Cerebral Shangrila

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

NYT - Profile of a Valley entrepreneur

They say the Silicon valley air is infectious. NYT profiles Levchin ( the founder of Paypal) and talks about the indefatigable "start-up" culture in the Valley.

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Monday, October 29, 2007

Karnataka Tamasha

The title says it all about the on-going political tamasha in Karnataka. " Kumaraswamy herds his flock to a resort" says ET.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Rainbow Quiz - Identify the personality - Week 62

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's autobiography is one of the best business books that I have read. Its a very simple, down-to-earth book that is devoid of hep jargons.

clue # 1 : "X" was born in the city of Nagoya, to a family of sake brewers. Under the strict eyes of his father, "X" was groomed to become the heir to the family business.

clue # 2 : From an early age, "X" was fond of tinkering with electronic appliances, and mathematics and physics were his favorite subjects during school days.He would become engrossed in taking apart the phonograph and putting it back together.

clue # 3 : "X" was invited to join the faculty of the Tokyo Institute of Technology by one of its professors.He packed his belongings and prepared to leave for Tokyo, when an article about a research laboratory founded by Ibuka appeared in a newspaper. "X" visited Ibuka in Tokyo and they decided to establish a new company together.

clue # 4 : In 1946, Ibuka and X founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) with approximately 20 employees and initial capital of 190,000 yen.

clue # 5 : In 1949, the company developed magnetic recording tape and in 1950, sold the first tape recorder in Japan. In 1957, it produced a pocket-sized radio (the first to be full-transistorized) and a year later renamed itself "Y" (from the Latin for sound). In 1960, it produced the first transistor television in the world.The company soon became one of the most known brands in the world of electronics.

clue # 6 : In 1986, "X" wrote an autobiography titled "Made in Japan".It was an instant best-seller and one of the early books offering insight on Eastern management techniques.

clue # 7 : "X" was the first Japanese to be awarded the Albert Medal from the United Kingdom's Royal Society of Arts . He also received the National Order of the Legion of Honor , the highest and most prestigious French order.

Who is X? Name Y .

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Visa nightmare - Steve Hamm

The irony isn't lost either in the post or in the comments. Steve Hamm of BusinessWeek writes about his travails in getting an Indian Visa at the Indian consulate in NYC. The comments are filled with the US Visa nightmare stories from India with unveiled suggestion that the Indian visa in comparison is a cakewalk. That doesn't make a wrong right but then................

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Rainbow Quiz - Identify the personality - Week 61

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.

A promising Indian sportsman, "X" has made a mark in a sport that very few Indians have ( or can afford) taken up.

clue # 1 : "X" was born in a sports family. His father was one of the most famous Indian athletes and his mother was the former captain of the Indian volleyball team.

clue # 2 : "X" used to be his father's caddy when playing golf and that is how got interested in the sport.He also wanted to play a game that he could keep playing till the age of 60 or 70. No sport except golf allows one such luxury.

clue # 3 : "X" attended Abilene Christian University in the USA and graduated in Golf. He won the NCAA Division II individual golf championship in 1993.

clue # 4 : In April 2006, he won the Volvo China Open, becoming the second Indian player to win on the European Tour .

clue # 5 : In 2007, he became the first Indian golfer to participate in the Masters Tournament at Augusta.

clue # 6 : He was named Indian Sportsman of the Year in 2006, a prize that mostly goes to Cricketers.

clue # 7 : "X" received India's fourth highest civil honour, the Padma Shri in 2007.

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Friday, October 19, 2007

Apartment Rental ads

Apartment rental ads can be funny . Here is a recent ad that I saw (in Singapore), " 2+1 apartment, near to MRT ( Train station) in XYZ Road , Asking : $ABC , "No Indians, Chinese, Pets".

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Carnatic Idol

On the heels of other idols, Carnatica and Ragalaya trust would be launching a " Carnatic Idol" - Talent search competition soon. Click here , if you want to know more about or wanna participate.

The jury seems quite impressive. I am curious if any TV Channels are covering it .

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Sunday, October 14, 2007

Rainbow Quiz - Identify the personality - Week 60

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.

