Warm Regards -- Saptarshi
--------------------------------------
----- Forwarded message from jasmeeta@allindia.com -----
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2009 17:10:17 +0530
From: Jasmeeta Dubey
Reply-To: Jasmeeta Dubey
Subject: Best of Dilbert's "Out of Office" mails
To: Jasmeeta Dubey
1: I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to
get the position. Be prepared for my mood.
2: You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the
office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at all.
3: Sorry to have missed you but I am at the doctors having my brain removed
so that I may be promoted to management
4: I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me
until I return from vacation on 4/18. Please be patient and your mail will
be deleted in the order it was received.
5: Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the
first ten words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.
6: The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is
unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and try sending
again.'(The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many
in-duh-viduals did this over and over).
7: Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You
are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in
approximately 19 weeks.
8: Hi! I'm thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your PC
for my response.
9: Hi! I'm busy negotiating the salary for my new job. Don't bother to leave
me any messages.
10: I've run away to join a different circus.
11: I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons.
When I return, please refer to me as 'Loretta' instead of 'Steve'.
------------------
Jasmeeta Dubey
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Online news, ideas & campaigns - www.allindia.com/ideate
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----- End forwarded message -----
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
FW: On the lighter side..
Warm Regards -- Saptarshi
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
From: Subhashree.Pal
Sent: Friday, 24 July, 2009 12:52 PM
Subject: On the lighter side..
India holds a certain sense of mystery for the world outside its borders... read on to find how curious foreigners are about India and its ways... or rather read on to find out how dumb and ignorant they are about our beautiful country .. this was taken from a tourism blog where people could post queries if they were planning on making a trip to India ....
The answers are the actual responses by the website officials, who obviously have an excellent sense of humour.
Q : Does it ever get windy in India ? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? ( UK ).
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.
Q : Will I be able to see elephants in the street? ( USA )
A: Depends how much you've been drinking.
Q: I want to walk from Delhi to Goa - can I follow the railroad tracks? ( Sweden )
A: Sure, it's only three thousand kms, take lots of water.
Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in India ? ( Sweden )
A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.
Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in India ? Can you send me a list of them in Delhi , Chennai, Calcutta and Bangalore ? ( UK )
A: What did your last slave die of?
Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in India ? ( USA )
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe . In-di-a is that big triangle in the middle of the Pacific & Indian Ocean which does not.. oh forget it. ...... Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Goa . Come naked.
Q: Which direction is North in India ? ( USA )
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.
Q: Can I bring cutlery into India ? ( UK )
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.
Q: Can you send me the Indiana Pacers matches schedule? ( France )
A: Indiana is a state in the Unites States of...oh forget it. Sure, the Indiana Pacers matches are played every Tues day night in Goa , straight after the hippo races. Come naked.
Q: Can I wear high heels in India ? ( UK )
A: You're a British politician, right?
Q: Are there supermarkets in Bangalore , and is milk available all year round? ( Germany )
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.
Q: Please send a list of all doctors in India who can dispense rattlesnake serum. ( USA )
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca which is where YOU come from. All Indian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.
Q: Do you have perfume in India ? ( France )
A: No, WE don't stink.
Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in India ? ( USA )
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.
Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in India ? ( France )
A: Only at Christmas.
Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? ( USA )
A: Yes, but you'll have to learn it firstQ: Can I see Taj Mahal anytime? ( Italy )
A: As long as you are not blind, you can see it anytime.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Dave and the married couples
Warm Regards -- Saptarshi
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
From: Subhashree
Sent: Wednesday, 22 July, 2009 3:18 PM
Subject: Joke
Three couples marry and stay at the same hotel for their honeymoons, where they are taken care of by Dave the bellboy.
The first man married a nurse. Dave thinks to himself, "Nurses are known to be hot to trot."
The second man married a telephone operator. Dave thinks to himself, "Telephone operators have sexy voices."
The third man married a school teacher. Dave thinks to himself, "Poor guy, teachers are frigid."
The next morning, Dave reports to work and gets a room service call from the nurse's husband. He sourly says, "Don't ever marry a nurse. All I heard last night was 'You're not sanitary, you're not sanitary.'"
