Innovative Smart Water Grid and water harvesting systems needed for Mumbai

Mumbai receives its annual drinking supply of water from its lakes Vihar,Vaitarna and Tansa lakes which are replenished with water between June and September by the annual monsoon rains which could measure upto 2,200 millimetres (86.6 in)Various densely populated parts receive water supply by pumping from these lakes. However many are located at the very end of the pipeline and get inadequate water.
With ever increasing population I foresee the water supply to be insufficient in the coming years.With erratic rainfall measuring upto 37.7 inches in one day on 26 July 2005 to late monsoons lasting upto October due to the effects of global warming I propose an innovative Water Regulator and Harvesting Design which has to make use of the abundant monsoon rain.
The basic idea would be to collect the rain water falling on roof tops and the sides of building. A portion of this can be saved in innovative Tanks for immediate consumption. If rain water is not collected, almost 60-80% runs off through storm drains and sewage and the remaining would evaporate.
The amount of average water a household consumes can be regulated by a SMART WATER GRID Designed to measure and regulate the amount of water entering every household. Every household would be connected to an intranet –internet system. If the water supply would exceed the household average notifications via sms, emails and control beeps, users would be asked to regulate their water supply. This together with a rain water harvesting system should be a backup for shortfall of any rain.
My idea would be deepen the tank by double its capacity. Get the regular flow of water from the city and then harvest the rain-water during the monsoons as a backup for the summer months when there is acute water shortage also as an investment for the future.
So my basic Innovative Rainwater Prototype/Pilot Design would be as follows:
1. There have to be drain pipes bringing the water from the roof of either wings of the building and letting it run off. Then close these pipes at the ground level and connected them to a huge catchment/collection point. 2. From this huge catchment/ common collection point, install a 6-8" dia pipe underground to the large water tank. 3. Deepen the tank and increase its capacity by double,the rain water harvested would replenish the ground water and the well which is deep dug in a suitable area by the water-table mark. 4.Have a state of the art purifying system/filter installed that would remove the impurities from the collected rainwater and make it available for daily consumption.

Innovation here is of the design concept and the benefit it would provide to all residents. Plus the conduits and cables would be made of cost effective polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or galvanized iron (GI).
The Smart Water Grid would regulate water supply, constantly show status on the Internet and also measure Impurities/Irregularities if any in the water supply.Such a network could regulate the entire city water supply.

World Earth Day 22 nd April,Places to see before they die

“Places to see before they die” –World Earth Day 22,nd April 2009.
Today when I look at my mother earth I wonder how she would look a hundred years from now. The worlds biggest selling TV show may be “Hundred Places to see before they die” and the bestselling book may read “a thousand things to do before the fuel runs out”
I wonder if we would have the “The World Coastal City Day” a tribute to the remaining coastal cities and towns. I wonder if our grandchildren would be taking iconic trips to the “Last remaining Ice-capped Mountains of the world and maybe the Mt Everest in the Himalayas is pitted versus Pastoruri in the Andes for snow capped supremacy for who will have an ounce of ice more”.
For adventure seekers and mountaineers, the record set by Sir Edmund Hillary to conquer Mt Everest will be a first of its kind and insurmountable as it would not be anywhere close to 8848 metres as it stands today as the highest mountain on Earth, even if they developed far more superior ice-scaling equipment or feet as nimble as the Yeti.
For deep sea diving in the Great Barrier Reef may be a historic archived video from National Geographic Channel or the Discovery Channel. Entrepreneurs world over would be cueing up to create Coral Reefed theme parks with 101 extinct yet exciting Species of Coral Reef. Disney theme rides would take you through “Aqua” their artificial creations of the various corals in a form of a joyride.
I wonder if our grand children would visit Ice-Museums with the skeletons of great Polar Bears and replicas of the emperor Penguins. I wonder if the Igloo’s would be re-created world over and awarded the best Hotels in the world as rated by Conde Nast magazine.
I may be over be over board and exaggerating. But as of what I see today we experienced 11 hottest years of all time in the past 13 years in 2007.Snow is melting ever so quickly and water levels in our oceans and seas rising by 1 inch every year, articulately showcased by Al Gores Documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”. More and more species are being moved to the extinct category from vulnerable. So much so that the Tuna Sashimi or the famous Japanese delicacy Sushi would be eaten last in 2012 if there is no stoppage of their fishing in the Mediterranean where this fish heads for spawning. Every year we have to deal with newer hurricanes like Katrina be it the United States.
Well when I look at my mother earth ,I can see her staring back at me shedding tears in the form of rising water levels. I have nowhere to hide, nowhere to go for it is she who gives me this shelter to live, the places to travel to and I wonder what have I ever done for her. So I have made a resolution to start with myself.
Today the 22nd of April on occasion of the “World Earth Day”We may want the world leaders to curb greenhouse gas emission of Carbon dioxide but I rather say we need much more action than just them to vouch for our future. Our future is in our hands, so switch off your car while stuck in traffic Jams. Use the new CFL light saving bulbs at home,say no to plastic bags,do not litter on the road ,use car-pooling to travel to work.9 out of 10 people in America use cars to travel to work.
This sense of environment responsibility has to be inculcated as a way of life in schools,colleges and institutes. More and more corporations world- wide have to implement the environmental ethos in their vission,mission statements and corporate culture.
Maybe then my dream may just not about come true a hundred years from now.

