Productivity vs Smoke-tivity

It is considered as a stress-reducing exercise that helps to de-stress and re-focus - no matter how busy you are. It is legalized at tapdi’s near office premises. It is looked upon as a mandatory break in-between the jaded office hours. It acts as a productivity booster. But is it worth giving so much significance? The answer to this may not bother to them who live with it!!!I am talking about Smoking...the buzzword in the corporate world.
Packets hauling tobacco sticks have a caveat : ‘Smoking is injurious to health’. But who cares!!!
In a recent survey conducted at various corporate offices at diversified geographical locations across the globe, it was illustrated that a person breaks for around 30-40 mins in a day on an average for “ciggie breaks”, excluding the time of reaching the smoking zone and gathering folks as well for the same on the way. As a result of this, even non-smokers end up wasting time occasionally. Like me ;-). Few days back an article in ET alleged, “Smoking and excessive drinking by employees was resulting in an annual loss of about Rs 700 to Rs 800 crore for companies”. The study assumed that 29 per cent corporate employees indulge in "self destructive" activities such as smoking, drinking and consuming junk food, which cause chronic illnesses. This results in about 20% of absenteeism in corporate offices and loss of productivity hours as well thereby affecting profits big time!!On the contrary, smokers believe the other way round. They reckon that smoking increases their productivity by dipping the stress levels and thereby permit them to work for some extra hours. Well, I don't know if its irrefutable.
According to a research by Couriermail, smoking costs businesses nearly 800 million dollars in absenteeism each year as smokers are 1.4 times more likely to be absent from work than non-smokers.
“Unfortunately at many workplaces, smoke breaks can turn into an unproductive social get-together where groups of employees take pre-arranged smoke breaks, favorite coffee mug in hand, and usually get involved in a gossip fest about the latest workplace goings-on”, the concern raised by the HR personnel of a MNC.
The HR spokesperson of some companies even believe, ”banning or keeping a check on smoking might result in demotivation among Cigarette-liking employees”.
Undeniably, it’s an arguable subject matter and difficult to choose, whether it(smoking) surges productivity or diminishes profits....

Nuisance @ Workplace

July 18 was the last day for me to complete a mandatory training on ‘Preventing Workplace Harassment’ and that too of 2.5 hours (obvsly at Deloitte ;-)). While going through the training I doubted, do we actually need to do this training?? Do other firms have this compulsory training?? That reminded me of an article, I read few days back, something about a good-looking (sexy) female employee being sued from a MNC. The reason being her dressing style, which according to the officials was sexually distracting. I thought of google-ing something around the same and I caught the article on the roster. It was of Debrahlee Lorenzana, a 5'5“, slim-n-trim, attractive brunette. So attractive, that her employer had to fire her for being `too distracting' for her male colleagues. C’mon, WTF!!! Is it her predicament if the male doles are not able to control their feelings or concentrate on work or whatever. The brawl begin sometime back when she sued her bosses at Citibank for creating a “discriminatory atmosphere“ at the workplace.
Does that mean that the women need to be behenjis at work?? Or the dress code for women needs a transform??
Do the companies have a sexual harassment act in place??
A recent survey suggests, more than 52% of Indian Private companies lack any kind of act or policy against sexual harassment. However, all the MNCs have a strict policy and a training plan in hand to tackle workplace harassment. It implies that the Indian private companies seriously need to act before it’s too late.
Nevertheless, there are always two sides to every story. A survey reveals that the harassment policies are biased towards women, favoring them 80% and around 40% women colleagues take undue advantage of the act as well!! Now, it all depends on the women how they dress up at the workplace and help in creating a healthy environment.;-)

Its all about walking!!

Never imagined a place that houses numerous brands can ever be used as a runway for walk or jog. The concept, not new in the West, is gaining some impetus here as well. Called Mall Walk, the exclusive concept has been initiated keeping in mind the paucity of green space around Malad and the increasing awareness towards a healthy lifestyle. A new place for walking and jogging for health freaks has come up in the shape of Malls. Everyday in the dawn at around 6 am, Malad’s Inorbit Mall is a flurry of activity. The gigantic arena is used for regular morning walk by the people in the vicinity of the mall. Nearly 50 -60 people can be spotted from 6 am to around 8 am, mostly middle-aged group. After passing the customary security check, patrons can use the entire area of the mall (first and second floor) as well as the car parking for walking or jogging. On the top of it a trainer is also available to give fitness tips. Though the notion is currently active only at InOrbit mall, Malad but the InOrbit mall at Vashi is also toying with the idea of something similar.
It won’t be a surprise to see some juice wallas and breakfast vendors in these malls offering their stuff in the early hours of the day. It anyways is a earning practice for them. Plus it provides additional free marketing to the uncountable branded stores in the mall. I guess these community-building measures will actuate people not to skip their walks even in the rainy seasons. Great job, Mall owners or whoever brought this inspiration to Mumbaikars.

