Submerged Kumari Kandam / Continent, a continent swallowed by the Ocean

Kumari Kandam is the name of a legendary sunken landmass said to have been located to the south of present-day Kanyakumari District at the southern tip of India in the Indian Ocean. The legend assigns the continent and its final submergence an antiquity ranging in tens of thousands of years.

The Legend in Tamil Literature:There are scattered references in Sangam literature, such as Kalittokai 104, to how the sea took the land of the Pandiyan kings, upon which they conquered new lands to replace those they had lost.[5] There are also references to the rivers Pahruli and Kumari, that are said to have flowed in a now-submerged land.[6] The Silappadhikaram, a 5th century epic, stating that the "cruel sea" took the Pandiyan land that lay between the rivers Pahruli and the many-mountained banks of the Kumari, to replace which the Pandiyan king conquered lands belonging to the Chola and Chera kings (Maturaikkandam, verses 17-22). Adiyarkkunallar, a 12th century commentator on the epic, explains this reference by saying that there was once a land to the south of the present-day Kanyakumari , which stretched for 700 kavatams from the Pahruli river in the north to the Kumari river in the south.

This land was divided into 49 nadu, or territories, which he names as seven coconut territories (elutenga natu), seven Madurai territories (elumaturai natu), seven old sandy territories (elumunpalai natu), seven new sandy territories (elupinpalai natu), seven mountain territories (elukunra natu), seven eastern coastal territories (elukunakarai natu) and seven dwarf-palm territories (elukurumpanai natu). All these lands, he says, together with the many-mountained land that began with KumariKollam, with forests and habitations, were submerged by the sea.[6]. Two of these Nadus or territories were supposedly parts of present-day Kollam and Kanyakumari districts of Indian state Kerala and Tamil Nadu respectively..

In Tamil national mysticism:
"Lemuria" in Tamil nationalist mysticist literature, connecting Madagascar, South India and Australia (covering most of the Indian Ocean). The distance from Madagascar to Australia is about 4,200 miles.

In modern Dravidian ethnic nationalist literature, Kumari Kandam or "Lemuria" (a name made up in the 19th century to account for discontinuities in biogeography) was the "cradle of civilization", the origin of human languages in general and the Tamil language in particular. These ideas gained notability in Tamil academic literature over the first decades of the 20th century, and were popularized by the Tanittamil Iyakkam, notably by self-taught Dravidologist Devaneya Pavanar, who held that all languages on earth were merely corrupted Tamil dialects.

R. Mathivanan, then Chief Editor of the Tamil Etymological Dictionary Project of the Government of Tamilnadu, in 1991 claimed to have deciphered the Indus script as Tamil, presenting the following timeline (cited after Mahadevan 2002):

ca. 200,000 to 50,000 BC: evolution of "the Tamilian or Homo Dravida",
ca. 200,000 to 100,000 BC: beginnings of the Tamil language
50,000 BC: Kumari Kandam civilisation
20,000 BC: A lost Tamil culture of the Easter Island which had an advanced civilisation
16,000 BC: Lemuria submerged
6087 BC: Second Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king
3031 BC: A Chera prince in his wanderings in the Solomon Island saw wild sugarcane and started cultivation in Kumari Kandam.
1780 BC: The Third Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king
7th century BC: Tolkappiyam (the earliest extant Tamil grammar)

We ALL need someone who understands!

A store owner was tacking a sign above his door that read "Puppies For Sale." Signs like that have a way of attracting small children, and sure enough, a little boy appeared under the store owner's sign. "How much are you going to sell the puppies for?" he asked.

The store owner replied, "Anywhere from $30 to $50."
The little boy reached in his pocket and pulled out some change. "I have $2.37," he said. "Can I please look at them?"

The store owner smiled and whistled and out of the kennel came Lady, who ran down the aisle of his store followed by five teeny, tiny balls of fur.
One puppy was lagging considerably behind. Immediately the little boy singled out the lagging, limping puppy and said, "What's wrong with that little dog?"

The store owner explained that the veterinarian had examined the little puppy and had discovered it didn't have a hip socket. It would always limp. It would always be lame.

The little boy became excited. "That is the puppy that I want to buy."
The store owner said, "No, you don't want to buy that little dog. If you really want him, I'll just give him to you."

The little boy got quite upset. He looked straight into the store owner's eyes, pointing his finger, and said, "I don't want you to give him to me. That little dog is worth every bit as much as all the other dogs and I'll pay full price. In fact, I'll give you $2.37 now, and 50 cents a month until I have him paid for."

The store owner countered, "You really don't want to buy this little dog. He is never going to be able to run and jump and play with you like the other puppies."

To his surprise, the little boy reached down and rolled up his pant leg to reveal a badly twisted, crippled left leg supported by a big metal brace. He looked up at the store owner and softly replied, "Well, I don't run so well myself, and the little puppy will need someone who understands!"