Then, the telephone operator's husband calls and sourly says, "Don't ever marry a telephone operator. All I heard last night was 'Your three minutes are up, your three minutes are up.'"
Later that afternoon, the teacher's husband calls and happily says, "When you marry, be sure to marry a school teacher. All I heard last night was 'We are going to do this over and over until we get right.'"
Have a Great Day!
Subhashree
| This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. Any unauthorised review, use, disclosure, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email or any action taken in reliance on this e-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. |
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Fwd: FW: Really nice ... read on!
Great one!
Warm regards -- Saptarshi
-----------------------------------------------------------
Saptarshi Das
Mobile: 9773115153
Email: saptitude@gmail.com
Blogs:
http://saptitude.blogspot.com/
http://fwd-re.blogspot.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <Subhashree.Pal>
Date: 2009/7/9
Subject: FW: Really nice ... read on!
To:
From: <Subhashree.Pal>
Date: 2009/7/9
Subject: FW: Really nice ... read on!
To:
Interviewer: Tell me about yourself.
Candidate: I am Rameshwar Kulkarni. I did my Tele Communication engineering from BabanRao Dhole-Patil Institute of Technology.
Interviewer: BabanRao Dhole-Patil Institute of Technology? I had never heard of this college before!
Candidate: Great! Even I had not heard of it before getting an admission into it ..
What happened is - due to cricket world cup I scored badly! in 12th.I was getting a paid seat in a good college.
But my father said (I prefer to call him 'baap') - "I can not invest so much of money".(The baap actually said - "I will never waste so much of money on you"). So I had to join this college. Frankly speaking this name - BabanRao Dhole-Patil, can at the most be related to a Shetakari Mahavidyalaya.
Interviewer: ok, ok. It seems you have taken 6 years to complete your engineering.
Candidate: Actually I tried my best to finish it in 4 years. But you know, these cricket matches and football world cup, and tennis tournaments. It is difficult to concentrate.
So I flunked in 2nd and 3rd year. So in all I took
4 + 2 = 7 years.
Interviewer: But 4+2 is 6.
Candidate: Oh, is it? You know I always had KT in maths. But I will try to keep this in mind. 4+2 is 6, good, thanks. These cricket matches really affect exams a lot. I think they should ban it.
Interviewer: Good to know that you want cricket matches to be banned.
Candidate: No, no... I am talking about Exams!!
Interviewer: Ok, What is your biggest achievement in life?
Candidate: Obviously, completing my Engineering. My mom never thought I would complete it. In fact, when i flunked in 3rd year, she was looking for a job for me in BEST (Bus corporation in Maharashtra) through some relative.
Interviewer: Do you have any plans of higher study?
Candidate: he he he.. Are you kidding? Completing 'lower'
education itself was so much of pain!!
Interviewer: Let's talk about technical stuff. On which platforms have you worked?
Candidate: Well, I work at SEEPZ, so you can say Andheri is my current platform. Earlier I was at Vashi center. So Vashi was my platform then. As you can see I have experience of different platforms! (Vashi and Andheri are the places in
Mumbai)
Interviewer: And which languages have you used?
Candidate: Marathi, Hindi, English. By the way, I can keep quiet in German, French, Russian and many other languages.
Interviewer: Why VC is better than VB?
Candidate: It is a common sense - C comes after B. So VC is a higher version than VB. I heard very soon they are coming up with a new language VD!
Interviewer: Do you know anything about Assembly Language?
Candidate: Well, I have not heard of it. But I guess, this is the language our ministers and MPs use in assembly.
Interviewer: What is your general project experience?
Candidate: My general experience about projects is - most of th! e times they are in pipeline!
Interviewer: Can you tell me about your current job?
Candidate: Sure, Currently I am working for Bata InfoTech ltd.
Since joining BIL, I am on Bench. Before joining BIL, I used to think that Bench was another software like Windows.
Interviewer: Do you have any project management experience?
Candidate: No, but I guess it shouldn't be difficult. I know Word and Excel. I can talk a lot. I know how to dial for International phone call and use speaker facility. And very important - I know few words like - 'Showstoppers ' , 'hotfixes', 'SEI-CMM','quality','versioncontrol','deadlines' , 'Customer Satisfaction' etc. Also I can blame others for my mistakes!
