Peak Day Blues

An international quit smoking contest that dangles $10,000 as prize money has drawn a massive response in Kerala, with an institute associated with it finding its phone lines jammed on the very first day Friday. The Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) here is a partner of Finland's National Institute of Public Health, which has organised the contest the world over. "This contest is open to all across the world and any smoker who wants to quit smoking has to do it from May 1. On World No Tobacco Day on May 31, all those who have entered the contest would be included in a raffle and one lucky person from across the world will win $10,000," Gopi Chellan, who heads the anti-smoking campaign cell at AIMS, told the media. The ads came out in Kerala newspapers Friday. How to quit? Via: KTJ

The best message you can ever get in your computer!!!

One of the common sites during a peak season! The trash can will be full of tea cups, biscuit wrappers etc....

Last month's KGiSL IT Spotlight is out with a few articles that I've penned down. You can find the Intro , Award Ceremony , Snaps of Awardees Cultural Events , Baby's Day Out , my interview with Gautam, my story about the mysterious mobile man, and Mr. Ashok's speech on that day, which I transcribed with great difficulty :-) Alternatively, you can read the whole issue here

Thanks to my new Dish TV, I was able to watch this Sunday's Formula 1 GP at Imola. Truly, this was one of the best races I've ever seen with Michael Schumacher, the God of F1, staging a superb come back. But it was not easy for Schumi, as the new whiz kid on the block Alonso, gave him a real challenge ! The most amazing part was Schumi's esctatic celebrations when he won it. Though he is 37, he still has that competitive spirit in him! Long live God! Long live F1!

Murali forwarded me this picture of a rag picker or possibly a beggar inside an ATM, trying to take money!! At first sight, even I was shocked. But I doubt if he really went in there to take money from his debt card.... You decide! Anyway, India is shining!

The insurance industry in India was a state-controlled monopoly (read: LIC) until recently, when it decided to open it up for the private sector. While many have launched their own companies with tie-ups from foreign players, ICICI Prudential leads this race in the private sector. Now, ICICI Prudential has come up with a unique insurance product that is exclusively designed for cancer conditions and recovery, branded "Cancer Care". While many insurance players shy away from giving life cover to people with any form of disease, this is a welcome change! Read more about this unique product. Via: Hari V

Caught this cricket in action video during the Octagon Cricket Series finale...

If you have the eye for detail, a passion for cricket... Try spotting the ball! Pics taken from the Octagon Cricket Series finals

Going with the trend, our very own KTJ has just produced and released an album of rip rap song. The title of the album is "My Constitutional Blast"... Check it out Powered by Castpost

I have always had a doubt in my mind, which am sure many of you will share with me, as to how much is a million US dollars ($1m) worth in Indian Rupees.... I have had so many heated debates with my friends as to the value of this... I work in the financial industry and deal with US dollars and other currencies on a daily basis. So not knowing how much actually it is when converted made me kind of a dumb. Not anymore. After "extensive research", I have finally found the answer. $1 million = Rs. 4.9 crores!!

This may sound a little crazy, but there's a conspiracy theory going around in the office against me!! As part of the peak season, all of us decorate our bays with balloons and other stuff. This time also, our bay looks beautiful with all those stuffy heart-shaped balloons and tri-colored ones. I too had decorated it with two orange colored, heart-shaped balloons, and one Indian tri-colored one! Coming back to the conspiracy theory, when I came today for the shift, I found that both my heart-shaped balloons are broken! This had happened in the last quarter also. Now, who's the culprit???

52 Days 2 go before the mega event starts in Germany! My favs: Brazil & Germany! PS: Match Schedule

Super cool street dance! PS: Johnson, try some of these steps!

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. 2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction automatically!!!! Try it. Via: Murali S

A lot of neighborhoods don't allow the owners to park Boeing 707s outside their homes, which is why actor John Travolta moved to Jumbolair , near Ocala. OCALA -- It's not just another housing development, as you can tell by the 1.4-mile airstrip and the Boeing 707 parked next to one of the houses.Located in the Central Florida town of Anthony, just north of Ocala, it's called Jumbolair, and it's the new home of John Travolta -- '70s TV phenom,film superstar, Oscar-nominated actor, sex symbol, accomplished pilot,doting husband and father. After several years of whispers about his building a house here, the 49-year-old actor has taken up residence in his nearly completed mansion.Travolta is flying daily from Ocala to Tampa to shoot "The Punisher," an action movie based on the comic book, set to be released next summer.A lifelong love of aviation holds the key to Travolta's decision to build at Jumbolair. Travolta owns at least two jets, a Gulfstream and