A R Rahman Standing Tall, True Inspiration from Oscar

Hats Off Rahman:

How many of us will ask, who is this short, stout and dark colored person.
Success is not determined by Physical Trait but by Inner Strength

Case on Negative/ Neutral Voting Button In EVM, SC refers to Larger Bench

The Supreme Court today referred to a larger bench the question as to whether a voter should be permitted to cast a negative vote during elections.

A two judge bench of Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi said the issue needs to be examined by a larger bench as the question involved interpretation of a citizen's fundamental right.The Bench requested the Chief Justice to refer the matter to an appropriate larger bench for further consideration.

People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), an NGO, had approached the apex court seeking directions to the Centre to ensure amendment to the Representation of People's Act (RPA) so that a voter can mark "none of the above" in the electronic voting machine.

This is because presently a voter if he or she desires not to cast vote in favour of any candidate, he or she should mandatorily inform the presiding officer of the polling booth.

Such a pre-condition was violative of the citizens right under Article 19(2) (Freedom of Expression and Speech) and makes the voter vulnerable to threats and intimidation from political parties, the PUCL had stated.

God's Creation, Earth Size... Where you are?

Just imagine how big you are....

Life = Money + Bribe

The journey starts with a token payment in Labor room,
Officer issuing birth certificate starts the count with his part of share,

To let us know about numbers and subsequent mathematics techniques
We need to win the number (Money) game at the education center’s entrance.

Before I start to fill my wallet with my own money,
I should fill somebody else’s with borrowed money to get a job.

“Survival of the Fittest”, the saying may be true
Either one has to feed people who depend on him for survival or
He has to feed the fittest for his survival.

The journey moves with all sorts of maintenance expenditure

The death god won’t allow you to skip the law of life without his share,
Yes, pay the exit toll with a Rs 1 coin in your fore head.

i3

3 Reasons for Traffic congestion in Indian Cities

There is much hue and cry among public on the nuisance they encounter while they drive their 2 wheeler or 4 wheelers, indeed undoubtedly most of us wants a peaceful drive to our workplace and back to our sweet home.

What are the factors fueling the increase in traffic congestion,

1. Poor road and supporting infrastructure
2. Indiscipline Driving and ignorance of Law
3. Poor planning on Public Transportation

Let us take a look at each these factors in brief,

Poor Road and Supporting Infrastructure: Here supporting infrastructure refers to Subways, over bridge and the like

Apart from few exceptions like National Highways, By-passes and ring roads, In general roads in Indian cities are not in good shape which is the main cause for most of the accident happening every minute/second in India. And government is aware of these pitfalls and they have already in the process of improving the existing condition.

Indiscipline Driving and Ignorance of Law:
Not many of us will disagree on the fact that most people are not following the law either with sheer ignorance of it existence, courtesy to the illiteracy rate, or cautiously ignoring the law by educated group of people. The example for this can start from buying cheaper helmet for the sake of law, drunken drive, over speed, signal jumping and the list will go on. As a responsible citizen we all should take a pledge on following the law and should realize that after all the laws are made by us to protect us and not to harm any body.

Poor Planning on Public Transportation

Unlike in other developed countries, Most of the Indian cities are by fact rely on the bus services, though it helps a lot in mass transportation, It also adds extra burden on the local traffic because of its

1. Condition and
2. The location of the bus stops.

Most of the buses are not in good shape, in the world when we are talking about over speed, we too have vehicles which even can’t travel in the permitted speed, and also the emission from these buses restrict other vehicles movement too and thus increase the traffic congestion.

Location of the bus stops

This is like a bacteria decease without being noticed it spreads and helps in piling up the traffic like any thing. In most of the Indian cities without much debate most of us will agree that the bus stops are generally located near to the Traffic signal or just after a “Turn on the road”. In both of these cases When a vehicle driver sees a bus ,stopping in middle of the road after the much waited green signal or after taking a “Turn” on a road, he will caught by surprise and are forced to either slow down or stop their vehicle thus getting annoyed which will have ripple affects on his further journey.

Believe that some people will not just read it but will also understand the prevalence and will act in a responsible manner.

Thanks,

i3

"I Do get Frustrated", says MS Dhoni

The frustration does not show but Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday said he does get upset at times when a teammate makes a
fielding mistake.

"I do get frustrated at times when a mistake is made on the field. But I feel there's no point in abusing him there. I prefer to go back into the dressing room and point out his mistake. That helps him more," Dhoni said after unveiling the Indian team's new one day kit -- bold blue in colour -- along with other teammates.

Dhoni described the forthcoming tour of New Zealand as a tough assignment but said whether at home or away, international cricket was always a difficult proposition.

"It's better to start as underdogs (in a series). It's going to be tough, but international cricket is tough whether at home or away. We have heard how beautiful it (New Zealand) is. We would enjoy the tour and hopefully would come back with a couple of trophies.

"We don't bother whether we are playing Sri Lanka or any other country", he said.

