Thursday, December 2, 2010

Sudha murthy's letter to JRD TATA

This is the stuff legends are made of..Worth a read..

THE GIRL WRITING AS HERSELF....


It was probably the April of 1974.I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science.

I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US... I had not thought of taking up a job in India.

One day, while on the way to my hostel,I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors)... It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.

At the bottom was a small line: 'Lady Candidates need not apply.'


I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.

Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers...
Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful?

After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco

I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote.


'The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives they have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender.'

I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs30 each from everyone who wanted a sari when I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.

It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.

To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.

There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious business.

'This is the girl who wrote to JRD,' I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.

Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, 'I hope this is only a technical interview.'

They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude.

The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.

Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, 'Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories.

I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place.

I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, 'But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories.'

Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.

It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.


I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, 'Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.

She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor.' JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).

Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. 'It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?'

'When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir,' I replied. 'Now I am Sudha Murthy.' He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.

After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.

One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.

'Young lady, why are you here?' he asked. 'Office time is over.' I said, 'Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up.' JRD said, 'It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor.

I'll wait with you till your husband comes.'

I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.

I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, 'Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee.'

Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, 'Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.' In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.

Gently, he said, 'So what are you doing, Mrs. Kulkarni?' (That was the way he always addressed me.) 'Sir, I am leaving Telco.'

'Where are you going?' he asked. 'Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.'

'Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.'

'Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.' 'Never start with diffidence,' he advised me
'Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. Wish you all the best.'

Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.

Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, 'It was nice hearing about Jeh from you.
The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today.'

I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.

Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.

My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence.
(Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)

Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004 .

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Indian Money in Swiss Bank

"Indians are poor but India is ... not a poor country". Says one of the Swiss bank directors.

He says that "280 lac crore" of Indian money is deposited in swiss banks which can be used for 'tax less' budget for 30 yrs.

Can give 60 crore jobs to all Indians.

From any village to Delhi 4 lane roads.

Forever free power supply to more than 500 social projects.

Every citizen can get monthly 2000/- for 60 yrs.

No need of World Bank & IMF loan.

Think how our money is blocked by corrupt politicians. We have full right against corrupt politicians.

Its better not to vote than to vote a corrupt politician. Its better not to eat than to eat poison.

Its our money but we don't have guts to get it.
Our system, education, politician, police, is all poisoned with corruption.

60 crores bofors scam, chara ghotala, 200 crores CWG scam, 1,76,000 crores 2G Spectrum scam isn't it great not even a committee is being organised to probe this. This is INDIA where 84 crore of population go to sleep without food.

Every individual is being taught greed of money and vulgar thoughts but not about living a strong, healthy prosperous and good life.

If you can get justice for yourself by yourself get it otherwise forget it, don't s disturb the already disturbed system please it needs a change :)

Top 15 Rajinikanth Jokes

  1. Rajinikanth doesn’t wear a watch. He decides what time it is.
  2. Rajinikanth has already been to Mars, that’s why there are no signs of life there.
  3. Rajinikanth killed the dead sea.
  4. If you spell ‘Rajanikant’ wrong on Google it doesn’t say, “Did you mean Rajinikanth?” It simply replies, “Run while you still have the chance.”
  5. Rajinikanth can play the violin with a piano
  6. Rajnikanth once wrote a cheque, the bank bounced!
  7. Micheal Jordan to Rajini: I can spin a ball on my finger for over two hours. Can you?
    Rajni: Rascala; how do you think the earth spins!?
  8. Rajinikanth once ordered a plate of idli in McDonald’s, and got it.
  9. If Rajnikant was born 100 years earlier, British would have fought to get independence from India.
  10. When Rajnikant logs on to facebook.com, facebook updates its status message!
  11. Rajni once killed 20 men just by saying "BANG"
  12. Rajinikanth knows Victoria’s secret.
  13. Rajinikanth can divide by zero.
  14. Rajinikanth has counted to infinity, twice.
  15. When Rajinikanth gives you the finger, he's telling you how many seconds you have left to live.

