and revenue, through such jugaad — a term that loosely describes desi hustle and enterprise. Such speeding up is possible because we have enough manpower for the McJobs that globalisation creates. But you can also see uniquely Indian solutions to handle huge volumes and long lines.
In fact, lately I have seen much better service at Indian airports, banks, stores, and hospitals than in the US. From being way behind the curve, we may be coming up to speed, a fast forward nation. Maybe it's cruel to say this when you have just spent an hour in a traffic snarl. But there must be a way out of that too.
McDonalds has its critics, present company included, on account of the pabulum it serves. The book Fast Food Nation and the documentary Super Size Me tore into it. But when it comes to glocalised efficiency, there's much to digest under the Golden Arch and its likes.
It's a different matter in India, where the Golden Arch draws me in these days for the lessons it offers in globalisation. Thomas Friedman once said that no two countries who both have McDonalds have ever gone to war. He was wrong. The US invaded small-fry Panama, partly over coke, the other kind.
But it's true that McDonalds provides all kinds of global and local metrics and insights. For instance, the Economist uses a "Big Mac Index", the comparison of a Big Mac's cost in various countries (in the local currency) to judge its Purchasing Power Parity.
In India, McDonalds reveals unique local flavours — both on its very resistable menu and otherwise. Much to the surprise of ultranationalists and leftists who thought the American food giant would be routed, it has stuck around, growing and expanding modestly by forsaking beef and ringing up glocal versions of its standard fare — like the Maharaja Mac, McAloo Tikki Burger etc. Other fast food chains have followed. They have not eaten into the ethnic food habit, but brought admirable efficiencies that are being copied elsewhere.
This time, a new item caught my eye at a McDonalds in a Bangalore mall. The Paneer Salsa Wrap seems entirely in tune with India's embrace of the Hispanic world (several Indian IT firms have started offshore centres in Latin America and South America). As our global outreach continues, expect McShawarma Mama, Teri McTeriyaki and other such confections.
There was another interesting experience at the place. About 25 people stood in the line to place orders. How long do you think before my turn came? Less than three minutes. By the simple expedient of having an associate walk up the line taking orders (instead of waiting till you to reach the pay counter) the process was speeded up. Having suffered an hour-long wait days earlier at the city's legendary MTR eatery, this was a breeze.
Over the next few days, I observed the extension of McDonalds' Speedee System (assembly line service introduced in 1948) at several places in India. At an airline check-in counter, an associate walked up the line with a handheld device with which he could check you in and even print a boarding pass. At a Gurgaon movieplex, uniformed vendors came inside the movie hall to take orders during the interval.
Everywhere in India, they seem to be trying to maximise productivity, turnover, and revenue, through such jugaad — a term that loosely describes desi hustle and enterprise. Such speeding up is possible because we have enough manpower for the McJobs that globalisation creates. But you can also see uniquely Indian solutions to handle huge volumes and long lines.
In fact, lately I have seen much better service at Indian airports, banks, stores, and hospitals than in the US. From being way behind the curve, we may be coming up to speed, a fast forward nation. Maybe it's cruel to say this when you have just spent an hour in a traffic snarl. But there must be a way out of that too.
McDonalds has its critics, present company included, on account of the pabulum it serves. The book Fast Food Nation and the documentary Super Size Me tore into it. But when it comes to glocalised efficiency, there's much to digest under the Golden Arch and its likes.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Know iTunes?
iPod and iTunes make it easy to be both a music fan and a gadget guru. You’ll find it’s the same with the Mac. Apple engineers create astounding software that turns you into an expert just by using it. If you know iTunes, you know how to use Mac software.
Apple designers spend countless hours debating the right way something should work. So when you interact with your Mac and the programs on it, you’ll find they follow consistent guidelines. Learn how to do something in one program, and chances are it’ll work the same way in another.
Many programs feature the same sort of library collection, playlists, and search capability as iTunes, though they may go by different names. So you’ll see groups of addresses, albums of photos, folders of mail, types of calendars, and so on. All with the powerful and near instantaneous search mechanism you’ve grown accustomed to in iTunes.
Many programs feature the same sort of library collection, playlists, and search capability as iTunes, though they may go by different names. So you’ll see groups of addresses, albums of photos, folders of mail, types of calendars, and so on. All with the powerful and near instantaneous search mechanism you’ve grown accustomed to in iTunes.
And if you get stuck, you can always turn to the Mac for help. In the same place, of course, in the menu bar. You can print out keyboard shortcuts or let Help guide you through a task. Though the Mac won’t lead you through an endless conversation with a so-called wizard or nag you to clean up your desktop.
Apple- Get a Mac- Still the world's most advanced OS
“Nearly all of the major, visible new features in Vista are already available in Apple's operating system, called Mac OS X, which came out in 2001 and received its last major upgrade in 2005. And Apple is about to leap ahead again with a new version of OS X, called Leopard.”
“You get the feeling that Microsoft's managers put Mac OS X on an easel and told the programmers, ‘Copy that.’”
While Vista does its best to copy some features that have been in Mac OS X for years, Mac OS X offers an experience that is simply years ahead. It’s designed to make the time you spend at your computer not only productive, but enjoyable — not exactly the kind of experience PCs are known for.
While Vista does its best to copy some features that have been in Mac OS X for years, Mac OS X offers an experience that is simply years ahead. It’s designed to make the time you spend at your computer not only productive, but enjoyable — not exactly the kind of experience PCs are known for.
Mac OS X knows when to get out of your way, allowing you to work or create without distraction. It also knows how to spring into action when you need it. Spotlight, for example, is always there to help you find that elusive file hiding somewhere in your computer. It shows search results literally as you type — in emails, contacts, PDFs, images, calendars, and applications.
Dashboard widgets are small, focused applications for accomplishing discrete tasks (like tracking deliveries, checking the weather, playing Sudoku, printing envelopes, and reviewing your stock portfolio). Since Dashboard Widgets have been part of Mac OS X for almost two years, you can now choose from a library of thousands.
Unlike Vista, which comes in four distinct flavors at four distinct prices, each with its own distinct set of features (and each in 32- and 64-bit dialects), there’s only one Mac OS X. It runs on every Mac. With a full set of features. That’s just the way things are in the land of Mac — simple and straightforward.
But even as Vista falls short in features that have long been part of Mac OS X, it’s just fallen even farther behind. Because Mac OS X Leopard is here, standard equipment in every Mac. With over 300 improvements, it makes using your Mac easier and more amazing.
With the new Time Machine, for example, you can peer into any folder on your Mac and travel back in time to retrieve an earlier version of a document. It’s an all-new (and fantastically cool) take on data backup. The Spaces feature allows you to create multiple desktops so that you can organize your workspace differently for different tasks. And that’s just scratching the surface.
The choice today is between an OS trying its best to catch up — and Mac OS X Leopard, which continues to lead the way.
Dashboard widgets are small, focused applications for accomplishing discrete tasks (like tracking deliveries, checking the weather, playing Sudoku, printing envelopes, and reviewing your stock portfolio). Since Dashboard Widgets have been part of Mac OS X for almost two years, you can now choose from a library of thousands.
Unlike Vista, which comes in four distinct flavors at four distinct prices, each with its own distinct set of features (and each in 32- and 64-bit dialects), there’s only one Mac OS X. It runs on every Mac. With a full set of features. That’s just the way things are in the land of Mac — simple and straightforward.
But even as Vista falls short in features that have long been part of Mac OS X, it’s just fallen even farther behind. Because Mac OS X Leopard is here, standard equipment in every Mac. With over 300 improvements, it makes using your Mac easier and more amazing.
With the new Time Machine, for example, you can peer into any folder on your Mac and travel back in time to retrieve an earlier version of a document. It’s an all-new (and fantastically cool) take on data backup. The Spaces feature allows you to create multiple desktops so that you can organize your workspace differently for different tasks. And that’s just scratching the surface.
The choice today is between an OS trying its best to catch up — and Mac OS X Leopard, which continues to lead the way.
India: Bad marks, yet Ist division
Even as Mukesh Ambani is reported (probably inaccurately) to have become the richest man in the world, the World Hunger Index of IFPRI has ranked India 94th out of 118 countries, just above Ethiopia and worse than any country in the subcontinent save Bangladesh. The contrast between rich and poor is stark.
India's social record has long been bad. It ranks a lowly 126th in the Human Development Index of the UN. World Bank data show that India has among the highest rates of child malnutrition and maternal mortality in the world.
