ONLY FOR BUISNESS STUDENTS

Shweta Jaishankar pics

2010-09-19T20:11:00.000+05:30

Shweta Jaishankar:

Penpattanam Movie, Penpattanam Malayalam Movie Preview, Penpattanam Movie Cast

2010-07-23T16:00:00.002+05:30

Penpattanam Movie, Penpattanam Malayalam Movie Preview, Penpattanam Movie Cast

Penpattanam Movie Cast Cast : Revathi, KPAC Lalitha, Swetha Menon, Vishnupriya, Nedumudi Venu, Lal, Siddique, Abu Salim, Augustin, Sivaji Guruvayur, Vijay P. Nair, Musthafa, Dinesh, Sreejith, Sunanda Menon

Penpattanam Malayalam Movie Preview

‘Penpattanam’, directed by V M Vinu takes a look at the struggle for survival of four women who are Kudumbasree workers.

Based on a story by director Ranjith, ‘Penpattanam’ has KPAC Lalitha, Revathy, Swetha Menon and Vishnupriya donning the roles of the four women. For each one of them, life is a battle, and each one has to find her own ways to get through it.

Though a women-oriented film, ‘Penpattanam’ will have a few prominent male actors lending the ladies the support. Kailash, Nedumudi Venu, Lal, Siddique, Abu Salim, Augustin, Sivaji Guruvayur, Vijay P. Nair, Musthafa, Dinesh and Sreejith appear in key roles in the film.

The film has been scripted by T A Razak. Kaithapram and Anil Panachooran have penned the lyrics, and M G Sreekumar has composed the music of the film.

The technical crew includes Sanjeev Sankar who has handled the cinematography and P C Mohan who has done the editing.

Produced by Maha Subair under the banner of Varnachitra, ‘Penpattanam’ was shot in a single schedule and is ready for release.

Kakatiya University MBA Results 2010, Kakatiya University MBA 1st Year 1st Sem Result

2010-07-23T15:59:00.002+05:30

Kakatiya University MBA Results 2010, Kakatiya University MBA 1st Year 1st Sem Result

Kakatiya University was established on 19th August, 1976 to fulfil the aspirations of the Telangana people for higher education. The University was accredited with B+ grade by the NAAC in 2002.

Kakatiya University had announced MBA 1st year 1st sem results 2010

For Results : http://www.kuexams.com/

For Official Site : http://www.kuwarangal.com

Onam Recipes 2010 : Onam Palada Pradhaman Recipe, Onam Sadhya Palada Pradhaman, Onam Festival Palada Pradhaman Recipe

2010-07-23T15:56:00.000+05:30

Onam Recipes 2010 : Onam Palada Pradhaman Recipe, Onam Sadhya Palada Pradhaman, Onam Festival Palada Pradhaman Recipe

Onam Kerala’s grand festival. Celebrate the spirit of Onam in all its splendor. Share the joy of Onam with all your loved ones and feast on delicious homemade Onam recipes.

Onam Palada Pradhaman Recipe
Ingredients :
1. Thick milk- 3ltrs
2. Par boiled rice (dried red rice)- 250gm
3. Water to mix flour Coconut oil- 1tbs
4. Sugar- 2tbs
5. Plantain leaf pieces- as required
6. Cardamom powder- optional

Method of Preparation:
Wash rice and drain the water. Dry grind the rice well. Add enough water to make a semi thick batter. Add 1tbs coconut oil and 1/2tbs sugar in it.

Clean and wipe the plaintain leaf pieces and pour the batter in a thin layer evenly and roll the leaf pieces tightly. Boil water in a big vessel and steam the flour batter. Take the steam batter from the leaf and cut into small pieces. Wash the pieces and strain.

Boil milk well and add sugar. Continue boiling till its colour changes to pale pink. Add the ada pieces to it. Boil again and remove from fire.

Amitabh Bachchan to Endorse ESPN Sports Channel for T20 Champions League Tournament

2010-07-23T15:54:00.000+05:30

Amitabh Bachchan to Endorse ESPN Sports Channel for T20 Champions League Tournament

Amitabh Bachchan to endorse the sports channel ESPN, and has been roped in to be the Brand Ambassador for the T20 Champions League Tournament, which is to be held in Sri Lanka in September.

Big B, who is the biggest draw in terms of popularizing any product under the Sun, has also been a keen follower of sports and sporting activities in and around the world.

The shooting for the ad took place recently, along with the stills and the dubbing for the same being done on that very evening.

As Big B, is well known for giving most of his views on most events in his micro blogging site, twitter, he did so regarding this ad campaign as well.

Big B mentioned that the ad was shot, and the dubbing also completed in a record time, this amazed the mega star, as he is always very impressed with work done perfectly and bang on time!

Well, so this second half of the year, will surely be Big B all over, with this great endorsement followed by the all time awaited telly show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’.

SSCOnline.Nic.in Staff Selection Commission Online Application on www.SSCOnline.Nic.in

2010-07-23T15:53:00.000+05:30

SSCOnline.Nic.in Staff Selection Commission Online Application on www.SSCOnline.Nic.in

Staff Selection Commission owns its official website SSC online that is meant for System of Online Application Processing (SOAP). SSC online contains full information about the guidelines and registration process for SSC Application online and Examination.

Please visit at http://ssconline.nic.in/ for the official website link of Staff Selection Commission SSC Online Applications filling details

Enrique I Like It, Enrique Iglesias I Like It Lyrics, Enrique Iglesias I Like It Video

2010-07-23T15:52:00.000+05:30

Enrique I Like It, Enrique Iglesias I Like It Lyrics, Enrique Iglesias I Like It Video

“I Like It” is a song performed by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias taken from his upcoming bilingual studio album, Euphoria. It was produced by RedOne and interpolates Lionel Richie’s 1983 classic “All Night Long (All Night)” as well as featuring American rapper Pitbull and was released on May 3, 2010. The song will also be included on the official soundtrack to MTV reality series Jersey Shore. A version of the song without Pitbull is also found on the international version of Euphoria.
Enrique Iglesias I Like It Lyrics
Girl please excuse me
If I’m coming too strong
But tonight is the night
We can really let go
My girlfriend is out of town
And I’m all alone
Your boyfriend is on vacation
And he doesn’t have to know
No one can do the things
I’m gonna wanna to do to you
Shout it out, scream it loud
Let me hear you go
[Chorus]
Baby I like it
The way you move on the floor
Baby I like it
Come on and give me some more
Oh yes I like it
Screaming like never before
Baby I like it
I, I, I like it.
Party, Karamu, Fiesta, Forever
Girl please excuse me
If I’m misbehaving, oh
I’m trying keep my hands off
But you’re begging me for more
Round round round
Give a low low low
Let the time time pass
‘Cause we’re never getting old
No one can do it better
Turn around I’ll give you more
Shout it out, scream it loud
Let me hear you go
[Chorus]
Baby I like it
The way you move on the floor
Baby I like it
Come on and give me some more
Oh yes I like it
Screaming like never before
Baby I like it
I, I, I like it.
Don’t stop baby, don’t stop baby
Just keep on shaking along
I won’t stop baby, won’t stop baby
Until you get enough
Party, Karamu, Fiesta, Forever
Chorus (x2)

Udaan Torrent Download, Udaan Movie Torrent, Udaan Movie Online, Udaan Bollywood Movie Download

2010-07-23T15:50:00.000+05:30

Udaan Torrent Download, Udaan Movie Torrent, Udaan Movie Online, Udaan Bollywood Movie Download

Udaan Bollywood Movie Torrent Download : Most People Searching online Udaan Torrent. Udaan Hindi Movie Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and Released on 16 July 2010. Udaan Movie Main Staring Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Aayan Boradia, Ram Kapoor.

Udaan Movie Review

It’s hard not to be moved by the coming-of-age journey at the heart of director Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan.

It’s an inherently sincere and deeply affecting story of 17-year-old Rohan (played by newcomer Rajat Barmecha) who’s thrown out of boarding school and packed off home to Jamshedpur, his first visit in eight years. Confronting his over-bearing, uncaring father is only the first of many challenges for this motherless teenager, who also discovers he has a six-year-old half-brother he had no knowledge of until now.
Stuck in this industrial city with no friends at all, forced to pursue a degree in engineering instead of being allowed to blossom into the writer he wishes to become, Rohan’s claustrophobia is palpable. His father’s violent outbursts and the frustration of sharing his room with a brother he has no affection for, adds to his intense desperation.

Intuitively written and lovingly crafted, Udaan is packed with moments that will resonate with every viewer because they mirror real experiences: whether it’s those scenes of griping against the world while throwing back tequila with new-found buddies, or sneaking out ofboarding school to watch an adult film in a local cinema.

Udaan comes across as an intensely personal film; a coming-of-age story without the choreographed songs or road-trips; the anti-Wake Up Sid if you like. There is angst you can identify with, and Barmecha conveys an intense loneliness that you can almost feel.

Udaan Torrent Links
www.torrentdownloads.net/searches/udaan+2010+movie
www.kickasstorrents.com/search/udaan%20movie/

Tere Bin Laden Torrent, Tere Bin Laden Download, Tere Bin Laden Torrent Download, Tere Bin Laden Movie Torrent

2010-07-23T15:49:00.002+05:30

Tere Bin Laden Torrent, Tere Bin Laden Download, Tere Bin Laden Torrent Download, Tere Bin Laden Movie Torrent

Today Most People Searching in India Tere Bin Laden Torrent. Tere Bin Laden Hindi Comedy Movie Released on 16 July 2010.

Tere Bin Laden Bollywood Movie Directed by Abhishek Sharma and Starring Ali Zafar, Barry John, Piyush Mishra.

Tere Bin Laden Movie characters, story, setting and lingo are Pakistani, which lends it a certain amount of novelty and freshness. Moreover, even in terms of the form and tenor, Tere Bin Laden takes off from where Pakistani comic serials, like Bakra Kishton Par.

Tere Bin Laden Torrent You Can Search Here. http://www.kickasstorrents.com/search/tere-bin-laden/

K’NAAN Waving Flag Song Free Download, K’NAAN Waving Flag, K’NAAN Waving Flag 2010 FIFA World Cup Video, K’NAAN Waving Flag MP3 Free Download

2010-07-23T15:47:00.000+05:30

K’NAAN Waving Flag Song Free Download, K’NAAN Waving Flag, K’NAAN Waving Flag 2010 FIFA World Cup Video, K’NAAN Waving Flag MP3 Free Download

K’NAAN Waving Flag Celebration Concert 2010 FIFA World Cup Video

K’NAAN Waving Flag Live World Cup Concert Kick Off In Sout Africa

K’naan – Waving Flag FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 Official Theme Song MP3 Free Download

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Shakira’s Waka Waka Lyrics
Waka Waka Song Free Download
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Maryada Ramanna Songs, Maryada Ramanna Songs Mp3 Free Download, Maryada Ramanna Songs Download

2010-07-23T15:44:00.000+05:30

Maryada Ramanna Songs, Maryada Ramanna Songs Mp3 Free Download, Maryada Ramanna Songs Download

Director: S.S.Rajamouli
Cast : Sunil, Saloni
Producer: Shobhu Yarlagadda
Music Director: M.M. Keeravani
Lyricst: Ramajogaya Sastry, Sitarama Sastry, Ananth Sriram, Chaitan

S.S. Rajamouli directed ‘Maryada Ramanna’ is almost complete except few songs. Starring Sunil and Saloni, the film is shooting for its remaining songs at Annapoorna studios. The film is an out and out comedy featuring the soft side of otherwise violent Rayalaseema people.

The audio of the film is going to be released on July 4th at a big event at Shilpakala Vedika, Hyderabad. The fact that this is the first film of Rajamouli after ‘Magadheera’ is raising expectations forthe film even before its release date has been announced. As of now we hear that the movie could be released on July 16th, if not on July 23rd.

For Maryada Ramanna MP3 Audio Songs Free Download

Ammai Kitiki Pakkana – Karunya, Chaitra
Udyogam Poyindi – Ranjith
Telugammai – MM Keeravani, Geetha Madhuri
Raye Raye – Raghu Kunche, Geetha Madhuri
Parugulu Teeyi – Baalu Gaaru
Sound Of Vel

Download Maryada Ramanna Songs in a Single File : 320 Kbps, 128 Kbps

Parry Aftab Arrested for Child Molestation Hot in US

2010-07-23T15:43:00.000+05:30

Parry Aftab Arrested for Child Molestation Hot in US

Today Most US Online Users Searching in Google “Parry Aftab Arrested for Child Molestation“.
Parry Aftab is a Internet Privacy and Security Lawyer and Cybersafety Advocate.

Gawker Tv Posted Interview with Parry Aftab Video : GMA also brought in their resident cyber-bullying expert Parry Aftab to talk about ways that parents can be more involved with dealing with these types of situations, the most apt probably being to step away from the computer for a bit.

you can check here : http://tv.gawker.com/5593626/jessi-slaughter-talks-cyberbullying-on-good-morning-america
Parry Aftab Blog : http://parryaftab.blogspot.com/

Indian Hockey Sex Scandal : Indian Women’s Hockey Team Player T.S.Ranjitha Devi Scandal

2010-07-23T15:41:00.002+05:30

Indian Hockey Sex Scandal : Indian Women’s Hockey Team Player T.S.Ranjitha Devi Scandal

The Hockey India committee is seriously looking into allegations of sexual harassment made by Ranjitha Devi against former Indian women’s hockey team coach M K Kaushik. According to news sources, The committee will also talk to some of the players who have supported Ranjitha Devi. After resigning as national women’s hockey coach, MK Kaushik has filed his reply to the committee on 22nd July.

This issue has also taken political overtones as Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh is likely to meet the union sports minister M.S. Gill about this matter. Indian woman hockey player Ranjitha Devi is from Manipur, she got good support from Manipur CM.

Rajeev Mehta, chairman of the Hockey India Committee said “Ranjitha and her supporters have made a written submission, The committee will meet on Friday and go through it”. The committee met both Kaushik and Ranjitha on Wednesday afternoon to record their versions.

Earlier, when MK Kaushik was contacted, he denied the allegations. He said “I don’t know who has written the letter. But whoever has written it, I want the ministry to find out and punish the perpetrator for slandering my name. That’s all I have to say about this.”

Waka Waka Video Free Download, Shakira Waka Waka MP3 Song Download, This Time For Africa Video Song Download Free

2010-07-23T15:40:00.000+05:30

Waka Waka Video Free Download, Shakira Waka Waka MP3 Song Download, This Time For Africa Video Song Download Free

Colombian pop star Shakira who offered up not one but two versions of her Waka Waka MP3 Song; an English version, Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), and a Spanish version titled Waka Waka (Estos Es Africa).

Featuring backing music by the South African outfit Freshlyground, Shakira’s Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) Song sold well online after being performed during the closing ceremonies of the World Cup festivities.

Blending a wide array of musical elements including traditional African rhythms and instrumentation, modern pop beats and the always unpredictable vocal runs byShakira, Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) was clearly chosen as a World Cup theme thanks to its international flair and message of unity.

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Waka Waka Song Free Download, This Time for Africa, Shakira 2010 FIFA World Cup Video, Waka Waka MP3 Free Download

2010-07-23T15:37:00.000+05:30

Waka Waka Song Free Download, This Time for Africa, Shakira 2010 FIFA World Cup Video, Waka Waka MP3 Free Download

Waka Waka This Time for Africa is the song which is the anthem for the world cup 2010.
Shakira, wearing an animal print, waka waka-ed — the anthem and dance of the World Cup. The turbaned Tinariwen brought the sounds of Mali’s desert nomads to the mix. The crowd swayed to Keys, and did the toyi-toyi — the protest dance of the apartheid era — to hometown favorites BLK JKS.

Shakira World Cup Waka Waka Video Song

Colombian rocker Juanes, in a multicolored warm-up jacket, debuted his newest single, “Yerbatero” to cheers from the crowd.
Concertgoer Tumi Mohafa said the mix of races in the renovated stadium in an area where blacks once were confined is a sign of how far South Africa has come from apartheid, which ended in 1994.

Shakira World Cup Song Waka Waka MP3 Download
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K’NAAN Waving Flag MP3 Song Free Download

Orlando Bloom Married Australian Supermodel Girlfriend Miranda Kerr in an Intimate Ceremony

2010-07-23T15:33:00.002+05:30

Orlando Bloom Married Australian Supermodel Girlfriend Miranda Kerr in an Intimate Ceremony

Orlando Bloom married Miranda Kerr in an “intimate” ceremony. The couple began dating around three years ago and confirmed their engagement last month. They tied the knot during a low-key ceremony in Los Angeles, according to reports.

The 33-year-old British film star and his new bride, 27, are thought to be embarking on their honeymoon.
News of the nuptials slipped out after upmarket Australian department store David Jones said Kerr, who is their “fashion ambassador”, would be unable to attend a spring season launch next month as she will still be on honeymoon.
“I am enormously grateful to David Jones to have been given this time to enjoy such a special moment of my life,” Kerr said in the statement.

“I look forward to coming back to Australia in the near future to celebrate with family and friends.
“David Jones very graciously released me during this period so we could celebrate an intimate ceremony and honeymoon together.”

Bloom is one of Britain’s hottest actors, having starred in some of the biggest film franchises in recent years.
He caught the attention of audiences in Peter Jackson’s award-winning Lord Of The Rings movies as well as starring alongside Johnny Depp in Pirates Of The Caribbean.

Kerr’s first meeting with the actor was backstage at a Victoria’s Secret lingerie fashion show in New York in 2006.

David Jones spokeswoman Colette Garnsey said: “Given the exiting news that Miranda and Orlando have recently wed and will be enjoying their honeymoon together, Miranda will not be with us for the launch.”

Friendship Day 2010 Gift Ideas, Friendship Day Gifts Ideas Celebrate, Friendship Day Gifts Ideas Special

2010-07-23T15:32:00.002+05:30

Friendship Day 2010 Gift Ideas, Friendship Day Gifts Ideas Celebrate, Friendship Day Gifts Ideas Special

On Friendship day express your love to your friend and show that with friendship day gifts. Nothing other than a heart touching wonderful gift can convey the true emotion of love to your friend. Celebrate the bond of friendship and honor your friend with the best friendship day gift ideas. Surprise your friend by sending him/her cute online gift for friends and let the gifts do all the talking on your part.