Top 15 Rajinikanth Jokes

Top 15 Rajinikanth Jokes.
  1. Rajinikanth doesn’t wear a watch. He decides what time it is.
  2. Rajinikanth has already been to Mars, that’s why there are no signs of life there.
  3. Rajinikanth killed the dead sea.
  4. If you spell ‘Rajanikant’ wrong on Google it doesn’t say, “Did you mean Rajinikanth?” It simply replies, “Run while you still have the chance.”
  5. Rajinikanth can play the violin with a piano
  6. Rajnikanth once wrote a cheque, the bank bounced!
  7. Micheal Jordan to Rajini: I can spin a ball on my finger for over two hours. Can you?
    Rajni: Rascala; how do you think the earth spins!?
  8. Rajinikanth once ordered a plate of idli in McDonald’s, and got it.
  9. If Rajnikant was born 100 years earlier, British would have fought to get independence from India.
  10. When Rajnikant logs on to facebook.com, facebook updates its status message!
  11. Rajni once killed 20 men just by saying "BANG"
  12. Rajinikanth knows Victoria’s secret.
  13. Rajinikanth can divide by zero.
  14. Rajinikanth has counted to infinity, twice.
  15. When Rajinikanth gives you the finger, he's telling you how many seconds you have left to live.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Tirupati Laddu----- A informative look

Laddu is really a delicious Indian Sweet...now what will be interesting to know if that Laddu is religious one.

I found some amazing info regarding Tirupati Laddu..here it goes.........

The Tirupati Laddu got its Geographical Indication patent rights on September 15. 2009.The Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the Tirupati temple in Andhra, had applied for GI with Chennai-based Geographical Indication Registry in March last year to avoid black marketing by hawkers and middlemen.
· Around 150,000 laddus are made daily and the annual revenue out of the sale of laddus is a whopping Rs two crore.
· One laddu is given free to each devotee visiting the temple and this number is around 50,000.
· A devotee can buy extra two laddus for himself. One laddu costs Rs 25 now.
· A small laddu weighs 175 g whereas the big one weighs 700 g.
· There is a super huge Tirupati Laddu known as Kalyana Laddu and it weighs around 500gms - 1/2 a kilogram.
· Single largest laddu made is said to have weighed 32 kg.
· The tradition of Tirupati Laddu is nearly 300 years old.
· It is prepared by special hereditary priests known as archakas in special temple kitchen known as 'potu'.
· Ingredients used in Tirupati Laddu are Besan flour (kadalai mavu), Sugar, Cashew nuts, Cardamom, Ghee, Oil, Sugar candy, Raisins and Almonds
On a daily basis, the kitchen workers use about:5000 kg of Besan flour, 10000 kg of sugar, 1000 kg of cashew nuts, 350 kg of cardamom, 500 kg of sugar candy , 750 kg of raisins and 500 kg of Ghee to prepare laddus.
· The ingredients are bought at the auction at the Commodities and Spices Exchange in Kochi.
The architect of the 'laddu empire' is Kalyanam Iyengar and was the brain behind making laddu synonymous with Tirupati. He had several hundreds of men working in a a 'potu' (a large kitchen) inside the temple premises itself. The offerings to the Lord should be done inside precincts of the temple complex.An embodiment of virtues and humility, he was named Kalyanam Iyengar by the great politician wizard Rajaji because he donated 'thali' and wedding dresses to the needy.Till 1996, the myriad of prasadams were made only by the persons nominated by the five laddu mirasadars. However, between 1996 and 2001, TTD prepared the prasadams themselves. But with the growing influx of pilgrims, the board was forced to outsource the same after 2001.

Friday, May 14, 2010

The Shocking truth of IPL Parties


After the poor performance of Indian Cricket Team in T20 World Cup; came the outburst of skipper MSD regarding the IPL nite parties. Here is some shocking revelations.........