Dhoni, meanwhile, made it clear that he did not intend to try bungee jumping in New Zealand as his contract prohibits him from doing so.

Feeling Alone and Standing Alone

Many days I have been asked to stay late at office
And on weekends too to work for unfeasible deadlines
I felt being screwed up.

Because of boss’s false commitment,
The blame(s) will fall on my head,
I felt being besieged

There were days pouring with
lots of appreciation for my work,
But not on my appraisal
I felt being fooled and cheated

With the name of recession, firing season starts,
Once appreciated as a good performer,
now the reason in pink slip says
“On performance basis”,
No clue, whatsoever,
now I am in the road side,
Now I’m not only feeling alone but also
Standing alone...

--KamalGopi

Humorous japanese proverb for crazy people

Don't You know Japanese?? Oh sorry..

Japanese is simple ,
how to read japanese???
just try to read it by tilting your head to the right. And find the meaning of the ancient Japanese Saying.

How to login into Multiple GTalk Ids

Google Talk or Gtalk became an integral part of most of our life, and many of us are having multiple Google id’s for various reasons.
Is there any way to use more than one gtalk id at the same time??

Yes, in this wide open world every thing is possible,

Try out the following

1)Create a Shortcut for you Google Talk

2)Go to its Properties (Right Click -> Properties), just append “/nomutex” in the target text box. Eg: "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\googletalk.exe" /nomutex

3)From now on launch GoogleTalk shortcut to log into multiple instances of gtalk.

--Gopi

Try it out and let me know if you face any problem on this.

Deepest Penumbral lunar eclipse In India

Avid sky-gazers who had assembled at vantage positions across the country on Monday Night watched this year's first and "deepest" penumbral lunar eclipse.

Parts of western and southern India witnessed the eclipse when the moon was rising while the rest of the country saw the total duration of the eclipse, NGO Science Popularization Association of Communicators and Educators (S.P.A.C.E.) Director C B Devgun told agencies.

Eastern Canada and US, however, missed the eclipse, while people in Alaska, Hawaii, Australia and East Asia saw the entire eclipse, he said.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth is in a direct line between the sun and the moon and the shadow of the earth falls on the Moon, Devgun said, adding a penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when moon passes through penumbra, the lighter part of the earth's shadow.

The lighter part of Earth's shadow is called the "penumbra" and the totally dark part is called the "umbra".

Embedding a picture into an 8 byte file

Can we embedd a image file to a 1 kb text file?? isn't possible?? let us check it out

Follow the steps:

1.Open up the command prompt. You can do this by going to Start -> Run. Type in "cmd".

2.First thing to do is simply to create a text file using Notepad. In the command prompt, type "notepad test.txt". Notepad will ask you whether you wish to create test.txt. Click yes. Type in "3.141592" and save the file.

3.If you look at the file in Windows Explorer or command prompt, you will see that it is 8 bytes.

4.Now we need an image. Save the Google logo to your hard drive in the same folder as test.txt. Call it test.gif. Windows Explorer and the command prompt should report the test.gif file being 8,558 bytes large.

5.Now we need to embed the image into the text file we created. Type in "type test.gif > test.txt:rw".

6.Delete test.gif since it is now embedded in the text file.

7.Using Windows Explorer or the Command Prompt, ensure that test.txt is still 8 bytes.

8.An image couldn’t have possibly been embedded in the file you may ask. Don’t believe it? Type in "mspaint test.txt:rw". Microsoft Paint should now open up with the logo you embedded into test.txt.

So where have the 8,558 bytes disappeared? How can we store an 8,558 byte image in an 8 byte text file? How has the 8,558 byte image effectively become zero bytes?

do you know the mystery behind it..?

"Brain Twister" with Microsoft Calc and Mathematics

Many of us are using Microsoft application in most of our day to day life and with full of trust on it,

Believe it or not, Microsoft is not bug free and that too on one of the most widely used Microsoft calc

Try out the following

Open Microsoft calc (Run Command -> Calc)

Try out the following:

2704/42 = will work fine
2704/50 = will work fine
2704/52 =????

Can you find the answer (for 2704/52) using Microsoft calc????

Found the answer???
No, then try to find the answer for 52 * 52 = 2704
Is not simple? The answer is 52, when you test it in Microsoft calc, it will look as Microsoft calculator didn't calculate.

This is "Brain Twisting" feature of Mathematics. And Microsoft calc is an apt tool to twist it more.

Blind Boy : A sign Board can change life..

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were u the one who changed my sign this morning? What did u write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what u said but in a different way."

What he had written was: "Today is a beautiful day & I cannot see it."

Do you think the first sign & the second sign were saying the same thing? Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

--Anonymous

Further inference left to you ..

Sitting in Office @ Night

Here I am sitting in my office @ night…
Thinking hard about life
How it changed from a maverick collage life to strict professional life…...

How tiny pocket money changed to huge monthly paychecks
but then why it gives less happiness….