La Econimics de una victoria

For a nation struggling with towering debts and weak banks, highest unemployment in the continent, and the recent burst of the housing bubble at least has something to savor now as their heroes have defeated Netherlands to lift their first FIFA World Cup trophy. This feat could materialize only after Iniesta’s winning kick in the 116th minute as both the sides were goal-less in the regulation 90 minutes in a short-tempered grand finale which saw 12 yellow cards, one red card, nearly 40 free kicks and uncountable fouls. The Spanish team obtained a warm reception when they reached the Madrid Airport on Monday. Throngs gathered at the airport to hail the team which emerged from the plane with keeper-captain Iker Casillas, coach Vicente del Bosque and the golden trophy. The team will be facilitated by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and an open bus ride is also in the offing through the national capital. New world champions Spain, the eighth such team in history, joins the melee of the title holders - Brazil (five titles), Italy (four), Germany (three), Argentina (two), Uruguay (two), France (one) and England (one).
This victory should bolster the dilapidated economy of Spain. For all those who don’t have any idea about the Euro zone crisis, Spain belongs to a group of weaker economies, called PIGS – Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, in profound economic trouble in the Euro zone which is a term used for 16 members of the European Union that use a common currency, namely the Euro. Although Spain is the world’s 9th largest economy, almost 4 times as that of Greece, it could not bear the brunt of its debt burden. Even though is is one of the major exporters of automobiles in the entire Europe it failed to save its GDP declination of 3.6 percent and hence led to an all time high unemployment rate of 19.5 percent. It also lost its presence in global market by losing majority of international jobs. Collapse of a bubbled housing market led to a stagnant economic development and made the Socialist government in Madrid introduce tough austerity measures, including wage cuts for public-sector workers, in a bid to prevent a Greekstyle debt crisis. Also it is a part of EU and hence have zero control over its currency.
Well, Spain is on the route to follow Greece for the bailout package since deep financial crisis seems inevitable. But, will the German Chancellor Angela Merkel approve the trillion-dollar bailout package as she was the lone warrior against the Greece’ $1-trillion rescue plan that was co-financed by the euro region and the International Monetary Fund. I hope the World Cup will elevate the spirits in Spain to exchange blows against an uneven economy and help them evade the trillion-dollar bailout-rescue package.

Some of the factors keeping Spain awake at night :
Highest Unemployment rate in the European Continent
90% Banks in heavy debts
Weakening GDP
Blah blah blah...

Bloggingness Personified

What should be the blog about?
Should I stick to a sole topic or ought to some universal subjects?
Should it be personal or unrestricted?
Will I be able to continue blogging, as the worn-out office hours takes a lot out of me?
Will the readers stumble upon some fascinating fixation, every time they hit my blog’s URL?
How frequently should I update the blog with new posts?
How many people have commented on my posts hitherto?
These are just a few out of the inestimable questions dwelling in my brain. Is this a whiff of my addictiveness towards blogging?
I often wake up thinking, "Wonder what I can blog about today". I sometimes can't wait to get home from work so that I can access my blog. Every weekend I mull over my next/new post. Every now and then I hunt for new widgets for my site. I visit numerous blogs everyday penned by diversified people across the globe. Bookmarked a lot of them, as they hold the trait of pulling me back or insisting me to visit every day. Blogging, I believe, has its own set of followers, one who have a passion for writing in their blood and other who like to keep themselves occupied with something novel. I can sense, I fit in the later.
I am constantly on the lookout for experiences or events or news stories to blog about. Like recently, I was glad to know some of my friends who don’t have much idea about the G-20, found my post (about G-20, June archived) to be an educational and a revealing one. Occasionally, I can't wait to finish reading a book or for that matter linger on an out of the ordinary Indo-Pak cricket match because I want to blog about it. I wish, if I was a good designer to be able to design my own header and blog template, or what it would be like to have my own custom domain. I seriously don’t know if these are the symptoms of addictiveness.
Well, if I'm addicted. Do I need a rehab? Is there any blogging-rehab?
Maybe it's not a problem yet. ;-)
Nevertheless, akin to this post, I would continue to write, no less.