"Dhoni was right in one way. Players have to make their own choices about their bodies, but it's not always that easy - not if you're not Mahendra Singh Dhoni or Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid.

My problem with the IPL Nites parties was not that I was forced to attend by any contractual obligation. There was no such thing for me, or, to my knowledge, for any of my fellow India players.

Each party was invariably the same routine. You would have a set-up with a ramp show that lasted 30 to 45 minutes, then the models would come off and mix with the rest and the party would take off.

There were cheerleaders and girls who we called 'escort service'. Beautiful women to add glamour to the mix, get the party moving. They were not allowed to talk to any player for more than five minutes. If they did, a manager would walk up and slickly move her away.

But there were other women, willing and uninhibited. The big-name players who did attend generally handled themselves without a problem. They would hang around, chat, have a drink, pick up a happy girl, sometimes two, take her back to the hotel room and have some fun.

Watching some of our younger players, the u-19 and u-22 kids, though, was scary. They had never been exposed to Bollywood stars, Page 3 personalities, endless cigarettes (all free), flowing booze, occasionally drugs and always women, willing women, everywhere. The boys lapped it up, and would party right through. Those that didn't drink or smoke did so to be part of the cool gang.

The pressure lay more in the occasional hint dropped by an IPL official, a sponsor or a franchise official that it would be good if I were there for a bit, that there were some people they would like me to meet. I am not Tendulkar or Dravid, I couldn't say no, go back to my room and stay there and not be bothered.

So when you go back to the room to recover, you really don't want to hang around there when the rest of the guys are going downstairs - the parties are always in the team hotels - and you don't want to be called "boring".

So you tell yourself, 'I'll go down for an hour', only, it's never an hour. Before you know it, it's 4am and you're heading back to your room, hurrying to pack up and head to another city, another game, another sponsor's commitment (which are endless), another shoot possibly and yes, another party.

The problem is that you can never switch off mentally. Not on the field, not during the hours spent in airports when fans and the airport staff want an autograph, photograph or just a chat and not in the parties, where you'll be introduced to important people who will listen to you and perhaps, be important contacts who will make money for you. It's a choice and it's tiring but it's also business. You have to be switched on.

It takes a toll, when you play a game, party till 4am, pack and grab an hour's sleep before heading for the airport and spend six to 12 hours travelling. Places like Jaipur and Chandigarh don't have direct connections to everywhere else. That's my most vivid memory of IPL, not the matches, not the parties but the endless travel and exhaustion - and next year, with 34 games more, it will only get worse. I didn't even know if I really wanted to. It's like this.

The IPL is intense; short bursts of highly charged games and then, nothing. There's no period of introspection."

(As told to Heena Zuni Pandit. The player has chosen to remain anonymous.)

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Thrilling Win .....India bt South Africa by 1 run

Overall it was a heart boiling kinda match, but Indian team got control over their nerves to win the match.
There were several mistakes by Indian team...first of lack of communication during running between the wicket and the second and big one I thought is captaincy of MS Dhoni, why Dhoni less used Praveen Kumar over expensive Sreesanth, while Sreesanth bowled 9 overs and Praveen Kumar didnt complete his quota.
But at last thanks to Nehra and Praveen Kumar India save the match otherwise after the big effort of Kallis and at last Parnell-Steyn pair would have snatched the match from indian team.
Well, a lot of people would have put their money on SA to chase this down but, the Indians did well to get wickets at regular intervals and put the pressure on the visitors. Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers taking two crucial wickets and conceeding only 29 runs in his ten overs. Kallis fought a lone battle and kept things at bay but his well made 89 was not sufficient to take them home. Sreesanth came back well after being hit for 31 runs in his 3 overs and got 2 important wickets including that of Kallis. Steyn and Parnell hit a few big ones towards the end to cause a few hiccups but it was all too late by then. SA are tagged 'chokers' but they did everythin to prove that wrong today. India won the match by 1 run at the end courtesy PK. Dhoni shuffled his bowlers pretty well, and with this win, India inch closer to retain the No 2 spot in the ICC rankings.
At one stage, this game looked dead and buried for SA, but they found 2 unlikely heroes with the bat, in Parnell and Steyn who got them within sniffing distance. In the end, even the normally composed Dhoni was looking extremely nervous out there. What a start to the series. This is just an indication of what is to come in the remaining 2 matches.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

2 States - The Story Of My Marriage: by Chetan Bhagat


As usual! Was my first expression after finishing the 2 States - The Story Of My Marriage.

