Smoking Ban up in smoke?

On Oct 2, 2008 the world’s biggest public smoking ban came into effect in India. With 1 million people losing their life every year due to smoking, the ban was implemented to prevent smoking in public places like stations, government offices, airports, amusement hubs (theatres, malls etc), and hotels among others.

India is the third largest market for cigarettes, with up to 250 million smokers and around 102 billion cigarettes sold every year. Though it is too soon to know whether the ban would be a success or not, it did fail on the first day as the authorities were ignorant about the new law. Further, ITC along with Indian Hotel Association is planning to go to the Supreme Court in November to challenge the ban. Higher taxes, pictorial warnings and now a ban are likely to come as a big blow for India’s largest cigarette manufacturer, ITC. The company earns around 60% of its revenues from the cigarette division.

Some facts on grids!!!

A cluster is a type of parallel and distributed system, which consists of a collection of inter-connected stand-alone computers working together as a single integrated computing resource.

A Grid is a type of parallel and distributed system that enables the sharing, selection, and aggregation of geographically distributed ‘autonomous’ resources dynamically at runtime depending on their availability, capability, performance, cost, and users' quality-of-service requirements.

A Cloud is a type of parallel and distributed system consisting of a collection of inter-connected and virtualized computers that are dynamically provisioned and presented as one or more unified computing resources based on service-level agreements established through negotiation between the service provider and consumers.

At a cursory glance, Clouds appear to be a combination of clusters and Grids. However, this is not the case.

Clouds are clearly next-generation data centers with nodes “virtualized” through hyper visor technologies such as VMs, dynamically “provisioned” on demand as a personalized resource collection to meet a specific service-level agreement, which is established through a “negotiation” and accessible as a composable service via Web Service technologies such as SOAP and REST.

Buffett’s first and last biography

For a tribe that calls itself ‘Value Investors’, this is nothing but an investing world equivalent of ‘Harry Potter’. Infact, on second thoughts, this could be even bigger because while the wand wielding child wizard had more than a few tomes dedicated to his histrionics, this is probably the first and the last authorized biography of arguably the biggest financial wizard of our times.

We are referring to one Mr. Warren Buffett and his first authorised biography (The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life) that hit the stands yesterday. And like with most of his other endeavors, especially of the investing types, the timing could not have been more impeccable here as well. With the US financial industry roiled in one of the worst crises in decades and with reputation of quite a few firms in complete tatters, the book about a man whose investment techniques are widely believed to be the gold standard has indeed come as a breath of fresh air.

Japanese Banks in the lime Light

While the US and European banks are barely managing to stay afloat, Japanese banks are beginning to flaunt their might. This has been amply demonstrated in the past few weeks when Mitsubishi bought a 20% stake in Morgan Stanley and Nomura acquired Lehman’s assets in Asia.

Ironically, while the excesses of the 1980s made the Japanese banks flounder, consequently taking them considerable time to recover from the same, it is this very fact that has more or less insulated them from the subprime malaise which has badly afflicted US and European banks. During the boom, Japan received a lot of flak for making acquisitions in the US at inflated prices, which over a period of time the Japanese banks found difficult to digest.

But the US financial system at that time was robust. The scenario has reversed now. While the credit crisis has helped Japanese banks acquire stakes in US banks at attractive prices, the health of the US financial sector is now in question. Therefore, how the Japanese banks will integrate these acquisitions assumes considerable importance given that cultures in both the countries are like chalk and cheese and the fact that the financial sector in Japan is just beginning to witness signs of revival.

TARP falls into a trap

The US House of Representatives (Lower House of Parliament) has rejected TARP or 'Troubled Assets Relief Program' of the US government to bail out financial institutions. The US$ 700 bn plan that would have allowed the US Treasury Department to rescue the financial system got a thumbs down yesterday by a vote of 228 to 205. This sent the US stock markets in a tizzy, as the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial index declined by a massive 777 points (7%), its biggest single day decline ever.

Warren Buffett had recently proclaimed that the financial crisis in the US was 'everybody's problem' and not just that of Wall Street. He had in fact warned policymakers that the US might face its 'biggest financial meltdown' if they did not do something to secure the financial system. Now with the bailout plan turning turtle, experts are predicting the financial system and the economy to be in dire straits. Although another version of the bailout plan will likely go before the US Congress for a vote, concerns remain that the passage of the bill could be a more drawn-out process.