His passion for nature and wildlife is hard to emulate. I adore his TV programmes and have learnt so much from him. So this quiz, in a small way, is my tribute to him.

clue # 1 : "X" grew up on the campus of University College, Leicester, where his father was the principal. He spent his early childhood collecting fossils, stones and other natural specimens.

clue # 2 : After an early career in Navy , he applied for a job as a radio talks producer with the BBC. However, he was rejected for that but found a job in BBC's fledgling television service.

clue # 3 : "X"'s association with natural history programmes began when he produced and presented the three-part series "The Pattern of Animals".He later formed his own department, the Travel and Exploration Unit ( in BBC) , which allowed him to travel widely around the globe and produce documentaries, notably the Travellers’ Tales and Adventure series.

clue # 4 : Foremost among "X"'s TV documentary work as writer and presenter is the "Life" series. The "Life" series is acknowledged as one of the most comprehensive TV programmes on terrestrial life.

clue # 5 : " X" is now one of the world's best known broadcasters and naturalists and widely considered one of the pioneers of the nature documentary.

clue # 6 : He was Knighted in 1985 and in 2005, "X" was awarded the Order of Merit by the Queen which recognizes exceptional distinction in the arts, sciences and other areas.

clue # 7 : An opinion poll of Britons conducted by Reader's Digest in 2006 showed "X" to be the most trusted celebrity in Britain.

Who is X?

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Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Dr.Capecchi - An inspirational tale

The Nobel Prize for Medicine were announced today and one of the winners was Dr.Capecchi . Read this inspirational tale about a boy who survived second world war on the streets , enrolled in school at the age of 12 and has now gone to win the Nobel Prize. Very inspiring !

Excerpt from Washington Post , " He was only 3 when his mother, Lucy Ramberg, a member of a group of artists known as the Bohemians, was sent to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany as a political prisoner for pamphleteering against Nazism and fascism. Anticipating the arrest, Ramberg, who never married Capecchi's father, an officer in the Italian air force, sold her possessions, giving the money to a peasant family that she asked to care for her son. But the money ran out in a year."They didn't have the resources to keep me and maintain their own family," the scientist said in a telephone interview yesterday. "So I went on the streets."

Capecchi moved from town to town, hungry most of the time and occasionally living in orphanages or traveling with gangs of other homeless children who stole food from carts while other members of the group distracted the vendors. "Just surviving from day to day pretty much occupies your mind," he said in a 1997 interview with the Salt Lake Tribune.He spent years on the streets and nearly died of malnutrition in a hospital near Bologna, where he lay naked and feverish on a bed, existing on a daily bowl of chicory coffee and a small crust of bread. His mother, who was liberated from Dachau by U.S. troops in 1945, found him at the hospital after searching for more than a year. She showed up on his ninth birthday, carrying a Tyrolean outfit for him, complete with a small cap with a feather. She took him to Rome, where he had his first bath in six years."I still have the hat," he said in a 1996 lecture in Japan.

In 1946, Capecchi's uncle Edward Ramberg, a physicist living in a commune in Bucks County, Pa., sent money so that his sister and nephew could come live with his family in the United States."I was here one day, and the next day I went to my first school," Capecchi said. After attending Quaker schools through high school, Capecchi earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics from Antioch College in Ohio in 1961 and a doctorate in biophysics from Harvard University in 1967. At Harvard, he worked in the lab of molecular biologist James D. Watson, one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA.

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Sunday, October 07, 2007

Rainbow Quiz - Identify the personality - Week 59

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 a contemporary actor who has created a name for himself with his niche acting style and the ability to play a variety of roles with ease. Amazing actor.

clue # 1 : "X's" first job was running his family's potato Chips business in Mumbai. His turned his hobby of photography into a career and became a professional photographer.

clue # 2 : During his photo shoot with Shiamak Davar he tried to put some funny acts to relax the choreographer and Shiamak was so amused seeing X’s talent that he persuaded him to do theatre.

clue # 3 : He entered the theatre scene with a cameo in Alyque Padamsee's play "Roshni". He also portrayed Mahatma Gandhi in the Feroz Abbas Khan play Mahatma vs. Gandhi.

clue # 4 : "X's" success in theatre also got him some big TV commercials like the ‘Krack-Jack’, ‘Fanta’, ‘Bata’ and ‘Tata fone’ to name a few.

clue # 5 : He made his Bollywood film debut in Josh but later became famous in the cult film series "Y" where he played two different characters in the original and the sequel.

clue # 6 : In a short span of time,he has created a name for himself playing a variety of roles with ease. His roles have ranged from father, friend, uncle, doctor, abusive neighbour, courtroom judge, corrupt businessman, eccentric murderer and police officer.

clue # 7 : He follows Zoroastrianism and hails from the Parsi community.

Name X & Y ?

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Monday, October 01, 2007

BBC buys Lonely Planet

BBC worldwide has bought the travel guide publisher Lonely Planet. As a self-confessed travel junkie and Lonely Planet bhakt , I am uncertain about what this means to the brand . " Lonely Planet" in one of the most potent brands in the Travel publishing business and considered as a bible by many travelphiles.

On a parallel note, One of books that I am waiting to get my hands on is the Lonely Planet guide titled " Volunteer" . It combines two things I love - Travel and Community service ( Its a guide on travel through community service).

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