Interviewer: What are your expectations from our company?
Candidate: Not much.
1. I should at least get 40,000 in hand.
2. I would like to work on a live EJB project. But it should not have deadlines. I personally feel that pressure affects natural talent.
3. I believe in flexi-timings.
4. Dress code is against basic freedom, so I would like to wear t-shirt and jeans.
5. We must have sat-sun off. I will suggest Wednesday off also, so as to avoid breakdown due to overwork.
6. I would like to go abroad 3 times a year on short term preferably 1-2 months) assignments. Personally I prefer US, Australia and Europe.As you can see I am modest and don't have many expectations. So can I assume my selection?
Interviewer: he he he ha ha ha. Thanks for your interest in our organization. In fact I was never entertained so much before. Welcome to ACCENTURE The fellow was appointed in a newly created section 'Stress Management' in the HRD of ACCENTURE So Just be urself......
u never knw wats ahead of u.......
Be Honest and Original...............true to urself!!
| This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. Any unauthorised review, use, disclosure, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email or any action taken in reliance on this e-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. |
Fwd: interesting
Really interesting!
Warm regards -- Saptarshi
-----------------------------------------------------------
Saptarshi Das
Mobile: 9773115153
Email: saptitude@gmail.com
Blogs:
http://saptitude.blogspot.com/
http://fwd-re.blogspot.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Debapriya Das
From: Debapriya Das
Date: 2009/7/10
Subject: Fwd: interesting
To: Arijit Guha, Beauty Banerjee, Debalina Sarkar, Jasmeeta, Koyel Chakraborty, Moumanjari, pradipta chakrabarty, Pukan, Saptarshi Das, Senjuti Mukherjee, Sriya , Subhadeep Sengupta, Sumana Manna
Subject: Fwd: interesting
To: Arijit Guha, Beauty Banerjee, Debalina Sarkar, Jasmeeta, Koyel Chakraborty, Moumanjari, pradipta chakrabarty, Pukan, Saptarshi Das, Senjuti Mukherjee, Sriya , Subhadeep Sengupta, Sumana Manna
--- On Sat, 6/27/09, Sanchaita Mitra wrote:
|
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Fwd: Rhymes Without Reason (aye re bhola-r english)
Warm regards -- Saptarshi
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sumanta Basu
Date: 2009/6/23
Subject: Fwd: Rhymes Without Reason (aye re bhola-r english)
To:
From: Sumanta Basu
Date: 2009/6/23
Subject: Fwd: Rhymes Without Reason (aye re bhola-r english)
To:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: shiladitya basu
Date: Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Subject: Fwd: Rhymes Without Reason (aye re bhola-r english)
To: shonku
Come careless,whimsically
Riding on your dream-vessel
Come o'crazy,out of sense
Beat your mad tomtom well.
Come hither to insane song
Nor a reason,not a rhyme
Come to a loss where thy mind
Floats far in space and time.
Come mindless,break all tie
Keep dancing hurrah ho
Come vagarish,outlandish
Rule-defying,let-all-go.
Get groovy in eccentric
Funky,freaky,fun of mess
Come then to land of wrong
Rhythm of the meaningless.
--
Thanks
Shiladitya Basu
From: shiladitya basu
Date: Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Subject: Fwd: Rhymes Without Reason (aye re bhola-r english)
To: shonku
Come careless,whimsically
Riding on your dream-vessel
Come o'crazy,out of sense
Beat your mad tomtom well.
Come hither to insane song
Nor a reason,not a rhyme
Come to a loss where thy mind
Floats far in space and time.
Come mindless,break all tie
Keep dancing hurrah ho
Come vagarish,outlandish
Rule-defying,let-all-go.
Get groovy in eccentric
Funky,freaky,fun of mess
Come then to land of wrong
Rhythm of the meaningless.
--
Thanks
Shiladitya Basu
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Fwd: Thoughts for You
Warm regards -- Saptarshi
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Subhashree Pal
Date: 2009/6/19
Subject: Thoughts for You
To:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Subhashree Pal
Date: 2009/6/19
Subject: Thoughts for You
To:
Have a Great Day!