Halloween

Halloween is traditionally celebrated on October 31st. Its roots lie in the Celtic tradition of celebrating the harvest and trying to ward of the dangers of the impending winter. The evil spirits, it was feared, would disease the crops and the cattle and harm the ability of people to survive winter.

To ward of the evil spirits, it was tradition to keep a hollowed out pumpkin with a candle inside. The evil spirits, it was believed, would stay away from this lighted pumpkin. In modern days in modern homes the children go around the neighbourhood dressed to scare and say, “Boo - Trick or Treat?”
Well, Halloween has come early this year.
The evil spirits of greed and excess have made some pretty loud “Boo!” sounds and the global financial markets are in a complete state of panic.
Bear Stearns had to be rescued.
Lehman has filed a USD 631 billion bankruptcy protection.
Freddie and Fannie – owners of 30% of the total home loans in USA – had to be rescued by the US government.

AIG – the world’s largest insurance company – has just been given a rescue package by the US government which now owns 80% of AIG. Central banks around the world are lending money to these financial giants – who were hailed as geniuses by all the media – to keep them alive. Announcements of losses of hundreds of millions of dollars and rescue packages of tens of billions of dollars seem like daily occurrences.

September 11

Today, seven years ago to this date, is the day when the terrorists brought their war on American soil.

As the TV cameras telecast the visuals of the World Trade Center collapsing, there were many people celebrating in some parts of the world.

It was, they argued, appropriate to celebrate: The Great Satan had been inflicted a body blow. It serves them right, said the sympathizers of the Taliban, as they danced in the streets. The Yankees have caused enough harm in many parts of the world and it is time that they were taught a lesson. The Yankees must leave the Middle East and its oil to the locals and not the Zionists or the favoured few families that control the oil wealth in the deserts.

One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

An eye for an eye, said the great Mahatma, will merely make the whole world blind.

American policy has indeed been harmful in many instances. Many of us in India are upset at the support given to Pakistan - which most Indians regard as, to use an Americanism, "a terrorist state". The 9/11 attacks were seen by some Indians as an opportunity for the US to work closer with India. The world’s two largest - and self-styled greatest - democracies working together in a new world order.

Well, there is a new world order now.
For decades we had a "uni-polar" world. America was the Empire. To some it was Evil, to some it was great, but it was an "Empire".

It may not have been a fair "umpire" though. US foreign policy was driven by a combination of what the "Zionists" wanted (the Israel policy); what the multinationals wanted (engage China so that its labour markets are opened for building the world’s low-cost factory); and what the local Americans wanted (cheap goods, cheap oil, and cheap money). Somewhere in this equitation were many other important players each with their own angle of ensuring that business interest drove foreign and economic policy.

The Great Indian Growth Story

India has achieved amazing economic growth in the recent years.

Better jobs and increased salaries have improved the standard of living of people and changed the way they view things.

And the transformation is there for everybody to see..

Computers are penetrating the middle class Indian population at an astonishing rate and PC sales are at an all-time high. Air-conditioners are now considered a necessity rather than luxury.

There are large malls everywhere ...consisting of restaurants offering international cuisines, multistoried bookstores, showrooms for expensive furniture, whole shops for electronic gadgets, jewels, high-end clothing apparel, sports goods and what not.

The number of people owning cars and houses has also gone up dramatically in the last 3 years.

Nowadays, if people feel that spending money on something will make their lives more enjoyable, they do it without having second thoughts. They have extra money to spend at their discretion now!

And how has this new economic environment benefited Indian companies?

Obviously yes, that over the last 10 years, the sales and profits of BSE-30 companies has grown by about 8 times.

It is a remarkable achievement indeed.

But There Is Also A Downside To This Growth...

While the recent economic growth has been great for India on one hand, it has also caused unprecedented problems on the other.

Sure, economic development has generated more jobs and transformed the lives of millions.

But to meet the demands of the ever-expanding population and sustain this growth in the long run, India needs some basic amenities - starting with simple requirements like POWER.

And this is where the problem lies.

Look...

