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gods & guarantees

IBM vs. Tata: Who's More American?

Business Week has an interesting answer!

Based on where they make their sales, and the answer is surprising. TCS, India's largest tech-services company, collected 51% of its revenues in North America last quarter, while 65% of IBM's were overseas.

This juxtaposition helps explain investor reaction to the companies' most recent earnings reports. TCS stock declined by more than 10% on Apr. 21 after it reported that earnings for its fourth fiscal quarter fell short of expectations. IBM, by contrast, beat estimates on Apr. 16. Its stock is up 3% since then and 25% since mid-February

Hamm, the senior writer ends it on a positive note

Meanwhile, the Indian companies aren't in a terrible spot; after all, their services are designed to help clients simplify their businesses and save money. Until the U.S. economy pulls out of the doldrums, though, they will have to sell more aggressively and plan carefully so they don't end up with too many employees, which would pinch margins.

WhiteField, OMR - Vacant deals

India Syndicate reports that

In Bangalore’s Whitefield suburb, once a magnet for IT firms, supply outstripped absorption by 300,000 sq ft in 2007 and about 8% of the developed area remained vacant. In the first three months of 2008, the demand-supply mismatch was more than a million sq ft.
If Whitefield is in a bad way, the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) technology cluster on the outskirts of Chennai is deep in the doldrums, with just nine deals in the whole of 2007. Of the four million sq ft that came into the market last year, only 1.7 million sq ft were absorbed even as rentals fell by 18% and the vacancy rate was up to 11%, according to C&W data.

Tanishq - Jodhaa Akbar jewellery collection

Do you have tons of money..Head to
http://www.tanishq-jodhaa-akbar.com/

Chennai Photowalk - OMR Road

As part of Chennai - Photo walk (a group in Flickr) - last sunday, we had started off from Madhya Kailash and walked along the Old Mahabalipuram Road/OMR/Rajiv Gandhi Salai/IT Corridor (!) - trying to capture the scenic beauty & structural marvels. The end point was NIFT. A good 2 hours !

Unlike the movies, we had police barging in at the starting point itself. Things were solved amicably.

A mundane sunday morning turned out to be interesting;-))

http://www.flickr.com/photos/suganthis/sets/721576 04466070272/
[Trials Set]

U, Me aur Hum

A movie title that has profound meaning - U, Me aur Hum [U, Me and Us]
A pat on the back for Ajay Devgan for having zeroed in on this title.

TOI enters Chennai

Times of India was on to a good start at chennai on April 14th. There were lots of news & special editions on the first day- found the content to be interesting. Lets see how they move forward! I found the local promotion better than state launch promotion. At velachery, I could see 'Kolams' that read- Vanakkam Tamilnadu - Times of India at the doorsteps of most houses. Very Innovative! The state launch promotion was the stale mysterious campaign-Next change? with newsprint all over - revealed as TOI after sometime.

Newspaper domain is really hotting up in chennai. Just last week Indian Express had a transformation [ie]. Sometime back Hindu gave itself a 'youthful' makeover. Deccan chronicle has also found a strong foothold here [ new series of sexy promotions were all over the city, 'alas' all that came down with the 'pull-down-the-hoardings' drive]

Knife politics in TN

I was quite shocked to read Tha.Pandian, CPI's secretary's interview in Ananda Vikatan. The interview goes on the usual lines like congress bashing [interestingly, he lambasts Sonia for having picked up Manmohan Singh & Chidambaram] , nuclear deal bashing...etc.
The last Q:

''கம்யூனிஸ்ட் தொண்டர்கள் கையில் சிறுகத்தி வைத்துக்கொள்ளுங்கள்!' என்று அறிவித்திருக் கிறீர்களே, வன்முறைப் பாதைக்கு நீங்களும் மாறுகிறீர்களா..?''

[Why have you advised cadres to have small knife with them.Have you also resorted to violent path?]
Answer:

''இந்திரா காந்தி, ராஜீவ் காந்தி, ஆலடி அருணா, தா.கிருஷ்ணன், பூண்டி கலைச்செல்வம் போன்றவர்களைக் கொன்றவர்கள் கம்யூனிஸ்ட் தொண்டர்களா? மதுரை சன் டிவி அலுவலகத்தில் உயிர் பலி வாங்கியது கம்யூ னிஸ்ட்டுகளா? மணல் திருடர் களைத் தட்டிக்கேட்ட எங்கள் தோழன் ஜெயக்குமாரை வெட்டிக் கொன்றிருக்கிறார்கள்! எனவே, தற்காப்புக்காகத்தான் எங்கள் தோழர்களைக் கையில் கத்தி வைத்துக்கொள்ளச் சொன்னேன்.

சமூக விரோதிகளிடம் கம்யூனிஸ்ட்டுகள் வெட்டுண்டு விழுவது கட்சிக்கு அவமானம். எங்கள் தொண்டர்களுக்கு கத்தி, லத்தி என ஆயுதப் பயிற்சி அளிக்க இருக்கிறோம். ஆயுதங்கள் இல்லாமல் இனி தமிழ்நாட்டில் அரசியல் நடத்த முடியாது! சமூக விரோதி யிடம் இருக்கும் கத்திக்கும் சமூகத் தொண்டனிடம் இருக்கும் கத்திக்கும் வித்தியாசம் உண்டு!''

[Imp. point in the answer: I have asked them to have knives for their own safety. We have planned for knife, lathi kind of arms training to our cadres. Without arms, you can't do politics in Tamilnadu. There is a difference in the knife that a social enemy has and the knife that social loyalist has]

Long live Democracy!