Ever thought a futuristic rescue boat would be a GIANT Sea Spider !!!!!

Don't be surprise if you are enjoying a beautiful sunset and soft music by the beach and yikes a GIANT SEA SPIDER Sprawls out of the sea to haunt you. I would have been but for yesterday while watching Discovery channels Next World a futuristic show on Discovery Channel that airs prime time, Thursday 9 pm IST, I almost realized my worst fear .What I saw was a 100 Feet long and 50 feet wide replica of a giant sea-spider named after the greek God Proteus.The Proteus is no luxury craft. Its crew cabin is suspended like a gondola from its four-legged superstructure. Its called the WAV Spider ,a Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel that is the latest in Navigation. Dont be afraid if you see this giant spider sprawling the oceans in a bid to save any sea struck vessel and has extensive uses right from military to biological research and ocean exploration.The spindly catamaran can travel 5,000 miles (8,000 km) - farther than across the Atlantic - on one 2,000-gallon (9,000 l) load of diesel fuel. The obnoxious feature straight out of any Monster vs Alien , Predator movie does have pleasure-boat potential. It can be fitted with different types of detachable cabins that can accommodate anything from a honeymooning couple to 12 passengers.So imagine honeymooning in a spider shaped boat that is out there to rescue any distressed sea vehicle and swiveling with dolphins and their rhythms. Crazy isn’t it but that’s the future to come of the Next World.

If that is not enough ,let me ask you what is the first thing that comes to mind when you see a batch of beautiful dolphins swiveling, curling and diving a top each other in the vast wide oceans of the world. I often wonder, if I could swim with a batch of them, be a part of their school, if only my body could gyrate to their beats and resonate in a rhythm that would resound heavenly bliss. A new sci-fi ,doboat or a dolphin shaped boat was being aired for all and sundry. Its exactly in the shape of a dolphin with a central cockpit like enclosure that seats only one person. Now its just not a simple dolphin like looking boat.You can actually dive like a dolphin, you can swivel in mid-air , you could actually dive as a part of them.Experimental research regarding the same is on.(Will upload the video)

The importance of a concerted effot by world leaders for corporate governance

The Satyam Scandal brought to light in January 09 by the disclosure of its Chairman Ramalinga Raju that he and his brothers had been cooking the books and siphoning off money from thousand of fake Satyam Salary accounts shook the Indian Corporates with fraud amounting to the tunes of 7000 crores of Indian Rupees.Mr Ramalinga Raju said in a letter of resignation that he had been overstating profits for the past several years, the amount of debt owed to the company and understating its liabilities.Satyam -- the name means "truth" in Sanskrit -- was audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers and has had high-profile independent directors, including a Harvard Business School professor and Mr Rao the dean of one of Indias leading B Schools ISB.

Satyam was India's fourth largest IT company and one of the flag bearers of India's IT story which accounted for more than 60 percent of the Services contribution to India's GDP by means of software exports.It had taken almost two decades for companies like Infosys and Wipro both led by erstwhile leaders like Narayan Murthy and Aziz Premji who led by example and pioneered their companies as one of the most ethical in the world.This scandal started numerous comparisons to the accounting scandal at Enron a few years ago.It was a major blip on the face of the Indian IT Story that had created employement for thousands of software professionals over the last decade and putting India on the global roadmap.

