Low cost flying future seat configuration !!

In their overzealousness to "accommodate" more passengers, low cost airlines are negotiating with airline manufacturers to have more of cycle perch like seat designs inside the aircraft, with enough of vertical legspace !! (not horizontal) ..

Images from Mars .. taken by Indian Mangalyaan ..

First image of Mars taken from an altiitude of 7400 kms above Mars by Mangalyaan, India's maiden successful mars orbiter ..

MOOC - intro videos..

New York Times  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqQNvmQH_YM

TEDx - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slscHD40r78

TEDx - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYwTA5RA9eU

ge..

Exciting semester ..

A rocking final sem MBA Jan '13 operations group..

I am so happy, in spite of 14 quizzes, 17 cases, 2 MOOCs, case writing. TEDx organisation etc ( all in a TERM in a span of 2 months for the subject of Operations Strategy), they have taken it in the right spirit and do not want to let go of me  !!

An academically very satisfying sem for me too .. I do not have any more words to describe my satisfaction !

George ..

Operations Strategy at Alliance for Sem 4, MBA Operations batch ..

The last sem I took for fourth sem MBA students of Jan 13 batch was very eventful because of many reasons. The same batch has been working on my elearning site elearning.alliance.edu.in for the past three semesters and are quite experienced and adept at handling it, be it online quizzes or online assignment submissions or surveys, discussions or wikis..

The one thing I loved with this class of 13 was that we integrated two MOOCs, on Competitive Strategy and Advanced Competitive strategy offered by Prof Tobias Kretschmer through www.coursera.org ( to muy info, for the first time in India too). Even discussed a case on this integration.

Totally during this sem of 4 weeks, I assessed this class on the basis of two assignments, one mid-sem written exam, 13 objective quizzes (based on MOOC topics), 1 paper review quiz and about 17 cases on Operations Strategy right from social media, technology, cloud, R&D, Manufacturing, defence etc.. !! I enjoyed the session very much and I am equally hopeful that the students too enjoyed it as much as I did.

All the time since I got excellent feedback from the students, there was no going back, gave them the best !!

george..

Report on the TEDx event at Alliance University, Bangalore, India, 19/9/14.

( Prepared by Volunteer Head, B K Sourabha, Sem4, MBA, Jan '13.)

TEDx Campus Connect Event, 19th September 2014, Alliance University
                                            
TEDx is an international community that organizes Technology, Entertainment and Design
(TED) style events celebrating locally driven ideas and elevating them to a global stage. TEDx
events are produced independently of TED conference; each event curates speakers on their own,but based on TED’s formats and rules.

Through the platform of TEDx talks the high performers and achievers are given a platform to
showcase their achievements, the strategy and motivation behind their thoughts and convictions.

It aims at giving the global audience free access to some of the world’s greatest thinkers,
leaders and teachers. The talks and recordings, available for free on the Internet are taken as
video discussion cases across the world in Management Institutions and Business schools. TED talks conducted outside of US are designated as TEDx talks.

With an intention to motivate the student community to be an active part of the innovative
activities TEDx has started conducting Campus Connect programmes across top colleges all
over India. Alliance University has had the privilege of hosting one such campus connects’ on
the 19th of September 2014, at the 2nd floor seminar hall, learning centre from 2:30 PM – 4:30
PM.

Campus connect events are different from TEDx gateway conferences, in the sense that these
are more of an interactive session, where students have an opportunity to interact with the speaker.

50 Institutions across the India have been identified for holding TEDx Campus Connect
programmes during 2014-15. Each college that is selected will get to host the event three times in one year.

Mr. Shaunak Kulkarni, Lead Campus Connect – TEDx India visited the Alliance University
campus and interacted with around 200 students, from all streams and the faculty members. He spoke about how any small idea can lead into something huge and innovative and how TEDx strives to recognize such talents and bring it out for the whole world to experience.

He spoke about 15-year old Angad Daryani, who loves ‘making’ things, so he was passionately driven to 3D technology and the art of 3D printing. Angad built his first 3D printer at the age of 13 and is soon coming out with a commercial 3D printer. What Shaunak wanted to convey was that age is no barrier. There is an innovator in each one of us. He did manage to get a few very innovative and creative ideas from the students of Alliance as well. We are proud that we have students of that caliber at Alliance and this is a great platform to bring that to notice.