Predictably, the left says that India's neo-liberal economic policies fatten the rich and neglect the hungry. But that is comically wrong. India fares very poorly in global indices of economic liberalisation, no less than of human development. It is not the case that India is world class in economic reforms but poor in social reform. Rather, India gets terrible scores on pretty well everything.
Leftists claim that India's neo-liberal policies have lifted almost all controls. Really? How could our esteemed netas and babus extract bribes ad nauseum if there were no controls and permits? The Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International ranks India a lowly 72nd, below many African countries.
A survey of the Centre for Media Studies shows that 80% of all Indians pay petty bribes totaling a whopping $4.8 billion for services they are entitled to. A quarter of the bribes are for admission into supposedly free schools and hospitals. So if the poor are deprived, blame not the Ambanis or Narayana Murthys but the neta-babu raj, which remains intact and venal as ever despite some limited liberalisation.
Is bribery just a small wart on a healthy liberalised system? Hardly. India ranks only 104th in the Index of Economic Freedom, published annually by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal. In economic freedom, no less than in corruption or hunger, India ranks well behind several African countries.
The Index of Economic Freedom rates India as mostly unfree. India ranks below the world average on six out of 10 criteria. It gets overall marks of 56%. Its marks are much worse in regard to corruption (29%). It gets only 30% marks for financial freedom — government banks still dominate 70% of banking, stringent licensing prevents new Indian and foreign players from entering this sector, and two-fifths of bank loans have to be given to sectors decreed by the government. India gets 40% marks for investment freedom — foreign investment is still restricted or banned in a number of sectors, capital controls limit rupee convertibility, and NRIs and foreigners face several restrictions on investing in India.
The World Bank's annual series on Doing Business ranks countries on the ease of doing business. In the latest report, India ranks just 120th out of 180 countries. It is the worst in South Asia: better are Maldives (60th), Pakistan (76th), Bangladesh (107th) and even Maoist-hit Nepal (111st). China (83rd) is better than India but worse than Pakistan, highlighting the fact that red tape still inhibits some of the most fast-growing economies.
Among the various doing business indicators, India is virtually at the bottom in enforcement of contracts (177th). This means, in effect, that contracts are pretty meaningless, the rule of law does not prevail, and property rights are insecure.
Almost as bad is India's performance in demanding payment of multiple taxes (165th out of 180 countries). On the ease of hiring and firing workers, it ranks 85th, which is poor but actually much better than India's scores on some other criteria. It seems that businessmen can find ways round inflexible labour laws. India scores badly in ease of opening a business (111th) and even worse in closing a business (137th).
India fares badly on several policy and governance indicators. Its fiscal deficit remains over 6% of GDP, which is a crisis level in most countries historically. Subsidies are still 14% of GDP, of which half are non-merit subsidies without redeeming social virtues. The quality of public services is pathetic. Legal delays make a mockery of justice. Legislatures and cabinets are full of criminals. And Maoist violence affects 157 of our 600 districts. Despite scoring so poorly on economic, social and governance indicators, India nevertheless boasts record 9% economic growth. It boasts some social successes too. Life expectancy has increased from 31 years at independence to 64 in 2005, a huge jump.
NSSO surveys show that people saying they don't get enough to eat for part or all of the year have fallen from around 15% of the population in 1983 to 5.5% in rural and 1.9% in urban areas in 1994-94, and to just 2.6% in rural and 0.6% in urban areas in 2004-05. IFPRI may rank Indians as very hungry, but Indians themselves say that hunger has largely ended.
Not all international indicators are as off-target as IFPRIs. Many seem accurate. This deepens the mystery of how India is succeeding despite horrible flaws in dozens of areas. It is like a student who gets poor marks in most papers, yet ends up with a first division.
India's social record has long been bad. It ranks a lowly 126th in the Human Development Index of the UN. World Bank data show that India has among the highest rates of child malnutrition and maternal mortality in the world.
Predictably, the left says that India's neo-liberal economic policies fatten the rich and neglect the hungry. But that is comically wrong. India fares very poorly in global indices of economic liberalisation, no less than of human development. It is not the case that India is world class in economic reforms but poor in social reform. Rather, India gets terrible scores on pretty well everything.
Leftists claim that India's neo-liberal policies have lifted almost all controls. Really? How could our esteemed netas and babus extract bribes ad nauseum if there were no controls and permits? The Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International ranks India a lowly 72nd, below many African countries.
A survey of the Centre for Media Studies shows that 80% of all Indians pay petty bribes totaling a whopping $4.8 billion for services they are entitled to. A quarter of the bribes are for admission into supposedly free schools and hospitals. So if the poor are deprived, blame not the Ambanis or Narayana Murthys but the neta-babu raj, which remains intact and venal as ever despite some limited liberalisation.
Is bribery just a small wart on a healthy liberalised system? Hardly. India ranks only 104th in the Index of Economic Freedom, published annually by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal. In economic freedom, no less than in corruption or hunger, India ranks well behind several African countries.
The Index of Economic Freedom rates India as mostly unfree. India ranks below the world average on six out of 10 criteria. It gets overall marks of 56%. Its marks are much worse in regard to corruption (29%). It gets only 30% marks for financial freedom — government banks still dominate 70% of banking, stringent licensing prevents new Indian and foreign players from entering this sector, and two-fifths of bank loans have to be given to sectors decreed by the government. India gets 40% marks for investment freedom — foreign investment is still restricted or banned in a number of sectors, capital controls limit rupee convertibility, and NRIs and foreigners face several restrictions on investing in India.
The World Bank's annual series on Doing Business ranks countries on the ease of doing business. In the latest report, India ranks just 120th out of 180 countries. It is the worst in South Asia: better are Maldives (60th), Pakistan (76th), Bangladesh (107th) and even Maoist-hit Nepal (111st). China (83rd) is better than India but worse than Pakistan, highlighting the fact that red tape still inhibits some of the most fast-growing economies.
Among the various doing business indicators, India is virtually at the bottom in enforcement of contracts (177th). This means, in effect, that contracts are pretty meaningless, the rule of law does not prevail, and property rights are insecure.
Almost as bad is India's performance in demanding payment of multiple taxes (165th out of 180 countries). On the ease of hiring and firing workers, it ranks 85th, which is poor but actually much better than India's scores on some other criteria. It seems that businessmen can find ways round inflexible labour laws. India scores badly in ease of opening a business (111th) and even worse in closing a business (137th).
India fares badly on several policy and governance indicators. Its fiscal deficit remains over 6% of GDP, which is a crisis level in most countries historically. Subsidies are still 14% of GDP, of which half are non-merit subsidies without redeeming social virtues. The quality of public services is pathetic. Legal delays make a mockery of justice. Legislatures and cabinets are full of criminals. And Maoist violence affects 157 of our 600 districts. Despite scoring so poorly on economic, social and governance indicators, India nevertheless boasts record 9% economic growth. It boasts some social successes too. Life expectancy has increased from 31 years at independence to 64 in 2005, a huge jump.
NSSO surveys show that people saying they don't get enough to eat for part or all of the year have fallen from around 15% of the population in 1983 to 5.5% in rural and 1.9% in urban areas in 1994-94, and to just 2.6% in rural and 0.6% in urban areas in 2004-05. IFPRI may rank Indians as very hungry, but Indians themselves say that hunger has largely ended.
Not all international indicators are as off-target as IFPRIs. Many seem accurate. This deepens the mystery of how India is succeeding despite horrible flaws in dozens of areas. It is like a student who gets poor marks in most papers, yet ends up with a first division.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Epics go hi-tech for Bollywood
Two of India's famous epics about gods, demons and cataclysmic battles have inspired a slew of films that will use elaborate visual effects, not just the battle between good and evil, to lure modern viewers.
The Ramayana and Mahabharata, two of Hinduism's crucial texts, are regarded as allegorical lessons in righteous living integral to much of India's cultural consciousness.
The popularity of these epics was earlier limited to books and regional language cinema until about two decades ago when they were adapted into TV series aired on national television.
The serials were so popular that they managed to empty city streets, forced changes in train timings and got their actors elected as members of parliament. Some people even prayed in front of their television screens while the show was on.
The serials used tacky special effects to depict battle scenes but were such a hit that several filmmakers reasoned they could top that success with films that use high-tech techniques like those in The Lord of the Rings films.
"If you are making a period film for the modern audience who have seen the magic of animation, you have to give them similar viewing pleasures or else they will just not see it," said Ravi Chopra, one of the industry's top directors.
Chopra and director Rajkumar Santoshi are planning full-length films on Mahabharata and Ramayana respectively. Another film on Mahabharata by acclaimed filmmaker Bobby Bedi is in pre-production.