It was the least unexpected from Satyam and Mr Ramalinga Raju something that is showed by the fact that Satyam had won the Golden Peacock award for corporate Governance in December 08 and Mr Raju was a former president of NASSCOM which showcases India's IT Industry to the world.The financial manipulation has been going for seven long years but neither the so-called “independent directors” nor the professional auditors discovered it. The independent directors were acknowledged management experts the likes of the father of the Pentium chip, Vinod Dham, and Krishna Palepu of Harvard Business School. They collected huge fees without discharging their duty to safeguard the investors’ interest because they were puppets in the hands of the promoter, Raju. As the accounting firm, Arthur Anderson, did in the Enron case, Pricewaterhouse Cooper Capital, the celebrated audit firm, did in the Satyam case, both failing to uncover the fraud.Ironically, the World Council for Corporate Governance ranked Satyam as among the best-run companies in the world.

The primary reason why Mr Ramalinga Raju did so was to take protect Stakeholders equity and making sure its profits were in lieu with those of its competitors.But the questions that come to mind is that the only purpose of a company.With close to 45,000 employees and their families dependent on Satyam and being a important stakeholder of the Indian IT Industry with several Global clients like Sony,General Electric,Caterpillar,Nissan Motor it has created a huge dent.Satyam had various tie-ups with universities across India for harnessing talent.What good are the youth to make of such scandals.

What is disturbing is that for over seven years Mr Raju was supported by politicians in power in the Andhra Pradesh Government—former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and later his successor Y.R.S. Reddy. Mr Raju was the face of Andhra Pradesh while meeting President Bill Clinton for investment in AP.His association with the top leaders meant that Raju got huge chunks of prime land at throw-away prices for technology park and other purposes and many other facilities which enabled Satyam to expand and grow rapidly. Banks and financial institutions allowed Raju to open thousands of accounts without questioning. They provided statements about the company’s finance as Raju requested.

Since September 2008 there has been a collapse of one major financial institution after another like the Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AIG, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Stanley Morgan Investment and Washington Mutual Bank. These are not stray events. There is a clear link between the policy of neo-liberalism(which means that best government is the best which governs the least), unbridled capitalism and financial scandals. However if you see the Indian Banking system which is so regulated and orthodox has done much better than its global compatriots with SBI now having more market capital than CitiBank worldwide.

Climate change, its impact and eco-conservation is an underlying impact that is going to be of paramount importance in the next decade.More and more strong action by all the world leaders who work with one another is required.Triple bottom line (societal,environmental and business profit )should also be inculcated in the ethos of corporate governance.
All this calls for a concerted effort from all the stakeholders of the world which explains why corporate governance is important in India and across the world

Move over Soccer,F-1and Rugby.Its IPL & T20- A new lease of life for cricket that shall monetize the game unimaginably.

