Category: Uncategorized

What killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate India
A month ago, many of us heard about the sad demise of Ranjan Das from Bandra, Mumbai. Ranjan, just 42 years of age, was the CEO of SAP-Indian Subcontinent, the youngest CEO of an MNC in India . He was very active in sports, was a fitness freak and a marathon runner. It was common to see him run on Bandra’s Carter Road . Just after Diwali, on 21st Oct, he returned home from his gym after a workout, collapsed with a massive heart attack and died. He is survived by his wife and two very young kids.

For you to be mentally alert during the day, the latter part of sleep is more important. No wonder when you wake up with an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of sleep, you are mentally irritable throughout the day (lack of REM sleep). And if you have slept for less than 5 hours, your body is in a complete physical mess (lack of non-REM sleep), you are tired throughout the day, moving like a zombie and your immunity is way down (I’ve been there, done that L)
Finally, as long-distance runners, you need an hour of extra sleep to repair the running related damage.
If you want to know if you are getting adequate sleep, take Epworth Sleepiness Test below.

Interpretation: Score of 0-9 is considered normal while 10 and above abnormal. Many a times, I have clocked 21 out the maximum possible 24, the only saving grace being the last situation, since I don’t like to drive (maybe, I should ask my driver to answer that line J)
In conclusion:

Barring stress control, Ranjan Das did everything right: eating proper food, exercising (marathoning!), maintaining proper weight. But he missed getting proper and adequate sleep, minimum 7 hours. In my opinion, that killed him.
If you are not getting enough sleep (7 hours), you are playing with fire, even if you have low stress.
I always took pride in my ability to work 50 hours at a stretch whenever the situation warranted. But I was so spooked after seeing the scientific evidence last week that since Saturday night, I ensure I do not even set the alarm clock under 7 hours. Now, that is a nice excuse to get some more sleep. 🙂

Unfortunately, Ranjan Das is not alone when it comes to missing sleep. Many of us are doing exactly the same, perhaps out of ignorance.

Looks like the next big thing after the centrino –

Chip giant Intel has taken the wraps off its latest mobile processor based on its Nehalem architecture.

During his keynote speech at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, Dadi Perlmutter, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, announced details of the Core i7 Mobile processors.

The new quad-core CPUs are designed for high-performance mobile PCs and, like their desktop counterparts, feature Intel’s Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost technology, which allows the processor clock speed to be ramped up past stock frequency depending on workload.

“With intelligent features like Intel Turbo Boost Technology, Hyper-Threading Technology and a host of others, Intel has revolutionised the laptop PC processor, delivering performance when you need it, energy efficiency when you don’t,” said Perlmutter.

“For the first time, mobile users can choose a laptop that delivers internet-server like speed, right in their laps for the most demanding tasks, from intense gaming to digital video editing and social media applications.”

There will be three mobile Core i7 processors, the 920XM, 820QM and 720QM, which run at 2GHz, 1.73GHz and 1.6 GHz – with the possibility to boost to 3.2GHz, 3.06GHz and 2.8GHz respectively.

Formerly codenamed Clarksfield, the new units also include two-channel DDR3 1333MHz memory support and full 1 x16 or 2 x8 PCI Express 2.0 graphics.

The Core i7 mobile processors will be available in two flavours, a regular and an Extreme edition, with the latter supporting Extreme Memory Profiles and the Extreme Tuning Utility, allowing users to overclock and fine-tune the laptop.

According to Intel, big names such as Asus, Dell, HP and Toshiba will begin shipping laptops using the Core i7 mobile processors today, with others due to start using them in the coming months.

As you might expect, the new chips are not exactly cheap. When bought in trays of 1,000 units the 920XM will cost $1,054 (£642.31) each, while the 820QM and 720QM are priced at $546 (£332.73) and $364 (£221.82) each when bought in trays of 1,000.

http://is.gd/3HVr4

With the recent pilots strike that was called- and the further 256 odd pilots going on strike for the re-enstatement of the 2 sacked pilots, thus putting the entire jet airways operations on hold – and holding the entire aviation industry to somthing just short of ransom. What was really surprising was that during one of the news articles, I rememberd seeing a sign being held up by other jet airways employees- are ” 2 pilots more important than 13000 staff?”
it got me thinking- why did they strike in the first place? that 2 pilots got sacked for “forming a welfare group” and this is what the “welfare group” is capable of?
Whom are they kidding?

a 18 Crore a day loss
281 Flights cancelled

now jet is offering a 50% discount. But the brand image has been hit so bad.

How do you measure the brand impact? Folks are going to take a bug hit at this- there was a news article about the customers lost faith due to last minute cancellations.

the largest percentage of jet is busienss travellers- now gaining the confidence is going to cost a LOT more.

Long term impact- will take a while to calculate!

just back from the recently concluded sidvin festival of speed. some really awesome racing, and from whre i was watching, some real close calls.

some pictures from the event.

We had a nice power outage, which appeared to have knocked out power in lots of places. We were sitting in our balacony and took a few shots!

I just got this via email – i dont know the source or the copyright information – so if someone believes this is copyrighted material and want me to take it down – i will happily comply!

I just received an SMS from Airtel –

Kindly note- All Local SMS sent on 2nd August (Friendship day) will be charged @50p/SMS. Dial 171152 (Toll Free) For more details.

On dialing the number- you get the same pre recorded message. how can they do this? if they are doing it for “friendship day” what stops them from doing the same on all other holidays.

So even though I have paid Rs 99 for unlimited SMS (9999 sms actually) per month, I pay for the sms on that day. Doesnt this correlate to extortion?

Airtel – you suck! im being open about it. You are a very bad person. The minute the number portability comes out- im outa airtel. hate you more and more!

The object of our Constitution makers was free movement and exchange of goods throughout India. It is essential for the economy of India and for sustaining improving living standards of its people. It should ultimately lead to one-country-one-people concept and economic benefit of the development should reach every citizen wherever he lives. The people of the state must sink and swim together. The long-run prosperity and salvation lies in union and not division. Economic unity is the main force for achieving cultural and political unity and stability and progress can be achieved only by demolishing artificial boundaries and barricades and should be sidelined.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1409791-post1.html

Whilst making our final approach to chennai domestic airport, we were flying quite low – given the fact this was an ATR. I took the liberty of trying to take a few picture, however, due to the total spaz nature of the phone, it brought the flash on even though i turned it off. The airhostess then decided to give us a tip “take a video” which was one of the most brilliant ideas i heard.

anyways, took a short clip of the approach and flgith over chennai at night. Need to go again, and shoot a better video… 🙂