While Ramayana is the story of warrior-god Ram, who defeats a demon-king to free his wife with the help of an army of monkeys, Mahabharata deals with a dynastic struggle for power that ends in victory for the righteous.
One of the films planned is on a sub-plot from Mahabharata about queen Draupadi, who is wagered and lost in a game of dice by her five husbands.
"It will be a quintessential adaptation from the epic but focusing on Draupadi," director Rituparno Ghosh said, about his film named after the queen. "It will look at her in a different light."
These multi-plot epics have fired the imagination of Indians for centuries and have also influenced the art and culture of Southeast Asia from Indonesia to Cambodia.
Some critics say that falling back on the epics for a story showed Bollywood's lack of creativity. But the filmmakers dismiss the charge.
"Our epics are so rich in values and they are a true reflection of what our country was then," said Santoshi. "It is our duty to make films about our glorious past and present it before the world so that they can know India better."
The Ramayana and Mahabharata, two of Hinduism's crucial texts, are regarded as allegorical lessons in righteous living integral to much of India's cultural consciousness.
The popularity of these epics was earlier limited to books and regional language cinema until about two decades ago when they were adapted into TV series aired on national television.
The serials were so popular that they managed to empty city streets, forced changes in train timings and got their actors elected as members of parliament. Some people even prayed in front of their television screens while the show was on.
The serials used tacky special effects to depict battle scenes but were such a hit that several filmmakers reasoned they could top that success with films that use high-tech techniques like those in The Lord of the Rings films.
"If you are making a period film for the modern audience who have seen the magic of animation, you have to give them similar viewing pleasures or else they will just not see it," said Ravi Chopra, one of the industry's top directors.
Chopra and director Rajkumar Santoshi are planning full-length films on Mahabharata and Ramayana respectively. Another film on Mahabharata by acclaimed filmmaker Bobby Bedi is in pre-production.
While Ramayana is the story of warrior-god Ram, who defeats a demon-king to free his wife with the help of an army of monkeys, Mahabharata deals with a dynastic struggle for power that ends in victory for the righteous.
One of the films planned is on a sub-plot from Mahabharata about queen Draupadi, who is wagered and lost in a game of dice by her five husbands.
"It will be a quintessential adaptation from the epic but focusing on Draupadi," director Rituparno Ghosh said, about his film named after the queen. "It will look at her in a different light."
These multi-plot epics have fired the imagination of Indians for centuries and have also influenced the art and culture of Southeast Asia from Indonesia to Cambodia.
Some critics say that falling back on the epics for a story showed Bollywood's lack of creativity. But the filmmakers dismiss the charge.
"Our epics are so rich in values and they are a true reflection of what our country was then," said Santoshi. "It is our duty to make films about our glorious past and present it before the world so that they can know India better."
Curry may help for fighting against cancers
Eating curry really may be good for your health, for a new study has found two new molecular analogues of curcumin, the yellowish component of turmeric that gives curry its flavour, which have powerful tumour suppressive properties that may help fight colorectal cancers.
The study was conducted on a mouse model by researchers from Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Centennial Conference on Translational Cancer Medicine.
Research has associated curcumin with several distinct actions, including the suppression of genes that promote cell growth, and induction of programmed cell death (apoptosis) in colorectal cancer.
However, the downside is that natural curcumin has "low bioavailability" i.e. the molecule quickly loses its anti-cancer attributes when ingested.
With the aim of improving the therapeutic potential of curcumin lead researcher Hiroyuki Shibata, M.D, and his colleagues synthesized and tested 90 variations of the molecule’s structure.
They found that two variations, namely GO-Y030 and GO-Y031, proved to be more potent and bioavailable, than natural curcumin.
"Our new analogues have enhanced growth suppressive abilities against colorectal cancer cell lines, up to 30 times greater than natural curcumin," said Shibata, associate professor in the Department of Clinical Oncology at the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer at Tohoku University.
On the study they conducted on mice with colorectal cancer, they found that when fed with the variations, the rodents fared better than those in a control group.
"In a mouse model for colorectal cancer, mice fed with five milligrams of GO-Y030 or GO-Y031 fared 42 and 51 percent better, respectively, than did mice in the control group."
Like curcumin, the researchers believe the new analogues have clinical potential that extends beyond colorectal cancer.
"In addition to colorectal cancer, the â catenin-degrading abilities of these molecules could apply to other forms of cancer, such as gastric cancer," said Shibata.
"Like curcumin, these analogues also down-regulate a number of gene products, such as NF-kappa B, ErbB2, K-ras, that are also implicated in breast, pancreas and lung cancers among other diseases.
"In addition to their chemopreventative abilities, these molecules might also form the basis of a potent chemotherapy, either alone or in combination with other modes of therapy."
The next step, the researchers state, is to further examine the drug delivery mechanisms, toxicology and pharmacokinetics of these analogues, before extending the research to clinical trials.
The study was funded by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science and the Miyagi Health Service Association.
The study was conducted on a mouse model by researchers from Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Centennial Conference on Translational Cancer Medicine.
Research has associated curcumin with several distinct actions, including the suppression of genes that promote cell growth, and induction of programmed cell death (apoptosis) in colorectal cancer.
However, the downside is that natural curcumin has "low bioavailability" i.e. the molecule quickly loses its anti-cancer attributes when ingested.
With the aim of improving the therapeutic potential of curcumin lead researcher Hiroyuki Shibata, M.D, and his colleagues synthesized and tested 90 variations of the molecule’s structure.
They found that two variations, namely GO-Y030 and GO-Y031, proved to be more potent and bioavailable, than natural curcumin.
"Our new analogues have enhanced growth suppressive abilities against colorectal cancer cell lines, up to 30 times greater than natural curcumin," said Shibata, associate professor in the Department of Clinical Oncology at the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer at Tohoku University.
On the study they conducted on mice with colorectal cancer, they found that when fed with the variations, the rodents fared better than those in a control group.
"In a mouse model for colorectal cancer, mice fed with five milligrams of GO-Y030 or GO-Y031 fared 42 and 51 percent better, respectively, than did mice in the control group."
Like curcumin, the researchers believe the new analogues have clinical potential that extends beyond colorectal cancer.
"In addition to colorectal cancer, the â catenin-degrading abilities of these molecules could apply to other forms of cancer, such as gastric cancer," said Shibata.
"Like curcumin, these analogues also down-regulate a number of gene products, such as NF-kappa B, ErbB2, K-ras, that are also implicated in breast, pancreas and lung cancers among other diseases.
"In addition to their chemopreventative abilities, these molecules might also form the basis of a potent chemotherapy, either alone or in combination with other modes of therapy."
The next step, the researchers state, is to further examine the drug delivery mechanisms, toxicology and pharmacokinetics of these analogues, before extending the research to clinical trials.
The study was funded by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science and the Miyagi Health Service Association.
Is Your Phone Catching a Virus?
Just when you were getting the hang of protecting your computer from viruses, they must have sneezed and found your cell phone. One in every 10 phones is now a smart phone—capable of handling data and messaging. That means it's become easy and lucrative for hackers to attack your cell phone. And the dangers are just as real. From 2004 to 2006, the number of phone viruses doubled every month.
According to Symantec, viruses spread on cell phones in a variety of ways: Internet downloads, MMS (multimedia messaging service) attachments, and Bluetooth transfers to name a few. They'll often show up as game downloads, updates to your phone's system, ringtones, or alerts. McAfee Avert Labs has identified about 450 different variants of mobile threats, and that's not including phishing attacks and spam. According to McAfee research, 83 percent of worldwide carriers have had security incidents in 2007.
What do these viruses do? Reports are trickling in: A Seattle family was watched, monitored, and threatened because of spyware on their cell phone. A man's cell phone content was wiped clean after he downloaded a virus-infested ringtone. Crashes, unstable or slower-than-usual performance, quick battery consumption, incorrect or skyrocketing mobile phone bills, a dramatic increase in messaging charges—any of these could be a virus.
One of the original cell phone viruses was transmitted through a Bluetooth connection. Like your PC, some phone viruses are just annoying—a pop-up or a silly joke. Others are a bit more insidious, like the one that resets your phone monthly.
But the latest and most sophisticated crop are what's called "pranking for profit." This can involve things like redirecting your calls to a different carrier in a different country, racking up a hefty phone bill. Or sending an MMS message to everyone in your contact directory, leaving you with enormous extra charges. Or "vishing," when you'll get a voice call that asks for information, faking it by posing as a legitimate business. A downloaded application may send information about your phone account to hackers. Snoopware (which is spyware on steroids) might capture your keypad clicks.