Any person would be satisfied if he has enough power to light a bulb for reading, cooking some hot food, keeping his home cool in summer and doing other small things that electricity can do.

But even this is not happening in India right now.

What is happening actually is...

• Frequent power outages are bringing people's lives to a complete standstill.
• People can hardly plan work, meetings or any other activity anymore.
• Dinner parties are completely ruled out, so even their social life has also been affected severely.
• Students can't study after they come from school due to lack of power.
• Shopkeepers are forced to close shop early because of the late evening power cuts.

And these are just a few.

Imagine the plight of industries and factories which are totally dependent on electricity for their functioning.

To be frank, the problem is so bad I could go on with this forever.

You and I may live in a city where the problem is not so severe. That doesn't mean the problem does not exist.

This problem does exist and it's as real as it can get.

Earn attractive returns from stocks without taking big risks

Are you the kind of person who loves to earn attractive returns from stocks without taking big risks?

If yes, then you’ll definitely want to hear what I’ve got to say.

You see, I recently identified a remarkable investment opportunity in the Power sector - one that could deliver returns in excess of 100% over the next few years.

There’s huge demand in this sector, and it’s literally growing up by the day. So it’s a great opportunity for you to make money.

Additionally, the stock prices of companies best placed to benefit from this demand have crashed. So if you act quickly, you can also get these "Blue-chip" stocks for dirt-cheap.

Millions of Indians across India have learnt to live with power shortages day in and day out. But there's something they still don't realize.

This is only the beginning. The worst is yet to come.

You see, India is and has always been short of power supply. Power cuts have been a part and parcel of people's lives. And now, factors like growth in household and commercial consumption, electrification of rural areas and manufacturing growing faster are aggravating the problem even further.

According to a report, India's demand for power will soar to a whopping 315,000 MW by 2017 - more than double the current installed capacity.

Meeting this demand will require a huge investment...which means this is a great opportunity for you to make money.

Yes! A lot of money is going to be spent in this sector in the coming years.

To begin with, a spending of a couple hundred billion dollars has been proposed to improve the infrastructure in the power sector, in areas ranging from setting up power plants to delivering this power to the people properly.

There are only a handful of companies that are big enough to take on this kind of work and benefit directly from the increase in spending.

These are all well-managed companies which have been doing well... and in my view will continue to do well over the long-term.

When shares of such companies are available at attractive prices, why take unnecessary risks to earn extraordinary returns?

Buy these stocks and earn attractive returns easily without taking big risks. So try to grab them at the earliest.

Rupee ?

Influenced by the rising strength of the dollar, the Indian rupee has been on a depreciating trend since the start of the year. Infact, the rupee fell to 44.88 a dollar, the lowest level in almost 21 months on speculation that oil importers were buying dollars as crude fell toward US$ 100 a barrel. Also contributing to the Indian currency’s decline has been the weakness in the stock market, as foreign investors choose to exit from the same on concerns of a global meltdown. India’s worsening current account position has also played a rose in the rupee’s fall. India imports around 70% of the oil that it consumes and hence the import of oil plays a dominant role in determining the current account position. According to Bloomberg, India's average oil import costs increased to US$ 8.2 bn a month this year, from US$ $5.5 bn in 2007.

Interestingly, as per reports in a leading business daily, exporters who were trying to sell dollars at 40/US$ have chosen to stay on the sidelines when the rupee is just a hair’s breadth away from breaching the 45/US$ mark. The RBI, which actively intervenes in the forex market, has been subdued so far. Unless the fundamentals, which have led to a weakening rupee, drastically change, the RBI is unlikely to favour a stronger rupee.

Java Tips

Why we can not declare constructor as final?

The keyword final when dealing with methods means the method cannot be overridden. Because constructors are never inherited and so will never have the opportunity to be overridden, final would have no meaning to a constructor.

What’s the difference between AWT and Swing?

There are no big architectural differences; the class hierarchy is almost the same. The reason is that Swing is built upon AWT. The most significant difference is how the components are drawn to the screen. AWT is so called heavyweight components and have their own viewport which sends the output to the screen. Swing is lightweight components and does not write itself to the screen, but redirect it to the component it builds on. Heavyweight components also have their own z-ordering. This is the reason why you can't combine AWT and Swing in the same container. If you do, AWT will always be drawn on top of the Swing components. You can combine AWT and Swing, just don't do it in the same container (e.g. panel, groupbox, etc.) and don't put a heavyweight component inside a lightweight. Another difference is that Swing is pure Java, and therefore platform independent. Swing looks identically on all platforms, while AWT looks different on different platforms.