As I am big fan of Geofrey Boycot’s mum ,when the T20 world cup was played in 2007,being the orthodox and an ardent textbook cricket fan who sweared by test-cricket, I really thought what good to make of a 20 over a side match that din’t exploit the true potential of every player in the team.Yes it was exciting,exhilarating ,nerve-crunching but was it going to be restricted to a game of luck and chances.
To put it simply I had my reservations. But after the first season of IPL and all the euphoria preceding IPL2 ,I must say I feel if anything T20 & IPL are actually the best testimonials to the game of cricket there has ever been right across the world. Over the years cricket had been type-casted as a sub-continental phenomenon and almost dying in the WestIndies which was once upon a time the breeding ground for the worlds best fast bowlers.
But over the last year the excitement generated by IPL & T20 is catching up all across the world and has rubbed some of its magic onto one-day and test cricket.
2 Feet long queues about 2 hours before a match in South Africa against the Aussies for a T20 Match was something I could imagine only happening in India.South Africa if anything seems to be in the midst of a cricketing revolution. Packed to capacity,the fun and games,the crazy fan day at all their venues and the number of south African flags on ground in one-dayers,test matches and of-course T20’s has been a common sight over the last year. No doubt their team has been successful in beating the Aussies which is no easy task, in remarkable fashion while touring them.
The cricket fever generated by T20 has simply breathed a new lease of life into the cricketing fraternity. No wonder Brian Charles Lara says "Cricket was a dying sport and I believe that Twenty20 is going to be beneficial for many reasons,
While every youngster in India who aspires to be Sachin Tendulkar or Kapil Dev,its also about fate and destiny.If they could not reach the heights their icons have scaled T20 has opened new avenues to a lot of cricketers.More and more youngsters world over would be looking at professional T20 in the future as it would also be a glamorous and a well paying job ,something that would put them on par with the footballers and F1 drivers.
Or the careers of Sanjay Bangar, Aakash Chopra would have been bitten into dust (as they failed to make it consistently in the Indian colours) had not IPL come along.What it also has done is getting more and more youngsters into the game.For now you would have a young English boy,a new Zealander aspiring to be Kevin Peterson and Freddie Flintoff for 1.44 Million dollars in a season.
Women spectators have been a remarkable feature of T20.The excitement, the adrenaline and the euphoria seems to have them enthralled.
Talking about why only 8 teams world over could play this game over the last decades with all the nuances of swing bowling, seaming wickets and nitty-gritty’s of being of top quality, we now have a format that is adaptable right across the world. If T20 is promoted across the world the learning curve for adopting to this game would be smaller and more and more teams could develop great teams. We could have USA V China is a T20 Final one day which seems much more feasible due to the marketing prowess and excitement of T20.The same game which is criticized for its non textbook style would actually get the world investing in cricket and who knows we may have more than just 8 good test teams. The Chinese are good learners and the Japanese may instill Just In Time techniques.
The amount of money IPL2 is going to generate via television ads,franchise sponsorship would be hysterical considering the world being in a deep recession.It may also be the feel good factor for the IPL Indian fan at the end of the day if the sensex or the NSE tanked in the day.
Having a run-time of close to 4 hours which is full of so much excitement and drama ,its actually similar to a soccer match which is close to 2 hours which works very well for the average spectator to finish his work and come spend a delightful evening with his family friends at the venue. Well the organizers would be laughing all the way to the banks but who can blame them.Its a platform where entertainment is delivered Live and candid ,a kind of a reality TV that has no script where the control could switch by every ball and by every over.
New stars of this era who specialize in T20 would be born and they would be rich and famous too .I can imagine no cricketing legend the likes of Gary Sobers,Sachin Tendulkar and Don Bradman partying away colouring the world with their larger than large personas (following across the world) like the Beckhams,Hakkinens,Hamiltons and the Ronaldos.But from now on there shall be clubs and there shall be transfers ,we shall have more and more cricketers as the richest sportsmen in the world and they shall be traded from one club to another for a million dollars.
With the stock markets crashing,unlike speculation ,here where performance is equity we have the likes of J P Duminy and Mustafe Murtaza getting close to 600 million dollars and more PE players pumping money into the game of cricket.
Finally soothsayers may question the basics of cricket and the quality deteriorating but then I rather see that co-existing as could be seen by the two-test series in Australia and South Africa where I feel the T20 euphoria and good cricket is getting more spectators involved with the game of cricket. And as long as that is the case I am happy and I must say the queues for a game of cricket world over will be over 20 feet to get into the stadium 2 hours before the start of a match.Move over Soccer,Football and Rugby.Its T20 Time.

Energy Efficient Smart Grids : Huge Business Opportunities for the next decade

In these tough times of economic recession, more and more companies and individuals are looking at ways to reduce operating margins and household expenses. Global warming has been slowly but surely taken its toll on our valuable resources world over.The global economic crisis however has managed to cast a shadow over global warming and going green as the most important event of discussion so much so that the main agenda at this year’s G20 meet at London most top officials were discussing how to rescue financial institutions world over.

