About the day

World AIDS Day is observed every year on December 1st. The World Health Organization established World AIDS Day in 1988. World AIDS Day provides governments, national AIDS programs, faith organizations, community organizations, and individuals with an opportunity to raise awareness and focus attention on the global AIDS epidemic.

The Facts

Worldwide an estimated 33 million people are living with HIV.

Say no to discrimination

On world AIDS day, we take an oath that we will never discriminate against people suffering from AIDS/HIV. We will also spread awareness against HIV/AIDS through FoodPunch.org.

Take Action

There are many ways you can take action in response to HIV/AIDS:

• get tested for HIV
• practice safer methods to prevent HIV
• decide not to engage in high risk behaviors
• talk about HIV prevention with family, friends, and colleagues
• provide support to people living with HIV/AIDS
• get involved with or host an event for World AIDS Day in your community

Last words

We need to win the battle against AIDS, by working to stop its spread.

Resources

World AIDS day 2009 Official Website.

Posted by Krishnan, CEO.

It was once believed that India lives in its villages.

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Now it is clear that India’s wealth lies in its cities, or more specifically, Mumbai.

 

India's Wealth Lies in Its Cities

A study conducted by Delhi-based SMC Global classified companies geographically on the location of their registered offices.

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It reveals that Mumbai-registered companies account for 36.28% of the total BSE 500 market cap.

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Some of the prominent names based out of Mumbai are Reliance Industries, L&T, HDFC and SBI.

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Also, out of the market capitalisation ascribed to Maharashtra which has the highest market capitalization among the states — more than 90% originates from Mumbai.

In fact, Mumbai and six other cities account for 85.71% of the total market capitalisation of BSE 500.

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With Delhi NCR (National Capital Region, which includes satellite cities such as Gurgaon and Noida along with the capital) contributing 27.82%.

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After the financial and political capitals, state capitals take the fore.

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Bangalore lays claim to 7.10%,

Hyderabad to 4.86% and Kolkata accounts for 3.83%,

while Ahmedabad and Chennai account for 3.35% and 2.47%, respectively.

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On a state-wide basis, five states in combination with Delhi NCR and Maharashtra account for 94.20% of the total market cap.

A total of 66.17% of the index’s market cap can be traced to Maharashtra and Delhi NCR.

While the latter accounts for 38.35%, Delhi accounts 27.82%.

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Karnataka accounts for 7.74%, Gujarat, 7.48%, Andhra Pradesh is at 4.95% and Tamil Nadu at 4.02%, while Bengal has 3.83%.

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Though the big Indian companies have a pan-India presence with factories or plants located across the country, they tend to have registered offices in metros.

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That is because of the ease of operations and presence of other corporate houses, suggested the study.

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“The traditional metro cities have accumulation advantage.

Its ultimately the money which brings in more money.

As the Indian economy keeps evolving, tier-2 and tier-3 cities may catchup gradually, to bring-in more equitable distribution of wealth across the country.”

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…said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, equity head at SMC Capitals.

Typewriting institutes are still around in many parts of the city, and still meeting their ends i guess. Seeing this institute surviving 50+ years allows us to make such impression.

I still vividly recall ” A S D F G F ” & ” L K J H J ” as the 1st lessons in Typewriting.

Yesterday was a perfect night to watch a movie in theater. No weekend, so less crowd and more space to tread upon. But as you may well know, Chennai has only two multiplexes, Satyam (Sathyam, sorry) and INOX which makes the experience of watching movie on big screens, a rare occassion (Supply short and demand high, u can do the rest of the math). But thanks to the government, the price of a multiplex ticket is still low (Rs. 120) as compared to other metropolitans (especially Mumbai and Bengaluru).

Anyways, coming back to the main subject here. I had expectations from transformers-2, the live action coupled with exquisite special effects, the curvature of Megan Fox, the idiosyncrasies of Sam Witwicky and his parents etc etc. All were shattered after I sat half an hour through the movie.

First let’s deal with the graphics and action part. It was mind-boggling, no doubt about that. The first scene generated a lot of applause and excitement in the audience. The larger-than-life figures all coming to life with magnificent action cinematography and stimulating special effects. It was all good. But excess of everything is bad and Michael bay clearly did not pay heed to this adage. Even tolerance has a limit. It was too much for me, seriously. After a while I was myself functioning like a sleeping Autobot. Only Megan Fox remained the last ray of hope. More about it, but later.