How a few local denim jeans changed to new branded wardrobe
but then why there are less people to use them

How a single plate of samosa changed to a full Pizza or burger
But then why there is less hunger…..

Here I am sitting in my office @ night…
Thinking hard about life
How it changed…..

How a bike always in reserve changed to bike always on
but then why there are less places to go on……

How a small coffee shop changed to cafe coffee day
but then why its feels like shop is far away…..

How a limited prepaid card changed to postpaid package
but then why there are less calls & more messages……

Here I am sitting in my office @ night…
Thinking hard about life
How it changed…..

How a general class journey changed to Flight journey
But then why there are less vacations for enjoyment….

How a old assembled desktop changed to new branded laptop
but then why there is less time to put it on……….

How a small bunch of friends changed to office mate
But then why we always feel lonely n miss those college frnz.….

Here I am sitting in my office @ night…
Thinking hard about life
How it changed….. How it changed……..


-- Anonymous

Passports in India can be applied and tracked online

There is a big question on everyone’s mind, how to apply passport online and how to track our passport application status, here is the answer...

Now general public of India can apply for passport by just a click on their personal computer.

There are 37 regional passport offices in India where one can apply for passport online.
It allows you to apply for fresh passport as well as duplication of lost or damaged passport. All one need to do is fill the application form online, save and take a print out of it. The printed application will have your appointment time, there are some fields in the application which needs to be filled by hand for security reasons, be on the passport office on the appointment time with all other needed documents and required fees. Submit your document and walk away with a reference no, which can be used to track your passport application status online

How to Track my Passport Online:

We can track the status of our fresh or duplicate passport status through http://passport.gov.in/ , choose your regional passport office in the drop down list “Status Page” then enter your file reference no. That is all from your part now you can see your passport application status.

--Gopi

Top 10 Indian cities with highest no of Car Owners

With Google Earth Explore Occeans

Google has lifted the lid on its first major upgrade to its global mapping software, Google Earth.

Google Ocean expands this map to include large swathes of the ocean floor and abyssal plain.Users can dive beneath a dynamic water surface to explore the 3D sea floor terrain.

The map also includes 20 content layers, containing information from the world's leading scientists, researchers, and ocean explorers. Al Gore was at the launch event in San Francisco which, Google hopes, will take its mapping software a step closer to total coverage of the entire globe.

In a statement, Mr Gore said that the update would make Google Earth a "magical experience".

"You can not only zoom into whatever part of our planet's surface you wish to examine in closer detail, you can now dive into the world's ocean that covers almost three-quarters of the planet and discover new wonders that had not been accessible in previous versions."

Approximately 70% of the world's surface is covered by water, which contains nearly 80% of all life - yet less than 5% of it has actually been explored.

"With this, everybody can see the unbelievable beauty of our marine life and how incredibly threatened it is," said Carl Gustaf Lundin, head of the global marine programme at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"We hope this major technological innovation will get the public more involved in marine conservation and encourage governments and businesses to stop driving ocean species to extinction."

There are also updates on the terrestrial side, including GPS tracking, virtual time travel (where users can observe changes in satellite images, such as the 2006 World Cup stadium or the desertification of Africa's Lake Chad) and narrated tours of imagery and content in Google Earth.

There are also updates to the Mars 3D section, so if users have had enough of the blue planet, they can always look at the red one.

Ref: BBC

Dinning Etiquette

A dog is waiting for its guest and friend crow to complete

India, Growing Technology but not for Sewers

India may be spending millions and billions of dollars in their space research, technology, sports and the list can go long. You name a field, India would have been spending rather investing millions of rupees from it kitty, which is what an average Indian citizen can proudly about India.

In fact, it holds good for 99% because we generally opt to forget that sewer and drainage system too a field in which India should improve and thus should invest some money on this too.Activists ask why India spends so much on space and so little on sewers

A report says, in Delhi (Metro) manholes one can see half naked human’s struggling their heart out not beat to our enemies but to clean the blockage in the drainage.
Drainage contains a mixture of methane and hydrogen sulphide, both considered potentially fatal by the health experts.

Health experts working in the field told me “most of these workers would die before their retirement because of the poor health and safety conditions they work in. Their life expectancy is thought to be around 10 years less than the national average.And most of the workers suffer from chronic diseases, respiratory problems, skin disorders and allergies, and they are constantly troubled by headaches and eye infections”, Health experts says

Will India look into the suffering of people working under the ground for the good sake of environment and human beings and will it invest enough to introduce modern technologies not only to clean India but to wipe out many of suffering sewers worries??

--Gopi

Mumbai can dial 1298 for Emergency

Americans take 911 for granted, but in many developing nations a centralized emergency telephone number is unheard of. In Mumbai, four friends came togeter to start a private ambulance company that has stepped up to fill the void in emergency medical service. In a city where "ambulance" used to be synonymous with "hearse," Mumbai residents can now dial 1298 and receive emergency medical care priced on a sliding scale.