Friendship Day 2010 Gift Ideas
* The best gift on this day is spending time to each other. Whether you meet at a coffee shop or at your favorite hang-out place, it is important to take out a day and spend time with your friend.
* You can gift your friend a T-shirt, Cap or a bag with some friendship message written on it.
* A wristband, or a wristlet with the name of friend embossed or engraved at the center may also be nice. You can also gift your friend with a friendship tribute album featuring poems, quotations, greetings, old photos of you and your friend(s) and other pictures of your common interest.
Friendship Day Gifts Ideas Celebrate
* A different idea would be to dedicate a song or some message for your friend through radio/TV channel.
* Giving a gift box of chocolates is a gesture of sweetness of your relationship.
* Prepare a CD or a cassette that contain all the songs that define your friendship or you can send them any video of your sweet memories. Apart from these activities you can also make a special friendship book or an album for your best friend. You may include photos, quotes and poetry which would tell your friends about how special they are for you.

Friendship Day Gifts Ideas Special
* Apart from this conventional gift items are always e.g. writing materials like pens, letter or writing pad, diary, planner; or utility items like watch, key rings, pen stand, telephone index, electronic notebook and so forth.
* You can plan out for a long drive, where you can indulge in a sport match or something like that.
* In case your friend is a sport-lover, you can gift him /her favorite sport accessories, clothes, shoes, fitness equipments, etc.

Dabang Movie Trailer, Dabang Movie Review, Dabang Movie Cast, Dabang Bollywood Movie

2010-07-23T15:31:00.000+05:30

Dabang Movie Trailer, Dabang Movie Review, Dabang Movie Cast, Dabang Bollywood Movie
Director: Abhinav Kashyap
Cast: Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sonakshi Sinha,
Music Director: Sajid Ali, Wajid Ali
Release Date: 01 Oct, 2010
Producer: Arbaaz Khan

Dabangg is the story of a corrupt police officer played by Salman Khan and highlights the flaws and loopholes in the system.

Salman Khan plays a shifty cop in this movie. Dabangg attempts to reveal the problems which keep the system from working effectively. The film focuses on the blatant flouting of law in the Indian states of UP and Bihar. It pinpoints the role that the police force has to play in cementing bad law and order practices.

Shilpa Shetty Height, Shilpa Shetty Biography, Shilpa Shetty Twitter, Shilpa Shetty Filmography

2010-07-23T15:30:00.000+05:30

Shilpa Shetty Height, Shilpa Shetty Biography, Shilpa Shetty Twitter, Shilpa Shetty Filmography

Shilpa Shetty Height
Shilpa Shetty Height: 5ft 10in (178 cm)

Shilpa Shetty Twitter
http://twitter.com/shilpashetty143

Shilpa Shetty Biography

Shilpa Shetty (born 8 June 1975) is an Indian film actress and model. Since making her debut in the film Baazigar (1993), she has appeared in nearly 40 Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, her first leading role being in the 1994 Aag. Although she has been through years of decline during her career, Shetty has been willing to reinvent herself quite often. Her performances in Dhadkan (2000) and Rishtey (2002) were appreciated, while her portrayal of an AIDS patient in Phir Milenge (2004) won her many accolades. Her younger sister Shamita Shetty is also a Bollywood film actress. Shilpa is currently judging a reality show “Zara Nachke Dikha” along with two other judges Arshad Warsi and Vaibhavi Merchant aired in Starplus.
Shetty has been embroiled in various controversies including suspected mafia links. In 2006 she was issued with a warrant on charges of obscenity. After taking part in the British Celebrity Big Brother TV show in 2007, Shetty was crowned the winner with 63% of the final vote, after an international racism controversy involving her and fellow contestants Jade Goody, Jo O’Meara and Danielle Lloyd. This was followed by a re-establishment of her status in the film industry in 2007 when she appeared in two successive movies, Life in a… Metro and Apne, with her performance in the former drawing positive reviews.

Shilpa Shetty Filmography

1993 Baazigar
1994 Aao Pyaar Karen
1994 Main Khiladi Tu Ana
1994 Aag
1995 Gambler
1995 Hathkadi
1996 Mr. Romeo
1996 Chhote Sarkar
1996 Himmat
1996 Sahasa Veerudu Sagara Kanya
1997 Dus
1997 Prithvi
1997 Insaaf
1997 Zameer: The Awakening of a Soul
1997 Auzaar
1997 Veedeva Dandi Babu
1998 Pardesi Babu
1998 Aakrosh
1999 Jaanwar
1999 Shool
1999 Lal Baadshah
2000 Azad
2000 Dhadkan
2000 Tarkieb
2000 Kushi
2000 Jung
2001 Indian
2001 Bhalevadivi Basu
2001 Maduve Agona Baa
2001 Preethsod Thappa
2002 Karz
2002 Rishtey
2002 Hathyar
2002 Chor Machaaye Shor
2002 Badhaai Ho Badhaai
2002 Junoon
2003 Ondagona Baa
2003 Darna Mana Hai
2004 Phir Milenge
2004 Garv: Pride and Honour
2005 Dus
2005 Fareb
2005 Khamosh: Khauff Ki Raat
2005 Auto Shankar
2006 Shaadi Karke Phas Gaya Yaar
2007 Life In A… Metro
2007 Apne
2007 Om Shanti Om
2008 Dostana
2010 The Desire

Michael Lohan, Lindsay Lohan’s Father Charged for Assaulting Kate Major

2010-07-23T15:28:00.002+05:30

Michael Lohan, Lindsay Lohan’s Father Charged for Assaulting Kate Major

Michael Lohan, Lindsay Lohan’s father has been charged with second-degree harassment by Southampton police for assaulting fiancee Kate Major.

However, Michael Lohan’s lawyer Lisa Bloom has blasted the reports, insisting “no charges have been filed”. “Michael Lohan 100% denies each and every one of Kate Major’s allegations. He has never threatened to harm her, never assaulted her, and never physically abused her in any way,” Lisa said in a statement via CNN.
Lisa Bloom further mentioned that Kate was drunk when she and Michael engaged in a dispute on Monday, July 19 just before he flew to L.A. for Lindsay’s hearing.

“Kate was heavily intoxicated during the verbal argument between Michael and Kate on Monday early afternoon,” Lisa claimed. “Michael Lohan has been clean and sober for six years.

Michael Lohan is fully cooperating with the police investigation. No charges have been filed. He expects to be fully vindicated.” On the alleged charge, Lisa said, “Most often, second degree harassment violations are resolved by the payment of a fine of up to $250.

Second degree harassment is the lowest level charge that can be brought in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident, when there are no substantial physical injuries alleged, which is the case here.”
Michael Lohan is scheduled to appear in court on August 18 to be arraigned on harassment charges.

eamcet ranks 2010

2010-07-21T22:13:00.000+05:30

eamcet ranks 2010:
Today the EAMCET Ranks 2010 will be published on 3.00 PM by JNTU Hyderabad. And the Engineering Agriculture and Medicine Common Entrance Test EAMCET Final Ranks 2010 list will be announced by the Technical Education Minister MV Ramana Rao at JNTU Hyderabad Campus

Check this link ( http://www.examresultstips.com/)
Apeamect http://www.apeamcet.org/
Manabadi Site http://www.results.manabadi/
Aarvy http://www.results.aarvy.com/
Exametc http://www.exametc.com/

Sania mirza wedding

2010-04-19T21:06:00.000+05:30

Sania mirza wedding

Perils of nuclear morality

2010-04-19T06:04:00.000+05:30

It never ceases to surprise me that when it comes to security issues, Democrats are far more moralistic and self-righteous than Republicans, who have time and again proved to be pragmatists.

Take President Obama's nuclear posture review for instance. It assumes that by renouncing the right to use nuclear arms against countries that attack America as long as they are in compliance with the provisions of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the U.S. can dissuade poten- tial proliferators from weaponizing their capability. Such a rationale stems from a deep moral abhor- rence of nuclear weapons, out- weighing their strategic utility even in the face of a chemical or biologi- cal attack.

No doubt it is a bold redemptive posture, in stark con- trast to that of the Democratic and unabashedly Christian President Truman, who used nuclear weapons against a beaten enemy and justified it on moral and military grounds. Clearly, morali- ty is a double-edged sword.

The world, there- fore, would be better off with the established doctrine that nations acquire nuclear weapons not because of a nuclear threat, but because of fear of a con- ventional military attack or inter- vention. Hence, a real antiprolifera- tion posture would be to renounce war in totality. Nothing less.

2009-12-22T18:16:00.001+05:30

arithmetic just drops out of trees

RBI changes firms' oversees borrowing rules

2009-12-17T23:47:00.000+05:30

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it would withdraw from Jan. 1 some concessions on overseas borrowing for Indian firms introduced during the global credit crisis, although it also eased rules for the infrastructure and telecoms sectors.

The changes would limit the ability of firms to borrow funds abroad and then repatriate them, while still encouraging long-term investment needed to overhaul ageing infrastructure and underpin economic growth.

"In view of the improvement in the credit market conditions and narrowing credit spreads in the international market it has been decided to withdraw the existing relaxation in the all-incost ceilings under the approval route," RBI said in a statement on Dec. 9 night.

A facility for Indian companies to buy back their foreign currency convertible bonds under the automatic route and approval route would be discontinued from January due to the improvement in the equity market.

The changes could slow some inflows into the economy, which have supported the rupee this year, but as they only related to local firms they were not expected to unsettle markets greatly.

"There may be a knee-jerk reaction in the beginning but don't expect too much of a reaction in the market," said Ashutosh Raina, head of foreign exchange trading at HDFC Bank in Mumbai.

"I expect the rupee to remain stable against the dollar after the initial trades and to trade the way it has traded so far."

The central bank said it would allow non-bank financial companies which are focused on financing infrastructure projects to borrow from oversees markets under the approval route.

It also extended by a year a rule which allowed firms involved in developing integrated townships to borrow oversees.

The central bank allowed telecom firms to access oversees markets to fund their bids for 3G spectrum, effective immediately.India plans to auction 3G spectrum in January.

"It will give a boost to longterm investment in infrastructure and telecommunication sectors which require heavy investment," said N.R.
Bhanumurthy, economist at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in New Delhi. He said there was still a need to regulate short-term capital inflows which were beneficial up to a point.

On Dec. 7, the central bank governor said capital inflows reflected investor confidence in the economy.

An economic adviser to the prime minister has said India could absorb inflows of up to $100 billion in the current fiscal year, well above projected levels of $57-$60 billion.

Mahindra Satyam settles Upaid suit for $70 million

2009-12-17T23:44:00.001+05:30

Mahindra Satyam Ltd is paying $70 million to Britain-based Upaid Systems Ltd in a patent suit settlement which analysts says lifts uncertainty from the Indian technology outsourcer.

Upaid, which offers solutions for payments via mobile phone, filed lawsuits in April 2007 for fraud, forgery and breach of contract, the British firm said last year."The settlement cost may be high for a company like Satyam, but this at least takes away the uncertainty that was there because of this litigation," said Tejas Doshi, head of research at Sushil Finance in Mumbai."It is surely a positive development, and after this probably the company will move ahead with business and there will be less uncertainty."

Upaid filed the lawsuit in Texas following the revelation of alleged forged documents provided by Satyam, which was technology services provider to the British firm, and was seeking more than $1 billion in damages.

Mahindra Satyam said it would pay $45 million within 10 days of receiving regulatory approval and $25 million within a year of the first payment.

The settlement requires Upaid to give Mahindra Satyam a worldwide royalty-free license on its patents, and provides for the dismissal of all pending actions including the litigation between the companies pending in the U.S. court.

The Upaid litigation was a major overhang on Satyam, which was hit by India's biggest corporate fraud in January when its founder and former chairman shocked investors by saying the company's profits had been overstated for years. Tech Mahindra, a unit of tractor and utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra, acquired Satyam in April and owns about 43 percent of rebranded Mahindra Satyam.

Satyam also faces class action lawsuits from shareholders in the United States, which were filed after a sharp plunge in its shares listed in New York following the revelation of the fraud in January. The company has also received legal notices claiming a refund of 12.3 billion rupees ($265 million) by 37 companies, which Mahindra Satyam says are "legally untenable".

Ahead of the announcement, shares in Mahindra Satyam ended up 1.3 percent at 102.65 rupees in the main Mumbai market which fell 0.6 percent.

The stock is down 40 percent this year, but has more than doubled since Tech Mahindra bought it in April.

LESSONS FOR CEO

2009-04-24T12:10:00.000+05:30

Almost all organisations go through turbulent periods, during which their core capabilities areseverely tested. The turbulence may be caused by factors such assignificant events in the market-place, economic upheavals, dramaticinflection points in the technologies that drive the business, sharpchanges in customers’ needs, game-changing strategies implemented by acompetitor, leadership upheavals within the organisation itself, and soon.

These periods can be called “defining moments” in a company’shistory — when the strategies and actions of the CEO, and the manner inwhich the organisation aligns itself to the change strategies,determine whether it can weather the turbulence and continue on itsgrowth path.

CEOs under pressure
This is a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty andgovernments are trying to co-ordinate the timing of various financialstrategies, to maximise their beneficial impact worldwide. “Bailout”has suddenly become the buzzword in business dailies.
The US economy is officially in recession, with negativeconsequences for countries as diverse as India (primarily in the caseof its IT services industry) and China (for its manufactured exports).Europe and Japan have slowed down significantly. Falling oil prices inrecent months have impacted Russia’s revenues, which are heavilydependent on oil and gas exports.
Overall, popular wisdom has it that the global economy willget worse in 2009 before it gets better in 2010 at the earliest. Thecurrent period could well qualify as a “defining moment” for manyorganisations, large and small, worldwide. On a much larger scale, itcould also prove to be a defining moment for many countries and theirgovernments.
Markets are shrinking, customers are cutting back,shareholders are nervous, and CEOs are under pressure to “do somethingdifferent” to keep companies afloat. “This is the way we have alwaysdone things here” is not acceptable anymore – look at the sharpreaction to the CEOs of the US Big Three automakers using corporatejets to fly to Washington to plead for bailout. “We need to change ourbusiness model” is an emerging theme — except that most organisationstypically exhibit significant resistance to change.
Under these circumstances, the CEO has to step up and takecharge quickly. Here is where Barack Obama and his election campaigncome in.

Obama and change
The US President, Barack Obama, won his election on a simple and powerful message of “change”.
The context for this change was two-fold — growing opposition tothe Bush-era policies and actions both at home and abroad, and thedeepening crisis in the US economy. The US was beginning to experienceits own “defining moment”.
Given this background, Obama’s strategic intent is clear. Hewants to change the way the US is governed, and the way the economy ismanaged; he wants to change the industries in which future jobs will becreated; he wants to change the manner in which the US responds toenvironmental issues and global warming; and he wants to work withother governments and countries in a collaborative fashion — and notforce US’ views on others by sheer muscle power.
Taken together, this represents a fundamental and strategicchange for the “American way” as a whole, both within the country andinternationally.

If we look at the US government as an organisation, and BarackObama as its CEO, the shareholders are the US citizens. Obama hasworked relentlessly over the last one year on communicating hisstrategic change message to all his shareholders, and the electionresults show that a majority of them have aligned themselves to thischange.
He realised the need for a committed and energeticorganisation at the grassroot level. He zeroed in on the young voters(who were known, till then, for showing little or no interest inpolitics) to be the “agents of change”.
Obama signalled his commitment to his change strategy by actingquickly on the first step — the appointment of key members of hisleadership team — months before even assuming office. Hitting theground running, as he has done, is a message in itself — that thesituation is grave, and that there is no time to lose.
By appointing several knowledgeable but strong-willed peopleto key positions, he has made it clear that he is confident about hisown leadership skills in managing a talented but disparate team. He hasalso demonstrated common sense and humility in seeking expert help inareas, which are not his forte.
And he stuck to his campaign and his theme in spite ofdistractions, in contrast to John McCain, who suspended his electioncampaign to make an abortive dash to Washington, when the $700-billionbailout package came up for discussion.

10-point game-plan
The current global economic turmoil is forcing manyorganisations worldwide to do some fundamental introspection, and drawup their own strategic change maps.
If we now look at the critical role of the CEO in defining andimplementing such strategic change initiatives, there are severaloperating principles in Obama’s election playbook that are worthemulating:
Analyse and understand the global and local context for change.
Tune in to shareholders’ expectations, frustrations and values. Ignore them at your own peril.

Take the time to formulate the strategic theme. This is the single most important step in the whole exercise.
Stick to this theme right through, notwithstanding distractions that are sure to pop up.
Create a strong leadership team, where each member brings “best-in-class” knowledge and wisdom to the team.
Learn how to manage a team which doesn’t always say, “Yes, you are right”.
Communicate — in a consistent and clear fashion.
Make smart use of technology to spread the message, but do not let technology become the message.

Lessons for today’s CEO from Barack Obama

2009-02-04T13:19:00.000+05:30

These periods can be called “defining moments” in a company’s
history — when the strategies and actions of the CEO, and the manner in
which the organisation aligns itself to the change strategies,
determine whether it can weather the turbulence and continue on its
growth path.

CEOs under pressure

This is a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty and
governments are trying to co-ordinate the timing of various financial
strategies, to maximise their beneficial impact worldwide. “Bailout”
has suddenly become the buzzword in business dailies.

The US economy is officially in recession, with negative
consequences for countries as diverse as India (primarily in the case
of its IT services industry) and China (for its manufactured exports).
Europe and Japan have slowed down significantly. Falling oil prices in
recent months have impacted Russia’s revenues, which are heavily
dependent on oil and gas exports.

Overall, popular wisdom has it that the global economy will
get worse in 2009 before it gets better in 2010 at the earliest. The
current period could well qualify as a “defining moment” for many
organisations, large and small, worldwide. On a much larger scale, it
could also prove to be a defining moment for many countries and their
governments.

Markets are shrinking, customers are cutting back,
shareholders are nervous, and CEOs are under pressure to “do something
different” to keep companies afloat. “This is the way we have always
done things here” is not acceptable anymore – look at the sharp
reaction to the CEOs of the US Big Three automakers using corporate
jets to fly to Washington to plead for bailout. “We need to change our
business model” is an emerging theme — except that most organisations
typically exhibit significant resistance to change.

Under these circumstances, the CEO has to step up and take
charge quickly. Here is where Barack Obama and his election campaign
come in.

Obama and change

The US President, Barack Obama, won his election on a simple and powerful message of “change”.

The context for this change was two-fold — growing opposition to
the Bush-era policies and actions both at home and abroad, and the
deepening crisis in the US economy. The US was beginning to experience
its own “defining moment”.

Given this background, Obama’s strategic intent is clear. He
wants to change the way the US is governed, and the way the economy is
managed; he wants to change the industries in which future jobs will be
created; he wants to change the manner in which the US responds to
environmental issues and global warming; and he wants to work with
other governments and countries in a collaborative fashion — and not
force US’ views on others by sheer muscle power.

Taken together, this represents a fundamental and strategic
change for the “American way” as a whole, both within the country and
internationally.