Subhashree
Thursday, June 18, 2009
FW: Management Pot-Pourri
Warm Regards - Saptarshi
From: Das, Reshmi
Sent: Thursday, 18 June, 2009 3:51 PM
Subject: FW: Management Pot-Pourri
Subject: FW: Management Pot-Pourri
very true !
Warm Regards,
Reshmi
Monday, June 8, 2009
FW: Thoughtful Quotes About Alcohol
Warm Regards -- Saptarshi
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
From: Jasmeeta Dubey
Sent: Saturday, 06 June, 2009 4:55 PM
To: Jasmeeta Dubey
Subject: FW: thoughtful quotes
Seriously nice quotes......And unfortunately it is really true....
Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
~ Jack Handy
"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. "
~Frank Sinatra
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.
"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."
~ Henny Youngman
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.
"24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?
I think not."
~ Stephen Wright
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.
"When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!"
~ Brian O'Rourke
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
~ Benjamin Franklin
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a retard.
"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."
~ Dave Barry
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a Support Group. Salvation in a can!
~ Dave Howell
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.
And saving the best for last, as explained by Cliff Clavin, of Cheers. One afternoon at Cheers, Cliff Clavin was explaining the Buffalo Theory to his buddy Norm.
Here's how it went:
"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."
~ Jack Handy
"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. "
~Frank Sinatra
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.
"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."
~ Henny Youngman
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.
"24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?
I think not."
~ Stephen Wright
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.
"When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!"
~ Brian O'Rourke
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
~ Benjamin Franklin
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a retard.
"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."
~ Dave Barry
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a Support Group. Salvation in a can!
~ Dave Howell
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.
And saving the best for last, as explained by Cliff Clavin, of Cheers. One afternoon at Cheers, Cliff Clavin was explaining the Buffalo Theory to his buddy Norm.
Here's how it went:
"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."
Friday, May 15, 2009
Fwd: Bush is at it again !!!!!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sumanta Basu
Date: 2009/5/15
Subject: Fwd: Bush is at it again !!!!!
To: Sumanta Basu
SCENE: The Oval Office. George Bush and Condolezza Rice.
George: Condi! Nice to see you。 What''s happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Let's hear it.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That's what I want to know.
Condi: That's what I'm telling you.
George: That's what I''m asking you。 Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow's name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The guy in China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu。
George: The Chinese?
Condi: Hu is leading China.
George: Now whaddya asking me for?
Condi: I'm telling you Hu is leading China.
George: Well,I'm asking you. Who is leading China?
Condi: That''s the man's name.
George: That's whose name?
Condi: Yes.
George: Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes sir.
George: Yassir? You mean arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.
Condi: That's correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Look, Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China.
Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone. I bet he knows.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You don't want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. and then get me the U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: Call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N .?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: and stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N!
Condi: Kofi?
George: all right! Light with sugar. Now get on the phone.
(Condi picks up the phone.)
Condi: Rice here.
George: Rice? Good idea. and a couple of egg rolls, too.
--
____________________________
Sumanta Basu
From: Sumanta Basu
Date: 2009/5/15
Subject: Fwd: Bush is at it again !!!!!
To: Sumanta Basu
SCENE: The Oval Office. George Bush and Condolezza Rice.
George: Condi! Nice to see you。 What''s happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Let's hear it.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That's what I want to know.
Condi: That's what I'm telling you.
George: That's what I''m asking you。 Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow's name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The guy in China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu。
George: The Chinese?
Condi: Hu is leading China.
George: Now whaddya asking me for?
Condi: I'm telling you Hu is leading China.
George: Well,I'm asking you. Who is leading China?
Condi: That''s the man's name.
George: That's whose name?
Condi: Yes.
George: Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes sir.
George: Yassir? You mean arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.
Condi: That's correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Look, Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China.
Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone. I bet he knows.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You don't want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. and then get me the U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: Call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N .?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: and stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N!
Condi: Kofi?
George: all right! Light with sugar. Now get on the phone.
(Condi picks up the phone.)
Condi: Rice here.