Yahoo ??, No Increment

Yahoo! has decided to freeze salary hikes of its employees this year as the Internet major explores cost cutting measures to cope with the deteriorating global economic situation.

"Based on the current economic environment and our focus on keeping costs in line with revenues, we have decided that providing annual salary increases would not be in the best interests of the company or our shareholders," Yahoo! spokesperson based in the US Kim Rubey said in an e-mail.

Rubey noted that the freeze on salary hikes would be "in place through 2009".
The latest move comes in less than two weeks after Carol Bartz took over as the Yahoo! Chief Executive from its founder Jerry Yang.In 2008, Yahoo!'s global headcount stood at 15,000 and of them, around 1,500 employees are in India.

--Gopi

IPL Auction Rocks: Flintoff & Pietersen gets Millions

England players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff fetched $1.55 million each at the Indian Premier League player auction Friday, setting a record for the highest amount paid for a player in the Twenty20 competition.

Flintoff was snapped up by Chennai Super Kings, which last year set the previous record of 1.5 million for Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Bangalore's Royal Challengers secured Pietersen.

Bangalore's owner Vijay Mallya said he was prepared to pay more for Pietersen.
``It was a very worthwhile investment,'' Mallya told reporters after the first round of bidding.``Team balance was important and Kevin was certainly important in maintaining that balance.''

Galactic Spectacle : Cosmic Spin

The spiral galaxy NGC-4921 with a backdrop of more distant galaxies in an image from the Hubble Space Telescope, released on Thursday. It was created from 80 different pictures using yellow and near-infrared filters.

Water From Air

They are now making water from thin air, literally. Jalimudi village in East Godavari district will get 1,000 liters of potable water every day, produced from air. The water station, the first of its kind set up in any village in India, has begun trial runs.
“The water… has been sent for quality tests and it’s been certified fit for consumption,” Meher Bhandara, director of WaterMaker (India) which manufactures the units.
Projected as a boon to people in rural areas, especially in the coastal regions, the system runs on electricity and uses the refrigeration technique to condense water from air. Blower driven air is made to pass through filters and a refrigerant is circulated leading to condensation of water, which is collected in a holding tank.
The efficacy will depend on the relative humidity and temperature. “Each machine will produce water if the humidity is between 70 and 75 per cent and the temperature in the range of 25 C to 32 C,” Ms. Bhandara said. If these are high, there will be more water.
The machine, which costs about Rs. 3 lakh, was installed in Jalimudi by the company free of cost.

Ref: The Hindu

It's official: Eggs good for health

Here's a reason for egg lovers to savor their favorite food - a study has found that its key nutrients reduce the risk of neural tube birth defects and promote eye health.

There's been an ongoing debate over the health benefits of eggs, but the new study supports the beneficial role eggs play in a healthful diet.The study suggests that eggs provide high-quality protein for growth, muscle strength and energy and promote weight.Although the study has also found a link between egg intake and increased incidence of type 2 diabetes, further research is warranted to replicate the finding and to identify potential physiological mechanisms.

In the analysis, participants who reported frequent egg consumption also had higher BMIs, were older, more likely to smoke, reported greater consumption of alcohol, were more likely to have hypertension, and - for women - reported higher total calorie, saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol intakes.

Therefore, it is important to consider that for the population included in the analysis, egg intake could simply have been associated with less healthful lifestyle behaviors overall.

"Healthy adults can continue to enjoy eggs as part of a healthful diet," said registered dietitian Marcia Greenblum, Director of Nutrition and Food Safety Education at the Egg Nutrition Center. "Eggs provide many nutrients and make an important contribution to overall diet quality," she added


Ref: ZEENEWS

Colleges in TamilNadu will reopen on 9th Feburary

Professional colleges and hostels in Tamil Nadu, which remained closed since January 31 in the wake of the student unrest on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, will be reopened on February 9, an official announcement here said.

The date of reopening of arts and science colleges would be announced later, Chief Secretary K S Sripathy said in a press release here.

Ref: NewsTodayNet

Related Story : TN Government orders Infinite Closure of Colleges

--Gopi

Recession hits Infosys employees Pay slip

Infosys, India's second largest IT firm, employees of which has a tough time ahead, they may not have plum sum increment this year and it can even worsen that company may decrease their pay scale, reports suggests.

"A part of our salary is determined by variable sales component, which is the percentage of the company's revenue," said Infosys' director for human resources TV Mohandas Pai. "Since the revenues are down, the salaries will naturally be trimmed."

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a press conference here, Pai said the leading software exporter and business process outsourcing firm may also opt out of salary hikes because of the slowdown.

"The increments may not happen this year. But, if they do, they will be subdued." Pai also maintained that the company will honor the 20,000 campus offers made last year, but added that fresh hiring has been frozen.

Ref: IndiaTimes

--Gopi

Vinod Kambli into Politics

The Stylish Former Indian cricketer from Mumbai ,who has a quite proven record on his back and a close friend of little master Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, the former cricketer is all set to start his political innings, on Wednesday announced that he will be joining the “Lok Bharti Party”.