Second the story part. It was like a first time cook learning a new recipe and constantly experimenting with it. I don’t know what kind of inspirations the writers had since I (and my friends too) picked up few similarities with other Hollywood movies like Terminator, American Pie, Predator, National Treasure. The story sucked and with decepticons and autobots doing what they do best (i.e. screw each other) and taking too much time to finish each other off, I was uplifted to the tip of the pyramid of intolerance. There was no head and no tail; no dramatization was attempted to keep the audience interested; it was make-believe (in a negative manner) sort of stuff.

Now let’s come to the better part. Megan Fox.She oozed exuberance and sensuality. Without her, this movie won’t be worth it. Screw the acting part. She remains a sweetheart and the hottest babe on the circuit. I wanted to see more of her but these damn autobots and decepticons ruined the show through excess garbage and other worldly noises.

Comedy doesn’t comprise of a scene or two in a movie which makes the audience laugh. There is subtle humor and open (or outright) humor. I don’t know what Transformers 2 attempted to do: to make the audience laugh or cry at the poor sense of humor (overall).

There was no depth, no clarity, only robotic pandemonium, too much effects and too much spent ($250 million budget). God save me from Transformers-3: Return of the Primes (Speculation).

A Sivanadiyar is a Devotee of Lord Siva (also "the slave of siva", when loosely translated). The old city still carries the marks of many religious gathering places like this one. This is a "Chennai Sivanadiyar ThiruKootam" (the Chennai's Siva devotees holy gathering) off Mint Street.

The checks seek to ensure that children are not transported in overcrowded vehicles recently.

CHENNAI: The traffic police and the Transport Department have launched a series of surprise checks of vehicles transporting schoolchildren in the city for compliance with various rules under the Motor Vehicles Act.

Sources in the Transport Department said they were checking all school buses to see if they were adhering to safety measures, such as adhering to seating capacity and colour code.

Joint Transport Commissioner T.Gunasekaran said the checks will continue. “In spite of the Supreme Court issuing guidelines to all school buses for safety measures of schoolchildren to avert accidents, the norms are being violated. School buses continue to cramp vehicles with children and engage drivers with little experience,” he said.

He said school buses would be checked for compliance with colour codes at the time of renewal of their fitness certificates.

On Thursday, in a surprise check of 351 school buses, the Transport Department issued check reports for 72 vehicles. Of these, three school buses were detained for plying without a permit and one bus for plying without a fitness certificate.

Also, four school buses were issued with check reports for carrying excess load and four other school buses were issued check reports for engaging unqualified drivers.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M. Shakeel Akhter said he had instructed the traffic police to keep an eye on autorickshaws transporting schoolchildren. “We are also keeping a check on school students riding two-wheelers without a licence,” he said.

Click here to visit Wanhan Consultants official website

How to succeed in the Interviews – Interview tips with few question & answers – - Wanhan Consultants

She might be away in Bollywood fulfilling her assignments but Asin will meet 50 gals as a part of promotional activities for the Chennai based fairness cream manufacturer CavinKare’s brand Fairever. Asin is the brand ambassador for Fairever, which is celebrating its 10th year.

The Glow with ASIN Contest is open for Indian citizens. Contestants are required to SMS the unique 9 digit code on the Fairever pack and SMS to 58558 in the format ‘<Fairever> (9 Digit code)’. 50 lucky girls will get an opportunity to celebrate 10 years of Fairever with Asin.

The New Nokia E72 is up against some serious competition. Competition from its own family and its own predecessor. By the summer of 2009, Nokia E71 was the best selling QWERTY-device in the whole world. Thus the E72 has some big boots to fill.

From the outside, not much has changed. The keypad has been rearranged for the better, a 5 megapixel camera and the inclusion of a standard 3.5 mm audio jack as opposed to the 2.5 mm in E71.

The 360MHz CPU seen in the E71 has been replaced with the much-needed 600MHz CPU plus the built-in storage has been jacked up to 250MB.

Lets get down to what the phone really looks like. In Zodium Black, Metal Grey, Topaz Brown as its colors, the phone reflects as a phone with some class.

The metal body only adds to it looks that means business. It’s a contemporary design, with a fully integrated QWERTY keyboard that is ready to take the QWERTY success forward for Nokia especially after the E71.

It has a super slim frame of 10 mm and a sleek design that has been added for easy user interface. And that’s not all to keep your life smart and simple. The optical navigational key helps you glide through your mails and menu with quite an ease.

