Convergenz 09 – IIM-B’s PGSEM community’s annual fest

URL: http://www.pgsem.net/index.php/Convergenz-09/Upcoming-event-Convergenz-09.html

Date: March 15, 2009 (Sunday)

Venue: Auditorium, IIM-Bangalore

Events:

1) Alchemy
The biz plan contest for all with a focus on technology innovations.

2) Case Contest
The case contest for all those with a passion to solve multiple challenges.

3) Quiz
A business quiz with a difference, conducted by the Karnataka Quiz Association this event, with its high profile prizes will be a quizzers delight!

4) Panel Discussion
A lively discussion with a focus on future growth on the following theme: “Search for the next business model in the Indian IT Industry – A wild goose chase or the need of the hour”

THEME – Innovation – Leading the Way:

The world is increasingly looking to the emerging economies to drive future growth. The days of seeking jobs and guidance from the developed countries are fast coming to an end. Our moment of reckoning is here.   India is poised to take the leap – a leap of courage, conviction, energy and imagination. In villages, towns and cities, small but progressive changes are taking place at every level. India has sprung to life, throbbing with expectation and vibrating with new ideas. Changes in every industry, every sector, are taking place at breakneck speed – revving up the economic engine like never before.

“Innovation” is the new buzzword – to increase efficiency and create new directions for growth. From the farmer in Ujjain who uses the internet to plan his produce, to the fisherman in Chennai who uses satellite data to find his next catch, to the taxi driver in Bangalore who uses the GPS to choose the optimal routes, India is finding homemade solutions to its domestic problems.

But as the recession gets deeper, India is also feeling the heat, as evidenced by the recent downward forecasts of GDP growth and mounting job losses in a few sectors. The world is indeed flat, and no country is completely insulated. However, the good news is that the key drivers of growth in this new golden age – Domain knowledge, technology ownership, flawless execution, creative marketing and charismatic leadership – are all found in abundance in India. We have the tools to beat the recession. Recession can be our opportunity.

What is required, though, is a common focus to streamline our thoughts and synergize our actions. Convergenz ’09 provides that focus by bringing together some of the best thought leaders in Indian Business to address the compelling issues of the day at both a macro as well as micro level .

· How can innovation help us beat the recession?
· What will the winning strategies look like?
· How will the world shape up in the coming decade?
· What are the major changes required for our businesses?
· Which are the most exciting tech startups in our country?
· What’s the next disruptive idea?

Convergenz ’09 promises many such fundamental insights that impact the dynamic world of Indian Business. Come March, the masters of the game descend on the sprawling campus of IIM Bangalore to chart the course of the future as they see it. And if you have seen the future a little differently, you belong here. PGSEM welcomes you to unleash your imagination in all its elegant fury. IIMB dares you to Innovate.

Dostana – the Review

They call it the gay flick; instead they should call it the skin flick. Dostana is mostly about hot hot folks clothed in hot hot clothes – at least the leads anyhow. There were so many moments when I just wanted to scream “that’s hot babbayy!” and was restrained only by the reminders that I was watchin’ it with my folks.

All three leads (no, Bobby Deol aint a lead) ooze sexiness. And more sexiness. And boy, do Priyanka and John show of their well-toned/muscled bodies. In one of the scenes when Abhishek goes “bum?” look at Pri’s derriere, one reckons that he could have done it over and over and still meant it for Priyanka’s derriere looks that fabulous (and who’s the costume designer for such fab clothes?). John of course, wears the least clothes, and displays oodles of musckle (note: if going with your lover, make sure you both get seats at different ends – you’d both wanna enjoy the display of all that opposite sex rather exclusively)

100 miles on a Harley

Having missed riding with my biker buddies – and then again I missing a trip to Vegas too meant that I’d try my best to hitch a bike ride. And that’s what I did. On a Harley!

