Consumer Notes
Questionable unity
I do not know how many of you have noticed that when you shop for vegetables at the local market, the prices are uniform at every stall. The vendors fix a retail price among themselves and most of them stick to it. Yes, this is a cartel but not
one that hurts the consumer; it ensures that the trader gets a reasonable profit and the consumer, a reasonable price.
Corporate
The executive Pied Piper
When Sriram Srinivasan left Madura Garments, several of his colleagues also quit to join him in his dream venture -- Indus League Clothing.
Making the right turn
Sometime ago, while designing an awareness-creating exercise, I was struck by the number of different scenarios that can unfold in even a short interaction. In order to take a person through just four situations and to give him a choice of t
hree options in each situation, I had to write out 121 different scenarios (1+3+9+27+81) that ended up taking participants to radically different endings.
Health
Asana online
`Online' and `health' are the buzzwords in today's corporate circles. What happens when the two get together? It's the launch of a wellness portal called `yes2yoga' by Endiabiz, a Bangalore-based company developing portals on `Indian culture, heri
tage and arts'.
Miscellaneous
Gender & leadership
Here is a course with a difference. Designed for senior and middle-level management personnel, it has a special emphasis on women. Termed `Leadership and Management with a Gender Perspective', this month-long correspondence-cu
m-contact programme aims to develop an ``aware, sensitive and cohesive management ethos''.
Outside the jungle book
Visitors to Dehradun, in Uttar Pradesh, will be struck by the presence of groups of men in colourful attire, flowing beards and dexterously patterned caps moving about with a philosophic indifference to the hustle and bustle of the world around the
m.
Over to Sony...
What can the bosses of channels like Zee and Sony do to counter the runaway success of Kaun Banega Crorepati on Star Plus? When you have Amitabh Bachhan and greed working for your rivals, you had better start praying.
Technology
Stepping stones to riches
Shakespeare's famous quote, ``All that glitters is not gold'' should have had a postscript: ``And all those glittering stones are not diamonds either.''
Travel & Places
Tick-tock museum
Anyone with more than a passing interest in watches, dreams of owning a Patek Philippe time piece. And nowhere is the work of the doyen of the great Geneva watchmakers more vividly displayed than in the `clock and Watch Museum'.
Amidst kingly pursuits
Our journey to Potsdam started early one morning from Brandenburg -- a fitting starting point, indeed. For centuries, Brandenburg was capital of the Prussian state until it went into decline after Berlin took over as the administrative centre.
Babar's paradise
Babar, the first Mughal Emperor, brought to India his concept of the garden, the `Charbagh'. It was set in an enclosed space in perfect symmetry that divided the garden into four quarters.