Learn CSR with PepsiCo

It may be known as a Manufacturer of wide variety of global products ranging from wafers to juices, mineral water to cold drinks, biscuits to dairy products, and what not. It is known for its numerous products that we consume in our daily lives. What makes this brand unique is their Portfolio of Corporate Social Responsibilities across several states in India. With initiatives from Water Conservation and Waste Management to Partnering with Farmers, PepsiCo India impacts the community hard with its diversified initiatives targeting different woes of the society.
PepsiCo India is a firm believer of Performance With Purpose which articulates its belief that its businesses are intrinsically connected to the community and world that surrounds it. PWP is about delivering more than financial performance, it’s about saying committed to continuously giving back to the community and helping enrich society. It continues to build on its strong foundation of achievements on the Purpose or CSR agenda and scale up its initiatives while focusing on the following critical areas that are linked to its businesses and where it can have the most impact. Some of their initiatives are :

Water conservation: Since PepsiCo is very much into manufacturing processes, water forms the heart of their products. And no other than PepsiCo knows it well. Over the last five years it has been able to conserve nearly 45% water. Using procedures like Reducing, Recycling, Re-engineering, it has saved around 3 billion liters of water in the year 2009, thus becoming Positive Water Balance company i.e. it will help save more water through various initiatives than it will consume in its business. Through a multipronged approach comprising awareness commitment and monitoring mechanisms for making beverages, they have been able to reduce the amount of water consumption(for making beverages) considerably. Recycling water at every possible stage of manufacturing processes and re-engineering the processes through installation of water recovery equipment and innovative processes outlines the DNA of their entire manufacturing cycle.

Water Replenishment : PepsiCo India invented a new concept of Direct Seeding which avoids three basic operations, namely, puddling ( a process where soil is compacted to reduce water seepage), transplanting and standing water, thereby saving about 30% water (0.9 million liters of water / acre). Even if 25% of the Indian rice cultivation(which uses around 75% of the farming water) can be shifted to direct seeding, water saving will be equal to the total water consumed by the Indian Industry. With the aim of harvesting water, it has developed several dams across diverse states like Karnataka, Uttaranchal, Maharashtra, etc. hence providing the accumulated water to the nearby villages as well. This is how PepsiCo has been able to reach their goal to conserve, replenish and harvest the precious asset, the water.

Waste to Wealth Programme : PepsiCo India has developed a Solid waste Management flagship in partnership with Exnora, an environmental NGO. This program not only aims at providing jobs to thousands of inhabitants of Andhra Pradesh and Haryana(majoritily women) but also proposing a clean environment to more than 450,000 people. This scheme recycles 97% of household garbage by segregating bio-degradable waste from the recyclable waste. The Bio-degradable waste thus amassed is converted into high quality organic manure through vermi-culture. This program has enabled PepsiCo to bag several National and International awards as well.

Partnership with Farmers : It has partnered with around 10,000 farmers across several states with a intend to bolster farmers income and farm-yield. These agri-partnerships have enabled farmers to learn various processes of utilizing their farms aptly to yield more. “In the next 5 years, we aim to partner with farmers from three more states and thus double the number of our partnered farmers”, states Sanjeev Chadha, the CEO and Chairman of PepsiCo India. It appears that PepsiCo is quite bullish of these partnerships as the partnered farmers also cultivate raw materials like potatoes which are used for manufacturing quite a few products like Lays, Uncle Chips, Cheetos, etc.
On being asked about the ultimate goal of PepsiCo India, Sanjeev Chadha utters, “Make significant and valuable impact in the lives of our countrymen with our products and social initiatives in the long term”. I hope the definition of CSR, for all the companies, transform as per PepsiCo’s appreciating efforts.

I can buy Merc soon!!

