Indian-American Arvind Mahankali wins National Spelling Bee

Arvind finished in third place in both 2011 and 2012, and both times, he was eliminated on German-derived words.

OXON HILL: Indian-AmericanArvindMahankali, after years of heartbreakingly close calls, triumphed Thursday night in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The 13-year-old from Bayside Hills, New York, correctly spelled 'knaidel,' the word for a small mass of leavened dough, to win the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. The bee tested brain power, composure and, for the first time, knowledge of vocabulary.

Arvind finished in third place in both 2011 and 2012, and both times, he was eliminated on German-derived words. This time, he got one German word in the finals, and the winning word was from German-derived Yiddish, eliciting groans and laughter from the crowd. He spelled both with ease.
"The German curse has turned into a German blessing,'' he said.

Arvind outlasted 11 other finalists, all but one of whom had been to the National Spelling Bee before, in nearly 2 hours of tense, grueling competition that was televised nationally. In one round, all nine participants spelled their words correctly.

When he was announced as the winner, Arvind looked upward at the confetti falling upon him and cracked his knuckles, his signature gesture during his bee appearances. He'll take home $30,000 in cash and prizes along with a huge cup-shaped trophy. The skinny teen, clad in a white polo shirt and wire-rimmed glasses pushed down his nose, was joined on stage at the Washington-area hall by his parents and his beaming younger brother.

An aspiring physicist who admires Albert Einstein, Arvind said he would spend more time studying physics this summer now that he's 'retired' from the spelling bee.

Arvind becomes the sixth consecutive Indian-American winner and the 11th in the past 15 years, a run that began in 1999 when Nupur Lala captured the title in 1999 and was later featured in the documentary ``Spellbound.''

Arvind's family is from Hyderabad in southern India, and relatives who live there were watching live on television.

``At home, my dad used to chant Telegu poems from forward to backward and backward to forward, that kind of thing,'' said Arvind's father, Srinivas. ``So language affinity, we value language a lot. And I love language, I love English.''

Pranav Sivakumar, who like Arvind rarely appeared flustered onstage, finished second. The 13-year-old from Tower Lakes, Illinois, was tripped up by 'cyanophycean,' the word for a blue-green alga. Sriram Hathwar, 13, of Painted Post, New York, finished third, and Amber Born, 14, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, was fourth.

The field was whittled down from 42 semifinalists Thursday afternoon, with spellers advancing based on a formula that combined their scores from a computerized spelling and vocabulary test with their performance in two onstage rounds.

The vocabulary test was new. Some of the spellers liked it, some didn't, and many were in-between, praising the concept but wondering why it wasn't announced at the beginning of the school year instead of seven weeks before the national bee.

``It was kind of a different challenge,'' said Vismaya Kharkar, 14, of Bountiful, Utah, who finished tied for 5th place. ``I've been focusing my studying on the spelling for years and years.''

There were two multiple-choice vocabulary tests _ one in the preliminaries and one in the semifinals _ and they were administered in a quiet room away from the glare of the onstage parts of the bee. The finals were the same as always: no vocabulary, just spellers trying to avoid the doomsday bell.

There was a huge groan from the crowd when Arvind got his first German-derived word, ``dehnstufe,'' an Indo-European long-grade vowel.

Milking the moment, he asked, ``Can I have the language of origin?'' before throwing his hands in the air with a wry smile.

``I had begun to be a little wary of German words, but this year I prepared German words and I studied them, so when I got German words this year, I wasn't worried,'' Arvind said.

He appeared to have more trouble with ``galere,'' the word for a group of people having a marked common quality or relationship. He asked for the etymology twice _ French and old Catalan _ shifted his body back and forth and stroked his chin before getting it right with seconds to spare.

Amber, an aspiring comedy writer and crowd favorite, bowed out on ``hallali,'' a huntsman's bugle call. She said, ``I know, I know,'' when the clock told her time was running out, and she knew she had missed it, saying ``That's not right'' as she finished her effort.