In 1990, a litre of fuel cost Rs 6.36 and a movie ticket cost Rs 6.50. Today, a litre of fuel costs Rs 48 and to watch a film, you have to cough up Rs 130! Most of this unsavoury escalation is attributed to inflation. Going by today’s prices, you may estimate your daughter’s wedding to cost you 10 lakhs. But you have already begun saving and so you think you have everything under control. Sorry Dad, you don’t. About 20 years from now, when she is ready to marry, you may need about 25 lakhs! Blame this unfair rise of prices on inflation. Inflation is currently around 5.5%. If the interest rate you earn is less than 5.5%, your savings are not keeping up. In the present scenario a savings account gives you up to 3.5% interest!

Last Friday, Infosys announced its record quarterly results for the "Nth" time and obviously Mr. Narayana Murthy is elated. Infosys gave away a huge bonus to its stakeholders also in the way of an extended 1:1 bonus dividend. Btw, Infosys is also celebrating its 25th anniversary. With all these celebrations, there was a special interview in CNBC with Mr. Murthy this weekend. Was happy that I could watch it as it had loads of wisdom from this great man. When asked what you think are the five key factors of your sucess, Mr. Murthy said: 1. Clients - they give us the food, they are our annadatas. 2. Employees - without our employees, we couldn't have achieved anything. 3. Vendors - they play a key role in our growth. 4. Business Practices - Infy has a well defined corporate governance strategy and has NEVER missed their earnings guidance. 5. Ethics - Infy conducts all its businesses with the best of ethics and honor. They claim to have not greased a single government hand (w

Azim Premji, 60, owns more than 80% of Bangalore-based Wipro, India's third largest software exporter, which had annual revenues of $1.8 billion in 2005. Forbes magazine reckons that his net worth exceeds $13 billion, and it places him at No. 25 in its most recent ranking of the world's richest people. In the first of a two-part interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Premji speaks with Ravi Aron, a professor of operations and information management at Wharton, about Wipro's reorganization last year following the departure of its former CEO; why the company chose to move to a new structure based on so-called verticals; how Wipro's business operations are changing; and the challenges the company faces in building management talent. Read the interview

If you think you have seen/heard everything by watching ABC News Report on Outsourcing and The other side of outsourcing , think again! Here's another Peak Day Blues' exclusive where the same ABC news reporter comes again to India during the recent Bush visit for another retrospective..... The video features Chetan Bhagat, Thomas Friedman, Outsourcing teaching and healthcare tourism! As usual, a must watch!

Here's our official "pitch" reporter "Pitch Pandi" reporting for the Octagon Cricket Series!

The technology these days has improved so much that anything u imagined not possible, can be made possible. Take for instance this dude, who, with the help of a computer software has reversed the famous "Jingle Bells" song to derive a new meaning out of it. Check it out for urself

[The Winners] [Runners up] PS: Will put up the match report soon!

There are some things that money can't buy. For everything else, my salary isn't sufficient!!

While loitering around the racing circuit during the recent JLT, we all heard some super-sonic sounds. Upon inspection of the skies, saw 3 fighter jets doing rounds. It looked like another 9/11 was about to happen!! :-)

This time, the JLT party was held at the famous Kari Motor Speedway in the outskirts of Coimbatore. To be precise, a village called Chettipalayam, some 10 kms from the main city. We had a gala time at the circuit and this can easily be counted as one of the best JLT's ever. Indeed it was a special JLT for me too personally as am very much interested in Go Karting and had raced in two other circuits in Coimbatore, but never got a chance to visit Kari Motor Speedway. There were nearly 45 of us there and all of us karted to our hearts content!! Towards the end, we even had a pro race in which Rajiv, myself, Russel, and Chandru participated. Any guesses as to the winner?? Hmm... Yours Truly! :-) There were even some horrifying racing accidents as it is part of motor racing. Our champ racer, Abhilash, went and crashed his kart into the near by field! Though I didn't see the incident myself, I heard from others that the Kart almost flew from the surface. The saddest part was, we had