Difference between Java beans and EJB?

Javabeans are much smaller than EJBs. You can use Javabeans to assemble larger components or to build entire applications. Javabeans, however are development components and are not deployable components. You typically do not deploy a Javabean rather, Javabeans help you construct larger software that is deployable. And because they cannot be deployed, Javabeans do not need to live in a runtime environment. Since Javabeans are just java classes they do not need an application server to instantiate them, to destroy them, and to provide other services to them. The application itself is made up of Javabeans.

Is it possible to change delays that affect appearing, keeping and disappearing of tooltip?

The ToolTipManager is a service class that maintains a shared instance registered with AppContext. We can access the ToolTipManager directly by calling its static sharedInstance() method:
ToolTipManager toolTipManager = ToolTipManager.sharedInstance();

Internally this class uses three non-repeating Timers with delay times defaulting to 750, 500, and 4000. ToolTipManager uses these Timer’s in coordination with mouse listeners to determine if and when to display a JToolTip with a component’s specified tooltip text. When the mouse enters a components bounds ToolTipManager will detect this and wait 750ms until displaying a JToolTip for that component. This is referred to as the initial delay time.

A JToolTip will stay visible for 4000ms or until we move the mouse outside of that component’s bounds, whichever comes first. This is referred to as the dismiss delay time. The 500ms Timer represents the reshow delay time which specifies how soon the JToolTip we have just seen will appear again when this component is re-entered.

Each of these delay times can be set using ToolTipManager’s setDismissDelay(), setInitialDelay(), and setReshowDelay() methods.

ToolTipManager is a very nice service to have implemented for us, but it does have significant limitations. When we construct our polygonal buttons we will find that it is not robust enough to support non-rectangular components.

Is it possible to stop an object from being created during construction?

Yes, if the constructor throws an exception. Formally, an object will be created (since the constructor is a method invoked after the actual method creation), but nothing useful will be returned to the program, and the dead object will be later reclaimed by Garbage Collector.

The other way is when you leave calls to the constructor to a static factory method which can check the parameters and return null when needed.

Note that a constructor - or any method in general - throwing an exception will not "return null", but will leave the "assign target" as it was.

COMMUNICATION

Topics of concern

Concepts: What we mean by Communication, and what elements are necessary to maximize our effectiveness as communicators

Skills: The skills and behavior which improve communication, and how they can be developed

Structure: The approach, style and construction of communication for personal and corporate uses.

ELEMENTS IN COMMUNICATION

SENDER – Originator of the Communication

MESSAGE AND CODING – Code Content and Treatment; The Language and manner of Presentation

MEDIUM AND CHANNEL – Written, Oral, Combination of Written and Oral

DECODING AND FILTER OF PERCEPTION – Interpretation of the Message

RECEIVER – To whom the message is communicated

FEEDBACK – Response of the Receiver to the Sender, Completes the Communication Loop

COMMUNICATION VEHICLES

Outwardly directed

SPEECH- Face to Face
Telephone

WRITING- Formal – Long reports, Short Letters
Informal – Memos

VISUAL / GRAPHICS- Diagram

Picture

PERSONAL SIGNALS- Facial expression

(Non-verbal) ‘Body Language’

Incoming

LISTENING- Active Listening (Not just hearing)

READING- Active Reading (Not just seeing the words)

WATCHING- Active Watching (Not just looking)

PROBLEM AREAS IN COMMUNICATION

Selective Attention

Inattention, Distrust of communication, Absence of interest

Receiver ignores the information that conflicts with what he already knows

Receiver hears what he expects to hear

Inappropriate time of communication

Selective Perception

Sender and Receiver have different background / experience

Receiver hears what he expects to hear

Fear or failure to communicate

Prohibitive nature of organizational structure

Selective Retention

Badly expressed message

Faulty translations

Distortion or loss in transmission

BUILDING SENDER SKILLS

Create atmosphere for free flow of communication

Communicate in the receiver’s background and interest

Face to face communication

Be clear and to the point

Use simple, non-technical and direct language

Use human interest words and personal references

Economize on adjectives

Use active verbs

Use suitable tone of communication

Put emphasis on the communication

Time element

Never initiate unnecessary communication

Reduce length of communication channel

BUILDING RECEIVER SKILLS

1. Questions

Open
Begin with What, When, How, Which, Where, Why, Who
Requires explanation / description in the answer