The bee's growing popularity is reflected in an ESPN broadcast that gets more sophisticated each year. In the semifinals, Amber got to watch herself featured on a televised promo that also aired on the jumbo screen inside the auditorium.

She then approached the microphone and, referring to herself, deadpanned: ``She seemed nice.''

Vanya Shivashankar, at 11 the youngest of the finalists, fell short in her bid to become the first sibling of a previous winner to triumph. Her sister, Kavya, won in 2009. Vanya finished tied for 5th after misspelling ``zenaida,'' the word for a type of pigeon.

'India probably world's third-largest economy'

Until around 2020, China is set to have to highest growth rate among major 

countries, but could be then surpassed by India,

 it further said :  OECD Economic Outlook report

Indian Flag image via Shutterstock

India has probably surpassed Japan to become the world's third largest economy after the US and China, Paris-based think-tank OECD said today even as it lowered the country's economic growth projection for 2013 to 5.3 per cent.

"China will likely pass the United States as the world's largest economy in the next few years and India has probably recently surpassed Japan to be third largest," said the OECD Economic Outlook report.

Until around 2020, China is set to have to highest growth rate among major countries, but could be then surpassed by India, it further said.

OECD also said that by early 2030s, the BRIICS' (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa) combined GDP should roughly equal that of the OECD (based on current membership), compared with just over half that of OECD now.

"Between now and 2060, GDP per capita is seen to increase more than 8-fold in India and 6-fold in Indonesia and China," it added.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which in November had projected India to grow at 5.9 per cent in 2013, cautioned that structural bottlenecks in the country could further constrain investment and growth potential.

"GDP growth is projected to rise gradually over the next two years... Significantly more growth would be forthcoming if structural bottlenecks were swept away by fundamental structural reforms," the report said.

Looking ahead, it said India is likely to improve growth to 6.7 per cent next year, after having logged a decade's low of 3.8 per cent in 2012.

OECD said the world real GDP is projected to increase by 3.1 per cent this year and by 4 per cent in 2014. Across OECD countries, GDP is projected to rise by 1.2 per cent this year improve to 2.3 per cent in 2014. Growth in non-OECD countries will rise by 5.5 per cent this year and 6.2 per cent in 2014.

Driving in India

(I read this piece more than a decade ago and things have only worsened since then.... :: RSK )

This hilarious article was written by an ​expat ​ who spent two years in  India , Hyderabad. For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting India and daring to drive on Indian roads, I am offering a few hints for survival. They are applicable to every place in India except Bihar, where life outside a vehicle is only marginally safer. Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where you do your best, and leave the results to your insurance company. The hints are as follows: Do we drive on the left or right of the road? The answer is "both". Basically you start on the left of the road, unless it is occupied. In that case, go to the right, unless that is also occupied. Then proceed by occupying the next available gap, as in chess. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed. Adherence to road rules leads to much misery and occasional fatality. Most drivers don't drive, but just aim their vehicles in the intended direction. Don't you get discouraged or underestimate yourself except for a belief in reincarnation, the other drivers are not in any better position. Don't stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in the back. Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when traffic is moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister is in town. Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then, let us not talk ill of the dead. Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries. We horn to express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust (two brisk blasts), or, just mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of the bazaar. Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may read them during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister's motorcade, or waiting for the rainwaters to recede when over ground traffic meets underground drainage. Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking colored lights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminated bus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans. These pilgrims go at breakneck speed, seeking contact ​ ​ with the Almighty, ​ ​ often meeting with success. Auto Rickshaw (Baby Taxi):  The result of a collision between a rickshaw and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on an external combustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil and creosote. This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders or passengers three times its weight and dimension, at an unspecified fare. After careful geometric calculations, children are folded and packed into these auto rickshaws until some children in the periphery are not in contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags are pushed into the microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisions with other vehicles on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course, the peripheral children are charged half the fare and also learn Newton's laws of motion en route to school. Auto-rickshaw drivers follow the road rules depicted in the film Ben Hur, and are licensed to irritate. Mopeds: The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noise like an electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol and travels at break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too rough for a ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road; they would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around them and are often "mopped" off the tarmac. Leaning Tower of Passes: Most bus passengers are given free passes and during rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengers hanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings and the overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity but obeying laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (so many Rupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steer clear of these buses by a width of three passengers. One-way Street: These boards are put up by traffic people to add jest in their otherwise drab lives. Don't stick to the literal meaning and proceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that you cannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive, as you like, in reverse throughout, if you are the fussy type. Least I sound hypercritical; I must add a positive point also. Rash and fast driving in residential areas has been prevented by providing a "speed breaker"; two for each house. This mound, incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for that residence and is left untarred for easy identification by the corporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for year-end accounting. Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience (for those with the mental makeup of Chenghis Khan). In a way, it is like playing Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst the drivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turns out to be a truck attempting a speed record. On encountering it, just pull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenon passes. Our roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do not blink your lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in the truck is the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he has had at the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little more than a naught. Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and are licensed to kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam of light about six feet above the ground. This is not a super motorbike, but a truck approaching you with a single light on, usually the left one. It could be the right one, but never get too close to investigate. You may prove your point posthumously. Of course, all this occurs at night, on the trunk roads. During the daytime, trucks are more visible, except that the drivers will never show any Signal. (And you must watch for the absent signals; they are the greater threat). Only, you will often observe that the cleaner who sits next to the driver, will project his hand and wave hysterically.This is definitely not to be construed as a signal for a left turn. The waving is just a statement of physical relief on a hot day.  If, after all this, you still want to drive in India, have your lessons between 8 pm and 11 am-when the police have gone home and  ​t​ he citizen is then free to enjoy the 'FREEDOM OF SPEED' enshrined in our constitution.