Three videos were shown during the session, one of Pranav Mistry’s “The thrilling potential of Sixth Sense Technology”; Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy: “What 151 days around the world taught me”; Angad Nadkarni: “A new way to crack exams”. He also spoke about internship opportunities available with TEDx for the students of these top 50 colleges. This is a huge thing since the amount of exposure that TEDx can provide is immense.

We are known for the excellent infrastructure and we take pride in this fact. It’s just not us; we just got one more fan added to this club. Mr. Shaunak seemed very impressed with the infrastructure and the Campus and he was affirmative on holding more such campus connect events in near future with quality speakers addressing the students.

On the whole the event was success with active participation from the student community, a
major role played by the student volunteers who looked after registrations, local hospitality,
transport, hall arrangement and reception. TEDx encourages these events to be entirely student driven thus, helping build leadership and event management skills among the students.
We hope to host more such events in the future, thus growing across limits as an organization.

Acknowledgements:
Prof. George Easaw: The main guiding force behind the event.
Student Volunteer Team:
Sourabha Kerodi; Sahil Sood; Deekshith R Hegde; Aashita Bharadvaj; Soham Sharma; Nanda
Kumar; Raja Nahusha Varsha; Shravan; M Shashidharan; Arun R; Mathews Kevin;
Keshabananda Bora; Abhinav and Surya Sashank; P Manudhar Reddy; Sumit Kumar.

Maven and Mangalyaan ..

While MAVEN, the $670 million NASA probe to study Martian atmosphere will take the final maneuvres to escape from sun orbit to mars orbit at 6 AM (IST) on 22 sept, ( successfully carried out) to remain there for 6 months for studies, Mangalyaan the $72.5 million mission from ISRO will carry out the Mars Insertion maneuvre Martian atmosphere.

http://m.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/mars-orbiter-mission-is-on-stable-trajectory-isro-chief/article6431827.ece/

Exciting days ahead for both missions and wishing both missions the best !

While no moon missions from NASA were able to confirm presence of water on lunar surface, and only Chandraayan could confirm water on moon, it is hoped Mangalyaan may come up with starling discoveries that have evaded all NASA expeditions, that the whole world is waiting for .. LIFE ..!

george..

Values in life ..

Having been with students and young minds throughout my life, I always felt that I need to write in brief on what I feel is success and how students could aim to do well in their life.

1. Regarding the path : Success is not always immediate success, success is a journey. It can come at any point in life. One success does not last forever. It motivates you or energises you to strive for the next one. Our duty is to keep working at efforts, irrespective of the immediate results.

2. Having the right attitude : The future is really bright for the person with a willing mind and the right attitude .. it is bright for the person willing to go that extra mile and put in that extra effort.. Never say no to a request to carry out something new where you have an opportunity to learn something new or interact with a different person or experience something new.

3. Holding on to values : Some of the finer values which we talk of, those of sincerity, humility, honesty, self-discipline, respect for elders and hardwork are the true values one needs for success in life. These are values which we have been taught right from homes to colleges and our workplaces. It has been passed from generation to generation for centuries. Their value only keeps growing more with each passing day.

4. Keeping society over self : Success is not only material, personal, intellectual or financial success. It is actually any act or series of actions that has changed the way of life for the society and its members for the better, less pain, hatred and violence, more of appreciation and motivation, growth and development or ability to influence others lives to help them lead fuller lives and so on..

5. Have a firm, audacious goal : Without a destination, one cannot embark on a journey. Keep your goal, a real big, hairy audacious one, and see how over time your body, mind, heart, friends and society get conditioned to help you achieve it !!

George ..

Excellent sambhar recipe ..

Sambhar is an Indian intensely spiced lentils vegetable soup used with rice as a curry.

On special request, the Sambhar recipe is being shared for public benefit.  The sambhar powder can also be Brahmins, Everest, Shakthi, Aachi or any. There will be a slight taste diff.  Sambhar powder can also be made at home, another recipe

1. Add 2 smsll cups of lentils .. (thuvara parippu). Pour just enough water to submerge it and cook in pressure cooker for 3 whistles.