Closed
Lead to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer
- Will you be speaking to Harish this week?
- Have you started on the new assignment yet?
Elicits only the answer to that specific question

Leading
- You are going to that meeting, aren’t you?
- You haven’t got to rush off this evening, have you?
Indicates the desired / expected response

2. Cues

Reflecting / Restatement
Encourages expansion of the point, for example
- Well, it’s far too complex; it won’t work
Restate
- You feel we’re likely to have problems

Request
Specifies what expansion you need
- Tell me more about…
- Give me an example of that

Probing
- I expect some aspects which will be easier than others. You probably have a fair idea what they are
- I expect you are experienced in this area
- Your views are important; I’d really like to know what you think
- That’s often a problem area, I hear

3. Listening characteristics

POOR LISTENERS	GOOD LISTENERS
Interrupt	Use eye contact
Change the subject	Look attentive but relaxed
Yes, but… style	Give cues and prompts
Use negative body language	Take time to listen
Are easily distracted	Ask open questions
Are impatient	Don’t interrupt
Appear not to listen	Use positive body language
Take over the conversation	Concentrate
Ask few questions	Do not appear to judge
Ask closed questions	Ask for opinions, views and feelings
Insist on having the last word	Are patient
Clearly want to talk, not listen	Show they have identified key points

Medical image processing

Image processing defines algorithms to process 2D and 3D digital images for meaningful interpretation of image content. Modern medical science has seen unprecedented growth in the use of imaging technology. Medical domain specific sensors are generating a wide variety of signals, which are visualized as digital images – either as a static image frame or as a video. Therefore, it’s becoming imperative that more and more image processing algorithms are necessary to process these images.

The overall objective of these imaging applications is to use it as diagnosis-aiding tool helping medical practitioners. There are now a number of surgical procedures where the doctors have to completely depend on the imaging process. Overall medical image processing is a sunrise sector both for imaging and bio-medical experts.

INTERNET GOVERNANCE

The Internet has grown to its present form since its beginning without too much regulation except defining protocols and standards to ensure the interoperability of heterogeneous systems. But as soon as the commercial activities started taking place on the internet the need of having regulations was realized. Standards and routine administration, encryption, digital signature, ISP licensing, IPR, tariff, cyber crimes etc. were the questions raised as soon as the commercial activities came to the forefront. The debate is now live because the key issue is “What kind of regulations?” rules by government or self-regulations by business and users?

On one hand where the impact of Internet on education, health, government and other areas of activity has been realized world over, at the same time cyber crimes, such as fraud, gambling, pornography, and ID theft misuse and abuse in the form of malicious code and spam has brought the growing awareness of the social, economic, and political impact of the Internet Governance into sharper focus.

Internet Governance is needed to:

• Maintain Compatibility and Interoperability
• Safeguard the rights and define the responsibilities of the various stake holders
• Protect all the end users from misuse and abuse
• Encourage further development
• Prevent or at least minimize, the risk of fragmentation of the internet.

WEB PORTALS

A web portal is a single point of access to information which is linked from various logically related internet based applications and of interest to various types of users. Portals present information from various diverse sources in a unified way They are an excellent way for enterprises to provide a consistent look and feel with access control and procedures for multiple applications. A wide range of technologies supports the creation and maintenance of web portals.

A web portal is a special web site designed to act as a gateway to other related sites. Web portals are designed to retain their users who must return to them frequently .They provide a useful means of making content readily available to authorized users in a convenient form.

Businesses are rapidly turning to portals to foster more integrated, web based user experiences for employees, customers, and vendors. By providing collaborative, personalized and adaptive workspaces, portals are facilitating effective ways to acquire, serve and retain customers. Web portals enable effective management of production and sales. It is proving to be a cost effective solution to empower staff with instant access to vital information.