Not an experience I’ll forget anytime soon. It was totally one to savour for some time! The first hurdles were locating a place that’d lend hogs at a decent rate – and also be close enough to my hotel. It took a bit of time, but I finally got there – after half a dozen phone calls!

The eve of the day (weekend) of reckoning, comes news that weather’s gonna be not so good – and 80% chances of rain. Ah great! Rain. Just the thing I was hoping for. But, there was this tiny voice that said “wait a minute, your last ride which was highly enjoyable was partly in the wet too…”. But a 140 kilo 180cc animal is slightly different from a 250+kilo Hog with 6 times engine capakitty, innit?

Well, Saturday morning opened to a nice surprise – it was sunny!! for the first time in a week nearly! And the change in weather signaled a good ride – in nice sunny weather.
So out I went to get the hog – got all the paperwork done, which, by now, it was kinda familiar to me.

Well, it was only till getting onto the bike that it was familiar territory. From then on, it was unexplored and very, very sensory. They don’t say “you know its a Harley when you hear it” for no reason! (more cliches found true, but we’ll come to that l8r) And I discovered the pleasure of hearing the hot-rod throbbing when I fired it up. Now THAT sounded sweet!  As were the vibes from the bike – I’d gone there expecting a bike that threatened to throw me off at first start-up, but the vibes were muted, pleasant -and gave the right amount of feel. Perfect!

Riding Gear – is it necessary?

Nearly a decade or so back, I got my learning license. And started to drive ride. Of course the first LL is only for an ungeared motorcycle considering I was in my teens. And as was the norm, most of us rode those ungeared scoots that were then beginning to transform the country’s landscape – and now have become ubiquitous. Its been quite a while since – more than a lakh of kilometers on the road, much more awareness, much better riding skills – and definitely way smoother. The risks I take now, are far lesser – even when in a hurry.

Which’s why whenever someone talks of riding gear, I sometimes think back to that incident all those years back and wonder how much better it would have been if we’d riding gear back then.

Back then, folks my age only wore helmets cause

a)  Their  parents forced them to

or

b)  It protected them when in rain.

Jackets were only worn due to rain. There was hardly any awareness about injury prevention, defensive riding/driving etc., Things have improved but still not to the extent they should. Which’s why this post.

This is what happened then. I was a *very* inexperienced rider, but full of b__s. Or so I thought. So there I was doing 60kmph which was not far off from the top speed of the scoot, the front wheel hit a rock, and I took off. Luckily for me, my helmet saved my life. But, one of my arms lost a chunk of skin – about 8 inches in length and 4 inches wide – just a light tee-shirt. My right ankle took a hit (I was wearing sandals only). Both palms got deeply bruised. Luckily nothing was broken, and nothing ran me over.

It took 45 days for all the skin to grow back. Even now,  I still have a 6 inch scar on me arm to show for it.

I had probably a 1000km’s under my belt then. I now have more than a 1000 times that experience. But still, I need my riding gear, and I wear it too.

Consider how lightly my friend got off, the other day. We were out on a 1000km ride. On the first day we’d done quite a bit of riding – about 350km. the last 75-100km were mostly on bad/no roads. And then, when returning back to the hotel that day, my friend – veteran of 50,000 km+ fell. Probably at about 50kmph, front wheel hit a ditch, instinctively hit the brakes, wheel locked, fell.

Whats the damage?

Helmet took the full blow, chin part and the visor scrathed, visor partially broken. Gloves okay, just scruffed up. No major impact to the jacket – but apparently it slid up a bit, and a slight tear in the riding pant. Steel toed boots take the hit, and now we could see the steel inside.

And he? A scratch, on the elbow. He’s slightly dazed because it was his first fall. Nothing else. That’s it. A couple of nights’ rest, some painkillers and he was good enough to ride back home!

The bike has a 6,000 Rs repair bill.

Helmets save lives. The rest of the riding gear minimizes recovery time from an incident. (More posts to follow in this direction…)

Fireflies Music Festival 2008

Last year, I had a great time at fireflies music festival 2007..