Few weeks back, German automaker BMW, which touched highest sales figures in the Indian luxury-sedan market in 2009, launched a scheme of selling second-hand BMWs with BMW authorized dealers. But this plan hasn’t been materialized yet as there are no BMW certified-used car dealers in the bazaar. However, its native arch-rival Mercedes-Benz has decided to boost its consumer base further with the launch of its analogous flagship of company-certified pre-owned cars. The company-driven agenda utilizes specific global benchmarks for vehicle evaluation, quality and warranty to offer company-certified pre-owned Merc cars. These pre-owned/used cars would be sold only through Merc authorized dealers.
“Comprehensive evaluation and refurbishment criteria, scientific tools for audit and inspection as well as manufacturer-backed warranty go into the making of a certified proven exclusivity vehicle. The dream of owning a Mercedes-Benz thus becomes even more achievable,” said Wilfried Aulbur, MD and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India.
Over 15 years of its presence in India, Mercedes-Benz had its dominance on luxury sedan market and sold around 30,000 cars but in the recent years the number is plummeting. Its local-soil contenders (Audi and BMW) have given Merc a run for their money in the Indian Market as more purchasers are paying attention to Audis and BMWs. Audi’s Q7 is recognized as the most powerful-diesel SUV in India while Audi’s A4 and A6,BMW’s 3-series and 5-series put forward a lot as compared to Merc’s C-class and E-class models.
Will the plan of providing used cars work for Merc to build up their lost vigor in the Indian Market, and will automobile aficionados like me(and some of my friends) be able to take a driving seat of Merc/BMW soon??

G20 utters, All izz not well!!

Born out of necessity in the dark hours of 2008, to bolster global economy, the G20 summit in Toronto on Sunday gave a whiff of irrefutable crises with majority of the nations fighting against their plummeting GDPs. A double dip recession is inevitable as Europe appeared edgy with France and Spain facing unstoppable strikes against the adoption of austerity measures, and the futile efforts of the European leaders to restore confidence in the Euro dented by the Greece crises. A double dip recession, also called a W-shaped recession, occurs when an economy goes into recession, comes out of it shortly afterwards, and then, before the recovery can stabilize, falls back into recession. In this scenario, GDP growth rates, charted on a graph, resemble a W.

World’s influential leaders took different paths towards assuring lasting growth and making their banking systems safer, a reflection of the uneven and fragile economic recovery in countries.The Group of 20 rich and developing nations tried to balance their contrasting priorities by pledging to halve budget deficits by 2013 without stunting growth. They left room for countries to move at their own pace and adopt “differentiated and tailored” policies that match national economic or political priorities, a reversal from the unity of the previous three summits.

According to a recent news, the message from the weekend’s G20 summit can be easily summed up as “Do your ownthing.” The cracks are beginning to show in the G20. Developed and developing nations were united when confronted with the collapse of world trade and the shriveling of industrial output. But they are finding it harder to keep the unity intact now that the immediate crisis is over. The Americans cannot persuade the Europeans to hold off from fiscal tightening until the recovery is assured; the Germans and the British think the risks of a sovereign debt crisis are far more serious than the possibility of a double-dip recession. Then, the summit revolved around a long-standing cause of friction–China’s unwillingness to allow its currency, the Yuan, to appreciate to a level that might help reduce its trade surplus with the US.
The G20 was meant to be rather more than a crisis-resolution body. It was meant to be an institution that, through the inclusion of China, India and Saudi Arabia, could better deal with the chronic imbalances in the global economy that caused the crisis in the first place.

According to GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE : DANGER IS CLEAR
Some of the bullets they have pointed out :
■ Even before the sovereign debt crisis erupted this spring, there were some tentative signs that the recovery that began in the spring of 2009 was losing momentum.
■ The US has just revised down its growth for the first quarter and has yet to see the pick-up in the labor market that it enjoyed in previous recoveries.
■ Europe’s expansion over the winter was barely perceptible.
■ China and India have been chugging along, but may lack the heft, by them- selves, to pull the world out of trouble.
■ The sluggish recovery has meant that core inflation in the US and eurozone is already below1%.
■ That, in the absence of any sign of a robust recovery, is close to deflation.
■ Central banks are terrified by the prospect of deflation because it raises the real level of debt, it would hurt consumers, businesses and –crucially, the banks.
■ It could lead to panic, political pressure to ease fiscal restrictions and, ironically, hyper-inflation.
■ Pressure on heavily-indebted banks intensifies as deflation becomes a reality in the US and Europe in first half of 2011.
■ Second leg of the financial and economic crisis pans out in the second half of 2011.
■ G20 gets serious in early 2012.

