Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Aamir Khan is actively looking for attention again

Best Colleges for Vocational Courses in India

Best Manager
Aamir Amir KhanKhan is actively looking for attention again. Well, you guessed it right ' his next movie, 'Peepli Live', is nearing its release. While the Twitter account activation must have been another gimmick to gain public attention around the movie's release date, the hullabaloo over low payment caused by the singers of the song "Mehangai Daayan Khaye Jaat Hai" of the movie seems definitely uninvited. Well, the actor surely knows how to hush such issues since he has immediately 'invited' the singers to Mumbai to resolve the issue.

Hell for Mel
While Mel Gibsonthe 'Braveheart' star, Mel Gibson has been washing his dirty linen in public for long now, the leaking of a recent recorded tape of his domestic altercations is causing trouble, and not just domestic ones. Mel is facing accusations of being a racist since he has been heard as saying to a former lover Oksana Grigorieva, "If you get raped by a pack of n------ it will be all your fault". But to Mel's relief, long-time friend, Whoopi Goldberg, has been heard saying, 'You can say he's being a bonehead, but I can't sit and say that he's a racist having spent time with him in my house with my kids." Well, if not lovers, Mel sure knows how to keep friends!

No bare 'mountains'!
AshleyAshley Judd Judd has earned accolades not only for her movies but also for her extensive involvement in social and political activities. But this one-time student of Anthropology, has offended many on several occasions. Recently, the Appalachian region's coal companies and workers got back to her for commenting against their coal mining work. They've used a topless picture of hers from a 2006 magazine cover, in which she is covering her breasts with her hands, with a tagline that says ' 'Ashley makes a living removing her top, why can't coal miners?' Ashley remains unmoved, and still thinks that exposing nature to various dangers may not be the best way of earning a living.

Kareena's Pole star
KareenaKareena Kapoor Kapoor has always idolised Kajol, and what better opportunity can she get to fit into Kajol's shoes than to promote the much-awaited Karan Johar movie, 'We Are Family', instead of the 35-year-old expecting mama. While Kajol is being pampered to the hilt by her real family, she has happily allowed Kareena to grab all the limelight for the movie. Well, this trait of selflessness in Kajol could easily be credited to motherhood!


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Sunday, January 09, 2011

MICHAEL LEARNS TO ROCK (MLTR)

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MLTR: You took our heart away...
It is the Danish soft rock band with whom India learnt to rock. Michael Learns to Rock (MLTR) were in India for a tour last week and Indians came out and showed their love in this three-city tour. The Delhi leg of the tour took TSI's Anu Gulmohar to the F Bar & Lounge where the three member band ' Jascha Richter, Kare Wanscher and Lentz ' performed a medley of their old and new songs. From 18-year-olds to 48-year-olds, everyone sang out loud along with the band and at times it seemed more like a karaoke event instead of a concert! As the band performed classics like 'Sleeping Child', 'The Actor', and 'Paint my Love', the people in the crowd screamed 'Ecto! Ecto!' hoping that they would go on for Eternity.

Is it surprising to you that songs from Michael Learns to Rock (MLTR), a Scandinavian band, have been loved so much by Indians?

Yes, it is surprising that songs written and composed in Denmark connect so well with people at any end of the world!

Most people who follow your music would remember by heart most of the lyrics of your songs. Has there been a conscious effort in keeping the lyrics so soulful and beautiful?

There has been a deliberate attempt from our side that the lyrics should be emotional and not too difficult to understand. English is our second language too. We've ensured that the lyrics stay simple.

The life of a rockstar or a rock band is usually riddled with scandals. How have you all managed the fame and pressures associated with it and steered clear of the dark side of being a highly successful music act?

Our music reflects how we are. We focus on communicating through our music and stay a bit away from media. We prefer not using commerciality to earn credibility.

It's great to see MLTR making music even after 20 long years. With your latest album being titled 'Eternity', is its title a hint of your intent to make music till eternity?

Yes, the title is kind of spiritual, which is what we like about it. With the title "Eternity" we're trying to convey that there are limitless things that connect us all together.

In which ways has the band and its music evolved in the past 20 years?

It's been some 19-20 years since we've been together. When we played at our first concert we'd been together for only three months and could hardly even play together! The initial years were tough; it was difficult to travel so much. We got better with time, and have evolved a lot since then.