Manik Bagh Collection

Designer Muzaffar Ali’s collection of Maheshwaris for Rehwa Society pays tribute to an art deco jewel, the Manik Bagh Palace

Prerna Makhija 

     

First Published: Thu, May 16 2013. 09 43 PM IST

A sari from the Manik Bagh Collection.

In 1929, German architect Eckart Muthesius met Prince Yeshwant Rao Holkar Bahadur in Oxford, UK. Over the next couple of years Muthesius, commissioned by the soon-to-become maharaja, built and furnished Indore’s famous Manik Bagh Palace in the art deco style of the time.

Muthesius worked with cult artists and designers like Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Le Corbusier and Louis Sognot, using luxurious ebony, chrome, metal, steel, glass and wood pieces to convert the palace into a modern marvel. Although the palace now houses the office of the commissionerate of customs, central excise and service tax, Indore, and most of its antiques have gone under the hammer, designer Muzaffar Ali hopes to keep its memory alive through a new collection of Maheshwaris designed for the non-profit Rehwa Society in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh.

Ali, a close friend of Richard Shivaji Rao Holkar, is best known as a film-maker responsible for screen gems like Gaman and Umrao Jaan and for his fashion design label Kotwara, which he launched in 1990 with wife Meera. Ali says he met Richard in the early 1970s and drove around Madhya Pradesh, with Indore and Maheshwar as the base. “As an artist and with similar moorings, it (the Manik Bagh Palace) made an interesting impression on me,” says Ali. “I was intrigued by the richness and detail of design and texture.”

Ever since the Holkar family set up the Rehwa Society in 1979, designers have been invited to work with Rehwa’s weavers in Maheshwar. Designers like Rakesh Thakore, Rohit Bal and Ritu Kumar have even incorporated the traditional weaves from Rehwa in their collections. Sunanda Dawar, design head of the Rehwa Society, says designer collaborations have been few and far between in the recent past but the society plans to revive the trend, starting with the Manik Bagh Collection.

The limited-edition collection of saris and dupattas has borrowed heavily from popular deco motifs that are mixed and matched in multiple colours, some bright, others more sombre. Dawar says the new collection has broken away from the traditional reds, oranges and pinks associated with Maheshwaris. It has new colour combinations like grey and yellow, and beige with purple and black.

