Book review : If god was a banker by ravi subramaniam

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This is the insider’s fictionalized account of how Indian professionals experience the world of foreign banks. The novel has all the ingredients that keeps it very interesting read till the vey end. Ravi Subramanian is an IIM-graduate.
Ravi’s style is very similar to Chetan bhagat. Like Chetan bhagat’s novel, this story too has dark background and then story heads to bright ending. Two young management graduates, with nothing similar in family backgrounds and temperament, join New York international bank on the same day and take entirely different routes to success. Both rise up the ranks at breakneck speed. One is aggressive and will stoop to anything to get ahead while the other guy is mature and sensible, with high regard for good old ethics. Then there is a top notch banker who plays the benevolent god whenever crises loom over the young guns. The story is peppered with ambition and frustration, deceit and malevolence, love and lust, struggle for power and status. The story reveals the nuisances of a corporate life and at the same time has idealized the importance of ethics in professional life.

– This book review was published in Rotaract club of Nirma university’s annual magazine Reckon.

I stumbled upon a video on youtube. the title is ‘is information management just another hype?’. it’s a paradigm shifter!

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Ted Video: The shape shifting future of mobile phone by Fabian Hemmert AND videos on similar innovative Human Computer Interaction concepts

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it’s a 5 min video which describes what’s in store for us in the domain of future mobile phone. the speaker is working to bridge the divide between our physical world and our digital world. this video answers the question what can be done to make our digital content graspable?. he describes three characteristics namely mass, shape and intuition that if embedded in mobile phones can help bridge the divide between our physical world and digital world. I had seen a similar video on ‘sixth sense’ in which the speaker pranav mistry (a MIT phd candidate) is working on a technology that bridges the gap between our physical world and digital world. The above mentioned technologies fall broadly into the ‘Human Computer Interaction’. you can watch video’s here:

Ted Video: Pranav Mistry on sixth sense

Yet Another video on Human Computer Interaction. it’s very innovative!
Ted video: David Merrill demos Siftables

Dr APJ Abdul kalam at Yuva Unstoppable’s [NGO] fifth Anniversary was truly inspirational!

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It was a privilege to hear ex president of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on 16th september at yuva unstoppable’s (ngo) fifth anniversary at Ahmedabad Management Association. i heard him speak for the first time and it was truly inspiring. his talk was peppered with anecdotes and quotes that are worth documenting – In this blogposr, I make an attempt to list his quotes, suggestions and anecdotes:

1. “Small aim is crime”

2.  Suggestion: NGO’s should venture into remote villages and spread literacy

3. Suggestion: Each one should plant 10 trees so that we reach the goal of 10 billion tress by 2020

4. “True leaders back their team in failure and credits them in success”

5. “Dream big and endeavor”

6. Suggestion: one should go to hospitals and visit those patients who have no visitors, doing this will rekindle the kindness within oneself.

I learned a lot and i enjoyed hear him speak and it was a privilege to be on yuva’s guest list. Thank you Yuva!

Also, kudos to Partnership of Microsoft student partner program and Yuva that initiated a Country wide Digital Literacy campaign and I am happy that I am part of such an endeavor that aims to spread literacy among underprivileged kids.

One other attendee has written a blog post on the program. you can read his views (and watch video of Dr APJ Abdul kalam speaking at this event) by clicking on the link below:
http://www.ankurkpatel.com/2010/09/16/to-aim-small-is-a-crime-says-dr-abdul-kalampast-president-india/

– Paras Doshi

Ted Video: The beauty of data visualization by David McCandles

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Being a computer engineer student who finds data mining very fascinating, i enjoy and learn new ideas from such videos. if you are a fan of han rosling, then i bet you will like this video too.