2. After cooking lentils, open the pr cooker and put the foll veg - 1 carrot, 1 or 2 drum sticks cut, 1 sliced onion, 1 potato sliced, 150 gm kumbalanga, 150 gm vellarikka, 2 sliced ladies finger, 1 sliced tomato,  some  curry leaves, 2 green chillies sliced lengthwise. Put all these in the cooker with the cooked lentils and cook for 3 whistles again.

3. For garnishing, put an empty clean pan on the flame, pour coconut / sunflower oil, 1 tsp mustard seed, 5-6 uluva, sliced cherya ulli,1 red chilli dried (cayenne pepper) sliced, 3-4 peels of sliced garlic and 1 table spoon grated coconut. When the whole mix turns light brown, add turmeric powder 1 tsp, chilli powder 1 tsp, coriander powder 1.5 table spoon, Eastern sambhar powdwr 2 table spoon, asafoetida (kaayam) quarter teaspoon.

4. Turn to low flame, put a small ball of cleaned  tamarind, seedless, in water for 10 mins.  The sieved tamarind water should be added to the boiling sambhar. Add enough salt for taste. Add the garnished masala mix ONLY NOW to the pr cooker after adding enough water to make it loose. Once it boils, garnish again with sliced coriander leaves, switch off flame and allow to cool.

5. Sambhar is ready. Let us know how it tasted .. :)

Anila george ..

Nalanda University is open after vacation ..

The vacation break this time was a bit longer than the usual two months, just 800 years .. after being among the very few Universities of the world from 400 AD to 1200 AD, Nalanda University, the world's oldest, is back in action with a batch of 15 students .. It is also a fact to note that from the ashes of the closed Nalanda University rose the Oxford University.

Special thanks to great Indians who worked for this Prof. Amartya Sen, the Economics Nobel laurete, presently working in Harvard University and Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, the former President of India. 

Al-Qaeda joke doing rounds ..

Al Qaeda leader Zawahiri comes to India, especially the suburbs of Mumbai for possible exhortation and conversion of Muslim illiterates from peace-loving, law abiding citizens to jihadists by indulging in brain-washing. Zawahiri, flush with funds from Saudi and Qatar is of the impression that poor Indians would listen to him.

He goes to the slums, the people greet him with brooms and stones. Poor Zawahiri takes to his heels, after getting many beatings, he hurls himself up and continues running till he jumps to the Arabian sea in the hope of swimming to the Gulf region. Whales spot him swimming, swallow him up and pass over their faeces on African coast, to be eaten by wild dogs and pigs !! What a deep piece of shit is Zawahiri..

Poor Zawahiri goes to hell and finds all his fellow mates there. They take a decision not to meddle with India or Indians ever again and issue guidelines to the Al-Qaeda and Islamic Society cadre who are coming to hell, about 100 every hour as the world has spotted their hideouts and have ostracised them from  planet earth as they are found most worthless to be on the face of planet earth.

Moral of the story :
1. If you have money use it for constructive purposes, not to kill people.
2. You can play around with illiterate people in other parts of the world, not in India.

3. Radicalisation is good in one's native societies but not in foreign countries.

Zawahiri and IS pl keep off.. Never play with this peaceful country called India.

Energy projects - discussions in class ..

Energy is the life-line of the present generation and will remain so for the next 2 centuries with increasing stress on safe, renewable, less polluting energy sources. Seven of the top ten global corporates by revenue are energy based, need I say anything more of this field and its vast potential ?

Right from dishwashing, washing clothes, illumination, transportation, industrial production and consumption, wide usage across hospitality, defence, governance, healthcare, entertainment, food processing, agriculture and other service sectors, energy usage and management is gaining great importance across the world.

Thanks to students and their mini-project with the Spanish wind energy giant GAMESA at it's AP project sites, we had a very fruitful and effective discussion of  wind energy right from the global macro view to the national scenario.

The discussions and learning were of the highest quality (unheard of even with other premier Institutes) for the students and myself of the economics, project preparation and management aspects, technology and business models in wind energy generation , transmission, distribution and consumption.

George ..