Since the cotton-silk weaves used were extremely delicate, the designer opted for self-on-self printing of intricate scallops, fans, fish bones, diamonds, squares, bricks and triangles to create a three-dimensional feel. Dawar says printing on Maheshwaris is tricky and often looks artificial, but promises that with this collection buyers will be hard-pressed to distinguish between weave and print. Borders done exclusively in thread work too make use of geometric shapes.

The exhibition will tour New Delhi, Lucknow and Mumbai. But Ali says the collection will remain a work-in-progress and new styles will be added once Rehwa has gauged audience reaction.

Rehwa presents the Manik Bagh Collection, 17-19 May, 11am-7pm, at Kotwara, DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi; 24-26 May, 11am-7pm, at Kotwara House, 10, Kaiserbagh, Lucknow; and 1-3 August, 11am-7pm, at Artisans’, Kala Ghoda, Colaba, Mumbai (22673040). Saris start at Rs.6,000. For details, visit www.facebook.com/rehwasociety or call 09810259503.

A very different India Strategy : IKEA

We need large land tract near highways and metro’

Sidhartha & Dipti Jain, TNN | May 16, 2013, 04.25AM IST

Juvencio Maeztu, the IKEA India CEO, is more familiar with bathrooms and bedrooms in Indian homes than many of you would be. "We have been sitting in bathrooms and bedrooms and asking people to show their wardrobes and how they live," he says while sitting in his modern office in Gurgaon. The visits are part of a familiarization trip by executives from the Swedish furniture and furnishings firm to figure out how Indians live. The inputs are being used to plan the stores and what will sit on the shelves in the outlets, each with an investment of Rs 500 crore and spread over three lakh square feet. Although the company has got permission to invest over Rs 10,000 crore, it seems to be in no hurry to open its stores. In an interview with TOI, Maeztu says the company will roll out stores at its own pace. Excerpts:

Now that IKEA has obtained clearance for a 100% venture in India, what is your next step?

We don't want people to have expectations that we will open stores as of this summer. We have to do the right thing at the right time. The right location for us is a big piece of land with easy connection to the highway and it has to be near the metro (train). Finding the right location is important. We would like to buy the piece of land and develop it. If we have the land today, we may take two years to have the store. But imagine we have the land in three years from now, then it will take five years to open a store. We can't say in Year One we will have x% growth or in Year Four, y%. But overall, if we look at India after 30 years, there will be lot of stores, lot of local suppliers.

How have the reactions from state governments been for opening IKEA stores?

We feel very welcome in India and we will start dialogue with the regional governments in the coming months. That is why we want to start the process of talking to regional authorities. Our entry point is the city and not a shopping mall. In India it is interesting because the cities are growing so fast. We need to build a picture of India in 2020 or 2025. As far as we know, the big growth will happen in the big cities.

You have proposed an investment of over Rs 10,000 crore in the long term. What is your planned investment in the near future as you open stores?

Investment will depend on the pace of expansion. An IKEA store may cost Rs 500 crore on average. The size of the store will be around three lakh sq ft. It is a big investment. How much growth and in how many years will depend on the ability to find the right place. What is important is that we will not take a short cut here.

Will localization of products be a priority?

We are doing several things here. We are visiting homes. We need to understand how you live. We go to homes and we are seated in the bathroom or in the bedroom and then we ask them open their wardrobes. We need to understand life at home. We have a range of over 9,000 products and a majority of them will be introduced here. There will be no compromise on that. Our second priority is to present that range in a way that it meets the customer needs. The third is the basics — that we do not have in the range but we need to have in India. So, we may need more bowls for daal, or some special things for cooking.

Q: You have been sourcing from India for many years. How will the sourcing target change once you open stores here?

A: We are not just a retail company. We provide furniture, but we also sell solutions for a better life. We have to source much more in the future and we have to feel confident that we have the right product at the right cost because our model is based on affordable solution. We already source goods worth $450 million from India. We are starting the process of mapping and inviting more suppliers. We need to find good supply chain and support them. Today we produce two-thirds of our furniture in Europe and one-third in China. India is not present in the list. Big part of our production in India is in the textile space. We need to develop more industrialized products here.

Q: IKEA has been permitted to operate restaurants within its stores but not retail food items...

