Automated Prasads and erosion of Spirituality from our temples

Last updated on: July 19, 2008 at 4:57 pm By Desh Kapoor

Image via WikipediaPrasad at Lord Murugan temple in the Palani hills was regarded as perhaps the oldest form of jam. Its made of five fruits, sugar and sugar candy. The crowds of devotees are so huge and demand for prasad so high that the temple has decided to set up an automated plant to create prasad. The trial production from the machine has started. Established at the cost of Rs 1.5 crore, the machine would not only help make the process of the prasadam easier but it would also increase production as the demand was increasing daily. The authorities claim that the taste would not differ at all and it will require just 13 people to get the plant working. The prasad will have enough longevity also. "If the seal of the prasadam pack is opened, it will be suitable for consumption upto a week. If the seal is not opened it is fit for consumption upto a month," temple authorities said. What do you think? This over-indulgence of symbols and prasads in our temples has taken away from the original truth, hasnt it? The very thing that Adi Shankara fought for is being wiped out. Read more

Somnath Chatterjee – a partisan speaker

Last updated on: July 19, 2008 at 4:31 pm By Desh Kapoor

I had discussed the partisan behavior of Somnath Chatterjee.. well, here is one instance. He made a statement in a derogatory manner about BJP which that party is obviously not very please about! The point is that a person who is managing the parliament should at least have a neutral behavior and not bring his party or ideological politics into the fray in his public dealings. But Somnath Chatterjee is very small in this respect. The Bharatiya Janata Party has questioned the statement of Speaker Somnath Chatterjee that he would not like to be seen to vote along with BJP. What do you think about Somnath? Read more

Nerdy Girls want to show beauty can mix with brains

Last updated on: July 19, 2008 at 4:23 pm By Desh Kapoor

Lauren JonesStudying and specially "nerdy" subjects like Mathematics, Science, and Computers is supposed to be non-chic. Geeky and hot females ostensibly don't go together. But there is a bunch of girls who are out to prove that wrong. They are travelling the US and trying to spread the message that its fine to be chic and to be intelligent and geeky. This will help dispel the un-necessary myth that beauty and brains do not mix! In addition to Vardaro, Panetta was accompanied by three other female engineers, any of whom could find work as a model. Cristina Sanchez is pursuing her master’s in biological engineering at Tufts. Lauren Jones is a computer engineer working on reducing the size of microprocessors. Reshma Taufiq is helping Nike build a digital presence in India. The women are also talented in music and the arts, are physically active, and love dressing up and shopping. But they’re also delighted to get a soldering gun for a birthday present. Read more

Managing people and micro-managing

Last updated on: July 19, 2008 at 4:14 pm By Desh Kapoor

Image via WikipediaHow can you motivate kids and people to work? I was reading this morning in this book "Confidence" of how ABC network has been losing against NBC because of the different ways in which the managements of these two companies work. ABC has a very micromanaging top management - specially with the coming of Disney - while NBC's GE management basically simply wanted the results to be right.. meaning the GE companies should be #1 or #2 in their industry. Beyond that, it was upto the company on how to do that. So, it has done far better! In my life, I have seen that when I was told on what to do and how to do, I would not perform as well as when I was motivated to work because of certain results I had to achieve! So, what is the best strategy to lead? Is it by micromanaging or by giving people enough space? In my experience as a leader, I have seen that when I gave enough space to people to do their thing - while mentioning the goals I expected of them, the results were spectacular! I never missed on timelines or the deliverables! One of the reasons why this may happen is because when the locus of responsibility is kept within the performer then there is a personal accountability. But when the manager intends to tell his subordinate on exactly how to do things and not do, then the sense of responsibility is far less. The results of anyone are directly related to focus which comes from this sense of responsibility. That is where the rub is. What has been your experience with leadership and level of management of people? Read more

Should Pan-Islamic agenda trump National Interest??

Last updated on: July 19, 2008 at 3:17 pm By Desh Kapoor

There is this joker - a rebel Samajwadi MP Munnawar Hassan.. he is going to vote against the Nuclear deal and his reason: "I will defy the party whip and vote against the UPA government on nuclear deal during the confidence vote on July 22. I have support of around seven party MPs. The deal is anti-Muslim and we are against it more so because it is being promoted by the US, which is an anti-Muslim country," Hasan told reporters. Now, this is precisely why people who look at pan-religious affiliations over their national interests become such a burden to a country they live in! US is bombing the shit out of Iraq and threatening Iran. Every Muslim and his brother who wants to fight dreams of going to Iraq and is therefore in the cross-hairs of US. HOW THE HECK DOES IT AFFECT INDIA? or even Indian Muslims? Why should the policies of OUR country be decided on how someone in another part of the world is behaving with another guy? Is there ANY relation between an Iraqi Muslim and Indian Muslim? If anyone were to look carefully in Iraq one would know that greater damage is being done to human life NOT because of US killings but because of Sunnis and Shias fighting! Iran is helping Shias and Al Qaeda (ISI, Talibani-minded people included) are helping the Sunnis! So, which "Muslim" in Iraq are we talking about?? Read more