HOW INDIA HAS FARED TILL NOW
When the global financial crisis first broke out in September 2008, the developed world’s response was to pump billions of dollars into the system. India applauded. This would mean the West would continue to buy its exports, foreign capital would keep flowing in and allow the Indian economy to chug along. At the Toronto G20 summit, the world addressed the global financial crisis 2.0. Parts of the world economy are now drowning in the money pumped into the system. The euro-zone crisis and Japan’s “forever recession” were the best known. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that India agrees to the fact that some of this money needs to be pulled back. But if too much is done too quickly, the economic free-fall, that the world saw right after Lehman Brothers collapse, could return. Ultimately, India’s goal is to ensure that the earlier G20 consensus, under stress, did not fall apart. Without coordination, the world economy would go from bad to worse. “To meet our ambitious development targets, it is necessary that the global economy continue to recover in a stable and predictable manner,” said Singh.

Are we going to face a recession shortly??Will the dark clouds of unemployment revisit??Well, a lot depends on emerging economies and developing nations like India and China now!!Hope we don’t face the crises again, that we witnessed a few months back in 2008....

Seven Hatchback wonders

The hatchback market in Indian Automobile sector has an irreplaceable place. No matter what mid-range Sedans like Honda City, Toyota Corolla, etc. offer against Luxurious giants like BMW, Audi, Merc; the hatchbacks have their prominent share of the market. India's always been a country that has preferred hatchbacks to sedans and Maruti is the one linked with this segment since its birth here. With a host of different offerings through the years, to keep their sales charts soaring, Maruti has been undeniably the buyers first choice. Some of the cars like Alto, Zen and Swift have legendary sales figures hitherto. The Ritz is the latest big hit from them and apart from the car's debatable appearance, it had almost every other front sealed - whether it was value for money, space, performance or even reliability. Not only it boasts an odd European hatch but it also houses a distinctive dashboard with split-speedometer. While many will think the car is attractive due to its quirkiness, many others might find exactly that a bit irritating. The Ritz' assault has been attempted to be dented by quite a few other contenders - most prominently the Hyundai i20, Fiat Punto and Honda Jazz. At Rs 4.9 lakh for the top of the line ZXi variant(Petrol), the Ritz instantly sounds like a good deal. But if you want to own a ZDi variant(diesel), you need to shell out Rs. 70,000 more.

The Honda promised a lot when they first unveiled the Jazz in India and quite frankly, they have delivered too like always. The Jazz which is equipped with cavernous interiors, the fabulous instrumentation, music system and air-con control layout does come at an exorbitant price but if you want a sensible, practical car then this Honda emerges right on top. It also offers a huge boot that in some cases out-does most sedans and provides enough space to pack all your luggage in and head out for a long weekend trip. It has the most powerful machine of the lot with 90 PS of power. Even though its inflated price tag of Rs 7.6 lakh takes it close to sedan, it pretty much does offer the sedan-like features and that's what the many buyers of the car have realized.

Fiat, one of the oldest contenders, has renewed re-entry into the Indian market with its stylish Grande Punto - gorgeously beautiful, spacious and with a very refined 1.2L engine under the sensuous hood. The car offers huge space on the inside and is fitted with a good amount of gadgets as well. It provides some of the unmatchable features like climate controlled AC, which is not a part of the package in all the other hatch-backs. Great ergonomics, steering mounted controls and awesome ride quality further add to the Punto's capabilities on Indian roads giving it an edge over the rest. The Punto is available in the range of Rs 4.2 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh ex-showroom making it a great deal.

The Uber cool Hyundai i20 and Skoda Fabia comes with more or less same price but both are equipped with distinct gadgets and awesome cabin space - all the while offering a more upmarket feel as well. The i20 is more curvy as compared to Fabia which has a tad boring shape but carries the reliability of pristine German engineering. The Skoda Fabia may not be the best performing car on the list but it definitely deserves mention for its outstanding handling capabilities. There aren't many cars out there which match up to Fabia’s level of perfect weight distribution and a taut suspension setup made for sharp turnings and incomparable stability in its class. Hyundai's i20 has a very refined engine, but being heavier than the Ritz takes away from its power-to-weight ratio and drops it down the list in the performance category. The i20s dilemma is also the Fiat Punto's dilemma – low power output inspite of having 1.2 litre engine. The top end version of the i20 is the Asta which is housed with innumerable gadgets and the sunroof, and is tagged at just over Rs 6 lakh while Skoda demands Rs.7 lakh for Fabia’s top end model making it too grave on our pockets.