If we look at the US government as an organisation, and Barack
Obama as its CEO, the shareholders are the US citizens. Obama has
worked relentlessly over the last one year on communicating his
strategic change message to all his shareholders, and the election
results show that a majority of them have aligned themselves to this
change.

He realised the need for a committed and energetic
organisation at the grassroot level. He zeroed in on the young voters
(who were known, till then, for showing little or no interest in
politics) to be the “agents of change”.

Obama signalled his commitment to his change strategy by acting
quickly on the first step — the appointment of key members of his
leadership team — months before even assuming office. Hitting the
ground running, as he has done, is a message in itself — that the
situation is grave, and that there is no time to lose.

By appointing several knowledgeable but strong-willed people
to key positions, he has made it clear that he is confident about his
own leadership skills in managing a talented but disparate team. He has
also demonstrated common sense and humility in seeking expert help in
areas, which are not his forte.

And he stuck to his campaign and his theme in spite of
distractions, in contrast to John McCain, who suspended his election
campaign to make an abortive dash to Washington, when the $700-billion
bailout package came up for discussion.

10-point game-plan

The current global economic turmoil is forcing many
organisations worldwide to do some fundamental introspection, and draw
up their own strategic change maps.

If we now look at the critical role of the CEO in defining and
implementing such strategic change initiatives, there are several
operating principles in Obama’s election playbook that are worth
emulating:

Analyse and understand the global and local context for change.

Tune in to shareholders’ expectations, frustrations and values. Ignore them at your own peril.

Take the time to formulate the strategic theme. This is the single most important step in the whole exercise.

Stick to this theme right through, notwithstanding distractions that are sure to pop up.

Create a strong leadership team, where each member brings “best-in-class” knowledge and wisdom to the team.

Learn how to manage a team which doesn’t always say, “Yes, you are right”.

Communicate — in a consistent and clear fashion.

Make smart use of technology to spread the message, but do not let technology become the message.

When was the last time you saw a VHS ...

2009-02-04T13:16:00.000+05:30

When was the last time you saw a VHS tape? Can't
quite remember right. First came VCDs, and was later followed by the
wave of new DVD technology that together have revolutionised the
concept of storing and playing back audio and video. The quality of our
home music-listening and movie-watching experience has, since, never
been the same again.

CDs and DVDs, completely transformed media
storage, the VHS box came to an end and in came slim and sleek discs;
that made storage easy and dramatically improved portability. Over
time, they also became relatively cheap, indestructible and re-usable.
The technology was such a great hit that it gave way to a new industry
by itself - home theatre.

Kingfisher gets nod for 5 global routes

2008-12-04T23:52:00.000+05:30

The government has allowed Kingfisher Airlines to operate daily services on various international sectors, including Mumbai-London, Chennai-Colombo and Mumbai-Singapore. The Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher currently flies between Bangalore-London, the only foreign route after it became eligible to fly internationally in August this year. “The government has granted permission to Kingfisher to operate daily services to Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Colombo and Dhaka with immediate effect. In our earlier interaction, the airline had showed its preparedness to operate to all these sectors,” a government official, who did not wish to be named, said. The airline confirmed the development. “The time frame for launch of these services will be announced progressively,” a spokesperson of Kingfisher Airlines said. The airline plans to operate services to Hong Kong and Singapore in the next few months. It may, however, wait to operate in the Mumbai-London sector as the route already has excess capacity.

“Despite the downturn in the world economy, Singapore and Hong Kong offer robust premium air traffic growth. There is very good onward connectivity from the two points for north Asia and north America. Both the two destinations are gateway to north Asia and hold huge premium traffic to North America,” Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation India head Kapil Kaul said. London is overserved at present, he added. According to an industry estimate, designated airlines carried about 7.89 lakh passengers during January-October, 2008 on India-Singapore sector. Last year, these carriers flew 7.48 lakh passengers. India-Hong Kong sector also saw the traffic growing with designated carriers carrying 3.58 lakh passengers during January-October period.

Kim Sharma takes flak for national flag mess

2008-12-04T23:13:00.000+05:30

Mumbai is still recovering from those dastardly terror attacks and this is definitely not the time to be playing around with emotions. But poor Kim Sharma seems to have messed up more than just her good PR - she pretty much killed the national flag!

What is saffron, white and green took all sorts of colours on Kim`s shirt as she walked with protestors in Mumbai to express her anger against the terrorist attacks on November 26thand 27th.

We could probably overlook this as an innocent oversight- but will the majority agree?

Leave your comments below!

HomeShop18 Kids Special Show

2008-11-22T15:53:00.000+05:30

HomeShop18, the 24-hour home shopping channel from Network18, has launched a weekly show Kids Special which will be aired every Saturday at 1:30 pm and Sunday at 3:30 pm.

Says HomeShop18 CEO Sundeep Malhotra, “Children are a large audience in India. Kids Special will appeal to kids for the innovative toys that they can find on the show. At the same time, parents will like it as the merchandise helps in attracting kids to new hobbies.”

The half an hour show offers products like kids laptop, remote controlled toys, kids puzzles, paper recycling mini factory and art and craft products.

In addition, every episode will have experts from varied fields like psychology, education addressing various issues and problems faced by kids across the country.

Also every episode of Kids Special allows parents to win a Zenith computer through a lucky draw.

MOVIE REVIEW | 'TWILIGHT' The Love That Dare Not Bare Its Fangs

2008-11-21T21:46:00.000+05:30

TWILIGHT

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke; written by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer; director of photography, Elliot Davis; edited by Nancy Richardson; music by Carter Bruwell produced by Greg Mooradian, Mark Morgan and Wyck Godfrey; released by Summit Entertainment. Running time: 2 hours 1 minute.

WITH: Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Billy Burke (Charlie Swan), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Nikki Reed (Rosalie Cullen), Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Cullen), Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen), Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen), Cam Gigandet (James/Nomad Vampire), Taylor Lautner (Jacob), Anna Kendrick (Jessica), Michael Welch (Mike Newton) and Justin Chon (Eric).

t’s love at first look instead of first bite in “Twilight,” a deeply sincere, outright goofy vampire romance for the hot-not-to-trot abstinence set. Based on the foundational book in Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling multivolume series, “The Twilight Saga” (four doorstops and counting), this carefully faithful adaptation traces the sighs and whispers, the shy glances and furious glares of two unlikely teenage lovers who fall into each other’s pale, pale arms amid swirling hormones, raging instincts, high school dramas and oh-so-confusing feelings, like, OMG he’s SO HOT!! Does he like ME?? Will he KILL me??? I don’t CARE!!! :)

And, reader, she doesn’t, the she being Bella (for Isabella) Swan, played with tremulous intensity and a slight snarl by Kristen Stewart. A sylph with a watchful, sometimes wary gaze who’s often cast in daughter roles, Ms. Stewart transformed from an appealing actress into something more complex with her brief, memorable turn in the 2007 movie of Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild.” As the child-woman whose longing for the ill-fated wanderer Christopher McCandless is largely expressed through piercing looks and sensitive strumming, Ms. Stewart gave form and feeling to the possibility that the search for freedom and authentic experiences can be found in the embrace of another human being. This was a girl worth living for, if not for that film’s lost soul.

Since living really isn’t an option for Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), the moody, darkly brooding vampire who catches Bella’s eye and then her heart, she becomes the girl worth fighting for, a battle that, as in the book, involves not just malignant forces, but also ravenous appetite. Like all vampire stories, “Twilight” is about repressed desire and untamed hunger and the possibility of blood, the blood that flows from violently pierced necks and that, from John Polidori’s 1819 short novel “The Vampyre” to Alan Ball’s new HBO series, “True Blood,” represents ravishment of a more graphic kind. This is the ravishment that, in its pantomime of seduction and surrender, transforms innocence — like that of Bram Stoker’s sacrificial virgin, Lucy, in “Dracula” — into “voluptuous wantonness.”

Dhoni asks Dada to lead the team

2008-11-10T21:38:00.000+05:30

Nice gesture by MSD to ask Dada to lead the team in the final moments of Dada's career...and Dada took this opportunity with open arms..enjoy watching the Bengal tiger as acting captain in this video.. Dada , we will miss you .

Audi R8 sports car for India

2008-11-08T14:52:00.000+05:30

The Audi R8 sports car is coming to India.

Audi India’s Vice-President marketing, Martin Birkner said that the German luxury car maker would roll out its sports car R8 in India in October-November 2008.

Audi has refused to offer any information on the price of the R8 in India as of now. The Audi R8 will be the ccompany’s flagship model in India. The mid-engined Audi R8 would come with 420 bhp engine produced by a 4,163 cc petrol engine. It features Audi’s legendary Quattro all-wheel drive system, and a 6-speed R-tronic transmission with paddle-shift, for 0-100 kmph figures of 4.2 seconds. Top speed is a mind-boggling, (and in India highly illegal) 300 kmph. Maximum torque is 430 Nm between 4,500 and 6,000 rpm. Rumors are that the price of the R8 might go as high as rs 1 crore, making it uaffordable for everyone but millionnaires.

Here is our latest story on the Audi car in India

Prior to the announcement of the upcoming launch of the Audi R8, the company revealed that it sold 350 cars in India during 2007. In 2008, Audi plans to triple that number, mainly banking on the Q4 sedan which launched in India just a week back. Audi expects to sell 1000 units of A4 in the first 12 months of its launch. The prices of the new Audi A4 start at Rs 29 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai).

Apart from the A4, the other Audi models currently available in India are the A8, Q7, A6 and TT. Currently, Audi has 7 dealerships in India.

The company meanwhile has ruled out the launch of its small car, the A3, in India at the moment. It is a known fact that Audi makes its A6 at its Aurangabad assembly plant on a completely knocked down unit. It is doing the same with A4 by this October. The model is currently being imported.

Top 10 most expeted upcoming movies

2008-11-07T17:14:00.000+05:30





		The Robot has begun moving. All that a Superstar and Shankar movie promises is sure to be there. HIGHS: Superstar, Shankar, Aishwarya Rai, A.R.Rahman- do we need to say more? LOWS: Maybe, the unfortunate demise of Sujatha.





		Kamal’s next after Dasavatharam. A medieval epic on a large canvas, it doesn’t get much bigger. HIGHS: Casting and almost everything else. LOWS: Not applicable.





		Mani Ratnam, the master, is at it again. After the huge success of the biopic of an industrialist, he now goes for a modern interpretation of one of India’s greatest epic. HIGHS: Mani, Madras Talkies, Aishwarya Rai….. LOWS: Will it be tailor made for a Hindi audience?





		Gautham returns to team with Surya, can the Kakka Kakka magic be recaptured? HIGHS: The return of the victorious team, great music and multiple roles…. LOWS: Can the expectations be too much?





		Susi Ganesan’s first truly big one. Vikram in multiple roles with Shriya for company. HIGHS: Vikram’s roles and the eye catching trailer. LOWS: Are Vikram’s films few and far apart?





		The hit team of Pokkiri returns for an encore. HIGHS: The Pokkiri memory and Vijay-Nayan pairing. LOWS: Are the expectations unrealistic?





		K.V. Anand returns to direction after Kana Kandein with Surya in the lead. HIGHS: Six pack Surya. LOWS: Not many, might depend on Vaaranum Aayiram.





		Bala’s return with a subject that has hoisted more controversy than anything else in Kollywood. HIGHS: Bala’s mastery of the craft and the curiosity factor. LOWS: Will it ever make it to theaters?





		Selvaraghavan teams up with Paruthiveeran Karthi, what a combination! Sparks should fly. HIGHS: Dream team, great expectations. LOWS: Tired of waiting.

Peranmai Latest Stills

2008-11-07T16:51:00.000+05:30

Download Anandha Thandavam MP3 Songs

2008-11-07T16:20:00.000+05:30

Cast: Siddharth, Tamanna, Bhatia
Music Composer: G V Pragash Kumar
Director: A R Gandhi krishna
Producer: Oscar V Ravichandran
Year:2008

Download Anandha Thandavam High Quality Audio Songs

---------------------------------------------------------------

Aanandha Thaandavam Theme.mp3 3682KB

Kallil Aadum.mp3 371KB

kanaa.mp3 9480KB

megam.mp3 7510KB

pattu poochi.mp3 8372KB

poovinai.mp3 9232KB

First Look at Windows 7

2008-10-29T17:53:00.000+05:30

As reported earlier, the finer details of Windows 7 were revealed at the Professional Developers Conference(PDC) that is underway at Los Angeles.

We now have a fair idea of what Windows 7 really is all about.

The PDC coverage also answers the biggest question people had in their minds -- Is Windows 7 just a "spruced up" Vista? This is what it was considered to be, when we had a very restrictive initial look at the leaked screen shots that appeared few weeks ago. Well, that argument has been laid to rest now with Microsoft offering a "hands-on" to the journalists who attended the PDC. They had on offer a Dell Laptop loaded with a Windows 7 pre-beta Build 6801.

These are the initial impressions of what the Windows 7 is all about -- and what it is not.

To start with, it is not just a Vista rehash. Yes, it retains the "family look" but there are many underlying changes that makes it a far better OS than its predecessor. Although I still think they should have opted for a full design-change to alienate itself from Vista, Microsoft chose not to do so and I believe they have valid reasons for that decision. So, what's new? And what is not? Read on.

First off, the build that was showcased during the PDC (6801) is reportedly an older version. This meant that several of the new features that were seen in some screenshots were not present in this build. For the record, screen shots have revealed newer build versions; namely build 6926 and 6933, which seems to be a more complete package -- albeit an unstable one.

Networking -- the Windows 7 way

To start off, connecting to a wireless network is now far easier. In fact, it is just one click away from the task bar -- to digress a bit here, the taskbar is another Windows component that has more or less remained the same over the years. Not any longer! The good ol' taskbar "text" has given way to icons (which does impart a somewhat gaudy look to it). More on the taskbar improvement later. As for choosing a WiFi network to hop on to: click on the icon on the task bar and you get a list of all the networks available. Click on the one you wish to join to and you're done! Now that's nifty but leaves me wonderin why such an interface was not offered earlier, through Vista.

UAC remains; but subtler now

The dreaded UAC (User Access Control) pop-ups still loom large. Yes, you have the option to turn them off in Vista... However, Microsoft thinks there are folks who would still want their computers to be a bit more proactive and let you know what your background programs are up to. So what's on offer? A slider control through which you decide whether to turn UAC off completely or let it pop up only when a program (and not you) makes a change to the system settings. Nice!

Sidebar: Killed

I am not sure how many of you found the Vista sidebar irritating, as I did. When screen real-estate is at a premium, it was a pain if you wanted to use the gadgets without the accompanying sidebar to eat up your resolution. Windows 7 has shown the sidebar the door but the gadgets remain: you are now free to place them anywhere on your screen. Finally!

HomeGroups

The Homegroup is supposed to be a tool to share files and media over a small home network. Apart from sharing printers, it can also help setup a share for other hardware, and allows for seamless inter-machine connectivity along with added security: you decide what to share and what not to. This is one of those networking solutions that is wizard-driven. The problem is that wizards rarely work uner the Windows ecosystem -- how many times have you run a networking wizard which successfully does nothing? Let's hope this one actually works.

Device Stage

Device Stage is an enhanced "auto-play" pop up when you connect an external device to your computer. The only difference is that now you have different interfaces for various hardware. By supported hardware, I mean the devices which provides content for the Device Stage will show up with "extra features", when connected, instead of the plain auto-play window that is the current norm. It remains to be seen if device manufacturers pick this up.

Taskbar

Yes we're back where we started. As I mentioned earlier, the taskbar has undergone a complete transformation after having been left unchanged since eternity. The quick launch has been discarded and now we have icons replacing the text that displayed running programs (very Mac OSX). The right click offers greater access to features and flexibility -- offering options such as opening recent files and related goodies.

Multitouch

Finally we have multitouch on the PC and prima-facie, it seems to work pretty well. While you might need a slight learning curve to start off with it, it won t take an user significant time to master it. And yes, it supports all the gestures you have in mind -- pinching, stretching and the others. Happy?

User Interface

Ok, nothing revolutionary here. It still looks like Vista (which most people might not like). But there have been minor changes. The Flip 3D remains along with the new taskbar (already previewed). Notable additions include a new windows resizing feature which has managed to turn some heads. And yes, the system tray has been upgraded as well. It now offers you more control over the (annoying) balloon pop ups -- letting you decide if you want to display an item on the tray permanently or not.

Mac Users Boo (as usual)

While many have welcomed the changes, Mac users claim most of the new features on the Windows 7 are simply Microsoft's version of existing OSX stuff. Yes, we have been hearing this ever since the Vista launch and now it has rather become a norm. Windows 7 is arguably the biggest change to the user interface that Windows have been through since XP and from what I see, it is a far cry from a rehashed Vista. With an expected 2009 launch it remains to be seen how it fares against the OSX SnowLeopard 10.6 due mid-2009.

A faster Windows?

Windows 7 will also aim to be leaner, faster and it won't crib for system resources -- a lesson well learnt from the Vista debacle. Remember the 'Vista capable' labels? To prove this, Windows SVP Steve Sinofsky showcased his personal laptop during the keynote which ran the OS smoothly. The netbook reportedly ran at 1Ghz with 1 GB of RAM. Now that's nice. An OS easier on the hardware is certainly welcome.

Viswanathan Anand Biography

2008-10-29T17:14:00.000+05:30

Viswanathan Anand (pronounced Vis'wah'nəh'thən Ah'nənd) (born December 11, 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster. In the January 2006 FIDE Elo rating list, Anand has a rating of 2792, making him the number three in the world (after the retired Garry Kasparov and Veselin Topalov). Anand has been one of the strongest non-Soviet players since Bobby Fischer, along with the Hungarian Péter Lékó and the Bulgarian Topalov.

Biography

Anand's rise in the Indian chess world was meteoric. National level success came early for him when he won the National Sub-Junior Chess Championship with a score of 9/9 in 1983 at the age of fourteen. He became the youngest Indian to win the International Master's Title at the age of fifteen, in 1984. At the age of sixteen he became the National Champion and won that title two more times. He played games at blitz speed, earning him the nickname "Lightning Kid" ("Blitz chess" is known in India as "Lightning chess"). In 1987, he became the first Indian to win the World Junior Chess Championship. In 1988, at the age of eighteen, he became India's First Grandmaster.

"Vishy", as he is sometimes called, burst upon the upper echelons of the chess scene in the early 1990s, winning such tournaments as Reggio Emilia 1991 (ahead of Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov). Playing at such a high level did not slow him down either, and he continued to play games at blitz speed. In 1991, he lost in a tie-breaker to Anatoly Karpov in the quarter finals of the FIDE Knockout World Chess Championship.