Web portals are found in many domains of specialization. The consumer portals offer a wide range of customization options and functionality including: Internet search and navigation, email, news, weather, sports and horoscopes.

Madras Week Celebrations are on ...

The founding day of Madras is considered to be 22nd August 1639. So the Chennai city deserves to celebrate its birthday on 22nd August . The city stands high for a variety of reasons. Its development is awesome in the fields of IT, Health care, Education, Industries of all sectors and Entertainment. To enhance the participation of the public the Madras day has been extended to create the Madras week. And this week is termed as the Madras week (August 17th to 24th) every year and it celebrates the city.

The Madras day mainly focuses on the city and its history. The volunteers who love the city motivate the communities and groups to conduct numerous events and celebrate the city. Usually events like heritage talks, walks, bullet bike rides around the city, various contests like poetry ,music and quiz, rallies, food fests, exhibitions and more will be conducted all around felicitating the Chennai city.

Golden Icons of Chennai

First row: Rajaji, C V Raman, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Second row: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, M S Subbulakshmi, Rukmini Devi Arundale, Jayakanthan
Third row: R K Narayan, Subramania Bharathi, Ramaswamy Venkataraman

The 2008 Madras Week celebrations are going on throughout the city daily. Various events are scheduled everyday. Heritage talks about the city are conducted almost daily. People from various countries who have settled in madras share their views about the city. Heritage walk is also organized by volunteers all around the city. Exhibitions and contests are also being organized. The timings and venue of all the events are found in the link below.
http://sriramv.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/madras-week-2008-event-schedule/

Some of the other events conducted this year are:

• Book release: "Historic Residences of Chennai" and "Release of Dr. K.V. Raman’s The Early History of the Madras Region"
• Live presentation contest for city schools
• Spoken word/poetry reading sessions
• Live demo of food, clothes, lifestyle, dance, music and lots more at the Asan Memorial School
• Stories on Madras for children aged between 6 -12
• Session on Wildlife in Chennai to create awareness and depict the importance of natural heritage in Chennai
• Quiz Contest on Chennai conducted at the Rotary Club of Madras
• Documentary Film Festival

I request all the chennaites to participate in the events and celebrate the city.Lets Rock around the city !!!!!

Online Medical Assistant Training Program

Are u looking for a new career ? This is what you have waited for so long.

St. Augustine School of Medical Assistants help you to achieve your goal. They offer online training with their nationally accredited and certified Medical Assistant Training Program. This program will help you to study at your convenience where you can finish the course in 6-8 weeks or however long you desire based on your own daily commitments. They are very flexible and affordable with easy payment methods. Their team comprises of experts in the field of health care . All the classes are online and they have virtual labs and qualified professionals to review the program to provide you with best results. I assure that you can earn your certificate in the most convenient and efficient way possible. You have all time online support to resolve your queries and problems with personal attention.

Some of the other programs they offer for you:

Ø Medical assistant courses

Ø Nursing assistant programs

Ø Nursing Aide programs

Ø Home health care courses

Ø Pharmacy Technician Program

Ø Dental Assistant Program

For more details log in to:

http://www.medassistant.org

The employment opportunities are excellent once you finish your course. So come enroll yourself for a good career in the rapidly growing health care industry. Your career is just a click away . Click and grab the opportunity.

http://www.medassistant.org/registration.html

Amazing World Records!!!!!

This Beijing Olympics 2008 has to its credit many world records to cherish its memories. There has been 23 world records set since the start of the competition.It will definitely be a euphoric moment for China to top the list with 35 Gold as of now.Today the games offered 37 golds and this is the maximum of any day in Olympics.

Some of the amazing records this Olympics has brought about:

Michael Phelps took a record-breaking eighth gold in single Olympics games, winning the men's 4x100 meters medley relay today in Beijing to beat fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's seven in the year 1972.He has totally 14 career golds to his credit at the age of 23 and that's really fantastic.


Usain Bolt who won the men's 100 meters Olympic gold in dazzling style ,in 9.69 seconds effacing his own world record.Actually when he crossed 50 metres , he observed that no one were so near him too.Had he not wasted time in that he would have finished in 9.65 seconds itself.Awesome record isn't it.....?

He kissed his shoes after winning .It was his day and he had reached his aim of winning.

