King of Pop - No More!

An unrepairable damage to the Pop music world was done today, when One of the greatest musical entertainers of the century, Michael Jackson died today morning in the UCLA medical hospital. Ever since the news became public, people have been forwarding texts, logging onto the net so much so that it brought a halt to the largest search engine provider (Google) for some time.

Michael's life has been overshadowed with on going controversies, but no one can refute the fact that he was the King of Pop Music. With 13 US no. 1 singles under his belt, he can be compared with Elvis, The Beetles and other legends of music.

He was the at his peak during the 1980s with hits like Dangerous,Beat it; With his album Thriller, he rose to instant success and stardom. He was considered as the originator of Break Dance. He moonwalked into the hearts of millions of his fans, who were mourning his death all over the globe.

Its been raining heavily since early morning today in Mumbai, as if The Gods are also mourning the death of this Musical legend.

He has left a vacant space in the musical world, which cannot be filled by anyone else. His fans will remeber him not for the various controversies that followed his life, but for his great musical performances.

He was an entertainer in true sense. May his soul Rest In Peace!

Personal Vendetta???

Tech Mahindra buying out Satyam is old news now. Infact, Satyam's bee rechristened as Mahindra Satyam (How Innovative!!). Satyam also has shown profits for last FY's Q3 results. Its shares are hitting circuits, its bagging big deals. It seems like everything is getting back to normal in this IT outfit. But then suddenly, there's news of Satyam introducing Virtual Pool Program (VPP). ITs nothing but a sophisticated way of kicking out a large chunk of its non-billing associates. Associates who have been transferred to VPP will only be getting Basic & PF components of their slary, which is about 1/4th of their actual salary. Also, they will be in the VPP for the next 3-4 months; hwat happens after this time period is over, is still a secret that only the top officials know about. People weere expecting some interference, but all that was brought to rest when one of the Govt. representatives said that their work was done and now it was upto the officials of TechMahindra & Satyam to take it foreward from here.
In the first list, around 10,000 people got the mail confirming their transfer to the VPP. Another list of around 14,000 associates is expected to come pretty soon. The kind of treatment these associates are getting, all because of their being a part of the company, whose top management was involved in a fraud will make people think twice before shifting to the IT industry. My friends have reported me that their login to the various systems had been cutoff even before their receiving the notice. Also, by informing the employees of their transfer to VPP (read termination) via bulk mails will only tarnish the already soiled image of the company.

Now, Vineet Nayyer could rejoice on the fact that his company has been able to acquire one of the gems of the India IT industry, but with these harsh steps, I don't think he's going to earn many friends in the Industry. Atleast he can count me out of his friends' list. I feel he's got a personal vendetta against me. Earlier he terminated one of my siblings from his company Tech Mahindra, and now he's taken all the pains to acquire Satyam, so that he'd be able to transfer my newly wed wife to the VPP. I think he's gone too far this time and has eaten more than he can swallow. I am going to bring an end to this for once and for all. I vow to avenge my personal loss and make him pay for it. Hope you all will wish luck to me (Atleast I can expect support from the entire bench strength of the VPP)

BRIC - Answer to Global Recession??!!

Yesterday, while enjoying my share of free time at my office, with a cup of piping hot coffee in one hand and a mouse in the other, I was browsing through various websites in search of a good read, when I got my eyes on this interesting article on one of the popular indian websites. It was a survey about How Chinese they India. It was quite an interesting read. The gist of it being that 90% of the Chinese hate us! Yes, you read it right the first time, they hate us! Infact, they are scared of us. They are scared of our entrepreneures who are teaching them new tricks of the trades, which the Chinese consider themselves as expert in. They are scared of the success stories of our entrepreneures like Azim Premji, Narayanmurthy, Ambanis, Tatas, Birlas et al.

And then again there was yet another article that I had read last week, wherein, it said that China had dethroned Japan to become the biggest trade partner of India in Asia.

The latest news to do the rounds is that Russia is hosting the first ever BRIC (A term coined by Goldman Sachs economist, jim O' Neill in 2001) conference. It is to be noted that these four nations together account for 15% of the $60.7 trillion global economy. The highlights of this meeting being to propose of ways by which dependency on the US $ can be reduced. There are also speculations of proposing a common currency to safeguard their economies from diverse conditions and also to put up a fight against the Global Recession.

This combined currency reserve will also be put to effect in reducing the US $ DEPENDENCY. The impact of this informal coalition on the already crumbling US economy will be phenomenal, as all these nations account for a major chunk of the US ExIm business. Until now US has been enjoying a regulator-like role in all Global Economic issues, but with the rise of this new front, it surely faces a herculean task to enjoy the same position in future also.

In the light of the aforementioned news pieces, it seems that all is not hunky dory among these four emerging powers and only time will be able to tell how successful this union is going to be. Still, hoping for the best, I am keeping my fingers crossed, urging you all to do the same


P.S. : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday, the world needed new reserve currencies. "We have to consolidate the international monetary system, not only through the consolidation of the dollar but the creation of new reserve currencies," Medvedev said at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.