Viswanathan Anand qualified for the Professional Chess Association World Chess Championship final by winning the candidates matches against Michael Adams and Gata Kamsky. In 1995, he played a title match against Kasparov in New York City's World Trade Center. After an opening run of eight draws (a record for the opening of a world championship match), Anand won game nine using a splendid sacrifice on the queen side, but then lost four of the next five. He lost the match 10.5 - 7.5.

Anand won three consecutive Advanced Chess tournaments in Leon, Spain after Garry Kasparov introduced this form of chess in 1998, and is widely recognized as the world's best Advanced Chess player, where humans may consult a computer to aid in their calculation of variations.

Viswanathan Anand's recent tournament successes include the prestigious Corus chess tournament in years 2003 and 2004 and Dortmund in 2004. He has won the annually held Monaco Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Championships in years 1994, 1997, 2003 and 2005.

Anand has won the Chess Oscar in 1997, 1998, 2003, and 2004. His four Oscars ties him with Kasparov for the most ever, one better than Fischer's three. The Chess Oscar is awarded to the year's best player according to a world-wide poll of leading chess critics, writers, and journalists conducted by the Russian chess magazine 64.

Viswanathan Anand's game collection, My Best Games of Chess, was published in the year 1998 and was updated in 2001.

After several near misses, Anand finally won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000 after defeating Alexei Shirov 3.5 - 0.5 in the final match held at Teheran, thereby becoming the first Indian to win that title. He lost the title to Ruslan Ponomariov in 2002.

He became shared second in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 (together with Peter Svidler) with 8.5 points out of 14 games, lagging 1.5 points behind the winner, Veselin Topalov.

In October 2003, the governing body of chess, FIDE, organized a rapid time control tournament in Cap d'Agde and billed it as the World Rapid Chess Championship. Each player had 25 minutes at the start of the game, with an additional 10 seconds after each move. Anand won this event ahead of ten of the other top twelve players in the world with Kasparov being the only missing player. Anand is still deservedly considered to be the world's finest Rapid Chess player.He has consistently won almost all rapid events defeating many top players and his main achievements in this Category are at : Corsica , Leon , Amber events where he dominated almost all elite players .

If his talent as a rapid chess player is legendary, his records in classical chess have been superlative. In January 2006 he became the only player in the tournament's 70-year history to win the Corus Chess event five times (1989, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2006).

Anand is one of the most clear-headed chess analysts in the world, and his explications are astonishingly accessible for club players.

More than 8 hours of rare insights into arguably the best brain in chess.

Chess titles

1983 National Sub-Junior Chess Champion - age 14
1984 International Master - age 15
1985 Indian National Champion - age 16
1987 World Junior Chess Champion, Grandmaster
2000 FIDE World Chess Champion
2003 FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion

Awards

Anand has received many awards.
Arjuna award for Outstanding Indian Sportsman in Chess in 1985
Padma Shri, National Citizens Award and Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1987
The inaugural Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India's highest sporting honour in the year 1991-1992.
British Chess Federation 'Book of the Year' Award in 1998 for his book My Best Games of Chess
Chess Oscar (1997, 1998, 2003 and 2004)

Sachin's First Interview

2008-10-22T09:11:00.000+05:30

Legend's First Interview:

Sachin's Records and Remaks

2008-10-21T19:09:00.000+05:30

Just have look at the records held by Sachin Tendulkar. No wonder why British Prime Minister is suggesting him for the honor of Sir .......

1. Highest Run scorer in the ODI
2. Most number of hundreds in the ODI
3. Most number of nineties in the ODI
4. Most number of man of the matches(56) in the ODI's
5. Most number of man of the series(14) in ODI's
6. Best average for man of the matches in ODI's
7. First Cricketer to pass 10000 run in the ODI
8. First Cricketer to pass 15000 run in the ODI
9. He is the highest run scorer in the world cup (1,796 at an average of 59.87 as on 20 March 2007)
10. Most number of the man of the matches in the world cup

11. Most number of runs 1996 world cup 523 runs in the 1996 Cricket World Cup at an average of 87.16
12. Most number of runs in the 2003 world cup 673 runs in 2003 Cricket World Cup, highest by any player in a single Cricket World Cup
13. He was Player of the World Cup Tournament in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
14. Most number of Fifties in ODI's 87
15. Appeared in Most Number of ODI's 407
16. He is the only player to be in top 10 ICC ranking for 10 years.
17. Most number of 100's in test's 39.
18. He is one of the three batsmen to surpass 11,000 runs in Test cricket, and the first Indian to do so
19. He is thus far the only cricketer to receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honor
20. In 2003, Wisden rated Tendulkar as d No. 1 and Richards at No. 2 in all time Greatest ODI player

21. In 2002, Wisden rated him as the second greatest Test batsman after Sir Donald Bradman.
22. he was involved in unbroken 664-run partnership in a Harris Shield game in 1988 with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli,
23. Tendulkar is the only player to score a century in all three of his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debuts
24. In 1992, at the age of 19, Tendulkar became the first overseas born player to represent Yorkshire
25. Tendulkar has been granted the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award and Padma Shri by Indian government. He is the only Indian cricketer to get all of them.
26. Tendulkar has scored over 1000 runs in a calendar year in ODI's 7 times
27. Tendulkar has scored 1894 runs in calendar year in ODI's most by any batsman
28. He is the highest earning cricketer in the world
29. He has the least percentage of the man of the matches awards won when team looses a match. Out of his 56 man of the match awards only 5 times India has lost.
30. Tendulkar most number man of match awards(10) against Australia

31. In August of 2003, Sachin Tendulkar was voted as the "Greatest Sportsman" of the country in the sport personalities category in the Best of India poll conducted by Zee News.
32. In November 2006, Time magazine named Tendulkar as one of the Asian Heroes.
33. In December 2006, he was named "Sports person of the Year
34. The current India Poised campaign run by The Times of India has nominated him as the Face of New India next to the likes of Amartya Sen and Mahatma Gandhi among others.
35. Tendulkar was the first batsman in history to score over 50 centuries in international cricket
36. Tendulkar was the first batsman in history to score over 75 centuries in international cricket:79 centuries
37. Has the most overall runs in cricket, (ODIs+Tests+Twenty20s), as of 30 June 2007 he had accumulated almost 26,000 runs overall.
38. Is second on the most number of runs in test cricket just after Brian Lara
39. Sachin Tendulkar with Sourav Ganguly hold the world record for the maximum number of runs scored by the opening partnership. They have put together 6,271 runs in 128 matches
40. The 20 century partnerships for opening pair with Sourav Ganguly is a world record

41. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid hold the world record for the highest partnership in ODI matches when they scored 331 runs against New Zealand in 1999
42. Sachin Tendulkar has been involved in six 200 run partnerships in ODI matches - a record that he shares with Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid
43. Most Centuries in a calendar year: 9 ODI centuries in 1998
44. Only player to have over 100 innings of 50+ runs (41 Centuries and 87 Fifties)(as of 18th Nov, 2007)
45. the only player ever to cross the 13,000-14,000 and 15,000 run marks IN ODI.
46. Highest individual score among Indian batsmen (186* against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999).
47. The score of 186* is listed the fifth highest score recorded in ODI matches
48. Tendulkar has scored over 1000 ODI runs against all major Cricketing nations.
49. Sachin was the fastest to reach 10,000 runs taking 259 innings and has the highest batting average among batsmen with over 10,000 ODI runs
50. Most number of Stadium Appearances: 90 different Grounds

51. Consecutive ODI Appearances: 185
52. On his debut, Sachin Tendulkar was the second youngest debutant in the world
53. When Tendulkar scored his maiden century in 1990, he was the second youngest to score a century
54. Tendulkar's record of five test centuries before he turned 20 is a current world record
55. Tendulkar holds the current record (217 against NZ in 1999/00 Season) for the highest score in Test cricket by an Indian when captaining the side
56. Tendulkar has scored centuries against all test playing nations.[7] He was the third batman to achieve the distinction after Steve Waugh and Gary Kirsten
57. Tendulkar has 4 seasons in test cricket with 1000 or more runs - 2002 (1392 runs), 1999 (1088 runs), 2001 (1003 runs) and 1997 (1000 runs).[6] Gavaskar is the only other Indian with four seasons of 1000+ runs
58. He is second most number of seasons with over 1000 runs in world.
59. On 3 January 2007 Sachin Tendulkar (5751) edged past Brian Lara's (5736) world record of runs scored in Tests away from home
60. Tendulkar and Brian Lara are the fastest to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket history. Both of them achieved this in 195 innings

61. Second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to make over 10,000 runs in Test matches
62. Became the first Indian to surpass the 11,000 Test run mark and the third International player behind Allan Border and Brian Lara.
63. Tendulkar is fourth on the list of players with most Test caps. Steve Waugh (168 Tests), Allan Border (158 Tests), Shane Warne (145 Tests) have appeared in more games than Tendulkar
64. Tendulkar has played the most number of Test Matches(144) for India (Kapil Dev is second with 131 Test appearances).
65. First to 25,000 international runs
66. Tendulkar's 25,016 runs in international cricket include 14,537 runs in ODI's, 10,469 Tests runs and 10 runs in the lone Twenty20 that India has played.
67. On December 10, 2005, Tendulkar made his 35th century in Tests at Delhi against Sri Lanka. He surpassed Sunil Gavaskar's record of 34 centuries to become the man with the most number of hundreds in Test cricket.
68. Tendulkar is the only player who has 150 wkts and more than 15000 runs in ODI
69. Tendulkar is the only player who has 40 wkts and more than 11000 runs in Tests
70. Only batsman to have 100 hundreds in the first class cricket

Sachin Breaks World Record 11.953 Test Runs.

Video of Record:

Remarks on Sachin By Great Cricketers,Sachin is GOD

"Destined to be a great" -Barry Richards.

"He is 99.5 percent perfect. I'd pay to see him" - Viv Richards.

"Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours" - Michael Kasprowicz.

"It's scary, where the hell do we bowl to him" -Allan Border.

"There is no shame being beaten by such a great player. We didn't lose to Team India. We Lost to Sachin Tendulkar" -Steve Waugh.

"If I've to bowl to Sachin, I'll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard" - Dennis Lillee.

"I'd like to see him go out and bat one day with a stump. I tell you he'd do okay" -Greg Chappell.

"Cricketers like Sachin come once in a lifetime and I am privileged he played in my time" - Wasim Akram.

"The pressure on me is nothing as compared to Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin, like God, must never fail. The crowd always expects him to succeed and it
is too much pressure on him" -Mark Waugh.

"Everybody gets 15 minutes of fame. But if there's one person I've admired
over a 15-year of period, it's definitely Sachin." - Brain Lara

"I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the
wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I
don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin
Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player" -Shane Warne.

"I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I
asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel
that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she
looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between
the two... his compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed
to gel" -Sir Donald Bradman.

"In an over I can bowl six different balls. But then Sachin looks at me
with a sort of gentle arrogance down the pitch as if to say 'Can you bowl
me another one?'" - Adam Hollioke

Sachin is cricket's God? Barry Richards.

You might pitch a ball on the off stump and think you have bowled a good
ball and he walks across and hits it for two behind midwicket. His bat
looks so heavy but he just waves it arounad like it's a toothpick? -Brett Lee

You have to decide for yourself whether you're bowling well or not. He's
going to hit you for fours and sixes anyway? -Micheal Kasprowicz

Technically, you can't fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow ? nothing
is a problem? -Geoffrey Boycott.

His life seems to be a stillness in a frantic world... [When he goes out
to bat], it is beyond chaos - it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one
man. The people see him as a God... ? Mathew Hayden, on Sachin Tendulkar.

I (Embarrassed laugh) am a normal person who plays cricket. I am nothing
more than that? Sachin Tendulkar, on being told of above quote.

"The fact of the matter is that India still need Sachin in a big way. All
this talk of the youngsters taking over is very foolish. The reason why
Tendulkar is so important for the team is because of his ability to
inspire others and make them perform under pressure" - Some day on "Times of India".

Cricket is the religion and sachin is the God
Team India without Sachin is like Temple without God.

And, this is the best!!! (A True fan of Sachin carried this Banner in a match..)
"Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because
even the Lord will be gone to watch his batting!!!."

Yes, Sachin is not only the Cricket's God, the Cricketers' God... No one can be atheist here!!!

Suzuki to Launch GSR 150

2008-10-21T17:59:00.000+05:30

The much awaited bike GSR 150, also known as Lanza, from Suzuki will be launched in India on October 23rd. This will mark Suzuki’s foray in the 150cc segment to counter the recent launches from Yamaha. Yamaha launched its 150cc bikes YZF R15 and FZ16 that created a storm in its segment. Both bikes from Yamaha have been very successful and now Suzuki plans to encash the success of 150cc bikes in India.

Sports bike designs do not take ergonomics into consideration. However, the new Suzuki GSR 150 will have best of both the worlds. Clearly defining the muscular looks and style, the new bike from Suzuki will have a great body and maximum comfort for the rider. The longer and wider seats have been designed to give maximum seating comfort.

The engine is not as strong as Yamaha R15 but gives a maximum power of 15bhp along with superb mileage and fuel economy. The overall design boasts proudly about the masculine cues and robust design.

It is pitted against Bajaj Pulsar, TVS Apache RTR, Honda Unicorn, Hero Honda Hunk and Yamaha FZ16 in its segment. The expected price of Suzuki GSR 150 is Rs. 70000 as all Suzuki bikes are priced at a premium in their segments.

Little Master Tendulkar walks tall -"SACHIN RECORD"

2008-10-21T03:58:00.000+05:30

India's Sachin Tendulkar moved past Brian Lara's world batting record for most Test runs on Friday, accumulating another record in a long career that has been earmarked for greatness since he made his debut at 16.

The 35-year-old, who has already secured his place among the pantheon of all-time great batsmen, achieved the landmark on the first day of the second Test against Australia.

Tendulkar needed 15 runs to surpass the retired West Indian's mark of 11,953 runs after narrowly missing the record while helping salvage a draw in the first Test. He reached 16 shortly after tea to break the record.

The veteran batsman fell for a magnificent 88 during which he also scaled the 12,000-run mark in Test cricket.

He already holds the records for most Test hundreds (39), one-day runs (16,361) and centuries (42) and is the third-most capped Test player (152) behind Australia's Steve Waugh (168) and Allan Border (156).

Once described by Australia's Don Bradman as having a similar batting style as his own, Tendulkar has lived up to that expectation since his international debut in 1989.

Emulating compatriot Sunil Gavaskar as Test cricket's highest run scorer, however, should also help send a gentle reminder to fickle Indian fans he still has plenty to offer the team.

Frenzied speculation in the cricket-mad country has surrounded Tendulkar as to whether he, along with other veterans, should keep their places or retire and allow a new generation in.

Tendulkar made his debut in Karachi in November 1989, and batting at number six made just 15 before he was bowled by Waqar Younis.

Since then, he has been the mainstay of the Indian batting lineup and had to carry the weight of expectations alone in the 1990s until Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag established themselves.

Tendulkar's fearless assault on bowlers won him a legion of admirers, with his personal duels against major bowling rivals, the best coming against Australian leg spinner Shane Warne, enlivening the action.

The diminutive player has been more than just runs, bowling clever spin, running hard between wickets for partners and being a good advertisement for the game in its global commercial hub.

The Mumbai batsman has suffered a series of injuries since a major back problem flared up in 1999, largely attributed to the wear and tear of constant play since he was a teenager.

Some critics have also recently questioned the disappearance of his natural flair and compared it unfavourably to Lara's sustained batting throughout his career until his retirement in 2007, a criticism Tendulkar has not taken too kindly.

He had two unsuccessful stints as captain, sacked after the first term in 1996, before giving it up four years later saying it affected his batting.

Download Silambattam MP3 Songs

2008-10-20T14:09:00.000+05:30

Download Silambattam MP3 Songs

Actors: Simbu, Senega, Sana Khan
Composer: Yuvan Sangar Raja
Director: Saravanan
Producer: Lakshmi Movie Makers
Year: 2008

Click here:

Nalamdhana.mp3 2342KB

Tamil Endra Nan Oru Tamilan.mp3 1693KB

Where Is the Party.mp3 1688KB

Download Newtonin Moondram Vidhi

2008-10-20T14:01:00.000+05:30

Download Newtonin Moondram Vidhi MP3 Songs

Cast: S j Suryah, Rajiv Krishna, Sayali Bhagat
Music: Vinay
Director: Thai Muthu Selvan
Producer: S Nandhagopal
Year: 2008

Click here:

Kadhal Thandora.mp3 5952KB

Mudhal Murai.mp3 5486KB

Newtoninn Moondraam Vidhi.mp3 4826KB

Paraparakkura.mp3 5014KB

Ummachi.mp3 5802KB

AEGAN official Trailer

2008-10-15T17:21:00.000+05:30

Banner: Ayngaran International Films Pvt Ltd

Starring: Ajith, Nayantara, Suman, Jayaram

Director: Raju Sundaram

Music Director: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Producer:

Release Date: 27th Oct, 08

Aegan (Tamil:ஏகன்) is a forthcoming Tamil feature film currently being directed by Raju Sundaram, who with Aegan will direct his maiden film. Ajith Kumar acts in the lead role, whilst Nayantara, Navdeep, Suhasini Ratnam, Nassar and Jayaram also play roles in the film. The film, which has been under production since late 2007, has Yuvan Shankar Raja as the music composer. The film, produced by Ayngaran International, is set to be released on Oct 2008.

Trailer:

Surya's Next Ayan Tamil Film Stills

2008-10-14T20:56:00.000+05:30

“Ayan“, is the title for the movie produced by AVM starring Surya as the hero.

Direction will be by cinematographer turned director K.V. Anand and will have Tamanna the lead and Prabhu in a important role. Harris Jayaraj is assinged as the music director of the film.Surya is paired with the gorgeous and cute Tamanna.I can't stop looking at her.Really awesome;)!I'm really very eager to watch the movie as my favorite Surya is going to pair with the latest sensation Tamanna.She got her recognition in Kallori though her debut film 'KD' was not much talked about.She is damn cute and surely gonna rock Kollywood.

The World's 10 Most Dangerous Roads

2008-10-14T17:06:00.000+05:30

1. The North Yungas Road, Bolivia

Built by Paraguayan prisoners of war in the 1930s, the North Yungas Road, which locals call the “Road of Death,” snakes across roughly 40 miles of the Andes in northeastern Bolivia. In 1995, the Inter-American Development Bank named the La Paz to Coroico route “the world’s most dangerous road.” And for good reason. The unpaved road is bordered by 3,000-foot cliffs. More than 100 travelers die every year trekking the route’s hairpin curves

2. BR-116, Brazil

The second longest road in Brazil, BR-116, runs from Porto Alegre through Curatiba and Sao Paulo, all the way to Rio de Janeiro. The Curitiba-Sao Paulo section of the highway is nicknamed “Rodovia da Morte” (Highway of Death). The name fits. The road runs around--and even through--the edges of steep cliffs. The result: “accidents and road fatalities are distressingly common,” as one travel advisory puts it.