[Kari Motor Speedway - Named after the late racing driver S. Karivardhan] [The Race Track in full view] [Guys getting ready to race!] [Racing in full steam] [Okay, let's decide who's next!] [Rajiv driving his "invisible" kart, while Abhilash changing the tyres] [Race up, what next fellows?] [Rajiv finally got a "real" kart and is all set to race!] [Come on folks, fast, let us have one chance] [The pro's finally decided to race! That's me in Kart #2] [Sun sets, marking an end to the racing fiasco]

We reached Kari Motor Speedway 15 minutes before the event and headed straight to the garage to check out some cool karts! [The karts we were going to use were lined up near the entrance] [The front portion of a specially developed race car which was a whopping engine power] [These are the specially made Formula-LGB racing cars for a couple of Sri Lankans who visit here now and then for racing. Each has got an esteem engine and is one of the most powerful in the Indian circuits] [Say cheese! Russell inside the car, Rajiv next to him and Abhilash leaning over the yellow car] [A kodak moment!] [A brand new Rotax Kart getting ready. It costs Rs. 4 laks!] [The machine assembly line. Some of the best mechanics assemble these mean machines]

Thomas Friedman, the New York Times Foreign Correspondnet and the author of "The World Is Flat" had come to India a year back and had taken a program for Discovery Channel called " The Other Side of Outsourcing ".... Now, in a Peak Day Blues' exclusive, here's the best ever series taken on BPO industry in India ever!! A must watch folks, must watch!

You have all seen Dhoni hitting chakkas in baseball style... but in a test match in Faislabad against Pakistan, he bowled a rare over.... So, here's Dhoni bowling for you... PS: If anyone knows more details about this match where Dhoni bowled, pls put it in comments

ABC, america's premier TV channel did a show recently on their Good Morning America program about India and it's growing economic strength vis-a-vis China and the US. Obviously, the pin up of this topic was Outsourcing. I urge you all to watch this video to get a perspective of what Americans think of us. Am proud about my India!

A man smuggled half a tonne of $2 coins out of the Royal Australian Mint in his boots and lunch box and kept notes of when he exchanged the money! Read the story

Rajiv forwarded me this video of a kid who is perfectly fit to join a BPO company... These kids learn the trick of the trade tooo fast these days, you know!

[img courtesy - DNA]

Was watching the Kochi ODI live on TV in the evening while getting ready to office.... Yuvi and Raina playing... Pin-drop silence in the crowd... Raina gets out! The crowds starts to cheer very loudly... Me wondering what the heck! TV camera zooms to a pluckard "Dhoni On Fire"... Commentators cheerily announce Dhoni's arrival.... a quick stat on Dhoni on screen.... strike rate of 180!... Yuvi gets out in the next ball... Ad break... Dhoni featured in a TVS advertisement... back to stadium... crowd cheering Dhoni Dhoni!... Heck, time for office.... moving to office with a sad face... couldn't see Dhoni batting... Truly, Dhoni has arrived!

In the second semi-final of the Octagon Series, Chelsea took on Juventus. Chelsea won the toss and elected to field first. This match saw both the teams making huge scores and was the highest scoring game of the series. Manohar and Nithin opened the innings for Juventus. Manohar got out early with 9 runs. Peter and Nithin really started hitting hard and had the opposition in doldrums. Both of them scored 20s and remained not out. Ajith and Murali chipped in towards the end of the innings with valuable scores of 5 and 14 respectively. If the first semi was won/lost because of "extras", this match also was no different. There were 11 extras in one over! Chelsea was very generous and gave away 21 runs via extras. At the end of the innings, Juventus amassed a huge total of 91 runs. Chelsea didn't lose heart and batted with a vengeance in the second innings. If Chelsea gave away 21 runs, Juventus gave 16 runs by way of extras. Juby and Sashi started the innings, but Sashi got

In the first semi final of the Octagon Series, Real Madrid took on Manchester United. Real Madrid won the toss and elected to field. Raja and Pradeep opened the innings for Manchester United. Both of them got out early with cheap scores, but Patrick and Vinoth who followed them played well with each scoring more than 15 runs. Vinoth got run out and Bala followed him, who had a blistering knock at the field. To the angst of everyone, Real Madrid gave away 22 valuable runs as extras! At the end of the first innings, thanks to some "extras", Manchester United had accumulated a whopping 77 runs in 8 overs. Manchester United had a dream start in the second innings, when they got out the openers of Real Madrid for ducks! Johnson and Arunprasad steadied the innings, with some blisterning knock by Johnson towards the end, but it was too late. With just 9 extras in the scalp, Manchester United gave away only 61 runs and won this thriller of a match! Scorecard: PS: Due to unforeseen re

