Bookadda.com - New Venture by Arun Kumar (BMD05)

Arun Kumar is an alumnus of the BMD 05 batch. He has recently started an online bookstore on the lines of Amazon - in India.

The site looks interesting and prices are less than what you would pay in most bookshops. For eg. Eclipse (Stephanie Meyer - the current rage among teens) is going for 298rs, while the marked price is around 850/-

Do take a look and you may find something worth buying.

All orders above Rs 100 are generally shipped free of charge unless mentioned otherwise. Else there is a charge of Rs 40 for shipping and delivery.

http://www.bookadda.com/

Mahesh Nair's (86BMD) solo exhibition hosted by National Geographic, Singapore

This is especially for those of you who are going to be in Singapore or passing through Singapore from 3/April till 24/May 2009.

National Geographic (NatGeo) is hosting my solo exhibition at their gallery attached to their store at
#01-19 VivoCity,
1 Harbour Front Walk.
Singapore.

The site is http://www.ngsingaporestore.com

Post this, in the latter half of this year, this exhibition would also be moving to their gallery in London. They are also discussing with me to exhibit some of my water photographs in their London Gallery during their Water Week from June 22 to 26th (though I still trying to figure out what is "water week"!!!)

As a nature photographer, I am thrilled at this recognition from the ultimate in nature photography. Do drop in if you are in Singapore during this time and buy the pictures for a worthy cause!!

Regards
Mahesh

XLRI degree recognition in UK : Good news

This good news comes from Nishat (PMIR95)

The "point-based calculator" for self assessment on the UK Border Agency website now awards 35 points for a qualification from XLRI. This means NARIC has updated its database and registered the XL PGD as being equivalent to British taught Master's degree. This is great news as the new Immigration rules only allow applicants with either a Master's or Ph.D qualification to apply.

On a separate note, Bappaditya and Vijay, many thanks for your resp NARIC certifications that you provided. It did the trick - I used it to lodge an appeal with NARIC and stated that they did have both BM and PMIR PGDs on their database as being equivalent to a British taught Master's degree. I got a NARIC certification in this process at no further cost !!

So that's the long and short of it !

Cheers
Nishat (PMIR 95)

Ambarish Raghuvanshi's (87batch) on CNBC TV18

Ambarish Raghuvanshi's (87batch) on CNBC TV18 on job-scenario

folks

the intervew is available online here

http://www.in.com/active18/watchnow/watchvideo_mc.php?autono=393390

ciao

madhukar

Parichay's (an XL Students' Venture) Product Brochure

Folks!

As you know, XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust had funded the inception of 3 social business ventures by our students last year.

Parichay (http://www.parichay.co.in) - which trains and provides market linkages to rural and tribal artisans - is one of them.

Currently they are working with only Bamboo artisans (and have serviced 2 orders), and plan to scale-up into 5 other crafts (Dokra, Grassmat, Payatkar Painting, etc.) - and create and sell fusion products to provide sustainable livelihoods to rural/tribal artisans.

I am enclosing their product brochure. These can be good corporate gifts, conference material, etc. - or even domestic artifacts... they can also customise the product to your requirements

My purpose in writing to you is with a request:

1. If you know about any company/ organisation, which can give them bulk orders for any item, this will be a big help

2. They need to scale up to bring in other rural/tribal crafts into the fold - and need investments to do so (XL SET provided only INR 2.5lacs - rest is their own money)... and it is the "fusion products" combining different crafts, which will give them high returns (and to the artisans). So if you know someone who would be willing to invest in their venture, will be gratefull if you can connect them.

You can write to me or write to Vikas - co-partner of Parichay.

thanks

madhukar


Kims Note: Since I could not attach the .pdf file here. . .