Lets add the amazing noise cancellation feature. So now you can have clearer conversations and in case you have lost your way, use the A-GPS and compass with map integration. And if it’s a situation where you are stuck in the dark, simply press the spacebar for the torch to come on. Simple, right?

Well, that’s exactly what Nokia wanted to do for you, make your life simple and smart.

The improvement in the performance is evident with high internet speed and processing power. The support for up to 10.2 Mbps connections over HSDPA is a feature that would be greatly appreciated by the heavy-duty users.

Add to the performance some software features that come with the E72. The Nokia Messaging Service with a lifetime license now supports access and easy setup for Instant Messaging accounts including Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and Ovi, amongst others.

A full version of Quickoffice, which includes editing Office files. SIP VoIP 3.0 plus an electronic compass.

Given the gamut of features you can avail with the Nokia E72, the choice of how you want to respond is completely yours.

Chennai

Factfile:-

• The real chennaite calls Chennai, Madras.
• Like it or not, most of the city goes to sleep at 1030 (one hour for mental relaxation after the ( intellectually && emotionally ) taxing episode of Kolangal)
• Madras has more temples than houses
• Where there is a “TASMAC kadai“, there is a “Biriyani kadai” (In some cases there are more than one “Biriyani kadai“s)
• Chennai’s buses are constructed keeping the passenger’s comfort in mind. Unique features include unrealistic inclination on the left side of the buses and 0.0002344 inches thick cushions. Chennai buses have also led to the creation of a totally new sport called ” Terrestrial team yachting “.

• The cost of an auto ride in Chennai is inversely proportional to the amount of melanin in your body.
• Saravana Stores and Saravana Stores are not the same. They both look like casinos and sell everything from mobile phones to diapers to school bags.
• When someone asks you to go to Panagal Park, they are more often than not, not talking about the park itself.
• Chennai metro is built on a sewage carrier with history behind it.
• If you are a well-to-do-50-something-iyer-family man, you ALWAYS drink coffee at 5, go jogging in white t shirt and blue shorts, come back at 630, and read The Hindu over another cup of coffee.
• All flyovers in Chennai are painted green so that you can’t tell them apart. (Of course there are a few exceptions)
• The museum like building opposite the beach is actually the police headquarters.
• All roads lead to T Nagar.
• Chennai doesn’t go to malls. Chennai goes to Ranganathan street, busier than any mall this world has ever seen.

• Think of hot. Now think of very humid. Now think of both of them at the same time. That’s chennai. All through the year.

If you love adventure than there is nothing more adventurous than getting a high from falling from a height. Bungee Jumping is considered as an adventurous sports which is nothing but extending your limits both mentally and physically.

The very first thing you are needed to do is to sign a bond which states that anything that happened to you during the process is your responsibility and not of the organizer. After the successful jumping, you will be experiencing the post-bungee euphoria in different ways. In India, bungee jumping came in the early 1990s.

However, the participant will be weighed by the bungee personnel and assigned a particular weight category. The next step they have to follow is to wear all the gears with maximum care and go up the bungee pad-it may be a crane, tower, river bridge, or any other place.

All the necessary equipments like Cords, Harness, Jump Deck, Rigging System, Additional Requirements for Elevating Jump Decks, Portable Hoisting Device, Harnessing Procedures and Specifications, Rigging Equipment and Hardware, Carabiners, Slings and Webbing, Ropes, Pulleys and Shackles, Ascenders and Descenders, Scales, Retrieval Vessel, Equipment Inspection, Testing, Maintenance and Replacement, Hardware and Ropes, Cables and Webbing and Slings. All these equipments will be checked again and before you go for a jump.

Any person who is physically fit can take part in this sport. Minors below the age of 14 need to get a letter from their guardian who is above the age of 50 as to show a medical certificate that he is physically fit to participate in the game.

In India Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa and Chennai are major cities for the sport and they provide bungee jumping facilities.

Radiant Hope Music Concert just for Young Boys

Radiant Hope - URYM Music Concert for Boys

Radiant Love Music Concert just for Young Girls

Radiant Love - URYM Music Concert for Girls

URYM Music Concerts – More details at http://urym.org/

Part 1 & Part 2 .

I think we broke for lunch now. Very good again. well organised and the crowd was an awesome bunch of people. I met with Mr.Padmakumar from Alcatel-Lucent and Mr. Atal Bihari from Mahindra. Great guys each with a decade of experience. We were able to talk life colleagues over a coffee. Atal is new to Chennai and here is one north indian guy who does not complain of Chennai . Padma on the other hand claimed to know every nook and corner of Chennai. We had a small walk around the campus before joining for the after-noon session.  I also met Mustafa Quilon and few other guys during lunch. Amazing guys who volunteered and produced this event. I take this as a chance again to thank one and all. Great guys, Greater work.