As part of the Octagon Cricket Series, I have been running a poll titled "Which team will rank last in Octagon Cup?" from April 1 . Needless to say, there were some heavy polling going around and already the aggregate total of the votes is standing at an astounding 1573 votes!! Team Arsenal is leading this poll so far with 475 votes or 30% of the total votes. Keep Voting folks! These are the results so far..... IDEA Mani's: Abhilash & Russel

Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Juventus have qualified for the semi finals of the Octagon Cricket Series. Manchester United will take on Real Madrid and Juventus will take on Chelsea on Thursday. The finals will be held on Friday. All the best to the teams!

A remarkable magic of numbers that happened 100 years ago will take place early Wednesday - when time and date will read 01:02:03 04/05/06 exactly at two minutes and three seconds after 1 a.m. Via: JVK

Now you can watch all the remaining ODI's between India and England over the Internet! Yep, live webcast! Sify's broadband website Sifymax is providing this service. According a press release - "This is another first in our quest to provide the most exciting India-centric broadband content for Internet users. Cricket in India goes beyond a national passion- its practically a religion! Now broadband users will be able to watch the ODIs from the office, or from Sify iWays in over 149 cities across the country. Our intention is to make www.sifymax.in their home on the web with initiatives such as this" Warning: Pls don't try this at office! ;-)

Video #3 of celebrations!

Here's the second video of "Barcelona winning moments"

As you know, my team, Barcelona registered our first win last Friday morning in the Octagon Cricket Cup. Here's the first video of the celebrations!

In the second match on Day 4, Barcelona played against Juventus. Barcelona won the toss and elected to field first. Murali and Manohar started the innings for Juventus, but both of them perished fast because of some good bowling and fielding by Barcelona. Catches win matches and it was very true for this match as all the top batsmen of Juventus got out because of some brilliant catches. "RC took a diving catch to get rid of Jomy". Peter was the saving grace for Juventus, as this left hander played a patient innings and amassed 19 runs. In the end, Juventus took a total of 50 runs. Barcelona had a very good outing in the field, with just 5 extras. In return, Hari and Lal opened the innings. Hari added 8 runs before getting bowled to an inswinger from Manohar. Lal and Reyas build up a good partnership afterwards which helped Barcelona steady their innings. Towards the end, Shijo and RR made sure that Barcelona won with a comfortable margin. What was striking in this innings was

On the fourth day of the Octagon Cricket Series, the mighty Real Madrid took on Valencia. Real Madrid won the toss and elected to field. Karthick and Rajesh opened the innings for Valencia. It was a normal start for Valencia and Karthick and Raghav got out in quick successions. Antony could score only 2 before getting out to a Caught & Bowled by Arunprasad. Rajesh played brilliantly and took 15 runs before getting out, trying to hit a boundary. Mishtert, Suresh K and Jothi contributed their parts in the innings. At the end of the allotted 8 overs, Valencia scored 54 runs. In return, Real Madrid got off to a shaky start and lost both their openers in quick successions. But Johnson played a well-calculated and brilliant knock (23 runs) where he made sure his team is sailing past the victory line smoothly. Valencia conceded too many extras (15) and that also partly helped Real Madrid win the match easily. A lot of credit goes to Johnson, for playing a sensible knock, by just talking s

First of all, wish you all a very very Happy UR Day!! Last year around, I still fondly remember how I fooled all my dear readers and hence this time no such jokes! Will narrate how I fooled my friends/colleagues so far... First Victim: Mr. Krishnan. He was downstairs participating in the activity. Went and told him that Hari is calling him to his cabin for an urgent meeting! Second & Third Victim: Sashi & Antony. They also were downstairs participating in the activity. Told them that RR is urgently calling them for a meeting! Fourth Victim: Hari Veeraragavan! Send him a blank document with April Fool written on it, telling him it's an urgent file that needs to be uploaded! Failed Chances: Sumi escaped! Told her that Ranjith is calling her up and gave the cell. :-( didn't work out! This is just the beginning guys.... be careful with me! (Evil laugh)