Link to some of the products is here:
http://www.parichay.co.in/

Their blog on their progress is also extremely fascinating and I would highly recommend reading it for inspiration.
http://parichay.co.in/blog/

The Loveliest Smiles

Swarathma live at the Child Care Home for abandoned girls, children of sex workers, in Kolkata, India. These were the loveliest girls in the world. To see a smile, an unconditional smile on the face of a 6 year old... it is the most amazing feeling ever.

Jishnu Dasgupta (BMD 06)

XLRI Alumni - Mafoi Pandiarajan (84 PMIR) contesting Loksabha elections

Dear fellow XLers

Have you heard the news of our own Mafoi Pandiarajan (84 PM&IR) contesting the Loksabha elections?

Many a times we debate about well educated people entering or not entering politics. I am that atleast one of us has come forward. Let us support him wholeheartedly. Party or no party let us pledge our support for Pandiarajan!.

I do not have a vote to cast at the Virudunagar constituency but I can spread the word through my friends who hail from there or send the mail to as many people as possible to influence. I am sure you can do that also and probably much more.

Before that you may like to know more about Pandiarajan's background, achievements and what he can do for the people. Please visit the website
http://www.kpandiarajan.com/home.html

Best Regards
Krish

Prof Jomon - the new Alumni Chairperson

Prof Shukla has stepped down as "official" alumni Co-ordinator and that responsibility has now been handed over to Prof Jomon.The Bearded one will still continue all his "unofficial" alumni networking activities and insists that he will remain "Casper - the friendly ghost" :)

A little brief about Prof Jomon from the Faculty Profile on the XLRI site:
Dr. Jomon, currently Associate Professor at XLRI, Jameshedpur earlier worked in XIMB Bhubaneswar, Corporates and consulting firms in HR and OD areas. A gold medalist in masters from Loyola, M.Phil from Delhi University and Fellow from XLRI-AHRD has authored four books and over 20 articles.

His expertise are in the areas of competency interventions, performance management , 360 degree feedback/appraisal, HRD Audit, Induction, Mentoring, Training, Career planning & development, Potential appraisal, Succession planning & development. His client organizations include both Indian and multinational companies.

Sharanya dispenses some useful advice

Very interesting post by Xler - Sharanya which makes me nostalgic. Thought most of you would enjoy it too.

You can read her blog : http://brouhaharevisited.blogspot.com/ and the specific post I am talking about here

N Krishnakumar (BMD 80) in Forbes

N Krishnakumar (NKK), BMD80 & CEO of Mindtree Consulting, speaks to Forbes

A Glimmer Of An Upturn

Elizabeth Corcoran, 03.27.09, 01:50 PM EDT

Indian outsourcer predicts a pickup in business.

Indian outsourcers have an intriguing view of business: Because they play the role of helping other companies get their products to market, Indian outsourcers can be a good early signal of confidence in other businesses.

Among India's outsourcers, Mindtree is relatively small--8,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of approximately $270 million. It debuted on the Indian stock exchange last year. It has an intriguing lineage, too: It was founded in 1999 by a group of 10 executives from India and the U.S. and counts Harvard Business School professor David Yoffie and longtime semiconductor industry leader George Scalise as board members.

Mindtree chief executive, Krishnakumar (KK) Natarajan, talked with Forbes about the business climate. "We've gone through the downturn, and some segments are starting to pick up," he says.

Most notable: He sees signs of renewed vigor in the business of developing technology infrastructure that supports the travel business and also among midsize financial institutions exploring how to reinvigorate their operations.

"In the past six to eight weeks, we've had at least three deals with midsize financial institutions that are first-time outsourcers aiming to re-engineer their businesses to be competitive," notes Natarajan. "They're moving past the shocks of five to six months ago and looking ahead at the future," he says. His expectation: Growth could once again pick up by October.

Mindtree itself is looking toward the future, too: It announced a reorganization aimed at enabling its teams to provide product engineering support to clients on everything from chips to enterprise computing.

"The distinction between hardware and software is blurring," says Natarajan. Whatever it takes to move products faster to market, Mindtree aims to provide.