George: Rice? Good idea. and a couple of egg rolls
--
____________________________
Sumanta Basu
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
FW: Free v/s Paid Content online
From: Abhijan Nandy
Sent: Monday, 11 May, 2009 8:12 PM
To: Abhijan Nandy
Subject: Free v/s Paid Content online
Sent: Monday, 11 May, 2009 8:12 PM
To: Abhijan Nandy
Subject: Free v/s Paid Content online
Hi,
Check both the articles appended below. Interesting debate on free v/s paid content online. Thought you would like to read it.
Regards -- Abhijan
*******************************************************
Micro-payments considered for WSJ website
By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Kenneth Li in New York
Published: Financial Times May 10 2009 23:31
News Corp is planning to introduce micro-payments for individual articles and premium subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal's website this year, in a milestone in the news industry's race to find better online business models.
"A sophisticated micro-payments service" will launch this autumn, Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of the Journal, told the Financial Times. The move will position the Journal as the first big newspaper title to adopt a model many are cautiously studying as they seek to reduce their dependence on plunging advertising revenues.
It comes as John Kerry, the senator leading congressional hearings on the future of journalism, told the FT it was conceivable that publishers could be given limited exemption from antitrust laws to discuss online models. Mr Kerry said lawmakers would not allow publishers to create hurdles to competition, but said newspapers looked like "an endangered species".
Mr Thomson said the Journal saw an opportunity in its US metropolitan rivals' weakness, adding: "We're going to move in on each of the big cities." It has begun marketing campaigns in cities such as Detroit and San Francisco, where local publications are struggling, having moved to broaden the title's appeal by playing up local political and sports coverage on its website. Several newspapers, hoping to replicate the success of business newspapers in charging for web content, are working with Journalism Online, a venture developing micro-payments and subscriptions.
Mr Thomson said the Journal was developing its own system to charge small sums to occasional users who might not pay more than $100 a year for a WSJ.com subscription. Pricing for individual articles and for premium subscriptions had yet to be decided, he said, but would be "rightfully high". The Journal has raised average print subscription prices 21 per cent since News Corp's 2007 takeover, but saw advertising fall a third in the first quarter.
Its premium plan will focus on readers interested in energy, commodities, wealth management and other niches. Premium subscribers will have web access to Dow Jones newswire stories, representing a "consumerisation" of the group's products for companies.
****************************************************************
India Today Chief: No More Investment In Digital Media, Can't See The Returns
By Patrick Smith
Tue 05 May 2009 08:16 AM PST
Aroon Purie, chairman and editor-in-chief at The India Today Group, India's largest magazine publisher by revenue, spoke today at the 37th World Magazine Congress in London. At a panel discussion on Global Economic and Media Trends: Riding the Storm with William T. Kerr, chairman of the board, Meredith Corporation; Carolyn McCall OBE, Chief Executive, Guardian Media Group; and John Smith, Chief Executive, BBC Worldwide, Purie said he has decided to not spend any more money on digital media. His disillusionment with the medium mirrors that of several Indian publishers, who enjoy robust profits from their traditional properties and see no point in investing in new media, where they don't enjoy proportionate returns in the immediate
term. And with the economic slowdown eating into their main revenue streams, many are reportedly revisiting their digital operations.
Digital cutbacks, mobile future: You won't find many newspaper or magazine editors or publishers admit they are cutting back on digital innovation spend, but that's exactly what Purie is doing: "I have a revolutionary view: I said we're not going to spend any money on this digital business because I don't see any money coming in right away and I want to monetise things."
Away from PC-based viewing, Purie sees the real potential in mobile: "There are around 320 million mobile phones in India and we add 10 million every month. That for us is the future."
Time travelling: Asked about the future for India Today, Purie said he wasn't, but he stressed the need to continue to invest in editorial content both in print and online. "We're fortunate in India-the problem we have right now is a short-term problem and it will be resolved. And the advantage of being in a developing country is that you can go to the future and come back; I can see what's happening in developed countries and imagine it will happen to us."