“Education will be my main focus”, he said. He also has plans to float his own sports academy.

Related Story : Ex-Skippers into Politics

--Gopi

“No Honking Please “: Mumbai Traffic Police

After their successful drive against drunk and drive in Mumbai metro, now Mumbai traffic department geared itself to yet another battle to deal with. The traffic police decided to launch a 10-day 'No Honking Drive' from Thursday with an aim to prevent motorists honking unnecessarily and reduce noise pollution on the city streets.

"The drive is aimed at preventing the motorists from honking their horns without any genuine reason and creating awareness among the people about the problems caused by noise pollution," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sanjay Barve.

Barve said adding, "Stickers promoting no honking will be distributed to school children. We will ask them to label the stickers on vehicles and tell them to ask their parents not to honk."

Ref : NDTV

--Gopi

Recession : IT attrition @ 3-year low

As the recession hits at IT industry and there are enough measures taken by companies in the name of cost cutting. That has gone to the height of bonus cut, increment cut and decrement to layoffs. The terms which are used as reasons for people quitting job till last fiscal, however in this fiscal the same terms are there enough in all most all companies but the attrition rate dips to 3 year low.

For Wipro, the attrition rate has come down from as high as 20 per cent two years ago, to 12 per cent. For Infosys, the rate is down from 13.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2007-08 to 11.8 per cent in the last quarter. TCS has seen a percentage point decline in the rate between the first quarter of this year and the third quarter.

Though companies says the low in attrition is because of their measures to ensure employee satisfaction. But almost all the people working in the industry knows the real fact behind the low attrition rate.

Ref:IndiaTimes

--Gopi

Recession hits FM radio

FM radio, the media which was not very known to common man 4 years back is now on every home’s living room. A private FM station has been growing at 30 to 40 % in the last few years, thanks to the revenues through advertisements. However the growth rate would come down to 15 % this year says Radio City 91.1 FM CEO Apurva Purohit told sources.

Ref: DD News

--Gopi

Boycott LokSabha Election: Vijayakanth

The actor turned politician and founder and leader of political party Desiya Murpoku Dravidar Kazhagam (DMDK) Vijayakanth (Fondly known as Captain Vijayakanth) , who has changed his stand on political alliance from “No alliance”, “Alliance with People”, “Alliance with National Parties” to “Alliance with Non-DMK and Non AIADMK” and he has been moving coins on Srilanka issue with most care and has maintained silence on most part of the issue.

In the current stir of activities on Srilanka issue, he is almost isolated on the issue. It has triggered him to come up with a new idea, as per media reports he has demanded Political parties to boycott Loksabha election to show the country and the central government on their stand on obtaining ceasefire in Srilanka.

Political commentator says,” Political parties should comment on this; however he too joined the game of politics in the Srilanka issue”

--Gopi

India – Govt may come out with Third stimulus package soon

The government may come out with a third stimulus package to boost the economy, textile minister Shankersinh Vaghela said on Tuesday.

The package will include special concessions for the textile industry, he said. Mr Vaghela said he has sent the recommendations of his ministry to the prime minister’s office (PMO) and the PMO is expected to take a final call on the package in the next few days.

The third stimulus is in line. It may include certain concessions for cotton exporters (apart from other measures),” he said on the sidelines of a function to launch the Fashion Design Promotion Council.

The government would also soon announce a debt waiver package for handloom waivers. The Cabinet is examining the Rs 2,200-crore debt waiver for weavers across the country. The Cabinet is likely to pass the proposal in its next few meetings as the proposal has found favour with the PMO also, the minister said.

There are about 35 lakh handloom weavers in the country and about 20 lakh are likely to benefit from the scheme. It is also likely the government would extend loans at concessional rates to handloom weavers. “As part of the scheme, we have recommended interest subvention so that loans to the weavers are made available at 7%, which is the rate applicable to the agriculture sector,” he said.

Ref: YNFX

Harbhajan: Chappell didn’t want to listen

After Sehwag’s comments on former India cricket coach Greg Chappell’s trust worthiness. Now, India’s spin lead, Harbhajan Singh come out saying that he was now happy with many things when Chappell was there and he lost his self confidence during Chappell’s tenure as coach

"(Under him) our mind was not working properly. He put a lot of doubts in my mind and in other players' as well...that you know you are not good enough..." Harbhajan told a television news channel.
"Lot of things was happening and we were not happy with lot of things," he said, refusing to delve into the details.
"If you see the record, I think we have done wonders in the last two years. But if you see when he was around, we didn't play well at all. We hardly won anywhere," Harbhajan said.

Ref: IndianExpress

--Gopi

" Calling cards " In India

With the Department of Telecommunications approving the sale of ‘calling cards’ by telecom companies, international and domestic tariffs are set to drop further. It will also give the subscribers the freedom to choose from a plethora of calling cards for making STD or ISD calls.

