Gong Chi Fa Cai

Last week I had a chance to witness the famous lion dance in relation to the Chinese New Year Celebrations -The Year of Rooster.It was quite an new experience for me ..

In China, besides dragon dance, the lion dance is another popular recreation for the Chinese during their new year season. The 'Lion' which popularly exists in the Chinese culture and custom, is seemingly incredible because China does not have lions and the description of lions by the Chinese nobles derived from their imaginations. Chinese temples all over China and overseas had these imaginative lion sculptures placed in the frontages. These lions were far from the true likeness of a real lion because the real ones have no horns. These people were called 'lion-men' and they danced in tempo to the musical pieces called 'Tai-pin' melody.There are many different sayings about the origin of the lion dance but none with any real historical records. One saying quoted that 'Many years ago there was a lion which appeared in a small village and it caused harm to the people and domestic animals. There was a Kung-Fu expert who learnt of this and went into the forested mountain to figh t with the lion. He fought with the lion on three occasions but was unable to capture it. So he called up some of the villagers and trained them in Kung-Fu with the intention to kill the lion. A few months later, they went up to the mountain again and finally they killed the lion. The villagers, in order to celebrate this occasion, followed the steps of those who fought with the lion and thus the 'lion dance' was composed. Another saying was that 'the emperor of China of the Ching of the Ching Dynasty had seen a lion dance in one of his dreams and he ordered the guards of the palace to dance in accordance with what he had seen after he woke up. Of course the above two sayings were just legends.

Another aspect of the new year is the tossing of the raw fish salad - “Lo Hei”! Essentially you have a plate of ingredients, each specially chosen for its auspicious sound and meaning in Chinese. For example, the key ingredient is raw fish slices. In Chinese, this reads as “Yu Sheng” which sounds like “surplus and vitality”. Everyone is invited to take part in the “toss-up” to mix the ingredients.I did manage to toss using the chop sticks only to know this later.. The higher you toss, the better your prospects and fortune in the year ahead. It is actually a rare opportunity to mess up the table in the name of overflowing abundance!

Run Chennai ...Run !

Just 5 more days to go for the much awaited Chennai Marathon 2005,the third version of it comes with a bang!An annual event that is organised by the Rotary Club and supported by the Sports Authority of Tamilnadu.

The Marathon emblem ,The triumph of the Labour statue in the sands of Marina beach symbolises the Passion,Perseverance and Persistence.

The Marathon, as we know it today, commemorates the spirit and valour of the Greek soldier Pheidippides as he ran from a battlefield at Marathon, Greece, to Athens in 490 B.C. Legend has it that Pheidippides delivered the momentous message "Niki!" ("victory"), then collapsed and died.

Let us all participate for a noble cause since the very spirit of the marathon is not winning but participating.The proceeds of the marathon will also help in the funding of Cancer Institute ,Adyar and host of other initiatives involving combating the TB,Polio,Differently abled children.Part of the proceed will also reach CRY,Helpage and AIDS Project.

The marathon run is available in different versions with the entire run covering the stretch of Chennai in 42.2 Kms and Half marathon for women in 21.1 Kms.Nine other versions are also avilable for Children,Youth,Celebrities et al.

Let us all show our consolidity by participating this run and making it a big success !

"Everybody is free to wear Sunscreen"

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97,

Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis or reliable then my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice....now. Read Entire text

So begins this witty, irreverent, and poignant book of advice for life…It was originally published as a mock graduation speech in a column by Mary Schmich in The Chicago Tribune, this lighthearted gift book is for anyone who can use this piece of inspiration.Widely published as a book, the lyrics was made to a song by Baz Lurhmann ( Romeo & Juliet, Alexander the Great et al ) . A spoof is also available in the name of " Not the Sunscreen Song " by John Safron.

How can I help you?

The customer care services by the credit card companies is simply a test to the patience of the customer.After all the ads and promotions by the company in the so called Interactive Voice Response System,I get a message that my PIN entered is invalid .After 11 minutes wait ,I get to hear a human voice who has no clues about what I say and just repeats the same story that somebody will get back to me .A new PIN will be dispatched within 7 working days..They charge annual fee but after my reistance,they decide to waive it off suddenly...Another instance,I came to know about all the names of the call agents in my mobile phone company's call center by merely calling them n times..