Most bands break-up after a few years. How has the journey been after S'ren Madsen left your group? How difficult was it to regroup and continue after he left?

It was very tough when he left. S'ren had two main roles in the band ' one he was a good friend, he was very outgoing and social and added a lot to the chemistry within the band, and two, he was a great singer. We can't replace that. It took us a year to find the spirit to get back together after he left.

It's the third time you're visiting India. How do you like our country?

We like India; we always have ever since our first visit to this country. India is a very spiritual place. People are very open and polite and relaxed. The food here is fantastic. Indian people are very special.

Have you ever considered collaborating with Indian artists?

Yes, we have. We are very open to ideas for collaborating with artists from any country.

Have you begun work on your next album? What more can we hope to expect from MLTR in the coming years?

Yes, we have started recording the next album. It will be a very classic, very inspired album. The songs for the album have already been written.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

GUEST COLUMN: Innovate or Perish


Prof Rajita Chaudhuri follow some off-beat trends like organizing make up sessions

If private educational institutions perform well, the government should be forthcoming in recognising and aiding them

G. Viswanathan

Chancellor, VIT University

The Government of India's education policy is three-pronged. It's about expansion, excellence and inclusion. Currently, access to higher education is only restricted to around 11 per cent of our country's people whereas the world average is 27 per cent. So we have a long way to go before we catch up with the rest of the world. To achieve this, the government's spending on education should be increased. Even though the Education Commission had recommended six per cent of the GDP to be spent on education (that too 50 years ago), only four per cent is actually spent.

The government is concentrating on school education. No doubt it is much needed but higher education is necessary to maintain the country's economic growth. Economic equality can only be a reality when the middle and the lower middle class reap the benefits of higher education. However, this cannot be achieved by the government alone. The private sector, too, would have to participate. Liberalisation and privatisation should apply to the education sector as well so that expansion takes place. But unless we take care of the tuition fee of students coming from weaker sections of society, they may not be able to join the institutions, especially the private ones, even if seats are available. Some kind of financial assistance is desperately needed for them apart from the bank loans. Even getting bank loans is not that easy for them. This model is available in China. I am told by Chinese students in my institution that their education is funded by the Chinese Government. Such a model is worth considering in our country as well.

Now, since we are liberal in permitting engineering colleges, the number of seats has gone up to 10 lakhs in India. This is a very unique situation. Such expansion should take place in other sectors as well such as medical education where there is a dire need for expansion. Our students, who are mostly going out of the country, are studying medicine in many East European countries. The cost of medical education there is comparatively cheaper than in India. It is high time that our students get enough seats in our country. As for quality, it will take some time. For a college, it usually takes about ten years. For a university, it requires 20-25 years to develop full-fledged teaching, research and other capabilities that include dispensation of social responsibilities. The present Union government wants to expand the reach of education and improve its quality. But the way it is implemented goes against private initiatives in the education sector. We can bring about quality only if there is competition between the government and private institutions.

We are also expecting foreign universities to land in India. If they are here, we'll have to compete with them. We have an acute shortage of teachers in our country. This holds more true for engineering and medical colleges. So we have to offer extra benefits to teachers. We should have more scholarships for those going for Master's degree if they give an undertaking that they will take up teaching. Only then will we be able to tackle the shortage of teachers.

I would make a request to the industry, especially the senior executives, to come and share their experiences with students and teachers. It will go a long way in improving the practical knowledge of students in engineering colleges. Another thing I would suggest is that the teachers must go to industries at least for a short period every year to brush up their theoretical knowledge with some practical knowhow.

If you ask me what I learnt from my experience in building VIT as a reputed institute in India, I would just say 'patience'. Certainly, we need the blessings of and the cooperation from the state and the Central governments. At present, there are rules and regulations which can punish an institute if it violates them. But if an institute performs well, there is nobody to recognise it. It is high time that the government recognised them so that many institutes can compete and quality goes upward. And, perhaps the cost of education would also go down due to increased competition. Since there is no competition, the cost of medical education is very high. As far as VIT is concerned, we were under the University of Madras for 16 years. We didn't have any major problem. But the curriculum was not revised during that period. We had to teach subjects from outside the syllabus which we called 'augmentation programme', because it was useful to them in the industry. Students would study certain things under that programme but would not have to write the examination.