Thanks Tipu (IR 96) for bringing this to attention.

XL London Get-Together Pics - thanks too!!

well, well... what a day/evening it was!!

thanks to Reena and Arun (please dont miss their pics - 1st and the last one:)... and to Garima, Saurabh, Sharky, Bpaditya... and to all who could make it to the get-together.

For those who missed (and also for those who were there), I have uploaded the pics (about 100+ of them - the "trigger-happy" me :) at:

http://xlers.blogspot.com/2009/03/xl-get-together-london-march-28th-09.html

or

http://xlers.blogspot.com/

pretty heady experience, really - came back quite rejuvenated... (ya, tired too! ;)

ciao

madhukar

Making a difference in Orissa

Dear Friends and Family:

The recent communal violence in Orissa has been particularly bloody.

Three thousand people are still too insecure to return to their burnt out villages and are still residing in camps..

Many of us know Fr Mc Grath and the band of Jesuits there personally.Outlined below is their peace initiative--for all communities--with no strings attached.

Contributions to them are tax exempt and Fr Tony will make sure you get your receipt.Their accounts are transparent and most of your money will reach the intended recipient.

Your DD's,or cheques/money orders, should be in the name of "CENDERET- XIM Bhubaneshwar", payable at Bhubaneshwar.

Peace ,

David
76BMD

Dear David,

Peace!

We, the Jesuits operate under a secular banner "Orissa Citizens' Initiative. We have initiated community-based peace building process in Mundigodo gram panchayat in Tumudibandha block. In this GP three villages were affected in the recent violence and two people were murdered. Though the quantum of damage, while comparing with other blocks like Raikia, G Udayagiri, Tikabali, Phiringia is less, - Tumudibandha being close to Jalespata, where the ashram of Swami Laxmanananda located - there is constant fear among the people in this block. In fact we had to make a choice between whether to get into a high tension area, which is still not possible, or start from less tense area where some peace building could be initiated.

We have done the assessment of 13 revenue villages in Mundigodo panchayat and the assessment is being processed. Already we have initiated medical camps and non-competitive games in four schools. Soon after the elections, due for 16 April, we will be getting involved in a systematic manner in these villages. Our aim is to build mutual trust and confidence among the Adivasis and the Dalits across religions and slowly build peace in the communities. To start with, we will be taking up medical interventions mainly to control communicable diseases like malaria and water-borne diseases, and school-based activities. Slowly we would take up village development works by accessing available government schemes by formation of women and men's groups and introducing income generation programmes.

Soon we also plan to enter into the adjacent Kotagarh panchayat where more than 7 villages were affected. The works are carried out from Tumudibandha proper. There is a Jesuit involved full time and he works in collaboration with a local NGO.

In this summer, we will be training 40 boys in driving, and 60 girls (12^th std appeared or pass) in computer and spoken english training for a month. We have plans to offer 6-month skill training for both boys and girls.

Where could your support and solidatity come in as of now? The following are the possibilities:

1. In providing uniform to 650 boys and girls in 13 revenue villages in Mundigodo GP (from 1^st standard to 8^th standard) on an average of Rs 200 per child.
2. To buy books for the same 650 children in the coming academic year on an average of Rs 200 per child.
3. Once we expand the works in Kotagorah Block, we expect and will fulfil similar needs.
4. You could support boys who will be taking up driving, or girls who will undergo spoken english and computer education. (driving per boy Rs 3,000 per month, and computer and spoken english Rs 4,000 per girl per month. This includes board & lodge and course expenses too)
5. To support deserving families for income generation programmes. This will be carried out through a revolving fund scheme.

We will constantly update you with the field report, as to how the people are benefiting by your support and by our interventions.

Gratefully,

--
S. Tony Raj, SJ

Coordinator
Orissa Citizens' Initiative
58 Forest Park
Bhubaneswar - 751 009