How do you know you've been infected? Pay attention when your phone starts behaving badly. Are your contacts disappearing? Are your calendar entries gone? Does your phone bill have strange charges?
If so, suspect a virus before you suspect user error.
Next up? We'll look at the new tools from Symantec and McAfee designed to protect your phone from infection.
According to Symantec, viruses spread on cell phones in a variety of ways: Internet downloads, MMS (multimedia messaging service) attachments, and Bluetooth transfers to name a few. They'll often show up as game downloads, updates to your phone's system, ringtones, or alerts. McAfee Avert Labs has identified about 450 different variants of mobile threats, and that's not including phishing attacks and spam. According to McAfee research, 83 percent of worldwide carriers have had security incidents in 2007.
What do these viruses do? Reports are trickling in: A Seattle family was watched, monitored, and threatened because of spyware on their cell phone. A man's cell phone content was wiped clean after he downloaded a virus-infested ringtone. Crashes, unstable or slower-than-usual performance, quick battery consumption, incorrect or skyrocketing mobile phone bills, a dramatic increase in messaging charges—any of these could be a virus.
One of the original cell phone viruses was transmitted through a Bluetooth connection. Like your PC, some phone viruses are just annoying—a pop-up or a silly joke. Others are a bit more insidious, like the one that resets your phone monthly.
But the latest and most sophisticated crop are what's called "pranking for profit." This can involve things like redirecting your calls to a different carrier in a different country, racking up a hefty phone bill. Or sending an MMS message to everyone in your contact directory, leaving you with enormous extra charges. Or "vishing," when you'll get a voice call that asks for information, faking it by posing as a legitimate business. A downloaded application may send information about your phone account to hackers. Snoopware (which is spyware on steroids) might capture your keypad clicks.
How do you know you've been infected? Pay attention when your phone starts behaving badly. Are your contacts disappearing? Are your calendar entries gone? Does your phone bill have strange charges?
If so, suspect a virus before you suspect user error.
Next up? We'll look at the new tools from Symantec and McAfee designed to protect your phone from infection.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Make your PC Vista perfect
With Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system now in stores around the world, lots of PC users are wondering whether their machines are up to the task of running it.
One way to find out is to read the “minimum requirements” notes on the side of the Windows Vista box. But few take this seriously. So what do you really need in your computer to be a happy Windows Vista user?
Microsoft says that your PC should have at least a 1 gigahertz (GHz) processor, 512 megabytes of system memory (RAM) for Home Basic and 1 GB for other editions, at least 15 GB of free hard drive space and a graphics card that supports DirectX 9 and has 128 MB of onboard RAM.
Few who have used Vista for any length of time, however, would consider running it for long on such a bare-bones machine. The result would be intolerable delays, constant disk swapping resulting in more delays, and a virtual inability to do any serious multitasking.
Users can get by with 1 GB of memory (RAM) in Vista, but if one has to do much of multitasking, you'll want 2 GB. RAM is so inexpensive these days that there's little reason not to start out right away with 2 GB, unless you're working on a machine that won't accept 2 GB.
But beware. The 32-bit version of Vista, which most of us will want to run, can “see” only up to 4 GB of memory. Even machines with 4 GB of RAM will not have the full 4 GB available for programmes because Vista reserves some memory for system processes.
If you want more than 4 GB of RAM, you'll need to install the 64-bit version of Vista, which comes standard along with the 32-bit version in many editions of the operating system.
Vista runs well on virtually every processor commonly sold in desktop and notebook computer today. That includes single, dual, and quad-core chips.
All editions of Vista support multiple core processors, but only Vista Business, Ultimate and Enterprise editions have built-in support for more than one physical processor in the same machine.
But remember that multiple core processors sandwich two or more processors on one chip. However, there are computers available that employ two separate processing chips, regardless of whether they're single, dual, or quad core.
Only Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise support the latter systems. When it comes to which processor to buy for Vista, faster the better.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Booming Sensex not helping India’s poor: Tharoor
Well-known author Shashi Tharoor, who was in the race for top UN post, said buoyancy in the stock markets and robust economic growth have not touched the lives of poor in India.
"The day Sensex touched 20,000, multiple thousands were marching on Delhi roads for land reforms," Tharoor said.
Addressing a session on 'Globalisation - Winners and Losers' at the Fortune Global Forum in New Delhi, Tharoor cautioned that globalisation has not been effective in tackling issues of poverty.
"Poverty issues in India are about what globalization does not touch," he said.
On the issue of changing attitude of developed countries towards globalisation, Tharoor said, the goal posts were often shifted.
He referred to recent protectionist voices raised in the developed world against outsourcing of services and manufacturing to the developing world.
The same attitude is being shown in the Doha Round of WTO for opening global trade where rich nations are becoming protectionist about their economies while seeking to put higher obligations on the developing world.
"The day Sensex touched 20,000, multiple thousands were marching on Delhi roads for land reforms," Tharoor said.
Addressing a session on 'Globalisation - Winners and Losers' at the Fortune Global Forum in New Delhi, Tharoor cautioned that globalisation has not been effective in tackling issues of poverty.
"Poverty issues in India are about what globalization does not touch," he said.
On the issue of changing attitude of developed countries towards globalisation, Tharoor said, the goal posts were often shifted.
He referred to recent protectionist voices raised in the developed world against outsourcing of services and manufacturing to the developing world.
The same attitude is being shown in the Doha Round of WTO for opening global trade where rich nations are becoming protectionist about their economies while seeking to put higher obligations on the developing world.
Racism in cricket linked to Australian report
The noise coming out of the Australian cricket camp over its star Andrew Symonds being taunted by 'monkey chants' during last week’s one-day international in Vadodara seems a bit over the top—when you consider the startling contents of an Australian government-backed report that was released today.
Racial abuse is prevalent across the sporting world of Australia, including its cricket grounds, says the report titled ‘ What’s the Score? A survey of cultural diversity and racism in Australian sport’ that was released today by Australia’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC).
On Australian cricket, the report points to “racial sledging” of South African cricketers who “were referred to as kaffirs by a small section of spectators” at Perth in December 2005. It says that cricketers from Sri Lanka were “subjected to calls of ‘black c——’ at Adelaide, and adds that an ICC security official was punched by spectators in Melbourne.
“It is clear that incidents of racial abuse and vilification are prevalent across all major sporting codes, involving professional sportspeople, amateurs, coaches and spectators. The fear of racism in Australian sport is also a major barrier to participation for Indigenous people and those from various ethnic and cultural groups,” says Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma about the report that has been put up on the commission’s website www.hreoc.gov.au.
Focusing on Cricket Australia, apart from 16 other national sporting organisations Down Under, the report says: “Don’t believe the spin doctors — racism still exists in sport.”
Under the heading ‘A Summer of Discontent’, the report says about racism in Australian cricket:
“It is not surprising that Cricket Australia was highly embarrassed by the racist taunts directed at visiting cricketers during the 2005-06 international series, which led to an International Cricket Council (ICC) investigation into the behaviour of Australian crowds.
“The racist sledging of players by spectators started during the Perth Test in December 2005, when some South African players were referred to as ‘kaffirs’ by a small section of spectators in the crowd. Similar taunting was also reported by the South African players in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Members of the Sri Lankan team were subjected to calls of ‘black c——’ from spectators at the Adelaide Oval during a One Day International match on Australia Day.
“Players haven’t been the only targets. The International Cricket Council’s regional anti-corruption and security chief, John Rhodes, was punched by a drunken spectator at Melbourne’s Telstra Dome after being identified as South African.”
Under another heading ‘Deep Concerns Remain’, the report says, “For racism to have infected Australia’s national summer pastime and a sport long regarded as one of the world’s most ‘civilised’ games is deeply concerning for a country that prides itself on being fair-minded and multicultural.”
It adds: “So too is a recent survey of cricket fans, which indicates opinion is divided on the contentious behaviour of Australian crowds. Many seem to think there is no problem at all. A poll on cricket website baggygreen.com.au found that 46 per cent of 12,000 respondents believed crowd behaviour had been acceptable during the 2005-06 summer season.”
Then, it quotes Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland as saying, “ I think it’s embarrassing for Australian cricket that we are put in a position where this review has been implemented.”
However, the report acknowledges that “Cricket Australia acted quickly to reinforce its zero-tolerance policy towards racist abuse, with security staff ordered to eject any perpetrators from the ground and heavy fines for racist behaviour”.