3. Sichuan-Tibet Highway, China

In China, the number of deaths caused by car accidents has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, climbing from 3.9 to 7.6 per 100,000 of the population between 1985 and 2005. During this time, the number of cars on the road increased ninefold, and the number of other vehicles, principally motorcycles, jumped by a factor of 54. Government statistics show nearly 82,000 road deaths--5.1 for every 10,000 motor vehicles--in China in 2006, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Ironically, the least populated regions had the highest overall death rates per 100 000 motor vehicles. The Sichuan-Tibet Highway, a high-elevation road between Chengdu and Tibet where landslides and rock avalanches are common, is undoubtedly part of the problem.

4. Pan American Highway, Costa Rica

The Pan American Highway, a network of roads that stretches nearly 30,000 miles from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in North America to the lower reaches of South America, is the world's longest "motorable road," according to Guinness World Records. Although only a small portion of the road runs through Costa Rica, that portion boasts some of the most dangerous miles. Called the Hill of Death, the stretch of the Pan-American Highway from San Isidro de El General to Cartago is a gauntlet of narrow curves, steep cliffs, flash floods and landslides

5. Coastal Roads, Croatia

The good news for the droves of tourists pouring into the fishing villages and sea resorts that crowd Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast on the Adriatic Sea is that they don’t need to worry about land mines. The detritus of a decade of ethnic warfare that ended with the breakup of the former Yugoslavia is far from the narrow, congested and curvy roads along the coast, which brings us to the bad news. The coastal roads and the fast-driving Croats that crowd them probably account for more deaths and injuries than accidents associated with unexploded ordinance ever do.

6. Cotopaxi Volcan, Ecuador

Traveling to Ecuador? Be careful, the roads are dangerous, and the most dangerous of them all is one many tourists unwittingly travel. Slightly south of capital city Quito, the Cotopaxi Volcan Road is a 25-mile span of treacherous dirt road that connects the Pan American Highway with Cotopaxi Volcan national park, which boasts the highest active volcano in Ecuador at 19,460 feet. The “road” is plastered with potholes and runs through a nightmarishly deceptive “stream” that puts the “flash” in flash floods when it rains. Add poorly maintained cars and poorly trained drivers, and you’ll appreciate the trials and tribulations of a drive in the jungle.

7. Luxor-al-Hurghada Road, Egypt

The road that links the ancient city of Luxor in southern Egypt and Hurghada, the regional hub for several scuba diving resorts on the Red Sea, is a death trap. The vast majority of drivers never turn on their headlights after the sun goes down, setting the stage for the high accident fatality rate that has earned the road a spot on this list. Ironically, the only thing more dangerous than driving on the road at night with your headlights off is driving at night with them on. If the bandits don’t get you, the terrorists probably will. In 1997, terrorists shot and killed 62 German tourists in Luxor in a massacre that resulted in a massive government crackdown that endures today.

8. A44, U.K.

The A44 runs from Oxford to Aberystwyth. The two-lane road has tallied enough accident fatalities and serious injuries in recent years to earn the ignominious honor of having government surveillance cameras installed to deter speeding and otherwise encourage cautious driving. And on a road where more than 25% of crashes on are head-on collisions, caution is well advised.

9. Patiopoulo-Perdikaki Road, Greece

Although the Ottoman Empire occupied Greece for 400 years, they never conquered a small mountainous region in central Greece called Agrafa. They had the military fire power and political will to do so. They simply didn’t have any way to get there. The roads were as dangerous in the steep, mountainous region then as they are now.

10. Grand Trunk Road, India to Afghanistan

The Grand Trunk Road was built in the 16th century to connect the major cities of India with those of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It hasn’t changed much since then, but the world around it has. The road is chronically congested with ox carts, animals, bicycles and pedestrians and massive numbers of cars and buses.

10 wonderful stocks to invest in

2008-10-14T16:06:00.000+05:30

Ashok Leyland

Despite a drop in truck sales (volumes), the company managed to record a 7.8 per cent growth in net sales to Rs 7,729 crore for FY08 on the back of a 51 per cent y-o-y increase in bus sales, engines (up 36.7 per cent) and spares (up 44.7 per cent).

Thanks to cost control measures and price hikes undertaken, operating profits grew 14 per cent (Rs 796 crore) and net profit by 6.4 per cent (Rs 469 crore) in FY08.

To diversify its revenue streams and plug the gaps in its product portfolio, the company has tied up with Nissan for light commercial vehicles (CV).

Additionally, the company is increasing the proportion of non-cyclical businesses (bus, exports, engines and spare parts/defence kits) which contribute 33 per cent of the revenues. Its integrated manufacturing unit at Uttarakhand, which will be operational in this fiscal, will not only take care of market demand but also provide tax breaks.

While the near-term may see some margin (higher input costs) and demand (rising interest rates) pressures, the medium-term prospects remain good as the CV cycle is expected to turn in favour of the manufacturers by FY10. At Rs 28.75, the stock is trading at 7.7 times and 6.6 times its FY09 and FY10 estimated earnings of Rs 3.7 and Rs 4.3, respectively, and can deliver about 30 per cent returns over the next 18 months.

Castrol India

Strong brands, technologically advanced products and customised offerings among others have helped Castrol's sales and net profits grow at a CAGR of 13.4 per cent and 19.3 per cent in the last three years, even as volume growth has remained muted.

The muted volume growth is mainly due to a shift in consumer preference towards high-tech products, especially in the auto lubricants where Castrol enjoys a market share of 21 per cent.

For instance, companies like Tata Motors have changed oil drain specifications for their commercial vehicles (CVs) for engine oils (doubled to 36,000 kms) and lubricants (increased to 72,000 kms), thus reducing the frequency of changing these consumables.

While this means lower consumption, it also means increased use of technologically superior products that support longer running of vehicles and hence higher realisations for lubricant manufacturers.

Technological advances in passenger cars have also meant increased demand for high-tech products. This is positive for Castrol, which has access to its UK parent's R&D.

The company has already entered into tie-ups with players like Volvo, Ford and Audi (cars) and Tata Motors (CVs), besides being the exclusive �first fill' lubricant for Tata Motors' Nano.

Going forward, with India adding a million cars and UVs and over six million two-wheelers every year, demand for automotive lubricants will remain healthy. Increasing spends towards infrastructure and industrial capex also point to robust demand for industrial lubricants.

While concern over the surge in base oil prices exists, Castrol has raised prices in the past to offset the increase. The cut in import duty by half to 5.13 per cent on base oil in June 2008 also provides respite.

Overall, Castrol's revenues and profits are seen growing at 10-15 per cent annually over the next two years. At Rs 258.70, the stock trades at 12 times its CY09 (December ending) estimated earnings and can deliver 18-20 per cent in a year.

Clariant Chemicals

Despite rising input costs, Clariant Chemicals managed to record a 44 per cent increase in net profits to Rs 41.7 crore for the six months ended June 2008 (year ending is December). Net sales were up 7 per cent at Rs 466 crore.

The company has been able to increase its profits as a result of its ability to increase product prices, prune costs and benefit from a leaner organisation.

In dyes and specialty chemicals, which account for 55 per cent of its sales, the company is focussing on technical textiles, a fast growing segment expected to register an annual growth of 14 per cent till 2015.

While the company's sales of textile chemicals last year was impacted due to rupee appreciation as its customers (textile exporters) realisations came down. Margins in the second largest segment (40 per cent of sales) - intermediates and colours - though more than doubled to 14.1 per cent in the first half.

Going forward, the company is planning to focus on promoting the wider usage of safer pigments (lead/chrome replacement) and the usage of fluro chemicals and coating based products in the technical textiles segment.

With rupee showing some signs of weakening in 2008, the same should also prove beneficial for Clariant. At Rs 230 and considering annualised CY08 earnings of Rs 17.14, the stock is attractively priced at 13.5 times.

Great Offshore

Great Offshore's share price has corrected almost 66 per cent from its high of Rs 1,149 in January 2008, thereby available at a decent dividend yield of 4.11 per cent.

While the company has grown at a rapid pace in the past (sales at Rs 676.31 crore has doubled in last two years) and continuously paying dividends (up from 51 per cent in FY06 to 160 per cent in FY08), going forward, it is expected to maintain revenue growth on the back of firm oil prices and the resultant increase in offshore exploration and production (E&P) activities in the domestic and global markets.

The higher E&P investments will not only improve volumes, but will also increase realisation for companies, thanks to the shortage of offshore services. Great Offshore, which owns about 40 different types of vessels including rigs, platform support vessels (PSV), anchor handling tug supply vessels (AHTSV), multi support vessels is well placed to tap this opportunity. Besides, the company has also placed orders for a jack-up rig and a MSV (multi support vessels), which are expected to be delivered by May 2009.

With these fleet additions, the company can generate additional revenue of about Rs 300 crore in FY10, on the basis of prevailing rates. This reflects a 40 per cent increase over its FY08 revenue of Rs 745 crore.

Additionally, the company is also looking at inorganic growth by way of acquisition of semi-submersible deep water rig, marking its entry into the deep water drilling segment.

These factors will not only add to the revenues, but will also improve cash flow (cash profit margins of about 44 per cent), and thus a reason for higher dividends in future.

Notably, at current price, the stock is trading at attractive levels of 8 times and 5 times its estimated FY09 and FY10 earnings, respectively.

HCL Infosystems

HCL Infosystems, a leading player in the personal computer (PC) and enterprise hardware segment, has seen its share price decline 57 per cent from its peak in January 2008.

This is partly due to the market correction besides, concerns over growth in its telecom business (distribution rights for Nokia GSM phones) and slowdown in the domestic PC demand.

However, these concerns are temporary and pertain to the rising PC prices and high interest rates impacting PC demand. However, the company is still expected to maintain a growth of 20-22 per cent on the back of growing PC penetration in the country and the initiatives of e-governance.

The PC penetration in the country has tripled to about 18 per 1,000 people in 2006, which the government targets to increase it to 65 per 1,000 people.

HCL Infosystems markets under its own brand and has captured 15.5 per cent market share in the domestic desktop segment and 7.4 per cent in the laptop segment. Even as the desktop market is growing at 20 per cent, the laptop segment is growing faster.

HCL Infosystems, which is considered to be among the low cost manufacturers of laptops will benefit from the higher demand.

Also, a part of its growth will be led by its distribution rights for the sales of Nokia's GSM phones (even as 50 per cent of the distribution rights have been returned back to Nokia), mainly the replacement market for GSM phones.

Plans to enter into distribution alliance with Kodak and Apple are also taking shape. At Rs 129.80, the stock trades at 5.8 times CY09 (June ending) estimated earnings and offers a dividend yield of 6.31 per cent.

HPCL

The woes of oil marketing companies (OMC) like HPCL are well known and a consequence of the government's mandate of sharing subsidy on retail fuels.

But, what provides comfort is that despite some delays in issuing of bonds and uncertainties over the quantum of subsidy to be shared by OMCs, companies like HPCL have not reported a loss on an annual basis.

For HPCL, it has a long track record of paying dividends, except in 2005-06, when it gave a dividend of just Rs 3 per share.

For the time being, for OMCs, some respite has also come in form of crude oil prices falling to below $125 a barrel. If the trend continues, the under-recoveries (subsidy) for OMCs should also decline.

The funding facility to OMCs, wherein they can sell oil bonds to RBI in return for cash, is also positive and will help lower debt levels and interest expenses for these companies. For HPCL, it held bonds in excess of Rs 6,000 crore in FY07, while loans were at Rs 10,500 crore.

In terms of business prospects, the firm trend in global refining margins augurs well for HPCL (refining capacity of 13 million tonnes per annum). These, along with a 25 per cent increase in refining capacity, should enhance refining profits.

The company's 10-20 per cent stakes in over 22 oil & gas blocks, stake in city gas and CNG distribution (jointly with Gail) businesses, investment in MRPL (17 per cent stake worth Rs 2,000 crore) and a vast marketing network of over 8,000 petrol pumps, are some valuable assets that are perhaps not reflecting in the stocks valuation.

LIC Housing Finance

Among the top five housing finance players, LIC Housing derives over 90 per cent of its income from loans disbursed to retail customers.

Since the past two years, the company has turned aggressive in terms of growing its business, improving efficiencies and enhancing its risk management capabilities.

The benefits: contrary to under 10 per cent net income growth largely seen earlier, net income has risen 17 per cent and 41 per cent while profit growth has been robust at 34 per cent and 39 per cent in FY07 and FY08, respectively.

For Q1FY09, net interest income grew 43 per cent to Rs 150 crore and net profit was up 124 per cent to Rs 105 crore (partly due to lower provisioning) compared to Q1FY08.

Improving risk management skills have also led to LIC Housing's net non-performing assets (NPAs) decline from 7 per cent in FY05 to about 1 per cent in FY08. Even as the macro environment has turned difficult, analysts don't expect net NPA levels to rise significantly.

Notably, its net interest margins (NIMs) have remained robust at over 2.8 per cent in FY08 (2.4 per cent in FY07), as the company has been able to pass on the increase in costs and a large part of the loans given are on floating basis.

While NIMs are expected to remain at current levels, the company's loan book and disbursals are likely to grow by 25 per cent annually in the next two years; profits growth seen between 20-25 per cent.

The company's foray into distribution of third party products through its subsidiary should add to its income and profits. The stock is up 30 per cent in one week (after announcement of Q1 results) to Rs 306. Investors may hence, like to wait for some correction before buying.

Savita Chemicals

On the back of higher product prices and stable base oil prices, Savita Chemicals, a manufacturer of petroleum specialty products, recorded better than expected results for FY08.

It reported a 13 per cent improvement in net sales to Rs 919 crore and over 30 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 62 crore. Its operating profit margins of about 10 per cent is likely to come down as high crude oil prices could increase the price of its raw material-base oil.

A 20 per cent growth rate in the transformer oil market of Rs 1,500 crore should benefit Savita Chemicals as this segment accounts for 65 per cent of its revenues.

The company is expanding capacity by 50,000 kilo litres (kl) to 2.6 lakh kl at a cost of Rs 10 crore. The entry of new transformer manufacturers and the planned capacity additions on the power generation side is expected to increase demand for transformer oil, which augurs well for the company. At Rs 253, the stock is available at an attractive 6 times it's FY09 estimated earnings of Rs 44 and should fetch decent returns.

TN Newsprint

Tamilnadu Newsprint & Papers, one of the leading integrated players in the paper industry, offers a dividend yield of 5 per cent and trades at a reasonable 4.8 times its FY09 estimated earnings.

The company has been growing consistently in terms of revenue and cash profits. This is primarily on account of growing demand for paper.

The growing economy and particularly the growth in print media have been the prime reasons for the higher paper demand.

Driven by higher demand and the benefits of its backward integration, the company has been able to sustain margins at about 26 per cent (among the best in the industry) even as input prices have been on the rise.

Going forward, the benefits will also accrue on account of ongoing capacity expansions, whereby the company is increasing its pulp (raw material) production capacities from 170,000 tonne to 260,000 tonne by Q4FY08 and paper capacity from 230,000 tonne to 400,000 tonne expected to be commissioned by June 2010. These expansions will help the company to effectively manage input costs and simultaneously sustain growth rates.

Varun Shipping

Varun Shipping has been paying dividend consistently for the last 23; its annualised dividend has gone up from 15 per cent in FY01 to 50 per cent in FY08. Post market correction, its stock is attractively valued at just 4 times its estimated FY09 earnings and offers a dividend yield of 7.8 per cent.

The company owns a well diversified fleet of 21 vessels, which includes 12 LPG carriers, 3 double hull Aframax crude tankers, a product tanker and 5 AHTS vessels.

Since Varun is a leading player in LPG transportation accounting for 70 per cent of all PSU-controlled incoming LPG cargoes, it will benefit from the growing investments in the oil and gas sector. Also, Varun will stand to gain on the growing demand for the energy in India and its dependence on the imports.

Not only volumes, rising freight rates on account of higher demand and shortage of vessels should lead to higher margins. A part of this is also visible in its PBIDT margins, which have gone up from 55.7 per cent in FY07 to 62.12 per cent in FY08. Besides, it entry into the growing offshore segment, where the demand and the realisations are relatively high, should further help increase revenue and margins.

It has recently taken delivery of a third Anchor Handling and Towing Supply Vessel (AHTS). This is a specialised vessel which is used for deep sea oil exploration activity.

As a result of its efforts, contribution of offshore revenues to total revenues has gone up from mere 3.55 per cent (Rs 23.9 crore) in FY07 to 19.46 per cent (Rs 165.5 crore) in FY08. Apart from good dividend yield, the stock can deliver about 20-25 per cent in the next one year.

US economy: What Obama, McCain promise

2008-10-14T15:17:00.000+05:30

There's no question that concern over the faltering American economy has become the pre-eminent issue of the upcoming US Presidential elections being contested by US Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.

For proof, one need only look at last Friday's first presidential debate: though the stated topic -- agreed upon earlier by both campaigns -- was to be foreign policy, a full 40 per cent of the debate was dedicated to the two candidates' plans for America's economy.

In the most recent CBS/New York Times 2008 Presidential Election poll, 52 per cent of respondents identified 'the economy and jobs' as the issue that would most determine whom they vote for.

The second most pressing issue, according to the same poll, was terrorism and national security, which garnered only 11 per cent of responses. It's clear where prospective voters are assigning importance.

Of course, given the recent meltdown of the US financial sector, this emphasis on the economy is to be expected. The importance of this issue has only accelerated in recent weeks, with America, the epitome of capitalism, showing uncharacteristic signs of socialism.

It began with the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in early September, and worsened with the market freefall and collapse of Lehman Brothers (which filed for bankruptcy on September 15), AIG (saved by $85 billion emergency funding from the US government) and Merrill Lynch (bought by Bank of America for just $50 billion), and culminating in the Capitol Hill drama over the $700 bailout plan for the accumulated bad assets that threaten to drown Wall Street. The pertinent questions, then, are:

(1) What exactly do the two candidates promise to do with regard to economic matters;

(2) How have they responded to this month's economic crisis; and

(3) Whether or not their respective economic platforms are plausible.

Because, when looking at the two plans, it's important to remember that what a candidate promises on the campaign trail is often wildly different from what he or she can bring about once in office.

Keeping that in mind, a quick perusal of the two candidates' economic positions shows many and vast differences of short-term policy and long-term opinion. These differences were only further highlighted during Friday's debate.