A: We can sell food and beverage in our restaurant and cafeteria here. Our restaurant and cafeteria are meant to provide good shopping experience. It is not like a supermarket.

Q: How important is the Indian market for IKEA?

A: India is going to be a big market, an important market for IKEA. We don't see what is going to happen in year one or year two. We tried to come to India five to seven years ago but the conditions were not right. Opening a store is not the approach here. It is about long term commitment.

Q: What are the major challenges in the Indian retail space? Is real estate one?

A: Real estate is a big challenge here. It is even bigger for us because we will not compromise on the IKEA concept. We have to talk to the regional authorities and the government to see how we can contribute and have the right dialogue. On the other hand, we like challenge - to produce good products at low price.

Samsung tests 5G technology to download movies in a second

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics on Monday said it had successfully tested super-fast fifth-generation (5G) wireless technology that would eventually allow users to download an entire movie in one second.
The South Korean giant said the test had witnessed data transmission of more than one gigabyte per second over a distance of two kilometres. 

The new technology, which will not be ready for the commercial market before 2020 at the earliest, would offer transmitting speeds "up to several hundred times faster" than existing 4G networks, it said in a statement. 

That will permit users to "transmit massive data files including high quality digital movies practically without limitation", it said. 

"As a result, subscribers will be able to enjoy a wide range of services such as 3D movies and games, real-time streaming of ultra high-definition (UHD) content, and remote medical services," it added. 

Samsung said it had found a way to harness millimeter-wave bands which have proved to be a sticking point for the mobile industry to date. 

The test used 64 antenna elements, which the tech titan said overcame the issue of "unfavourable propagation characteristics" that have prevented data travelling across long distances using the bands. 

One of the most wired countries on earth, South Korea already has around 20 million 4G users.

The Many Pataudis

Twenty-two essays delve into the legacy of one of Indian cricket's most significant figures

Trust Mike Brearley to come up with the mot juste. A distinguished former England captain and one of the most respected and original thinkers on the game, Brearley had this to say in his speech (reprinted in this anthology) about Tiger Pataudi at Lord's in 2012: "Tiger was… the first cricketing superstar in India whose appeal involved so heady a mix of brilliance, charm and charisma."

If one were to search for a coda for this book, to look for an encapsulation of what Pataudi meant to his fans, to Indian cricket and, indeed, India, one needn't go any further.

Brearley's is one of several perceptive, well-enunciated contributions that make up this handsomely produced book. In the day of the ebook, this collection - with its beautiful, well-chosen photographs, pages with generous margins, and arresting front cover - reminds us again that there are few things as gorgeous as the book as an object, as an artefact.

Sharmila Tagore's moving foreword - shorn of self-pity at her loss, underlit by a plangent dignity and love - sets the tone for the anthology. Abbas Ali Baig recalls his escapades with Pataudi at Oxford. Bishan Bedi, part of the formidable quartet of spinners that Pataudi used as an unprecedented spin-only attacking force, pays a glowing tribute to his first Test captain. Sunil Gavaskar recounts his struggle about how to address the Nawab (a question that seems to have preoccupied other cricketers as well).

Mike Coward's interview with Pataudi (from the archives of the Bradman International Cricket Hall of Fame) is illuminating. The veteran Australian cricket writer asked Pataudi what it took him to play cricket at the top level after the accident in which his vision was impaired. "Determination. And, perhaps, an ability to not get completely frustrated; to get over the fact that I could never be what I would have liked to be. To accept that I was, say, 30 or 40% below what I would have liked to have been. That took a while; took a bit of doing."

What kind of a player Pataudi might have been had he not met with that accident as an Oxford undergraduate is one of the most popular counterfactual discussions among Indian cricket fans of a certain generation. Pataudi himself never chose to dwell on it. But that remark in the interview to Coward offers a key to the staggering mental strength and resolve it must have taken him to become the player he did. This dwindled brilliance that was on show, shadowed by the speculation of what the undiminished genius might have been like, is at the heart of the legend that was Pataudi.