In the mean while some top internet entrepreneurs are planning to create Business solutions that would give opportunities to a new breed of companies keeping climate change and energy saving in the backdrop.Amsterdam has been touted as the world’s first eco-city/smart city with MNC’s like IBM, Philips and Cisco look to implement a pilot program in 500 households that is designed to save energy costs and reduce the electricity bills.Banks like ING and Rabobank are providing financial assistance to 728 households for energy efficient lamps and ultra-efficient roof insulation. The projects, all getting under way over the next few months, represent Amsterdam's initial steps toward making its infrastructure more eco-friendly. The move comes as governments worldwide set aside billions of dollars to create so-called "smart cities," or towns that mix renewable projects, next-generation energy efficiency, and government support to cut overall carbon dioxide footprints.Smart Grid technology as it is known is set to pioneer the next couple of decades. Many companies are trying out various experiments by which all your household devices would be connected to a single grid that can communicate over the internet to a central server that uses Business Intelligence and may design energy solutions that could lead to tremendous cost savings.Incase your household device is consuming more energy such a grid could send you an sms,an email or even beep to indicate those levels.New age energy companies are now going to sell you new appliances that are hybrids/solar convertibles and even use Artificial intelligence to switch off lights automatically when not in use.Simple facts as keeping your air-conditioner at a temperature higher by 1 degree could result in energy savings of 5-15 percent of your monthly electricity bill could be relayed from time to time as on www.google.org.The Google power meter is one such smart grid that allows users to voluntary to connect their household appliances and be monitored for energy efficiency. These advanced power meters are supposed to be deployed in 40 million households all across the USA also as a part of the funding to be given by the President Obama government. Most devices as of today do not communicate the information to the end user.These grids could lay the stepping stone for companies and individual households in going green and at the same time create business opportunities for a breed of new age manufacturers that concentrate on designing energy efficient products.http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2009/gb20090313_662708_page_2.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2009/tc20090227_931349.htm

www.google.org

Theres no Beginning and theres no end

Here I am and this is me... Theres no place else ,where I could go.. I get up every morning and theres a lot to work about.. As I prepareth for thy exam I wonder is there an end.. Or was there even a beginning....

For when I was 4,there was a morning too,and then there was I, The books were not this big, for they were young and hath color even, There was then too a lot to work about For it was a test about the english alphabet, where A was not for any Applied economics...it was only about A for an apple... B was no business environment..it was simply B for a ball..

That was the time, I strutted onto my house door with a bottle around my neck.. For till date i strut along,though the bottle has been replaced by my tie.. My shorts have grown into trousers..My wrinkles have turned just about young... Tom and jerry are playing hide and seek in todays economic times In the form of president bush and lehman brothers...

As i entered my lift, my tiny hands just about reached the ground floor, Today though,going to the 9 floor aint tough,,but then all i need are the tiny hands, For nothings changed, I still got to go down, I remember then when i jumped onto my conductors lap, With my shirt half tucked in,its different now with full buttonned sleeves, I reached school much to the delight of my many friends and freundins, For all were just about singing humpty dumpty had a great fall, Right above from the "Wall" street above where our very own sensex tanked today by a few hundred points...

With a happy grin as I took to my class..my teacher gave me the question paper..and there it was about an E for eye.. But today its just not about the e that meets more than just an eye..For B is for Bond..and yeaa then also you could not copy... Hungry ,bored and irritated that I was I still took my colored pencils..And phew that small test was from 10 to 10:15..Its no different today from 3 to 6...

But as i pen it down I wonder what shall be of this test in the future.. As I shall jump into my car and reach my office..with my coat neatly pressed, There shall be a file and a time to submit the quarterly report.. For I shall not be alone with my colleagues all submitting their reports.. For I wonder shall there be an end to this...

Then One fine day its the time to get up again... I shall be at the door againWith a bottle around my neck and yes I am going back to school, For I wonder then,that I shall have my beautiful daughter in my hand... her pony nicely tucked by..Shall take her to the school..and in the car as she recites her A for an apple... I reallly wonder was that an end or just about the same beginning.. which shall continue for years and years to come... So here I am ,and this me For theres no place else where I could go. For as they say theres no beginning so there is no end...