AP photographers with suspicious credentials in insurgent areas

Last updated on: July 16, 2008 at 5:40 pm By Desh Kapoor

Journalistic ethics are always in question when one is dealing with times of human tragedy. In 2006, AP photographer Bilal Hussein won the Pulitzer prize for his coverage in Iraq. It was found that Hussein was involved with Al Qaeda and that is what helped him take those close photographs. AP excused the photographer even though bomb making material was found in his apartment. Now Rahmatullah Naikzad, another AP photographer has taken pictures of two Afghani women murdered by Taliban. These are interesting pictures. Look at these pictures carefully. The women are sitting and talking to each other and in the next shot they have been shot and lying in a pool of blood while people are watching over. One difference - first shot is a night shot and second is a day shot. So, the photographer was on the scene for quite sometime. He has other pictures as well that show he was with the Taliban insurgents shooting their preparations and combing operations. Of course, one of the question that comes to mind on looking at the pictures is - should he have just looked on while Taliban shot these two ladies? How should it work? Read more

How big is the Indian IT services market?

Last updated on: July 15, 2008 at 6:50 pm By Desh Kapoor

This is an interesting interview with Phaneesh Murthy - who left Infosys (I think after a scandal) and joined iGate. He has taken the company from negative 8% to positive 37% profit margins. That's a big jump. Some of his stats are interesting to read: In 1991-92, I used to talk about the addressable market for Indian services as being about $25 billion. Today, the entire industry is $55 billion and I consider the addressable market as $1.5 trillion. and then about the how much of the CIO budget ends up in India: From an Indian outsourcer perspective, I see light all the time. Today's CIOs spend 16-18 per cent of their IT budgets in India and that will go to 25 per cent over the next 3 years. That itself has the capacity to increase the industry by 40-50 per cent. Read more

Indian MP can be bought for $6 million

Last updated on: July 15, 2008 at 12:38 am By Desh Kapoor

No wonder this is regionalization of Indian politics! Its not about democracy or power anymore. It is about money. Anybody who becomes an MP uses that "card" to earn money. How? Well by giving support to one of the major parties or the other. How does that help? According CPI General Secretary (a party that knows a thing or two about "giving support" whether outside or inside the Government), AB Bardhan, the going rate for a Member of Parliament in India is Rs 25 crores (USD 6 million)! Imagine if a person wins in two general elections and strategically decides to show support of one of the major parties... that's enough to last him/her a lifetime! It is rather amusing that this joker, Bardhan, chooses to give it a the "principles twist" when things are going against his party 🙂 I am sure no other party has made as much money as these communist parties by strategically deciding whom to support and not in the last so many elections! Now, to turn back and tell all is very interesting. At least it throws the cat out of the bag. The truth is that an Indian politician - including those who crib - are purchasable commodities.. like toilet paper on the Wal-mart shelf. Whosoever can pay the price for it can buy the guy/gal! Indian democracy is a big prostitution game and politicians behave as prostitutes. The sooner we realize the better! Its not about us or our progress... its about their own pockets! Read more

Tony Snow dies of cancer

Last updated on: July 12, 2008 at 11:40 pm By Desh Kapoor

Today another person went down to cancer - colon cancer. Tony Snow was the press secretary in Bush's White House and was fighting cancer for last year or so. Today he died. He was also at Fox Channel. Its not been very long since he was diagnosed with this instance of cancer and was working on the chemotherapy. The speed at which a person dies is amazing after cancer detection. I still remember a partner at my old consulting firm. He used to go to gym with a friend. One day he told my friend that he had some pain in his abdomen. He didnt think much of it. 3-4 months later he was dead because of cancer - don't know where the cancer was in his body. Most of the medical research seems to be concentrating at the wrong end! Its not about treating it but preventing it. We still do not know what causes it? The incidence of colon cancer is sometimes believed to be linked to eating meat... and I agree with that assessment. Diet choices have a lot to do with our ailments.. that is where enough work has not been done! Read more

Biggest Bank failure in US! IndyMac – $20 billion – goes under..

Last updated on: July 12, 2008 at 11:14 pm By Desh Kapoor

Image via WikipediaToday a USD 20 billion IndyMac bank went down. Got an email from a friend who gave an account of how it affects at the personal level.. Indy Mac bank based in California was taken over by FDIC on 7/11/2008 at 3:00 PM PDT and is the largest Bank Failure ever. It is strongly suggest that you review all bank accounts and keep the limits below $100,000 for bank accounts and below $500,000 for Brokerage. My friend's Dad had an account with > $30,000 at Indy Mac bank and he tried to get his money out last week and they said that they could not find his signature card, and refused his withdrawal. He then asked if they could wire the funds out, and they said that he would need to submit a notarized document requesting the wire. UNBELIEVABLE!!! His dad's account is fully insured, but most likely he will lose 1 months of Interest since his interest would have posted on 7/15/2008 and the bank went under on 7/11/2008. There has been a lot of news around WAMU (Washington Mutual) and Lehmann Brothers, and they are also very large and could possibly go under. It is highly advisable to reduce all accounts EVERYWHERE below the insurance limits. Especially vunerable are all business accounts, which often have balances greater than the FDIC limits. Please feel free to forward to others that you feel could benefit from such knowledge. Read more