BEQ ( Brand Equity Quiz) , Chennai - Some questions...

I miss BEQ. Though I never won it , I had fun participating in it ( Interestingly in a different city every time) and even managed to reach the finals once.

Here are some interesting questions from the BEQ Chennai quiz that was held last week. Give it a shot and I shall post the answers in a few days (if no one cracks it by then) ...

1.Which welfare economist did P.Chidambaram quote in his 2007 budget?

2.Which Bank is the official bank for Tirupathi ladoo?

3.In Which city did the first spencer’s retail store open?

4.Which Economist is the new face on the 20 pound note?

5.According to Forbes, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem earns 5 million from the use of whose Image?

6.If he maintains the same pace, his company will absorb the whole of US economy in 34 years?

7.What is the official title of Mitchell Fox, the head of Mozilla Foundation?

8.For what is Lulu Booker prize given every year?

9.In 1995, which Madras born made millions when Beatles re-released ?

10.Which brand claims that they use 1 out 25 coconuts grown in India?

Rainbow Quiz - Identify the personality - Week 34

Here is the next weekly "Rainbow" quiz , where I would be giving 7 clues (Hence the name Rainbow) about a personality. Try to discover the person in the least number of clues . You can either leave the answer as a comment / email me . Feedback/ suggestions welcome. Googling is not preferred but then its just for fun and so go ahead if you need to.

An extremely versatile musician.

clue # 1 : "X" is a child prodigy and started performing vocal concerts at the age of five. Apart from vocal music , for which he is famous, he is also an expert instrumentalist. He can play the violin, viola, kanjira, veena and mridangam.

clue # 2 : Nearly 400 Carnatic musical compositions are credited to him. He invented several new ragas and a new tala (rhythm) system is also credited to him.

clue # 3: "X" was one of the first vocalists to collaborate with Hindustani classical musicians like Bhimsen Joshi, Hariprasad Chaurasia and Kishori Amonkar to perform jugalbandis in concert.

clue # 4 : "X" has composed in all the 72 melakarta ragas (base ragas) of Carnatic music.

clue # 5 : "X" traces his lineage to the musical trinity and belongs to the fifth generation of Thyagaraja’s direct disciples.

clue # 6 : "X" has had no formal education. In fact, he says he has not been to school for more than three months. However, he has received at least seven honorary doctorates including Ph D, D Sc and D Litt.

clue # 7 : Apart from classical music, "X" is also a winner of national awards in the best playback singing and the best music direction category.

who is X?

Rainbow Quiz - Identify the personality - Week 33

Here is the next weekly "Rainbow" quiz , where I would be giving 7 clues (Hence the name Rainbow) about a personality. Try to discover the person in the least number of clues . You can either leave the answer as a comment / email me . Feedback/ suggestions welcome. Googling is not preferred but then its just for fun and so go ahead if you need to.

Cricket is in the air. Here is a quiz on a little known yet amazing cricketer.

clue # 1 : "X" was born in Panama and eventually played cricket for the West Indies.

clue # 2 : "X" has a career batting average in Test cricket of an exceptional 60.83.

clue # 3 : "X" was of medium build, compact, balanced and light on his feet. Like most great batsmen he was a superb back-foot player and seldom made a hurried shot. Sir Leonard Hutton, who saw him at his best in the 1930's, declares he has never seen a batsman play the ball later.

clue # 4 : His brilliant career was cut short by the second world war when no major test series were held.

clue # 5 : X's scoring feats led to his being dubbed the "black Bradman".

clue # 6 : His son appeared in two Test matches for the West Indies and his grandson played fifteen Test matches and thirteen one day internationals for England .

clue # 7 : The 8,000 seat "X" stand at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica is named in his honour.

Who is X ?

Sports - Treading on dangerous grounds

Gone are the days when sport was an amusement or a pastime. Its assuming dangerous proportions today ( Competing with religion in terms of the hoopla and madness) that has resulted in unpardonable acts and despicable behavior.

The death of Bob Woolmer, the pakistani coach, immediately after the team's defeat is the last straw. Said to be under severe stress after the loss, Woolmer fell a victim to a sport that he loved.

The anger shown by the Paki fans and the Indian fans ( Burning effigies, throwing stones at cricketers' houses, burning posters, stalling parliament proceedings) is deplorable both in motive and in act. There are far important things to do in life than burning posters and effigies.Be a sport.

Mozhi -Excellent movie

Have you ever sat inside a movie hall wishing that this movie never gets over ? ( I am sure the converse of this statement happens more often) . Mozhi is a path breaking film in every sense of the word. The direction, story, characters, acting, dialogues, music , lyrics - they are all flawless.

I salute Prakashraj for making a movie straight from his heart. Go watch it !

Who is Reliance going to buy ?

Indian media continues its "sensationalism" unabated. Take this as an example.

TOI states that Reliance is looking to buy US petrochem giant Dow Chemicals ( Nothing wrong in that but with no details if its going to be purchase of a stake or a complete acquisition. Lot of fluff with some numerology thrown in) .

Rediff ups the ante and states in no uncertain terms that Reliance is looking to buy a retail giant the size of Walmart, Tesco or Carrefour ( Did they do any math before writing this stuff?).

FT gives a more realistic picture that Reliance is looking to buy a 13% stake in Carrefour.

I am surprised by some of the articles that I see these days in rediff . What happened to them?

Rainbow Quiz - Identify the personality - Week 32

Here is the next weekly "Rainbow" quiz , where I would be giving 7 clues (Hence the name Rainbow) about a personality. Try to discover the person in the least number of clues . You can either leave the answer as a comment / email me . Feedback/ suggestions welcome. Googling is not preferred but then its just for fun and so go ahead if you need to.