In Vadodara, Australian all-rounder Symonds had alleged that he faced racial taunts from spectators during the one-day international, following which the ICC sent a letter to the BCCI, citing media reports, asking it to explain. The Australian media has also launched a high-pitched campaign against the Indian cricket board for its “inaction”.
BCCI’s Anti-Racism Commissioner Prof Ratnakar Shetty told The Indian Express: “All of us know how Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan was taunted by crowds in Australia. We know how they treated England’s Monty Panesar. Look who is talking.”
Shetty, who is also the BCCI’s Chief Administrative Officer, added: “I was present in Vadodara during the match, and the noise from the crowd was deafening. I don’t understand how you could make out monkey noises from all that. What is this monkey noise, anyway? Or Mr Andrew Symonds should report to us exactly what was said to him. Then, it makes sense. But he has not done that, either.”
In fact, the Symonds episode is the latest in a one-day series of heated tempers — Australia leads 4-1 with the final match coming up tomorrow in Mumbai — with Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh earlier accusing the Australian cricketers of “ungentlemanly behaviour”.
Racial abuse is prevalent across the sporting world of Australia, including its cricket grounds, says the report titled ‘ What’s the Score? A survey of cultural diversity and racism in Australian sport’ that was released today by Australia’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC).
On Australian cricket, the report points to “racial sledging” of South African cricketers who “were referred to as kaffirs by a small section of spectators” at Perth in December 2005. It says that cricketers from Sri Lanka were “subjected to calls of ‘black c——’ at Adelaide, and adds that an ICC security official was punched by spectators in Melbourne.
“It is clear that incidents of racial abuse and vilification are prevalent across all major sporting codes, involving professional sportspeople, amateurs, coaches and spectators. The fear of racism in Australian sport is also a major barrier to participation for Indigenous people and those from various ethnic and cultural groups,” says Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma about the report that has been put up on the commission’s website www.hreoc.gov.au.
Focusing on Cricket Australia, apart from 16 other national sporting organisations Down Under, the report says: “Don’t believe the spin doctors — racism still exists in sport.”
Under the heading ‘A Summer of Discontent’, the report says about racism in Australian cricket:
“It is not surprising that Cricket Australia was highly embarrassed by the racist taunts directed at visiting cricketers during the 2005-06 international series, which led to an International Cricket Council (ICC) investigation into the behaviour of Australian crowds.
“The racist sledging of players by spectators started during the Perth Test in December 2005, when some South African players were referred to as ‘kaffirs’ by a small section of spectators in the crowd. Similar taunting was also reported by the South African players in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Members of the Sri Lankan team were subjected to calls of ‘black c——’ from spectators at the Adelaide Oval during a One Day International match on Australia Day.
“Players haven’t been the only targets. The International Cricket Council’s regional anti-corruption and security chief, John Rhodes, was punched by a drunken spectator at Melbourne’s Telstra Dome after being identified as South African.”
Under another heading ‘Deep Concerns Remain’, the report says, “For racism to have infected Australia’s national summer pastime and a sport long regarded as one of the world’s most ‘civilised’ games is deeply concerning for a country that prides itself on being fair-minded and multicultural.”
It adds: “So too is a recent survey of cricket fans, which indicates opinion is divided on the contentious behaviour of Australian crowds. Many seem to think there is no problem at all. A poll on cricket website baggygreen.com.au found that 46 per cent of 12,000 respondents believed crowd behaviour had been acceptable during the 2005-06 summer season.”
Then, it quotes Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland as saying, “ I think it’s embarrassing for Australian cricket that we are put in a position where this review has been implemented.”
However, the report acknowledges that “Cricket Australia acted quickly to reinforce its zero-tolerance policy towards racist abuse, with security staff ordered to eject any perpetrators from the ground and heavy fines for racist behaviour”.
In Vadodara, Australian all-rounder Symonds had alleged that he faced racial taunts from spectators during the one-day international, following which the ICC sent a letter to the BCCI, citing media reports, asking it to explain. The Australian media has also launched a high-pitched campaign against the Indian cricket board for its “inaction”.
BCCI’s Anti-Racism Commissioner Prof Ratnakar Shetty told The Indian Express: “All of us know how Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan was taunted by crowds in Australia. We know how they treated England’s Monty Panesar. Look who is talking.”
Shetty, who is also the BCCI’s Chief Administrative Officer, added: “I was present in Vadodara during the match, and the noise from the crowd was deafening. I don’t understand how you could make out monkey noises from all that. What is this monkey noise, anyway? Or Mr Andrew Symonds should report to us exactly what was said to him. Then, it makes sense. But he has not done that, either.”
In fact, the Symonds episode is the latest in a one-day series of heated tempers — Australia leads 4-1 with the final match coming up tomorrow in Mumbai — with Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh earlier accusing the Australian cricketers of “ungentlemanly behaviour”.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Town and shitty
This is the story of how a once obscure but rather nice little town became what it is today, and what it is today we’ll see at the end of this column. When we moved to Gurgaon 11 years ago, from the first floor window of our small, two-storeyed house in the National Media Centre we could see green fields, dotted here and there with a few modest-sized houses like ours. The open spaces played host to pirouetting peacocks, the occasional herd of nilgai and quizzical owls who went Hoo? Hoo? and bobbed their heads up and down and side to side like Bharatnatyam dancers. In all,
Gurgaon lived up to Haryana’s name, the Land of Green.
It was, of course, too good to last. IT and BPOs discovered Gurgaon and almost overnight made it the call centre capital of north India. Like giant stalagmites erupting out of the earth, towering commercial complexes and apartment blocks sprang up. So did malls, whole slews of them, mall-to-mall malls, with one beginning where the other left off, including one which boasted ‘1 km of shopping on each floor’. Pastures where cows mooed ruminatively were turned into tarred parking lots where fume-belching motor coaches vied with Sumos and Qualises to see who had the most ear-piercingly loud air horn. Today, the NMC cowers like a tiny oasis amidst the desert of concrete that surrounds it on all sides. Land ‘developers’ (as they quaintly call themselves) have a particular abhorrence of the colour green, and everything of the green persuasion, such as trees and fields, have been scrupulously wiped off the landscape, down to the final leaf and the last blade of grass, and together with them have gone the peacocks, the nilgai, the Bharatnatyam owls and all the rest.
Along with the colour green, land developers and builders apparently also have a marked aversion to toilets. Not for themselves, or for their customers, but for the labour force which builds all those glittering malls, and offices, and condominiums, all of which presumably have a sufficiency of loos. Not so the quarters of the live-in labour, who needs must make do - or rather, make doo-doo - as and where it can. And in the present case this means just outside the boundary wall of the NMC, an area which has been turned into a vast, open-air Sulabh sans Shauchalaya. The first to make this discovery was a group of early morning NMC walkers who, taking in an invigorating lungful of pre-constitutional air, found it impregnated with the unmistakable sweetly fetid effluvium which, were it bottled and put on sale in a famous French parfumerie, could aptly be branded as Chanel No 2. Since then, heavily eau-de-cologned handkerchiefs to cover the nose with have become as much a part of walking equipment in the NMC as Reebok or Adidas or Nike footwear. The first, full-fledged gas mask has yet to make its appearance. But what with a further 21 - yes, 21 - tower blocks coming up in the immediate vicinity and the consequent rise on the smellometer scale, it can only be a question of time before high-tech Darth Vader face masks replace low-tech scented hankies. Unless, of course, you go really high-tech and take your walk in the climate-controlled ambience of the 1 km-of-shopping-per-floor mall (seven floors, so seven km) which, supposedly, is free of smells more noxious than those of Pan Bahar and chaat masala.
The nimbus of noisomeness that envelops not just the NMC but all of Gurgaon is not just an odour but an allegory. For the story of Gurgaon - much-envied icon of 21st century urban India - is really the story of the country at large.
And the moral of that story? That, despite all the hype and hoopla, the metamorphosis of bucolic Gurgaon into blighted Googaon tells us that urban no less than rural India is, well and truly, a shitty place to be.
Gurgaon lived up to Haryana’s name, the Land of Green.
It was, of course, too good to last. IT and BPOs discovered Gurgaon and almost overnight made it the call centre capital of north India. Like giant stalagmites erupting out of the earth, towering commercial complexes and apartment blocks sprang up. So did malls, whole slews of them, mall-to-mall malls, with one beginning where the other left off, including one which boasted ‘1 km of shopping on each floor’. Pastures where cows mooed ruminatively were turned into tarred parking lots where fume-belching motor coaches vied with Sumos and Qualises to see who had the most ear-piercingly loud air horn. Today, the NMC cowers like a tiny oasis amidst the desert of concrete that surrounds it on all sides. Land ‘developers’ (as they quaintly call themselves) have a particular abhorrence of the colour green, and everything of the green persuasion, such as trees and fields, have been scrupulously wiped off the landscape, down to the final leaf and the last blade of grass, and together with them have gone the peacocks, the nilgai, the Bharatnatyam owls and all the rest.