Of shoes,of disgruntled journalists and Politicos:Shoe thrown by a reporter at P Chidambaram

Amidst a press conference conveyed by our Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to address the media in retrospection of the Assam Bomb blasts and the measures taken by the Government In lieu of them we now have a reality TV Sitcom that is flashing 24 * 7 and the result purpose of the perpetrator served to an extent.
For when the P Chidambaram was asked about the 1984 sikhs riots accused Jagdish Tytler being acquitted by the CBI,the home minister answered with great composure and said that this was not the forum to be discussing that issue..he requested him to take the question at a correct forum.
And phew the next moment the Journalist Jarnail Singh hailed a white basketball shoe right across P Chidambaram who looked rather amused.For everyones liking he kept a really calm and maintained a dignified composure that seems rather uncharacteristic of the tamasha seeking Indian Politician.
Mr Chidambaram had the composure of continuing with the press conference and even requested the security forces to take his case lightly and do not be too harsh on him.
However as hungry for tamasha our media is they had their food for fodder and the replay of shoe throwing experiment is being replayed just about on every news channel and its also the biggest breaking news of the day.
I wonder why that even if the Union Minister Is ready to continue his conference why did the media disrupt the conference and actually give way to the journalists motive which was to seek everyones attention to a controversial topic which the government was shielding their way.To be honest he has more than just managed it.
Imagine this scenario I am an Assamese reporter who hail from Assam where there was a blast yesterday and just because someone disrupted a conference where the security of Assam was being taken into account and strict questions answered, I get disgruntled and at the very next conference throw a shoe for not answering me properly…..alas we need to grow up.
Then apart news channels are comparing the footage to the shoe throwing incident at President Bush in Iraq,the angles,the reactions,the titbits,the hailing of the hero as by the Sikhs here and the arabs in Iraq who gifted him a Mercedez car.

Its for us to wait and watch what happens to Jarnail singh in this case in point.May be not a mercedez but a Bollywood producer may just sign him up for a scene in a movie showing throwing shoes at a politico just about to maintain some reality.

Mera Dhobhi aur uska Nano – Welcome to the era of “Roti,Kapda,Makan,telephone aur mera Nano”

When I come home from my college in the evening I see a huge pile of clothes ironed and stacked in a cloth bag waiting to be delivered ,stacked a top my dhobhis (laundary man’s) bi-cycle. I am sure within a years time there shall be swashbuckling Tata- Nano that replaces the bi-cycle standing outside my gate with these clothes on top.
With some amazing financing schemes available with almost all public/private banks(your banks got to have bad marketing and really dumb to miss trying up for loans for the nano,a case for you to not choose a bank) and close to 30,000 outlets ,with a basic booking deposit down-payment of just Rs 2999(60 dollars) very much affordable by my Dhobi (The Laundry man who takes clothes from my house irons and gets them back the next day)

By rough estimates my Dhobhi earns about(500 dollars) Rs 25,000 a month and with a down-payment of just (60 dollars) Rs 3000 and with a loan of even Rs 70,000(1400 dollars) considering he has saved up 30,000(600 dollars) unto now, he shall be the proud owner of a New Tata nano. Say he takes Rs 70,000 for 2 years ,he just has to pay Rs 2800 per month or 56 dollars a month.Cheap by all standards even in times of recession.
No wonder then maybe the Milkman’s next and for that matter he could end up delivering /serving more houses compared to travelling on bi-cycle and engage himself him in other jobs rest of the time. Talking about operating efficiency and utilization of manpower the Nano shall revolutionalize the world.
Come April 9,2009, ,many a Management case studies right from Marketing to Supply chain would be published and studied over the next decade about how the idea of a 1 lakh car/2000 dollar- worlds cheapest peoples car was envisaged by Ratan Tata and how Tata Motors in sync with all the stakeholders like the auto-part suppliers are just about to realize this huge success story.
The Tata Motors, at one end was reeling in lieu of the financial crisis and the severe debts incurred for the 2.3 billion acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover over the past few months ,has all of sudden made a comeback on the bourses with the announcement of launch of Nano. The booking amounts will ease their liquidity woes giving Tata Motors $1 billion for at least 3 months and at least $200 million against the delivery of the first 100,000 units -- which could take more than a year.
The cost of 1 Tata Nano = the cost of 3 Apple iPhones in india (700 dollars each).
Now with every uberclass teenager in the suburbs and the town of Mumbai getting pocket money of average 200 Rs(4 dollars) a day ,being able to save up to 25(2500 Rs) dollars a month can afford to buy a smart phone with say 400 dollars being payed as half installment by their parents in a years time (Most Indian teenagers still stay with parents and they account for their expenses partly if not fully).I am sure this trend will catch up with the nano.
With the telecom boom, India is the fastest growing telecom market with 375 millions user by February 2009.This boom spurred by low call rentals and low cost of the mobile phone(Nokia 1100 costs about Rs 4000/80 dollars upto the higher end iPhone 700 dollars) I am sure you can add the word Nano to the famous lingo which shall now read Roti,Kapda,Makan,telephone aur mera Nano.
Considering the fact that a round trip to Matunga 36 kms from my home in Lokhandwala in the Tata Indica costs about 3.0 litres of diesel that is Rs 100( 33 Rs per litre) ,an average of 12 -15 km per litre and a cost of Rs 2.7 per km. The same for a petrol Indica would have been 3 litres *45 Rs per litre of petrol=Rs 135 Rs for 100 km almost Rs 3.8 /km.
The Nano is set to give an average of Rs 22 per km that is a round trip cost of about Rs 75.(that too that the nano is a petrol car) Rs 2.2 Km a saving of close to Rs 1.8 Rs per km
Now thats what I call the power of being Nano.But are we ready to take so many small cars in a country that is reeling under the bouts of Population explosion and most congested cities of the world.