Digitally dumb: Purie says he goes on fact finding missions to the west, but he was less than complimentary about the prevailing media business models: "The digital model that is being followed in developed countries is a pretty dumb model. You have. one monopolist newsstand like Google who is giving your content out free and then competing in selling digital advertising. Where is the business model in this?" He said that unless a paid content model could be found, publishers are "all spending money, spending dollars to chase cents". But Purie has the advantage of time: "I hope that this model is sorted out in the West and by the time it comes to us we have it all up and running."
Fwd: IPL toons..
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Subhashree Pal
Date: 2009/5/11
Subject: IPL toons..
To:
.jpeg)
From: Subhashree Pal
Date: 2009/5/11
Subject: IPL toons..
To:
.jpeg)
Monday, April 27, 2009
Fwd: FW: SAVE WATER
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Das, Reshmi
Date: 2009/4/27
Subject: FW: SAVE WATER
To:
From: Das, Reshmi
Date: 2009/4/27
Subject: FW: SAVE WATER
To:
Monday, April 20, 2009
FW: Global Heroes: Article published in The Economist
From: Abhijan Nandy
Sent: Thursday, 16 April, 2009 5:24 PM
To: Abhijan Nandy
Subject: Global Heroes: Article published in The Economist
Global heroes
Sent: Thursday, 16 April, 2009 5:24 PM
To: Abhijan Nandy
Subject: Global Heroes: Article published in The Economist
Global heroes
Mar 12th 2009
Despite the downturn, entrepreneurs are enjoying a renaissance the world over, says Adrian Wooldridge (interviewed here)
IN DECEMBER last year, three weeks after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and in the midst of the worst global recession since the 1930s, 1,700 bright-eyed Indians gathered in a hotel in Bangalore India
Back in 1942 Joseph Schumpeter gave warning that the bureaucratisation of capitalism was killing the spirit of entrepreneurship. Instead of risking the turmoil of “creative destruction”, Keynesian economists, working hand in glove with big business and big government, claimed to be able to provide orderly prosperity. But perspectives have changed in the intervening decades, and Schumpeter’s entrepreneurs are once again roaming the globe.
Since the Reagan-Thatcher revolution of the 1980s, governments of almost every ideological stripe have embraced entrepreneurship. The European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank have also become evangelists. Indeed, the trend is now so well established that it has become the object of satire. Listen to me, says the leading character in one of the best novels of 2008, Aravind Adiga’s “The White Tiger”, and “you will know everything there is to know about how entrepreneurship is born, nurtured, and developed in this, the glorious 21st century of man.”
This special report will argue that the entrepreneurial idea has gone mainstream, supported by political leaders on the left as well as on the right, championed by powerful pressure groups, reinforced by a growing infrastructure of universities and venture capitalists and embodied by wildly popular business heroes such as Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson and
The world’s greatest producer of entrepreneurs continues to be
The company that arranged the oversubscribed conference in
The globalisation of entrepreneurship is raising the competitive stakes for everyone, particularly in the rich world. Entrepreneurs can now come from almost anywhere, including once-closed economies such as
For most people the term “entrepreneur” simply means anybody who starts a business, be it a corner shop or a high-tech start up. This special report will use the word in a narrower sense to mean somebody who offers an innovative solution to a (frequently unrecognised) problem. The defining characteristic of entrepreneurship, then, is not the size of the company but the act of innovation.
A disproportionate number of entrepreneurial companies are, indeed, small start-ups. The best way to break into a business is to offer new products or processes. But by no means all start-ups are innovative: most new corner shops do much the same as old corner shops. And not all entrepreneurial companies are either new or small. Google is constantly innovating despite being, in
This narrower definition of entrepreneurship has an impressive intellectual pedigree going right back to Schumpeter. Peter Drucker, a distinguished management guru, defined the entrepreneur as somebody who “upsets and disorganises”. “Entrepreneurs innovate,” he said. “Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship.” William Baumol, one of the leading economists in this field, describes the entrepreneur as “the bold and imaginative deviator from established business patterns and practices”. Howard Stevenson, the man who did more than anybody else to champion the study of entrepreneurship at the
Innovative entrepreneurs are not only more interesting than the replicative sort, they also carry more economic weight because they generate many more jobs. A small number of innovative start-ups account for a disproportionately large number of new jobs. But entrepreneurs can be found anywhere, not just in small businesses. There are plenty of misconceptions about entrepreneurship, five of which are particularly persistent. The first is that entrepreneurs are “orphans and outcasts”, to borrow the phrase of George Gilder, an American intellectual: lonely Atlases battling a hostile world or anti-social geeks inventing world-changing gizmos in their garrets. In fact, entrepreneurship, like all business, is a social activity. Entrepreneurs may be more independent than the usual suits who merely follow the rules, but they almost always need business partners and social networks to succeed.