US Senator and Republican Party candidate John McCain is, first and foremost, a foreign policy wonk. The bulk of his experience centres on issues of national security and how the United States should operate in the international arena. His experience with economic matters, on the other hand, is somewhat lacking.

In fact, in 2005, McCain told the Wall Street Journal, "I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

He followed that up by telling the Boston Globe, less than a year ago, "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should."

That being said, McCain does have a record on the economy, one that's caused consternation for rank-and-file Republicans in the past. He was one of two Republican senators to vote against a $1.35 trillion tax cut that President George W Bush proposed in 2001.

And though, at times, he's been opposed to federal regulation and oversight of Wall Street, he's recently begun to sing a different tune.

Having learned his lessons from a disastrous 2000 defeat in the Republican primaries to the eventual President, George W Bush, McCain has worked hard to curry favour from the party's right-wing, fiscally conservative establishment.

His economic platform has increasingly fallen in line with President Bush's, and can be perhaps best summed up by this quote from last Friday's debate.

"I want to cut taxes, to keep spending low," McCain said. "The worst thing we could do in this economic climate is to raise people's taxes."

o, not only has McCain promised to extend tax cuts that he once voted against, he's also promising to slash corporate tax rates (in order to stimulate job growth) and permanently repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (a very unpopular item in the US tax code perceived to punish upper-middle class families).

Having come into the fold of the Republican Party, McCain seemed to be saying all the 'right' things about the economy while on the campaign trail. Unfortunately for Mr McCain, this idea of 'right' comes at a time when Americans increasingly disagree with Republicans about what is 'right' for the economy.

To be sure, McCain only made his problems on this issue several degrees worse with last week's complete and naked flip-flopping on the current economic crisis.

On a day that has quickly become known as 'Black Monday', September 15, the same day that saw legendary Wall Street institution Lehman Bros collapse, McCain uttered the phrase which may end up costing him the election: "The fundamentals of the economy are strong," he said.

As political pundits and economic gurus quickly pounced on this gaffe and began to run and rerun the tape, the McCain camp moved to frame the comments as 'patriotic,' saying that McCain meant the US workers and business infrastructure were strong. Apparently, Americans didn't buy what McCain's campaign advisor Steve Schmidt was selling, as McCain has witnessed increasingly poor polling numbers ever since.

Furthermore, having already made the statement, McCain would probably have been best served to leave the issue alone. He instead made the rather bizarre choice of abruptly calling a press conference nine days later to suspend his presidential campaign in the wake of what he now termed a "historic crisis."

He went on to say that if a bill was not passed and a resolution reached, "Credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake."

He then travelled to Washington in order to work with Congressional leaders and President Bush on the bill, though initial reports pegged his input as marginal at best, leading many commentators to call McCain move a political stunt and a sham.

Though he's in the past been a champion of Wall Street's deregulation, McCain is now advocating governmental oversight. It would be political suicide not to, though McCain's new take on the issue must be a bitter pill to swallow for many US conservatives.

Given all this, McCain performed surprisingly well during the portion of last Friday's debate that was devoted to economics.

He iterated and reiterated the Republican talking point of spending cuts and lower taxes, even saying he would go so far as to implement a 'spending freeze', which would cut off funding to all but the most essential of government expenditures. He also promised to balance the budget, though didn't give a timeline for achieving this seemingly lofty goal.

On the other hand, 47-year-old US Senator Barack Obama's stance on economic matters presents a stark contrast to Senator McCain's.

It's safe to say that Obama strikes fear in the heart of many fiscal conservatives, who have labelled him everything from a 'Spend-ocrat' to a 'Socialist' and 'Anti-Capitalist'. To combat this image of being a tax-raising, big government Democrat (the kiss of death in US national politics), Obama has worked hard to cultivate his image as champion of the Middle Class.

An outspoken opponent to the George W Bush tax policy and the Republican Party's famed 'supply side, trickle down economics', Obama has promised tax cuts for 95 per cent of Americans, failing to mince words on how he will manage to pay for such a move: He will close loopholes in the tax code that favour corporations and their fatcat executives. He will punish companies who ship jobs overseas and reward those who try to create American jobs. Those who make over $250,000 a year will certainly face tax hikes.

He's even gone so far as to suggest 'windfall profit' taxes on Big Oil companies, arguing that at a time of record profit for the oil industry, the average American is paying more at the pump than ever. When this suggestion, the windfall profit directive, drew howls, scowls and intensified cries of 'socialist', Obama backed off the plan.

While Obama's economic stances resonate with what he calls 'Main Street', he's clearly found an enemy in Wall Street.

The junior US Senator from Illinois and Democratic Presidential candidate has pulled no punches in decrying what he calls the 'culture of greed' and the 'failed economic policies of the last eight years', saying the current crisis we face is the 'logical end result' of unfettered, unregulated markets. He's also a staunch advocate of raising the minimum wage and a friend of unions and workers' rights group.

Republicans have hit back at Obama by saying his policies make employers vulnerable and would lead to a deep recession. They also paint him as having the 'most liberal voting record in the US Senate', though Obama defends this charge by saying his voting record is just the result of 'being against George W Bush's wrong-headed policies.'

One thing is certain, however: as much as the financial meltdown is hurting the US economy, it is serving Senator Obama's electoral chances. It all fits quite nicely into his narrative about corporate greed and reckless handling of the US tax-payer's dime. His message stressing the need for increased oversight and federal regulation of Wall Street comes across as extremely prescient, and there's no doubt he's sitting in the cat bird's seat on economic issues, at least in prospective voters' eyes.

But how feasible are these plans? After all, President Clinton built nearly his entire campaign in 1992 around the idea of a more centralised, all-encompassing medical plan. It was to be his baby, his pride and joy.

Early into his first term, however, faced by staunch opposition of Congressional Republicans, Clinton saw his medical plan fade into obscurity, not to be heard from again. 16 years later, medical coverage in the United States has become, if anything, more dependant on HMOs and the private sector. So it's not always, "What you see is what you get."

For one thing, should Senator McCain be elected, he will be facing, in all likelihood, a rather powerful Democratic majority in Congress. Though he's called for a spending freeze, without the consent of Congress, he has no authority or jurisprudence to do so, and might be thwarted.

He's also promised to keep the George W Bush tax-cuts and current funding for Iraq ($12 billion a month), while simultaneously balancing the budget. Looking at the massive federal budget deficit, which has grown dramatically under George Bush's watch, these claims seem long on promise but short on plausibility.

If he wins and is able to cobble together a majority voting bloc comprising moderates from both parties, perhaps he would be able to pursue some of his agenda. But given the current highly partisan political climate of US national politics, where votes often fall directly down party lines, this seems a long-shot. In all actually, in terms of economics, a McCain term would look much like the last two years under President Bush, with a stubborn Democratic majority in Congress perpetually at odds with a stubborn Republican President.

With Barack Obama, on the other hand, the question is simple: How's he going to pay for all this stuff? In Friday's debate, he mentioned increased spending for health care, primary education, science and technology, infrastructure and alternative energy initiatives.

But when debate moderator Jim Lehrer pressed him on how he could reconcile these plans with what could be a smaller than expected federal budget, Obama seemed stumped, eventually conceding that lower tax revenues will likely alter his short-term plans but not his long-term vision.

Make no mistake: the US is facing its greatest economic crisis since 1930s' Great Depression. In the voters' eyes, this issue has surpassed all others in importance. And the candidate who best speaks to the concerns of a worried electorate will waltz his way into the White House.

Top 10 BPO companies in India

2008-10-14T09:06:00.000+05:30

1. Genpact

Genpact was born in 1997 as the India-based business process operations for GE Capital. In 2005, with equity investments from General Atlantic and Oak Hill Capital Partners, it became an independent company and was rebranded Genpact. It is India's No. 1 BPO firm.

Genpact manages business for companies around the world with a network of more than 30 operations centres in nine countries. Genpact offers services in finance and accounting, collections and customer service, insurance, supply chain and procurement, analytics, enterprise application and IT infrastructure.

Headed by Pramod Bhasin, the company had a staff strength of over 34,300 employees as on March 31, 2008. Its revenues for the year 2007 stood at $822.7 million.

Accolades won by Genpact

'No.1 Best Performing BPO' and 'No.3 Leader in Human Capital Development' by Global Services magazine, in 2008
Top 10 in IAOP's 'Global Outsourcing 100' list, 2007-08
'Top 10 Employer' distinction, Dalian, China, 2006-08
'No.1 ITeS-BPO Company' in India by NASSCOM, 2005-08

2. WNS Global

WNS Global serves several industries, including travel, insurance, financial services, healthcare, professional services, manufacturing, distribution and retail. Warburg Pincus is the majority shareholder in WNS Global Services.

The Nasdaq-listed company with more than 9,000 professionals was set up in 1996. Neeraj Bhargava is a co-founder of WNS (Holdings) Ltd and group chief executive officer. It posted a quarterly revenue of $116.1 million for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2008, up 4.9 per cent from the corresponding quarter last year. Its revenues stand at $459.9 million, up 30.5 per cent from fiscal 2007.

Accolades won by WNS Global
Nasscom ranking: No. 1 BPO Company for the year 2005
NeoIT Global Survey: No. 1 'Best Performing' BPO Company / No. 1 in Human Capital

3. IBM Daksh

The five-year old IBM Daksh was created by four profesionals -- Sanjiv Agarwal, Pawan Vaish, MJ Aravind and Venkat Tedanki -- who saw a great opportunity in the business process outsourcing space. With no business model to follow, it was a big challenge to set up the company.

IBM Daksh is known for a good leadership, a focussed vision and an undying passion. In April 2004, IBM Corporation acquired Daksh e-Services to serve as a global hub to manage business processes for clients from across the world.

With 14 service delivery centres in India, IBM Daksh has more than 36 centers around the world. Today IBM Daksh employs more than 20,000 people. Pavan Vaish is the chief executive officer of IBM Daksh Business Process Services. A co-founder of Daksh eServices, he has been with the organisation since January 2000.

Accolades for IBM Daksh

Frost & Sullivan Contact Center Outsourcing Vendor of the Year 2007
Most Respected BPO Company in India(BusinessWorld)
IBM Daksh tops the 2007 Global Outsourcing 100

4. Aditya Birla Minacs Worldwide

Aditya Birla Minacs is part of the $24 billion global conglomerate, the Aditya Birla Group. Aditya Birla Minacs was formed when Minacs, Canada's leading BPO company, and TransWorks, the BPO arm of Aditya Birla Group, joined hands to become a leading global business process outsourcing player.

Aditya Birla Minacs clocked revenues to the tune of $392 million (or about Rs 1,575 crore) till March 2008, a 17 per cent rise over the previous year's $335 million. With over 26 years of experience, Aditya Birla Minacs offers BPO solutions for Fortune 500 clients. Minacs has more than 12,000 employees at locations in North America, Europe and Asia.

It serves clients in automotive, banking, financial services, insurance, telecommunications and technology verticals. Dev Bhattacharya is the managing director for Aditya Birla Minacs Worldwide Ltd, a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Nuvo.

Awards for Aditya Birla Minacs Worldwide

Dataquest (annual Top 20 BPO listing) - Ranked as India's No 2 BPO company
NASSCOM 2006-07 - Ranked as India's third largest BPO, based on export revenues
NASSCOM - Among Top 100 IT innovators in India IT People Group

5. TCS BPO

TCS BPO is one of the leader players in the outsourcing industry. It offers services in areas such as finance and accounting, banking, HR outsourcing, KPO, insurance, payroll, healthcare, telecom, media, travel and entertainment.

TCS operates from more than 41 countries and has more than 155 offices across the globe. Its head office in India is located in Bangalore. It has branches in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Goa, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow and many other places in India.

While Tata Consultancy Services is India's top software company, TCS BPO established a stronghold in the BPO space. The TCS group posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,290.61 crore (Rs 12.90 billion) for the first quarter ended June 30, 2008, an increase of 7.3 per cent compared to the year-ago period.

Accolades for TCS BPO

In 2006, TCS BPO was named as one of the world's top BPO providers by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals.

6. Wipro BPO

Wipro BPO has carved a unique position in the outsourcing industry. In 2002, Wipro took a quantum jump in the BPO services by acquiring the then Spectramind. Wipro BPO Solutions, complements the services offered by Wipro Technologies, making it one of the largest BPO service players.

The company with over 19,000 people, operating out of 9 different locations (India and Eastern Europe) serves clients across the globe. Wipro BPO clientele spans across banking and capital markets, insurance, travel and hospitality, hi-tech manufacturing, telecom and healthcare sectors. T K Kurien heads Wipro's BPO operations.The IT services revenue for Wipro Technologies stood at Rs 4,405 crore(Rs. 44.05 billion), a YoY growth of 39 per cent.

Accolades won by Wipro BPO

Wipro BPO & Cairn India declared winner at the first annual 'FAO Research Awards of Distinction'
Wipro BPO has been rated as a Best Employer in India in the Best Employers Hewitt Survey for 2007
Wipro BPO is the winner of the 2007 Global BPO Standard Bearer by IQPC

7. First Source

Firstsource (formerly ICICI Onesource) is a leading global business process management company. Founded in 2001, the company is ranked third in BusinessWeek's 'Hot player' list of offshore outsourcing companies.

The company has 17,000 employees in centres across India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Argentina and the Philippines. Ananda Mukerji is the managing director and chief executive officer. Its revenues for the year ended March 31 2008 stood at Rs 12,988 million, up 53.3 percent compared to the previous year.

Accolades won by First Source

Ranked among the top 10 ITES companies by NASSCOM, 2007
National Outsourcing Association (NOA) award for best Telecom outsourcing project, 2007

8. Infosys BPO

Infosys BPO Ltd, the business process outsourcing subsidiary of Infosys Technologies, was set up in April 2002. Today, it is ranked among the leading BPO companies in India by NASSCOM, Dataquest, the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, Red Herring, FAO Today and NelsonHall.

Infosys BPO focuses on integrated end-to-end outsourcing through lesser costs. Infosys BPO operates in India, the Czech Republic, China, Philippines, Poland, Bangkok, Mexico and employs about 16,295 people. It closed FY2007-08 with revenues of $250.3 million.

Accolades won by Infosys BPO

Infosys conferred 'Provider of the Year' award by FAO Today in 2008
Listed among top BPO companies in Dataquest, the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, Red Herring lists

9. HCL BPO

HCL BPO, a division of HCL Technologies Limited was established in 2001. With over 13,200 professionals operating out of India and Northern Ireland, HCL BPO runs fourteen delivery centres across India, UK and Malaysia.

The company has reported revenues to the tune of $220.9 million. HCL BPO also offers multilingual support in eight European languages and eight Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections (APAC) languages. HCL BPO's focuses on sectors like telecom, retail, banking and financial services, insurance, hi-tech & manufacturing, and media, publishing and entertainment. Shiv Nadar is the founder, chairman and chief strategy officer of HCL Technologies.

Accolades of HCL BPO

Ranked second in Purdue Benchmark (2003) Global Peer Group of BPO Service Providers
Ranked third in Highest Satisfaction for Business Process Outsourcing by the Black Book of Outsourcing (2007)
Ranks among the Top 10 ITeS-BPO companies in India (NASSCOM & Dataquest)

10. EXL Service Holdings

EXL Service Holdings came into existence in April 1999 in Delaware, US. It was founded by a group of professionals including Vikram Talwar (now executive chairman) and Rohit Kapoor, who is now the CEO. Vikram was then the CEO and managing director of Ernst & Young, and Rohit managed international investments for clients at Deutsche Bank.

In August 2001, Conseco acquired EXL and operated as its wholly owned subsidiary. Later, in November 2002, Oak Hill Capital Partners L.P. and FTVentures along with members of the senior management team bought EXL from Conseco making it a third party pure-play business process outsourcing service provider.

The company has seen a fast-paced growth with 50 clients and a staff strength of 8,200 employees. Revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 were $50.9 million compared to $39.9 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2007, an increase of 27.8 per cent.

Accolades for EXL Service Holdings

Recognised as one of the Top 100 hot growth companies for 2007
Among the top 10 best performing BPOs in CMP Media's list
No.1 rising star in the Global Outsourcing list by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals

Meltdown: Thousands of jobs to go globally!

2008-10-14T08:36:00.000+05:30

Kingfisher to cut 300 jobs, Lehman 2,500

Most of the 2,500-odd employees working for investment banking giant Lehman Brothers in India stand to lose their jobs.

With the financial crisis spreading and oil prices rising, the airline industry too is under heavy pressure. Just a fortnight after it launched international operations and integrated low-cost carrier Simplify Deccan with it, Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines has laid off at least 300 employees.

The move closely follows a recent announcement by value carrier, JetLite, fully-owned subsidiary of Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways that it was downsizing by at least 750 employees.

It is also believed that of the 300 employees, only five per cent are from Kingfisher Airlines, and the rest from the erstwhile Simplify Deccan.

HSBC to cut 1,100 jobs

British banking major HSBC will cut almost 1,100 jobs worldwide following the financial meltdown in US and European markets. The cuts will affect the bank's global banking and markets operation.

The reduction in jobs will be equal to nearly 4 per cent of the total workforce at its global banking and marketing division. HSBC currently has 335,000 employees.

Washington Mutual: 1,000 to lose jobs

Tumbling profitability, a slowdown in business in the global financial services sector and a major dip in confidence about the current turbulent market conditions have all contributed to a rise in job fears.

Washington Mutual's 'fall' too will lead to over 1,000 jobs being laid off.

GSK to cut 1,000 R&D jobs

GlaxoSmithKline, Britian's largest pharmaceuticals firm, plans to axe almost 1,000 people at its American and British R&D units. The cuts are likely to improve productivity and save costs.

AkzoNobel to cut 3,500 jobs

AkzoNobel, the Dutch chemicals giant, will cut 3,500 jobs across its global operations and will save close to $200 million dollars.

AkzoNobel has recently taken over paints major Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). AkzoNobel has recently also divested its pharma unit Organon to US-based Schering-Plough Corp.

H-P to sack 24,600

Hewlett-Packard will lay off as many as 24,600 people over the next three years as it seeks to cut costs at Electronic Data Systems, the IT major that HP recently acquired.

Although most of the jobs will be cut at the Plano, Texas-based EDS, some HP workers too will be affected.

HP said the cuts will produce an annual cost savings of $1.8 billion. HP employs more than 178,000 people worldwide.

UBS to lay off 2,000

European banking giant UBS plans to cut 2,000 jobs in its investment banking, equities, and fixed income units.

Some support staff jobs will also be lost. The current financial crisis has hit European banks hard.

UBS is downsizing its investment banking operations, after rising writedowns led to big clients withdrawing funds from the bank.