Along with the colour green, land developers and builders apparently also have a marked aversion to toilets. Not for themselves, or for their customers, but for the labour force which builds all those glittering malls, and offices, and condominiums, all of which presumably have a sufficiency of loos. Not so the quarters of the live-in labour, who needs must make do - or rather, make doo-doo - as and where it can. And in the present case this means just outside the boundary wall of the NMC, an area which has been turned into a vast, open-air Sulabh sans Shauchalaya. The first to make this discovery was a group of early morning NMC walkers who, taking in an invigorating lungful of pre-constitutional air, found it impregnated with the unmistakable sweetly fetid effluvium which, were it bottled and put on sale in a famous French parfumerie, could aptly be branded as Chanel No 2. Since then, heavily eau-de-cologned handkerchiefs to cover the nose with have become as much a part of walking equipment in the NMC as Reebok or Adidas or Nike footwear. The first, full-fledged gas mask has yet to make its appearance. But what with a further 21 - yes, 21 - tower blocks coming up in the immediate vicinity and the consequent rise on the smellometer scale, it can only be a question of time before high-tech Darth Vader face masks replace low-tech scented hankies. Unless, of course, you go really high-tech and take your walk in the climate-controlled ambience of the 1 km-of-shopping-per-floor mall (seven floors, so seven km) which, supposedly, is free of smells more noxious than those of Pan Bahar and chaat masala.
The nimbus of noisomeness that envelops not just the NMC but all of Gurgaon is not just an odour but an allegory. For the story of Gurgaon - much-envied icon of 21st century urban India - is really the story of the country at large.
And the moral of that story? That, despite all the hype and hoopla, the metamorphosis of bucolic Gurgaon into blighted Googaon tells us that urban no less than rural India is, well and truly, a shitty place to be.
Skype mobile phone launched
LONDON: EBay division Skype and mobile phone group 3 said that they have launched a mobile handset that allows users to access internet calls provider Skype while on the move.
The companies said in a statement that the new 3 Skype phone would allow Skype users to make free calls to each other from the mobile and also send free Skype instant messages.
In the UK, the phone will cost 49.99 pounds on a pay as you go basis, or free for 3 contract users. It will be on sale in 3's high street stores on Friday November 2.
“Skype is now truly mobile. This new handset lets you make free mobile calls when you are on the move to other Skype users all over the world,” Skype acting CEO Michael van Swaaij said in a statement.
Skype was bought by EBay for up to $4.3 billion in 2005 as the on-line auction site gambled on the fast-growing popularity of the Web-based call service, although it wrote down $1.2 billion from the value at the start of this month. Skype has 246 million registered users.
Google phone by mid-2008
NEW YORK: Web search leader Google Inc is expected to announce advanced software and services enabling handset makers to bring Google-powered phones to market by mid-2008, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The announcement is expected to come within the next two weeks, the newspaper reported. No one at Google could immediately be reached for comment. Google has moved rapidly over the past year to extend its reach beyond text-based, pay-per-click Web search advertising into a variety of new markets, including online video, television, radio and print advertising.
Google has also expanded into enterprise software, which has traditionally been Microsoft Corp's domain.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Google-powered phones are expected to meld several of its applications, including Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail.
The ground-breaking part of the plan, according to the newspaper, is Google's aim to make the phone's software “open”, right down to the operating system which controls applications and interacts with hardware.
This will grant independent software developers access to the tools they need to build additional phone features, the Wall Street Journal said.
Monday, October 29, 2007
An indispensable boon "YouTubes" by Google Earth
Google Inc is bringing the world of online video and map-making closer together by allowing users of its Google Earth software to watch and hear YouTube videos mapped to specific locations.
Google is offering a new YouTube video overlay on top of its Google Earth three-dimensional visualization software, which combines satellite images, maps, terrain and buildings of the world.
By allowing YouTube creators to geographically locate their videos on a map of the world, Google enables Internet users to zoom in on locations around the planet and watch YouTube tied to that place.
For example, travelers to Maui might find videos of surfing, snorkeling or exotic fish, while virtual visitors to Chamonix-Mont Blanc can watch mountaintop ski videos in the Alps.
Google Earth users can already view user-contributed photos uploaded to Panoramio, a photo-mapping service Google acquired in May. In the case of YouTube videos, video creators assign geographical information to their works -- a process also known as “geo-tagging” -- as they upload them to the site.
Google Earth users can watch but not geo-tag videos, a Google spokeswoman said. Virtual Earth from Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Maps from Yahoo Inc already offer the ability for users to annotate maps with links to websites, photos and videos.
But by allowing YouTube creators to tag their videos as they upload them, Google Earth could accelerate the move to tie together maps with online videos. In two years, YouTube has emerged to become the world's dominant video-sharing site.
Similarly, Yahoo's popular photo-sharing site Flickr.com counts more than 28 million geo-tagged photos since it introduced a mapping feature more than a year ago. The company recommends users download the latest version of Google Earth, a software application that users must install on their computers.
The Universal Millionaire Rumble
Household wealth is hitting record heights, and not just in the U.S. There are more millionaire households on the planet than ever before, particularly in Europe and in China, where growth rates are highest.
The total number of world millionaire households—those with assets of $1 million or more—grew by 14% in 2006, to 9.6 million, representing the richest 0.7% of all households and owning $33.2 trillion, or about a third of the world's wealth, according to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm."
It's sort of a sexy thing, looking at managing relationships on a household level," says Bruce Holley, a New York-based partner with BCG, of the study. This is the first global wealth report from BCG that estimates the number of millionaire households per country, as well as estimating total wealth. "This year's report, our seventh, examines the greatest source of organic growth within wealth management players: namely, their human assets," write Holley and his colleagues in the report's preface.
China's Rising—Fast---------------------------------The U.S. had, by far, the highest number of millionaire households, with nearly 4.6 million, and the highest number of $100 million-plus households, with 2,300. The number of millionaire households increased by a steady 10%, while $100-million-plus households grew by 7%, joining the ranks of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Warren Buffett.
Japan, Britain, Germany, and China round out the rest of the top five countries with the most millionaire households, in that order. The number of millionaire households increased the most last year in China (up 39%), Spain (up 32%), and Britain (up 30.5%).
In Europe, the number of millionaire households grew by 26.4% in 2006, the highest of any region in the study, helped by its strong currency against the weakening U.S. dollar. In North America, millionaire households grew by just 9% in 2006.
The United Arab Emirates and Switzerland led the ranking for highest density of millionaire households, with millionaire households accounting for 6.1% of all households in each country—almost nine times the global average.
Japan, Britain, Germany, and Italy have the most households in the $100 million-plus bracket, and in terms of growth, China (up 74%), Brazil (up 27%), and Russia (up 26%) saw the highest rates last year.
"China is a force to be reckoned with," says Holley, noting that the country's total assets under management have grown at an annualized rate of 23% over the past five years. China's newest billionaire residents will find themselves in the company of powerful businessmen like Suntech Power's Shi Zhengrong, who lives in the city of Wuxi.
The total number of world millionaire households—those with assets of $1 million or more—grew by 14% in 2006, to 9.6 million, representing the richest 0.7% of all households and owning $33.2 trillion, or about a third of the world's wealth, according to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm."
It's sort of a sexy thing, looking at managing relationships on a household level," says Bruce Holley, a New York-based partner with BCG, of the study. This is the first global wealth report from BCG that estimates the number of millionaire households per country, as well as estimating total wealth. "This year's report, our seventh, examines the greatest source of organic growth within wealth management players: namely, their human assets," write Holley and his colleagues in the report's preface.
China's Rising—Fast---------------------------------The U.S. had, by far, the highest number of millionaire households, with nearly 4.6 million, and the highest number of $100 million-plus households, with 2,300. The number of millionaire households increased by a steady 10%, while $100-million-plus households grew by 7%, joining the ranks of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Warren Buffett.
Japan, Britain, Germany, and China round out the rest of the top five countries with the most millionaire households, in that order. The number of millionaire households increased the most last year in China (up 39%), Spain (up 32%), and Britain (up 30.5%).
In Europe, the number of millionaire households grew by 26.4% in 2006, the highest of any region in the study, helped by its strong currency against the weakening U.S. dollar. In North America, millionaire households grew by just 9% in 2006.