But Pataudi: Nawab of Cricket is no hagiography. Suresh Menon, the editor, has been clever in including in the book an essay by Vijay Merchant, the man whose casting vote stripped Pataudi of the India captaincy in favour of Ajit Wadekar. Then we have journalist Mudar Patherya's essay, "The Many Pataudis", which realises two aims: it makes an enterprising attempt to cut through the myths and received wisdom and objectively assess Pataudi's achievements and legacy; and it shows how, had Pataudi been less withdrawn than he was, he could have made a far bigger contribution to the game.

The pieces by Pataudi's daughters, Saba and Soha Ali Khan, while shining with the love they had for their father, clearly throw up the angularities he had as a person.

Certain common themes about Pataudi emerge in the 22 essays in this book: his wicked sense of humour, his love for repartee, his unquestionable qualities as a leader, and the fact that he would walk out to the middle with whichever bat was closest to the dressing-room door.

For cricket fans who never saw Pataudi play, this book offers a glimpse of why those who did were entranced by him.

Pataudi: Nawab of Cricket
edited by Suresh Menon
Harper Collins India
186 pages, Rs 399 

Cost-Effective Portable Diagnostics

PTI | May 12, 2013, 02.07 PM IST

NEW DELHI: Village folk may soon have access to accurate medical diagnosis at 

their doorstep with a miniaturised pathological laboratory packed into a suitcase

 capable of conducting tests which could lead to early identification of many diseases.

Amit Bhatnagar, an alumnus of IIT-Roorkee who quit a plush job in Hollywood's

 famed Universal Studios, has designed a portable biochemistry laboraotry, which

 comes packed in a suitcase and can perform 23 crucial medical tests including for

 kidney, liver, heart, anaemia, diabetes and arthritis.

The portable lab, which could prove a boon to people staying in remote areas that

 have little access to diagnostics which results in several diseases remaining

 undetected, was launched by Science and Technology Minister S Jaipal Reddy

 yesterday.

"It is a complete compact lab in a suitcase with power backup. It has been designed

 to perform 23 vital blood tests for kidney, liver, heart, anaemia, diabetes and

 arthritis accurately, cost-effectively and timely," Bhatnagar said.

The lab, which costs a maximum of Rs 3.5 lakh, includes blood analyzer, centrifuge,

 Micro pipettes, incubator, Laptop with Patient Data Management Software and

 consumables.

"Key advantage of Mobile Lab is in its design, rugged analyser, portability,

 cost effectiveness," Bhatnagar said.

The portable lab is being used by Border Roads Organisation at its dispensaries in

 remote areas of Kargil, Leh, Nagaland, by the Central Reserve Police Force in the

 jungles of Chhattisgarh and various programmes of the National Rural Health

 Mission in Haryana and Kerala on a pilot basis.

"We did a trial for 800-900 people in our dispensaries in remote areas. It has a lot 

of potential for early detection of lifestyle diseases like diabetes, cardiac problems

 and in emergencies," Brigadier S B Mahajan, Deputy Director General, 

Border Roads Organisation said.

Mahajan said the results of the tests performed by the portable lab were validated 

against those done in conventional laboratories and were found to be accurate.

"We have put up a demand for procurement of more such units," he said.

Bhatnagar received a soft loan of up to Rs four crore for developing the lab from

 Technology Development Board of the Government of India.

He raised an additional Rs four crore from various other resources. Bhatnagar

 did his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT, Roorkee and went to the 

Pennsylvania State University in the US to complete his Masters in Biomedical 

Engineering.

He joined as a business consultant at the Universal Studios, where he analysed 

consumer trends for products of the Hollywood major. 

But homeland beckoned him and the stint in Hollywood was cut short after nine

 months.

Back in Delhi, he and his technology partners at IIT Delhi decided to take on the

 problem faced by nearly 70 per cent of villages in the country which did not have

 access to accurate diagnosis.

The 'lab in a suitcase' was a fruit of the efforts put in by Bhatnagar and his 

collaborators at IIT-Delhi.

Changing skyline of NYC......