The Telecom Commission has approved the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s recommendations that were forwarded last year, which comprised the use of calling cards.

Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Jyotiraditya Scindia told journalists here: “It would offer flexibility to consumers to choose their carrier for making long-distance calls. A person who wants to call up a specific country and region can choose the cheapest tariffs available in the market.”

As in the West where an array of calling cards allows subscribers to pick and choose any operator as per his need, in India too operators would be allowed to introduce country-specific cards or region-specific cards for domestic calls, he said.

Ref: The Hindu

Google "Internet Bus" in Tamil Nadu

It’s big, bright and white with doodles all over — and it’s on wheels. Friendly lettering on its shiny body invites you to “Explore the world of the Internet.” Inside, the bus is stocked with the essentials — computers, a broadband connection and a grandfather telling you how easy clicking ‘send’ is.
The ‘Internet Bus,’ launched here on Tuesday, is Google India’s initiative to demystify the Internet. “Five billion users are not on the Internet,” said Prasad Ram, head of Google R&D, India. “Only 50 per cent of the world will be online by 2030.”
Seeking to attract more people on to the information superhighway, the bus will travel through 15 towns in Tamil Nadu for around six weeks, telling students, teachers, government and businesses of how they could use the Internet.
Why Tamil Nadu? “There is a deep interest among Tamilians to use the Net and access content,” he says. The extent of Net usage in Tamil is as high as in Hindi, despite the latter having a larger potential user base, he added, citing data from third-party sources.
The bus has four booths focussing on different uses of the Internet: information, communication, education and entertainment. There are also videos providing simple explanations on how to use the Internet.
Hopping through Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities will help Google India get a pulse on what products are of interest to non-metro users. Apart from limited awareness, Dr. Ram cited “lack of relevance and a failure to engage,” as reasons for many people choosing to remain offline. He hoped that the feedback would help the company create more meaningful products.
Updates of the bus trip are at www.google.co.in/

Ref : The Hindu

DLF to Slash Price, hints Job cut

As the credit crunch continue to hit hard at every ones living room, not many is in mood of buying property even after slash of interest rate for home loans from most of the banks. And people started to go for a hard bargain with the builders. It has changed the real state business from “Seller Driven” market to “Customer Driven” Market
As a result of which real estate biggies like DLF has slashed prices about 15 % while the firm hinted that unless the housing market improved, it could resort to “some kind of cutting” of jobs.
Pointing out that the property market had come to a “virtual shutdown”, with sales declining to 10-25 per cent of normal volume, DLF Ltd vice chairman Mr Rajiv Singh said new projects would be offered at cheaper rates. “New project of ours will be competitively priced. As we look and go forward, we expect price levels to come down another 15 per cent if the economic uncertainty continues,” said Mr Singh.

Ref:DeccanChronicle

--Gopi

Gold : 26% return in 100 days

Glitter of gold has outshined all other investments since the meltdown started last October. Deepening worries over global economic outlook has sparked off a rally in gold prices which rewarded investors with 26% return in just hundred days.

Large funds and investors are shifting their moolah to gold, always a safe bet. Since October 10, 2008, gold prices in the domestic markets have moved up by nearly 26% to Rs 14,268 per ten gram, while the benchmark sensex has shown just 4% gain during the same period. Silver prices too have chased the gold prices and it has gone up 22% to Rs 19,752 per kg.

Analysts firmly believe that large investors and hedge funds are dumping other investments and diverting their funds to the yellow metal on fears that the recession would cut deeper than anticipated.

"Prices of all commodities have gone down, except for gold and silver. Investors in global markets are largely parking their funds in gold to protect the value of their money," said Naveen Mathur, head of commodities, Angel Broking. The top five gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) of the world have increased their gold reserve by 108 tones in the past three months. The total holding of these five ETFs has gone up from 972 tones to 1080 tones.

However, rising gold prices have pulled down imports of gold in the country, as retailers are staying away from making fresh buying at these levels. India's average import of the gold is around 50 tones per month but it dipped to just two tones in January 2009, said Devarsh Vakil, analyst with Anagram Comtrade.

Ref: EconomicTimes

Cost Cutting with Innovation

This is called Compact and Portable Second Floor

Fire Drill or Layoff?? Be Aware

XYZ Office -> A fire alarm rang at 6 PM when almost all employees are in office(approx 5000). As usual entire office was evacuated within 3 mins & every employee gathered outside office. 10 mins passed..................................5 more mins passed.

Security Officer -> Announcement started,


"Dear Employees - With melting heart I am making this announcement that for many of you it will be
a last evacuation drill, as we are laying off almost 80% employee. While moving in who-so-ever ID card won't work are layed off & all their belongings will be couriered to them tomorrow. We followed this approach as we don't want to fill email box size with layoff mail in thousands & also to avoid any fight inside office". Hope you have nice career ahead.
Please move in & try your luck.