The United Arab Emirates and Switzerland led the ranking for highest density of millionaire households, with millionaire households accounting for 6.1% of all households in each country—almost nine times the global average.
Japan, Britain, Germany, and Italy have the most households in the $100 million-plus bracket, and in terms of growth, China (up 74%), Brazil (up 27%), and Russia (up 26%) saw the highest rates last year.
"China is a force to be reckoned with," says Holley, noting that the country's total assets under management have grown at an annualized rate of 23% over the past five years. China's newest billionaire residents will find themselves in the company of powerful businessmen like Suntech Power's Shi Zhengrong, who lives in the city of Wuxi.
Friday, October 26, 2007
The games Bipasha likes to play
Dusky beauty Bipasha Basu is back in the news and this time it’s not her alleged link-up with Saif which is hogging the limelight, but the compliments she is getting for her look in Goal.
We couldn’t help, but kept guessing what a beautiful dusky woman like her is doing in an all men sports film like football? She laughs and says, “Well, I am never too concerned about the length or duration of my role.
I knew what my length was going to be right from the beginning of the film.
I always knew that the film belonged to the boys and I am not complaining about it.” Is she an avid football fan? “No, I was introduced to the game (football) almost five years ago when I started seeing John Abraham.
That man is simply crazy about the game. He eats drinks and sleeps football. I had no option, but to get hooked on to it,” she says. Point taken, we have no complaints as long as the two love birds stick to each other.
Sleepless nights bad for brains
A few nights without sleep can not only make people tired and emotional, but may actually put the brain into a primitive "fight or flight" state, researchers said.
Brain images of otherwise healthy men and women showed two full days without sleep seemed to rewire their brains, re-directing activity from the calming and rational prefrontal cortex to the "fear center" — the amygdala.
"It's almost as though, without sleep, the brain had reverted back to more primitive patterns of activity, in that it was unable to put emotional experiences into context and produce controlled, appropriate responses," said Matthew Walker of the University of California Berkeley, who led the study.
That a lack of sleep can make people grumpy is hardly news. "We all know implicitly the link between bad sleep the night before and bad mood the next day. We are just adding the brain basis to what we knew," Walker said in a telephone interview.
Walker and colleagues at Harvard Medical School used functional magnetic resonance imaging, which can scan brain activity in real time, to see what was going on in the brains of their 26 young adult volunteers.
Half were kept awake for a day, a night and another full day. The other half slept as normal. Walker's team said they noticed profound changes in the brain activity of those volunteers who stayed up.
"We found a strong overreaction from the emotional centers of the brain," Walker said. "It was almost as if the brain had been rewired, and connected to the fright, flight or fight area in the brain stem."
Brain images of otherwise healthy men and women showed two full days without sleep seemed to rewire their brains, re-directing activity from the calming and rational prefrontal cortex to the "fear center" — the amygdala.
"It's almost as though, without sleep, the brain had reverted back to more primitive patterns of activity, in that it was unable to put emotional experiences into context and produce controlled, appropriate responses," said Matthew Walker of the University of California Berkeley, who led the study.
That a lack of sleep can make people grumpy is hardly news. "We all know implicitly the link between bad sleep the night before and bad mood the next day. We are just adding the brain basis to what we knew," Walker said in a telephone interview.
Walker and colleagues at Harvard Medical School used functional magnetic resonance imaging, which can scan brain activity in real time, to see what was going on in the brains of their 26 young adult volunteers.
Half were kept awake for a day, a night and another full day. The other half slept as normal. Walker's team said they noticed profound changes in the brain activity of those volunteers who stayed up.
"We found a strong overreaction from the emotional centers of the brain," Walker said. "It was almost as if the brain had been rewired, and connected to the fright, flight or fight area in the brain stem."
Ringxiety in a braoder sense
Ever hear or feel your phone ringing, you're sure of it, and when you rush to answer it... you discover it hadn't rung at all? More and more cell phone users are reporting hearing their "distinctive" ring tone or feeling their phone vibrating against their leg, only to find that it was all just a fantasy.
It's a phenomenon loosely termed "ringxiety" or "fauxcellarm," with some suggesting that cell phones have become part of the very fabric of people's lives, so much so that if they think have missed a call it has a profound psychological impact. The result is that many feel like their phone could be ringing, even if it isn't. (The phenomenon, I suspect, is very similar to new mothers who're sure they hear their baby crying, only do discover that the kid is fast asleep.)
Phantom vibrations may be purely psychological, but phantom ringing has a more scientific basis. This "psycho-acoustic phenomenon" is a complex issue related to how the brain processes sound in the 1KHz to 6KHz range, where most phone ringing is based. "Your brain is conditioned to respond to a phone ring just as it is to a baby crying," says one sound expert.
As well, if you have a cell phone, you're probably just a little bit crazy. Frequent phone users, are simply "more anxious," says one psychiatrist. "They are on tenterhooks, waiting for the phone to ring."
Something to think about next time you turn your favorite song into a ringtone...
It's a phenomenon loosely termed "ringxiety" or "fauxcellarm," with some suggesting that cell phones have become part of the very fabric of people's lives, so much so that if they think have missed a call it has a profound psychological impact. The result is that many feel like their phone could be ringing, even if it isn't. (The phenomenon, I suspect, is very similar to new mothers who're sure they hear their baby crying, only do discover that the kid is fast asleep.)
Phantom vibrations may be purely psychological, but phantom ringing has a more scientific basis. This "psycho-acoustic phenomenon" is a complex issue related to how the brain processes sound in the 1KHz to 6KHz range, where most phone ringing is based. "Your brain is conditioned to respond to a phone ring just as it is to a baby crying," says one sound expert.
As well, if you have a cell phone, you're probably just a little bit crazy. Frequent phone users, are simply "more anxious," says one psychiatrist. "They are on tenterhooks, waiting for the phone to ring."
Something to think about next time you turn your favorite song into a ringtone...
Black Holes Found In Galaxy
Astronomers have found the biggest stellar black hole so far, a monster with a mass 15.65 times that of our Sun, lurking in a nearby spiral-shaped galaxy. The find, located in a galaxy called Messier 33, has an even bigger companion -- a close-orbiting star that is 70 times the mass of the Sun, according to an investigation led by Jerome Orosz of San Diego University, California.Black holes are among the most powerful forces in the Universe. They are believed to be concentrated fields of gravity which are so powerful that nothing, not even light, can escape them.Stellar black holes derive from the collapse of stars, but typically range from about three to 14 or 15 solar masses.Another category of black holes are "supermassive" holes, spotted at the centre of galaxies, that have masses millions, even billions, times that of the Sun.The paper appears on Thursday in Nature, the weekly British science journal.The Orosz team were able to make their calculations with unusual accuracy -- the estimate is plus or minus 1.45 solar masses -- because the Messier 33 phenomenon is a so-called "eclipsing binary."This means that the companion star passes directly in front of the black hole in its 3.45-day orbit, blocking out X-ray emissions from the hole.The regular fall and then rise in the X-ray signal provides the key indicator for calculating the "weight" of the hole.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Love Saga between the Bollywood beauties and cricket stars continues
Love has no barriers ... it pervades whereever there is HEART. Its contagious.
Kab kise pyaar hojayee koi nahi batha sakta ... aur agar pyar ho jayee tho koi us pyar ko mita saktha ! ( please say “wah wah” to lionking's shayari ! )
Bollywood and Cricket have seen some Love Stories, wherein famous personalities in these fields have fell in love and got married. Those stories themselves can become a wonderful Bollywood story in their own right.
You want examples ? I have two examples for you.
First. The love story between famous cricketer Nawab Pataudi and bollywood beauty queen of yesteryear Sharmila Tagore. The story goes that once Sharmila was watching Nawab Saab on the field. Sharmila was so impressed by this man, that she had said to him that if he hits a SIX in a particular ball ... she would marry him. Aur kya tha ... Nawab Saab ... for his love to be successful ... hit that SIX which got him married to Sharmila Tagore. Now they have Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan as their children. Is it not a wonderful Bollywood style story !
Second. The marriage between Mohammad Azaruddin and Sangeeta Bijlani. But unfortunately ... Azar Bhai's marriage was not well received within the media ... as he got divorced to his first wife ... to get married to Sangeeta. But nevertheless, this is also a typical Bollywood Style story isnt it ?
Now, comes the next story in the making ... Between the Famous and buoyant, current Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the current Dream Girl (Sapnon ki Rani) Deepika Padukone.