The history of high-tech start-ups reads like a roll-call of business partnerships: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (Apple), Bill Gates and Paul Allen (Microsoft), Sergey Brin and Larry Page (Google), Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes (Facebook). Ben and Jerry’s was formed when two childhood friends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, got together to start an ice-cream business (they wanted to go into the bagel business but could not raise the cash). Richard Branson (Virgin) relied heavily on his cousin, Simon Draper, as well as other partners. Ramana Nanda, of Harvard Business School (HBS), and Jesper Sorensen, of
Entrepreneurship also flourishes in clusters. A third of American venture capital flows into two places, Silicon Valley and Boston, and two-thirds into just six places, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego and Austin as well as the Valley and Boston. This is partly because entrepreneurship in such places is a way of life—coffee houses in Silicon Valley are full of young people loudly talking about their business plans—and partly because the infrastructure is already in place, which radically reduces the cost of starting a business.
The second myth is that most entrepreneurs are just out of short trousers. Some of today’s most celebrated figures were indeed astonishingly young when they got going: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell all dropped out of college to start their businesses, and the founders of Google and Facebook were still students when they launched theirs. Ben Casnocha started his first company when he was 12, was named entrepreneur of the year by Inc magazine at 17 and published a guide to running start-ups at 19.
But not all successful entrepreneurs are kids. Harland Sanders started franchising Kentucky Fried Chicken when he was 65. Gary Burrell was 52 when he left Allied Signal to help start Garmin, a GPS giant. Herb Kelleher was 40 when he founded Southwest Airlines, a business that pioneered no-frills discount flying in
The third myth is that entrepreneurship is driven mainly by venture capital. This certainly matters in capital-intensive industries such as high-tech and biotechnology; it can also help start-ups to grow very rapidly. And venture capitalists provide entrepreneurs with advice, contacts and management skills as well as money.
But most venture capital goes into just a narrow sliver of business: computer hardware and software, semiconductors, telecommunications and biotechnology. Venture capitalists fund only a small fraction of start-ups. The money for the vast majority comes from personal debt or from the “three fs”—friends, fools and families. Google is often quoted as a triumph of the venture-capital industry, but Messrs Brin and Page founded the company without any money at all and launched it with about $1m raised from friends and connections.
Monitor, a management consultancy that has recently conducted an extensive survey of entrepreneurs, emphasises the importance of “angel” investors, who operate somewhere in the middle ground between venture capitalists and family and friends. They usually have some personal connection with their chosen entrepreneur and are more likely than venture capitalists to invest in a business when it is little more than a budding idea.
The fourth myth is that to succeed, entrepreneurs must produce some world-changing new product. Sir Ronald Cohen, the founder of Apax Partners, one of
The fifth myth is that entrepreneurship cannot flourish in big companies. Many entrepreneurs are sworn enemies of large corporations, and many policymakers measure entrepreneurship by the number of small-business start-ups. This makes some sense. Start-ups are often more innovative than established companies because their incentives are sharper: they need to break into the market, and owner-entrepreneurs can do much better than even the most innovative company man.
But many big companies work hard to keep their people on their entrepreneurial toes. Johnson & Johnson operates like a holding company that provides financial muscle and marketing skills to internal entrepreneurs. Jack Welch tried to transform General Electric from a Goliath into a collection of entrepreneurial Davids. Jorma Ollila transformed Nokia, a long-established Finnish firm, from a maker of rubber boots and cables into a mobile-phone giant; his successor as boss of the company, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, is now talking about turning it into an internet company. Such men belong firmly in the pantheon of entrepreneurs.