25,000 may lose jobs at Lehman

Employees of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, ever since the investment bank filed for the biggest bankruptcy in American history, are in a state of fear.

If the administrators at the bankrupt investment bank manage to salvage some parts of the Lehman Brothers business, then employees in those divisions will not lose their jobs.

However, as things stand, most of Lehman's 25,000 employees globally will have to find new employment.

Wachovia to see heavy downsizing

Lloyds TSB, which took over HBOS in a $21.5-billion buyout, also said that the deal will create one of the strongest banks in the UK but lead to thousands of job losses and branch closures.

Similarly, Wachovia which was acquired by Citigroup will also see some jobs being lost.

Chrysler to cut 250 white-collar jobs

US carmaker Chrysler is set to give the pink slip to 1,000 white-collar workers.

The job cuts are in line with Chrysler's plan to cut costs and streamline its operations.

Merrill Lynch jobs to go

The takeover of US investment giant Merrill Lynch by Bank of America for $50 billion will also lead to hundreds of employees losing their jobs.

Renault announces 2,000 job cuts

French automaker Renault says it plans to cut 6,000 jobs at its European subsidiaries over the next few months.

The auto company has been affected by a slowing down in sales due to the deceleration in the global economy.

Volvo to cut 1,400 staff

Swedish auto giant Volvo will lay off around 1,400 workers at truck plants in Belgium and Sweden because of falling demand in Europe.

The company said 400 jobs will go at a plant in Ghent, Belgium, and 980 at two Swedish plants in Gothenburg and Umea.

Sony Ericsson to sack 2,000

Cellphone firm Sony Ericsson will cut 2,000 jobs within a year as it restructures its worldwide operations. The move is likely to save $422 million for the company.

Wal-Mart to cut hundreds of jobs

Wal-Mart Stores Inc plans to cut about 500 jobs. A weak financial and economic climate has led to a significant drop in consumer buying causing a proportionate decline in corporate earnings.

And even as workers the world over shiver with fear, economists believe that more jobs may be lost over the next few months as major global economies experience a slowdown.

Google's amazing journey

2008-10-13T22:04:00.000+05:30

The $19 billion search giant Google is just ten years old , but it has outclassed its competitors - namely Microsoft and Yahoo! - in the online world.

The company today has a host of enviable offerings - Google search, Gmail, Page Rank, Adsense, Google Mobile, Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Docs, Orkut, Blogger, YouTube, Android (a platform for mobiles), Cloud Computing initiatives, and now Chrome.

It even has a patent for a "floating data centre". Moreover, it is learning how to monetise these; the figures do the talking. Google has a market value of over $130 billion and cash reserves of around $13 billion.

It employs 20,000 people worldwide, including in India. Its co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin - both 35 now - are worth nearly $19 billion apiece.

Google's start, though, was not smooth. Mr Page and Mr Brin did not hit it off immediately.

In fact it is said that they often had arguments while they were students at Stanford University, which they set aside to grow the company.

Mr Page was excited by the web's mathematical characteristics, and set about pondering its link structure.

The project came to be called BackRub. He then began building out his crawler.

It was here that Mr Brin, a Russian-born son of a NASA scientist and a University of Maryland mathematics professor, pooled in with his talent.

Together, they created an algorithm dubbed PageRank (after Page).

Fiddling with the results, they realised they had also stumbled on a querying tool which gave results that were more relevant than existing search engines like AltaVista and Excite.

This inspired the founders to name their new engine Google, after googol, the term for the numerical 1 followed by 100 zeroes.

They released the first version of Google on the Stanford website in August 1996, a year after they met.

The project became a legend within the computer science department and campus network administration offices of the university.

They released the first version of Google on the Stanford website in August 1996, a year after they met.

The project became a legend within the computer science department and campus network administration offices of the university.

However, as Google gets ready to step into adolescence, the going will get tougher.

It may have started with its first official office in a Californian garage, but today it has a 1.5 million-square-foot headquarters called the 'Googleplex' - as well as two dozen other US offices, and hubs in over 30 countries.

Its search engine (which Yahoo! itself had unwittingly popularised for a brief period), believed to have indexed at least 40 billion web pages, now runs on hundreds of thousands of computers kept in massive data centres around the world.

Not surprisingly, privacy watchdogs have sharpened their attacks on its retention of potentially sensitive information about the 650 million people who use its search engine and other Internet services, like YouTube, Maps and Gmail.

To protect its interests, Google, on its part, has hired lobbyists and ramped up its public relations staff.

While Yahoo! may be subdued, software giant Microsoft is getting aggressive. It is already investing heavily in the online world.

Besides, as Google plans to invest significant resources in providing software for enterprise search, office productivity, mapping, collaboration and communication, it has to compete against seasoned and formidable IT providers like IBM and Cisco too.

Around 98 per cent of Google's revenue comes from consumer search advertising, dwarfing the company's enterprise initiatives. IT and business managers will have that in mind as a risk factor.

Whatever the outcome, the words of Abraham Lincoln ring true in Google's case: "... in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

India's hottest businessmen

2008-10-13T21:34:00.000+05:30

Ratan Tata

Ratan Naval Tata has been in the news for the past few days due to the unseemly controversy over the Nano car plant in Singur, West Bengal.

The 70-year-old is the chairman of the Tata Group, which is one of India's largest conglomerates.

A bachelor, Tata is one of the most admired businessmen not just in India but the world over. He has been at the helm of the Tata empire since 1991.

N R Narayana Murthy

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy is the co-founder, non-executive chairman and chief mentor of India's best known software firm, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Murthy is a globally known and highly regarded entrepreneur.

Azim Premji

Azim Premji is the chairman Wipro, India's second largest software firm after Tata Consultancy Services.

Premji is credited with transforming Wipro, his family's vegetable oil business, into one of the world's foremost software company.

Although one of the richest Indians, he flies economy class and is happiest when hiking, reading or discussing the foundation he has set up to promote primary education.

Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is, according to Forbes the world's fifth richest man and his net worth is estimated at $43 billion.

The Indian billionaire and his younger brother parted ways after the death of their father, Dhirubhai, the patriarch of the Reliance empire.

Mukesh is currently building a $2-billion home on Mumbai's Altamount Road.

Anil Ambani

Anil Ambani is Mukesh's younger brother. With a net worth estimated at $42 billion, he is also the world's 6th richest man.

The chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Anil has a vast range of companies under his umbrella: Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Mutual Funds, Reliance Energy, etc.

He is married to former Bollywood actress Tina Munim.

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Bharti Group chairman & managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal is one of India's greatest success stories. In just a period of 10 years, he has built India's largest cellular services company.

His net worth is estimated at close to $12 billion.

Vijay Mallya

Vijay Mallya is a shrewd businessman and a Member of Parliament. He is the chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines.

One of India�s richest men, his wealth is estimated at $1.4 billion. Mallya is also the owner of Force India F1 racing team and also of the Indian Premier League�s cricket team, Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Rahul Bajaj

Padma Bhushan awardee and Rajya Sabha member Rahul Bajaj is the chairman of Bajaj Auto.

An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Bajaj is an outspoken and fearless entrepreneur. His two sons, Rajiv Bajaj and Sanjiv, are now handling the Bajaj businesses, under his guidance.

Anand Mahindra

A Harvard alumnus, Anand Mahindra is the vice chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra.

The 53-year-old businessman has taken his company to unprecedented heights. He is married to Anuradha Mahindra, who edits three niche magazines.

S 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan

S 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Infosys Technologies Ltd.

An IIT-Madras alumnus, Gopalakrishnan is a very soft-spoken and shy person. His net worth is estimated to be around $1.4 billion.

Nandan Nilekani

Co-chairman and co-founder of Infosys Technologies Ltd, Nandan Nilekani is a well know and widely admired entrepreneur.

Adi Godrej

Adi Godrej, chairman of the renowned Godrej Group, is one of India's great businessmen.

Even when India was still a closed economy, he managed to take his group to great heights. When India embraced economic reforms, he changed the way his group did business to face the challenges of changing times and needs. Godrej is also involved in philanthropy.

Profile: Bill Gates

2008-10-13T13:24:00.000+05:30

William (Bill) H. Gates was chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$51.12 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2007, and employs more than 78,000 people in 105 countries and regions.

On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008 Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After July 2008 Gates will continue to serve as Microsoft’s chairman and an advisor on key development projects. The two-year transition process is to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates’ daily responsibilities. Effective June 2006, Ray Ozzie has assumed Gates’ previous title as chief software architect and is working side by side with Gates on all technical architecture and product oversight responsibilities at Microsoft. Craig Mundie has assumed the new title of chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft and is working closely with Gates to assume his responsibility for the company’s research and incubation efforts.

Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.

In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair.

In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Gates' foresight and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry.

Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected in its investment of approximately $7.1 billion on research and development in the 2007 fiscal year.

In 1999, Gates wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. Business @ the Speed of Thought has received wide critical acclaim, and was listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. Gates' previous book, The Road Ahead, published in 1995, held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' bestseller list for seven weeks.

Top row: Steve Wood (left), Bob Wallace, Jim Lane. Middle row: Bob O'Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin. Bottom row: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen. December 7, 1978.
Top row: Steve Wood (left), Bob Wallace, Jim Lane. Middle row: Bob O'Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin. Bottom row: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen. December 7, 1978.

Gates has donated the proceeds of both books to non-profit organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development.

In addition to his love of computers and software, Gates founded Corbis, which is developing one of the world's largest resources of visual information - a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and private collections around the globe. He is also a member of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which invests in companies engaged in diverse business activities.

Philanthropy is also important to Gates. He and his wife, Melinda, have endowed a foundation with more than $28.8 billion (as of January 2005) to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that in the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $3.6 billion to organizations working in global health; more than $2 billion to improve learning opportunities, including the Gates Library Initiative to bring computers, Internet Access and training to public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada; more than $477 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $488 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns.

Gates was married on Jan. 1, 1994, to Melinda French Gates. They have three children. Gates is an avid reader, and enjoys playing golf and bridge.

Billionaire college dropouts!

2008-10-13T12:46:00.000+05:30

Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani (1932-2002) was born into a modest family of a schoolteacher. When he was 16, he dropped out of school and went to Aden to work as a gas-station attendant and then later as a clerk in an oil company.

He returned to India 10 years later and started a business with a meagre capital. By the time of his demise, his company -- Reliance Industries Ltd -- had grown into a mammoth business empire! He was one of India's greatest ever entrepreneurs.

Dhirubhai is credited with having single-handedly breathed life into the Indian stock markets and bringing in thousands of investors to the bourses. In the process he became one of the world's richest men.

His modern way of thinking brought into play his second achievement: the idea that Indian manufacturing could and should be world class.

His sons, Mukesh and Anil are among the top 10 richest persons in the world, each of them worth over $40 billion.

His modern way of thinking brought into play his second achievement: the idea that Indian manufacturing could and should be world class.

His sons, Mukesh and Anil are among the top 10 richest persons in the world, each of them worth over $40 billion.

Gautam Adani

Gautam Adani (1962-) is chairman of the Adani Group, that is one of India's largest export and trading houses.

He is one of India's richest businessmen with an estimated personal net worth of $6.7 billion.

The Adani Group, despite a humble beginning in 1988, is one of the fastest growing enterprises in India. The flagship company, Adani Enterprises Ltd. (formerly known as Adani Exports Ltd.), was established by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a partnership firm with a seed capital of Rs 500,000.

Gautam Adani dropped out of college at the age of 18 and went on to work in Mumbai at a diamond store. He later set up his own diamond firm.

Born in a family of modest means in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Gautam was one of the seven children of Shantilal and Shantaben Adani.

Later, along with his elder brother Mansukhbhai, he entered into import of raw materials used for manufacturing plastics. When import duties on the materials they imported were cut, following liberalisation, their profits multiplied.

Today, Gautam Adani owns two private jets.

Subhash Chandra

Subhash Chandra, founder of Zee TV and the Essel Group, dropped out of school when he was only 12.

He started his own vegetable oils and rice trading unit at 19 in Hissar, Haryana.

He launched Zee Telefilms in October 1992 as a content supplier for Zee TV -- India's first Hindi satellite channel.

He pioneered new businesses: amusement park (Esselworld), laminated tubes (Essel Tubes,) satellite television (Zee TV). He has also set up world class facilities that made quality products at competitive prices.

His personal wealth is estimated at $2.3 billion.

Bill Gates

For long the world's richest man, till he was upstaged by legendary investor Warren Buffett recently, Bill Gates wears many a hat: computer whiz kid, entrepreneur extraordinaire, compassionate capitalist, top management thinker. . .

Born on October 28, 1955, William H Gates III grew up in Seattle with his two sisters.

Their father, William H Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.

In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair.

In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen.

Bill Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January, 2000; remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. Gates's last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as a part-time, non-executive chairman.

Gates married Melinda French from Dallas, Texas on January 1, 1994. They have three children: Jennifer Katharine Gates (1996), Rory John Gates (1999) and Phoebe Adele Gates (2002).

Li Ka-shing

Li Ka-Shing, whose net worth is estimated at $18.8 billion, is one of the richest men in Asia.

The chairman of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings was only 12-years-old when his family fled from China after the Japanese invaded the country.

They arrived in Hong Kong looking to make a life for themselves. However, when Li was only 15, his father passed away forcing him to drop out of school and support the family.

He started off working at his uncle's shop, selling watches. When he was 21, he established his own plastic manufacturing company that dealt in high-quality plastic flowers. He also ventured into real estate development, retail, ports, and power, electronics, and telecommunications.

Carl Icahn

Carl Icahn, a corporate raider and a private equity investor, was educated at Princeton University and New York University School of Medicine, but left prior to graduation.

Not becoming a doctor turned out for the good for Icahn, who is a billionaire financier with an estimated net worth of $14 billion.

Icahn calls himself an activist investor and is leading a shareholder revolt at Yahoo hoping that the Internet giant will sell out to Microsoft. He has launched a proxy fight to unseat Yahoo's board.

Roman Abramovich

Billionaire Russian businessman Roman Abramovich is best known for owning the United Kingdom's Chelsea Football Club.

He started his business in the late 1980s after the then Russian President Michael Gorbachev set in motion a few economic reforms.

Abramovich has invested around $500 million into Chelsea Football Club since buying it in 2003 and transformed the fortunes of the London team in just two years.

He also owns the private investment company Millhouse Capital, and with a net worth of $23.5 billion, is one of the richest persons alive.

He invested around $500 million since taking over the football club in 2003 and transformed the fortunes of the London team in just two years.

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren was born in a Jewish family in the Bronx. He was so enamoured of fashion that even as a schoolboy he would work after school to make money to buy suits.

He went to the City College of New York to study business but soon dropped out. He joined the army for a while and then began to work for Brooks Brothers as a salesman.

He started a necktie business under the label 'Polo' in 1967, and then went on to build a global reputation for himself as a fashion designer and a formidable businessman.

His net worth is estimated to be around $3.8 billion.

David Geffen

David Geffen is the founder of Geffen Records and Dreamworks SKG.

He was born in New York and studied at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn before going to University of Texas in Austin. However, he soon dropped out.

He began his entertainment career in the mailroom working in a talent agency. In 1971, at the age of 28, which singed on noted artistes such as Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne. His company was acquired by Warner and merged with Elektra Records in 1972, but Geffen remained in-charge of the business till 1975. In 1975, he become the vice chairman of Warner Brothers.

In 1980, he set up Geffen Records. His net worth is estimated at $4.4 billion.

Steve Jobs

Steven Paul Jobs (1955-) and Apple Computer are names that have long gone together.

Born in the United States to an unknown Egyptian-Arab father, Jobs was adopted soon after birth. After graduating high school, he enrolled in Reed College, dropping out after one semester.

In 1976, 21-year-old Jobs and 26-year-old Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer Co in the family garage. Jobs revolutionised the industry by popularising the concept of home computers.

By 1984, the Macintosh was introduced. He had an influential role in the building of the World Wide Web. He is also the former CEO of Pixar Animation Studios.

Today, with the iPod and the iPhone, Apple is bigger than ever. Incidentally, Jobs worked for several years at an annual salary of $1. It got him a listing in the Guinness Book as 'Lowest Paid CEO.' He was once gifted a $90 million jet by the company though. And his net worth? More than $5.4 billion.

Larry Ellison

Lawrence Joseph Ellison (1944-), co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, founded his company in 1977 with a sum of $2,000.

Once a school dropout, he is now one of the richest people in America with a net worth of around $25 billion.

As a young man, Ellison worked for the Ampex Corporation, where one of his projects was a database for the CIA. He called it Oracle, a name he was to reuse years later for the company that made him famous.

Ellison is quite a colourful man, and has long dabbled in all kinds of things. Want to learn more? Try his biography, The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison.

Andrew Carnegie

Industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) is better known, today, as the steel tycoon who started over 2,800 libraries. His rags-to-riches tale is also among the most famous in American history.

After moving to Pennsylvania from Scotland, at the age of 13 he worked as a bobbin boy in a textile mill. He invested his money wisely and, within a span of four decades, managed to gain control of a number of manufacturing plants that grew to become the Carnegie Steel Company.

He is equally -- if not more -- famous for his donations of over $350 million to further public education: an ironic gesture coming from a dropout.

The author Dale Carnegie was a distant relative, gaining fame for his 1937 bestseller, How to Win Friends and Influence People. And here's another titbit to chew on: During the American Civil War, Andrew Carnegie avoided the battlefield by paying a replacement the sum of $850.

Biography of "Indra Nooyi"

2008-10-13T11:53:00.000+05:30

India has a long history where women’s have shown that they are not only the homemaker, however, with their sheer strengths and courage, they have ruled over India from the Medieval History period of India take the example of Razia Sultan, then Rani Laxmi Bai, then Sarojini Naidu, then Indra Gandhi, then Ashiwarya Rai and latest entrant in the block is the Indra Nooyi, a superwomen, who has been placed 4^th in the list of worlds topmost influential women’s by the Forbes Magazine.

Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi is her full name and she belongs to the Southern Indian city of Chennai. She was born in 28 October 1955 in Madras, now Chennai. She has done her graduation from Madras Christian College (MCC) in Chemistry, Physics and Math. On completion of her graduation she went to Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta for doing Masters in Finance and Marketing. Soon after completion of her MBA she joined ABB and then Johnson and Johnson (J&J) in Mumbai. One of her achievement with J&J is her close association with launch of the sanitary napkin “Stayfree”. From there she has been no stopping her life.

However, her career profile was not satiating her wishes to do more in life and she persuaded her parent to let her study at Yale Management School in US. She completed her Master’s in Public and Private Management form Yale. Here in US before landing in the Pepsi in 1994, she had worked with Boston Consulting Group and Motorola. Indra coaxed the CEO Roger Enrico of the Pepsi to follow-up the company’s restaurant division, including brands such KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, as the chief strategy officer.