The kind of agression when the sales promises to the customer and after sales is totally dismaying.We all do it when it comes to our clients..Only do we realise when we are at the receiving end..How helpful is really the help desk that we talk about??

Making of a monster !!

The recent announcement of MCI scouting for some serious partner for selling its Telecom business reiterates the fact of the big monsters in corporate America!The CEO of MCI, Capellas is known for his deals which he made earlier to make HP acquire his troubled Compaq.

The plans of SBC to acquire the AT &T is also a case in point.The Indian brigade is also following suit now with the Chennai based Aircel announcement of possible sale to Sistema as a second round of consolidation.Aircel acquistion is interesting in terms of the details of the deal like the swap of Indian sovereign debt from Russia to the telco.

Some queries peep in my mind about the above news..

Are we again entering into the big monsters game?
Is there no space for the small companies?

NO ... The size definitely offers its advantages of the scale of economies for the big monsters.However,it will be easier for a small company to be agile and flexible.The ability to respond to the changes in the business environment can be leveraged by a focused company catering to a niche market.Small niches and clusters can only be served by the companies and even if the monsters like to cater to the market they need to model in the lines of small profitable companies..

Towards a Sustainable Community Development..

I am glad to hear about the initiatives of public sanitation community development programs in Pune. It all started a few years ago with the Pune Municipal Corporation wanted to build a model with the community involvement with the help of NGO's like SPARC,Shelter Associates with a project outlay of about Rs.40 Crores.

The model is very unique in the sense that the users involve in the maintenance of the toilets with a monthly subscription of about Rs 20-25 /household for the usage.Since the users find value because they pay for the facility and maintain on their own,the area is totally clean!

The project is aimed at providing the public sanitation at the deprived areas,60 -100 households form a cluster.The model is envisaged that these Self help groups appoint a person in their community for the subscription collection and after meeting the monthly expenses including electricity the excess money is deposited in a savings bank.

Thanks to the relentless efforts of people like Gaikwad who were a part of the system but could make a meaningful change..Gaikwad conceptualised this model during his stint as the Pune Municipal Commissioner and the budgetary shortfalls are met with the bank loans..

The success of this experiment was extended to areas like Sangli and other parts of the city..

We need more such initiatives to be emulated in India to build a commendable community development programs.Another such example is that of Sulabh International which goes beyond the Pune model adding more avenues for revenues including the bio gas generation and solid waste management.

The moral of the story is to involve the user and the involvement will come only when the user attaches some value to the activity.

India needs more such innovative yet simple concepts to keep up the pace of the urban growth and providing a better harm free infrastructure to all the citizens..

Common man in the recent elections!

The great Indian tamasha

I really do not know it is a tamasha..but the Indian elections had mostly proved to be a decisive mandate from the people who were forgotten for the past 5 years...

Adspace wanted..

Found innovative ways to advertise your stuff?
The crazy casino the " Golden Palace Casino" had put up a post in the eBay for auction for an adspace in the stomach of a pregnant woman..The living ad board needs to tattoo the casino's ad and expose her belly till she delivers a baby and it fetched her a decent amount of 4k$ which she hadn't thought of before with a large number of hits in the auction site..

bearing this trend in mind,the others might follw suit exploring other innovative(?) ways to post an ad.However for me it appears how much will really translate into business is a question worth pondering...

Of Open source & the media companies

Open source movement had reached its peak when I found a magazine that proclaims to form an "Open source Media company" ...Online publishing had taken a new turn with this announcement when Tony Perkins along with his member community will launch a blogozine to cater to the needs of the market...One of the unique features of this whatsoever magazine is to complement with a quarterly magazine along with the normal blogs ..reiterating the power of existence in the web!

Of the Summer showers in Chennai

Literally the Summer has begun in Chennai..the place where I exist currently..

It is of great surprise that yesterday suddenly the showers accompanied by the whirlwinds had cooled down the mercury and a madrasi should be managing without electricity in the midnight..

It caught me awake and then came the odor from the nearby Adayar..once the lifeline of Madras now converted to a stagnant pool ...a good breeding ground for mosquitoes..

I read somewhere that Adyar River(in otherwords spelt as Adayaru meaning used to be a freshwater source of Madras and boating used to happen along the canals..Also a natural creek which acts as an estuary to take the tidal waters back into sea.Organisations like Exnora are taking good steps to protect the natural creek that will help humans avert the disasters like tsunami which worst hit Chennai.