The Rule of Four

Posted by Team BP on June 17, 2012 in Columns, Different Strokes · 0 Comments

12

Photograph/Brian Lary

In the movie “American Pie 2” (a movie grossly disregarded by the Academy Awards), there is the mention about the rule of three. This rule, in line with the overall maturity of the movie, states that whereas men exaggerate by a factor of three the number of women they have slept with, women on the other hand understate by a factor of three the number of men they have slept with. You do not learn facts like these from films who actually win Academy Awards.

What the movie did not mention is that there is a rule of four within photography. The rule of four states that it is only when buying camera equipment the fourth time that one really hits it right. How many tripods does one buy before knowing what kind would be the right one? Well, many photographers will say that they bought three tripods before they got what they really needed with the fourth one. And how many bags does it take before one really knows which would be the most practical one? Three bags are bought before getting it right with the fourth one. And how many lenses before finding the right lens for the right purpose? Yup, it is with the fourth lens one gets it right.

Anyone disagreeing, saying for example that he or she got the right lens the first time, simply has not tried another three lenses. And anyone saying that it takes more than four lenses is simply being a snob, indecisive, or both. Or suffering from tetraphobia (yes, that is a real word!). Am I wrong here? Uninformed? Heck no! I am just concluding what I have seen. The rule of four rules!

The rule of four is also relevant in other photographic cases. When taking photos with a digital camera, only every fourth photo is worth keeping. And only every fourth person being pictured looks photogenic. And only every fourth photographer probably knows what he or she is doing.

So, what are the consequences of the rule of four? Apart from a lot of money being spent, it can also be concluded that few photos are actually good. If only every fourth photographer succeeds with every fourth photo of every fourth person, only 0.25 X 0.25 X 0.25 = 1.6% of portrait photos are any good. And this is assuming that a photographer is at his or her fourth tripod, bag, lens, etc. If not, not even statistics can sort out the obscure situation in which one shall find oneself.

Incidentally, 1.6 is equal to 0.4 X 4, once again showing the significance of the number four. And as this would not be enough to prove the rule of four, here are some more proofs—four more proofs to be exact—of its validity.

1. Four-letter words are used by many photographers when they are unhappy with their photographic results.
2. Four is the number of corners of the sensor in a digital camera. Not five. Not three. Four!
3. Four out of four professional photographers will always use light to obtain a better result.
4. An ideal foursome is the term to use when everything clicks, i.e. the four factors shutterspeed, aperture, ISO and focus all join together to take the perfect photo.

So, what is the practical use of the rule of four? Well, like any rule, the rule of four can be used to predict future happenings.The rule of four tells us that anyone buying a camera needs to budget four times the initial cost of anything bought.

Furthermore, any memory card needs to contain four times as many photos as actually appreciated. And anything shall have to be done four times before getting it right. In short, multiply any photo activity with four and you will have a more fourseeable photographic life.

The rule of four shows once and for all that photography is more than an art form; it is a science now that its behaviour can be foreseen and thus more understandable. Furthermore, the rule of four—being one number above the rule of three, or 33% more—is a more exact rule according to mathematical logic. Some would say that a potential rule of five would be even better, but such a rule would lead to costs that would be completely out of control. One has to be realistic here.

And with that, the rule of four really has its scientific place in photography.

Who Moved My Shrikhand? :: Competition from fast food chains is killing Mumbai’s iconic eateries

( From the Outlook Magazine)

PHOTOGRAPHS BY AMIT HARALKAR

Dattatreya sees its last few days

MUMBAI: OLD EATERIES

Who Moved My Shrikhand?

Competition from fast food chains is killing Mumbai’s iconic eateries

PRARTHNA GAHILOTE

A little after 9.30 pm, when Prakash Wagle quietly slips behind the cash counter, two old men enter his eatery and walk up to his desk. “We read about you in the papers. Is it true?” Wagle, the owner, simply nods, without even looking at his two patrons. Over the past few weeks, staff members confirm, Wagle has made it clear to everyone entering Dattatreya that any conversation about the restaurant’s future will not be entertained. “It will be very sad,” say the two customers, and wander off to find themselves a corner table. Wagle continues to stare at the bill book on his desk. The eatery established in 1953 will be shutting shop by the end of this month, days after it celebrates its 60th anniversary on May 4.