Nooyi not only shows tenacity for follow-up, but she equally emphasized in the Mergers and Acquisition. This was bolstered by the acquisition of the Tropicana and Quaker fruit juice brands. As a typical tycoon of the business from her acumen she has predicted the slowdown in the popularity of aerated soft drinks in the markets worldwide. That’s how she has enhanced her position in the business world where for a woman it’s very difficult to leave any mark on the corner room office of the big conglomerate. She is the one who has meticulously planned for the foray of Pepsi into the sport drinks market in association with Gatorade.

Her quick decision making ability and sticking to the work until it’s got accomplished has drawn this comment from the Enrico that “If she gets an idea, she goes after it. There’s no stopping her.” No doubt her firmness and go getting attitude has won her laurels in the company and this helped her to build a strong foundation in the career graph to reach the top echelons in the organization where many people just day dreams to reach..

Indra Nooyi's mantras for success:

You give a team of people a set of objectives and goals and get them all to buy into it, and they can move mountains

Aim high and put your heart into it.

What's important is trying to be the best and working to get there. And that's how you fulfil your potential.

I'm putting my hand up and saying, 'Able body, ready to work. I can scrub floors to address big issues.

Work for the right person. Work for a company that wants you to succeed. Don't play politics and just focus on the job at hand

Take a stand. Be known for your courage and confidence.

Success isn't money, prestige or power because net worth can never define self-worth. True success is being happy with yourself, is being fulfilled. And that comes from devoting your time, your life, to doing what you love the most.

At the end of the day if I stand back and have regrets, it is never going to work. You just look forward and get on with life.

What you know is more important than who you know because that's what gets you 'who you know.'

Don't think of the difficult journey. Think, instead, of the wonderful destination.

We are too attached to the known security of the past and too wary of the challenging promises of the future. This often leads to complacency or inertia.

You've got to say, at every point in your life, if you were to drop dead, would your epitaph be something that you could be proud of? Is your legacy something that would linger long after you?

If there is (a glass ceiling), remember it is made of glass and it can be easily broken. All you have to do is try.

The best test is that I wake up every morning dying to come to work.

My parents and my grandfather taught me that when you do a job, you got to do it better than everybody else. Simple. You cannot let anybody down.

Hyundai i20, i30 and i40 cars will be launched in India

2008-10-13T11:37:00.000+05:30

he entire range of i-series cars from Hyundai will be present in the Indian market soon.

The decision to this effect by the Korean car maker comes following the astounding success of the Hyundai i10 small car model in India.

Hyundai i30 in the US - is this the car that will come to India?

Hyundai, which has, by now, turned the second largest car manufacturer in the country, is expected to launch the Hyundai i20 before December 2008. This will be followed by the i30 and i40 car launches, most probaly in 2009. According to the company top brass, the entire portfolio of Hyundai’s new i-series cars will drive into India one after the other. Hyundai believes that the premium i30 and i40 cars too would be accepted wholeheartedly by the Indian car buyers.

Hyundai i20 - sedan version might come to India

The Korean giant believes that the new generation cars would be ideal for the fast growing Indian market. It is expected that the company would go in for a strengthening of the i10 models by bringing in a new engine and an automatic transmission in the next few months.

The Hyundai i20 is a four door sedan. There are rumors that a three-door version of the i20 would be launched, but frankly we don’t expect that to happen. Expected to offer more spacious interiors, The Hyundai i20 would have an automatic transmission option too. The i20 would be manufactured at its Chennai plant.

Apart from the i20 that has been lined up for the year end, the car maker is also expected to launch a diesel version of Hyundai i10 model. The petrol version will be positioned as a B segment vehicle. News sources hinted that the car has been codenamed PB and will aim at customers who look for a Getz upgrade.
Further, Hyundai Motor India is also expected to come out with a spruced up version of the i10 car which would be specially designed for international customers. Hyundai, which has made India a small car export and manufacturing hub, plans to export cars in the of Rs 5-6 lakh price range. All models the lined up will be rolled out of its India assembly line.

The world's most reputable companies

2008-10-13T08:50:00.000+05:30

TATA GROUP, 6TH IN THE WORLD

The Tata Group has emerged as the world's sixth most reputed company, joined by 10 others from India such as Infosys, Maruti and SBI in a list of Top-200 firms. Tata Group is one of India's largest industrial conglomerates and runs more than 98 firms.

No. 14: INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES

The Ratan Tata-led group is joined by India's second largest software exporter Infosys Technologies in the Top-50 league at 14th position.

Both Tata Group and Infosys have leapfrogged over 100 positions from their last year's ranks in the annual "Global 200: The World's Best Corporate Reputations" list, compiled by US-based Reputation Institute.

No. 1: TOYOTA

The global list, which includes 10 other Indian companies, has been topped by Japanese auto maker Toyota. The Japanese giant is also the world's largets car manufacturer.

No. 2: GOOGLE

Google is an American Internet company and worldwide search giant, and is the world's second most reputable company.

Apart from Tata and Infosys, 9 other Indian firms, which were among 600 companies considered in a survey to prepare the list, could not make it to the final 200. These firms include Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, the country's biggest by revenue among private sector firms and overall largest in terms of market value.

No. 3: IKEA

IKEA is a global home products retailer. It is the world's third most reputable firm. Earlier this year, the Swedish major trashed the Indian retail growth story saying that the country was not even 'an emerging market' ready for big retailers with players making more mistakes than success.

Meanwhile, the other Indian companies that were considered for the list, but failed to make the cut include the biggest private sector lender ICICI Bank, top private and public sector telecom firms Bharti Airtel and BSNL, IT giant Wipro, Birla group's Grasim Industries, tobacco-to-consumer goods conglomerate ITC as well as two state-run firms -- oil refining and marketing major BPCL and national carrier Air India Ltd.

No. 4: FERRERO

Ferrero is an Italian confectioner. It is the world's fourth most reputable business entity.

While releasing its latest Global Pulse report, Reputation Institute said that Tata Group and Air India have the strongest and weakest corporate reputations, respectively, among the companies from India.

Besides Tata and Infosys, other firms that made to the top 200 list include, Maruti Udyog (Suzuki) Ltd, State Bank of India, Hindustan Lever Ltd, Hero Honda Motors, Life Insurance Corp of India, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Mahindra and Mahindra and Indian Oil Corp.

No. 5: JOHNSON & JOHNSON

Johnson & Johnson is a global pharmaceutical major. The American major is the world's fifth most reputable firm.

Both Tata and Infosys have gained over 100 spots each to join the top tier of global companies.

"India's Tata Group and Infosys Technologies saw their reputations increase by over 8 points in 2008, and catapulted over 100 spots in the ranking to join the top tier of global companies in 2008, in recognition of their growing role among the world's business elite," the report said.

No. 7: KRAFT FOODS

Kraft Foods Inc of the US is world's third largest food and beverage company. It is also the seventh most reputable firm on earth.

However, the highest jump in ranking has been seen by China's Faw Group (ranked 41st with an improvement of 178 spots), followed by Norway's Coop, Canada's Sobey's and Japan's AEON, all of which have gained over 100 spots.

Maruti, the country's biggest car maker, has been ranked at 77th, SBI at 107th, HLL (now renamed as HUL) at 131st, Hero Honda at 147th, LIC at 161st, Bajaj Auto at 169th, ONGC at 186th , M&M at 191s and IOC at 199th position.

No. 8: NOVO NORDISK

Novo Nordisk is a Denmark's largest and one of the world's biggest manufacturer of pharmaceutical products. It is the world's eighth most reputable firm.

Globally, food and beverage giant PepsiCo, headed by a person of Indian origin Indra Nooyi, has been ranked 100th.

Tatas are ranked higher than companies like Walt Disney, Marks and Spencers, Xerox, Colgate-Palmolive, Sony, Honda, General Electric (GE), all of which are in the top-50.

The survey was conducted on 600 largest companies from 27 countries, out of which 200 were selected for the list। Toyota earned the highest ranking with a score of 86.53, followed by Google with 85.23 points.

No. 9: GRUPO BIMBO SA

Grupo Bimbo is a giant Mexican food corporation. It might not be too well known in India, but is considered the world's ninth most reputable firm.

Reputation Institute said that all the 200 companies earned scores higher than the global mean of 64.2 points, but despite earnings better-than-global average, the companies ranked 51-200 have "significantly weaker reputations than the top tier companies."

The top-20 include six from the US, two each from India and Japan and one each from Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland

No. 10: MIGROS

Migros is one of Switzerland's largest supermarket chain. The Federation of Migros Cooperatives, which owns Migros chain of superstores, ranks number 10 in the world in terms of reputation.

The overall rankings are based on the companies' performance on seven dimensions --- workplace, citizenship, governance, products/services, innovation, leadership and performance.

The global leader Toyota has topped on four dimensions. Among Indian companies, Infosys is ranked fifth in citizenship and leadership categories and fourth in governance and products/services.

Tata Group has been ranked fifth in governance and third in leadership.

Reputation Institute is a private advisory firm specialising in corporate reputation management and Global Purse is its flagship research study conducted annual with about 60,000 consumers in 27 countries, from which it derives the rankings of world's most reputed companies.

The institute said that general public tends to rate makers of consumer products, computers and electronics well above the global mean.

"By contrast, communications companies and utilities largely anchor the bottom of the distributions. Companies operating in these sectors face an uphill battle in communicating with the general public," it noted.

Financial companies also face similar uphill battle, the report said, adding that pharma, conglomerate, raw materials, airline, food/tobacco and chemical industries hover around the middle of the ranks globally.

World's 6 fastest motorbikes

2008-10-13T08:17:00.000+05:30

Dodge Tomahawk, 350 mph (560 km/h)

The Dodge Tomahawk is a Viper V-10 based motorcycle-- a 500 horsepower engine with four wheels.

The two front wheels and two rear wheels, make it look like a motorised quadricycle rather than a typical motorcycle.

According to official specifications 0-60 mph times have been estimated at 1.75 seconds, with a top speed of 350 mph. But there are also reports that the top speed is 676 km/h (about 420 mph).

Chrysler sold nine replicas through Neiman Marcus, for up to $555,000 each. The motorcycles cannot be legally driven on public roads.

The unusual vehicle was launched at the 2003 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan.

Manufacturer Dodge

Production (concept vehicle)

Engine 10-cylinder 90-degree V-type

Top speed 350 miles per hour (560 km/h)

Power 500 bhp (373 kW) @ 5600 rpm (45 kW/L)

Seat height 29 inches

Weight 1,500 pounds

Fuel capacity 3.25 gallons

Suzuki Hayabusa, 248 mph (397 km/h)

The name Hayabusa translates directly from the Japanese as Pergerine Falcon, the bird commonly attributed of achieving speeds of over 200 mph (322 km/h) and predator of the common blackbird.

The name is a subtle reference to Honda's competing Hawk models.

When introduced in 1999, it overtook the Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird as the fastest production motorcycle.

The first generation of the Hayabusa was called the GSX1300R and was powered by a 1299 cc (79.2 cu in) inline-4 liquid-cooled engine.

The bike made famous in India by the bollywood movie Dhoom will officially be launched in the country in September.

Although boasting of a top speed of 397 km per hour as per recorded figures, the bike that will come to India will have a speed limit of 299 km per hour and will sport a price tag of Rs 11 lakh (1.1 million).

In the US, the 2008 model will boast a price tag of $11,999.

Manufacturer - Suzuki

Also called - GSX1300R, 'Busa', 'Bus'

Production - 1999 - present

Class - Hyper sport

Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird, 190mph (310km/h)

Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird was the world's fastest production motorcycle, after ripping the title away from the legendary Kawasaki ZX-11.

Production of the Blackbird began in 1996 and halted in late 2007. The Blackbird was last imported to North America in 2003.

Manufacturer - Honda

Predecessor CBR1000F Hurricane

Class - Hyper sport

Engine Type: 1137cc liquid-cooled inline four-cylinder

Ignition: Computer-controlled digital with three-dimensional mapping

Power 114 kW (153 hp) @ 10,000 rpm

Seat height 810 mm

Weight 227 kg (500 lbs)

Fuel capacity 23 liter (including the 4 liter reserve)

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11/ZZ-R1100, 176 mph (283km/h)

The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11/ZZ-R1100 was produced from 1990-2001. It was marketed as the ZX-11 Ninja in North America and the ZZ-R1100 in the rest of the world.

This bike held the crown of The World's Fastest Production Bike for close to a decade with a record top speed of 283 km/h (176 mph).

When the bike was introduced in 1990, the nearest production bike top speed was 16 km/h (10 mph) slower and it belonged to the ZX-10, the bike that Kawasaki was replacing with the ZX-11.

Manufacturer - Kawasaki

Predecessor - Kawasaki ZX-10

Successor - ZZ-R1200/ZX-12R

Class - Sport Tourer

Engine - 1052 cc 4-stroke, 4-cylinder, DOHC, liquid-cooled

Power - 108 kW (147 PS) @ 10,500 rpm

Transmission - 6 speed

BMW K 1200 S, 174 mph (280 km/h)

With enough raw power to shock even the most seasoned adrenaline junky, the K 1200 S hurls you from a dead stop to sixty mph in just 2.8 seconds.

On 25 September 2004, BMW globally launched a radically redesigned K Series motorcycle, the K 1200 S, containing an all new in-line four-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine featuring 123 kW (165 hp).

After the launch of K 1200 S, BMW unveiled the K 1200 R naked roadster, and the K 1200 GT sport tourer.

BUB Enterprises Streamliner

Wondering what this craft that resembles a rocket doing over here? Well this weird looking vehicle held the title of 'the world's fastest motorbike' in 2006.

Chris Carr, 7-time AMA Grand National Champion, piloted the BUB Enterprises Streamliner to a record 350.884 MPH at the 2006 International Motorcycle Speed Trials held at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah September 7.

Christened 'Seven' by owner Dennis Manning (it being the seventh streamliner Manning has designed in 40 odd years), the fastest motorcycle in the world features a purpose-designed and engineered V-Four cylinder turbo charged 16 valve liquid cooled double overhead cam motor.

India's highest paid CEOs

2008-10-13T07:50:00.000+05:30

Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Ltd has given its chief Mukesh Ambani, the country's richest person, a hefty pay hike of about 45 per cent to take his annual remuneration to over Rs 44 crore or ($10 million).

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, got a total payout of Rs 44.02 crore (Rs 440.2 million) in financial year 2007-08, marking an increase of about Rs 13.5 crore (Rs 135 million) from the previous fiscal.

In fiscal 2006-07, Ambani's annual remuneration had increased to Rs 30.46 crore (Rs 304.6 million), from Rs 24.77 crore (Rs 247.7 million), previously.

However, a large part of Ambani's full-year pay cheque comes in the form of commissions that the company pays to select executives as a ratio of its net profits.

According to the company's annual report being sent to shareholders, Ambani got a salary of Rs 60 lakh (Rs 6 million -- Rs 500,000 per month -- and another Rs 48 lakh (Rs 4.8 million) -- Rs 400,000 per month -- in the name of �perquisites and allowances.�

In addition, he got Rs 18.75 lakh (Rs 1.875 million) under the head of �retiral benefits� and Rs 42.754 crore (Rs 427.54 million) toward commission on net profit, taking his total to Rs 44.021 crore (Rs 440.21 million) for 2007-08.

P R Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha

P R Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha, chairman and managing director of Madras Cement, who had an annual payout of about Rs 24.8 crore (Rs 248 million), is the second highest paid head honcho in India.

Kalanidhi Maran & Kavery Kalanidhi

Sun TV chairman and managing director Kalanidhi Maran and joint managing director Kavery Kalanidhi, whose annual remuneration stood at Rs 23.26 crore (Rs 232.6 million) each in 2006-07, were next in te list of India's highest paid CEOs.

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Bharti Airtel's chairman and managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal ranks fourth with an annual pay packet of close to Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million).

K Anji Reddy

Dr Reddy's Laboratories executive chairman K Anji Reddy is the fifth highest paid executive in India with an annual compensation package of Rs 14.4 crore (Rs 144 million).

Brijmohan Lal Munjal & Pawan Munjal

Hero Honda's chairman Brijmohan Lal Munjal and the company's managing director and chief executive Pawan Munjal are ranked sixth and seventh with annual salaries of Rs 13.99 crore (Rs 139.9 million) and Rs 13.88 crore (Rs 138.8 million) each.

Naveen Jindal

Jindal Steel's executive vice chairman and managing director Naveen Jindal is in the eighth spot with an annual salary of Rs 13.5 crore (Rs 135 million), followed by Hero Honda's joint managing director Toshiaki Nakagawa (Rs 13.44 crore or Rs 134.4 million), and JSW Steel vice chairman Sajjan Jindal (Rs 13.24 crore or Rs 132.4 million) to complete the list of the top ten highest paid Indian CEOs

A M Naik

A M Naik, MD & CEO, Larsen and Toubro, has an annual pay packet of Rs 5.85 crore (Rs 58.5 million).

Anil Ambani

Anil Ambani does not even figure in the top-100 list with a total remuneration of about Rs 2.42 crore (Rs 24.2 million) from three of his group companies -- Reliance Energy, Reliance Communications and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd.

Anil's package as REL chairman was Rs 2.34 crore (Rs 23.4 million), while as RComm and RNRL chairman he got Rs 4.8 lakh (Rs 480,000) and Rs 3.2 lakh (Rs 320,000), respectively.

Azim Premji

The remuneration of as many as 15 executives stood at more than Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million). These included Cadila Health chairman and managing director Pankaj R Patel (Rs 12.43 crore or Rs 124.3 million); Dr Reddy's managing director and chief operating officer Satish Reddy (Rs 10.87 crore or Rs 108.7 million); Dr Reddy's chief executive officer G V Prasad (Rs 10.87 crore) ; Mercator Lines chairman and managing director Harish Kumar Mittal (Rs 10.07 crore or Rs 100.7 million); and Mercator Lines joint managing director Atul J Agarwal (Rs 10.07 crore).

Other CEOs who draw hefty sums include Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto, gets Rs 2.08 crore (Rs 20.8 million); B Muthuraman, managing director, Tata Steel has a compensation package of Rs 2.20 crore (Rs 22 million); K V Kamath, managing director and chief executive, ICICI Bank, gets Rs 2.48 crore (Rs 24.8 million); Aditya Puri, managing director, HDFC Bank, gets Rs 1.28 crore (Rs 12.8 million); Malvinder Singh, chief executive, Ranbaxy gets Rs 2.62 crore (Rs 26.2 million); and Azim Premji, chairman and managing director, Wipro, draws Rs 2.53 crore (Rs 25.3 million) as salary.