For Chetan, personally this is a continuation after FPS.

Author describes the nuances of his marriage with Anusha, his wife (in Novel Character called Ananya), a TamBam.

Its 4th from Chetan’s stable, very much better than “3 Mistakes of my life”

See my previous entry on “3 Mistakes of my life”. http://jainashwani.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-letter-to-chetan-bhagat-in-context.html

IMHO FPS is the best. We also saw the adaptation in 3 IDIOTS(not writing much on this topic, already controversial)

2 states is a flowing read. I managed time within my working hours of a week.

As expected, Chetan again came back with his whacky humor, killer one liners (which I like most), comment snippets particularly about Girls; just awesome!

Chetan had enough of analysis of general female behavior and characteristic in FPS; now in Two States He again showed his shrewd analysis with great sense of humor.

Girl and Boy situations are much like “Men are from Mars and Women from Venus” scenario; like girls always care how they are looking no matter what is the situation!

Description of IIM and Delhi is good and as far as Tamil detail is concerned to every north Indian’s amusement, Chetan directly compares the scenes from South Movies.

Although so much stereotypical things about relationship, family, social stigma; but that is the social fabric of middle class India.

So much Humor related to Punjabis like, “ready to gulp every time”, loud makeup, flamboyant lifestyle; I found it quite amusing as I think these are really Punjabi Characteristic (seriously no Pun Intended).

I see such things on daily basis (residing in Punjabi dominated locality).

And yes Chetan Bhagat does not give too much info on Punjabi girls, by the way they are just……..

In the novel Chetan portrays Punjabi girl quite dumb kinda….a la Blonde girls in West.

Now Chetan has developed the skill of inserting timely “testosterone charged scenes”, enough of romps in novel, quite like previous books.

Two states ends on a happy note, Krish Fathering the twins.

Summing up, it is a bit above average read.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Review of Salman's Veer : "Veergati ko Praapt"

More drama less substance thats VEER for you. Pure bollywood without any intensity. Some sections in media compared Veer before the release; to movies like 300, The Braveheart, Gladiator and The Troy; but such movies are incomparable.

Veer is lacking at so many places.

First comes to the soul of a flick-Script, script is the weakest link. Veer does not have any set defined goals, like what He wanted his lady love or destroying enemy state or the Britishers.

Many a times movie seems like "not a love story f a warrior, but a love story of father-son duo". Too much of Salman-Mithun bonding.

Also Sohail who tries his over the top antics in his every movie does not fit well.

I am also unable to understand "Punjabi Speaking Pindharis in Rajputana" ; quite strange.

Direction is not upto the mark.

Silly dialouges and yeah "words of Pindhari are such strong that Leads to Reincarnation of Salman as His Son"; although reincarnation is favourite old time bollywood theme but now this is not digestable.

Music is good.

And yeah Salman, with his good physiue and heavy voice carried the aura of a warrior very well but still far behind the sheer intensity of Leonidas of 300 and Russel Crow in The Gladiator. Although Salman looks good despite his 5'7'' height , He is perfect with handling his frame(and also at handling taller leading ladies).

Now, Zarine Khan; not bad acting, looked charming.

i read it in media After meeting Zarine first time Salman Said " If you intersts me , then whole nation will be interested in you"; yor are right Salman. It is said that Zarine resembles to Katrina but I found Zarine A mix of Katrina and bit of Priety Zinta.

Overall a just timepass kinda movie, a one time watch.

It disappointed me.