We then started with an awe inspiring girl’s speech called Kavita Baliga. 30 seconds into her speech, I was crying. She is a true wunder girl. Kavita was born and brought up in U.S for NRI parents and was diagnosed with Cancer when she was 21. Clichéd as it may sound, but it was her calling time, and life was never the same again for her. She is currently teaching music at the KM Music Conservatory of A.R.Rahman in Chennai. She has performed at various places and her speech was a well prepared well delivered one, until… she could not speak, I right at that moment felt a chill in my palms. She was crying. Oh my god! I felt and I hope the entire auditorium felt the same feeling. The Triumph of human over fate. I get goosebumps even when I write now, with tears washing my keyboard. Hats off to you Kavita! Her rendition of Laughing Aria was spectacular. You must be there to believe. A person diagnosed with Throat cancer, undergone chemo, now singing the Laughing Aria. I was so moved but stopped myself from just from making a scene. Believe me, if you have a chance just watch the video once it becomes available online. You should. Read more about her here. The crowd be fittingly gave her two standing ovations. Well deserved.  Oh! she has a website and she is on Twitter too!

The crowd was dumbstruck by now! Time for some cheer-up! So here comes the most dreaded man for Babus and Netas alike! Mr N. Vittal. Ex- CVC and much more… For us he was surprisingly a humorous and witty guy who shared his life and how, he too was forced to stare the death or something near by when he was diagnosed with Diabetes at the age of 25. He was not even married by then! His journey started from there. I was surprised to know that he knew Tamil! He gave an example of a stanza from Naladiyar much to the awe of the audience. I think that is what defines TED. Awesome people from all walks of life

I still have more to say.. Part 4 then, but not until tomorrow. Don’t miss the Part 4 tomorrow, the climax and my take home points!

]]> http://omniprasan.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/tedxchennai-part-2/ Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:54:43 +0000 Prasanna http://omniprasan.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/tedxchennai-part-2/

Part 1 here.

Coffee break, very good coffee. well arranged. However the best part of the break was every one was looking at the others extra-large ID card to identify and socilaize. I met with Balaji ( @labsji), Maker of Sim-OnDemand. Also I saw Victor from Loyola, a chubby faced student . Met a few others too… I did not have a business card, so while everyone else was busy swapping them, I was just gaping!

I think this is when Chinmayi took over from Kiruba. She started with a kind of nervousness. But she then started singing Maiyaa Maiyaa, where audience also clapped and joined with her to sing! The floor was booming! I was loving this audience!

Romulus Earl Whitaker came on next. He started with a bang! King Cobra! I have heard of this guy a lot of times, and anyone who has visited the Snake Park and Crocodile Park in Chennai should thank him. He started of his story with how and when his passion originated. He was explosively funny and unmissable. Audience had their ears glued to his every word. He is one more guy who prefers Madras over Chennai!. I could continuously RT his every word, so funny and at the same time was educating.  I already felt that it is tough to say which speaker was great by now, every one rocked!

Next on Stage was Madhavan. He is a IIT Alum who has taken the route of industrializing agriculture. I think he was one of the under rated speakers. Yes, he had his jab at the government and the bureaucracy, but that did not go well with the crowd. Nevertheless, as I said earlier, he does a great job, but could not explain it in a good way. Some people found this boring or monotonous, but not me. It was sad to see some people moving around when he was passionately explaining his entire life time of efforts. Guys, at least give some respect for the people on stage. Sigh! I am still amazed at his extensive knowledge and research which he has put into his work. One simple sentence:

Lease the lands from farmers for Rs 50,000. You can increase the productivity by 300% and give back to him.

This sounds too simple to be true, but yes, he had of course did exactly that. He was also exposing about the way soil research offices work. They do not actually conduct a research, templated responses are what he got back. Very sad. Another important aspect what he brought forward was how backward we were on the productivity of agriculture. His example of 30% to 60% was spot on. This is what Dr Abdul Kalam had to say on this guy:

We need not one but a million Madhavans in this country!

I know I am not doing justice to what we experienced. That is precisely the reason why I urge all of you to attend the next TEDx if not the TED.