Just as importantly, big firms often provide start-ups with their bread and butter. In many industries, especially pharmaceuticals and telecoms, the giants contract out innovation to smaller companies. Procter & Gamble tries to get half of its innovations from outside its own labs. Microsoft works closely with a network of 750,000 small companies around the world. Some 3,500 companies have grown up in Nokia’s shadow.
But how is the new enthusiasm for entrepreneurship standing up to the worldwide economic downturn? Entrepreneurs are being presented with huge practical problems. Customers are harder to find. Suppliers are becoming less accommodating. Capital is harder to raise. In
The downturn is also confronting supporters of entrepreneurial capitalism with some awkward questions. Why have so many once-celebrated entrepreneurs turned out to be crooks? And why has the free-wheeling culture of Wall Street produced such disastrous results?
For many the change in public mood is equally worrying. Back in 2002, in the wake of the scandal over Enron, a dubious energy-trading company, Congress made life more difficult for start-ups with the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation on corporate governance. Now it is busy propping up failed companies such as General Motors and throwing huge sums of money at the public sector. Newt Gingrich, a Republican former speaker of
Yet the threat to entrepreneurship, both practical and ideological, can be exaggerated. The downturn has advantages as well as drawbacks. Talented staff are easier to find and office space is cheaper to rent. Harder times will eliminate the also-rans and, in the long run, could make it easier for the survivors to grow. As Schumpeter pointed out, downturns can act as a “good cold shower for the economic system”, releasing capital and labour from dying sectors and allowing newcomers to recombine in imaginative new ways.
Schumpeter also said that all established businesses are “standing on ground that is crumbling beneath their feet”. Today the ground is far less solid than it was in his day, so the opportunities for entrepreneurs are correspondingly more numerous. The information age is making it ever easier for ordinary people to start businesses and harder for incumbents to defend their territory. Back in 1960 the composition of the Fortune 500 was so stable that it took 20 years for a third of the constitutent companies to change. Now it takes only four years.
There are many reasons for this. First, the information revolution has helped to unbundle existing companies. In 1937 Ronald Coase argued, in his path-breaking article on “The Nature of the Firm”, that companies make economic sense when the bureaucratic cost of performing transactions under one roof is less than the cost of doing the same thing through the market. Second, economic growth is being driven by industries such as computing and telecommunications where innovation is particularly important. Third, advanced economies are characterised by a shift from manufacturing to services. Service firms are usually smaller than manufacturing firms and there are fewer barriers to entry.
Microsoft, Genentech, Gap and The Limited were all founded during recessions. Hewlett-Packard, Geophysical Service (now Texas Instruments), United Technologies, Polaroid and Revlon started in the Depression. Opinion polls suggest that entrepreneurs see a good as well as a bad side to the recession. In a survey carried out in eight emerging markets last November for Endeavor, a pressure group, 85% of the entrepreneurs questioned said they had already felt the impact of the crisis and 88% thought that worse was yet to come. But they also predicted, on average, that their businesses would grow by 31% and their workforces by 12% this year. Half of them thought they would be able to hire better people and 39% said there would be less competition.
FW: The Continuing Ganguly Saga
From: Das, Reshmi
Sent: Wednesday, 24 September, 2008 2:37 PM
To: Abraham, Santosh ; Agniswar Das-Gupta; Anandam Banerjee; Arig Chakraborty; Arunava; c.bhattacharya; Chatterjee, Rajarshi; Chiranjib Dey; d.tanushree; DP Ghosh; dutta_debjani; gh_sarmistha; Ghosh, Chiranjib; ghoshjn; Jayanta.mondal; Mishra,Dipti; Pooja Sethpal; Rupak Giri; saptarshi; saptitude; Siddhartha.Bhadury; Soumik Banerjee; Soumik Bose; Soumik.Banerjee; Sunetra Dasgupta; tanusreedas; Uttiya Chatterjee; Uttiya Chattopadhyay
Subject: FW: The Continuing Ganguly Saga
I found this ‘article’ on ndtvcricket and thought it was worth sharing this around. Enjoy!
The Continuing Ganguly Saga 09 Sep 2008 Mina Anand |
| Thanks & Regards, Reshmi |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