Few days back, Mahi had during a TV interview with a News Channel, told that he likes Deepika Padukone and is crazy about her, when he was asked whom he likes the most, in Bollywood Actresses.
And what happens, in the last T20 match against Australia, wherein India thrashed Aussies, Deepika was there with Shah Rukh Khan in stadium. Well that visit was a publicity stunt by Shahrukh for his upcoming movie “Om Santhi Om”. But, when Deepika was shown on the big screen, Mahi was elated and could not control his appreciation for her and he was all smiles seeing her. Deepika also seemed very happy with the reaction of Mahi ... and the rumours started between them .....
After the match was over, Deepika was surrounded by the media ... and when asked about Mahi ... one could see her a bit hesitant in answering their questions ... further fuelling the “aag”.
And surprise surprise ... after the match was over, Deepika was spotted in a function which was to falicitate the Indian Cricketers ... and was photograhed with Mahi on the podium.
The history maybe repeating itself ... and the “milan” of Bollywood and Cricket of India is again happenning ...
Lets see how the love story between these famous guys turns out ... it would be wonderful if Deepika asks mahi to hit a Six against Pakistan for the “M” !
Kab kise pyaar hojayee koi nahi batha sakta ... aur agar pyar ho jayee tho koi us pyar ko mita saktha ! ( please say “wah wah” to lionking's shayari ! )
Bollywood and Cricket have seen some Love Stories, wherein famous personalities in these fields have fell in love and got married. Those stories themselves can become a wonderful Bollywood story in their own right.
You want examples ? I have two examples for you.
First. The love story between famous cricketer Nawab Pataudi and bollywood beauty queen of yesteryear Sharmila Tagore. The story goes that once Sharmila was watching Nawab Saab on the field. Sharmila was so impressed by this man, that she had said to him that if he hits a SIX in a particular ball ... she would marry him. Aur kya tha ... Nawab Saab ... for his love to be successful ... hit that SIX which got him married to Sharmila Tagore. Now they have Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan as their children. Is it not a wonderful Bollywood style story !
Second. The marriage between Mohammad Azaruddin and Sangeeta Bijlani. But unfortunately ... Azar Bhai's marriage was not well received within the media ... as he got divorced to his first wife ... to get married to Sangeeta. But nevertheless, this is also a typical Bollywood Style story isnt it ?
Now, comes the next story in the making ... Between the Famous and buoyant, current Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the current Dream Girl (Sapnon ki Rani) Deepika Padukone.
Few days back, Mahi had during a TV interview with a News Channel, told that he likes Deepika Padukone and is crazy about her, when he was asked whom he likes the most, in Bollywood Actresses.
And what happens, in the last T20 match against Australia, wherein India thrashed Aussies, Deepika was there with Shah Rukh Khan in stadium. Well that visit was a publicity stunt by Shahrukh for his upcoming movie “Om Santhi Om”. But, when Deepika was shown on the big screen, Mahi was elated and could not control his appreciation for her and he was all smiles seeing her. Deepika also seemed very happy with the reaction of Mahi ... and the rumours started between them .....
After the match was over, Deepika was surrounded by the media ... and when asked about Mahi ... one could see her a bit hesitant in answering their questions ... further fuelling the “aag”.
And surprise surprise ... after the match was over, Deepika was spotted in a function which was to falicitate the Indian Cricketers ... and was photograhed with Mahi on the podium.
The history maybe repeating itself ... and the “milan” of Bollywood and Cricket of India is again happenning ...
Lets see how the love story between these famous guys turns out ... it would be wonderful if Deepika asks mahi to hit a Six against Pakistan for the “M” !
Lets Promote the great Indic Civilisation
‘You Indians have allowed yourself to forget that there is such a thing as Indic civilisation. And we are its last outpost.’’ The words were spoken to me 25 years ago by the Khmer nationalist politician and one-time prime minister Son Sann, lamenting India’s support for Vietnam in its conquest of Cambodia in 1979. To Son Sann, a venerable figure already in his late 70s, Cambodia was an Indic civilisation being overrun by the forces of a Sinic state, and he was bewildered that India, the fount of his country’s heritage, should sympathise with a people as distinctly un-Indian as the Vietnamese. Given that Vietnam’s invasion had put an end to the blood-soaked terror of the rule of the Khmer Rouge, i was more inclined to see the choice politically than in terms of civilisational heritage. But Son Sann’s words stayed with me. They came back to mind during a recent visit to Angkor Wat, perhaps the greatest Hindu temple ever built anywhere in the world — and in Cambodia, not India. To walk past those exquisite sculptures recounting tales from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, to have the Cambodian guide explain the significance of the symbols protecting the shrine — the naga, the simha and the garuda, corresponding, he said earnestly, to today’s navy, army and air force! — and to marvel at the epic scale of a Hindu temple as impressive as the finest cathedral or mosque anywhere in the world, was also to marvel at the extraordinary reach of our culture beyond its own shores. Hinduism was brought to Cambodia by merchants and travellers more than a millennium ago, and it has long since disappeared, supplanted by a Buddhism that was also an Indian export. But at its peak it profoundly influenced the culture, music, dance and mythology of the Cambodian people. Even today my Cambodian guide at Bayon, a few minutes’ drive from Angkor Wat, speaks with admiration of a sensibility which, in the 16th century, saw Hindus and Buddhists worship side-by-side in adjoining shrines within the same temple complex. (If only we could do that at Ayodhya, i found myself thinking.) Perhaps Son Sann was right, and Cambodia is indeed the last outpost of Indic civilisation in a world increasingly Sinified. But what exactly does that mean? At a time when the north of India was reeling under waves of conquest and cultural stagnation, our forefathers in the south were exporting Indianness to South-east Asia. It was an anonymous task, carried out not by warrior heroes blazing across the land bearing swords of conquest, but by individuals who had come in peace, to trade, to teach and to persuade. Their impact was profound. To this day, the kings of Thailand are only crowned in the presence of Brahmin priests; the Muslims of Java still sport Sanskritic names, despite their conversion to Islam, a faith whose adherents normally bear names originating in Arabia; Garuda is Indonesia’s national airline and Ramayana its best-selling brand of clove cigars; even the Philippines has produced a pop-dance ballet about Rama’s quest for his kidnapped queen. But contemporary international politics has rendered all this much less significant than the modern indices of strategic thinking, economic interests and geopolitical affinities. India is far less important to the countries that still bear the stamp of ‘Indic’ influence than, say, China, whose significance is contemporary, rather than civilisational. Should we care, and is there anything we can do about it? Of course we should care: no great civilisation can afford to be indifferent to the way in which it is perceived by others. But what, today, is Indic civilisation? Can we afford to anchor ourselves in a purely atavistic view of ourselves, hailing the religious and cultural heritage of our forebears without recognising the extent to which we ourselves have changed? Isn’t Indian civilisation today an evolved hybrid, that draws as much from the influence of Islam, Christianity and Sikhism, not to mention two centuries of British colonial rule? Can we speak of Indian culture today without qawwali, the poetry of Ghalib, or for that matter the game of cricket, our de facto national sport? When an Indian dons ‘national dress’ for a formal event, he wears a variant of the sherwani, which did not exist before the Muslim invasions of India. When Indian Hindus voted recently in the cynical and contrived competition to select the ‘new seven wonders’ of the modern world, they voted for the Taj Mahal constructed by a Mughal king, not for Angkor Wat, the most magnificent architectural product of their religion. So, doesn’t Indianness come ahead of the classically Indic? I would argue in the affirmative, which brings me to the second part of the question: what can we do about it? It seems to me that we ought to be pouring far more resources into our cultural diplomacy, to project the richness of our composite culture into lands which already have a predisposition for it. I’m not a fan of propaganda, which most people tend to see for what it is: i believe the message that will really get through is of who we are, not what we want to show. But just as, in economic terms, the government must provide the basic infrastructure and let the private sector get on with actual ventures, so, too, in the field of cultural promotion, the government has to create the showcases which individual Indians can then proceed to fill. The Nehru Centre in London is a great asset for India, but why on earth is there only one such centre? We should have them in Cambodia, in Indonesia, in Thailand, in Malaysia, and for that matter in South Africa, in Nigeria, in Brazil, in Canada. Once they exist, they can serve as a catalyst for locals and visiting Indians to perform, speak, sing, argue and screen their work, thus enabling others to see the products of our civilisation, the multi-religious identities of our people, our linguistic diversity, the myriad manifestations of our creative energies. Then we can speak of a civilisation that is ‘Indic’ in its heritage, Indian in its contemporary relevance.
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