It all seems very well set up that way - each buyer has a car that will cater to their needs. But there's a problem brewing for each car mentioned here and it's called the Chevrolet Beat and Blue Eyed Tall Boy – the Wagon R. These mean looking compact motors are out to grab a huge chunk of that massive small car market and they’ve got all the right weapons too. The Beat was first made popular to the world in the sequel to the Transformers movie and even though back then it was just a concept, it has remained true to its original form. The Chevrolet Beat comes very close to piping the Ritz of the performance crown. It may be a bit low on power as compared to the Ritz but it is also a whole lot lighter too - embodying it with a power-to-weight ratio that makes this funky hatch quite zippy as well. That also gives it quite an advantage on the fuel efficiency front which should make the Beat quite a hit among its young buyers. Adequately spacious, youthful in every sense of the word - like the bike-like speedometer console, door trims and innovative rear door handles makes the Chevy Beat extremely appealing, not to mention the enticing schemes on service and maintenance offered by General Motors. GM has kept the fully loaded Beat LT at a killer pricing of around Rs 4.5 lakh ex-showroom which is still around Rs 30,000 cheaper than a comparable variant of any of its other competitors in terms of gadgets and gizmos in this discharge.

In a segment bristling with new equipment every next month, Maruti Suzuki punches through with the all-new avatar of its best-selling WagonR. Powered with 998 cc K-series engine, apart from conforming to BS-IV legislation, it offers a fine blend of torquey performance and prudent motoring. The engine is meshed with a new 5-speed manual transmission featuring a cable-actuated shift mechanism, making for great feel and, of course, positive shifts. The interiors have been upgraded radically as compared to the older version. Starting with an introductory price of Rs 3.28 lakh to Rs 3.81 lakh ex-showroom the new WagonR is right in the middle of the likes of the Chevrolet Beat, Hyundai i10 and Fiat Punto. There is no doubt that in today’s small car scenario, especially in the dog-eat-dog A2 segment, the new models from the two Yankee car makers — GM and Hyundai — have truly set the mark. The experts were skeptical if Maruti could actually venture into the same price band, but it has. Looks like India’s biggest carmaker is quite bullish about its tall-boy cube of a car!

There's not going to be only one car that will rule the roads but each will try to outwit every other contender in this hatchback melee. This is going to be one interesting battle.

BHC slaps SSC Board

Last Friday, while I was having lunch with my friends at office, the news about SSC results was gaining some notice. The news flashed, the SSC board has come up with a formula of ‘best of five’ for Maharashtra SSC students, to contend SSC board results with other boards like ICSE and CBSE in the state. The formula says, “consider best 5 subject marks and calculate the % based on them, spare the lowest mark-subject”, which effectively increases the percentage by 2-5 %. Three years back, for the same effect of competing with other boards, the state announced to give 4 % extra to the students playing at the state level. I guess now every student in SSC plays at state level and gets that bonus 4 %. The insanity of this affair has led to the effect of having more than 13,000 students with 90% and above this year, with some even crossing 100% mark. What the hell!!!!
My friends bro has secured 100.2 %!!!how!!
Well, he has 93.4 % of all six subjects, 96.2 % with best-five formula, and on top of this, 4% for sports. And so, he has scored a century in SSC this year.
Securing 88% in my 10th std, I was second in the entire school and now there will countless students having 88% with this new unintelligent rule.
But the Bombay High Court has salvaged the education system from this disaster by setting aside this obtuse formula.
The Bombay High Court has rejected the proposal of having the 'best of five' system for Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Board students with regard to Standard XI admissions for the current year.
The court has the opinion that this might be a discrimination against the students from other boards such as ICSE and CBSE, which I believe, is very much true.
Following this, the online admission process for Standard XI will commence immediately.
Hope the admission process goes well with no adding-up of another pointless, extra %s on the way!!!

