The new Bentley Flying Spur is touted to be a car that offers an unrivalled blend of effortless driveability, exquisite luxury and craftsmanship. It is clear that this car is purely designed for those who have arrived in life and comes fitted with the latest technology one would expect from a car that boasts of such calibre.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Youth Curry - Insight on Indian Youth: Do you have a Bloody Good Book in you?
Youth Curry - Insight on Indian Youth: Do you have a Bloody Good Book in you?: An invitation to first time authors Many of you write to me, asking for advice on how to get published. Often you say, “I have a manuscri...
Saturday, October 5, 2013
How Staying Mentally Fit Can Make a Difference
Your brain isn’t a muscle, but you can treat it like one
Many people focus on physical fitness, but few know that brain fitness is also something you can work on. In fact, you can exercise your brain as often as you would your arms or abs--and the results can be positive and empowering.
The Best Life Stories
Homeward Bound
By Jim Ruland, San Diego, CA
When I was in the Navy, I drank like a sailor. When I got out of the Navy, I drank like a sailor. You could say I went overboard. Swam with sharks and chased mermaids. Spent all my clams in the octopus's garden. The deeps and the darks suited me fine. Closing time came; I looked around. I was all alone in Davy Jones's lockup. Looked for a way out, but there was no ship in the bottle. Just more bottles, and every one an ocean. Took a long time before I settled on the bottom. But look! A boat on the horizon. A life raft with my wife and daughter in it. "You're here," they cheered. "Take us ashore!" "I'm just a drunken sailor," I said. My wife reeled me in. "No, you're the captain." I looked to the stars and plotted our course for home.
THE JUDGES SAID: Jim Ruland's story sails along on clever metaphors, but on a deeper level, it's a moving look at one man's desolation and the renewal he found in his family's faith and love. It's a tale you'll want to read twice — and share.
India's best strategists: 15 dreamers who have translated their insight into reality
Have a dream, and make a plan on how to live it and realise it. If you eventually get there by being consistent and unwavering in that objective, overcoming uncertainty and obstacles along the way, best utilising the (often limited) resources at your disposal, and translating that foresight into a product or service that is unique and difficult to replicate, you will have emerged a successful strategist - a person with a single-minded objective who doesn't get distracted from his goal by his rivals, setbacks and detractors.
That sums up strategy, and the people behind it, shorn of management gobbledygook like five forces analysis, directional policy matrix et al. And, yes, you can actually be a strategist without having to resort to, say, a calibration meeting to leverage game-changing synergies and hit the sweet spot!
We identify 15 such dreamers who have made significant progress in translating their insight into reality. For some it's still work in progress, but that they are steadfast in their belief that this is the 'right' thing to do has propelled them onto our list.
The strategists profiled in alphabetical order are a diverse lot - from the corporate world (CEOs as well as honchos who have made a big difference to their organisations), bureaucracy, academia, law, the social sector, healthcare, films and sport. You may not agree with all the names; if you have your own ideas about who should have made the cut, send in your suggestions via economictimes.com. For now, take a deep dive (oops).
Rajiv Bajaj, 46: MD, Bajaj Auto
MASTER, AND POWER, OF ONE
Ask Rajiv Bajaj what is strategy and he sums it up in a word: specialisation. And that relentless focus on what you do best calls for "sacrifice" - of what self-styled experts and rivals, and even what daddy (Rahul Bajaj), thinks is best. In business terms, it meant exiting scooters - a segment many believe still has steam for growth - and narrowing the vision to motorcycles.
"You can play 10 games and be the best in Pune or concentrate on one and be the best in the globe," explains Bajaj. "It [the strategy] is the alignment of the front end with the back end. It is more about what you choose not to do rather than what you choose to do."