Are we waiting for the Ice-bergs and Oceans to submit a restructuring plan with an aid of 1 Trillion $ required..

For when was the last time that we had a summit for an international cause that there was no dispute, was there no protest ,there was someone who was not happy and above all ubiquitous unanimity.2 nd April 2009 marked the G2O Summit of a group of 20 leaders from all across the world in Londons eastside dockyard.

The end result a 1.1 Trillion $ infused into the IMF’s chest to support International Trade Finance and as per the IMF Chief Dominique Kahn’s estimates its enough for the world and is on par with exactly what the world needs.

The immediate optimism reflected upon all the world bourses with the footsie up 4.28 percent with sidekicks felt even in India with the sensex shoring up. There was an unanimous decision to lay sanctions to be imposed on any non –cooperative jurisdictions worldwide.With a cash infused IMF and easier norms for countries to avail the cash it seems the script for this summit was written before. Yes I am talking about the recession that has grappled the world and every government infusing money to protect their financial systems.The actions were the same,methods different. I am proud for once of all the world leaders reached a consensus quickly.

But I wonder hence that do we need such a recession for world leaders to act conscientiously and act responsibly for other issues of global importance like Climate change,poverty & social ills.Such a concerted effort with an unanimous decision by all world leaders would be more than welcome.For when when would the world realize its just not about being together for one cause but for each cause.The USA refusing to ratify to the kyoto protocol and refusing to curb its carbon emissions.

I wonder arent we in a ECO-recession already. Temperatures across the world being ever so erratic.Its just simply too hot in mumbai already and April has just woken up.

The Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.This means the ocean at the top of the world could be free or nearly free of summer ice by 2020.Or are we waiting for Mumbai or Venice to drown with rising water levels,is that what they think would be september 15 ,2008 when the Lehman Brothers collapsed.Are we waiting still to let the biggies like GM,Chrysler keep producing those fuel guzzling mammoths and keep funding them without asking them to rejig their offerings.Are they waiting for the ozone to run thin and ask the ozone layer to submit a restructuring plan with billions of dollars in aid.I am afraid my friends, theres money,there can be more money and money can be infused,assets depreciated but not life,life cannot be devalued nor depreciated for its not made by humans.So I urge the entire G20 to have a summit for the environment a fight against Global warming and to reach such a consensus.For once we have the sole benefit of recession a ubiquitous unanimity across the G20 Leaders in London

Sixth Sense is just not Gods Gift but a new Technology that could change the world...

Imagine that you just scanned your flight ticket to confirm details and your sixth sense told you that the flight is delayed by a couple of hours....well we now have a technology that basically does tell you that your flight is actually delayed...when you simply glance at your ticket...What happens here is that the Technology simply captures the image of your ticket and after feeding it into the database looks up upon the flight details and relays the information by projecting that back onto your ticket which says delayed by 2 hours....Can you believe what we are getting into ?Now this is the power of technology,imagine that you are shopping for healthy nutrient diet as per your doctors recommendations, which is pre-programmed into your computer memory and you are inside a shopping mall.Simply look at the various products or the barcode.Sixth sense(Through a camera on your body) shall capture the digital images of the product and give you a signal ,something of a green light ,projected back onto the product,to buy the recommended one as per your diet requirements and a red light for the ones not recommended.Next time at a social gathering you forget the name of your boss's best friend.Your sixth sense would simply capture his image and project his name as if by Gods Wish your sixth sense just told you who he is and also where you met him last and a list of emails you shared with him or even better ,when did you say hi to him last on Facebook.But this scares me to no end,thinking about how feeble human memory may become and how dependent may we be on this one artificial sense..by which would work every function of our life.