We all love magic. X was perhaps the most famous practitioner of that art.

clue # 1 : "X" was born in Budapest, Hungary and was of Jewish decent. His father was a rabbi.

clue # 2 : He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1878 at the age of 4 . As a child he took several jobs, one of which was as a locksmith's apprentice, and then being a champion cross country runner.

clue # 3 : He made his public debut as a 10-year-old trapeze artist, calling himself, "the prince of the air."

clue # 4 : In 1894, he became a professional magician, and began calling himself "X "( his assumed name by which he is famous) .

clue # 5 : He was a sensation being billed as the "King of Cards", "The Handcuff King" for his dare-devil shows and performed with great success around US & Europe.He would free himself from jails, handcuffs, chains, ropes, and straitjackets, often while hanging from a rope in plain sight of street audiences.

clue # 6 : "X" died from a ruptured appendix caused due to blows delivered to him by a student.

clue # 7 : A new biography of him suggests that he worked for both Scotland Yard and the US Secret Service. It suggests that he used his escape act tours to cover intelligence gathering.

Who is "X" ?

ICC world cup Opening Ceremony

Thanks to Youtube.

Firefox Plug-ins

If you use the firefox browser, here are some cool plug-ins that you can try. I tried the "colorful tabs" plug-in and it looks cool.

Let the fun begin...WC'07

Over the next 45 days , a nation would be caught up in the fever. Here is an inspirational ode to the Indian team.

Nirmal Shekar writes about some world cup resolutions worth considering.

Good luck team India !

Rainbow Quiz - Identify the personality - Week 31

Here is the next weekly "Rainbow" quiz , where I would be giving 7 clues (Hence the name Rainbow) about a personality. Try to discover the person in the least number of clues . You can either leave the answer as a comment / email me . Feedback/ suggestions welcome. Googling is not preferred but then its just for fun and so go ahead if you need to.

X is truly a visionary who believes that poverty can be eliminated by social action, public policy and technology. He leads by example with his research foundation.

clue # 1 : "X" was in Kumbakonam, TN (India) as the second of four sons. His father died when he was just 11.

clue # 2 : "X" was strongly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s belief in ahimsa to achieve Purna swaraj and swadeshi (self-reliance), on both a personal and national level. This led him to choose a career in agriculture.

clue # 3 : He earned his Ph.D degree from Cambridge and then accepted a post-doctoral research associateship in the US. Despite his strong personal and professional satisfaction with the research work in the US, he declined the offer of a full time faculty position there, because his purpose of getting an excellent foreign education was to equip himself for serving the cause of India.

clue # 4 : "X" played a crucial role in the food revolution and is known for his leadership and success in introducing and further developing high yielding varieties of wheat in India.

clue # 5 : "X" is often referred to as the "Father of the Green Revolution" in India.He is widely respected for his effective advocacy of sustainable development, especially using environmentally sustainable agriculture, sustainable food security and the preservation of biodiversity.

clue # 6 : His wife is also an active social worker. His wife is especially interested in the empowerment of women in rural areas and education of underprivileged rural children. They set-up the first ever primary school for Irula children in Pichavaram (TN).

clue # 7 : "X" has received several national and international awards . He was one of three from India included in TIME Magazine's 1999 list of the "20 most influential Asian people of the 20th century", the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

Who is X?

Hutch's pug "magic" continues...

And the magic continues. Even after achieving near cult status, the magic of the Pug ads seem to be getting better. Here is their recent Ad ( May be not so recent, being 2-3 months old). I thought this ad looked cute.

P.S : Btw,Looks like Post-Vodafone, the Hutch pug will get to stay.

Earthquake scare

Got off with a minor scare today, as the Indonesian earthquake sent tremors across Singapore. My office building had to be evacuated and I was back home by afternoon.

What's next for India ?

BCG ( Boston Consulting Group) & Knowledge @ Wharton , write about " What's next for India - Beyond the Back office" . This report talks about the state of infrastructure, telecom and manufacturing.

Rainbow Quiz - Identify the personality - Week 30

Here is the next weekly "Rainbow" quiz , where I would be giving 7 clues (Hence the name Rainbow) about a personality. Try to discover the person in the least number of clues . You can either leave the answer as a comment / email me . Feedback/ suggestions welcome. Googling is not preferred but then its just for fun and so go ahead if you need to.

I love X's first book , one of the best thrillers that I have ever read.

clue # 1 : X was born in Kent (UK).At the age of 19, he became one of the youngest pilots ever in the Royal Air Force, where he served until the late 1950's.

clue # 2 : He then became a reporter, and spent three and a half years working at a small newspaper before joining Reuters . He later joined the BBC and was an assistant diplomatic correspondent there.

clue # 3 : In early 1970's,"X" decided to write a novel using similar research techniques to those used in journalism. His first full length novel, was published in 1971 and became an international bestseller. It was later made into a movie with the same name. It also earned him the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel.

clue # 4 : Since then, he has written several thrillers with his most recent work being published in 2006.

clue # 5 : Similar to his plots, he tried a coup in real life as well by giving money to mercenaries in an aborted attempt to topple the leader of Equatorial Guinea (in the 70's).

clue # 6 : He is an occasional radio broadcaster on political issues, and has also written for newspapers throughout his career.

clue # 7 : "X" Writes all his best-selling novels the old-fashioned way - on a typewriter. He also confesses that he doesn't use the internet very much because he "doesn't trust it".

Who is X?

Priniciples of Economics - Simplified ( Funny Video)

What do you get if you mix an economist and a Stand-up comedian ? Watch this video to find out. If you love economics, I am sure you will enjoy this video.

Btw,one of the few books that I still have with me ( post MBA) is the economics
book by Gregory Mankiw . Mankiw also writes one of the most popular blog on economics.