Vishwa Mahal is dead

For Mumbaikars who dig authentic Maharashtrian food, Dattatreya’s closure will mark the end of a way of life. Ask anyone bustling around the modest wooden tables of the eatery, seating six on each. The older residents around Shivaji Park in Dadar say the area has lost two of its most iconic symbols: Balasaheb Thackeray late last year and Dattatreya now, which incidentally was a favourite of the Shiv Sena supremo. In fact, Dattatreya’s fame shot up after it became known that Thackeray loved their batata vada and kotambir vadi. No wonder then that eight years ago when Wagle had to shut shop for eight weeks after trouble with a local politician, Thackeray intervened personally to get his old haunt going again. in fact, until recently, one could see pictures of Wagle with the former Shiv Sena chief on the walls of the restaurant and old staff members say he shared a long and old relationship with Thackeray.
On a week day, tables start filling up around 8.45 pm for dinner. Children escorted by grandparents, teenagers with friends, individual office-goers clutching laptops on their way home, working mothers looking for a quick takeaway for dinner at home and families out for an evening. Fifteen minutes here or there, and finding a table beco­mes a struggle. However much the rush, service remains prompt and warm. Ever-alert waiters in uniform keep an eye out for anyone who might need att­ention. An extra helping of chutney or dahi? Before you know it, it’s there.
Hard times have befallen not just Dattatreya. Across Mumbai, local cuisine restaurants are fighting to keep the pot hot in the face of snazzy fast food chains with their war-like operations. The venerable Mahabhoj in Matunga is slated to turn into the fast food joint Cafe Greens and Beans. The shutters at the old eatery are already down and renovation work for the new one is on. The south Indian family restaurant has been leased out and will soon be serving international cuisine. Old-timers can only lament its demise. “I would catch at least two meals a week,” says Aadi Nair, a regular. “The food was delicious and affordable. This falls on my way to office and now when I walk past this building it brings back to mind the taste of the rice plate here. I am going to miss it forever.” But Mahabhoj’s owner Sachidanand Shetty says the restaurant was running into losses. “I couldn’t go on. I served `50 a thali for long, struggled to keep it going and realised that it bled me. Everything counts. Gas prices are higher. Labour and prices of food items have shot up. It’s difficult to run the place like this.”

Long live McDonald's

Vishwa Mahal, another restaurant serving simple vegetarian fare in Mulund, is headed towards a certain demise. Says Manohar Shetty, its owner, “People came up to me and said they would miss the food at Vishwa Mahal. But the truth was the business had become a headache for me. I tried my best to keep up our ancestral business but the returns were poor.” In desperation, Shetty even introduced Punjabi and Chinese dishes to keep the fires burning. But when even that didn’t spice up things for Shetty, he decided to take the dreaded step and leased out his eatery to McDonald’s in June last year.
Even at Dattatreya, the tables might look like they are all taken, but it’s nothing like the old times. That was when the bustling eatery would be serving 250 thaalis at one go come lunchtime. Today, it struggles to sell 50 meals a day. You can’t exactly blame Prakash Wagle then for leasing out his space, unappetisingly enough, to a bank. It just makes better business sense. So old Dattatreya soon will be an hdfc branch.
In Dadar, many such finger-licking home-style Maharashtrian food eateries are finding it difficult to keep pace with fast food and Chinese joints that have mushroomed in its lanes. Dattatreya too tried to join them since it couldn’t beat them. Waiters in the restaurant, mostly hailing from small Maharashtra towns like Ratnagiri and Kolhapur, recall serving spring rolls and noodles. But Dattatreya was too much of a homebody to become something it was not. Even an air-conditioned avatar in another part of the city failed to lift the already waning demand. An old wooden clock in a corner of the restaurant is marking time. The sole idol of the Dattatreya deity in the front of the restaurant silently watches the guests having their last few meals here, asking no questions.