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10 Mozart sites of Vienna
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| Schonbrunn Palace. Photo: Sandip Hor |
The Austrian capital city of Vienna is often touted as the “City of Music”. Legendary musicians like Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Strauss lived, composed and played in this imperial city. But Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart appears to dominate the scene. There are several sites in the city associated with the maestro who was born in 1756 in nearby Salzburg, but spent much of his short and eventful life in Vienna.
Cardiovascular diseases in women & children
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the number one cause of deaths worldwide, accounting for 17.3 million deaths. Over 80% of these deaths take place in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). By 2030, 23.6 million people are predicted to die from CVD which places a burden on national economies.
Women have an important role to play as gatekeepers of the family and guardians of health, especially in lower and middle-income countries, where eight out of 10 CVD-related deaths occur. We are urging all women to adopt heart-healthy behaviours. Taking action to prevent exposure to risk factors will have a positive impact on children, as they learn by example.
An open letter to a daughter
My dear daughter,
This letter is not just to you but to all those young women out there. This is from a concerned mother to all of you who are racing against time that they have forgotten to stop and smell the rose in their journey called life.
Somewhere down the line, we mothers in our quest for giving our girls independence and financial security have not taught them the beauty of being a woman. We have coaxed and coached you and today you wonderful young girls are standing on the threshold of an exhilarating world of a career. You are all happier carrying a briefcase than a rolling pin — why not? You are all princesses at multi-tasking and most of you learn to handle both the briefcase and the rolling pin with finesse. Why, then, this letter?
The meat of the matter
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| Irish stew: Familiar ingredients but a different taste. |
How does one serve up a meal that’s familiar, yet different?
“And sweets grown common lose their dear delight.” No one can say it like the Bard, but while I love his poetry, I differ with the sentiment. Sweets grown common give us dearer delight. Of course we want the occasional Asian or Mediterranean meal but sometimes we want food that’s different yet familiar; food that’s a change from the everyday, yet not radically so. Maybe I need to explain this apparently garbled thought. Whenever Bunty visits, I ask her what I should make for dinner. Whether or not she’s joining us, she gives the matter full attention because she knows a housewife with a crew of trenchermen has to figure this out three times a day. She understands that if the family’s had two successive Indian meals they need variety, and also that I am in no mood to go sweat in the kitchen so the menu has to be something that can be directed from an armchair. So she frowns slightly and says something like: do you have qeema? Do you have mutton? That’s it, then. Shepherd’s Pie it is. Or Irish Stew then. Just make a nice fresh salad on the side. And she gets it; she knows exactly what fits the bill. Possibly because we’ve both been brought up with the same food — even though by mothers from different parts of the country. As now she and I feed our kids the same stuff. We’ve both added to our repertoires, our exposure is different from our mums’, but we both have the same concerns. More important, we have the same tastes. She knows that sushi isn’t going to hit the spot — if indeed I could make it — and alu methi with moong ki dal will make the kids run away screaming. We’re looking for a meal that’s different yet familiar.
Car Review: Bentley Flying Spur - The dream machine makes India debut
The world's fastest and most powerful road going sedan just made its Indian debut
Meet the voice of Apple's Siri
Siri, whose voice do you have?
The question has intrigued millions of AppleiPhone and iPad fans, who use the devices' voice-activated personal assistant for help with everything from finding restaurants and directions to organizing their day.
On Friday, CNN reported it has discovered the original voice. The person had never before been identified publicly.
The network named Susan Bennett, a voice-over actress from Atlanta, as the voice behind Siri, which was first introduced on Apple's iPhone 4Sin 2011.
Mercedes-Benz S550 is a triumph of technology
The 2014 Mercedes-Benz S550 offers an unrivaled mix of comfort, safety and high-tech features.
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| The full-size 2014 Mercedes-Benz S550 sedan starts at $93,825. (Wieck / April 8, 2013) |
The days when luxury in a car meant shiny chrome on the outside and dead trees and cows on the inside have long faded. This is 2013, when even high-tech can fail to impress: Cut-rate hatchbacks have navigation systems, and the average Ford can park itself.