Britain's Rebecca Adlington breaks Janet Evans world record in 800 free style.She was six months old when Evans set the record in 8:16.22.Rebecca swam the race in 8 minutes 14.10 seconds to break her record.

How can i leave without the special mention of our champion Abhinav Bindra,the shooter, who won India's first ever individual Olympic gold in the 10m Air Rifle event at the Olympics.
A proud moment for all the Indians.I hope this would encourage all the young chaps of our country.This would make our Government realise their mistake of dumping all the funds for cricket.This emphatically would have an impact on all the sportsmen of our country and I dream better future prospects for India.

A Grand Alumni Celebration

Easwari Engineering College in chennai , organised a grand alumni meet on 15th August between 6 to 9pm in Radha Regent Hotel in Vadapalani. Our Principal, Director, Hod and Lectures had come to grace the occasion. Last four years' passed out students (2005-2008) had come for the meet.
The agenda was how to improve our college standards in terms of best facilities in all aspects. Students who are employees of many esteemed companies shared their views. They also came forward in providing job opportunities for all the students who have not been placed yet. All the dignitaries were happy with the suggestions and sponsors the alumnae were ready to afford. They were extremely delighted with the support which they got from the passed out students.
The representatives from every department shared their views regarding the meet. They expressed their joy in meeting all their friends back again . They thanked the organisation for having provided an opportunity to meet all of them under one roof after their college life. All the students were provided a delicious dinner after the session . With the hip hip hurray and the usual enthusiasm we had a grand finale.

I am sharing with you some of the pictures which we took in the Radha regent hotel .

Jaane Tu ...ya jaane na

I happened to watch this movie with all my friends recently. I liked the movie so much, its awe-inspiring. The way jay and aditi's friends' narrate the story in the airport is extremely pleasing. A person with no interest in listening to stories will also enjoy it as shown in the movie.

Their gang is full of romantic confusions as Jay's mom would describe sarcastically.Amar Singh Rathore has lived in the movie being dead. The conversations between him and jay's mom are so comical.


Their nick names jiggy,meow,rats,rotu,pappu remind us of our friends.Jay and Aditi are too good in the movie. The movie has everything for the young chap.Parties,day outs,dance music,sentiment,romance,comedy,surprises and more. The game they play "Whats this" is also enjoyable.

There are three conditions in the Rathore family which a guy should satisfy to qualify to be a man. First is riding a horse ,next beating someone and the last is going to jail. Jay will satisfy all the three in the climax.


Genelia is so cute in the movie except for the last scene because that hair style doesn't suit her. We even disliked Jay when he moves so close with nena and avoids Aditi .

The movie's storyline goes like this.Relations are so precious and maintaining them is very crucial.Equal importance to friends and lover is necessary to avoid misunderstandings among friends.

The airport scene where he proposes Aditi singing that song is so funny. On the whole its an entertainment movie or i would say a time pass movie if you are too bored. It changes your mood which is the credit to the movie. If i have to rate the movie on a 10 point scale i would give 8. Dont miss the movie buddies.I hope u like it too.

Terror came in Project semester

Our fun and merriment was ruined by one single person who came to our college during our project Semester.He is a PhD holder in the Field of Adhoc networks.Unfortunately he was the person who reviewed all our projects.Our Department students had a tough time with him.Most of our projects were rejected before we could even commence working on it.

Our reviews were so comical and amusing.He would deviate us from our topic of concern so wide that we would forget our stream.He would stop us at our title slide and go on and on and on.At the end when we realise that we havent told the objective of our project, our review would be over.

He will want us to tell all the numerical values properly .For instance if we specify the word bandwidth immediately he will raise the question , whats the bandwidth.I guess he is the fan of Vijaykanth having too much of a attachment for numbers.

We all call him "terror".

One big advantage is that we need not prepare much for any reviews as we wont talk much on it.Our reviews are basically nothing but technical chitchats.Among the team of lecturers and project guides he will be the only person to ask queries.He wont refrain from his motto of confusing the students even if he has no idea regarding that topic of discussion.Thats his greatest talent that we need to really appreciate.

Somehow we passed all the reviews with terror and completed our project succeccfully.

Our 7th semester rocks!!