Watch the video below and actually see how it works.(Thanks to chirag who passed this link to me)http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

The Commercialism of Facebook (A day in the life of a FaceZonkie)

The Changing Face of Facebook:

The next time You take “Who are you from inside quiz “ on Facebook ,don’t be surprised ,that apart from being charming you shall get a whole lot of emails, phonecalls from advertisers given the fact that you like certain things and hate others. Call it the commercialism of Facebook or a necessity of todays times. Any information online is vulnerable at least that’s what I take away from my Ebiz-MBA. Read ON to know the true facts.Pun Intended

Facebooks gonna have its own Bill of Rights & Responsibilities soon, I don’t see any other democracy in the world ever getting such a privilege so soon. Too bad terrorist’s can’t threaten this International Facebook League (IFL),which my friends is going to rake in the moolah like never before.With the face of facebook changing faster than the makeover of the girl next-door I bet you and me are but going to be left gasping at each others faces. But lets try to fathom the beauty within the beast.

The Day in the Life of a Facebookie or a FaceZonkie (whichever name you like):By combining the facebook addressbook with your phone book Facebooks actually managing to get more and more users accessing it through the mobile phone.There are about 155 million registered users and about 5.3 million who access it through iPhone’s and the Blackberries(smartphones I mean).Beware next time when your friend recommends a favorite restaurant ,I am sure the face of the advertiser within will keep a book on this, and next time you are in Colaba or in Canberra,don’t be surprised to see your car take a turn to the tunes of your Google Maps thats synchronized to your car’s GPS and even more that you are just about driven there .

Enter the Legacy of Italy or Little China, your test score in the quiz last night “Whats your favourite Food "may just about get you some extra brownie points and a custom made menu with what you have always loved. Don’t be surprised that I din’t tell you that the Souvenir cup with the complimentary Jack and Jill’s ice-cream is actually the exact replica of the Bear Cup you received from your boyfriend on Facebook last night.(Did I tell you Jack and Jill was displaying its ads on the right side of your page all the while you both were getting intimate online)

Out at the movies don’t feel privileged that the face beyond the ticket-book asks for your email id which is a unique Facebook log-in Id. Chee move over Social-Security Nos,PAN Cards and unique birthmarks, the world will be identified using your Facebook login Id.By the time you reach your seats ,there would be a massive underplay of bits and bytes in a database,call it information mining which would sample the tastes of all the viewers in the theatre and thus based on the 60 percent common likes of you all ,who all played the game on facebook last night for “I am going to buy the next TxxG HuxxR” will actually watch the next commercial of “TxxG HuxxR”.

In Film marketing may add a new dimension. For you never know the Daniel Craig’s watch may just about be changed to “TxxG HuXXR” in India,”OmxxGa” in India for the same movieFathom this while watching Wimbledon on the Internet the big “ RoxxLexx” may be displayed as “TxxG HuxxR”…on your computer ,ohhh and You know why you love it so much and why its simply your favourite brand.

Don’t worry on your sisters Birthday,when you were wondering what to gift your sweet sister you may get a call from the “Barbie” store considering that your sister is a big fan of the new Barbie doll in town and she played the quiz “How well I know my new Barbie”,and ofcourse practice listening to the “I am the Barbie girl in the Barbie world” while you are placing the order and your call’s on hold.Whats more in my Marketing Branding class when we sit to make the next branding strategy for the new Porsche and want to brand it, the results of the I know the car logo quiz can be used for judging the recall of certain brands and their logos,for whilst I got 83 percent right the world got 75 percent and Porsche was’nt one of them.Din’t I tell you ,this is going to be your life/my life ,we the facezonkies (I like this better).So the next time you take a quiz,or poke a friend,or like a comment,remember the FaceBook SantaClaus is listening and someone may just get a gift on Christmas.But will all this I still love Facebook and so will you.