For this year’s event, I’m currently not able to exact link of Fireflies Music Festival 2008.. However, found some info on www.couchsurfing.com via samasmedialab.net.. Thanks for that buddy !

The Fest:
Fireflies Festival of Music begins at 6 p.m. on 23rd Feb and will go on till 6 a.m. on Sunday.

* The fest is ‘inspired by the World Sacred Music Festival, held annually at the mystical city of Fes, in Morocco’.
* The stage is set around the base of a massive banyan-tree. A beautiful amphitheatre overlooks the stage and a lake where beautiful people are sprawled on their colorful mattresses, right under the stars, completely enchanted by the melodious sounds coming out of the banyan tree.
* The sound from the Jamo speakers and colorful lights give the 2000-strong audience a celestial psychedelic effect. It’s a night where culture meets nature, east meets west, passion meets fusion.
* The festival covers a wide range of musical genres: Baul, Qawwali, Hindustani/ Carnatic Fusion, Jazz, Folk, Sacred/ Mystical Music.

[See my fireflies music festival 2007's review for more details of the different genres on show]

Google Ads on wordpress.com blogs

I did a google search for bmtc volvo on google to reach my post http://indiareviews.wordpress.com/2006/08/07/bmtc-volvo-buses/

To my surprise, I found google ads both on top of the page and at the bottom of the page..

I thought it was just the wordpress guys (matt and others) testing some new ads platform.. i thought it could be exciting.. coz the WP guys usually come out with some really cool stuff.. I wanted to know if any posts on their ads model already out there..

Then to my surprise, I found matt’s post “on ads“:

We very occassionally show Adsense (contextual text ads) on post and tag pages. Why? To allow us to focus on free features in addition to paid and to offset costs of rapidly rising traffic.

These were relevant ads on volvo and bangalore, unlike others who got nasty ads..

Unmaad 2008 – the cultural fest of IIM-Bangalore

IIM Bangalore will present its annual cultural festival Unmaad on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of February 2008 . With over 100 corporate organizations & 500 colleges invited to participate, this time the events are bigger and better.

With events ranging from Rock Shows, Fashion Show, Choreography, Pro-nite Performances to Debates, Jam, Quiz, Art events, Dramatics, Street Play, Music and Games, Unmaad this year will be 72 hours of non stop action and fun that promises you the experience of a lifetime. With a host of new workshops, new events, online games and the ‘War of the Corporates’, Unmaad 2008 is all set to be a roller coaster ride for everyone.

check out http://www.unmaad.com for more details on the events

The Pro-Nite shows (Music Concerts) this year:

1. Feb 1st – Rock show featuring Motherjane and Zero – Time 7 pm

They are among the most popular rock acts in the country. This being a rock show, there will be no separate enclosures or categories, nor there any seating provided. The ticket prize is Rs 100 and gates will open at 6.30 in the evening.

To buy online http://www.iticket.in/CinemaResult.asp?MovieList=715&TransDate=2/1/2008

2. Feb 2nd – Unity concert featuring Strings and Mrigya – Time 7 pm

We are proud to be host to this unique concept called the Unity concert, of which this is the 3rd edition. Strings is one of the most popular bands to emerge out of Pakistan and their shows are known to be simply mind blowing. Mrigya, with their incredible blend of classical and modern instruments, is one of the most well known fusion bands in India and have numerous international concerts to their credit.

For this show there will be 2 categories priced and Rs 100 and 200 respectively. The Rs. 200 section will be further divided into 2 categories, seating and standing. The seated section will be mostly reserved for Profs and sponsors.

To buy online http://www.iticket.in/CinemaResult.asp?MovieList=716&TransDate=2/2/2008

All ticket enquiries can be routed to Ankit Baveja ( 9986507020) and Shekhar Gupta: 9243444363.