India annihilates Pakistan

Whatta Match!!!People in cricket fraternity often say, "Indo-Pak matches are more entertaining, exciting and thrilling than the World Cup finals". It was undeniably once again proved during the recent clash at Dambulla, with the match ending with just a ball to spare. Players of both the teams were found on a new high with some sparks being expected, as they met almost after nine months.
The match started with a cautious strokeplay by both the Pakistani openers, unwilling to give away their wickets. Indian bowlers toiled a lot to get their first breakthrough which came only after the duo had put up 73 on the board. Nehra varied his line and length perfectly and Praveen Kumar showed some extra ordinary slow bowling skills. Salman Butt steered the Pak’s innings with his brilliant knock of 74 off 81 balls. With the support lacking at the other end, Salman lost his cool and got run out, which gave India the much needed relief. But this was short-lived by Afridi’s brave strokes and a little cameo display, with his bat, from Kamran Akmal, who was the lone warrior in the Pak line up at the end of the innings. Before falling to Praveen's full toss, he carted him for a six and a four in the same over and almost in the same area around mid-wicket. The tail enders returned to pavilion, adding two runs to the total, following Akmal's dismissal with Saeed Ajmal giving a simple and straight forward catch to the covers.
The Indian innings was shaky at the start with Gambhir missing his stumps from an inch while angling a 92 miles delivery from Akhtar, and Sehwag failing to middle the bowl, looked out of touch. The batting was paralyzed with Sehwag’s hunt for his form and hip injury, which summoned him to call for a runner. But he could not guard his wicket and fell to Razzaq for just 10 off 31 balls. Kohli chipped in with a couple of good shots but soon became a victim to Ajmal's doosra. Dhoni and Gambhir put on decent partnership of 97 with almost a run from each ball. The run flow was halted with the fall of Gambhir's wicket and it was further impacted with Dhoni and Rohit Sharma returning to tent in the consecutive overs. At this stage, India required 52 off 30 balls, with Raina and Bhajji at the crease. Raina once again displayed his expertise in the death overs by hitting Akhtar for an unorthodox six, and clobbering Ajmal for a four and a six in the next over. The game picked its flavor only when the volatile Harbhajan clattered Akhtar over wide long-on for a huge effortless six making him unhappy. The shirty pacer replied with some heated aggression when Harbhajan missed out a well directed bouncer, trying to guide it to third man. With 7 runs needed in the penultimate over, India couldn’t have asked for Raina's wicket while he was trying to sneak a cheeky single. In no time the slouching Pak fielders transformed into zealots as India required 3 off 2 balls. But they were left with disappointment in their hands when Bhajji smote Aamer out of the park over midwicket. The winner of the match was announced with Bhajji’s unstoppable roar, unlocked helmet in one hand and willow in the other. Hitting 4 sixes in the final 5 overs, India stole the match with 3 wickets in hand and 1 ball remaining.

Impact Day '10

I got an oppurtunity to impact the lives at Helen Kellar, in Mahape, on the 11th of June along with my Impact Day Team - Sparsh. The day started with a Sign-Language prayer, which I have never experienced before. I was amazed to see how deaf and deaf-blind people try to reach God. Actually, I was touched by the prayer.We had a brief introduction of the Helen Keller Institute followed with the overview of some disabilities that challenge the people there.
Then we moved on to the respective activities like Curriculum Building, Sensory Garden, Fixing Path finding symbols and Theme Painting. In Curriculum Building, we made books which will be used by the children for this year's curriculum. 7-8 stories, 3 history books, 2-3 maths books, 8 puzzles, etc., we managed to make in the 4 hour tiring non-stopping session. After going through a story book of 'A Thirsty Crow', made by our team member, I was wondering if the creativity still exists among us. There were several other Creative minds that were scraching their brains with us, the people of HKIDB. It was their unparalled support, throughout the day, that helped us to achieve, what would have been, an unimaginable task. Later in the afternoon, while looking for a missing team member, I was perplexed to see how my Sensory Garden Team was toiling under the direct sunlight to set up a garden having plants with some texture and smell. It was indeed a remarkable effort that the team put in for sensory garden, which was a dream project for Mrs. Beroz Vacha, the CEO and Founder of HKIDB. Running in the entire institute like cats and dogs, I was glad to see how the path finding symbols were getting fixed thick and fast. These are the symbols that help blind people in navigating throughout the institute to reach different rooms. e.g. the spoons are used for kitchen, cycle handles for OT rooms, etc.
I couldn't have asked for more than watching 3 deaf students dancing on 'Desi Girl' number from Dostana. At the start of the performance I was unaware of their deafness, but it was unveiled only when the sound was purposly muted in the middle. It was sight, I don't know if I will be able to see that again, of 3-5 seconds of flawless dance with no sound. I wished they danced all the day long.
Well the day ended on a HIGH!!!! The sincere hardwork of over 60 days showed its outcome. We gathered a lot of extol for our work from the senior members of our firm, when they witnessed how we have impacted the lives at HKIDB!!!!!