Once I wrote to the university for introducing the credit system. They sat on the application for about two years and then replied, asking us to wait for better times!

In 1999, I applied for autonomous status and went to the university. They said that we didn't have permanent approval from AICTE. So, we were asked to go and get that first. The AICTE in those days was giving temporary approval and the university was giving temporary affiliation. Then I went to the AICTE. There I was told to go to the University of Madras and get permanent affiliation first! This game went on for two years. Finally, I withdrew my application for autonomy and applied for the deemed university status and got it. Now, we are into our tenth year as a deemed university.

I have visited many foreign universities and find that there is no problem of finance. It's largely because the former students and big business houses and industries around the particular city contribute a lot. They donate very liberally to educational institutions. This is happening in a big way in the US. So the universities there allocate enough funds for research. There are lot of scholarships to avail too. That is why they attract large number of students from all over the world.

It would be a good idea if our universities have collaborations with them. I also suggest that when the foreign universities come here, they should have a local partner here so that even if they leave, there would not be a complete void.

Bringing too many restrictions on the functioning of universities, particularly the private ones, will hamper their growth. It will eventually affect the growth of education and too many restrictions will also increase corruption. Fifty years ago, Dr Radhakrishnan Commission suggested that governments should not interfere in the autonomy of universities. It should be applicable both for private and government universities.

This year 1,52, 000 students wrote entrance examination for our university for the 3,000 engineering seats. This shows the faith that parents and students have in us. When we look at the West, all the best universities have more than 25,000 students and yet they maintain quality. MIT has 30,000 students yet they maintain the number one status in the world. I want MIT as the role model for VIT.

In Tamil Nadu, we have more than 450 engineering colleges. If somebody wanted to start a new engineering college, they should concentrate on specialised courses instead of the routine ones. In this age, one has to innovate or perish.

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Monday, January 03, 2011

Prof Rajita Chaudhuri on 'REINVENT and REJOICE'

Rajita Chaudhuri: The New Age Woman

The key to successful reinvention is consistent investment and focus on innovation. The one company that dared to challenge and even defeat the biggies is Samsung. Whoever thought that this Korean company could defeat Japanese electronic giants – but Samsung did just that. Consistent investment in innovation has helped it beat giants like Sony; and now, Apple too is feeling threatened by it.

It is innovation that has transformed HP from an under performing printer-reliant giant to the world’s largest tech company. Huawei Technologies managed to become the #2 telecom-equipment provider and to beat big competitors like Nokia Siemens through constant product updates. The biggest innovator of the decade award definitely goes to Facebook. It is gobbling up competitors and making the whole world its consumer. By constantly innovating, it’s ensured that no one will come even remotely close to it.

Success makes us comfortable. No matter how impressive, we cannot rest on past laurels. The key is to identify when a successful idea has reached its full potential and is ready to be discarded or reinvented or rejuvenated. Leaders who reinvent themselves are the ones who reinvent their companies too. IBM was famous for its big mainframe computing systems. Today, the company has a large services component, responsible for its growth and profitability.

The decade started with the burst of the dot-com bubble in the year 2000. Thousands and thousands lost all their money, hundreds of companies closed down. Then in 2004, Tim O’Reilly and John Batelle held the first Web 2.0 conference and shocased to the world the immense benefits of “the web as a platform.” This resulted in a plethora of social media sites being created, which changed our world forever. The internet was reinvented and rejuvenated. Like never before. Today, it’s the internet & the social networking sites that are turning our world around.

Failures are a part of life and the strong reinvent and take failures in their stride. However, the players who leave the maximum impact are the ones who don’t take success for granted. They genuinely believe that it is only constant change that will give them sustained success.

It’s time to reinvent as the New Year approaches. It’s time to think deep, to really feel the urge to live your life. So, all that you have wanted to do but never did – go ahead, do it! Start with yourself; give up one bad habit. Stop smoking, give up on junk food, eat less and reinvent yourself. You deserve it. As you start reinventing yourself, you will not hesitate to reinvent your team, your leadership style, your marketing campaign and your brand.

Let’s end the New Year in truly believing in the power of reinvention, for that will help us to keep our New Year resolutions.
This article is sourced from PR-CANADA.net, click here to read compelete article.

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