Think Tank

MemoriesMemories of my bicycles I wish I could show that picture here: We are on our small two-sitter bicycle. I am on the driver’s seat, wearing that blue dress of mine, and on the back seat my sister is sitting. She has worn her frock with pink flower printed on it and is biting an apple. [...]

MemoriesMemories of tuition days I never admitted that I was shy. But there is one story that can prove otherwise.  I used to attend tuition classes during my intermediate (+2) days. There were girl students in the class too. But I never looked at them. (I don’t know why and how I acquired that habit.) Though [...]

MemoriesMemories of Baba, my Grandfather My earliest memory goes to his college days; when he was professor and head of department at a university college and our joint family lived in his government quarters. My biggest testimonial is my picture with him, while we sat on his bed, in palathis; he had a cup of tea [...]

MemoriesMemories of Ma, my grandmother Ma, that is how we called her. This word was exclusively reserved for her, while we had options available to choose for our mothers. We were more than half a dozen and played throughout the day, in and around my grandpa’s government quarters in a small town in the north Bihar. [...]

MoviesBlack Friday    I watched Black Friday recently. This post is only about story; movie no doublt is excellent, from all angles of movie making. It is based on a novel by the same name, and claims to tell the shocking truth behind the Mumbai bomb blasts. I have changed the sequence of the events, as [...]

MoviesCan they recreate the originality?  I watched Ram Gopal Verma ki Aag two weeks after it was released. I wanted to understand why did the movie failed to make a mark. I got to realise a very wrong trend among the present directors like Ram Gopal Verma:   o       This is an adaptation of Sholey. In [...]

Pic-Blog means a picture will tell you the story.  Using Red in Color Therapy Red is the lowest of the seven colors in the visible spectrum and is known as a “warm” color. It is stimulating and energizing therefore it is helpful for tiredness and lethargy, to stimulate low blood pressure, to boost sluggish circulation. NB [...]

HCL Technologies:  1.      ‘Employee first, customer second’: Because of its shock value, this initiative invited world wide interest. 2.      ‘U’and ‘I’ approach: Employees could directly approach and query President Mr. Vineet Nayar.3.      Trust Pay: 85% of the salary of employees were made fixed, including bonus, along with a trust in them to deliver results. 4.      [...]

Marico Industries Recently, Mr. Harsha Mariwala, MD, Marico Industries was on our campus to deliver his lecture on ‘Marico’s Journey”. He spoke on his and his company’s journey, right from the day of inception to today. Here are some innovative practices that Marico has implemented:  o       Only two grades: Company realised that the expectation of being [...]

ReligionThe devi who lived hereReproducing an excellent article published in HT (Mumbai, Oct 20) Sarada Devi (1853-1920) was the wife of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. They had an unusual relationship: a celibate marriage that sublimated into a deep spiritual connection. Sri Ramakrishna saw the Devi in her and actually worshiped his wife as such. During his lifetime, [...]

Where is the Divide?  Do Indians believe in their tribe more than they think themselves as Indians? We had a discussion in the class. I still remember what a colleague said: “All communities have a sense of superiority that they want to impose on others. Honour killings are a proof of that.” And one friend [...]

Integration – the Engineering Way It was our first semester at REC Durgapur. Regional Engineering Colleges, as you know, had seats reserved for each state of India, in proportion to their populations. So we had students from each part of India, with their different languages and cultures. Many of them had never come out of their [...]

Men and LeadersWhy I like Narendra Modi Whatever be the respective ideologies, I like the men who are men: those who stand by whatever they believe in and take on the whole world if needed. My earliest memory of Narendra Modi is in a discussion hosted on a television channel. Mr. Modi was then the BJP [...]

BooksThe Kite Runner / Drinking - a sin? / Fathers’ desires? About the Book:  The Kite Runner is a beautiful yet scary novel by Khaled Hosseini. It is the story of Afghanistan. It covers the good and the tough times of the country; right from when it was independent, then under the Russians and finally when [...]

What’s up? French: I am learning French. The 3 months course has ended, and on this Monday there was the last exam. I hope I passed. I had learnt German while I was in engineering. I found German to be far easier in pronunciation than the French. Still I am filled with doubts regarding pronunciation. French [...]

Newspapers of Tomorrow Marcus Brauchli, Managing Editor, Wall Street Journal was in India recently to participate in HT leadership Summit. He is said to occupy the most powerful position in business journalism. Here are some excerpts from his interview with HT:  o       Indian newspapers are among the truly independent newspapers of the world.  o       I think [...]

Silence of the lambs We Indians have learnt to forget real miseries in our lives but are over reactive on hypothetical issues. Remember some of the recent controversies. Be it the debate over existence of Rama, debate over 123 nuclear deal, rocketing share market, or some older issues like Adavani’s remarks over Jinnah, Shankaracharya’s prosecution, etc, [...]

Behind every successful woman, there is another womanNations like India to generate numerous success stories, because of the overlooked failures that the previous generations encountered and still secretly lament On Sep 29, Mint came with an interview of Zia Mody (By Rana Rosen). At one place, Zia said: “My mother always thought she lost out on [...]

What to preserve?  To preserve or not to preserve: that is the question… a little bit of Shaikh Speer (courtesy VT) in Mumbai?  Of late there is a large hue and cry in the media, mainly among a section of elite journo, to protest the redevelopment of Crawford Market in Mumbai. The sprawling building of [...]

Worst Ever Child Sex Ratio in India    YearCSRChange1951983 1961976(-7)1971964(-12)1981962(-2)1991945(-17)2001927(-18) Child Sex Ratio (CSR) is the number of girls per 1000 boys, between 0 to 6 years of age.  September 24 is celebrated as International Girl Child Day. But Indians it seems celebrate the elimination of the girl child, every day and every where.  Some startling truths on [...]