A gang of nine girls screwed up the entire class.That's none other than our gang popularly called the navagraham gang.
Let me first introduce them one by one.

Aarthi
She appears to be silent but speaks out promptly whenever required.She is an introvert and you got to pull the words from her mouth if you are new to her.

Gayatri
She is very jovial and garrulous.She sings very well and has learnt carnatic music for more than ten years.She is smart as a whip.

Dhivya Raghuraman
We call her Lorry.Sure she will scold me for revealing this.She is sensitive, caring and benign.She is also gabby and a brainy damsel.

V.Divya
We call her genius ,padips and all adjectives related to brilliant.She is the topper of our Computer science department.

S.Durgalakshmi
Darga as we irritate her is jovial and fun to be with.

Charanya
Little mouse of our gang.But never judge her by her appearance and don't even have a thought that she eats less.

Deepa
She is a chatter box and has good dressing sense.

Archana
She is never serious.Always laughing and cracking jokes.I bet you cant listen to lectures if u r beside her.

Its me Divya adding to the list .

There are no bounds to our enjoyment in the classes.The most remarkable ones are during our 7th semester.We spent the entire semester playing cards especially UNO cards.From morning 8.45 till 4.30 it goes on.We wont even know what lecture hour is that and wont care to know too.










Apart from UNO we play Hollywood.Its a word game.You have to guess the word in 9 chances (equivalent to the number of letters in the word Hollywood).Then adding on to these we play puzzles ,number games and lots.Chitchats and gossips are incessant during lectures.

Our break time is our lunch time as we finish and relish all the dishes in no time.It would take just a minute or two to finish a tiffin box.Imagine so many hands in one .

As a spark our hustle and bustle had spread to the whole class and all of us started playing.We are proud that we screwed up the entire class .

India has won a gold medal in olympics!!!!!!!!!

India's Abhinav Bindra has won a gold in the air rifle event in Beijing. Bindra shot 104.5 to his total to 700.5 in the final. Bindra handled all the rounds carefully to reserve the berth.This is the first ever gold medal for India for an individual event .China and Finland won Silver and Bronze medals respectively.
We are happy that India has won a gold in Olympics but our duty doesn't end here.Just congratulating them on winning is not important.Whats utmost important is our constant support for them.

What our government has done to encourage them.Apart from cricket which has got the fullest recognition what other games are being promoted or sponsored.

Beside practice and hard work its only our support and encouragement that make the contestants win.Hope the concerned are aware of this and bring light to their future.

Congratulations Mrs.RAJI

All of us are tired , waiting for the Date of joining from most of the corporates. My friend Raji too is not an exception from that. The happiest part is that she got the DOJ from WIPRO but the pathetic moment is that its in the month of march. The fact adding salt to the injury is that her parents have started looking for a bridegroom as they cant tolerate her any longer.

All of us had gone to her house to console her but to our surprise she was in cloud nine . All set ready for a married life. We told her that we would take care of everything and arrange for the felicitations without any delay. So this is a personal invite to all her pals to be present for the occasion and make it a memorable one. She felt shy in disclosing this to everyone and thats y i am doing it.

Saina Nehwal progresses to quarter finals

India's Saina Nehwal and Anup Sridhar played authoritatively to progress in the badminton event on Sunday.Saina started slowly, gauging her opponent. She allowed six points in a row to her opponent to trail 10-13, but stepped up her game to win next five points to regain the momentum for a 15-13 lead.She picked up her momentum to eventually outplay her opponent in the second game.Lets keep our fingers crossed for their victory.

India struggling to save series against Sri Lanka

India will have to play out of their skin to save the third cricket Test as Sri Lanka reduced them to 161 for five in their second innings on the third day of the final cricket Test.

With the series squared at 1-1, the Sri Lankans gained a first innings lead of 147 and were comfortably on the safer side after running through India's top order at close of third day's play. India have a lead of just 14 runs and it is now up to the experienced pair of Rahul Dravid - and V.V.S Laxman - to pull India out of the rut.

The duo has forged many match-winning partnerships before and needs to come up with one such effort.

Dravid dropped at one end while Laxman, struggling with an ankle injury was on and has scored 50 from 135 balls.Laxman fighting to save the match despite ankle injury.Our Salute to him.