Top 5 Dumbest Roger Cohen Lines (This Week)
A pretty memorable New York Times op-Roger Cohen’s latest opinion column is an off-putting muddle of contempt for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Cohen’s legacy as a public intellectual on the topic of the Middle East has long been mixed; in 2009, he played the useful idiot when he concluded, during a trip to Iran, that the hospitality he received as a Jew there, was a sign that the country was misunderstood. The 25,000 Jews living there (remnants of the once 80,000-strong community) were proof of Iran’s plurality. When the election-rigging regime cracked down on democratic dissidents a few months later, Cohen expressed his support for the demonstrators as they were beaten, silenced, and shot into submission.
Toyota re-launches Innova at starting price of Rs. 12.45 lakh
New Delhi: Auto maker Toyota Kirloskar Motor today launched all new version of its multi-purposeew vehicle Innova, priced between R
s.
12.45 lakh and R
s.
15.06 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), as it looks to enhance sales during the festive season.
Got a home loan? 5 steps to plan EMIs better
Buying a home and moving into it is a dream of many individuals and home loan is a viable option to make this dream come true. However, buying a house by means of home loans means payment of a hefty amount as down payment, as well as monthly outflow in the form of Equated Monthly Installments or EMIs.
Even if you can actually manage to pay the down payment by collecting from various sources, the monthly EMI is a new strain on your finances.
Barack Obama names Kerala University graduate to key trade job
US President Barack Obama has named yet another Indian-American, Kerala University physics graduate Arun M. Kumar, to lead the trade promotion arm of the US Commerce Department charged with helping US companies succeed in markets around the world.
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| Arun M. Kumar will lead the trade promotion arm of the US Commerce Department. (File photo of the White House)
Kumar, who has been nominated Assistant Secretary and Director General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, would on Senate confirmation succeed another Indian American, Secunderabad-born Suresh Kumar.
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Sinead O'Connor: Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh have murdered music
Sinead O'Connor blames Simon Cowell for the death of rock 'n' roll music.
Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has held music mogul Simon Cowell and music reality show judge Louis Walsh responsible for "murdering music".
O'Connor appeared on The Late Show on Friday (October 4, 2013) to address an ongoing feud with young singer Miley Cyrus, but instead she targeted Cowell and his flagship show The X Factor. She blamed him and many others for the death of rock 'n' roll music, reports contactmusic.com.
Madonna reveals rape at knifepoint when young
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Madonna talked about her experience in Britain in a piece for Harper's Bazaar magazine.
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US pop icon Madonna was raped at knifepoint when she was a young struggling artist in New York, she revealed in an article published on Friday (October 4, 2013).
The 55-year-old also recalled being held up at gunpoint and having her seedy apartment burgled three times, saying she was "scared shitless" at times before she started making it as a singer and dancer.
Justin Bieber supports Miley Cyrus
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Justin has advised Miley to have fun
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Pop star Justin Bieber has lent his support to fellow singer Miley Cyrus following her split from Liam Hemsworth.
Bieber, 19, hit headlines earlier this year with antics including peeing in a mop bucket, partying in nightclubs despite being underage in the US, arriving on stage over two hours late for shows, and smuggling his pet monkey into Germany, where he abandoned it.
Friday, October 4, 2013
No city for young women
Mumbai has awoken again to a spectre that's never really asleep. On November 7, a Spanish exchange student was raped in her flat. A day later Aryanka Hosbetkar had a corrosive chemical thrown at her face. These two women have been scarred for life, but they are luckier than Pallavi Purkayastha, who was not just savagely molested, but also murdered this August. All three were around 26 years old and were home alone in the early hours of the morning. They were not exceptions but a fact that we aren't allowed to forget - shamefully, angrily, helplessly. These cases, and the legion of lookalikes, remind us that the liberating metro is only a sham. The new breed of smart independent women think they can live by their own rules, but they continue to be trapped.
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