Following Madhavan was Mr G.V.K Reddy of MARG Group. For most of the time he looked unprepared for the speech, but still there was a passion. I was surprised to see such a high profile guy not displaying his boldness and clarity on stage. Of course when it comes to business, he was fluent. He was talking 250 crores and 66oo crores on a same line as we would talk about idli and dosa. His business is booming. His idea of creating ‘habitat’ and empowering lakhs of people, some how was not packaged and delivered well. He looks like a deeply spiritual man. Nevertheless, the vision driving a poor guy from a village making it big is a story we all would love to hear. He for instance quit his IAS job and started for Rs 800 per month. Then started his business failed a couple of times before making it big. Great person!

I saw this swamiji kind of looking guy, some 60 years old, looking like a foreigner. Then when I saw his ID it was clear. He was none other than Mr Christian Fabre, a successful entrepreneur in Chennai who runs a chain of Fashion stores. He is also a great spiritual person. I think he should have been one of the speakers. We would have loved to hear from him. He is featured on NYTimes and BBC. Google for him to know more. You must now see the kind of exciting people we saw at TEDxChennai. I cannot thank Kiruba and the group enough for organizing this event.

More on the next post…

Wow! that would be one word which summarizes the event. The speakers line up was impressive and the audience were the most riotous I’ve ever seen! Where else would you find CEOs, VPs and students from VIT, IIT etc all gathered at one place, discuss about everything and (gasp!) Jump for rhyming stories like kids!

To start with, I started late . But nevertheless, I did not want to wait for breakfast there, so had a Pongal Vada at Hotchips. This actually helped me in finding a good seat ( it was first come first serve, every time!). I somehow managed to get the same seat till end. This is not the first time I’m going to IIT,  but every time I go, it makes me miss it. Lovely place! The IC & SR auditorium itself is well furnished and world class. I first thought of taking my laptop and doing a live blogging/tweeting of the event. Thank god I did not. It helped me listen.

Then the induction or reception, what ever you would call, was simple and smooth. No hiccups or searching through endless cards. Well organized. Great work guys.

8.40 AM. The auditorium was already filling up. Anil Srinivasan was rehearsing. Little did I imagine what was coming!

9.00 AM sharp! the show did not start!

9.05 AM It has started sometime ago!

Then,

Kiruba was eager to display the video of Chris Anderson explaining the idea behind TED and TEDx. But the problem started here, videos wont play! Sadly these hiccups with softwares continued till the end, and the irritating ‘Stay Offline’ messages in between Satya’s talk. But these were the only negative points. The other think I could think of was lack of seats. Anyone knew why? I thought they sell tickets based on count of seats available. But from now on, I have nothing bad to say, only good and very good things!

I will discuss the first session here. It started with Anil Srinivasan and Sikkil Gurucharan providing us with a breathtaking music combo of Western classical Piano and Carnatic vocal. I could seriously not tell that I am listening to some western instrument. As Anil rightly said, it provided a good frame for the painting called Carnatic music. They were a passionate people, who enjoyed performing as much as the audience. Anil had found his life partner at TED India, so seems like a great place to go next time . Also the performance was preceded by some good talk by Anil, in which he explained about the West and East ‘amalgamation’. Sheer brilliance and passion.

Then came Kirupa who runs the SUKURUPA home and school in Bangalore for children with distressed parents and broken childhood. Hers is a story of true ‘calling’ one hears often. Another thing which I learnt today and realised perhaps are how women are so strong willed and passionate. Almost most of the rock stars of  the day barring Romulus and Bawa were ‘Five point something’. But their achievements are too tall.

I think it was Sharada who made a documentary film called Shringaram came next. I am not very much knowledgeable or interested in what she was saying, entirely due to my ignorance. I could tell from the crowd that people loved her talk too.

There were a couple of TED Videos interspersed between the talks. Below are them.

Eve Ensler on Security and Insecurity:

Hans Rosling on the best stat’s you’ve ever seen:

The rest I will cover in subsequent posts.

wnt to meet a complete web design/SEO/PPC comp from chennai. pmt@bodyfuelz.com r @spartanvikas Tweet

A pilgrim who is on the way to Rameswaram from Uttarpradesh. On seeing the camera he requested that he be clicked and before i showed the picture to him he walked off from the Central Station.

Photographed by Karthick Makka

Explored on: Jun 30, 2009 #385

Taken in Adyar T.V.K Bridge. Boat house is located in this River only. Given raw lighting for your view.

Taken around 10:30 PM

EXIF Info:
F-Number : F/4
Exposure time: 8 Sec
Focal Length : 24mm
ISO Speed : ISO 400
Exposure Compensation: + 1.5

– License