Source : Email
Recommended Links :Joke , Thought and Photo

Sourav Ganguly: 200% Fit to play both forms of Cricket

Sourav Ganguly might have walked into the sunset of his cricketing career, but the former India captain today said he is still good enough to play both forms of the game at the international level for at least a year.

Asked if he is still good enough for international cricket at 36 years of age, Ganguly replied, "Two-hundred percent." "I think I am still good enough for both forms of cricket. I played my best in my last years. If I had played, I could have easily continued for at least one or one-and-half years more. "But that's not possible now, though. One has to accept the fact that retirement was part and parcel of a sportsperson's life," Ganguly said.

"I have Indian Premier League to look forward to. But turning out in the IPL could not be compared to playing for India," he added. Ganguly was speaking at a function to release 'Dada Tantra', a book based on him and authored by sports journalist Goutam Bhattacharya.


Ref : IBNLIVE

Wipro to Hire 8000 Freshers

“Delay is better than Never" was the slogan being chanted by most of the 2008 passed out people who got employment offer from Wipro and others who are looking for a job in this gloomy market.
There is A good news for all those aspirants, Wipro is all prepared to hire 8000 employees in this fiscal
According to a reports, Wipro is making around 8,000 campus offers this fiscal year. In an email sent to all freshers seeking jobs in areas such as technical support and off shoring, the IT major has invited applications for 15,000 seats, says the report.

Ref: Indiatimes

--Gopi

L&T to Increase Stake in Satyam

Larsen & Turbo is all set to increase it stake in Satyam from current 12% to 15% so that SEBI acquisition norms it can go for open offer for an addition 20%.

However L&T is waiting for SEBI to relax its pricing norms.Sources also say L&T is likely to counter-bid if other parties put up a formal bid for Satyam.


--Gopi

Modi : No Pakistani Players in IPL

As the player’s auction for next season IPL is nearing, Modi today confirmed that there would be no players from Pakistan will be part of second season IPL, which will start on April.

In the wake 26/1l case, Pakistan government has advised its players not to travel India for IPL season as the situation in both sides of the border is not conducive for Cricket, though earlier PCB has given "No objection" to the players to be part of IPL.

Modi also said they will not put any Pakistani player up for auction for the next edition of the twenty20 league which starts from April this year.

Five Pakistan cricketers--Yasir Hameed, Yasir Arafat, Asim Kamal, Danish Kaneria and Mohammad Hafeez--were due to appear in the IPL player auction at the Indian state of Goa on February 10.

The twenty20 extravaganza is starting from April 10 this year and top players from almost all Test playing nations are expected to participate.

Ref: TOI

--Gopi

SBI Freezes Home loan Interest @ 8 %

State bank of India has come up with new home loan scheme "SBI Lifestyle Loan" under which customers can avail themselves of eight per cent interest rate for one year.

"However, this facility would be available to the extent of 10 per cent of their home loans but up to a maximum of Rs. 5 lakh", an SBI release says.

The new scheme of eight per cent interest rate will be offered for loans taken during February 2 and April 30, the release says.
After the first year, the applicable rate will be charged for the loans.

-- ZEENEWS

--Gopi

Computers for Rs 500

It is agreeable with out much debate that prices of computer has came down significantly since it time of entry to the commercial market to till today.
However Government of India is all set to make the computer to the least it can, to take it the every door step of Indian Home.

IIT Madras and IISC Bangalore are working on preparing a computer for $10 or Rs 500 with in six months; Technology for these small devices has been developed by IISC, Bangalore and IIT Madras. "But lot of testing has to be done to ensure that the technology works properly. Once the testing is over, the computers will be made available on commercial basis. The target is to make it available in six months time," Higher Education Secretary, Ministry of HRD, R P Agrawal said reporters.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has already approved the scheme; the scheme would cost Rs 4,612 crore in the 11th Plan.

Ref: IndianExpress

--Gopi

Infosys : Slash Non-performers ; Hire 25000 in this Fiscal

Infosys Technologies, India's second largest software exporter is believed to have slashed its on-site employees in the US, according to sources.

In response to a query on this, the company spokesperson said, "We undergo an organization restructuring at periodic intervals, during which a very small number of roles may get redundant due to merger/consolidation at the business unit level. This is a normal process".

Though there is No specific target for Slash, People in bench have already started to feel the heat. When talking about pink slips it doesn't mean the IT giant is on the way to reduce it Human resource because it has already started the process to hire 25000 or more employees in this fiscal year

Ref:TOI

--Gopi

Srilankan Issue: TN Govt. Orders Indefinite Closure of Colleges

In the wake of unrest among colleges over Srilankan Issue, TamilNadu Government ordered indefinite closure of colleges in Tamil Nadu.

Chief Secretary K S Sripathy said in a release that all the colleges, both private and government, had been ordered to close due to the unrest.He had also ordered the closure of student's hostels in the state.

The government's action came two days before students all enforce a strike from Monday demanding ceasefire in Sri Lanka.

--Gopi